You've spent a hundred hours trekking through the Shadow-Cursed Lands and navigating the political nightmare of the Lower City. Now, you’re standing at the precipice of the endgame. If you’re playing a Monk—specifically the Way of the Open Hand—there is one single piece of gear that changes everything. I'm talking about the Gloves of Soul Catching. They aren't just a "good" upgrade. They are, quite honestly, a mechanical cheat code that turns your character into a self-sustaining god of the battlefield.
Getting them is a nightmare. It requires you to descend into the House of Hope, square off against Raphael, and survive one of the most mechanically dense boss fights Larian Studios ever designed. But the payoff? It’s unmatched.
What Makes the Gloves of Soul Catching So Broken?
Let's look at the numbers because they’re wild. Most endgame gloves in Baldur’s Gate 3 give you a +1 to attack rolls or maybe an extra $1d4$ of elemental damage. These gloves? They slap a massive $1d10$ Force damage onto every single unarmed strike you land.
Think about that for a second.
A high-level Monk is usually attacking four times a turn using Flurry of Blows. If you’ve dipped into Rogue for the Thief subclass, you’re looking at six attacks per turn. Adding a $1d10$ to every hit isn't just a buff; it’s basically like carrying a second heavy weapon in your pockets. But the damage is only half the story. The "Soul Catching" aspect is where things get weirdly defensive.
Once per turn, when you hit someone with an unarmed attack, you regain 10 hit points. Alternatively, if you don’t need the healing, you can forego the HP to gain Advantage on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws until the end of your next turn. It’s the ultimate "I win" button. You’re constantly topping off your health while dealing enough damage to delete a Steel Watcher in a single round.
The Brutal Path Through the House of Hope
You can’t just buy the Gloves of Soul Catching from a vendor in the city. You have to earn them through blood and a very high-stakes heist. You have to break into the House of Hope, Raphael’s personal domain in the Hells.
Most players go there for the Orphic Hammer or the Helldusk Armour. Those are great, sure. But for a Monk build, they are side dishes. The real prize is tied to the soul of Hope herself. Hope is the tormented spirit trapped in the prison, and if you want these gloves, you have to save her.
This means you need to:
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- Sneak into the House of Hope via the Devil’s Fee.
- Steal the Orphic Hammer from the Archive.
- Fight your way down to the prison to break Hope’s chains.
- Keep her alive during the final showdown with Raphael.
Keeping Hope alive is the hard part. Raphael has 666 HP and a penchant for transforming into a massive Multiplanar entity that can wipe your party in two turns. If Hope dies during that fight, the gloves are gone. You get nothing. Well, you get the satisfaction of killing a devil, but you lose the best Monk item in the game. It’s a high-pressure escort mission tucked inside a boss fight that already feels impossible.
Why Force Damage is King in the Endgame
In the later stages of Baldur’s Gate 3, resistances are everywhere. Bosses have Resistance to Slashing, Bludgeoning, and Piercing. Some are even immune to Fire or Poison.
Force damage is the exception.
Almost nothing in the game resists Force damage. By attaching $1d10$ Force damage to your fists, the Gloves of Soul Catching ensure that your damage output remains consistent regardless of whether you're fighting an undead dragon or a mechanical construct. It’s the "purest" form of damage in the game’s meta.
I’ve seen builds where players stack these gloves with the Manifestation of Soul passive from the Open Hand Monk tree. Suddenly, your punches are dealing your standard bludgeoning damage, plus $1d4+5$ Radiant/Necrotic/Psychic damage, plus the $1d10$ Force damage. It’s a literal wall of text in the combat log.
Comparing the Alternatives
You might be wondering about the Helldusk Gloves or the Gloves of Crushing.
The Gloves of Crushing are great for the mid-game. They give you a +1 to attack rolls and a flat +2 to damage. They’re reliable. But by the time you hit Level 12, that +2 damage feels like a drop in the bucket. The Helldusk Gloves are better, offering $1d6$ Fire damage and a chance to Inflict Bleeding.
But $1d6$ Fire is objectively worse than $1d10$ Force.
