Malus Thorm is a boss you will face during Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3. He is the owner and principal doctor of the House of Healing in the Shadow Cursed Lands. This area is to the north of the Moonrise Towers.
He is a part of the Wake Up Art Cullagh side quest. Once you start the quest, you must approach the House of Healing. You can defeat him and be rewarded with XP and a special key to free the patient.
Baldur’s Gate 3 offers multiple ways to defeat your enemies. The same is true for Malus Thorm, as you can defeat him in two ways. An achievement named “Non-Invasive Procedure” will be awarded to the players who will defeat him without letting him use any of his “Surgery Skills.”
Malus Thorm Location in Baldur’s Gate 3
Malus Thorn can be found inside the House of Healing. He will be conducting surgery on a distressed patient with his assistants there. Start from the Reithwin Town Waypoint and then proceed northeast. The exact location of Malus Thorm is marked on the map.
You will notice Malus Thorm alongside four nurses performing surgery on a patient in the central room. Entering the room will trigger a cutscene, and you can proceed with the boss battle, depending on how you play your cards.
Malus Thorm boss fight, Step by Step
If you have opted for the conventional method, you should be prepared. Malus Thorm is a strong boss with a devastating set of abilities. Furthermore, the assistants are also very annoying to fight as they tend to run around.
But before you start to fight Malus Thorn, you must remember that he is resistant to Slashing, Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Fire Damage. You must use other types of damage to defeat Malus Thorm in Baldur’s Gate 3.
1. Defeat the nurses
Your focus should be on defeating the nurses first and foremost, as they can heal and support the boss during battle. Defeat the four Nurses first, then move to the boss. But be aware as the nurses resist the following types of damage.
- Necrotic damage
- Fire damage
2. Focus on Malus Thorm
After defeating the sisters, you can focus on Malus Thorm. Radiant damage is best here since Malus Thorm and his nurses are all undead. Shadowheart is the companion to use in this battle because she has Cleric spells. If your main character also belongs to the Cleric class, they can use Radiant spells.
Keep attacking him and use the Witch Bolt and Ice-based spells to inflict massive damage. But beware, he will start to attack multiple times in a turn after he goes below 40% health. Keep your weak characters away from him and use your tanky characters, such as Lae’zel or Karlach.
Using this method, you will make short work of him. But be careful when fighting Malus Thorn, as he is a formidable opponent.
How to defeat Malus Thorm without fighting
You must pass certain dialogue checks to defeat Malus Thorm without fighting. These dialogue checks are hard to pass, so make sure to save beforehand quickly.
Step 1
When the dialogue starts, you are given your first option. Select the “A student. Yes, please do enlighten me” option. Doing this will trigger the dialogue options needed to defeat him without fighting. Beware, as failing checks in the conversation will immediately lead to a fight.
Step 2
After this dialogue, he will go on for a bit. You will be presented with four additional options. You can proceed with the Investigation or Religion options further down the line. They will lead to the same conclusion. You will need to pass a check of DC14 to succeed.
Step 3
After passing the check, you will be offered another dialogue option. Select the first one, “The blades are uneven. Effective surgery will require further training”. Malus Thorm will get confused and become dazed in his thoughts. Select the “Why not have them test the skill on each other?” when the next prompt comes up.
If you pass the DC21 Charisma check, the nurses will kill each other.
Step 4
Now select Deception by saying, “My magic has blinded me. Now I see Shar is the only path. Please show me. I beg of you.” pass another DC21 Charisma check, and Malus Thorm will kill himself.
Alternatively, you can select the Intimidation option after step 2 and pass a check for DC18. Doing this, the self-proclaimed doctor will fling the corpse out of the operation table and lay on it himself. Then, the nurses will proceed to perform surgery on him and kill him in the process. The nurses will then flee, and you can quickly loot Malus Thorm’s corpse and continue.
After defeating Malus Thorm
In House of Healing, you can save the Distressed Patient after defeating Malus Thorm. You need to collect the key from Malus Thorm’s body once he is dead.
Take the same back to the distressed patient, where you will find a place to put it and free the patient from his cuffs. To unlock the cuffs, you need to use the Knock Spell. By doing so, you can save the Distressed patient of Malus Thorm. The patient will then run away to live in the Shadow Cursed Land, a fate much worse than dying.
