Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Get the Cruel Sting

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a wide variety of useful weapons that players can use to complete and enhance their character and companion builds, with plenty of these weapons including special bonus effects or stats. Ensuring that players select a weapon that comprises certain aspects of a character, such as their Race, Class, and Feats, can maximize effectiveness for their playthrough and ensure each character operates to their full potential.

Among these useful weapons is the Cruel Sting, a Longsword that deals extra Psychic damage as well as additional Poison damage if the weapon is being wielded by a Drow character. The Cruel Sting is among some of the most powerful Longswords in the game and one of the best weapons available for certain Drow character builds. For this reason, players will want to ensure they don’t miss out on the chance to claim it for their inventory and use it within one of several unique build options during their adventures in Faerun.

How to Get the Cruel Sting in Baldur’s Gate 3

To get the Cruel Sting in Baldur’s Gate 3, you will first need to ensure that you have completed Act 1 in its entirety, as the Cruel Sting only becomes available upon entering Act 2 of the game. This means that you’ll need to wrap up any side quests from the Druid Grove, Goblin Camp, Underdark, and Mountain Pass areas, such as the Save Mayrina / Auntie Ethel, Phase Spider Matriarch, Githyanki Creche, and Myconid Colony quests, just to name a few.

While finishing up tasks in Act 1, there is one key item that you will need to ensure you obtain along the way. This item is known as the Spider’s Lyre and can be acquired from Minthara or Nere through one of several different pathways or techniques. To obtain the Spider’s Lyre, you can kill Minthara during the quest to save Halsin and take the item from her corpse, or side with her (and potentially romance her) to gain the item as a gift. Alternatively, you can obtain the item from Nere in Grymforge by either killing him and looting the item from his corpse or by allowing him to live and convincing him to assist your party through the Shadow-Cursed Lands, which will result in him gifting the item to you.

Once you’ve completed everything you wish to do in Act 1 and the Mountain Pass / Underdark (which is often considered to be an Act 1.5 stage of the game), you will need to progress through to Act 2 through either the path located near Rosymorn Monastery via the Mountain Pass, or the entrance located in Grymforge via the Underdark. Doing so will mark your arrival at the Shadow-Cursed Lands, which will soon stand out for being much more of an environmental threat than previous areas of the game.

Once you have entered the Shadow-Cursed Lands, there will be a Goblin who can point you in the direction of Kansif and his party. Follow the path down until you come to a makeshift campsite on your left. This is Kansif and his crew, so go ahead and speak to him to progress. Upon speaking to Kansif, if you have the Spider’s Lyre in your inventory, you will be able to use it to summon a guide to lead you through the Shadow-Cursed Lands. This guide is Kar’niss, who has the Cruel Sting equipped as his primary weapon. This means that to acquire the Cruel Sting, you must kill Kar’niss in one of two scenarios, and loot the item from his corpse.

The first opportunity to kill Kar’niss and obtain the Cruel Sting will occur as he guides your party plus Kansif and his crew towards Moonrise Towers. During this adventure, you will be ambushed by a group of Jaheira’s Harpers, and given the opportunity to either stand with Kansif and Kar’niss and fight them off or turn on these two and fight alongside the Harpers. Remember, Kar’niss can be a bit of a pain to deal with due to his use of Sanctuary, and this battle can catch players off guard if they are under-leveled or not fully prepared. Siding with Kar’niss at this point will have no repercussions when it comes to befriending and recruiting Jaheira later on in Act 2, so if your party is low on health or lacking some Spell Slots, killing the Harpers may be your best choice for now.

The second opportunity for killing Kar’niss and obtaining the Cruel Sting will be during the final boss battle of Act 2 against Ketheric Thorm at Moonrise Towers. During the battle on the rooftop, Kar’niss will be one of Ketherics allies that you go up against, giving you a second opportunity for securing the Cruel Sting. This may be the best opportunity out of the two for many players, as there is plenty of time to explore Act 2 in full and gain additional levels to make your party stronger before the fight.

Best Technique For Easily Beating Kar’niss in Battle, Explained

Beating Kar’niss in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be a tedious task due to the fact that he will almost always cast Sanctuary on his first turn in battle. Sanctuary is a very powerful Spell that prevents the user from being targeted by any attacks until they either make an attack themselves or have their Concentration broken. In other words, Kar’niss is pretty much invulnerable until you can break his Concentration, but there are a couple of techniques that you can use to make your time significantly easier.

First of all, you can attempt to counter Sanctuary through one of several options, as while it is a strong Spell, it is not immune to everything. For casters, AOE spells such as Fireball, Ice Storm, and Spirit Guardians will work wonders on dealing damage through an active Sanctuary Spell. For weapon users, options such as Elemental Arrows or Cleave with a Great Axe can deal damage through Sanctuary. Note that while these options will still deal damage while Sanctuary is active, they won’t remove the Spell from being in play by Kar’niss.

The second method that you can use to make your fight against Kar’niss significantly easier comes into play if you can break Kar’niss’ Concentration, or force him to end Sanctuary for any other reason. Once he ends Sanctuary, he will be able to be targeted again, so you can take this opportunity to use a character that has the Hold Person Spell, and cast it on Kar’niss. Doing so will freeze him in place, ensuring that he isn’t able to cast Sanctuary on himself a second time, and will also result in any attacks being made within 3m of him will always be Critical Hits, meaning your party can really dish out some damage and take him down fairly easily in this state.

Once you’ve defeated Kar’niss in either of these combat scenarios, simply loot his corpse to obtain the Cruel Sting. You will then be free to equip it to any suitable character, though a Drow is always best to maximize the potential with this weapon.

Best Build Options For Cruel Sting & How to Get the Most Value, Explained

To gain the most value from the Cruel Sting as a primary weapon, you should equip it to any Drow character within your party. This is because the secondary effect will only trigger when the Cruel Sting is wielded by a Drow, enabling a bonus +1d4 Poison Damage upon any successful attack made with the weapon. While the Cruel Sting is a nice physical weapon addition for any Drow build, there are certain classes that it will suit much more than others, enabling you to maximize value through this weapon.

The Cruel Sting is a Versatile Longsword, meaning it can be wielded with either one or two hands. This makes it perfect to use for bulky melee classes such as Paladins or Fighters, as this would allow them to not only deal solid damage each turn but also wield a Shield in their free hand, adding a bonus +2-3 to their AC, depending on the type of Shield that is equipped. Minthara can be recruited as a companion depending on your choices in Act 1 and is a Paladin by default, so this option is perfect for both bulking her defensive capabilities as well as adding some more potency to her damage output by swapping out her flail for the Cruel Sting.