Baldurs Gate 3: How To Complete House Of Hope (Walkthrough)

The Nine Hells are not a place you can travel to outside the prologue to Baldur’s Gate 3 unless you try to reach the devil Raphael’s House of Hope in Avernus. This dungeon holds many secrets and is where Raphael has enslaved other creatures and kept many contracts of infernal dealings. Legendary items can be stolen here, but only if you’re willing to face one of the game’s hardest bosses.

Avernus contains many treasures despite the presence of one of Baldur’s Gate 3‘s most despicable villains. However, it is an understatement to say the House of Hope is full of perils, so make sure your party is at least between Levels 10 or 12 before you even consider traveling there. This dungeon should be one of the last locations you try to challenge as you reach your adventure’s end.

How To Reach The House Of Hope

Perform A Dangerous Ritual For A Cost

The House of Hope can only be reached by performing the Helsik Ritual. One of the best things to do in Act 3 is to visit the NPC Helisk in the Devil’s Fee shop, where you can buy items needed for the Ritual for around 20,000 Gold. A good Persuasion or Intimidation check can convince Helisk to lower this price to 10,000 Gold, but only if you promise to steal an artifact from the House.

The Helsik Ritual is a puzzle that involves placing five items in the right spots within a blood-stained circle. If Helisk permits you, this circle is easily found in the upper levels of the Devil’s Fee, right inside a doorway normally guarded by an exploding rune on the ground. A special book handed over by Helisk after making another bargain details where each ritual object goes in a drawn pentagram.

As you can see in the above video by ZaFrostPet, once you’ve placed everything in the right spot, a portal will open that you and your party can travel through. There’s no turning back at this point, so make sure your group is well-rested and ready for anything.

How To Travel Inside The House of Hope

Earn The Caretaker’s Trust

Enacting the ritual will transport you to Avernus after creating a portal, and introduce you to the House of Hope’s caretaker almost immediately. This NPC, Hope, has been magically enslaved and charmed to watch over this place for Raphael in Baldur’s Gate 3. You’ll have to pass a few dialogue checks with Hope to prevent her from calling upon the House’s defenders to attack your party on the spot.

Gaining Hope’s trust is crucial since she can give everyone in your party a disguise to let you travel around the House. This illusion transforms your group into debtors, or people who can not find a way to meet Raphael’s devil contracts and are forced into servitude. This outfit gives you room to explore this hell-bound home to search for treasure or other bits of information in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Every Major Location in the House of Hope

Explore Everywhere In This Hellish Abode

There are four locations that you should consider visiting in the House of Hope, including the Portal Room, the Archive, the Mystic Force Curtain, and Hope’s Prison. The Portal Room is where you entered the House, and hosts several other gateways to other realms. Unlike Raphael, your party can’t use these portals to travel to other areas like Chult or Neverwinter, so don’t bother trying to interact with them.

The west area of the House hosts the Archive, which is overseen by a character known as the Archivist in Baldur’s Gate 3. This figure is hostile at first, but they can be intimidated into complying with your party. If you travel through the Foyer instead of the Feast Hall, you may learn that the Archivist fears Inquisitors of Zariel, and would bend over backwards to accommodate one if they ever visited.

Impersonating a Zariel Inquisitor should give you full access to the Archive, but this also gives you a chance to pass through the Mystic Force Curtain deeper in the House. Going through the Curtain leads to The Boudoir, which acts as Raphael’s personal bedroom. If you head back to the Portal Room, you may find a hidden trapdoor that reveals Hope’s Prison, which is guarded by two Observer enemies.

At first, you won’t be able to do much about Hope’s imprisonment since she is locked in place by two magical crystals that bind her to the House. The only way to destroy these bindings is to find the Orphic Hammer; a legendary artifact capable of shattering Hope’s restraints for good in Baldur’s Gate 3.

How To Get the Orphic Hammer and Free Hope

Rescue Your Only Ally In The House

The Orphic Hammer is an important item for a lot of quests in Baldur’s Gate 3 and is the one weapon that can free the Githyanki Prince Orpheus. Raphael could have given you this item before, but it would have been as a result of an infernal contract promising the devil the Crown of Karsus. Making a binding deal for your character’s soul is one of the many hard choices you can make throughout your journey in the game.

The Hammer is located in the Archive but is sealed by a magical barrier that asks for a specific phrase to unlock it. Go to The Boudoir and talk to the incubus Haarlep who rests on Raphael’s bed in Baldur’s Gate 3. This infernal creature can offer you the location of a secret safe that contains the code you need, and also give you the key to the container.

However, Haarlep will not help you rob their master for free. You have the choice to give up a part of yourself, either your body or soul. Handing over both will kill your character, but exchanging one of these aspects will satisfy the infernal creature enough to aid your party with some information. This action can be a bit of a gamble, and many companions certainly won’t like interacting with Haarlep at all.

