Players who are working through the Chosen of Shar quest inBaldur’s Gate 3will 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 isnecessary 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 inBaldur’s Gate 3.
Updated on Jul 17, 2025, 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 3as 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 relativelyspoiler-free explanationof how to reach the ancient temple, it may be sufficient to say that it only becomes possible uponstarting Act 2 inBaldur’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 3players that simply continue to play through the storyshould eventually reachthe relevant location and advance theChosen 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 theThorm Mausoleumthrough the door atX:-118 Y:112. For full clarity, this location is north of the House of Healing withinBaldur’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 severalpaintingson the walls. Fans should press the buttons under those paintings in this order to reveal a path forward:
Beyond the painting room, players can interact with aTraversal Gemto activate a lift that travels to theGauntlet of Shar. Here, fans will encounter a room with a statue in its center, and they must interact with the eightMystic Thuriblesthat hang around the room’s perimeter before they can move forward.
To interact with the Mystic Thuribles, players must lower them by flipping the fourleversthat are situated in the alcoves that extend from the statue room. Here are the coordinates of those levers:
Once the Thuribles have been extinguished, players should position their party by the exit door to revealtwo circlesaround the statue. Fans should then move one party member through thebreaksin those circles and interact with the statue to release the lock on the exit door.
All that is left to do now is headnorthwardand interact with thePedestal of ReckoningatX:-715 Y:-776. This action willtrigger a cutscene focusing on Shadowheart, and the Chosen of Shar’s"reach the ancient temple"objective will be replaced with a new one thereafter.
