The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Doppelgangers in Baldur's Gate 3

Highlights

Baldur's Gate 3 is full of odd and fun encounters that enhance the exploration experience, with interesting narrative choices and unique battle gimmicks.

Doppelgangers play a vital role in the game, generating suspense and compelling players to face their own capabilities and limitations.

The utilization of doppelgangers during the final stage is particularly striking, as Orin skillfully manipulates players and infiltrates the gathering, resulting in captivating storytelling and significant gameplay effects.

Baldur's Gate 3 is brimming with peculiar moments and encounters that enhance the experience of each area players explore. Throughout the game, there are captivating narrative choices that have the potential to alter the destiny of a particular location or introduce a battle with a distinctive twist. It's as if Baldur's Gate 3 has an enjoyable surprise waiting at every turn.

Given its fantasy setting, the game expertly employs various genre tropes to create an immersive experience. One noteworthy example is the clever utilization of doppelgangers. Whether they manifest as living illusions or shape-shifters assuming the identity of an ally, doppelgangers effectively raise the stakes and compel the characters to confront their own strengths and weaknesses. Baldur's Gate 3 excels in these moments, allowing players to fully immerse themselves in the game's captivating challenges.

Why Doppelgangers Work Well in Baldur's Gate 3

In the middle of the second act, players will encounter the Gauntlet of Shar, which is both a ruined structure and a testing ground for the Dark Justicars serving The Lady of Loss. This significant dungeon requires players to overcome various trials to gather umbral gems and progress to the end. These trials present puzzle challenges that assess players' skills in areas like navigation and stealth. However, the most noteworthy trial is a combat scenario where the party must face off against an identical version of themselves.

Once players discover the ancient temple that houses the Gauntlet of Shar, they can immediately embark on this trial. They will find themselves confronting a party that possesses identical gear and abilities. While it is possible to gain an advantage by removing weapons before the fight, it still poses a formidable challenge. The mirror party will attack with full force, without worrying about depleting spell slots.

Seeing players' strengths and weaknesses from the enemy's perspective is an intriguing way to approach the game. It can be devastating to encounter overpowered builds turned against the cast. After this initial challenge, the fight proceeds as usual, but the doppelgangers' ability to turn invisible can prove to be annoying, particularly for players without area-of-effect abilities. However, despite any inconveniences, witnessing such a direct clash is still highly worthwhile. Additionally, the upgraded Spear of Night, one of the best spears in Baldur's Gate 3, more than compensates for any frustrations.

The true brilliance of Baldur's Gate 3's utilization of doppelgangers shines in the third act, once players finally arrive at the city after which the game is named. At this point, players are introduced to all the key antagonists, including Orin, a ruthless shapeshifter who is also Bhaal's Chosen.

Orin takes great pleasure in manipulating the player, assuming the identities of individuals she has kidnapped and likely killed. Her psychological manipulation reaches its peak when she disguises herself as a kidnapped party member, using them as leverage to coerce players into eliminating Lord Envor Gortash first. The element of surprise is heightened as Orin seamlessly infiltrates the team before revealing her true intentions, adding depth to the narrative and impacting gameplay dynamics for party compositions in Baldur's Gate 3.

Throughout this stage of the game, smaller moments exploit the use of doppelgangers to intensify tension. These shapeshifters have successfully infiltrated various groups by eliminating and impersonating actual members. This gradual revelation of Orin's twisted pleasure in causing fear and confusion unfolds over many hours, creating unsettling surprises when enemies turn out to be shapeshifters or when areas reveal the disposal of victims. Not every shapeshifter may be uncovered by players, further showcasing the effective implementation.

Baldur's Gate 3 is out now for PC and will release September 6 for PS5.