Items

Loot in Baldur’s Gate 3 is placed by hand, and a surprising amount of it is placed so that taking one thing costs you another. There are six Adamantine moulds and ore enough for two. There is one Sussur bark and three weapons it could become. The same spear ends up consecrated to Shar or to Selune depending on who lives. A sword is handed to you for condemning a companion. This guide sorts our 77 item pages by that question, what each one rules out, because it is the difference between loot you pick up and loot you decide on.

Four groups follow. First the items that are one of several, where the game gives you a menu and no way to take everything. Then the items that cost a person, a fight or a route. Then the consumables and rare materials you can spend only once. Then the free ones, and the eighteen roundups that rank items by property rather than by story.

One of several

The Adamantine Forge is the clearest menu in the game. Six moulds are scattered around Grymforge, and the Adamantine items page says outright that you cannot get all six, because Mithral Ore comes from two veins beside the lava and nowhere else. The page ranks them from the Mace at the bottom, a 1d6 bludgeoner with Concussive Smash, through the Scimitar, a finesse off-hand, the Longsword with Lacerate, the Shield at +2 with Shield Bash, and the Scale Mail at 16 armour class, to the Splint Armor at 18, which also puts melee attackers into Reeling for three turns. Every piece shares the Reeling backlash; the armour is what the ore is for.

The Sussur masterwork is the same shape at a smaller scale. One piece of Sussur Tree Bark from the Underdark goes into the Melting Furnace in the Blighted Village with a dagger, a sickle or a greatsword, and the result silences whatever it hits; the choice page compares the three, and the Battle Master build takes the greatsword. The Sussur Bloom from the same tree is not a weapon but does the same job to machines, switching off the Arcane Tower’s turrets.

The spear in the Gauntlet of Shar is one object with two fates. Solve the Silent Library and Shadowheart claims the Spear of Night, the weapon Shar requires of a Dark Justiciar, and without it she will not descend to the Shadowfell. What she does there decides the rest: kill the Nightsong and the spear stays Shar’s; spare her, save Isobel first and kill Ketheric, and it becomes Selune’s Spear of Night, a legendary versatile spear that is also one of the easiest weapons in the game to wield. The Nightsong choice page lays out the rest of what each fate costs.

The Silver Sword of the Astral Plane has two roads and one of them is dear. In Act 3 you accept Raphael’s deal and trade the Orphic Hammer to Voss, which means the hammer never frees Orpheus. The cheaper road is in Act 1: a Drop command on Kith’rak Voss at the Mountain Pass bridge takes the greatsword off his back before he flies away, at no cost but a roll. Across the whole game there are 21 legendary items, and only two can be had in Act 1, one of them the Blood of Lathander, which comes with its own trade: take the mace without the Dawnmaster’s Crest and the Creche below is destroyed.

An item or a person

The Sword of Justice is the most expensive weapon in Act 1, because the way the page describes earning it, passing Anders’ verdict, means killing Karlach. The Karlach recruit page adds the other way: kill Anders and his false paladins and take it from his body, and keep the companion. The Potent Robe is a 10 armour class caster item that boosts cantrip damage, and it is only ever handed over by Alfira at the Last Light Inn after the Tieflings are saved from Moonrise; the page warns that several things can kill the quest early, and a Dark Urge kills Alfira. The Gloves of Dexterity are stocked by the Creche merchant A’jak’nir Jeera, which means a Creche that is still speaking to you, which means Lae’zel at the door. The Light of Creation halberd is Bernard’s, so bypassing him with his maker’s books leaves it on the roof; its wielder also risks a stun on every swing.

In Act 3 the prices climb. The Gloves of Soul Catching are Hope’s thanks for killing Raphael, force damage on every unarmed strike, and the Helldusk Armor set comes from the same house, so both are forfeit if you sign his contract instead. Gortash’s Netherstone and Orin’s Netherstone are the two the finale needs, one taken at Wyrm’s Rock and one from the doppelganger in your own camp, and Gortash’s comes only by refusing his alliance. The Duellist’s Prerogative, a legendary rapier with Flourish and Weakening Strike, is the reward for seeing Save Vanra through to Auntie Ethel’s death. And the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength can open the House of Hope for free if you promise them to Helsik, or stay on your hands if you pay her 20,000 gold; the page notes you can buy them back later either way.

The Moon Lantern is the light that gets you across the Shadow-Cursed Lands, carried by Kar’niss, who can be talked out of it, killed for it, or ambushed with the Harpers; the page recommends the ambush. Then it asks a second question, because a pixie is trapped inside: the Dolly choice page weighs keeping the lantern against freeing her for a blessing. The Everburn Blade is the first of these bargains, on the Nautiloid: Commander Zhalk is a level 8 cambion, the ship has ten turns left, and the page’s trick is Shadowheart’s Command to make him drop it.

