We tell you how to get into the Dark Crypt, explore all the rooms, disable traps, defeat enemies and meet the Withered One, who can resurrect characters
The Dark Crypt in Baldur’s Gate 3 is the first dungeon you find in the game, with many fire and poison traps, a sealed door, and valuable loot. If done right, you can even meet the mysterious lich Withered, who will help your squad in some way. We will talk about all this below, in our detailed walkthrough of the Dark Crypt in Baldur’s Gate 3. You will learn, among other things, how to bypass traps, find treasure and destroy enemies.
The Dark Crypt is divided into three main areas:
- Fire trap and sarcophagus.
- An adjoining treasure room and a sealed ornate door leading to the bedroom.
- A room with a lot of undead and a secret Tomb of the Withered One.
We will visit all the rooms in order, starting with the entrance to the Dark Crypt from the side of the Ruined Shore, which is located north of the starting point after escaping from the Nautiloid ship.
Gathering a squad, requirements
If you plan to enter the Dark Crypt, make sure that all members of the squad are pumped to at least the second level, as the first serious tests await you inside. It is possible to pass the crypt on the first level, but it will be definitely more difficult to do it. The best unit you can take into the Dark Crypt should be focused on dealing damage, hacking skills, and interacting with traps. Social skills or the same secrecy are not needed in this place. In general, take the following companions:
- Lae’zel (hand-to-hand combat, tank).
- Astarion (and at least one set to disable traps and a lockpick).
- Shadowheart (healing spells).
- Gale (crowd control and area damage spells).
If you don’t have a full team, or if you decide to visit the Dark Crypt early, make sure you have everything you need on hand, including healing potions, weapons, and armor. Before entering, rest to reset spell slots for mages.
How to open the door and get into the Dark Crypt
The main entrance to the Dark Crypt is an ancient door near the Overgrown Ruins teleporter, on the northeastern outskirts of the Broken Shore. The door is locked, but you can try to break it in with a master key.
There are three more additional entrances, and they are all located near the entrance to the chapel on the hill north of the current position, but going there is much more dangerous. There are strong bandits near two additional entry points, and in order to fight them, you should pump at least to the third level.
- Decorated Door: Behind the entrance to the chapel, behind Taman and Gimblebock, is a door that you can go through if you talk to Andorn. Already inside the building you will have to fight with him and other bandits.
- Collapsing floor. Outside, the bandits are talking – Taman and Gimblebock. Shoot the rope to bring down the cobblestone and break the wooden floor, creating a hole through which you can go down to the Dark Crypt’s bedroom. If you jump down without any fall softening skills (or scrolls), you will probably take some damage. In addition, once at the bottom, you will be forced to immediately fight with the bandits.
- Wooden hatch: East of the entrance to the chapel, there is a small path on the side of the cliff – go to the end of the path to find a wooden hatch. Through it you can get to the back of the Dark Crypt. So you will bypass those very bandits, but you will find yourself on the opposite side of the Dark Crypt, starting from the tomb. From this, the passage of the dungeon does not become easier!
The rest of the dungeon guide is based on the assumption that you enter it through the Ancient Door in the Overgrown Ruins. The best alternative is the wooden trapdoor marked above, but all you get from that is getting the same challenges in reverse order (unless you want to meet the Withered One as soon as possible and get the Amulet of Lost Voices).
How to bypass the trap near the sarcophagus
As soon as you enter the Dark Crypt through the ancient door, you will see a sarcophagus in front of you. If the characters pass the Perception check, they will notice numerous grease traps scattered throughout the room. On the east pillar, after passing other perception checks, you can find a button. So, here is how the trap works and how it can be bypassed:
- When you open the sarcophagus, you will receive an engraved key and a magical spear “Observer’s Guide”, which will give the owner hit bonuses on targets that he just missed.
- However, this will also work a trap: all the vents will throw out fat. If you’re in turn-based mode, fire darts will fly out of the east and west walls on the next round, igniting this combustible mixture. More fat will appear from the same holes with each round, so just waiting it out will not work.
To disable the trap, you can do one of the following:
- Press the button on the east pillar at any time after the trap is triggered.
- Use a set of tools to disarm traps on sewer openings. For each separately!
- Block the vents with drawers or other objects to prevent grease from entering the room.
- Use the Create/Destroy Water spell to temporarily put out fires and wash away grease in certain areas.
Obviously, the easiest option is to press the button on the east pillar, but if you do not pass the perception check, that is, you do not find it, then you will have to turn to other methods. If you are too far away from the button to activate it safely, Gale or Lae’zel has a Magic Hand spell that allows them to reach any object within range. Alternatively, you can shoot the button with your bow or crossbow.
To get into the next room, you need to use the key found in the sarcophagus on the heavy oak door in the northern part of the room.
Bedroom and decorated door
In the next room you can get some treasures:
- A gilded chest with a ruby ring against the east wall.
- A book called “On Death and Resurrection” to the right of the same chest.
- Luxury chest in the west with 20 gold coins.
- Another luxurious chest opposite the previous one. Inside it are three scrolls of spells.
There are also two sets of doors: one door leads to the north, the other, a smaller one, to the west. Let’s take a look at the west door first, but if you’re interested in the north door, skip to the section below on the Tomb of the Withered One.
After going through the west door, you will enter a new area called “Bedroom”, where you will see a decorated door in front of you. Some voices are heard outside the door – and there are no hints on how to open it.
In fact, the door opens from the other side, and you can get there using two alternative passages from the side of the chapel, which I talked about at the beginning of the guide. If you enter the Dark Crypt through the broken floor or the decorated door from the outside, you will run into bandits. Fight them and then pay attention to the wizard statue. There is a skull behind it – this is the secret button you need. Click on it to open the door. It is impossible to get into the room from the side of the Dark Crypt. At least I haven’t found an alternative way.
Therefore, if you entered the Dark Crypt through the ancient door, you can return to the previous room and use the large door to the north in the treasure room.
Undead Scribes and Withered Tomb
After you pass through the north door, immediately do a few things:
- Approach each corpse of buried warriors and scribes, remove everything from them, even if this equipment is useless for you (you can discard it later).
- Go to the small room to the west. Read the Book of Dead Gods, open the heavy chest with spell scrolls and take the soul coin from the sarcophagus.
After that, return to the main room with the statue. In the northwest corner of the room, make a successful Perception check to reveal a button. Clicking on it will open the door, but will also revive all the dead. Since you took their equipment and weapons earlier, it will be much easier to defeat the enemies.
Once everyone is dead (again), go through the door that opened at the push of a button to find a secret tomb. Open the Heavy Chest to receive 93 gold coins and the Amulet of Lost Voices – an incredibly useful item that will allow the owner (if the amulet is equipped) to cast Speak to the Dead on any corpse you find in the game.
The last thing to do is to open a new sarcophagus, which will trigger a cut-scene in which the sentient undead Withered will appear. The lich will ask some strange questions, but will not attack, and after the end of the dialogue, he can be found in the camp of your squad. Withered – An NPC that allows you to revive your dead characters, although it costs 200 gold coins for each resurrection.
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