by theygamesThe Arcane Tower is located in the Underdark near the Selunite Outpost to the east. It’s not a hard location to find, but solving all its mysteries is another matter. The location is riddled with Arcane Turrets and an elevator that doesn’t seem to work at all. But not to worry, here’s everything you need to know about the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Arcane Tower
We’ll work through the steps necessary to reach the main boss of the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3. Additionally, I’ll be sure to point out anything of note as we work our way up to the top of the Arcane Tower. For reference, I’m approaching the Arcane Tower from the Selunite Outpost. To make the guide slightly less confusing, try to get to approach the tower from there.
Arcane Turrets
The Arcane Turrets on the outside and on the third floor of the tower itself are a real pain. You most likely don’t have the means to outright destroy these so we’ll need to find clever ways past them instead. I found the easiest method to be rather simple. I detached my main character from the party and used the level 2 Illusion Invisibility spell. With this, you can simply walk past the turrets without issue. You won’t need the entire party with you until we fix the elevator anyway. So if you’ve got Invisibility, make full use of it and enter the tower through the ornate door.
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Alternatively, you can use the rocks and debris for cover from the turrets on your way into the Arcane Tower. Invisibility really is the simplest solution though, so even if you don’t have the spell, double-check that you don’t have a scroll for it anywhere.
Elevator
Now once you get to the Arcane Tower there’s an Ornate Door at the top of the stairs. Unfortunately, it’s locked but can Lockpick it, or bash it down with weapons or magic. But once inside there’s not much we can do. There are two Arcane Turrets on either side of the room, and the elevator in the center doesn’t work. So we instead need to be a bit clever.
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Head into the tower and enter the door to the left that’s on the south side. You’ll notice that there are giant mushrooms growing on the side of the tower. And we can actually jump on these to get to the lower floors. So jump down to each mushroom until you get to the bottom. Cast Feather Fall to avoid fall damage here, but we won’t be fighting any enemies for a while so don’t worry too much.
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Once at the bottom, walk along the path until you reach a small area behind the tower. It’s a bit like a sorcerous patio, and there’s a plant here that we need to pick up. Head toward the glowing blue tree and you’ll see two Sussur Blossoms. These block out your magic abilities, but we only need them for a short while. Grab both of them and enter the Arcane Tower via the back door behind you.
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From where you enter the room, you should see a massive generator on the left-hand side. Walk around it until you reach the front and you’ll see a small interactable grate. We need to put one of the Sussur Blossoms in here to power the elevator. And once that’s done, you’ll be able to move from floor to floor as you please. Plus, all of the turrets in the area will be deactivated allowing you to explore freely.
Chests and loot
Before we tackle the boss of the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3, let’s look for some loot. On the bottom floor where the generator is, there’s a small chest just at the top of the stairs. For me, this contained a necklace that allowed me to cast Detect Thoughts.
The next floor up doesn’t have a great deal of loot aside from some alchemy ingredients. Collect all the ingredients you can find though just in case you’ll need them. Afterward, move up another floor and you’ll find yourself back in the room with the two turrets. They’ll be deactivated so we don’t have to bother with them anymore.
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Head over to the north side door to find a chest on the balcony. Normally it doesn’t have much to offer besides some junk. But there’s actually some kind of spell that’s hiding its true contents. And this is where the second Sussur Blossom comes into play. Approach the chest with the character that has the Sussur Blossom in their inventory and the spell will break. This gets us a very nice pile of loot. Afterward, recall your party and toss the Sussur Blossom on the ground then continue to the next floor.
The next floor has a bunch of containers littered everywhere. Check all of these and you’re bound to find some good loot. I’ve found a few potions, rings, and some Thieves’ Tools here. Plus, if you’ve got Lae’Zel with you, check the bookshelf in the southeastern corner. On the top shelf, there’ll be an Engraved Githyanki Disk that reveals some lore of her people. Besides that, there’s not much else on this floor besides a button that seemingly does nothing. In reality, this button works in tandem with a collar you can find in a grave nearby the Arcane Tower in the Underdark. The button is essentially a feeder for the dog that used to live in the tower.
Don’t head up to the next floor just yet after this, not until you know what you’re facing. Take a short rest here to replenish health and spell slots.
Bernard
The boss of the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3 is called Bernard and he’s on the floor above you. Bernard is a Construct that can deal some serious damage. My level 4 party struggled with this fight for quite a while due to the high AC of each enemy and the amount of damage they all do. My best advice for this fight is to move your ranged attackers to a higher level immediately. The height advantage will give you a much higher chance of landing attacks, and the Constructs will have a harder time hitting you.
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Bernard is by far the biggest threat thanks to his Static Overdrive attack. He’ll eventually use this which creates an area around him that deals electric damage to those stuck within it. It’s essentially certain death for anyone that’s trapped inside. So melee attackers won’t be much good in this fight. My strategy for this encounter was to move Shadowheart and my Warlock to a higher level and pick enemies off slowly one at a time using ranged attacks. This took a long while but after good dice rolls and lots of healing, I managed to do it. But at level 4 this battle is a struggle and I’d recommend waiting until your party is at least level 5 before coming here yourself.
Basement
The final area of the Arcane Tower is the basement, accessible after beating Bernard and pressing the button on the elevator. You can find a chest of loot on the balcony just up the staircase in this room. And on the desks near to this chest you can find Tongues of Madness and Timmask Spores, which are needed for another quest nearby. So be sure to pick these up before advancing.
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That about does it for the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3. This is a tricky location to navigate and it houses a really tough encounter. However, it’s very much worth doing once you feel ready. I strongly recommend coming here when you’re level 5, but it is doable at level 4 with some patience and tenacity.