How to kill Thaos - hints | Pillars of Eternity Pillars of Eternity Guide

Thaos is the final boss of Pillars of Eternity. You will be forced to fight him after you've reached the last chamber in Breith Eaman (map M59 in our walkthrough). This fight takes place as a part of the last main quest of the game entitled Memories of the Ancients. Sadly you won't be able to avoid the last boss and the other bad news is that Thaos poses a big challenge.

Preparations before the fight

• Once you've entered Breith Eaman (it's the last location of the game and it's Thaos's place of residence) you WON'T be allowed to go back to the Burial Isle or to any other location you've visited earlier while playing the game. This means you must be prepared for this one-way trip that will end with a battle with the final boss. It's good to be ensured and to create a savegame just before using the hole in the Burial Isle. Thanks to this you can go back to the main part of the map if something goes wrong and you'll have a chance to make better preparations.
• IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you sufficiently develop all the team members that will take part in the final duel. You shouldn't venture to Thaos's lair unless they've all advanced to the 12th experience level. Use side quests to gather more experience if it's needed.
• Make sure to allow your team members to rest before going to Breith Eaman. It's highly recommended that you use the inn in Twin Elms or your keep in Caed Nua so that the rest will be rewarded with a bonus to one or more character stastistics (might, dexterity and constitution are among the ones you should be interested in).
• Another important element of the preparations before the main battle is to collect as many supplies as possible. Focus on taking all the useable items (potions, scrolls etc.) you have, especially since you won't be needing them later on. The game won't allow you to freely explore the world after you've killed Thaos so now's the moment to use the best items you've been saving up for the toughest challenges.
• Useable items aren't the only objects you should remember about. Equipment items of all of your team members are equally important. Try to secure the best possible weapons and armor for them - these items should be enchanted so that they will offer the best quality and they should also provide increased resistance to elements.
• Just before you begin the final battle order your warriors to consume potions which will increase their offense and which will make it easier for them to stay alive on the battlefield (large health and constitution potions are a good idea). As for the characters that fight using ranged weapons and spells, you can order them to drink potions that increase perception and their defenses. It's also recommended to consume some of the more exotic food which grants big statistics boosts for the next few minutes - dragon egg dish, svef and whiteleaf are our recommendations. Finally, use the potions and/or spells that increase resistance to elements. Focus on fire and electricity since a lot of Thaos's attack include these types of elements damage.

Fight description - the beginning

• After the battle with Thaos has started order your team members to begin attacking the boss so that he starts losing health points as soon as possible. Thaos will be joined by two animated statues - Woedica's Judge and Headsman. You can't ignore them completely, however they shouldn't be the primary focus of your attacks at the moment. You can try avoiding the statues by ordering your heroes to constantly move from one spot to another, you can try to slow them down using certain abilities, traps and summoned creatures or you can order one of your warriors (only if you've got at least two of them under your command) to start distracting them, allowing the rest of the team to keep attacking Thaos.
• It's very important to issue correct orders to your heroes throughout this entire battle. If one of your characters prefers melee fighting then that person should be attacking Thaos personally, inflicting direct damage. If one of your heroes prefers to fight using ranged attacks (archers, mages etc.) then that person should maintain safe distance from both the main boss as well as the animated statues. There's also one more thing that youi must do with your ranged characters - it's extremely important to disperse them. They can't be standing close to each other, because otherwise a single area attack from the boss may harm them. If they're standing far from each other than the type of attack I mentioned will injure only one character.
• Check if some of your heroes are capable of summoning creatures to the battlefield and use these skills if it's possible (at the very beginning of the battle). You're free to choose what you want to do with the summoned creatures and it also depends on the current situation on the battlefield. They can join your team members and start attacking Thaos or they can provide assistance in distracting the animated statues.
• Your warriors shouldn't be focused solely on injuring Thaos, because it's also up to them to distract the boss and to prevent him from attacking weaker team members. Use their defensive abilities if they're available - Guardian Stance is one of the skills you should be interested in the most. Don't bother trying to knock down Thaos using warrior's attacks, because his resistance to these types of actions is very high. If you have at least two warriors in your team it's best to order them to attack the boss from two different sides, because it will grant you an additional bonus received from flanking the enemy.
• Archers, mages and other ranged attackers from your team should keep using their offensive attacks and they obviously should be aimed at the boss. Your mages can rely on powerful spells (fireballs etc.), however it's also a good idea to use magic which paralyzes your enemies. One of these spells is Gaze of the Adragan and using will petrify Thaos for a longer period of time.
• Monitor what your distant attackers are doing at all times. Act immediately if you notice that their life is danger. There are many different ways how you can react - you can heal them, move them to a different part of the chamber or send someone else to help them or to protect them.
• You shouldn't forget about your "supporting" heroes while fighting Thaos and the statues. By supporting characters I mean druids, wizards, priests and ciphers. They should be used often to cast spells and to activate abilities which strengthen other members of your team. You can also rely on them if you want to weaken your enemies (lowering their resistance to certain types of attacks) and if you want to decrease their deflection rate (improved chances of your attacks being successful).
• It's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you don't use all of the available useable items, skills and spells (especially the ones from higher levels) during the initial part of the battle. You must remember that the final fight is long and difficult so it's crucial that you leave some of these special attacks for later. The same thing applies to your team members. You can't afford one of them dying too soon, because losing one or more characters will result in an even bigger struggle later in the battle.

Fight description - further on

• Keep fighting until Thaos has lost about half of his health points. The boss should transfer his soul to one of the animated statues - to Woedica's Judge or Headsman. Don't attack the statue with the boss just yet. INSTEAD attack the soulless statue first. Focus all of your efforts on eliminating this statue as soon as possible so that you won't be bothered by its attacks later in the battle. Important hint - Your warriors should be using piercing attacks (choose the correct weapons for them) while fighting the statues, because they're more effective.
• Once the first statue has been destroyed you may begin attacking the remaining one (with Thaos's soul). You will have an easier job from now on, because there's only one more hostile on the battlefield. Continue attacking the second animated statue until it's been eliminated as well.
• Destroying both statues will force Thaos to return to his original form. The bad news is that he will regain of all of his health points in the process so you'll basically have to begin this duel from scratch (the only difference is he doesn't have statues anymore for backup). The good news is that you don't have to hold off with your supplies, skills and spells any longer. Throw everything at him since there aren't new phases of this battle ahead. The boss may try to use mind attacks to put fear in your team members or to stun them in some of other way. As a result you should try using potions or spells to increase the resistance of your heroes to these types of attacks. The battle with Thaos will end after he's lost of all his health.

Additional notes

• You shouldn't waste your time trying to use traps during the final fight, especially since the game won't allow you to place them before the start of the battle. You can make an exception if you've collected some very rare and powerful traps that could seriously injure Thaos or one of the statues after it's been triggered.
• Don't worry if some of your team members will die near the end of the battle. Their death won't cause an instant failure. You will win the duel with Thaos as long as you'll have at least one active team member when the boss is defeated.