The Sallow Man is a Quest in Divinity: Original Sin II. The Sallow Man has tasked you with killing Bishop Alexandar. Will you succeed?
Important NPCs
The Sallow Man Objectives
- Learn about the Sallow Man.
- Find and kill Bishop Alexandar.
- Pick up Alexandar's head from his body.
- Enter the Sallow Man's lair.
- Give Alexandar's head to the Sallow Man.
The Sallow Man Walkthrough
There are multiple ways to acquire this quest, with the most common one simply using the black mirror acquired from a Black Ring member. You can also obtain this quest by talking to Almira early on at the start of the chapter, or by taking orders from the Black Ring Captain. In order to prevent any unnecessary disruption of this quest, make sure to avoid conflict with Black Ring members by telling them that you are Almira's thrall, or that you are a member of the Lone Wolves.
(Note: this is not a necessary quest, you can also help the Bishop Alexandar at An Unlikely Patron. Also, you may get a hood from Shadow Prince that can protect you from Sallow Man.)
In any case, the main objective of this quest is to simply find and kill Bishop Alexandar, and bring his head to The Sallow Man. Bishop Alexandar can be found at the top of the Elven Temple. Simply make your way there and you will encounter him and Gareth fighting (see "Seeking Revenge" for more details). Obviously, kill Alexandar and after you have killed him, travel to the Sallow Man's camp as shown below (DO NOT eat Bishop Alexandar's head or you will not be able to complete this quest!)
East of the Temple of Rhalic, there is a troll guarding a cave:
Simply kill him, or pass a speech check to convince him to let you in the cave (you will gain 20,075XP for killing him). If you kill him, you will need to nuke him down as he regenerates around 3000 health per turn by the "Troll blood" ability, that can be disabled by "regeneration" effect. You can also just teleport him into the lava.
Enter the cave and either use the Cowl of the True Sight right after the altar, towards the fake wall, or interact with the altar and drop the head into it (this will not destroy the head, don't worry). The path to the Sallow Man will be clear. Note: If you took the shortcut and met Alexandar directly at the Academy, you can still pass the wall by dropping a teleportation pyramid behind it (due to a glitch, the tunnel to the encampment will remain dark, but you can safely cross it; tip: leave a pyramid behind for a quick return).
Now, head inside and you will gain 20,075 Exploration XP (10050 XP in DE edition). Head down the ramp and into the large hall and you will come face to face with the Sallow Man (1).
If you have Lohse in your party, make sure she does not get too close to the Sallow Man! If she gets too close to the Sallow Man, he will speak with her and immediately recognize the demon inside her, initiating combat immediately.
Speak to the Sallow Man and throw him Alexandar's head. You will gain 100,300 XP (50,150 XP in DE Edition ) immediately and realize he was actually an elf, now a twisted shadow of his former self. From here, selecting 'claim your reward' will replace a random character tag with a new one listed below. Alternatively you may choose 'turn away' if you do not wish to have a tag changed.
- "more barbarity in your nature" = Barbarian
- "a better sense of humour" = Jester
- "inner yearning for an outlaw spirit" = Outlaw
- "always fancied yourself as something of a scholar" = Scholar
- "you wanted to be a soldier" = Soldier
- "knowledge of the mystical world" = Mystic
- "recognized for your innate nobility" = Noble
After that, he will give you a staff that can destroy corpses and prevent them from resurrecting. At this point, you can turn on your party members, attack the Sallow Man, or simply leave. In any case, the quest is complete.
If you choose to attack the Sallow Man at this stage, note that he will resurrect once after dying. Simply kill him again and he will die permanently. The 3 Black Ring members are worth 55,800 XP each, and The Sallow Man is worth 97,650 XP, making it a grand total of 265,050XP. (members worth 27,900 XP each in DE Edition, Sallow Man 69,750 XP grand total of 154,350 XP)
Also, if you head deeper into the Sallow Man's lair, you will come face to face with Windego (2). Killing her nets you no XP. This will lead to the Mercy is Power quest. When you reach the Sallow Man's room deeper in the cave, you will earn 30,100 Exploration XP (10050 XP DE Edition). The haft of the Swornbreaker (a material to craft the Swornbreaker) is also located in the Ornate chest in the room (3).
Rewards:
- 20,075 Exploration XP upon entering the Sallow Man's lair (10,050 XP in DE Edition).
