Players who are working through the Chosen of Shar quest in Baldur's Gate 3 will eventually be instructed to travel to the ancient temple. This instruction will come during the game's first Act, and some fans may believe that it is necessary to resolve it before proceeding into Act 2. That is actually not the case, though, and this guide details how players should go about reaching the ancient temple in Baldur's Gate 3.

Updated on January 28, 2024, by Nahda Nabiilah: It’s quite difficult to navigate the area in Act 2 due to its sheer size in Baldur’s Gate 3. Players might take a road hoping to reach the ancient temple and end up somewhere else entirely. The ancient temple is actually hidden inside the Thorm Mausoleum, behind a puzzle in Baldur’s Gate 3 as well as a series of deadly traps. It’s highly recommended to bring a character with high Perception skills to make quick work of the traps and move forward. To help with the puzzle, this article is now updated with a video that shows the entire process.

How To Reach The Ancient Temple In Baldur's Gate 3

For those players who are looking for a relatively spoiler-free explanation of how to reach the ancient temple, it may be sufficient to say that it only becomes possible upon starting Act 2 in Baldur's Gate 3.

Fans who are desperately attempting to reach the temple through Grymforge should stop trying now, as they will simply not be able to do so.

Concerning how to get to the ancient temple upon reaching Act 2, there is a heavy overlap between that objective and this section's main quests. As such, Baldur's Gate 3 players that simply continue to play through the story should eventually reach the relevant location and advance the Chosen of Shar questline.

Enter The Thorm Mausoleum

For those fans who would like some more specific information on this process, the first step toward reaching the ancient temple is to enter the Thorm Mausoleum through the door at X:-118 Y:112. For full clarity, this location is north of the House of Healing within Baldur's Gate 3's Reithwin Town (north of the Moonrise Towers), and again a main quest should send players directly to it.

Upon entering the Mausoleum, players should head northward to enter a room with several paintings on the walls. Fans should press the buttons under those paintings in this order to reveal a path forward:

• Moonrise Towers
• Grief
• General

Beyond the painting room, players can interact with a Traversal Gem to activate a lift that travels to the Gauntlet of Shar. Here, fans will encounter a room with a statue in its center, and they must interact with the eight Mystic Thuribles that hang around the room's perimeter before they can move forward.

To interact with the Mystic Thuribles, players must lower them by flipping the four levers that are situated in the alcoves that extend from the statue room. Here are the coordinates of those levers:

• X:-731 Y:-858
• X:-729 Y:-834
• X:-706 Y:-839
• X:-707 Y:-862

Once the Thuribles have been extinguished, players should position their party by the exit door to reveal two circles around the statue. Fans should then move one party member through the breaks in those circles and interact with the statue to release the lock on the exit door.

All that is left to do now is head northward and interact with the Pedestal of Reckoning at X:-715 Y:-776. This action will trigger a cutscene focusing on Shadowheart, and the Chosen of Shar's "reach the ancient temple" objective will be replaced with a new one thereafter.