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All Acts - Any Difficulty (Shar Temple route) [Outdated]

This route is outdated and only kept here for history's sake

Credits : MrOgam, imTaiyl, lokiratm, Gyoo, Mae, Shiki, ZWANgo CRPG Speedrunning Discord

The run is done on the latest patch (v4.1.1.3956130 at the time of writing this document). You need to use Time Without Loads in Livesplit. The load removal tool is accessible directly in Livesplit : in the Edit Splits settings, after selecting the game to Baldur’s Gate 3, Livesplit should suggest to activate the Load Removal a few settings below. We suggest to use it at least to start the run. Splits are up to you.

The run starts in Balanced difficulty. Difficulty will change multiple times during the run.

Main character will be referenced as Tav (default name given to a custom character)

You can run with or without Karmic Dice. It’s been thought that for Any% All Acts, using karmic dice may be slightly beneficial, but it’s very difficult to prove.

Character Creation

  • Custom origin
  • Deep Gnome or Lightfoot Halfling Wizard1
  • Cantrips : Minor Illusion, any damaging cantrip2 , whatever else
  • Spells : Witch Bolt, Fog, Enhance Leap, Feather Fall, Chrome Orb, Magic Missile
  • Background : Criminal or Urchin3
  • Stats : 17 Str, 16 Dex, 10 Con, 14 Int, 8 Wis, 8 Cha
  • Prepare : Enhance Leap, Chrome Orb, Magic Missile

Nautiloid

Mash RMB to skip intro cutscene.

Enhance Leap, then jump to the next room.

Guide for Nautiloid skip : https://www.speedrun.com/baldurs_gate_3/guides/tab7v

Additional notes :  

  • In the latest patches, the light source used as a visual cue is not visible anymore. The positioning remains the same, it’s just less convenient to find the right spot.
  • With Gnome or Halfling, you will need Triple Dash to be able to reach the transponder : once you’re in position to do the skip, use dash, turn on turn based mode, dash again, do the skip (don’t forget to mash RMB as quickly as possible between the 2 jumps), and once in battle, dash again before you start moving. If done correctly you should be able to cover the distance to the transponder in one turn.

Act 1

Setup node for Fling to High Road4 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjp5X6Ca4qY 5

After setup, Enhance Leap and meet Shadowheart. Pick up barrel on the way.

Talk to Shadowheart (mash 1 and RMB), recruit her then kill her with Magic Missile then melee attacks (Ctrl + click on her)

Loot all her stuff and pick her up in Tav’s inventory, go to camp.

In camp, go to Shadowheart’s place to pick bottle of water.

Jump to boxes near the river, pick one up and put Shadowheart inside6 .

Cast Fire Orb next to you, turn on turn based mode, drop the box in the fire7 then fling it. Once Shadowheart’s portrait disappears on the left side of the screen, turn off turn based mode. If done correctly8 , you should get a few exp points and the game will automatically turn to night.

After cutscene, play as Shadowheart (F2) and leave camp. Skip cutscene and go to High Road.

In camp, select Shadowheart and kill Tav. Turn on turn based mode, loot him and pick him up9 .


In Mountain Pass, revive Tav and change prepared spells and pick Feather Fall and Fog instead of Chrome Orb and Magic Missile.

Enhance Leap + Feather Fall, jump up to the tree trunk. Cast fog on the crossway, jump inside, then jump west as far as you can. If done correctly this should skip the battle against the undeads. You can then jump directly to the entrance of Act 2.

Act 2

Overworld

Enhance Leap & Feather Fall on both characters10 .

Using Shadowheart, jump down to the Absolute Camp. Talk to Orc and spam 1 to summon Drider.

Change spells : 

  • Command spell on Shadowheart (replace any existing spell), 
  • Magic Missile instead of Fog on Tav

Quicksave.

Use Command:Drop on Drider. You have 2 tries. If both fail, reload.

Grab Moonlantern and release Pixie (Dialogues : 4 - 1). Use Disguise spell to transform Shadowheart as a Halflin/Gnome.

Use Tav and jump down to the Absolute camp. Kidnap11 Shadowheart.

Jump your way across the lands to reach Baldur’s Gate Waypoint12 . On your way, make sure to dodge the Fountain encounter.

