The name Sarevok Anchev will be familiar to veterans of Baldur’s Gate. He was the major antagonist in the first Baldur’s Gate, and a potential party member in the second. In Baldur’s Gate 3, Sarevok returns as a sudden boss enemy at the murder tribunal.
He’s still extremely powerful, despite taking a backseat in this game. As the leader of the murder tribunal, he can grant you the rank of unholy assassin in Bhaal’s name. Becoming one would grant you access to the Bhaalist sanctum, but so does slaying the murderers themselves. Take up your blade, show no fear, and defeat Sarevok once again.
As a former big bad evil guy, Sarevok’s stats are imposing. Reaching the edges of mortal limits, he has perfect 20s in Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. His mental stats are above average as well, being 16 for Intelligence, 14 for Wisdom, and 15 Charisma. While he does have bonuses to all stats, you can see the first chip in his armor are his saving throws. He is only proficient in Strength and Constitution.
Of all his passive, the one to note is Permanently Armed. This prevents him from being disarmed by any attack, so you’ll need to try something different. As a renowned enemy, Sarevok is among the rare few to have Legendary Resistance. This ability grants him a 10 point boost to his saving throws while active, but it is a limited resource. Best to use a lower level spell in order to burn it before you use a stronger one.
Sarevok has no damage resistances, but whatever damage you do, you will need to do a lot. He has more than 260 health, and easy means to regain it by attacking. The worst part of all Sarevok’s Abilities, is that he will only get stronger as he fights.
Deathbringer’s Legacy
Each time Sarevok attacks, he will gain a stack of Murderous Strikes. When he has four stacks, he gets a condition called Deathbringer’s Legacy and is able to use his strongest attack: Deathbringer’s Assault. He can target one of your party and ravage them with a flurry of attacks dealing 10d10 slashing damage. It can do up to 100 damage, more than enough to knock down nearly anyone.
It’s not easily avoided, but if you manage to lock Sarevok in place, or prevent him from taking actions, the condition will fade until he builds up attacks again. Sarevok is often under the Haste condition during the battle. That means he can get all the stacks of Murderous Strikes in one turn, and use Deathbringer’s assault the next.
Echoing Murderers
Three long dead servants of Bhaal join in battle against you. They are echoes of Bhaalist murderers that exist to buff Sarevok and debilitate your party. They don’t have a single means of damage between the three of them, but they hit you with Sarevok instead. All the echoes have a death effect to imbue Sarevok with more power.
The Echo of Amelyssan will cast Sanctuary and Warding Bond on Sarevok, preventing you from hitting him, and making Amelyssan take half of Sarevok’s damage in his place. On her death, Sarevok absorbs her essence, and gains the ability to heal 2d12 hit points with every attack. She provides him with much of his durability.
The Echo of Illasera is the most dangerous because she exists only to give Sarevok Haste. She doubles his attacks and speed, so he can kill you faster. Killing her seems like a good idea, but it actually makes the situation even worse. By absorbing Illasera’s essence, Sarevok permanently gains Haste, and gains Freedom of Movement. He can no longer be paralyzed or restrained.
The last echo, Sendai, is the debilitator of the group. She will alternate between casting Slow and Command on the party. If she succeeds with her spells, she makes you lose turns. You can’t afford that against Sarevok. Killing her, however, permanently increases Sarevok’s AC by six, making the total 26.
Marching Death Knights
The guards of the Murder Tribunal can also join the battle against you. These three blackguards are dark paladins and powerful undead. On their own, they’d be a tough boss level fight, but if they join with Sarevok, you will have a big problem.
They’re tough, and well armored. The leader of the three, That Which Guards, can use Compelled Duel to force one of your party to focus on him alone. That spell pales in comparison to his Hellfire Orb, an empowered fireball dealing massive damage that ignores resistance to fire.
Preparing For Sarevok
There is a lot of suffering coming your way, but you can give yourself an edge by preparing a few items beforehand. First, you need resistance to physical damage. Unfortunately, there is no elixir for this, but there are some magic items that can. The Reviver’s Hands bestow Bladeward to any creature the wearer heals. Give them to your healer, and have them spam a group healing spell as often as they can; Mass Healing Word is best for this.
The Armor of Persistence grants the wearer resistance to physical damage, and so will a Barbarian’s rage. Either will help. For your spell casters, make sure they have every spell DC boosting item you can spare.
Next, buy some Arrows of Arcane Interference. When one of the echoes starts concentrating on a spell, shoot them immediately. The arrow will break their concentration and silence them for a short time. Wizardsbane Oil will be similar enough for your melee characters.
Have Counterspell prepared, and save it for when Amelyssan casts Sanctuary; you need to be able to attack. Summons will also help you out immensely, so call on them before the fight. Have some AoEs prepared just in case Sanctuary does go off.
Using Alchemy
Poison Coatings will have little effect on Sarevok because of his high Constitution save, and everyone else is immune. The Oil of Bane is one of the few that can work. Oils that grant you buffs, like the Oil of Accuracy, are more reliable in this fight.
Elixirs of Universal Resistance can be nice to have on hand if things start going very wrong, and if you’re fighting Sarevok, they have. Focus on buffs. Potions of Cloud Giant Strength are worth spending on your Strength-build characters. Heroism Elixirs can give you the small boost you need to succeed, and you can never go wrong with an Elixir of Viciousness.
Fighting Sarevok
In most boss fights, you might have the idea to take out a boss’ support before focusing on him. That is the worst strategy you can use against Sarevok. The entire boss fight hinges on Sarevok.
He is the most damaging enemy, and the hardest to kill. If he absorbs all the essence from the slain echoes, he gains so many abilities you’ll struggle to survive more than a few rounds.
When the fight starts, march your toughest party member into Sarevok’s face and lock him down. The Sentinel feat will be a huge help if you have it. While your tank soaks damage from one of the greatest dangers in all Faerun, place a silence bubble over the echoes. Try to keep them from casting spells as much as you can, but the priority is still Sarevok.
Until Illasera dies, Sarevok can be paralyzed, so try to hit him with Hold Person after his legendary resistance is depleted. This is not a time to hold back. Every turn you can hit him, you should be striking Sarevok with your strongest attacks. Burn your highest spells, your strongest Smites, your best maneuvers. You will need them all.
While your party does this, send one or two summons towards the Deathknights. It doesn’t need to win, it only needs to keep them back from the main fight. They’re soulbound to Sarevok, and will die when he does.
Persevere and you’ll break Sarevok down over time. With him gone, the fight ends. Help yourself to his gear, and release inspector Valeria from the Bhaalist prison. You have defeated a truly strong foe. Well done.