Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Best Route to AC 1.. Share your guide Here..

So since the First time i Played this Game i always Wonder wich one is the Best Rout to act 1..
Since yu can actually lost 2 companions if yu Follow Lae'zel wish from the Start.. that always felt Wrong
(i hate games that lock yu out of content btw.)

And since there are a Lot of New Players coming from Xbox and PS5 i would Like for yu guys To Share here your Best Guide/Route to Do AC 1 without Losing too much stuff.

I always Felt that the Corret Way of Doing Things is..
Companions beach, Withers dungeon, Grove, Nettie, Central Village (the one when has the Spider and Necro of Fay.), Stop Kagha (finde the Letter when go see Nettie).

Then its when i always wonder wich one is the Best..
Yu are supposed to Go into the Goblin Camp Save Halsin.. (But if yu Hate hin like me yu really dont Care to Save hin only the Thieflings Matter.)
By stoping Khaga i never Tried this but i beleave yu can go to Cresch/Rosymon map without the Thieflings get dumped out of Grove. (becouse yu Kill Kagha/stop the tirual)

So Now its the Deal.. Wich Way is Best ?!
Go Save Halsin its the Logical stuff and the Game Want yu to Do it This Way..
Then yu Have the Party and are Free to roaming around after but the Game already send yu into the Underdark..
(Witch i always felt Weird..)
Yu cannot be cured by the Dude and yu will follow what he says ? ok game ok.
For me always felt Wrong..
so i always go to Underdark do evrything then i go to Rosymon..
Already tried Other Ways.. but the Game always went Crazy when i Explored the Upper Map Part and Underdark Before Saving Halsin..
The Game Cant Handle this Route witch in my opinion is the Best.. Becouse when yu Go to Rosymon yu already Have the Best Armor and weapons in the Game
Making the Entire Thing a Walk in the Park.

My current playthrough I did things in this order:

1. Recruited Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, Lae'zel
2. Did stuff in that area like kill the mindflayer and find the Harpers' stash
3. Picked up Withers from the crypt
4. Went to the grove, explored there, found Nettie, agreed to rescue Halsin, talked to many NPCs (including Auntie Ethel who told me to come to her house and she'd help me out), initiated the "Investigate Kagha" quest
5. Dealt with the goblins in the cave next to the grove, talked to Edowin/Andrick/Brynna, went to the owlbear cave and saw the shrine of Selune as well
6. Picked up Scratch
7. South to the swamps, found evidence of Kagha's misdeeds
8. Went back to the grove, confronted Kagha, stopped the ritual, etc.
9. Back to the swamps, killed Gandrel, fought the hag and rescued Mayrina
10. Then I went up north and fought the gnolls, did the missing shipment quest, Waukeen's rest, the tollhouse

(I just... haven't been recruiting Karlach or Wyll because their stories/characters are less developed and I like to have a smaller party.)

I see the tiefling party as kind of the culmination of all of the events of (the first part of) Act 1, so I saved the Blighted Village and Goblin Camp for last. It makes sense to go to the creche or Underdark right after the tiefling party based on what Halsin tells you.

So, if I'm already level 5, I go to the creche first. Then I hit the Underdark last because I like to take the elevator in Grymforge up to the Shadow Cursed lands. I didn't have much difficulty doing things in this order on balanced mode.

Cool One i Tried a Few Things in similar order too.. works pretty well..
i Just Like to Go Up First.. using the Hiden Vines/stare next to Scratch
(i love do the Battle in the Cellar. xD haha)
funny as Hell the coments after.
I always Trigger too the Boar stuff for Astarion Next to the Broken Bridge when i go Up..

and i always go back using the Jump Next to where yu Meet Karlach after going down the Zentarin..
But i Beleave the order yu Make its more correct.. becouse yu take care of Kagha first.. will try this one.
(i avoid Wyll and Karlach too.. never bother that much for then and i like the Sword yu can get early if yu are playing melee and dont Get Phalar or Zalk one.. this is the next best thing untill yu Hit underdark or Cresch.)
In the Fake Paladins stuff theres a Axe in the Locked Door pretty good to.. +1 yu can get super early and helps a lot for Goblin Camp.

Btw Same here i Love go to act 2 using Iron Forge elevator..
best way to reach act 2 for real.
(yu can even find a Flower Next to the Fight when yu Cross the Bridge for Shadow.. just look in the three with the light bulb shinning.)

Do you guys know if it's possible to destroy the druid grove, but save all the Tieflings?

'Destroy' .. Zevlor tasks you to find a solution, one of those solutions being killing Kagha. Now, there's a 'peaceful' way of deposing her, but you *can* attack her outright. You can also just attack the guards when you first meet Arabella's parents, I suppose. I never tried.

