The Baldur's Gate 3 Arcane Turrets are a defense system around the Arcane Tower in the Underdark, firing at players when they get too close and doing major damage, while seemingly either immune or resistant to anything that the party can throw at them. Fortunately, the Arcane Turrets' weakness is relatively straightforward, and if you have Gale or Shadowheart with you, it should be one you can make use of without too much trouble.
Not only that, but once you get past the Arcane Turrets and into the Tower itself, you can deactivate them and leave them turned off for the rest of Baldur's Gate 3, allowing you to pass freely through the defenses without issue. Whichever appeals to you, here's how to beat the Arcane Turrets in Baldur's Gate 3, whether you want to destroy them or turn them off.
How to destroy the Arcane Turrets in Baldur's Gate 3
The Arcane Turrets in Baldur's Gate 3 are weak to Lightning Damage, losing double health when hit by it. Lightning is generally the purview of spellcasters, and even then can be pretty situational and hard to obtain. The problem is that their Sturdy quality means that all damage they receive is reduced by a certain amount, so anything they're already resistant to won't do enough damage to pass that Sturdiness. But Lightning does double damage, and so should be enough to pass that minimal threshold. They also don't heal, so you can whittle them down quickly enough.
Here's a few examples of things that can do Lightning Damage - check to see if you have any of them on hand:
- The Shocking Hands cantrip
- Witch Bolt spell (1st level)
- Breath weapon of a Blue or Bronze Dragonborn
- Arrow of Lightning (rare magic ammunition)
- Chromatic Orb (1st level spell)
- Lightning Bolt (3rd level spell)
Alternatively, while not actually weak to it, the turrets have no resistance to Bludgeoning or Radiant Damage.
This means that if you've reached level 5, the point where Shadowheart's cantrips have increased in power, you can just have her repeatedly cast Sacred Flame on them from a distance - it may take a few shots to kill them, as their "Sturdy" quality offers significant damage reduction, but over time they'll eventually break. Repeat this process until you can reach the Arcane Tower (keep in mind that there'll be two more Turrets waiting to shoot you in the entrance lobby, but not on other floors).
How to shut down the Arcane Turrets in Baldur's Gate 3
If you want to find the off switch for the Arcane Turrets and shut them down permanently, you need to get inside the Arcane Tower first. Once inside, this is how to turn off the Arcane Turrets.
- Use Feather Fall to leap safely out of the West side of the building to the outside garden below.
- Pick up a Baldur's Gate 3 Sussur Bloom from the glowing blue tree at the edge of the garden.
- Use the garden door to get back into the lowest level of the Arcane Tower.
- Inside is a Power Generator - interact with it and place the Sussur Bloom inside.
- This will power up the Arcane Tower, turning on all the lights, activating the elevator, and - paradoxically - deactivating all of the Arcane Turrets throughout the area.
This gives you free rein of the tower, including being able to reach the Baldur's Gate 3 Bernard NPC at the top - who, without spoiling things, is quite a character.
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