- 100,300XP upon giving Alexandar's head to the Sallow Man, completing the quest (50,150 XP in DE Edition).
- A grand total of 265,050XP for killing the Sallow Man and his underlings (154,350 XP in DE Edition). (optional).
- 30,100 Exploration XP & the Haft of the Swornbreaker upon exploring the Sallow Man's cave (10,050 XP in DE Edition). (optional).
In other languages:
- Français: L'Homme Blafard
- Polish: Ziemisty
- Brazilian Portuguese: O Homem Cadavérico
AnonymousJust fought him and accidentally turned Deflective Barrier against him in a hilarious way. I was going duo with Sebille and Fane (non-LW). Sebille stripped his physical armour, then teleported away and went invisible. Fane used Shackles of Pain and followed up with Bouncing Shield. It did damage, then Sallow deflected the shield back to Fane, which damaged Fane, which copied over to Sallow due to Shackles, and then the shield... bounced back to Sallow. It bounces to a nearby enemy, and normally it can't bounce back onto the same target, but Sallow had deflected it back to Fane after all... triple damage Bouncing Shield.
He then ran away up to right behind where Sebille was hiding, so he didn't have a good day.
- Anonymous
Sallow man is one of the few enemies in the game with Deflective Barrier. Rather unfortunate as you have such a great elevated position to shoot on him. So I cast Living on the Edge on my Ranger before I used Ballistic Missile to do massive damage on him. It dropped my health to 1 so I could then use Death Wish to double my damage.
He cast Plague on all my party members which was a pain to deal with as I had no Bless memorized but I did have a source orb. It turns out I could place a source orb into a vacant armor slot for zero AP. Then I could use the orb to cast Mass Cleansing to rid myself of the Plague.
- Anonymous
Idk if this quest was changed but I was not given any option other than fighting him. And he doesn't give you a staff. Also, unchain lohse before you walk up to him. Otherwise he will start combat with you before you can give him alexander's head.
- Anonymous
Easier way to cheese the fight. Leave your ranged units and Lohse on the upper platform. Move closer to sallow man with two remaining. Equip one of the two characters approaching with Terran transmutation skill. While one is initiating conversation, teleport some lava to upper level. After giving Sallow man tge head for xp, initiate combat and put some lava under sallow man. At the same time start teleporting minions to that same lava patch. Easy win
- Anonymous
*Sallow Man prepares for a big fight with all his power and ability to return from death*
*Teleports him into the lava. He dies instantly. He respawns..... he dies instantly again.*
*Teleport body back and loot* xD
- Anonymous
Providing you haven’t wiped out the camps of Forktongue and Wordless, one of the black glass mirrors in the Sallow Man’s camp will allow you to speak with Forktongue and instruct him to attack the Wordless.
When you exit Sallow Man’s cave, go to the Black Ring Encampment to find the battle in progress. They will all be labeled as neutral. Force attack one of them and everyone will then be labeled as hostile. Turn invisible, stand aside, and watch the two groups annihilate each other, all the while gaining XP for the any kills. Wait until the end is close and join in to mop up the remainder.
A rather easy way to get a buttload of XP and loot for little effort. What an ingenious little treat Larian snuck in to the game.
- Anonymous
You can eat Alexander's head and still hand it over to complete the quest if you engage with The Sallow Man first, then eat the head with a different character, then select the dialogue option to hand it over.
- Anonymous
Use teleport and nether swap to cheese the fight. Teleport the nearest one to the lava. Then teleport the second closest one as close to the lava then immediately netherswap with the corpse. Rinse and repeat.
- Anonymous
DE on PC and quest XP is greatly nerfed. Give Alexander only rewards 5,0150 XP now.
And Sallow Man will not give you the staff unless your main character is Undead (or Fane). Talking to Sallow with main character will be forced to fight him if your main is not Undead.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
ON DE, didn't get the "staff that can destroy corpses and prevent them from resurrecting." I given the option to turn on my allies or kill him, easy choice that one.
easy fight with no cheese, al my characters were lv 17
- Anonymous
Warning, neither The Sallow man nor Windego are undead so healing will NOT work.