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Fire is the most commonly resisted element in the game. Plus, the Helldusk Gloves don’t give you 10 HP back every turn. In a game where action economy is everything, being able to heal yourself without using a potion or a Cleric’s spell slot is massive. It frees up Shadowheart to focus on Spirit Guardians or Holy Weapon instead of constantly babysitting your health bar.
Nuance: The "Constitution" Catch
There is one little detail people often miss. The Gloves of Soul Catching also set your Constitution to 23.
Wait. No.
Actually, that’s a common misconception. People confuse them with the Greater Health Amulet which is found in the same building. The gloves actually give you a +2 to Constitution, up to a maximum of 20.
It’s a subtle difference but an important one for build planning. If you’ve already pumped your Constitution to 18 through Ability Score Improvements (ASI) or the Hag’s Hair, these gloves will push you to 20. That’s more HP and better Concentration checks. It turns the Monk—traditionally a "glass cannon" class—into a legitimate frontline tank.
How to Maximize the Soul Catching Buff
If you want to get the most out of this gear, you need to rethink your turn order.
Normally, you might lead with a Stunning Strike to disable an enemy. With the Gloves of Soul Catching, you want to make sure your first unarmed strike of the turn is a "sure thing" so you can trigger that 10 HP heal or the Advantage buff.
I usually opt for the Advantage.
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Gaining Advantage on all Attack Rolls and Saving Throws for the next turn is statistically better than 10 HP. It means your next Flurry of Blows is almost guaranteed to hit, and more importantly, you’re much less likely to fail a save against a "Hold Person" or "Confusion" spell that would otherwise take you out of the fight entirely.
The Moral Dilemma (Or Lack Thereof)
Some players worry about the "Soul Catching" name. Does it affect the narrative? Do you lose your soul?
Nope.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, many items have sinister names but purely mechanical benefits. Saving Hope is the "Good" path anyway. You aren't stealing souls from innocent people; you're effectively using the residue of the House of Hope’s power to fuel your own martial arts. It’s one of the few times in the game where the "best in slot" item is actually tied to the most heroic outcome of a questline.
Actionable Strategy for Your Run
If you’re currently in Act 3 and haven't hit the House of Hope yet, here is how you prepare to get these gloves:
- Bring a High-Level Cleric: You need Heroes' Feast and Death Ward. Raphael’s "Big Bang" move can end a run instantly.
- Focus the Pillars: In the boss fight, don't just punch Raphael. Use your Monk's mobility to zip around the room and destroy the Soul Pillars. This lowers his AC and damage.
- Warding Bond on Hope: Hope is fragile. If she dies, you lose the gloves. Have a tanky character or a summon cast Warding Bond on her to keep her standing.
- Banishing Smite or CC: Use crowd control on the Cambions that Raphael spawns. You don't want them swarming Hope while you're busy with the boss.
The Gloves of Soul Catching represent the peak of the Monk power fantasy. They are the reward for conquering the hardest dungeon in the game and standing up to the literal devil. Once you put them on, the final fight atop the Netherbrain becomes significantly more manageable. You won't just be punching enemies; you'll be shattering them.
Final Technical Tip
Don't forget that these gloves trigger on "Unarmed Strikes." This means they work with standard punches, Flurry of Blows, and even the Bonus Action punch you get from the Martial Arts feature. However, they do not work if you are attacking with a Quarterstaff or a Spear. If you want the $1d10$ Force damage, keep your hands empty. It’s a counter-intuitive trade-off for D&D veterans, but in Baldur's Gate 3, your bare hands are significantly more dangerous than any magical staff.
Go talk to Helsik at the Devil’s Fee, pay the gold (or pickpocket the ritual items), and get yourself to the House of Hope. Your Monk deserves it.
Next Steps for Your Build:
Check your current Monk passives in the character sheet. If you haven't taken the Tavern Brawler feat yet, do it immediately. The synergy between Tavern Brawler’s Strength scaling and the Gloves of Soul Catching’s Force damage is what creates the "100+ damage per turn" builds you see in speedruns. If your Strength is low, start hoarding Elixirs of Hill Giant Strength from vendors like Derryth in the Underdark or Auntie Ethel in the Grove. Combining 21-27 Strength with these gloves makes the endgame almost trivial.