BG3 Szarr's Palace guide: Should you let Astarion perform the ritual?

Of all the wicked characters you meet throughout Baldur's Gate 3, few are as evil as the vampire lord Cazador Szarr. With Astarion in tow, once you reach the Lower City it’s time to face Cazador head on and put a stop to his legacy of villainy.

However, Cazador didn’t get to be the head of a bloodthirsty brood of vampires by being a pushover.

Defeating him inside his own home, Szarr’s Palace, will not be a simple task unless you’re well prepared.

Before you try to complete the quest in Szarr’s Palace, make sure your party contains a character who can cast the “Daylight” spell (like Shadowheart). Who would’ve thought the power of the Sun would come in handy inside a nest of vampires?

Where to find Szarr’s Palace

To get to Szarr Palace and complete Astarion’s quest with Cazador, you need to go to the Central Wall sigil circle and climb up the stairs in the central watchtower directly behind it.

Up on the wall, you can open the door to the Szarr Palace.

Enter and climb the ladder. You will be stopped by guards, but they’re just charmed citizens as Astarion mentions. Pass a check and you will be allowed to pass and given a key. Climb the stairs and go through the doors to the ramparts. Approach the door and it opens with a click.

Szarr's Palace walkthrough

Enter the Palace and you find yourself in an opulent reception room. Speak to Vilhelm and he’ll say you’ve missed the start of the ritual and that the key to the sealed doors is with Godey.

Make your way down the staircase and go around the corner. Pass a perception check and you unveil the door to the kennel, where the keeper Godey resides. He’s skulking by the door, so speak to him there. Astarion takes over, but you will need to pass a deception or intimidation check to avoid a fight. Then you need to pass a second check to weasel the key from him.

Before you head back upstairs, break down the cursed door with a ranged attack or spell, then tank past the curse or remove it with the Remove Curse spell if you’re able. On the girl’s body, you find a note discussing ancient text which can help you move around the palace. The book with the words inside is found in the mahogany wardrobe next to the bed.

Back at the arcane door upstairs, press the signet ring to the slot and speak the words from the book and it will swing open. Inside, you find an interesting party underway. Enter and you’re engaged by Gheris Hhune. He recognises Astarion and gets pushy, eventually starting a battle between you and the rest of the animals.

It’s a relatively straightforward fight because the animals all have low health, but you will need to burn some AoE to stop their damage from racking up.

If you want an optional diversion, in the northeast corner of the room enter the tower and climb the iron ladder. At the top press the button on the wall. Go through the door on the wall, then the second door at the end of the corridor.

Then there’s another button on the wall of the room you find yourself in. Ungroup your party and press the button then send one person in to loot the chests. Then, when the door closes, press the button again to let them out.

Either way, back in the ballroom where you fought the werewolves, look in the southwest corner and you find a door marked “Office Hall”. Go through and search the office across the hall if you wish, but what you’re really looking for is the “dias”. Interact with the elevator and it will take you deeper into the depths of the Palace.

You find yourself in a cavernous crypt. Walk forward and interact with the entombing clotted door. It too can be opened with the signet ring you got from Comey, but inside you find a prison full of sacrifices for the ritual. Sebastian, one of the prisoners, talks to Astarion and you get some backstory, revealing that these are the people Cazador forced Astarion to seduce and bring to the palace. You can leave Astarion to answer, or persuade them to be set free.

Speak to Astarion afterwards and he’s resolved to sacrifice them to perform the ritual because they will cause havoc if unleashed, but you can try and talk him around if you wish. Among these poor captives are the Gur children you were tasked to find by the elder in Rivington if you spoke to her. This means that the “good” path is to set them free.

Before you continue, return to the first corridor and on a side path is another door you can open with your ring. Interact with the skull on the cushion and witness its memories. It is the previous vampire lord, Vellioth - a contemptible creature who taught Cazador everything he knows about pain and psychological suffering.

You need to pass a succession of Wisdom checks to learn about the cruelty of the vampires and what was inflicted on Cazador like he has inflicted on others. Upon passing all of the checks, the skull’s jaw opens and reveals the Black Mass scroll, which will allow Astarion to perform the profane ritual and take the power from Cazador, if that’s the path you wish to take of course. One last trick from Cazador’s former master.