- Anonymous
If you consume Sallow's source after killing him it will give you the villain tag, this doesn't overwrite the hero tag if you have it (don't know if this is abnormal, just figured it was worth mentioning)
- Anonymous
For some reason, the source spell Circle of Protection removes the plague for any character its cast on. For 1 AP & 1 source, it is a really cheap way to make this fight easier
- Anonymous
In DE, you get more XP for turning in Alexandar's head to the Sallow Man (50,150 XP) than killing the Sallow Man for Alexandar (20,075 XP). Essentially, you gain 30,075 more XP for completing the quest, 'The Sallow Man', versus completing the quest, 'An Unlikely Patron'. Kill the Sallow Man and his followers after completing his quest to maximize XP.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I just blocked the pallisade gate with boxes and stood on top of the ledge nuking them all and casting summons to keep them in line of sight. Sallow Man did end up teleporting up once the other 3 black ring members died.
- Anonymous
Sallowman wants me to kill all my godwoken companions. Is Lohse godwoken or something?
- Anonymous
Alexander drops the Cowl of True Sight . If you allready had the elf eat Alexanders Head you can use this items ability on the wall behind the Altar in the cave to pass .
- Anonymous
I really just teleported enemies on lava you got to hit that sweet spot where the range is applicable for teleportation
- Anonymous
If you're having trouble killing the troll: you can teleport him into the lava and instakill him.
- Anonymous
Killed the Shadow Prince, no hood. Convinced Gareth to not kill Alexandar and left without talking to Alex and now he's in the Archives and I can't get to the Sallow Man. WAT.
- Anonymous
Oh yeah, I like this quest a lot: destroyed Alexandar (by helping Gareth), for his "I didn't know bohoo" (doubt it) does not change the fact of slaughtering of all the mages and innocent by his "order", then, took his head to Sally, talked as Sebille and made her, HA, Noble/Scholar! Hell yeah. No more "outlaw" sht, as I am Chaotic Good. Then, destroyed Sally in his true, chicken, form, twice. Nice. And Purged his spirit. But wait, you can talk to the black mirror (do this before casting spirit vision) and say that "boss is busy but he said that the "Wordless" (from the Black Ring Camp) should be wiped out, obey", what the hell, awesome. Then, if you have Red Prince with you, you can see his loved Princess in other mirror. And in other two you see dude in shining armour (Paladins? Some King or knight?) and noble rich woman dwarf (the Queen of Dwarves?), dude, I love this game for little details. And then, loot the hell out of the place, finding the Swornbreaker part (and some proof about dwarf Queen). For the extra XP you can both talk with Sallow Man's spirit for the combination and then eat his arm as an elf.
If you took the shortcut and met Alexandar directly at the Academy, you can still pass the wall by dropping a teleportation pyramid behind it. The tunnel to the encampment remains dark (a glitch, I suppose), but you can safely cross it.
- Anonymous
i think i *****ed up i wanted to help the sallow man but all of the black ring forces are hostile towards me. i went into this cave and the sallow man was hostile towards me here as well. looks like ill become the divine..
- Anonymous
how do i learn about sallow man?? cant get past step 1, everything else seem easy, but step one does not work, black mirror does not give quest, can i use console to add code to add quest ?
- Anonymous
TELEPORT THEM ALL INTO THE LAVA AND THEN TELEPORT THE BODIES BACK. LAVA INSTANT KILLS I'M DYING LAUGHING RIGHT NOW!
Both Sallow Man and Alexander are an easy fights, provided your team is positioned correctly. Sallow man is a formidable opponent, but he can be killed almost immediately (twice as he revives). You have the high ground after entering the cave, and the sallow man is not hostile at the beginning. Position your ranged characters high up, and while initiating conversation with him, use the character with polymorph ability to move lava next to him. Then a simple teleport him into lava twice (second time after he revives).
- Anonymous
you can cheese the hell out of this. start convo with sallow with one character and have a long range character pick off the mobs from the cliff. they don't aggro if you're far enough away but better yet even if they do aggro, it doesn't aggro sallow or any of the other mobs.
- Anonymous
When fighting the troll at the cave entrance, I kept hearing a child voice, "hey, you! Come heah!(here)" Who or what is it? I saw a rabbit at the top-never looked any deeper...
- Anonymous
The only reward this quest has to offer is the title change. Wether you accept it or deny it he will try to kill you. I even tried completing the quest with Fane (since he is already dead) and he doesn't try to kill you but you still do not get the reward for bringing him the head.
- Anonymous
You can't turn away, you're stuck with one of the new labels. He also wants you to swear to God King or you don't get anything, and then when you do, he says you must be dead and they all attack. Plus, he only tells you half of the councils signs? Alexander at least gave all of them.