After discovering Baldur’s Gate Waypoint, go north around House of Healing, sneak jump over Raphael and enter Mausoleum.

In Mausoleum, go straight and cast Magic Missile on the paintings puzzle : West, East, North

Enter Temple of Shar

Temple of Shar

Bruteforce orb puzzle with jump. This will release Shadowheart from kidnapping.

Regroup characters and jump to the next gate. Shadowheart will follow.

Gauntlet skip to Edge of Shadows Waypoint13

Select Tav, prepare Fog instead of Magic Missile and use Arcane Recovery Lv1.

Skip skeleton fight by either casting Minor Illusion or sneak jump (Minor Illusion may be slightly slower but overall safer. And there’s a cat.)

Past the skeleton fight, jump down to the library.

Library skip : https://www.speedrun.com/baldurs_gate_3/guides/2nms4 

Grab Shar’s Spear, teleport to Edge of Shadows. Transfer all of Tav’s equipment to Shadowheart

Shadowfell

Shadowfell Sequence Break14 : Buff Shadowheart with Enhanced Leap15 . Using Shadowheart, enter Shadowfell. During the first cutscene, switch to Tav and teleport quickly to Baldur’s Gate Waypoint. Go through the bridge to trigger cutscene until the dialogue. On the dialogue, switch back to Shadowheart. In Shadowfell, jump until you reach the position you need to sneak next to Balthazar. Switch back to Tav. On the dialogue, click “Continue forward”. You’re in the illithid oubliette.

Oubliette skip : Baldur's Gate 3 Any% Tutorial - Oubliette & Braincat Jumping

Use the long rest tentacle refreshment to get your spell points back. Go to the elevator and level up both characters :

Tav : 

  • Subclass : Conjuration
  • Spells : whatever
  • Prepare : Witch Bolt instead of Chrome Orb

Shadowheart :

  • Double class : Wizard
  • Cantrips : whatever
  • Spells : just make sure Fog is there but it should be picked by default
  • Prepare : Fog

Still with Tav, go to the boss door and open it. Once you reach the choice to enter or go away, switch back to Shadowheart.


Finish your way down to the lowest platform. On this platform, make sure you land at the tip of the platform to prevent accidentally triggering the fight.

(Full size : https://i.imgur.com/ycp59AK.jpeg) 

Sneak from point 1 to 2, cast fog in the spot 3. Balthazar should go close to the void.

Sneak again inside the fog, right click on Nightsong and talk to her16 . Skip cutscenes 6 times and switch to Tav17 .

Ketheric

Difficulty : Explorer

Enter the boss room, skip cutscenes.

Facing Ketheric, jump to the tip of the left upper platform. Quicksave for safety, sneak18 and cast Witch Bolt until it hits19 , then repeat until Ketheric dies.

When Myrkul appears, grab water bottle from Shadowheart’s inventory and throw it on Myrkul to deal double damage with Witch Bolt. Once the double damage wears off, finish with regular Witch Bolts20 .

After Myrkul is dead, jump to Ketheric’s body, loot him and skip cutscenes. Go to the portal.


If Jaheira is next to you after you teleported, no need to talk to her. She’ll be at the camp.


Talk to Wulbren (3 - 3), finish quest to get ~250 gold21 . Exit Moonrise Towers to the North and teleport to Baldur’s Gate Waypoint as soon as you can.


Switch to Shadowheart, exit Shadowfell while still being sneak to not trigger the fight against Balthazar. (This will also not trigger a dialogue with Raphael at the exit of the Mausoleum. If you still trigger this dialogue for some reason, try to attack Raphael and he will vanish instantly)

Teleport to Baldur’s Gate Waypoint, go to Baldur’s Gate with one of the characters22 .

Camp

Recruit Jaheira.