How to defeat Cazador in Szarr’s Palace

Make a save and head down to the far end of the prison. You now have a choice of whether you want to play the fight with Cazador Szarr “properly”, or cheese it from the start.

If you want an easier ride in this incredibly tough battle, simply sneak up to the arena, cast Daylight in the middle of the room without even bothering to talk to Cazador, then begin the battle against a much, much easier foe.

Otherwise, start a conversation and you interrupt Cazador mid-ritual. He’s straight on the acid-tongue offensive and after some goading, envelops Astarion with Vampiric magic. With your remaining characters, you need to take on Cazador, his ghouls, and his werewolves.

Characters with AoE or Spirit Guardians are good here, because it lets you zone off areas and stop the beasts from swamping you.

Also, Cazador has a vampiric regeneration ability that will powerfully heal him every round. To stop it, you need to continually hit him with radiant damage or conjure sunlight. He also drains power from the runes at the base of each of his thralls. Walk over the runes to steal the buff and deal extra damage. You have to remain on the rune to steal the power, however, which can be clunky.

After three uninterrupted turns of ritual juice sucking, Cazador will have completed the ritual and you fail the fight. It doesn’t matter if you stand on the sigils, this still happens.

So basically, Shadowheart, or any character who can cast the Level 3 Spell Daylight is vital for this fight because they turn off many of Cazador’s more OP abilities, including the mist form and passive health regen. You then actually stand a chance of spamming him down before the ritual is complete.

The reason this is so much easier if you cheese the fight by not speaking to Cazador is that Astarion isn’t swept up by the ritual. This means he is both able to help with the fight but also that Cazador is left without the buffs from the Black Mass.

When Cazador is defeated, search the sarcophagus. In a standoff between Astarion and Cazador, the elder vampire reveals that Astarion will be sacrificed even if it’s him that completes the ritual, such is the wording of the runes.

However, Astarion says he can get around it. You can either acquiesce and help, or try to talk him down, knowing it will kill the others. Here, you can persuade him or try an Insight check. With the Insight check, you get a different, easier persuasion check, which will tug at the notion that ascending in Cazador’s place won’t fill the need for freedom he craves.

If you convince him in this way, Astarion agrees, approves, and kills Cazador. The other thralls drop to the ground and comfort Astarion. You can then choose to either free the people in the cells or kill them. If you free them, Astarion tells the others to lead them into the Underdark to start a new life away from the city. This sequence of events can be considered the “good” ending.

As a reward, you get Cazador’s staff, Woe. It gives you Blight as an always prepared spell and heals you whenever enemies fail a saving throw. Also on Cazador’s body you find his signet ring and unique dagger, Rhapsody, which gives bonus damage for each enemy you slay up to +3 and inflicts bleeding when you sneak attack.

If you choose to let Astarion go through with the ritual, he asks you to link your minds so you can see the runes on his back and copy them onto Cazador. It’s brutal, but it works.

Pretty much all of your party disagrees and disapproves, but if you let him continue, he gains new powers. These include the ridiculously powerful Ascendent Bite and Misty Escape as Cazador uses in the boss fight. Speak to him afterwards and it’s obvious that this is the “evil” path, with Astarion saying he’ll begin making spawn and repeating the mistakes of the past immediately.

Throughout the conclusion of the game, Astarion is much more content with the “happy/good” ending to his quest, while the latter is more in keeping with his persona at the start of the game and an “evil” playthrough.

Whichever you choose, search the sarcophagus before you leave and grab Cazador’s bank vault key, which you may well have looted already while completing the Counting House quest. It contains a unique crossbow that’s strong against undead creatures.

As you go to leave, Ulma is waiting for you (likely to avoid you having to go through the venture forth transition to speak to you). She will thank you for slaying Cazador, and remark on your decision regarding the enthralled spawn in the cells. As a vampire slayer, she’s pleased if you destroy them, but is also receptive to your choice if you let them flee to the underdark - among their number are the Gur children who were captured.

This fully completes the Cazador’s palace entry in your journal and nets the Gur as yet another ally on your side against the Elder Brain.