Last updated: 3 July 2026

BG3 House of Hope Guide: All Items, Raphael & Escape

The House of Hope is Baldur's Gate 3's most rewarding optional dungeon — and the home of Raphael, the devil whose silky Act 1 monologue you likely still remember. The dungeon holds some of the best permanent loot in the game, a free full long rest hidden in a devil's bedroom, and an unforgettable boss fight with one of BG3's most theatrical villains. It is entirely optional, but skipping it means missing the Orphic Hammer (required to free the Emperor's true form), the Amulet of Greater Health, the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, and the Helldusk armour set. This guide covers entry to exit: the Helsik ritual to open the portal, every item and where it hides, how to get two powerful fight allies, and exactly how to take Raphael apart phase by phase.

01When to Go — and Why

The House of Hope is accessed in Act 3 via a ritual in the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. There is no fixed story requirement to enter, but the recommended party level is 11 or 12 — the Raphael fight is punishing below that threshold, particularly on Tactician or Honour Mode.

The main reasons to go:

• Orphic Hammer — required to break Prince Orpheus's chains in the Astral Prism if you want to free him as an ending option. Without it you cannot pursue that path.
• Amulet of Greater Health — sets Constitution to 23, giving a Constitution modifier of +6 and dramatically increasing HP and concentration save bonuses on whoever equips it.
• Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength — sets Strength to 27, effectively giving any non-martial character full carrying capacity and strong melee options.
• Helldusk Helmet and Helldusk Armour — two pieces of the best heavy armour set in the game, both obtainable in a single visit.
• Staff of Spellpower — a strong late-game staff that amplifies spell save DC.

Go before the end-game assault on Baldur's Gate. Once certain story triggers fire, the House of Hope may no longer be accessible. Visiting at the start of Act 3 gives you the most time to benefit from the loot.

02Getting In: The Helsik Ritual

The only way into the House of Hope is through a portal ritual performed at the Devil's Fee, a curio shop in the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. The proprietor, Helsik, is a tiefling dealer in infernal artefacts who knows how to open a temporary gate to the House of Hope.

You can learn about Helsik through several routes: reading reports in the Lower City, identifying hellish items sold in her shop, looting infernal curios from around the city, or — most directly — meeting Yurgir in Act 2's Gauntlet of Shar and helping him break his contract with Raphael. Yurgir will name Helsik directly.

Dealing with Helsik: She offers to open the portal in exchange for gold or service. Your options:

• Pay 20,000 gold outright — she provides all five ritual components and access to the ritual room upstairs.
• DC 25 Intimidation check — reduces the cost to 10,000 gold.
• DC 25 Persuasion check (Warlock, with Advantage) — also 10,000 gold.
• DC 20 Persuasion check (or higher) — free, but you must retrieve the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength from the House's Archive and hand them over.
• Steal everything — all five components are available in containers upstairs, along with the instruction grimoire. Skip the deal entirely if your party has strong Sleight of Hand.

If you pay or persuade, Helsik gives you the five items and the grimoire that explains placement. If you steal, you still need the grimoire (or this guide).

The ritual placement is performed on a seven-point star inscribed on the floor of Helsik's upstairs room. Five of the seven points (and the centre) are used:

Once all five components are placed correctly, the centre of the star opens a portal. Step through to enter the House of Hope.

03First Steps Inside: The Disguise Is Everything

You arrive in a grand foyer staffed by devils, debtors, and servants who treat the place as mundane bureaucracy. The House is not immediately hostile — but only as long as you maintain your cover.

Pick up the Debtor's Attire (Indebted Disguise) from the foyer before going anywhere else. All four party members can wear it. While the disguise is active, NPCs treat you as legitimate visitors and will not attack.

The disguise breaks if you:

• Attack any resident of the House
• Are caught stealing from a monitored container
• Take an item from the Archive's weight-triggered pedestals without replacing the weight
• Try to take the Orphic Hammer without the codeword
• Free Hope in the basement

Going hostile prematurely locks you out of the free long rest in the Boudoir and makes navigation harder. Maintain your disguise through the Archive and Boudoir sections before triggering anything that breaks it.

