InBaldur’s Gate 3, all your time in the Underdark has led to this moment. Whether you have been saving deep gnome slaves, helping the myconid colony, or dealing with the duergar, all seem to have one person on their mind; True Soul Nere.

True Soul Nere is the primary antagonist of the Underdark portion of the game. With the duergar under his thumb, he is responsible for the death of the myconids, the enslavement of the gnomes, and wasting your time. So if you want to kill him for all his various crimes, his loot, or just for fun, you’ve come to the right place.

Nere’s location as shown on the world map in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Where To Find True Soul Nere

True Soul Nere can be found at the heart of theduergar encampment in Grymforge. When you first attempt to locate him, you will find he istrapped behind some rubble (X: -633, Y: 311), and youmust clear the rubblebefore you can fight him.

Defeating Nere

This article is abouthow to defeat Nere.For more information about other ways to interact with Nere, refer tothis article.

While fighting Nere is not the only option to interact with him, it is a common outcome. Ultimately, there arethree possible ways to end up with a dead Nere- some involving more roleplay and prerequisites than others.

Tav in a fiery room with arms crossed, glaring down Nere in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Nere’s fight isnotoriously difficult,not only because of Nere’s unique skills but because of thenumber of allies Nere can call upon.Figuring out which strategy is best for you is key to ensuring you emerge victorious.

The following sections are listed inorder of difficulty, with each strategy being harder than the one before it.

Nere’s hand reaching out in a poisonous cloud in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Leaving Nere To Die

Leaving Nere to die is theeasiest way to kill him, but it does require a few steps and a bit of patience. Ultimately, if you leave Nere to die in the cave-in, you willnot have to fight him, but you will still be able to loot him andbring his head to the myconids, if you have the quest “Deliver Nere’s Head”.

First, you mustfind the cave-inwhere Nere is trapped; once close enough, you will have the option to interact with the rubble. This willtrigger a cutscenewhere Nere begs for your aid.

Tav with a glowing blue aura around them, bracing their head, in Baldur’s Gate 3.

After this cutscene is initiated,an in-game timer will beginthat will count down to Nere’s death. On the first night after the cutscene, Nere reminds you to come and save him, butif you Long Rest two times after your first cutscene with Nere trapped, Nere will succumb to the poisonand be dead when you return to him.

The rubble will be gone and you will still be able toloot his body and claim his head. Taking this option, however, will also cause all of the duergar to leave; after all, without the “twat-soul” to worry about, they needn’t stick around.

Elder Brithvar, a duergar, staring at Tav in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Letting Nere die in this way means youcannot save the deep gnome slaves, so be wary if you want to finish that quest as well.

Allying With Elder Brithvar

Allying with Elder Brithvar is theeasiest way to kill Nere via combat. Aligning yourself with this rebellious duergar turns abouthalf of the would-be enemy duergar into allies, so he is a good friend to make if you want Nere dead.

After speaking with Brithvar, you will be given a quest; if you can destroy the Arcane Eye floating around, he willside with you in your fight against Nereand offer you a portion of the loot Nere has.

Astarion using his violin to cast a spell on a floating eye in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Destroying the Arcane Eye isn’t particularly hard, but you must make sureno one sees you destroy the eye. Luckily, the eye has its “eyes on you,” so to speak, and will follow you wherever you go while in Grymforge.

Simply walk to an unoccupied area and attack it; the eye is resistant to most damage, souse thunder damageto make sure you eliminate it in one attack. Once the eye is destroyed, return to Brithvar and let him know.

Nere looking condescendingly at Thrinn the duergar in Baldur’s Gate 3.

On your map, you will see that Brithvar’s crew are marked green as allies, while Thrinn’s loyalists remain yellow. Use this trick to figure out who your new allies are before the fight begins.

After you free Nere,Brithvar will arrive and make his plans known. Now, you’ll find that abouthalf the duergar fight for you.

Thrinn and Dunnelon, the duergar, standing next to a lava pit in Baldur’s Gate 3.

To learn more about tips and strategies for fighting Nere, look at the “What To Do Before The Fight” section and read from there.

Fighting The Duergar And Nere

But, of course, who needs allies when you’ve got ambition? You can choose not to ally with Brithvar and instead fight Nere and all of the duergar in one combat encounter. Even if you choose not to ally with Brithvar, there are still a few ways to thin the herdwhen it comes to this large-scale battle.

First, while you are in dialogue with Nere, he will berate Thrinn for not getting him out sooner. If youdo not stand up for Thrinnwhen Nere prompts you to,he will kill her himself.

Astarion using his violin to cast a spell on the duergar and send him into a pit of lava in Baldur’s Gate 3.

