You’ve finally reached the Lower City. The Steel Watch is breathing down your neck, and you’ve heard the whispers about the poor Gnomes being forced to build Gortash’s private army. Saving the Gondians is, honestly, one of the most frustrating, rewarding, and buggy headaches in all of Baldurs Gate 3.
It's a multi-stage rescue op that tests your patience more than your tactical skill.
Most players charge into the Steel Watch Foundry like it’s just another dungeon crawl. Big mistake. If you do that, the Gondians are basically as good as dead. You have to understand the leverage Gortash has over them. It’s not just the explosive collars; it’s the fact that their families are being held in a literal underwater ticking time bomb.
The Iron Throne: Don't Go to the Foundry First
Seriously, stop. If you walk into the Foundry and start a fight before visiting the Iron Throne, you’re making life way harder.
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The Gondians won’t help you. Why would they? They think if they stop working, Gortash will execute their families. You need to head to Flymm Cargo first. Look for a basement hatch hidden under some crates. Down there, you’ll find a guy named Redhammer and his submarine.
Survival is a Numbers Game
Once you dock at the Iron Throne, Gortash is going to blow the place. You have a very limited window—typically 5 to 8 turns depending on your difficulty setting. On Tactician, it's a tight 5.
- Split the party. This isn't a "stay together" moment. Send one person South to grab Omeluum (he can teleport himself and one other person back to the sub instantly).
- Send a high-mobility character West. This is where most of the Gondians are.
- The East corridor is for Duke Ravengard. If you broke Wyll’s pact, Mizora will show up to mess with you here. Bring a healer or someone with Dimension Door to bail the Duke out when the spiders spawn.
- Haste is your best friend. Every single character should either have a Potion of Speed or someone casting Haste on them.
The Sahuagin are mostly distractions. Don't waste your whole turn killing them. Just open the cells and keep moving. The Gondians are smart enough to run for the ladder, but they aren't fast.
Saving the Gondians in the Steel Watch Foundry
Now that the families are safe (or at least, the ones you managed to pull out), the workers in the Foundry will actually fight back.
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But here’s the thing: Gondian AI is... special. They have a weird habit of Misty Stepping directly into the blast radius of a dying Steel Watcher. I’ve watched a Gnome eat three opportunity attacks just to cast a low-level Grease spell on a robot that’s already immune to it.
Controlling the Chaos
When you enter the main floor of the Foundry, you’ll see the Gondians rebelling. Your priority isn't the robots; it's the Motivators. The Banite guards will drop these purple handheld devices when they die or get low on health.
Deactivate them immediately. It takes an Action. If you ignore them, every Gondian in the room dies instantly. It doesn't matter if you've killed every guard; if that timer hits zero, the quest is a failure.
In the Lab level below, it’s even worse. You’ll be fighting Hellfire Watchers and multiple Banites. Use Banishment on the Steel Watchers to take them out of the fight for a few turns while you mop up the guards. If you have any Flashblinders (you can buy these or craft them using Behir Scales), use them. They blind and paralyze robots, which is a literal life-saver for the suicidal Gnomes.
The Zanner Toobin Problem
Zanner is the blind Gnome leader. You need him—or at least his brain—to blow up the factory without using the Ironhand's Runepowder bomb.
Honestly, Zanner is a liability in combat. If he dies, you can still finish the quest by using Speak with Dead on his corpse or by finding his journal in the security office to get the "True Name of Gond" password.
If you want the "good" ending where the Gondians survive as a people, you have to keep him alive through the final boss fight against the Steel Watcher Titan.
Pro tip: Leave Zanner at the entrance of the final room. You can trigger the boss fight with your main party while he stays safely out of range of the Titan’s Hellfire missiles.
What Really Happens if You Save Everyone?
Here’s the cold truth: the game doesn't give you a massive "You Won!" screen for saving every single Gondian.
If you save the families and the workers, Zanner will thank you, and they’ll promise to help in the final battle. In the latest updates (Patch 7 and beyond), you actually get a "Steel Watcher" summon or Gondian support as part of your "Gather Your Allies" quest.
If you let them die and just use the Runepowder bomb, Wulbren Bongle will be happy, but Barcus Wroot will be devastated. Siding with the Gondians usually means sticking it to Wulbren, which, let’s be honest, feels pretty good given what a jerk he is.
Actionable Strategy for your next run
- Stockpile Potions of Speed. You’ll need at least 4 for the Iron Throne and another 4 for the Foundry.
- Bring "Teleportation" Spells. Misty Step, Dimension Door, and Arcane Gate are non-negotiable if you want a 100% survival rate.
- Focus the Motivators. In the Foundry, your eyes should always be on the ground looking for those purple crystals.
- Kill the Titan quickly. Use Lightning damage (Witch Bolt, Chain Lightning) to double your damage against the boss.
Don't beat yourself up if one or two die. The Gondian AI is notoriously reckless, and sometimes the dice just don't go your way. As long as you disable the Foundry, Gortash’s power is broken. That's the main goal.