The layout at a glance: From the foyer, the main corridor leads to the Archive on one side and the Boudoir on the other. The entrance to Hope's Prison is accessible from the lower level. You can reach all three areas without confrontation if you keep your disguise and do not touch monitored items carelessly.

04The Archive: Three Pedestal Items and a Weight Trap

The Archive is the item-dense area to one side of the main corridor. It contains three pedestals, each holding a powerful piece of equipment — and each pedestal is wired to a pressure sensor that triggers the alarm if the weight is removed.

The three pedestal items:

• Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength (northern pedestal) — sets Strength to 27. Equipped on any low-Strength character (Wizard, Cleric, Warlock) to remove carrying capacity issues entirely and enable strong melee attacks.
• Amulet of Greater Health (southern pedestal) — sets Constitution to 23, translating to a +6 Constitution modifier. Dramatically increases HP and improves Concentration saving throws. One of the best amulets in the game on any spellcaster.
• Orphic Hammer (central pedestal, behind an energy shield) — the item required to break Prince Orpheus's chains. Also the tool that frees Hope in the basement.

Disabling the weight trap: Before lifting any pedestal item, place any object of comparable weight on the same pedestal. Swapping a heavy book, a potion, or any reasonably weighty item onto the pressure point before removing the real item prevents the trap from registering a missing object. The alarm does not fire. This works on all three pedestals.

Getting the Orphic Hammer through the shield: The energy field protecting the central pedestal requires a codeword to drop. A DC 15 Arcana check on the shield reveals that it needs a spoken passphrase. The passphrase itself — Give me my heart's desire — is recorded in Raphael's Notes, which are locked in a safe in the Boudoir. Visit the Boudoir first, open the safe, read the notes, then return to the Archive and speak the phrase aloud to drop the field.

Note: taking the Orphic Hammer from its pedestal will eventually trigger the House going hostile. Plan to do this after you have already rested in the Boudoir and freed Hope — it is effectively the point of no return.

05The Boudoir: Free Full Rest and Raphael's Vault

The Boudoir is Raphael's private chambers, reached from the other side of the main corridor. Despite belonging to the devil you are about to rob, it contains one of the most useful mechanics in the dungeon: restoration faucets in the bathroom.

Interacting with the restoration faucets provides a full long rest — HP, spell slots, and short rest charges all restored — at no Camp Supplies cost. This is not a partial rest; it is equivalent to a full camp rest. Use this immediately before triggering the Raphael fight. Buff up with long-duration spells (Heroes' Feast if you have it, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Bless) while your slots are full.

Raphael's Safe: There is a safe behind or beneath a portrait in the Boudoir. Opening it requires a DC 25 Sleight of Hand check. The safe contains Soul Coins and — critically — Raphael's Notes. The notes include both the Orphic Hammer passphrase (Give me my heart's desire) and directions to Raphael's hidden vault.

Accessing the Vault: The vault entrance is concealed nearby. To open it:

1. Pass a DC 10 Perception check to notice an Inert Infernal Gem set into the door or wall.
2. Pass a DC 10 Wisdom check while examining the gem.
3. Pass a DC 20 Arcana check to understand and trigger the mechanism.

The vault contains: Helldusk Helmet, Staff of Spellpower, 666 gold, and Mol's Contract (a story document). The Helldusk Helmet is one of the best helmets in the game: attackers cannot land critical hits on the wearer, it grants Infernal Sight (see in magical darkness, cannot be blinded), Immolating Gaze (action, recharges on short rest — sear and frighten nearby enemies), and a +2 bonus to saving throws against spells.