You can
attack and kill Haarlep for the safe key
if you want since The Boudoir area in
Baldur’s Gate 3
has a
magical pool that will heal your party
as if they had taken a long rest after the fight.

Cracking open the safe reveals Rapahel’s Notes, which contain the code needed to free the Hammer from its barrier. Stealing any item from the House of Hope will earn Raphael’s wrath, and transform the dungeon into a far more dangerous place. Fight your way back to Hope’s Prison through the newly hostile enemies and traps within the House, then destroy the crystals to finally free Hope.

How To Destroy Your Contract With Raphael

Free Your Soul From Damnation

Anyone who made a deal with Raphael for the Orphic Hammer can find their contract within the Archive. Like the Hammer, this binding deal to hand over the Crown of Karsus to Raphael is protected by an Impervious Sphere. The code from Raphael’s Notes will also break this bubble, and allow you to destroy your contract to become free of any deal made with the devil in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Stealing the contract will also evoke Raphael’s anger and cause the House of Hope to change. New enemies will attack your party along with massive
Flaming Spheres
that roll around to deal huge damage to any character that gets in their way.

Every Magical Item In The House of Hope

Rob Raphael For Everything He Has

Once you steal one item from the House of Hope, you might as well take everything in Raphael’s possession, as the whole dungeon becomes hostile. Travel back to the Archive and grab as much as your party can carry as you make your escape. If you spot an Inert Infernal Gem along one of the walls, you can unlock a hidden room with a DC 10 Wisdom and DC 20 Intelligence check to discover strong magical items.

A great
spell in
Baldur’s Gate 3

to use while grabbing the magical items in the House of Hope is
Greater Invisibility
, which prevents Raphael from discovering your party before you can collect any artifacts.

How To Beat Raphael

Take Down The Master Of The House

Returning to the Portal Room in an attempt to escape causes Raphael to suddenly appear and confront your party in Baldur’s Gate 3. This leads to an extremely tough boss fight, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. As you are talking to the devil, you can convince the hulking beast Orthon Yurgir to join your side with a DC 30 Persuasion check, which could give you a powerful ally.

Four Soul Pillars in the room give Raphael extra strength throughout the fight and should be destroyed quickly. The House of Hope’s master has several powerful devil cambions on his side, and Yurgir if you fail to persuade his help. Raphael himself is incredibly strong on his own, with tons of health and an incredibly high Armor class that makes them very hard to hit with attacks.

Those looking to find an easy way to kill Raphael should check out this video by YouTube creator
Dredizzle
that goes over some tips and tricks about the challenging boss fight!

Raphael uses strong spells and infernal abilities to deal heavy damage to characters in your party. In Baldur’s Gate 3, you can examine enemies to see their vulnerabilities and resistances, even on bosses like Raphael. The devil is obviously immune to Fire damage but has a notable weakness to Radiant damage that you might be able to exploit if you keep your party healed.

Best Party For Dealing With Raphael

One of the best ways to deal with Raphael is through a Cleric’s Divine Intervention, which can help deliver a blow of enormous Radiant damage to the devil. If you have Shadowheart as a companion in this fight, you may want to consider using this ability to bring celestial punishment.

Another great party member for this fight is Karlach, whose resistance to fire damage from her Tiefling heritage makes her perfect against Raphael’s forces. The Barbarian’s experience in the Nine Hells will also give you great insight into exploring the House of Hope earlier, despite her reluctance to be there again.

The third member of your party at the House besides your character could come from a variety of options. You could have Gale for powerful spellcasting, or Halsin for a tank capable of magic that impacts wide areas to encompass all of Raphael’s cambions. Whatever choice you make, keep in mind that Raphael doesn’t play fair, so neither should you.

Rewards For Completing The House Of Hope

Collect Powerful Artifacts And Return To Baldur’s Gate

Managing to defeat Raphael will reward you with the Helldusk Armor, which gives a character 21 AC and resistance to Fire damage. If you freed Hope earlier, you also receive the Gloves of Soul Catching as an item that gives Force damage to unarmed strikes and restores HP on every hit in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Once you take down the House’s master, you can use the portal Raphael arrived in to return to Baldur’s Gate and resume other activities in Act 3. Hope will come back with you, along with Yurgir if you manage to sway him to your side against the devil. Your party will all earn tons of experience for completing the quest tied to the House of Hope, alongside the benefits of destroying your contract if you had one.

The magic items from the House can all be used or sold for amazing prices, setting you up perfectly for any last tasks you have in the game’s final stages. Those who freed Hope and convinced Yurgir in the House of Hope can call upon both allies once again for the final battle of Baldur’s Gate 3‘s story, proving that not even the Nine Hells can stop the path of a true hero.

Source: YouTube/Dredizzle, ZaFrostPet/YouTube