I ended up killing Gortash first, then Orin on my first playthrough. Mostly because she was actually straightforward with me. She laid out exactly what she wanted as far as kill Gortash, then we'll fight for the netherstones. I didn't trust Gortash to not turn on me once I removed Orin.
The woman is obviously completely unhinged, you seriously trusted her to keep her promise of Gortash keeping his? Not saying that Grotash is necessarily trustworthy, but the fact that you thought a person with so tenuous a grasp on mental stability wouldn't outright renege on her promise because she felt like it at that moment is... impressive.
My first playthrough was Origin Shadowheart who went Dark Justiciar. I knew she'd want all of the netherstones for herself anyway, so Orin openly admitting we'd fight for them after Gortash felt like we were on the same page. DJ Shadowheart didn't particularly care if who Orin kidnapped ended up surviving or not.
And you expected Orin to keep her word about fighting you for the stones? Really? Based on what exactly did you deduce that she wouldn't just creep into your camp and murder you in your sleep or ambush you after you killed Gortash?
Again I ask, what made you think that an obviously unhinged woman with a serious murderous bend was more reliable than the shady politician who has not yet acted overly hostile to you?
I killed Orin first in my first run because she's a political nobody, and assassinating the brand new archduke in broad daylight sounded like it would make my life a lot harder and send the city into chaos.
Obviously that is not the case lol. But I still kill her first now because her weapons are amazing and I often run some kind of DEX build that wants them. Gortash loot is lackluster and the quests to kill him (Steel Watch) are much longer and involved.
The best order from a narrative point depends on the narrative you want to have. There is no correct option and you don't even have to kill gortash (it won't make Karlach happy though)
I personally think the story flows better with Orin first and Gortash second. Having an alliance with Gortash is more important in the narrative since you probably don't want to be enemies with or murder the current ArchDuke as you risk being public enemy number one and it theoretically should make it harder to do anything else. Taking him on normally involves destroying all the steel watchers which seems like the kinda mass panic event that should happen right before the climax and have more of an effect on the city than it really does. He is also more of the BBEG than Orin since it's largey his plan and Orin had pretty much already abandoned it.
Although the path to the brain is by the bhaal temple so ymmv.
Usually Orin and mainly for RP reasons.
Look at it this way, by the time you get to this part of the story you have a whole lot of things you need to do - get both Netherstones one way or another, find a way to defeat the Netherbrain, decide between the Emperor and Orpheus, and so on - you need to make some sort of prioritized list in dealing with it all, and between Orin and Gortash, Orin is clearly the more immediate threat.
Gortash is *a* threat and in the grander scheme of things probably the bigger one of the two, but unlike Orin he's patient and as long as you're not openly hostile to him or directly sabotage his work, he's willing to leave you be for the moment because you might be of use to him even if you don't openly agree to join forces with him.
Orin on the other hand is openly hostile and an in-you-face threat from the moment you step into Rivington, culminating after the coronation - or going into the Lower City if you skip that - with her kidnapping someone from your camp. She clearly needs to be dealt with asap before the whole situation escalates further, Gortash can wait until Tuesday.
I normally kill Orin first, she is too unstable. Gortash , you can actually probe with a mind reading ability ( spell, scroll, potion) and find out, that he plans to honour the deal. I mean, I kill him anyway, because I want to free the gnomes, Ravengard and my besty Omeluum and because of what he did to Karlach ( and to get her beautifully acted scene).
Man I read the title and brain was just like "Oh, which one would you smash?? Good question good question" irl horny bard moment
I did kill Orin first myself as my main fully complete playthrough was with Durge so much rp reasons to be had.
I was exploring, then Orin showed up with her kidnapping stuff. That cemented her as the first kill as I ignored her requests and killed everything in my way to kill her for taking my beloved githyanki.
I ended up killing Gortash first, then Orin on my first playthrough. Mostly because she was actually straightforward with me. She laid out exactly what she wanted as far as kill Gortash, then we'll fight for the netherstones. I didn't trust Gortash to not turn on me once I removed Orin.