There is also an incubus called Haarlep resting in the Boudoir who acts as Raphael's companion. Haarlep has the key to Raphael's safe. You can get the key by passing a Charisma-based check in conversation, or by using Sleight of Hand to pick Haarlep's pocket. Alternatively, just pass the DC 25 lock directly.

06Hope's Prison: Free Her Before You Leave

Hope is an NPC imprisoned in the basement of the House of Hope. She was one of Raphael's debtors who could not repay her deal. Her spirit is chained to two crystalline pillars, and freeing her requires the Orphic Hammer — the same tool you are here to take from the Archive.

How to find the prison: stairs or an accessible passage leads from the main floor down to a lower level where Hope is held. You will encounter her projection earlier (she introduces herself near the foyer and unlocks a door for you), but her physical chains are in the basement.

Guards: Hope's chamber is protected by Spectators and Vengeful Imps. The fight on the narrow platforms is punishing if you are not careful — knockback abilities and fall hazards are real threats. Position your party in the antechamber doorway to funnel enemies toward you rather than fighting surrounded on open platforms.

Freeing Hope: Once guards are down, use the Orphic Hammer on either of the two chains binding Hope. Both must be struck to free her. She then joins your party as a combat follower for the Raphael fight.

Why this matters: Hope has access to Banishment and healing spells. In the Raphael fight, Banishment can remove two of his summoned Cambions from the field entirely for multiple rounds, dramatically reducing incoming damage during the Soul Pillar phase. This makes the Raphael fight meaningfully easier. Freeing Hope is optional, but strongly recommended.

Warning: if Hope takes lethal damage during the escape sequence or the Raphael fight before Raphael is dead, the quest to save her fails. Keep her away from clustered enemy damage sources.

07Triggering the Fight: Exit Sequence and Yurgir

Once you have rested, looted the Archive (with the weight-swap trick), opened the vault, and freed Hope, take the Orphic Hammer from its pedestal and head for the exit portal in the Chamber of Egress.

Attempting to use the exit portal while the House is alarmed (which it will be once you took the Orphic Hammer or freed Hope) causes Raphael to appear and lock the portal. He arrives with six Vengeful Cambions and his lieutenant, Korrilla Hearthflame. The portal reopens after he is defeated.

Recruiting Yurgir: If you did not kill Yurgir in Act 2's Gauntlet of Shar, he appears in this fight on Raphael's side. You can flip him to your side with a DC 30 Persuasion check before or at the start of combat. Yurgir is a powerful Orthon devil; having him fight alongside you instead of against you swings the action economy noticeably. If you helped him break his contract in Act 2, he is already predisposed to assist you and the check is easier to pass.

If you signed a contract with Raphael at any point and still hold the Soul-Sworn Contract document, attempting to leave while the House is alarmed results in an immediate game over — Raphael invokes the contract terms. Destroy the contract (found in the vault) before triggering the alarm if you made that deal.

Pre-fight preparation checklist:

• Use the Boudoir restoration faucets for a full rest
• Apply long-duration buffs: Heroes' Feast, Death Ward on squishy casters, Freedom of Movement
• Have Force or bludgeoning spells and weapons ready for the Soul Pillars
• Free Hope in the basement if you have not already
• Place Smokepowder Barrels (if you have them) near the four Soul Pillar positions before triggering the fight

08The Raphael Fight: Soul Pillars First, Then Ascension

Raphael enters combat with 666 HP and an effective AC of 27 while all four Soul Pillars are standing. The pillars buff him significantly: each active pillar adds +1d12 fire damage to his attacks and +3 Dexterity, plus grants him soul charges he spends on powerful spells. While pillars stand, chip damage against Raphael is nearly futile — the fight has two phases, and the first is about the pillars, not about him.

