If you’re familiar with the spells introduced during Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8, you may already know exactly what I’m about to talk about. That’s right: Bursting Sinew, a cantrip that allows you to carry and blow up corpses whenever you like.

Bursting Sinew is one of the funniest things BG3 abilities I’ve seen in a while. The damage isn’t OP by any means—if anything, it’s fairly weak, but the spell itself is fun.

As a quick overview, Bursting Sinew is a cantrip that classes like Cleric, Sorcerer, and Wizard can use. As long as a corpse on the floor hasn’t already been destroyed by fire, acid, or radiant damage, you can use this ability to turn it into a pile of mush, dealing AoE damage to anyone nearby.

And when I say explode, I mean it. Blood, guts, and fancy green spikes will fly out of the corpse once you use it, creating a messy pile of viscera. It’s horrifying for some, but it’s wonderful and delicious for all the Dark Urge folks out there. It’s truly a sight to behold, especially when you combine it with Photo Mode, which was added in the same patch.

Screenshot by Destructoid As soon as I saw this spell, I remembered you could carry corpses anywhere. Sure, they’re heavy, but someone like Karlach or a Tav built into a strength-based build can easily bring a few bodies around the map. I can’t imagine how much their backpacks smell after that, but I’m also not the one casting Bursting Sinew all over the place.

You know exactly where I’m going with this. Carrying around dozens of corpses and casting Bursting Sinew on them is almost the same level of wild BG3 gameplay that bringing Smokepowder barrels to a boss fight has. If you’re already in the second half of the game, you know who I’m talking about. Seeing a circle of explosions is a blast; watching a boss go from hundreds to zero health in one go is even better. Bursting Sinew isn’t quite to that level, but you can still have some fun with it.

There’s only one downside—you can’t explode corpses repeatedly. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering the first explosion turns a perfectly normal body into one you’d expect to find in an average boss lair. But it still means you have to rely on having multiple corpses to get the most fun out of this. You can also use it on only one body at a time unless you’re a Death Domain Cleric, so it doesn’t quite have the same level of pizzazz that a Smokepowder barrel chain reaction has. Death Domain brings your max corpses to two, but even that’s underwhelming compared to a circle of explosions.

Screenshot by Destructoid There are limits to the corpse type you use, even if there aren’t many. Surprisingly, you can’t make plants explode. It also doesn’t work on elementals or constructs, which is a shame since seeing a fiery or icy explosion from a Mephit would’ve been pretty cool. Creatures like spiders and undead are completely fine, though. Thankfully, this means you don’t necessarily have to carry a bunch of humanoid creatures or animals in your backpack. Considering we’re using this spell in the first place, though, I think we’ve stepped beyond morals and decency.

Better yet, the BG3 and the overall D&D community are creative in pushing the limits of class abilities. Although it’s difficult to make this spell overpowered, you can make it really fun if you have a party of Death Domain Clerics blowing everything up and using their Reaper passive for extra casts. Between Reddit discussions about its pros and cons and YouTube videos attempting to beat the game with this skill exclusively, the community continues proving that you can do just about anything in BG3 if you set your mind to it.

I’m all about making morally questionable characters in this game who care more about their power than saving others, so this was right up my alley from the start. Seeing it in action made it even funnier, especially knowing that I normally make Shadowheart a Life Domain Cleric but can now swap her to Death Domain for a change in dynamic.

If you want an overpowered ability, Bursting Sinew isn’t for you. If you want something fun that fits the vibe of a morally grey or even a purely evil character, this one is worth trying out just to experience what it’s like to defeat enemies using their comrades’ bodies. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to respec Shadowheart’s domain again.

The post The biggest highlight of BG3’s Patch 8 for me isn’t its classes—but this gloriously grotesque cantrip appeared first on Destructoid.