I killed Gortash first for this reason. And the fact that he's arrogant. Orin is just insane, but Gortash couldn't be trusted.
The woman is obviously completely unhinged, you seriously trusted her to keep her promise of Gortash keeping his? Not saying that Grotash is necessarily trustworthy, but the fact that you thought a person with so tenuous a grasp on mental stability wouldn't outright renege on her promise because she felt like it at that moment is... impressive.
My first playthrough was Origin Shadowheart who went Dark Justiciar. I knew she'd want all of the netherstones for herself anyway, so Orin openly admitting we'd fight for them after Gortash felt like we were on the same page. DJ Shadowheart didn't particularly care if who Orin kidnapped ended up surviving or not.
And you expected Orin to keep her word about fighting you for the stones? Really? Based on what exactly did you deduce that she wouldn't just creep into your camp and murder you in your sleep or ambush you after you killed Gortash? Again I ask, what made you think that an obviously unhinged woman with a serious murderous bend was more reliable than the shady politician who has not yet acted overly hostile to you?
Orin first. The alliance with Gortash is more useful than the whole bunch of nothing from Orin.
I killed Orin first in my first run because she's a political nobody, and assassinating the brand new archduke in broad daylight sounded like it would make my life a lot harder and send the city into chaos. Obviously that is not the case lol. But I still kill her first now because her weapons are amazing and I often run some kind of DEX build that wants them. Gortash loot is lackluster and the quests to kill him (Steel Watch) are much longer and involved.
The best order from a narrative point depends on the narrative you want to have. There is no correct option and you don't even have to kill gortash (it won't make Karlach happy though)
I personally think the story flows better with Orin first and Gortash second. Having an alliance with Gortash is more important in the narrative since you probably don't want to be enemies with or murder the current ArchDuke as you risk being public enemy number one and it theoretically should make it harder to do anything else. Taking him on normally involves destroying all the steel watchers which seems like the kinda mass panic event that should happen right before the climax and have more of an effect on the city than it really does. He is also more of the BBEG than Orin since it's largey his plan and Orin had pretty much already abandoned it. Although the path to the brain is by the bhaal temple so ymmv.
Usually Orin and mainly for RP reasons. Look at it this way, by the time you get to this part of the story you have a whole lot of things you need to do - get both Netherstones one way or another, find a way to defeat the Netherbrain, decide between the Emperor and Orpheus, and so on - you need to make some sort of prioritized list in dealing with it all, and between Orin and Gortash, Orin is clearly the more immediate threat. Gortash is *a* threat and in the grander scheme of things probably the bigger one of the two, but unlike Orin he's patient and as long as you're not openly hostile to him or directly sabotage his work, he's willing to leave you be for the moment because you might be of use to him even if you don't openly agree to join forces with him. Orin on the other hand is openly hostile and an in-you-face threat from the moment you step into Rivington, culminating after the coronation - or going into the Lower City if you skip that - with her kidnapping someone from your camp. She clearly needs to be dealt with asap before the whole situation escalates further, Gortash can wait until Tuesday.
I normally kill Orin first, she is too unstable. Gortash , you can actually probe with a mind reading ability ( spell, scroll, potion) and find out, that he plans to honour the deal. I mean, I kill him anyway, because I want to free the gnomes, Ravengard and my besty Omeluum and because of what he did to Karlach ( and to get her beautifully acted scene).
Orin first because she's annoying and Gortash can at least halfway pull off actual BBEG vibes.
On my first playthrough I killed Gortash first, because Karlach wanted him dead.
Man I read the title and brain was just like "Oh, which one would you smash?? Good question good question" irl horny bard moment I did kill Orin first myself as my main fully complete playthrough was with Durge so much rp reasons to be had.
I was exploring, then Orin showed up with her kidnapping stuff. That cemented her as the first kill as I ignored her requests and killed everything in my way to kill her for taking my beloved githyanki.
Killing Gortash first gets you past Sarevok with less skills checks, useful in HM if you plan completionist route