Baldur’s Gate 3: How To Defeat The Bulette

Tired of playing whack-a-Bulette in the Underdark? Here’s how to get some revenge.

Baldur's Gate 3 has no shortage of bosses and mini-bosses for you to fight, and as you wander the Sword Coast, you're bound to discover new and interesting enemies around every corner. Some bosses must be actively sought out, but others will find you before you even have a chance to detect their presence.

The Bulette is one such boss who can only be fought on its terms. Unlike other bosses in the environment, you can't sneak up on this stealthy subterranean creature. The Bulette will sneak up on you. If you're struggling to take down the Bulette, or you're tired of being ambushed, here's everything you need to know to beat it.

What Is The Bulette?

The Bulette is a subterranean mole-like creature that pops up randomly as you explore the Underdark.

As you roam through the mushroomed caverns and glowing locales of the Underdark, you will encounter strange rumblings that shake the earth. These rumblings are usually followed by a line of disturbed earth streaking past. Both are warning signs that the Bulette is present.

Sometimes, these earthquakes will only last a few seconds before ultimately ceasing, but other times, the Bulette will burrow out from under the ground and initiate a battle with you.

How To Find The Bulette

There is no way to predict when or where the Bulette will pop up, but you will always be warned by the tell-tale tremor and dirt trail that it leaves behind.

Pay attention to the direction of the dirt trail that the Bulette leaves. You will be able to more accurately predict where it spawns and can have a few extra seconds of planning as you decide how to deal with it.

You can also toggle the turn-based mode when you see the trail appear. This will allow you to get your party members into position before the Bulette pops up.

The Bulette does not always appear when it tunnels around you. Sometimes, it will simply knock your character over and then tunnel away. If you can't knock the Bulette out fast enough, it will retreat after a round or two and tunnel back into the earth.

You won't be able to predict where the Bulette will reappear, but it usually doesn't target the same location twice.

If you're frustrated about the Bulette retreating after you've done a good amount of damage, don't worry. When the Bulette reappears, it willnot be in full health. Each time the Bulette uses the Burrow action, it regains HP, but if you've hit it enough, it won't get back to full health in time for your next encounter.

Make sure to save, Short Rest, and Long Rest frequently. The more frequently you're at your full HP maximum , the less likely the Bulette will catch you unawares while you're already injured.

Confirmed Bulette Ambush Locations

We can't guarantee where you will find the Bulette in your playthrough, but we've been ambushed in a few places around the Underdark.

Here's a list of every place we've been ambushed in the past:

• By the Minotaurs guarding the entrance of the temple.
• By the Phalar Aluve.
• On the platform underneath where the Spectator spawns.
• By Filro the Forgotten and his Hook Horrors.
• Outside of the Myconid Colony.

If we get jumped by the Bulette in any other locations, we'll come back and update this list for you so you have an idea of where you might expect to be ambushed.

How To Defeat The Bulette

Defeating the Bulette may seem impossible upon your first encounter, but there are ways to make this challenging fight a little less daunting.

Don't forget, if a battle is still too difficult for you, you can always change your difficulty settings . It's okay to prioritize having a good time over beating a fight at the hardest difficulty level.

The best way to prepare yourself for fighting the Bulette (or any enemy, for that matter) is to familiarize yourself with the enemy's weaknesses and skills.

Use the 'Examine' option on any boss or item you want to take a r look at. The 'Examine' tab will show you the boss's classification, size, resistances, and so much more.

The Bulette's Stats

The Bulette's Ability Scores are as follows:

The Bulette also has a proficiency bonus of +3 and, despite being an ambush predator, an Initiative bonus of +0.

These stats were calculated in the Balanced Gamemode.

On top of being one beefy bully, the Bulette is also resistant to Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning, and Acid damage. It does not have any known weaknesses for any damage types.

Some good damage types to target the Bulette with are Fire, Thunder, Psychic, Electricity, and Ice damage. Essentially, avoid hitting the Bulette with any damage type that it is resistant to. Resistance will halve the efficacy of your attacks of those damage types.