With Tav, jump is Chasm

Switch to Jaheira, go to Withers. Grab 2 boxes on the way, then talk to Withers to reskill (2 - 2 - 4) :

  • Level 1 : Fighter, Str 17, Dex 16, Const 15
  • Level 2 : nothing
  • Level 3 : Eldritch Knight
    • Cantrip : Mage Hand + whatever
    • Spells : Whatever
    • Extended : Enhance Leap
  • Level 4 : 
    • Spells : Whatever
    • Replace : Chrome Orb -> Feather Fall
    • Feat : Ability Improvement : Str+2 (19)
  • Level 5 : nothing
  • Level 6 : 
    • Feat : Alert
  • Level 7 : 
    • Spells : whatever
  • Level 8 : 
    • Extended : Invisibility
    • Feat : Athlete : Str+1 (20)


Select Shadowheart23 , rest in camp, this will trigger the Gith ambush. Using Jaheira, cast mage hand, jump to upper stairs, use Action Surge and Dash to the portal. Once you click the portal, quickly alternate between the mage hand by clicking on it and Tav by pressing F1.

Astral Plane

Select Mage Hand and shove Shadowheart off the edge. Switch to Jaheira and cast invisibility and exit the Astral Plane. Long rest, then use the campfire afterwards. This should skip all of the Gith fight.

Act 3

Gortash

Using Jaheira : Turn based mode on, grab Tav, turn based mode off24 , Enhance Leap + Feather Fall, jump towards South Span Checkpoint until before the Steel Watcher

Rebuff both + Invisibility, jump on rooftops towards Wyrm Rock balcony, open all doors, and enter throne room. Use improvised melee weapon on Gortash to leave the room with him before invisibility wears off25 and move to the northern balcony 

Rebuff Enhance Leap + Feather Fall. Kidnap Gortash, stack boxes from inventory near the battlement closest to the bridge26 .

Jump on the boxes then big jump to the bridge. Move a bit closer to lower city27 then throw Gortash off the Bridge and loot the stone.

Skip cutscene, move to Lower City

Lower City

Level up Tav :

  • Level 3 :
    • Spells : Misty Step, Invisibility
    • Prepare : Misty Step, Invisibility
  • Level 4 :
    • Spells : whatever
    • Cantrips : whatever
    • Feat : Athlete, Str+1
  • Level 5 : skip

Using Tav, put Pixie Bell in action bar. Equip Ketheric’s Hammer to Tav

Enhance Leap + Feather Fall, jump your way up to the fireworks shop

Sell Ketheric Armor, buy 2 stacks of fireworks that add up to ~14 fireworks total28 . Leave by clip jumping through the back wall of the shop.


Jump west and north to the sewers entrance.

Temple of Baal

Jump northwest through the door towards Temple of Baal. Rebuff if necessary.

Use Pixie Bell (Dialogue 5 to leave) when Jenna runs towards you to skip her trigger29

Shoot the hanging body with ray of frost, go towards Baal Temple

Rebuff Enhance Leap + Feather Fall + Invisibility. You can cross the gauntlet without triggering the fight.

Go to Ball Temple Waypoint. Cross the bridge to reach the massive door.

Cast Misty Step through door in Tactical View30 . 

Jump towards Jenna, turn on non lethal attacks31 , quicksave and hit her32 . If she doesn’t go down in one hit, quickly turn on turn based mode to attack again.

Skip cutscenes.


Switch to Jaheira, teleport to Temple Waypoint.

Buff Enhance Leap, go to Morphic Pools : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVMT1ADDVn0 

Morphic Pools

Shadowheart jumps into water.

Morphic Pools Skip : 

Go to that spot

Enhance Leap

Tactician view, camera fully unzoomed. Jump towards there (where the mouse is) :

Jump to the upper platform :

Jump above the boulder. It is easier to figure out correct positioning without tactical view. You really need to aim between the torch and the bridge, otherwise there is a chance you will trigger the fight against intellect devourers.

 



Jump towards brain. By doing the Gith Fight skip. Cast Invisibility and make your way down first so you don’t get seen by the enemies.

Go to Orpheus in Astral Plane.

Get turned into a Mind Flayer (3 then 1 - 1), Shove one gith to start a surprise fight and leave Astral Plane

Endgame

With Jaheira, jump in chasm.

With Tav, fly northeast towards trader. Buy smokebombs if you don’t feel confident with the amount of explosives you have.

Buff invisibility, fly through the courtyard. Watch out for some moving enemies that can detect invisibility. Just wait a bit if they’re on the way.

When behind the Brain Stem, use Misty Step and aim for the spot on the image above.

Buff invisibility, dash, enter final fight.

Fly to crown, dominate it, enter Netherbrain area.

Drop your stacks of fireworks next to you then throw them to the ground next to the Netherbrain33 .


