Erected to honor Lady Shar and her Dark Justiciars, Gauntlet of Shar is a dungeon in Baldur’s Gate 3 that appears in the second act. Most of the second act revolves around this Gauntlet and its puzzles. Gauntlet of Shar is also important to further the storyline of Shadowheart, who will eventually evolve into a dark justiciar. It also serves as a boundary to Shadowfell once you complete all its puzzles and gain its rewards.
In this guide, we will be discussing all the activities you can partake in the Gauntlet of Shar area in Baldur’s Gate 3. These activities involve finding relics, Trials of Shar to earn Umbral gems, fighting baddies and finally accessing a brand-new area.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Gauntlet of Shar location
Gauntlet of Shar is in the Northern part of Shadow Cursed Lands. However, it can only be accessed by going through the Thorm Mausoleum at (X: 190, Y: 110). Once you are inside the Thorm Mausoleum, solve its painting puzzle to open the portal to the Gauntlet of Shar.
At this point, we recommend completing all the quests and recruiting Shadowheart for your party. She is required to access a certain puzzle and solve it to obtain a rare weapon.
As you enter the Gauntlet, you will come across a few enemies and then Balthazar. We recommend siding with him to earn some useful knowledge about his relic and then defeat him after entering the Shadowfell.
How to complete Gauntlet of Shar in Baldur’s Gate 3
The list of activities that you can do inside Gauntlet of Shar in BG3 are listed below.
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- Faith-Leap trial
- Self-Same trial
- Soft-Step trial
- Kill or save Yugir
- Find Spear of Night from Silent Library
- Save Nightsong or kill her
- Balthazar boss fight
Faith-Leap trial
Faith-Leap trial is one of the three Sharran trials inside Gauntlet of Shar that nets you one umbral gem. These gems are required to open the path to Shadowfell realm. This trial is to the North of the Gauntlet of Shar waypoint in BG3.
During this trial, all you have to do is to follow the glowing bricks on the ground. There are three chances to complete this trial. We recommend using Fly or Misty Step to cover the distance in one move. Alternatively, you can use Daylight magic spell to make the glowing path appear visibly.
Self-Same trial
The second one from the Sharran trials list is known as Self-Same trial. This trial takes place to the west of the Gauntlet of Shar waypoint. Self-Same trial also earns you one umbral gem if you are successful.
During this trial, you must fight doppelgangers of your party members. We recommend that you disband the party and attempt this trial with just one character. This improves your chances of completing the Self-Same trial astronomically inside Gauntlet of Shar in BG3.
Soft-Step trial
The third and final trial of Sharran Trials is BG3 Soft-Step trial. It is required to acquire the third umbral stone. This trial is to the south of the Self-Same trial.
The purpose of Soft-Step trial is to be incognito and avoid detection at all costs. Once again, disband the party and select the character who is good at stealth and lock-picking. Avoid the guard and pull the lever to enter a new area. Use lock pick to open the locked gate and complete Soft-Step trial inside the Gauntlet of Shar area in BG3.
Kill or save Yugir
Now you have three umbral gems in your possession. Sadly, you need four gems to unlock the mechanism and enter Shadowfell. The fourth and final gem is in the possession of Yugir. He is in the eastern part of the Gauntlet of Shar in BG3, opposite to the room where you first met Balthazar.
Yugir is a very irritating boss as he summons Nessa and Merregons to aid him during the battle. If you have high persuasion check, you can force Yugir to kill his minions and then kill himself. However, if you fail, prepare for a battle that will make you go half crazy.
Find Spear of Night from the Silent Library
The next optional step is to find a weapon, Spear of Night, by solving Silent library’s puzzle. However, if you have Shadowheart in your team, she will refuse to go to Shadowfell until you find this weapon. Completing this Silent Library puzzle and finding the spear is required for Shadowheart’s own companion quest.
Silent library is on the bottom floor of Gauntlet of Shar area in BG3, to the east of Soft-Step trial. The riddle in question is called Riddle of the night which can be completed with careful exploration of the silent library. This will net you Dark Justiciar armor set and Spear of Night in return.
Save Nightsong or kill her
If you decide to let Balthazar live in the early encounter, the next two sequences will take place simultaneously. Once you enter the Shadowfell realm, you will realize Nightsong is a person. You can listen to her story and then decide what you want.
If you decide to kill her, Shadowheart story will take a dramatic turn. We recommend against killing Nightsong and instead save her as it will have long-lasting implications on your journey.
Balthazar Boss fight
If you take our advice to heart and refrain from killing Balthazar in BG3 during the first encounter, he will be available inside Shadowfell region. After completing Gauntlet of Shar in BG3, this is the last step and absolutely the point of no return for this area.
Balthazar will ask you to kill Nightsong. If you refuse and take Nightsong’s side by saving her, Balthazar will get offensive and initiate a boss battle. You can defeat Balthazar easily inside Shadowfell by following our guide.
With this, Gauntlet of Shar and its trials will come to an end in BG3. If you kept Nightsong alive, she will aid you in the fight against Kethric Thorm and later you will get the legendary Selune’s Spear of Night weapon.
