The Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3 is home to cleric Lenore De Hurst, who is studying the nature and plants of the Underdark. It can be dangerous if ventured into unprepared, but it is also a place filled with some useful weapons, items, and secrets.
Exploring the inner sections of the Arcane Tower is an optional activity with Omeluum’s quest linked to it. The area is full of useful loot and one of the strangest puzzles the game has to offer. In this guide, we will look at how you can find the tower, disable its defensive parameters, solve the puzzles, and activate its lift.
Arcane Tower location in Baldur’s Gate 3
The Arcane Tower is in the Underdark region, south of Underdark Beach and west of the Selunite Outpost. There are various ways to reach the Arcane Tower. The easiest method is to start the Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite quest, which will mark the tower’s location on your map. You can simply journey to the Southwest region of the Underdark to discover it yourself.
Disabling the Arcane Turrets
A mushroom forest surrounds the tower and is heavily fortified with Arcane Turrets. They immediately lock on you and cause heavy damage with their Arcane bolts.
Avoid the arcane turrets as you first approach the Arcane Tower. If you are caught in the line of sight of the turrets, you will be locked into turn-based combat with them.
However, this is not a permanent solution. You will keep coming across the turrets throughout your journey across the Arcane Tower. The best way is to disable them permanently. You can do this via the various methods listed below.
1. By using Sussur Blooms
As the mechanism powering the Arcane Turrets is magic, you can disable them by throwing a Sussur Bloom at them. This flower can be found near a Sussur Tree, which you can find North of the Arcane Tower. This flower disables any magic around it.
Here, you will find two Sussur Blooms. The third one is on a cliff near a poisonous gas cloud. Use Mage Hand to retrieve it successfully. While carrying Sussur blooms, avoid any confrontations, as you won’t be able to use magic at all.
There are two Arcane Turrets in the courtyard. Select the person with the highest speed and stealth. Disband them from the party. Use the cover to get near the turrets and enter Turn-based mode. Throw Sussur Blooms near both Arcane Turrets to disable them permanently.
2. Destroying the Arcane Turrets
Arcane Turrets are vulnerable to Electric attacks. If you have a sorcerer or Gale in your party, send them alone. Once near the turrets, enter the turn-based mode. Make sure to hit both turrets with your strongest Electric/Shock spells. Witch Bolt is an excellent choice to destroy the Arcane Turrets.
3. Powering up the Arcane Tower
At this point, you can enter through the main door, but we recommend against it. There are two more turrets at the entrance, and the elevator leading to the bottom floor is locked.
To make this journey easier, drop all Sussur blooms and go behind the Arcane Turret near the steps (X:0, Y: -275). You will notice a gap with some large mushrooms you can use as platforms to reach down. You can also use the Fly Spell to reach the ground safely.
Once you reach the ground, you will notice another large glowing Sussur Tree. Before picking up the Sussur Bloom from it, open the locked door leading to the room with the Power Generator. You can either lockpick it or use the Knock spell.
Pick a Sussur Bloom and go inside the room. Interact with the Power Generator at the center. It will ask you to combine something with it. Select the Sussur Bloom from your inventory. This will activate the Power Generator and light up the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3. Luckily, it will also disable all the Arcane Turrets in the area. Now, you have a fully functional elevator, too, which allows you to move through the Arcane Tower easily.
Explore the Arcane Tower
From the Power Generator room, use the stairs to reach the upper floor. There is some useless loot in this room. Once you are done, press the ascend button on the elevator to go to the upper floor. Here, you will find Timmask Spores (x3) and Tongue of Madness (x2) on the opposite corners of the room. These items are required to complete Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite side quest.
Ensure you read Threadbare Book from a shelf near the Northern wall. You will need it to complete Bernard’s riddle soon. Once you are done on this floor, use the Ascend button on the elevator to go further up. Read the Dusty Book from a shelf in the Northwest corner of the room. Open the main door by pressing the lever near two statues to let your party into the Arcane Tower. Regroup once more to continue exploring together.
Go west of the room and open the Sturdy Door to find the Chest of the Mundane. This item can change anything stored into worthless junk and reduce its weight to 0.5. However, once you take the item out, it will go back to its original form. Loot the Mundane Chest to obtain the following items.
- Scroll of Mage Armor (your sorcerer can use it to learn the spell).
- Scroll of Protection from Good and Evil.
- Mystra’s Grace (uncommon boots that also provide Feather Fall spell to the wearer).
- Gold Ingot
- Silver Ingot (x2)
Right-click on Chest of Mundane to add it to your inventory. You can store the items from your inventory into it that you don’t want immediately. This will reduce your inventory weight by a lot.
Use the elevator once more and press the Ascend button. Read the Roads to Darkness book from a table in the Northeast corner. Also, read the Torn-out paper from a shelf at the back of the elevator. At this point, you should be able to answer Bernard’s question to solve his riddle.
The Unresponsive Button and the Dog Collar
There is a button in the Northwest corner of the room. Pressing this button doesn’t do anything at all. However, your character will react suspiciously to it. To make this button work, you must go outside the Arcane Tower and reach the coordinates (X: -42, Y: -206). There is a grave with a tombstone you can interact with. If you have a shovel, start digging the grave to find a peculiar dog collar.
Equip the dog collar and return to Arcane Tower’s room, where you found the switch. Press the switch, and it will dispense some dog food (raw steak) in a bowl. However, you can obtain only one raw steak per character. To get more, equip the collar on another character and press the button again.
Solve Bernard’s Riddle and enter the Basement
Once you are done reading three books and a torn-out page, use the elevator to reach the top floor of the Arcane Tower. Here you will find a mechanical robot and the guardian of Arcane Tower, Bernard. Interact with him and answer his questions by selecting the following dialogue options.
- Or art thou, friend. A rescue from a lonely wake?
- How can I trust? How will I ever know? / How can I show myself, the darkest me?
This will make Bernard move and place a Guiding Light ring on the table. Pick up and equip the ring, as it will allow you to enter the hidden basement of Arcane Tower.
Go back to the elevator to find a new button labeled Basement. Press it to reach the hidden basement of the tower. Interact with the shelves to obtain a plethora of magic scrolls. Now climb the stairs to the left to find the Staff of the Arcane Blessing. Read the book titled Excavation of the Enclave of Nhalloth.
Use the elevator to return to Bernard. Talk to him once more and reply with the following dialogue options.
- The silence stretches on – I am all alone. / Can I hold your hands for a moment?
- Yes, please.
Bernard will hug you. Read the page on the table (random) and talk to Bernard again to get a random item as a reward. This is the end of the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3, and there is nothing more left to do here.