The route I normally take is:

However, what I want is to try and recruit Minthara by attacking the druid grove. I want to completely wipe out the druids, but I want to spare the Tieflings and have them all leave for Moonrise before I attack. I'm not sure this is possible, because even when I stop the ritual, Zevlor just tells me the roads are unsafe. So it feels like I have to get rid of the Goblins for them or they won't go.

I have tried outright attacking Kahga without confronting her, but

So personally, if I was experimenting with this, I would have Minthara come to the grove, let my main character be in a conversation with her, then switch to a different character while they’re stuck in conversation. Then I would have that character lead my other two party members into the Grove and use non-lethal damage to knock out any of the tieflings who I wanted to save.

It would be harder if you were trying to save all of the tieflings. More people to knock out. And non-lethal damage is tricky because if you use magic or ranged (I think?) attacks, it will kill someone. So you would have to use a melee weapon like a sword to knock everyone out. Then once they’re knocked out, they count as dead at that moment. So when the goblins run into the grove, they’ll only kill the druids. I’ve never actually tried this. But it’s what I would do if I were experimenting with it.

I don't see that happening. I suspect that, even if you do it as Ecc2ca says above, storywise all the Tiefs are dead, regardless.

A thing you *can* do is this:

Knock out Minthara as a temporary hostile - eradicate the other two leaders before resting [because I presume Mithara will wake up, otherwise and will be full hostile by the time you killed the other two]. This saves the Tieflings. Proceed to Act 2, recruit Minthara.

Travel back to the Grove and kill everyone there.
Edit: I seriously wonder how that plays out. I mean, you could potentially have Halsin *and* Minthara in your party when doing that. I don't know if they have lines for when you go there. Let alone if Halsin will leave your party if you attack the Druids. He should, but, you know. I have no idea.

As far as I'm aware it's not possible to save any Tieflings (besides Rolan, Cal and Lia) and still get Minthara as companion. Using non lethal damage used to work at release, but Larian "fixed" it, so now it doesn't work on Minthara anymore.
Which is quite annoying as it means if you want Minthara in your party, you lose most of the Tiefling related stories in act 2 and 3 as well as Dammon as a trader.

Larian changed it back. I knocked Minthara out, saved all the tieflings, and recruited her at Moonrise. But there’s no romance option or cutscenes for her.

Good to know, thanks.

1 recruit Shadowheart & laezel on the beach ( used a scroll to raise her as she died killing the mind sucker before the crash)

2 failed to save the hand from the portal so no wizard

3 grabbed vampboy and explored cript ... Camped and respected shadow to cleric/ druid

4 fight goblins at grove, save girl from bugbear, nick healing glove from teff while he is knocked out cold

5 shadow sells junk (discounted for fellow druids) buy hand crossbow, kick her, bully witness to show map, collect wyll, kill Karlach and camp ... This causes Wyll to bug out after patch 5 untested code changes so I kill Wyll

6 recruit Karlach , kill harpies talk to druids and get the shadow sidequest , kill fake paladins and gnolls then enter windmill village (,kill goblins) hire ogres and back door into golbin camp

7 recruit Minthara but don't tell her where druids are, back track to swamp and get shadow druid letter, return to grove / fight

8 spider queen, gith patrol and save duke boss the visit theft lair and start underdark (clear it) return to golblins and give the evil news

Forge then shadowcurse

Honestly, there is not a best route at all. Such a route just doesn't and can't exist.


However, a few personal preferences I can share here:

1) Take a long rest as soon as you have landed on the beach - ALONE!! You will have a sweet dream this way, which would otherwise never be revealed to you.

2) Rescue Karlach as early as possible, if you know how (navigate through Zelvor's cave to a high ground and then jump down over the river with your main character - Karlach will not want to talk to anyone but your main character).

If you wish, you can have Wyll jump down to talk to Karlach, which will trigger a special cutscene - not a duel, though, as Karlach is significantly more powerful than Wyll at the earliest point of time you may get to her.

By default, Karlach is by far the best damage dealer offered to the player this early in the game.

By default, Karlach does significantly more damage than Lae'zel can, having a more cheerful personality, whereas by default Lae'zel has significantly more ways to help out other party members.

By default, Lae'zel is born to be a party tank, whereas Karlach should never be used as a tank per se (she should always keep a short distance away from hostiles), even though most enemies would not prefer to target at her over others on Tactician mode.

3) Don't allow Lae'zel to go to the northern end of the Risen Road until you are level 5+. Otherwise, you'll have a good chance to be killed with no chance to fight back and may bring permanent death to Lae'zel.

4) Don't fight Antie Ethel until you are level 5.

5) Don't provoke or persuade Kagha to switch sides, for the best possible reward.

6) If you don't play with a race that can't magically put to sleep, such as Elf or Drow, you can have Priestess Gut killed by someone else, saving you both troubles and XP. You can still get the loot though.

7) Once the Goblin king becomes hostile, you lose all chances to recruit Minthara, unless you have already knocked her out in a proper way.