Phase 1: Soul Pillars

The four Soul Pillars stand at the corners of the arena. Each has 99 HP. They are:

• Immune to: necrotic, fire, psychic, and poison damage
• Resistant to: piercing damage
• Vulnerable to: bludgeoning and force damage

Priority tactics for the pillars:

• Eldritch Blast, Magic Missile, and Shatter (force/bludgeoning spells) deal double damage to pillars — two or three hits can drop one per turn.
• Smokepowder Barrels placed at each pillar corner before the fight starts can be detonated simultaneously — two barrels per pillar has an extremely high chance of destroying all four at once on round one.
• Split your party assignments: send two characters after pillars on the left side, two on the right. Do not all converge on one pillar — Raphael's fire spells punish grouped positioning.
• Raphael heals by spending soul charges on his Consume Souls action (3d6 HP) while pillars remain. The longer pillars stand, the more resources he recovers. Speed wins.

Raphael's key abilities in Phase 1 include Diabolic Chains (18–108 fire damage, Dex save) and Incinerate (8–64 fire damage, costs 2 soul charges). He is immune to fire and resistant to cold, lightning, and poison. Use force, radiant, or necrotic damage on Raphael himself once his AC drops.

Phase 2: Ascended Fiend Form

When all four Soul Pillars are destroyed, Raphael permanently transforms into his Ascended Fiend form. His AC drops from 27 to 21 and he loses the pillar-driven buffs. However, he gains access to Ravaging Inferno — a catastrophic area spell that deals 20–120 hellfire damage and, critically, ignores fire resistance and immunity. Any party member who has relied on fire resistance buffs is no longer protected.

In Ascended form he also gains a Multiattack (2 claws, 8–23 slashing each) and Action Surge-equivalent additional attacks. He is also more vulnerable: his AC is 21, and without pillar regeneration, sustained damage finishes him.

Honour Mode Legendary Actions: In Honour Mode, Raphael uses Legendary Actions between player turns. In Phase 1, he uses Beguiling Rebuke — a Wisdom saving throw that, on failure, charms the attacker and nearby allies, preventing them from attacking Raphael for a round. In Ascended form he switches to Soul Ascension, which creates a column of necrotic damage (6d10) and transforms nearby Cambions into tougher Hellfire Cambions. Honour Mode Raphael can use one Legendary Action per round per remaining Soul Pillar — another reason to destroy pillars quickly.

Managing his summons: Raphael calls Vengeful Cambions and Korrilla at the start of the fight. Use Hope's Banishment to remove two of them immediately. Have a character with Hunger of Hadar, Web, or Hypnotic Pattern handle the remaining Cambions — leaving them active wastes your action economy attacking Raphael while his minions apply pressure from the sides.

Recommended party position at fight start: spread out across the centre of the arena. Do not cluster — Ravaging Inferno and Diabolic Chains both hit grouped targets badly. If two characters start adjacent, move one before your first action.

09Full Loot Summary: Everything You Can Take

A successful House of Hope run yields the following items:

• Orphic Hammer (Archive, central pedestal) — required for freeing Prince Orpheus; also the key to Hope's chains.
• Amulet of Greater Health (Archive, southern pedestal) — sets Constitution to 23 (+6 modifier).
• Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength (Archive, northern pedestal) — sets Strength to 27.
• Helldusk Helmet (Raphael's hidden vault) — attackers cannot critically hit the wearer; grants Immolating Gaze, Infernal Sight, and +2 to saving throws against spells.
• Staff of Spellpower (Raphael's hidden vault) — late-game caster staff.
• 666 gold (Raphael's hidden vault).
• Mol's Contract (Raphael's hidden vault) — story document relating to a character from Act 1.
• Helldusk Armour — drops from Raphael's body after you defeat him. AC 21, grants fire resistance, makes the wearer automatically proficient, and allows the equipped character to cast Fly. One of the best heavy armours in the game.
• Potions, spell scrolls, and Soul Coins from various containers and Raphael's Boudoir safe.

The Helldusk Helmet and Helldusk Armour are two pieces of the same armour set. Both are available in a single visit. The Gauntlets and Amulet are among the strongest permanent stat-boost items in the game for caster characters who lack natural Strength or Constitution. Take all of them.