How to Get into the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3

The Arcane Tower is an optional location in Baldur’s Gate 3 that can be found in the Underdark. While it isn’t important for the main story, there are quite a few interesting magical items that can be found within, so it’s worth paying a visit. It is a challenging place to get into though, so you’ll need to be cautious

Where is the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3?

The Arcane Tower is in the Underdark and can be reached in a couple of ways. From the Selunite Outpost, there is an open side window that leads onto a ledge. Following this route leads to an area full of Torchstalks (and possible tough encounters with a Spectator and a Bulette). This area can also be reached by heading south of the Decrepit Village and jumping across.

The Arcane Tower is on the west of this Torchstalk area, with a stairway leading to a passage. Follow this to enter the Arcane Tower grounds.

How Do You Enter the Arcane Tower?

The Arcane Tower grounds in Baldur’s Gate 3 contain two Arcane Turrets, which will fire on your party members on sight. When you enter the grounds, the game will switch to turn-based mode, and it’s worth keeping this on while you sneak through.

The turrets will fire on their turn if you’re in their range and will even turn to face you. If you’re hidden, however, they won’t turn at all. Crossing a turret’s vision cone (shown in red when in hiding) will take you out of hiding, so staying out of this cone is key to sneaking past.

To move their vision cones, use abilities such as Minor Illusion, Spiritual Weapon, Find Familiar or anything else that places a distraction in a turret’s visual field. Ideally, you want to move the first turret to face east while using the higher ground opposite the second turret to turn it away from the lower area as much as possible. A small route to the north can help provide better access to this area.

The ideal route is to move behind the rock to the north of the first turret and cast your distractions. Then slip through the gaps in the vision cones to the wall just east of the second turret. Then use the Dash action to move across to the other side of the statue at the top of the next staircase. After this, it’s a straightforward route up to the entrance of the Arcane Tower.

If you’ve previously found the Dread Hollow area northwest of the Decrepit Village, however, there’s an easier solution. Simply bring some Sussur Blooms from that area and throw them on the turrets to disable them with their antimagic fields.

How Do You Get to the Higher Levels of the Arcane Tower?

In order to fully explore the Arcane Tower and enter its upper levels, you’ll need to activate the elevator in the center. What you’ll need for this is a single party member with a decent Sleight of Hand stat and Thieves’ Tools, so leave the others behind for now. Be warned, there are two turrets inside the tower itself, so the previous tactics are relevant here.

Head to the door to the north inside the tower and you’ll find a Chest of the Mundane, which contains a bunch of plates and cups. However, take all these items and they’ll transform into magical items, including the Mystra’s Grace boots. Equip these boots because you’ll need them soon.

Cross the central room and head to the south door. The balcony here is broken and there are mushrooms that can be jumped to. Head to the balcony on the next level down and look for another mushroom to the east that’s much lower down. Cast Feather Fall, which you will have thanks to Mystra’s Grace, and jump down to this lower mushroom.

Follow the ledge around to the back yard of the tower. There are more Sussur Blooms here in case you don’t have any from Dread Hollow. Pick the lock on the back door of the tower to enter the generator room. Place a Sussur Bloom in the Generator and the tower will power up, while the turrets will power down.

Now you can freely explore the tower and loot its many crates full of useful items across each floor. You will also encounter an automaton named Bernard on the top floor. You’ll need to quote the snippets of a play found throughout the building to gain different rewards from him.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now for PC. A PS5 version will be released on September 6, 2023.