- Anonymous
If you're playing as Lohse, the Sallow Man will address your demon and start a fight.... So leave Lohse behind if you don't want to immediately fight the Sallow Man.
- Anonymous
I was able to terrain transmutation over lava under Sallow man before starting the fight. If you start the fight while he's on top of the lava it kills him twice instantly.
- Anonymous
Definitive Edition: If Lohse is your main char, it is still worth to start the conversation/give him the head without her. U gain 45k more XP that way. Couldnt find/get the staff that way but i guess u cant get it in the first place when Lohse is main.
- Anonymous
The full fight can be cheesed. Just put two rangers at the hill, before you go through the wooden gate. Use one physical ranger (Bow/crossbow) to kill the "Black ring" at the middle of the room, after he transforms the reflect deals too much damage to burn it down. So you just need to send a tank and start the fight, the same rangers that were on the top of the hill can attack the sallow man without entering combat, and his armor won't regen anymore.
- Anonymous
"After that, he will give you a staff that can destroy corpses and prevent them from resurrecting. At this point, you can turn on your party members..." What does this mean? Turn on your companions as in attack them?
- Anonymous
make sure you look at the mirrors, some good laughs there. also if you have red prince in your party, he sees his special lady friend in the mirror & it continues his quest
- Anonymous
So, Sallow Man won't give the reward to other character except party leader, and if i speak using Lohse, it will start combat, so wtf now?
- Anonymous
Maybe I missed out on some XP, but I had my whole group at the top of the hill inside the cave, before going through the gate the gate. I used my archer to take the black ring reaver down to a sliver of health, fired on him thrice before combat began, bled to death immediately there after. Sallow man took off running toward my party. Summoned creature in front of a second black ring, lept rouge behind him to make a death sandwhich. Leapt my executioner onto the pain weaver. By the time sallow man got through the gate to my archer and summoner, he was all alone and got teleported back into the shark tank below. Second play through. I remember this fight being really hard first go round. Not this time...
- Anonymous
While talking to him (don't exit the conversation) if you teleport him far away near the entrance he will stay in conversation and not attack. Meanwhile you can burn down his minions with your remaining party and he will not get involved until exiting the conversation. Only drawback is you will be short one party member as they will be locked in the convo
- Anonymous
Is the tag change really random? Doesn’t it just change the first tag in the tag list?
- Anonymous
This wiki is wrong about hundreds of things! I only received a little over 50,000 for giving him Alexander's head. I received 41,000 for killing each of his Black Ring followers...it's almost like they haven't even played the damn game!
- Anonymous
Each black ring member around the sallow man rewarded ~41,850xp, and Sallow man still rewarded 97k
- Anonymous
Kinda lame how all the fights at this stage of the game are easy. I'm level 18 and every enemy is level 16.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
After killing Sallow man and windego go deep inside the cave to get additional quests by picking some letters and papers (may be 3 additional quests)
- Anonymous
Burn the Troll to ashes by using Teleportation on Troll and teleport him onto lava. EZZZZ
Just find the good placement for your party member with TP near the lava.
Also if you have Terrain Transmutation, it can be used to kill Troll and also can be use during fight with The Sallow Man.
- Anonymous
i have this weird bug where i dont have any dialogue at all they all just attack me suddenly .. even windego
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you bring Lohse with you to Sallow Man he will attack immediately, he and her demon are not good friends.
Regarding mirros one of the lizard mirrors talked to me (had red prince in party), notifying and updating the quest log that Sadha (red princess) is in Arx one of the mirrors is "vacant or busy" with no one responding, though I believe this to be where Roost Alan (leader of Lone Wolves) would communicate with you if you had NOT killed him. i killed him in all my playthroughs
- Anonymous
Simply use Polymorph's Terrain Transmutation to get some Lava up to the fighting area before the fight. Then drop it on him with the same skill. Can't get easier.
- Anonymous
so this guide is sort of poorly worded. Turning away will always result in you fighting him regardless weather you chose to be swarn or not. If you choose a reward (ie a new tag) however the quest finishes an you can claim the rewards.
- Anonymous
If you can't get the door open, because you don't have the item to open the door towards the shallowman. You can just stand next towards the door, drop a pyramide on the other side and teleport through the wall. to the other side.