Spend it once

Infernal Iron is the material with the most claims on it. Two pieces are in Act 1, one behind the hobgoblin leader’s throne and one under the necromancer’s house in the Blighted Village, and Dammon needs them for Karlach’s engine; whatever is left over becomes the Flawed Helldusk set, three pieces for three iron at the Last Light Inn, or gold at any merchant. Soul Coins are Karlach’s too, a combat buff burned one coin at a time, and the page lists every location across three acts along with the one that costs a life: Nadira’s coin can be looted after a bugbear assassin kills her, pickpocketed, or talked out of her if you save her. The Dark Amethyst behind the Phase Spider Matriarch is a keygem with exactly one lock, the Necromancy of Thay, and the book then offers its own three-way choice, read, destroy or give away, which the Search the Cellar page covers along with the Ornate Mirror that guards it.

Smaller decisions run the same way. The four Devilfoil Masks in Grymforge are worth more as crafting material than as gold. The Owlbear Egg can be kept, sold or cooked, and Lady Esther will take it in place of a Githyanki one. Noblestalk goes to Derryth for a reward, or to Shadowheart, who eats it after an Intimidation or Persuasion check and remembers something. The Caravan Strongbox, 113 pounds of it, is opened or delivered, and the Rugan choice page follows each outcome. The Iron Flask from the gnoll cave on the Risen Road releases what it holds once and, unlike the tabletop rules, cannot be refilled. The Tongue of Madness and Timmask Spores exist for one potion, Omeluum’s attempt at a cure. The Spider Egg Sac hatches five young spiders exactly once. Lump’s Horn summons three ogres and costs either 1,000 gold or a persuasion check.

Two are trades of a different kind. Loviatar’s Love is a permanent +2 to attack rolls and Wisdom saves earned by taking Abdirak’s beating in the Shattered Sanctum, available once per playthrough and lost for good if the blessed character dies. The Resonance Stone from the Mind Flayer colony boosts mental saving throws and doubles the psychic damage your whole party takes, and the page tells you not to carry it into the Ketheric fight.

Nothing lost

Plenty of the best items ask nothing but the walk. Phalar Aluve is a rare longsword pulled from stone on the Underdark beach with a few skill checks. The Warped Headband of Intellect sets Intelligence to 17 and waits in the Goblin Camp behind a Perception check. The Abyss Beckoners are in a Zhentarim Hideout chest, the Gloves of Automaton go on sale once Barcus Wroot’s quest is done, and the Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo drop from the Githyanki monks in Act 3 and add Wisdom to unarmed damage. Two crafted weapons only need their parts: the Broken Spear joins Edowin’s shaft to the head the Owlbear drops, and Mourning Frost is assembled from Filro’s Icy Crystal and its other pieces for an ice build.

The keys and tokens are free too, and each opens one thing. The Charred Key lies on a body in the passage behind Sazza’s cell and opens a trapped chest there. The Flowery Key comes off the doppelgangers under the Open Hand Temple and fits a wardrobe in Fraygo’s Flophouse where Ffion is. The Rune of the Wolf is Rath’s gift for saving Halsin and starts the Enclave Library puzzle. The Strange Chunk of Amber in the Creche reveals the way to the Blood of Lathander, and the Ceremonial Weapons, a warhammer, a battleaxe and a rusty mace, are the pieces of the stained-glass puzzle above it. The Annals of Karsus sit in the Sorcerous Vault behind a door sequence and move Gale’s story on.

Three utility pages round the group out. There is no Bag of Holding in the game; the Chest of the Mundane on the Arcane Tower balcony disguises what you store in it, and a later patch took away the weight reduction that made it a substitute. The Shovel page maps every one from the Ravaged Beach to the merchant Aaron, since dirt mounds hide chests. Musical instruments are for Bards, and the potions page is the alchemy reference, every recipe and ingredient.

The eighteen roundups

The rest of the bucket ranks items by a property rather than a story, and these are the pages to open when you have a slot to fill rather than a choice to make. Three are the legendary lists: 13 legendary weapons, five legendary armour pieces, and the 21 legendary items by act. Four are best-of lists by slot: weapons by act, armour by class, the ten best rings and the best amulets, led by the Amulet of Greater Health that half the builds in the folder end up wearing. The best familiars page compares all eight of the Find Familiar options, Imp to Raven.

The weapons overview sits under all of these with how weapons are acquired at all, from quests, merchants, bosses and loot, and what simple and martial proficiency each class brings. The builds guide shows which of these items each build actually equips, the bosses guide sorts the guardians by the chest they stand in front of, and the mechanics guide has the merchant and loot-location pages for the things that are simply bought.

Item questions

What are the rarest items?

The 21 legendary items, of which only two can be found in Act 1. Among them the Blood of Lathander is the earliest and, by our pages, one of the best; Balduran’s Giantslayer and Helm come from the hardest fight, Ansur; and Markoheshkir waits behind the Ramazith Tower puzzle.

Which items should never be sold?

Infernal Iron until Karlach is fixed, Soul Coins, Mithral Ore, the Dark Amethyst, and the four Devilfoil Masks, each of which is worth more as an ingredient than as gold. The Caravan Strongbox and the Owlbear Egg can go, once you have decided what they cost.

Can you get every Adamantine item?

No. There are six moulds and two veins of Mithral Ore, so two items per playthrough. Our ranking puts the Splint Armor first and the Shield or Scale Mail second, with the Mace last.