Baldur's Gate 3 Arcane Tower Guide: How to Find Sussur Bloom and Activate the Arcane Tower - RPG Informer (2024)

There are so many secrets and intriguing areas for you to explore and discover in Baldur’s Gate 3. Some of the most exciting areas in the massive RPG from Larian Studios are the ones the game doesn’t send you to for the main story. Enter the star of this Baldur’s Gate 3 Arcane Tower guide, which you should not miss during your adventures in this realm.

The Arcane Tower is a place players can completely miss in Baldur’s Gate 3, which is a shame since it has some wonderfully fun puzzles and rewards waiting for you there. You don’t have to go here for any main story quest, so I accidentally stumbled upon this place when looking for something else. Fortunately, I can use this knowledge to help you out with this location in this Baldur’s Gate 3 Arcane Tower guide.

Bottom Line Up Front

The Arcane Tower is one of the best optional areas you can find in Baldur’s Gate 3. Players can first access this tower near the very end of Act 1, but you can come back here at any point later in the game. I would go so far as to say that some players won’t visit here until Act 2, like me.

The Arcane Tower is a massive, dark, and oddly beautiful location that is like a mini-dungeon for you to explore in the game. It is filled with enemies, traps, mysterious arcane turrets, and more that can take you out quite easily. But you should explore it for the fascinating rewards it offers players.

Arcane Tower Explained: Location, Importance, Etc.

To find the Arcane Tower in Baldur’s Gate 3, you want to progress through the main story in Act 1 until you reach the Underdark. Now, this is where things get interesting, as you can, technically, progress through to the Shadow-Cursed Lands in Act 2 through the Mountain Pass and without going through the Underdark.

So, if you go the other way, you’ll want to circle back and visit the Underdark near the Grymforge and underneath the Goblin Army campsite at some point. To find the Arcane Tower here, you’ll want to head to the southwestern corner of the Underdark map, just southwest of the small Underdark town and the boat you can take to reach the Grymforge. But watch out for the initial dangers in this area.

Arcane Cannons Explained

What you’ll find when you first arrive in the Arcane Tower area is that you are surrounded by some arcane cannons. These turrets are magical and will constantly shoot you every single turn. Don’t bother trying to outrun them, either, as they will lock onto your characters and blast them. They are also extremely powerful as well.

Before you can even touch the Arcane Tower’s front doorstep, you’ll need to find a way around these arcane turrets. There are a couple of ways to do this. The first is to run away from them strategically. You see, the turrets will auto-lock onto your party members but only if they can see them.

Since the turrets are spread out a fair bit, you can outrun their lasers and get to a safe distance if done right. You’ll likely lose a bit of health this way, but it is nothing you can’t solve with a rest or two. To run away, I recommend deactivating the turn-based mode and sprinting for your life or using stealth.

What is great about trying to escape this way is the arcane turrets won’t shoot at you if you block their line of sight. Fortunately, there are several pillars and rocks in this entrance area to the Arcane Tower that you can use to make your way to the tower.

How to Destroy the Arcane Turrets

The other way to deal with the arcane turrets is to destroy them. This is tricky since it means you’ll be vulnerable to their hits. In my experience, though, their lasers aren’t that strong with each turn. The only problem is if you are hit by them too many times.

Better yet, they have little health so it is possible to take them out in a few hits at best. You shouldn’t have to take more than a couple of turns to destroy a single arcane turret. Except you won’t be able to obliterate them. When you take out their health, they will only deactivate.

What this means for you is if you leave this area and return to the Arcane Tower in the future, the arcane turrets will be revived and start attacking you again. This was a nasty surprise for me. Fortunately, there is a way to permanently destroy them, but that requires you to get deeper into the Arcane Tower.

How to Reach the Arcane Tower Basement and Sussur Bloom

Before you enter the Arcane Tower after taking out the few arcane turrets near its doorway, there is something else you should do first. You see if you enter the Arcane Tower right now, you’ll be met with a ton more turrets than before, and they will decimate your team in no time.

