The Orphic Hammer is one of the more important items/weapons that you can find in Baldur’s Gate 3. While you won’t even know what it is until Act Three, it can play a vital role in what kind of ending you get.
The main purpose of the Orphic Hammer is to break Prince Orpheus from his bonds in the Astral Prism. The Emperor has trapped Orpheus in the prism to stop the tadpole in your head from fully taking you over. With the Orphic Hammer, however, you are able to disobey the Emperor and see if Orpheus is able to use his strength to help you defeat the Elder Brain.
If that’s the route you want to take in BG3, you will need to know all of the ways to acquire the Orphic Hammer.
Warning: There are spoilers for some quests in Act Three of the game in the guide below.
Both ways to get the Orphic Hammer in BG3
There are two ways to add the Orphic Hammer to your inventory in BG3. Both of them involve the devil, Raphael, so you will need to speak to him at Sharess’ Caress at some point during Act Three to progress the questline regarding Prince Orpheus. And it’s at Sharess’ Caress where you can first get the Orphic Hammer.
We will explain both of the ways to acquire the Orphic Hammer below.
Making a deal with Raphael
At Sharess’ Caress, Raphael is in a private room at the top of the building. You can speak to the woman at the front desk of the establishment to learn exactly where the devil is located.
After making your way into Raphael’s room, he will speak to you about a possible deal. The deal involves Raphael curing you of your tadpole and giving you the Orphic Hammer in exchange for handing over the Crown of Karsus to him (once you get it from the Elder Brain).
Obviously, this deal is an entirely other matter. If you choose to accept the deal, however, Raphael actually will hand over the hammer without any fuss. The Orphic Hammer is a legendary weapon that you need to equip and use on the two bonds that are holding Orpheus in the Astral Prism. For us, we didn’t get to return to the Astral Prism until near the end of Act 3, so that’s when you will get the chance to use it and free Orpheus, if you wish.
Stealing the Orphic Hammer from Raphael
If you choose to not make a deal with Raphael, then you will not receive the Orphic Hammer from him directly. But you will be able to steal it from the devil at a point later on in Act 3.
To steal the Orphic Hammer, you need to:
- Head to the Devil’s Fee building in the northern part of the Lower City.
- Speak to the shop owner if you have progressed the “Free Orpheus” questline far enough.
- If you haven’t progressed Free Orpheus, you need to steal five ritual ingredients from the upstairs rooms.
- With the ritual items, you can enter a portal to hell and more specifically, the House of Hope.
This is Raphael’s home, and here you are able to access his Archive room. One of the items in the Archives is the Orphic Hammer. By distracting the Archvisit in the House of Hope, you can steal the Orphic Hammer and add it to your inventory.
- You will need to disable the protective shield around the hammer to do this, though.
- This requires you to press a button underneath a painting in the boudoir to access a safe.
- Before this happens, though, you need to kill Haarleep and loot his body for the safe key.
- Inside the safe, you will find the passcode to disarm the protective shield inside a book.
- With this new information, go back to the Archives, say the passcode near the shield, and it will drop, allowing you to take the hammer.
Remember to have the Archvisit distracted during this sequence so he doesn’t catch you in the act.
Regardless, stealing the hammer will make Raphael fight you, so be prepared for that fight.
How to beat Raphael in BG3
Here are Raphael’s stats:
- STR: 18
- DEX: 28
- CON: 17
- INT: 14
- WIS: 16
- CHA:19
- HP: 666
- AC: 27
- Initiative: +9
- Passive Features: Darkvision, Devil’s Site, Fiendish Blessing, Inevitable Resolve, Infernal Retribution, Magic Resistance, Opportunity Attack, Soul Pillar Proximity, Soul Reaper.
To beat Raphael, you will want to destroy the Soul Pillars first. We recommend bringing a powerful fighter type to this battle like Lae’zel. She will help you capitalize on crits as well as tear down the pillars. He is almost impossible to defeat with the pillars up, so make sure to get rid of them.
Next, take down his cambion minions. The spells, Magic Missile, Curriculum of Strategy: Artistry of War, or any spell that attacks multiple enemies at once would be useful against the cambions.
Raphael is a formidable foe, so the spell, Hold Monster will become useful as it will hold him making it impossible for him to move. Whack at him with Slashing, critical hits, necrotic and thunder damage and Raphael will fall.
Thunder and Necrotic spells are very effective against Raphael.
Once Raphael is dealt with and you’re satisfied with your time in the House of Hope, you can leave and keep the Orphic Hammer in your possession. When the time comes to enter the Astral Prism, you can use it to free Orpheus.
Those are the only two ways we found to acquire the Orphic Hammer in BG3.
