I felt this was a necessary article to write. This article is meant to be a small guide when you confront the Balrog in Khazad-dum.

First, here's some notes:

- When the Balrog spawns in, you obviously have the choice to fight or flee. There may or may not be a horde of Falmer on the other side of Durin's Bridge waiting for you, that all depends on how the AI is reacting during that game session - which can be a bit wonky during some game plays - other times it runs just fine. If you flee then obviously the Balrog will be there when you come back. But if you choose to fight...

- There's four steps to defeating the Balrog. Due to my limited scripting skills it's set up in a way where you're technically fighting 4 different Balrog's in four different levels.

- If you do not kill the Balrog in the first map (Khazad-dum, Foundations of Stone, and Endless Stairs), the next in line will not spawn!

-After you kill a Balrog it's designed to disappear to indicate the Balrog has moved to the next area.

Step 1: Khazad-dum

If you kill the Balrog in Khazad-dum, the second will spawn in The Foundations of Stone area, and so on and so forth. This area is pretty obvious as to what needs to happen (or can happen).

Step 2: The Foundations of Stone

To get to this area, simply walk off Durin's Bridge (though sometimes the trigger won't fire and you may just fall to your death). When it does fire correctly, though, it'll take you to the top  of The Foundations of Stone map it's a long fall, and just enjoy the ride. If you move your character around too much during the fall you can hit the rock wall and suffer enough damage to kill even the highest level of characters. The fall is designed to just put the controller down and watch. You will hit the lake at the bottom which shouldn't cause any damage, and it's deep enough to not hit the bottom. When you get to the surface there's but one place to go, and that's where the second Balrog is waiting for you. At this point, kill it. Once you've defeated the Balrog the third one will spawn in - in The Endless Stairs map (located approximately halfway up).

Note: If you jump or fall off Durin's Bridge before killing the first Balrog, that one will spawn in the Foundations of Stone map, however, upon defeating it, the Foundations of Stone map Balrog will spawn in and you will have to defeat that one too. It is recommended to kill each Balrog in the map that they spawn in.

Step 3: The Endless Stairs 

This map is meant to be tedious. It's a looong way to the top and you'll encounter the third Balrog "approximately" half way up. Kill this one to Spawn the next one on top of Mt. Zirakzigil. Before you get to the top you will notice a passage that veers off to the right with two sets of doors. These are locked and requires the Dwarrowdelf Master Key to open.

Step 4: Mt Zirakzigil

This is the top of the mountain (not lore friendly to either Skyrim nor LotR). There's not many places to run to here unless you fall off the ledge (NOT RECOMMENDED). Once you defeat the Balrog here it's body will remain. This is the forth and final fight. The Balrog will have the Dwarrowdelf Master Key on it so you can access the two doors in the Endless Stairs map mentioned in Step 3.

The doors from The Endless Stairs map lead to Dwarrowdelf in The Great Southern Abyss worldspace. From there you can find your way back to Khazad-dum and exit the map from there or you can continue to explore.

Hope this small guide helps!

Firehawk