InBaldur’s Gate 3, players are able to explore a number of locations that aren’t vital to progressing the story, an early example of this being the Overgrown Ruins near the Nautiloid Crash Site. These ruins are found along the beach but cannot be entered from there, requiring players to explore more of the area and find their way in from above.
Exploring the Overgrown Ruins inBaldur’s Gate 3is optional but highly rewarding, allowing players to grab some handy loot, a magical weapon, and a new ally who will appear at Camp. This guide will aid players in tracking down all the essentials in this area and suggest what companions to bring along for the ride.
RELATED:Baldur’s Gate 3: Should You Help the Talking Brain?
Getting Into the Overgrown Ruin
In order to reach the Overgrown Ruin interior, players will need to loop around to the upper floor by traversing the crashed Nautiloid and climbing up to the path. The location of the entrance can be seen on the map above. Heading in via the balcony, players will quickly run into some looters who are exploring the ruin and considering searching for the crashed Nautiloid too, who will stop the party from entering. Players are able to persuade, intimidate, or deceive them into fleeing the scene without a fight, but if the check is failed, players will need to fight them.
After dealing with the looters, players can head for the door at the back of the building to find a way down into the Ruins themselves, but the door is locked. Interacting with the door will allow players to speak with the guard on the other side. Players can make use of deception or performance to trick the guard into opening up or just inform the guard that the other looters ran. If the guard is successfully tricked using deception or performance, the door will be unlocked, and the party can head right in. If the guard was told the others ran, the lock will need to be picked, and the guard will have warned the others inside about the party’s arrival.Being a rogue or bringing Astarion along is ideal for getting through the door if negotiations fail.
Alternatively, players can snipe the coiled rope over the crack in the floor to drop something on it and open a one-way drop into the ruins that can be used to enter from a different position. This will also instantly kill the looters standing under it if players are able to hit it from outside their detection range.
Inside the Ruins - Floor 1
After entering from the door, if the guard was successfully tricked, players will need to fight the guard. It will be four-on-one if the player has recruited some allies from the area around the Nautiloid, so it shouldn’t be too troublesome. If the guard wasn’t tricked, this first room will be empty as the guard and their allies are preparing to attack further in.
Before proceeding, players should open the container on the big dining table for some loot and grab all the food to use as camping supplies (especially the cheese wheels, as they give a lot of supply points). After that, the door on the left side of the room (when facing the table) has a lever next to it that will open it. The lock can also be picked by a rogue.
If players failed to fool the guard at the entrance, every looter in the ruin will be waiting to attack on the other side of the door, so players should use the door as a choke point and try totake out their spellcasters first to avoid the potential for AOE.There’s also an explosive barrel in the hallway past the door that can be detonated with fire damage when foes are near it for a decent bit of damage.
If players successfully fooled the guard at the entrance or entered via the hole, there will only be one fairly weak looter in this hallway who can be taken out easily(players who entered via the hole in the ceiling will arrive in a bedroom that opens onto this hallway).For bonus points, sneak into the hall and hit them with a sneak attack for tons of damage. The other looters can be found in the room at the far end of the hall, which is a chapel, so players should explore the other rooms and collect the loot first. Once that’s done, players can open the door to the Chapel.
This room will contain three more looters, one of whom is a Barbarian with a pretty sizable health pool. Take out the spellcasters and focus him down (most easily done with sneak attacks from Astarion/a Rogue Player Character), then search the back of the chapel for a switch that opens the sealed door back in the hallway. Head through that door to find a path down deeper into the ruins.
RELATED:Baldur’s Gate 3: Important Facts About Nautiloids
Inside the Ruins - Floor 2
This section of the ruins has a crossroads. The path south will lead back towards the locked door that opens onto the beach, allowing players to open up a shortcut back to where the game began (there is also a fast travel point there to make it easier to return to the Overgrown Ruins later if necessary).
The south path also passes through a large burial area containing a huge central sarcophagus, but players shouldn’t rush in and open it since the room is full of traps. These traps are a collection of gas and grease emitters, along with fireball launchers on the walls, and are triggered by opening the central sarcophagus.
Players could, assuming they have good perception and good dice rolls, spot and disarm the trapsusing a trap-disabling kit and a rogue(another great reason to bring Astarion on this particular venture). If this isn’t an option, players should instead separate whichever character has the highest dexterity from the rest of the party and have the rest of the party wait outside. The remaining character should position themselves between the sarcophagus and the door leading outside, save the game, and then open it.
This will allow them to grab the treasure and then immediately put the game into turn-based mode as the traps activate. The character should then dash for the door and escape, hoping that their high dexterity allows them to avoid slipping on the grease. If this doesn’t work, reload and try again until it does. They could also attempt to rush for the button on one of the pillars in the middle of the room, which also disables the traps.
Another option is to block the vents by dragging barrels on top of them and then do the same to the launchers. This should jam the trap and allow players to safely nab the loot. (This includes “The Watcher’s Guide,” a spear that grantsTrue Strikefor free whenever the wielder misses an attack).
After that is dealt with, and after the traps have finished firing, players can backtrack to the crossroads and head into the room to the north, which contains a huge statue of Nergal and a ton of dead scribes. On the left side of the statue, in the alcove, players can find a button by succeeding on a perception check. Pushing this button will open a hidden room behind the statue and cause the dead scribes to rise and attack. The scribes consist of sword wielders and spellcasters, and players can take advantage of the alcove to reduce visibility and prevent the spellcasters from hitting their squishier allies.
Take down the Scribes and check the hidden room to find what they were guarding, a sarcophagus containing a particularly talkative undead who poses a question about the value of life. After giving him his answer, he will promise to meet the group again and leave. After this, he can be found at the camp, where he can be paid to raise dead Party Members if needed.
Before leaving, players should also check out the side room accessible from the room with the Nergal Statue to find the “Book of Dead Gods,” a fascinating item that willgive Shadowheart inspiration if the checks to open it and decipher its contents succeed.Opposite that room is a hole in the wall leading to a lever that deploys an escape ladder. Players can use this ladder to make it back to the upper section of the ruins on the outside.
Baldur’s Gate 3launches on the 3rd of August 2023 for PC and Mac and on the 6th of September 2023 for PS5.