The Bulette's Abilities

The Bulette has more than just its size going for it. Alongside its prowess as an ambush predator, the Bulette also has the following combat abilities:

The Bulette also has a few passive abilities at its disposal. Not only can the Bulette use Opportunity Attacks and see in the dark up to a distance of 12 m, it is also highly territorial.

The Bulette's Teritorial ability means that it will always attack other monstrosities before attacking any smaller prey. This means that if there is a larger creature in the vicinity, the Bulette will route towards them, instead of anyone else.

In cases where the Bulette appears by creatures like the Minotaurs, this means that the Bulette will prioritize taking down the Minotaur and not your party. This can work to your advantage. Try to pit the Bulette against other monstrous creatures when possible.

Outside general combat, the Bulette can also use the Burrow action. This action allows the Bulette to burrow under the ground and recover some of its hit points. It can recover up to 8d8 + 10 HP after using the Burrow action.

To avoid a prolonged fight, try to render the Bulette unconscious or hit it with heavy damage attacks as soon as possible. You don't want to allow it to heal.

Tips For Battling The Bulette

Even though you can't determine exactly where the Bulette will spawn, you still have options for how to make the most of your fight.

Improve Your Initiative

One of the biggest issues with the Bulette fight is that no matter where the Bulette pops up, it will always ambush you. It's difficult to prepare a defense against an enemy that you never see coming, but not impossible.

Party members with Initiative boosts — like those gained from skills, weapons, armor, or spells — will suffer less severely when ambushed, and will rank further up in the Initiative order. Some abilities even prevent characters from being ambushed at all.

There's no guarantee that you'll be able to determine the Initiative order yourself, but having Initiative bonuses will help you avoid being stuck too far back in the order. This is especially important in areas where the Bulette will ambush you near other hostile entities.

The Bulette does not ally with any other Underdark creatures because it is Territorial. Other hostile entities will hunt the Bulette and vice versa during combat.

Utilize High Ground

The next best thing you can do to gain the upper hand is to find an upper ledge. Yes, we mean literally! The Bulette can't easily navigate multi-story terrain and will have difficulty using Melee Attacks on targets at higher elevations.

While you can't predict where you'll end up battling the Bulette, you can still examine and use the environment to your advantage.

Taking the high ground also gives you an Advantage within the game's combat mechanics. Having the high ground means that you'll roll all of your Attack Dice twice and automatically use the highest result. This may not seem like much, but it'll add up over time.

Certain abilities, like Astarion's Sneak Attack, can only be triggered if you have an Advantage. He won't automatically get an Advantage from having the high ground, but in some combat scenarios, a high ground Advantage is enough to trigger his powerful Sneak Attack ability.

The high ground also protects you from any splash damage, blanket damage, or area effects you might cast on the Bulette. Having your battleground split into two areas is a great way to make sure you are isolating the Bulette and protecting your party from friendly fire.

Use Blanket Cover Attacks

Because the Bulette can burrow underground and maneuver around the battlefield stealthily, it can easily get out of range of your party's attacks. One of the best ways to ensure that you're doing the most damage is to cast area effects and blanket cover spells.

Spells like the Ranger's Spike Growth, cast a powerful, multi-turn areal effect on the theater of battle and ensure that with every step the Bulette takes, it's taking sustained damage. Spike Growth and some other terrain spells will also reduce the Bulette's movement, sometimes as much as by half.

Any spell or ability that affects a wide area can be used to your advantage. If you're low on spell slots or were ambushed without a spell-caster in your party, you can use grenades, arrows, spell scrolls, and even the Underdark's many dangerous mushrooms.

Triggering a Bibberbang mushroom can be just as effective as throwing a grenade.

Bulette Loot

Once you have successfully defeated the Bulette, you can loot its corpse and obtain the following items:

• Bloodguzzler Garb — Grants the wearer Wrath when attacked by an enemy.
• Bones
• Bucket
• Shovel