To get far enough into dialogue with Nere so he will kill Thrinn, you need tolet Nere kill the gnome slaves.

Next, and perhaps more vitally, you cankill all the duergar before freeing Nere. Doing so means that, once Nere is free, you will only have to fight him, making it a much easier fight.

Brithvar, the duergar, pointing a knife at Nere in Baldur’s Gate 3.

What To Do Before The Fight Begins

Before your fight with Nere and the duergar begins, there are some precautions you can take; first of all,send your explosives and dangerous arrows to campif you do not plan on using them. Several of the duergar and Nere have mind-controlling abilities that willforce you to throw your damage-dealing items, so only keep what you desperately need.

Secondly, consider drinking some potions.Elixirs of Hill Giant Strengthare great to help you Shove or resist Shoves, or for damage resistance, you could pop aFire-Resisting or Psychic-Resistingpotion to help with the lava or the psychic damage you will take.

If you plan on killing the duergar before fighting Nere,usethe lava to your advantage. A good Shove or a well-aimed Thunderwave will send the duergar plummeting to their deaths in the lava, and you may take out one of your foes before combat even begins.

Lastly, verify you split up your party to play to their strengths.Use height to your advantagewhen it comes to your ranged fighters, andstay away from the lava, lest one of the enlarged duergar push you in.

Know Your Enemies

Given the nature of the fight against Nere, it is important to know each of your foe’s fighting styles so you canprioritize your order of attack. On the whole, be sure toprioritize taking out the mind mastersso you aren’t mind-controlled by them.

An asterisk (*) before a name denotes a duergar thatwill be an allyif you team up with Brithvar.

Below is a brief bulleted list of each duergar and their skills:

(Morghal and Orgath are not overworld NPCs, and only have a chance to spawn partway through combat as Brithvar’s allies.)

All of the duergar have a racial ability that lets them cast Invisibility and Enlarge / Reduce. Themelee fighters will Enlarge, whilecasters will go Invisible or Reduce.

Nere’s Abilities

Nere, being a True Soul and himself infected with an illithid parasite,uses mostly psychic abilities, although he is a decently strong melee fighter as well.

HP: 78

AC: 12

STR: 17

DEX: 15

CON: 15

INT: 18

WIS: 13

CHA: 18

1st-Level Spells

2nd-Level Spells

3rd-Level Spells

1d8+3 piercing + 1d4 psychic

+1 Dagger (thrown)

1d4+3 piercing

Along with this, Nere isresistant to Psychic damage, so keep that in mind when choosing what spells to use against him.

In Honor Mode, Nere can also castPsionic Visage, making himimmune to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damageso long as at least one of his illusory doubles is around. Whenever Nere takes damage, one of his doubles will shatter, dealing psychic damage, andyou can use magic items that imbue weapon attacks with other damage types or elemental damage spells to hit Nere and shatter his doubles.

There are afew tricks to overcoming Nere’s tactics; first of all,Coerced allies cannot be Helped, but you can break the Coercion by dealingnon-psychic damageto the Coerced party member. Second,Nere’s muscular ability makes it harder to Shove him, so don’t attempt the pushing-into-lava strategy on him, and avoid using abilities that require Strength saves as well, since odds are he will succeed.

Nere will burn his spell slots early, so watch out for Wicked Coercion and keep your low-Wisdom party members back. If Shield of Screams is up,use ranged attacksto avoid taking the extra psychic damage and make sure you have party members that candeal elemental damageif you’re in Honor Mode and needto overcome Psionic Visage.

Nere has a low Armor Class, soit is easy to hit him with weapon attacks. Keep your distance and keep hitting him, and you will emerge victorious.

Rewards

Defeating Nere provides manyquest and item rewardsas long as you’ve properly explored. On Nere’s body, you will findseveral magical weapons, two quest items, and the Disintegrating Night Walkers.

Depending on how the combat went, Nere may also have an unused healing potion, as well as some jewelry and 1,000 gold pieces. Most excitingly,Nere has a mind flayer parasitethat you’re able to loot and eat as a little snack after all your hard work!

If you allied with Brithvar,he will take some of the gold(the amount varies depending on your previous checks while negotiating with him), and leave you with less than the full 1,000 gold pieces.

You can still get all of the gold pieces, even if you allied with Brithvar. Eitherloot Nere’s body quickly after the fightorpick Brithvar’s pocketsto get all of the money.

If you have the"Deliver Nere’s Head" quest from Sovereign Spaw, interacting with Nere’s dead body will prompt you to remove his head. you may thentake Nere’s head to the myconids for an additional reward.

Lastly, don’t forget toloot the duergar’s bodies and the chestsin the room after the fight. They have armor, weapons, and special arrows, andBrithvar has theDeep Delver, a magical war pick.