I found the Arcane Tower in Baldur's Gate 3 Act 1 to be a deceptively tricky place with many useful items and important sidequest details. Getting through here is hard, but I know the exact steps you need to take if you're looking to conquer the area.
Baldur's Gate 3 contains many challenging areas, but few that kick you in the teeth as hard and as often as the Arcane Tower found in the Underdark.
If the Arcane Turrets don't stop you, the puzzles, challenges, and potential enemies just might bring the game to a screeching halt. Here's everything you need to know to traverse the Arcane Tower.
How to defeat Arcane Turrets
On your approach to the Arcane Tower in Baldur's Gate 3, you'll need to defeat a handful of Arcane Turrets - and to do this, you'll have to deal at least 10 damage in a single attack,as the Sturdy effect will nullify any damage otherwise.
What makes this even harder is their vast number of resistances, which either halve the incoming damage or completely nullify it.
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However, while you can progress through the Arcane Tower and defeat any of the Arcane Turrets along the way, I discovered that completing the tower itself disables all of the surrounding turrets, letting you avoid any tricky combat encounters.
Arcane Turret weakness & resistances
Here is a full list of the Arcane Turret's resistances:
- Fire damage halved
- Piercing damage halved
- Poison damage nullified
- Psychic damage nullified
- Slashing damage halved
As you can see, it's quite a tricky fight to navigate, but any lightning damage you deal to an Arcane Turret is doubled, making it quite a handy form of offence.
How to complete the Arcane Tower
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Follow our step-by-step guide below to find out how to complete the Arcane Tower in Baldur's Gate 3 and fix the elevator:
- Either sneak, run past, or defeat the Arcane Turrets outside of the Arcane Tower and jump over to the mushrooms to the south of the main entrance at X:3 Y:297 (shown in the image above)
- Navigate and jump across the mushroom path until you reach the ones growing from the Tower itself - to jump down from these, you will have to take a small health penalty
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- Continue into the garden and pick up a Sussur Flower from underneath the glowing blue tree - you only need one to complete the Arcane Tower
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- Head back east from where you came and there will be a locked door into the tower. You can either use a lockpick to break in (I used Astarion for this because he has the necessary skills), or squeeze through a hole that is revealed by a perception check at X:52 Y:302
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- Once inside the room, walk up to the engine and interact with the plate at its front. This should prompt you to combine materials, and all you need to do is insert one Sussur Flower to power the engine
Once you have done this, not only will the Arcane Tower receive power again - activating the elevator and all of the lights - but all of the Arcane Turrets in the surrounding area will be disabled.
Now you can explore the Arcane Tower freely, taking the elevator after the stairs to the right of the engine to have a look around the Tower's four floors.
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What's inside the Arcane Tower?
You can find a number of things inside the Arcane Tower, ranging from items that complete existing quests, to ones that start new adventures. Here is everything that you can do within the Arcane Tower:
- Find the Timmask Spores and Tongue of Madness needed to complete the 'Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite' quest
- Speak to (or fight) Bernard - the robot on the top floor
- Start the 'Discover the history of Prince Orpheus' quest by finding 'Orpheus, Prince of the Comet, Part One: Betrayal' and deciphering it with 'The Careful Art of Tir'su Ciphers'
If you want to ensure that you don't have to fight Bernard, you must recite lines of prose back to him. Only certain classes appear to be able to do this though (from my testing it seems the Bard and Warlock are two of them), so make sure that you have the right character speaking to the robot - you might even get a hug out of it.
Check out our Baldur's Gate 3 homepage for more guides. We've also covered the Strange Ox, how to find the Nightsong, the best mods, how to find the Adamantine Forge, and how to defeat Auntie Ethel.
FAQs
Arcane Turrets are vulnerable to lightning damage. If you do not have any Sussur Blooms to disable the turrets, then use scrolls or your spellcasters who can deal lightning damage. Entering turn-based mode is useful to help you get into position and attack without taking constant damage from the turret.