Worse still, there are also some traps and other enemies you’ll have to deal with as soon as you enter the tower. This can make the situation quite overwhelming and annoying, so there is an extra step you must do before you can fully explore the Arcane Tower at your leisure.

What you’ll want to do is head to the left of the Arcane Tower entrance near where the final arcane turret guarding the place is located, but don’t go inside. There is a ledge near the turret on the left side that falls into the bottomless pits of the Underdark. But if you look across, you’ll see some massive, colorful mushrooms.

Fortunately, you can even leap to these mushrooms, though it is pretty difficult to do so with the normal jump action. It is better if you have a high jump like Lae’zel has or if you use the Fly action. Regardless of how you do it, the goal is to have someone or the whole party jump to the nearest mushroom.

Once you get on this mushroom, you’ll notice others nearby that you can also jump to. These go gradually down over time, which is the point. You want to jump from mushroom to mushroom as you gradually go down the side of the Arcane Tower.

At one point, you’ll have the chance to jump to the side of the tower itself and scale its walls. You want to continue on this mostly linear jump path until you reach the very bottom, where there is some safe land to walk around.

Where to Get Sussur Bloom in BG3

It is here that you are finally at the basement floor of the Arcane Tower but on the outside.

If you want into the grove that is here right outside of the Arcane Tower basement, you’ll find a beautiful set of trees, plants, and some mushrooms blooming here. If you go up to the glowing plants, you’ll see you can pick up a few Sussur Bloom materials. These are highly valuable items.

You’ll need this Sussur Bloom if you want to progress through the Arcane Tower, but there is a catch involved with them. You see, if a character is holding these flowers, they will be unable to use magic due to the immense power these plants give off. So, I recommend having a character like Lae’zel or Karlach who won’t use magic to hold them. Now, here is what you need to do with these flowers.

How to Activate the Arcane Tower in the Basement

Conveniently placed right behind you if facing the Sussur Blooms is a doorway that leads back into the Arcane Tower. This door happens to be our destination for this since it leads right into the basement area of the magical tower dungeon place.

The catch here is you’re going to not only need a character to sacrifice their magical abilities for the Sussur Bloom, but you’ll want someone who can pick locks as well. This could be your character if you specialize in the Dexterity ability stat or Astarion if you don’t have the capabilities on your custom character.

Regardless of who you use, you want to save beforehand, if you don’t mind, to ensure you can roll a success on picking this lock. Once you do so, you can enter the Arcane Tower through the basement. Fortunately, there are no enemies or traps you need to worry about in this area.

Walk around to the center of the basement room, and you’ll find a massive glowing structure. This is the heart of the magic in the Arcane Tower and the power source behind all the magical traps and turrets. Go up to it, and you’ll have the option to combine something with it.

What to Combine With the Arcane Tower Generator

As you might have already guessed by this point, what you need to do is combine the Sussur Bloom you picked up just a moment ago with the generator. This will, of course, hinder the magical abilities of the Arcane Tower generator and silence all the turrets and the like for good. Now, you can explore the entire tower at your leisure successfully.

Now, there is a way to reach the basement by exploring the Arcane Tower itself and not having to worry about picking that door, but you’ll have to go through all of the enemies and traps the tower has in place that way. This way, you can skip all that and explore the tower freely without too much of an issue.

What Enemies and Traps You’ll Find in the Arcane Tower

Now that the Arcane Tower is not dealt with in terms of the various obstacles and magical turrets that will come after you if you explore it, you can now check out the place in its entirety. Even with the turrets out of the way, though, there are some occasional standard enemies and traps you’ll have to deal with.

They aren’t anything at all to deal with, though, at this point in the game. If you can take out the turrets, the other enemies and traps are relatively easy to take out. But you should still be careful and take your time exploring this place. Don’t be afraid to do short and long rests in the middle of traversing this optional dungeon area.