8) You can explore the entire Underdark and Grymforge, getting you powerful Adamantine armor/weapons, prior to dealing with Goblins or saving Minthara or Halsin or Tieflings. You have ample time in ACT1 to learn how to play the game in a proper way.

9) You can get to level 6 in Act 1.

I played Act 1 a lot due to EA, and I always go this way:

1. Recruit Shadowheart, then Astarion, then Gale (I always succeeded till now to get him, luckily also in my Honour run).
2. Ruins, get Lazarus.
3. Recruit Lae'zel, she stays in the camp.
4. Fight at the Grove. Level 3 after it.
5. I don't go against Kagha, I agree to help the refugees to get out there.
5. Recruit Wyll, he stays at camp.
6. Blighted Village, save the gnom, the hidden cellar (I don't do the spiders now). After that usually you are Lvl 4.
7. Go over to the gnolls, kill the gnolls at the street, clear the cave. I usually have Lae'zel here instead of Astarion.
8. Tollhouse, get all the hidden stuff. Look for Karlach, recruit her (she is the strongest companion but I usually don't use her). Clear the Tollhouse.
9. Over to the Village again, then clear the way to the Goblin camp.
10. In the camp get entrance from above though the wall, don't fight.
11. Go to the swamp, kill the dwarfs and Ethel, save Mayrina.
12. Go to the coast, kill the wandering trees.
13. Fast travel to the Goblin camp, go into the temple, buy/sell stuff the last time from the small trader, then
a) kill the Goblins where the prisoner is, free Volo.
b) kill the goblins with Priestess Gut (I usually lure her into her room, then kill the goblins, then her)
14. Seek the way to the Underdark, kill the big guardian, avoid the stupid sun circle enigma by searching the hidden lever to open, get the fast travel point in the underdark)
15. Back in the temple I
a) kill Dzor Ragzlin
b) kill Minthara
c) kill the rest of the goblins and free Halsin
15a. Fastravel to the Blighted Village, run to the Goblin Camp exterior and attack from beyond the bridge, let them come to you, it's a very easy fight. Perhaps do the spiders.
16. Usually you are Lvl 5 now, go to Waukeen's Rest.
17. Kill the Gith patrol, relatively easy with lvl 5.
18. Into the Underdark, I jump down on the right side of the entrance building.
19. Kill the Minotaurs.
20. Go to the mushroom village, kill the Bulette on first appearance (possible with lvl 5).
21. Clear the village on the shore from the dwarfs, thereafter kill Glut
22. Clear the Hook Horrors
23. Clear the Magical Tower, defeat Bernard.
24. Roam around to do the rest in the first Underdark section.
25. Use the boat to sail to the Underdark Fortress.

I use bridge to Blighted Village and then Scratch's Leap to cross the stream to get to her without any fights.
Counting the Mountain Pass map - lvl 7, I'd say.

I always get to level 7.5 in Act 1, then 10 by the end of Act 2

I skip three big (?) things - Adamantine Forge forging and golem, My Fat Gityanki Inquisition Fight and Presley Vlaakith Sighting, and the relic quest at the Mlonastery. That's a few thiusand points

Oh man, you get REALLY nice gear doing those quests. I’m still using the Blood of Lathander in Act 3. You can cast Sunbeam and if you’re downed you bounce back up to 10-15 hps (per long rest I believe?). Pretty handy. And at the adamantine forge you get amazing armor that lasted me all the way through Act 2. And at the crèche, I got gloves of dexterity (awesome) and a gith sword that I used for Lae’zel until Act 3. You’re missing out on some really nice gear.

Oh, I do make a sightseeing tour of the Terrorist Base Creche - with the Kobolds and Magic Cats that's 3-4k points. I love the egg quest
I don't bother with fighting everybody there, even if lvl6 my primtive playing style allows me to bulldoze through.
I keep on promising myself to asseble the Blood of Lathander in my next playthrough ... yeah, Diet Always Starts Tommorrow ...
In Act II I had some Adamantine (Helldusk?) items crafted from stuff I picked up at Grym's Forge by a certain handsome and horny smith with a crush of a certain one horned, hawt! BBW ...

I do not have Lae'zel in my Party as I find her annoying, hence Git Only gear is not so relevant for me.
The DEX18 Gloves are a must buy, of course, same as the Defender Fail. For some reason I see the latter as a Must Have Accessory for Female Clerical Figures (must be my inner Drow speaking :P).

As soon as you go through the Maintain Pass for the first time, you are in Act 2, though you can still come back to Act 1 until you reach the Act 2 point of no return.

I don't think you can realistically get to level 7 without venturing forth into Act 2. I learned of this because after I completed all side quests possible to complete and then killed pretty much everyone /everything killable in Act 1, I still couldn't get to level 6.5, far away from level 7.