How do you destroy arcane turrets in Baldur's Gate 3? ›
Only if you reach level 5 and cast Sacred Flame with Shadowheart on them, you can destroy the turret in a few shots. Alternatively, you can do it another way, namely, use something that deals Lightning Damage. This option will be more efficient because then Arcane Turrets will take double damage when they are hit.
How do you get past the arcane tower in BG3? ›
While you can sneak past the Arcane Turrets unscathed by manually entering turn-based mode (Shift + Space) and making liberal use of dashing, jumping, and hiding behind structures in the environment, there's a much easier solution. To easily disable Arcane Turrets in Baldur's Gate 3 you need to use Sussur Blooms.
What is the point of the Arcane Tower BG3? ›
The Arcane Tower has some decent magical loot, and Omeluum rewards you with the Psionic Ring for your trouble, which suppresses your Illithid tadpole.
What is the secret button in the Arcane Tower? ›
There is a button on the bedroom floor of the tower, in a corner. The only way to utilize this button is by acquiring a Dog Collar from a grave near the Sussur Tree Waypoint. You can dig up the grave and equip the collar. With the collar on, using the button in the Arcane Tower will dispense unlimited meat.
How to defeat Arcane Turret BG3 Reddit? ›
There are several ways to do it, which include:
- destroying them by attacking them,
- disabling all the turrents by going to the main control panel and inserting the anti-magic flower into it,
- throwing anti-magic flowers to temporarily disable the turrents an then you can attack it safely.
Interact with it and place the Sussur Bloom in the empty slot on the right of the combine items menu. 10. Hit the combine button to restore power to the entire Arcane Tower, activating the elevator in the process.
Is there any good loot in the Arcane Tower BG3? ›
In the basem*nt, aside from more Tongue of Madness and Timmask Spores, the party can also find the Staff of Arcane Blessing leaning against a table, The Sparkswall in a gilded chest, and an assortment of scrolls in the chest and various rows of books.
What happens if you give the hag your eye in bg3? ›
So, what do you get if you agree? First off, your character will visually get a whited out eye. This will give you the Paid the Price condition, meaning you have +1 on Intimidation checks but disadvantage on Perception checks or when you're fighting Hags.
Do I give Astarion blood? ›
If you plan to make Astarion a permanent part of your party, you should consider letting him suck your blood for the Happy buff. This buff will add a +1 to all his checks.
If killed, Bernard drops the Scroll and Ring mentioned above, if he hasn't given them to you already, as well as his weapon, the Light of Creation - a magic Glaive that does an extra 1D6 Lightning Damage on every hit, but has a chance to stun any wielder that isn't a construct for one round.
How to get Bernard to hug you in BG3? ›
/ Please, can I hold your hands, for just a while?" Bernard will hug the player and reassure them.
Is Bernard important in BG3? ›
Bernard may not have any quests, but he's still an interesting robot to meet. By answering his questions correctly, players will be able to save themselves from this construct's wrath. Although he has a very impressive weapon, some players may prefer the hug more than the loot they could've gotten from him.
How do you deactivate weapon turrets? ›
Type in the code for the turret, shown on the monitor or told to you by your teammate. For example, 'j6'. The turret will be temporarily disabled.
How to disable turrets in Lethal Company? ›
If another player comes close to a turret, the one on the spaceship can open the terminal, type “view monitor”, enter the code displayed next to the turret on the screen, and press enter to temporarily deactivate that turret.
How do you beat turret? ›
Turrets can only be killed using guns. You cannot damage them with Melee weapons. (note at least two bows are needed to destroy a turret in bunker alfa.)
How do you destroy turrets in Mass Effect 3? ›
How to Destroy a Turret. Overload and Disruptor Ammo will take out the Turret's Shields. Fire-based attacks will reduce it's armor. Turrets are subject to Sabotage, which can be used to turn them on enemies.
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