There are two ways to explore the Arcane Tower at this point. You can start in the basement where you are currently and make your way through each of the few levels of the tower to the top, which is your ultimate goal to complete the place.

Alternatively, you can go back to the main entrance to the Arcane Tower, where you originally came from, and explore that way since it is now safe to do so. It is up to you, but I recommend starting from the basement since you are already here.

As you progress through the floors, there are a couple of enemies and traps, but nothing too major to deal with. Instead, there are parchments and books to read about the tower, plus plenty of rewards and chests at the same time. I do recommend reading the text you find and taking your time, as it becomes helpful in a bit.

Bernard Boss Fight Explained

As mentioned, the goal of your adventure here is to reach the top of the tower. When you do, you’ll meet Bernard, the guardian of the tower and a potential final boss for this optional dungeon. If you read all of the text from before while exploring the tower, you’ll get some additional dialogue options.

If you pick these, the guardian will think you are its master and not attack you. It will even guard you while in the tower from any traps and additional enemies you may come across. Alternatively, you can even do weird stuff like get a hug from it or free items like a Potion of Greater Healing if you pick the right options.

But if you pick the wrong one or don’t read all the text before coming here, you’ll end up in a boss fight. This is a tough fight with a pretty high-level enemy compared to everything else in the Underdark. So long as the traps and other enemies didn’t make too much work of you, you should be able to outnumber and win this fight to complete the Arcane Tower.

Arcane Tower Rewards Explained

There are so many rewards throughout the Arcane Tower, which is the whole point of exploring this place. For one, there is a related quest in a way. The main story quest in Baldur’s Gate 3 has to do with finding a way to remove the parasite in your head. There is an objective to complete here as part of that.

In the basement, you can find some Timmask Spore to collect there. Collecting this will complete one of the many objectives for the Removing the Parasite main story quest. Outside of the basement, there is also a tree with a place for you to dig near the Sussur Bloom. You can dig here to find a dog collar accessory item.

From there, head upstairs to the first floor near the main entrance. There is also a magical chest you can open up if handled correctly. This chest doesn’t seem intriguing at first, but if you pass the right skill check, you’ll realize it’s magically powered. If you succeed, you’ll be able to pick up all of the various scrolls and other items it has, including the powerful Mystra’s Grace boots item.

Finally, there are the excellent rewards you can get at the top of the Arcane Tower. If you pick the right options with Bernard, the guardian, after reading the text left behind by the tower’s owner, you’ll obtain the Guiding Light Ring. With this guiding light, head back to the elevator, and you’ll find a hidden button.

Use this to find the secret stash of the tower’s owner that includes the diary, which explains their backstory more, and the mighty Staff of Arcane Blessing. Lastly, on this top floor, you’ll find the Stool of Hill Giant Strength if you head to the northeastern side of the floor. If you can successfully destroy it, you’ll obtain the final item in this Arcane Tower, the Club of Hill Giant Strength.

FAQs

Find Out How to Romance Every Companion in Baldur’s Gate 3

The Arcane Tower is one of the most beautiful and interesting optional dungeons you can visit in Baldur’s Gate 3. While you can tackle it in Act 1, you might want to come back in a later Act when you are more powerful and can easily take on the defenses of this stunning area.

It is, after all, not a required location for you to visit, but it is more than worth visiting for the Sussur Bloom and the various rewards you can find here. That said, it will set you up quite well if you visit when you first arrive in the Underdark if you do happen to challenge its ancient magical defenses.

When you aren’t busy with the Arcane Tower anymore, another aspect of this game that is technically optional but you shouldn’t miss out on is the romance portion of this game. There are so many companions you can meet and romance nearly all of them. Fortunately, we have your back on how to romance all characters in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Continue reading:

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Romance Guide | A Guide to Each Possible Romance
• Baldur’s Gate 3 Escape the Nautiloid Guide: How to Beat the Prologue
• Baldur’s Gate 3: Your Guide to the House of Grief