The cave start will not be defoged tho, but everythign else. easy
- Anonymous
If you have a pair of teleporting pyramids and want to get past the troll without fighting him. Just have one party member split from your party with one of the pyramids and have a ranged character aggro the troll away from the cave and just sneak in the cave and summon everyone after passing a few turns to get the 6 AP needed to use the teleport pyramid in battle. Good Luck!
- Anonymous
Hi guys, I noticed in the same room the mirrors of blackest glass that supposedly the sallow man speaks to his followers through them. But when I peaked it said people were looking then quickly hiding. Does anyone know anything about those?
- Anonymous
If you stand on x:84 and y:249 you can just teleport the sallow man into the lava below
- Anonymous
Easy way to get into the cave without fighting the troll: teleport him into the lava.
- Anonymous
Is there a way to meet the Sallow Man without having to side with Magisters or Black Ring?
- Anonymous
Some things I noted while playing:
Alexander drops Cowl of True Sight (a hat) if you kill him or will give it to you if you help him. The hat has Dispel Illusion spell, which will allow you to open pathway behind altar in cave, as well as open pathway into inner cave area. Key for inner cave can also be found on on a Black Ring Reaver in center of platform.
If you talk to Sallow Man with Lohse, he will outright attack you. This can be avoided if use another char to initiate conversation.
He's not that difficult to kill. Playing in Tactican mode, I have my high Int and crit char cast Thunderstorm on him and managed to include a couple of his cronies in damage field. They die after being striked by lightning for 3 turns. After that I just have my chars focus on killing him a second time and finish off a Black Ring Reaver that was too far away from Thunderstorm's damage field.
- Anonymous
I was able to draw him to the Lava by the torture pits and teleport him in. Not quite a cheat strat, since I had to draw him there and use smoke grenades to prevent the mages from using spells from up on their perch. Was quite effective. Negates his revive and once he stops spreading Plague the others are easy kills.
I want to keep Alaxander alive next time though, how do you get in without his head?
- Anonymous
At lvl 19, I also only got 50,150 for delivering Alexander's head. To avoid the fight I had to talk to him with someone other than leader or Lohse. But doing so, you only get "claim your reward" on that char. Speaking with your leader leads to the fight no matter which options you pick.
- Anonymous
To remove troll blood from any troll and kill them withour cheese strat. Just hit them with a healing spell like "restoration" that remove troll blood
- Anonymous
Small advise, in order to get into cave, you don't have to outgun the troll with source(due to his regen). You can sneak to the left of him and teleport him to lava
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Eh...so much missing out here.
For example, you can also first meet with the Prince of Shadows and get a hood to protect you against the Sallow man - also you can kill him and help Alexander instead. It's not just ONE way to deal with this...
- Anonymous
In the same area there is a small place reacheable by teleport skills and into the same wall there is also an sort of huge tomb/chair looking that can be clicked upon but costantly say "Can't Reach".
It is tied with the Sallow Man's quest?
- Anonymous
I would just like to add a cheese way to level the playing field with the sallow man fight, after giving him alexanders head and progressing into his dialog. He begs the question of if I am sworn or not, before I answered the question, I simply switched characters and attacked his surrounding lackies. Essentially, my tank remained in dialog with the sallow man, while the rest of my party cleared his black ring buddies. I am assuming as long as you do not actually cause any harm to the sallow man, he will never enter combat. Keep in mind that this cheat requires you to sacrafice one of your team to remain in dialog with him. Regardless after killing his minions you can position yourself anyway you want around him and finish the dialog, initiating combat and finishing him off. I hope this helps anyone who may find his fight annoying.
- Anonymous
What a bull*****guide , sallow man attacks no matter what you do , there is no option to become sworn
- Anonymous
For the sake of posterity, if you speak to him as Lohse he will simply attack you after talking to him. He hates the demon in her apparently. If you're looking to hand the quest in do NOT talk to him while using Lohse.
- Anonymous
I follow this..but after i give him alexandar's head, i select turn away option, and no matter what choice i select after that, it is either i choose to fight him, or it ends in a fight with no complete, just closes it out and i don't get the staff, is there a certain something i am missing?
- Anonymous
Apparently he can be teleported while in dialogue without consequences. At least as long as he's not at the last line, where you press (continue) and the fight starts. I teleported him across the lava in two steps, first to the base of the scaffold there, then on the rock across. Finished the dialogue, the fight started, his cronies attacked, but he was too far to engage.
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