The Underdark is even bigger than it seems when you first arrive in Baldur’s Gate 3, and the Arcane Tower is the first real sign of the exploration you have ahead. Read on for our complete walkthrough of the Arcane Tower in BG3.
How to Get to the Arcane Tower in BG3
Once you’re in the Underdark, you’ll need to make your way to the centralUnderdark Beachfar south of the Myconid Colony. You’ll face a group of aggressive dwarves here, but if you circle around the top and head east of the little run-down shack, you’ll be able to make a small jump beside a suspicious rock full of an uncomfortable amount of holes. You should now be in an area full of large orange mushrooms and spores.
Directly to your right will bea short set of stairsthat will lead up to the Arcane Tower’s entrance courtyard. Careful before you dash through though: you’re about to be assaulted by some Arcane Turrets.
How to Disable the Arcane Turrets in BG3
You candisable all the Arcane Turretsaround the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3 byrestoring power to the Arcane Tower. But that first requires getting to the Arcane Tower’s ground floor, where you’ll simply place a Sussur Bloom found in the basement garden (X:-70, Y:-286) in the elevator box. This will cause all the turrets to permanently flip over and become useless, which gives you an easy path forward.
But before then, you can temporarily power down Arcane Turrets by tackling them head-on. They’re sturdy, so any attack you use must do at least 10 damage for it to take any damage at all. But luckily, Arcane Turrets areweak to Lightning, which will do double damage and easily get past their defenses.
Witch Bolt and Call Lightning are high-damaging lightning spells you can cast without expending multiple spell slots each turn.
If you don’t have access to any Lightning spells or scrolls, you do have one more option:Sussur Blooms. Arcane Turrets are magical constructs, and Sussur Blooms have a rude habit of blocking any kind of magic in the vicinity. So if you’ve been picking up Sussur Blooms around the Underdark and have a pocket full of them, you can throw them or drop them in front of the Arcane Turrets. This will power down the Arcane Turret as long as the bloom remains next to it.
Other than at the Arcane Tower’s basement garden, you can find Sussur Blooms around the giant Sussur Tree at the Underdark’s Dread Hollow (X:-46, Y:-140) in the western-most part of the map. You can recognize the blooms by the glowing blue aura they radiate. Just be mindful that they will inhibit your ability to use magic if you pick them up and keep them sitting in your inventory.
How to Access the Arcane Tower in BG3
To get into the Arcane Tower,you mustrun by the Arcane Turrets and use the large mushrooms on the cliff to reach the bottom of the tower. By default, the two Arcane Turrets will target and attack your party. Using the turn-based modecan help you get by with less damage, but we were able to run and then camp to full health after reaching the mushrooms.
When you first approach the Arcane Turrets, there is one in the center courtyard and one on the stairs to the tower. You need torun behind the turret on the stairsto find the mushrooms. Once you get there, simply use thejump action to reach the mushroom platform. All of your party members will be able to make the jump without any distance issues.
Keep jumping down the mushrooms until you reach the bottom of the cliff and the Arcane Tower itself. At this point, you canbreak through the Arcane Tower ground floor door or lockpick itand gain access to the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How to Restore Power to the Arcane Tower
The elevator box will have some large blue petals on the floor in front of it, signaling where to use the Sussur Bloom. Once you combine the bloom with the elevator, the tower will be back to normal and fully operational. This same action will also turn off all of the turrets around the Arcane Tower, meaning you can reach every floor without any turrets targeting you.
Arcane Tower Levels
How to Solve Bernard’s Riddle
As you move through the many levels of the Arcane Tower, you’ll want toread any and all books and scraps of paper you come across. At the top 4th floor of the tower is an automaton named Bernard. Your intrusion in the Arcane Tower will cause him to act aggressively and initiate a fight unless you can speak with him through pieces of a poetic play found across the various levels of the Arcane Tower.
How to Access the Arcane Tower Basement in BG3
If you want to access the Arcane Tower basement sooner, you may use Fly or Misty Step by the railing in front of the elevator on the ground floor mezzanine. Target through a small window, and you’ll be taken to the basement’s hidden stairwell.
Here in the Arcane Tower basement, you’ll find aStaff of Arcane Blessingbeside a table next to the elevator along with Tongue of Madness—one of the mushrooms you need for theHelp Omeluum Investigate the Parasite questpicked up from Blurg at the Myconid Colony. The other mushroom you need, Timmask Spores, is on the above first floor.
Beside the staff, you will also find a chest containing De Hurst’s Diary, theSparkswall ringwhich grants resistance to Lightning damage, 173 gold, and a Scroll of Fear. You’ll also find many more scrolls within the various bookcases lining the room.
The Chest of the Mundane
That’s it for the Arcane Tower in BG3. If you took too much damage on the way to the tower, make sure you read our guide onhow to rest in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Daniel Wenerowicz
Dan has been writing gaming guides, news, and features for three years after graduating with a BA in writing . You can find him covering Call of Duty for eternity, action-adventure games, and nearly any other major release.