Last cutscene : 2 - 1.

Timer stops when you see the X button at the top right of your screen (credits start)

1 We play as one of these races because they're the only ones that Shadowheart can carry in her inventory. This will be necessary in acts 1 and 2
2 Only use for the damaging cantrip is to open the door to Baal Temple in act 3. Historically we use Ray of Frost but any other can work.
3 Used for extra stealth bonus
4 Once setup, do NOT move any item until Shadowboxing is done or it'll ruin the setup. This can happen by mistake when trying to loot the water bottle in the camp for example.
5 This setup video was done on a 1440p screen, so your mileage may vary on other resolutions
6 Whether Shadowheart is placed in the box while the box is in the inventory or on the ground is up to personal preference. As long as you don't break your node by moving the box while it's already on the ground, either way works.
7 Box has 4 HP and fire can cause between 1 and 4 damage at each turn. There is a chance the box will instantly break when dropping it into the fire. If so, you can have a second try with the other box next to it. Last resort would be to use the barrel you picked earlier but it has less HP so it's riskier.
8 The box will take fire damage when dropping it into the fire, and then it'll take damage again after you turn off turn based mode. The goal is to destroy it after it reached its destination to free Shadowheart and activate the Mountain Pass camp trigger. There is a chance the box will not take enough damage, especially if it took only 1 damage when dropping it in the fire. If so, tough luck.
9 This will end the night without having to talk to Raphael and Withers. Turning on turn based mode at this point will initiate Infinite Status, where buffs on Tav will never go off until a battle is triggered. This is useful for the entirety of Act 2
10 You should notice that buffs will never count down turns for Tav thanks to infinite status
11 Press X (Throw) and select the character you want to kidnap. Move your mouse elsewhere then click LMB (do action) then RMB (cancel action) within half a second roughly. If the timing is right, the character will clip into you with a weird animation and you can travel with them. Too quick : nothing happens. Too slow : character gets teleported nearby
12 Discovering this waypoint is mandatory for a sequence break later.
13 When Shadowheart is pathing back in bounds to get the waypoint, click on the pool. Then she has a lot less dialogue. Also when Tav ports in to the waypoint you only need to take a small jump or a few steps to be considered close enough to be able to travel with the party.
14 We don’t want Tav to be in Shadowfell, but all party members are forced in when entering the place. So we trigger a dialogue that will teleport Tav elsewhere after entering Shadowfell.
15 This reduces the amount of jumps required in Shadowfell.
16 You must be sneaked while talking to her, using the right click method, otherwise you'll trigger the fight with Balthazar in a later step after the Ketheric fight. Make sure you’re not still in halfling disguise or game will tell you that you can’t reach Nightsong.
17 If you switch to Tav too early in the cutscene, Nightsong will be in the Ketheric fight and you cannot cheese the fight with Witch Bolt, as attacking Ketheric will enable fight mode. If you switch to Tav too late, Ketheric will be teleported to the roof and you’re basically softlocked. 6 clicks on RMB seems to be a sweet spot for me.
18 Sneaking improves hit chance on Witch Bolt
19 If you’re extremely unlucky, you will spend all your spell points without hitting Ketheric. That’s what the safety quicksave is for
20 You can optimize cooldowns using Animation Skip : unlock action bar, and after the spell hits, move any other action from one slot to another. You will be able to recast Witch Bolt slightly faster than usual. Watch out for your timing, as if you swap actions too fast, the spell will not hit.
21 Useful to reskill at Withers later
22 Only 1 character needs to touch Baldur's Gate to leave the act. All party members needs to be in a non hostile area to allow you to transition to the next act.
23 Selecting Shadowheart before resting will make you in a good position for the gith ambush
24 Setting up infinite status for Lower City
25 If you’re not confident you can rebuff Invisibility before entering the room, or use Turn Based mode
26 Backup strat : Just kidnap Gortash and leave the place by the entrance of the Throne Room to go downstairs, then to the bridge to throw him off
27 If you yeet Gortash too close to the Steel Watchers this will trigger a battle
28 This is for Explorer difficulty. For Tactician, you want ~30 fireworks in 2 stacks.
29 This way, Orin will stay in her Jenna form with 5 HP. Pretty convenient to defeat her later
30 There is no precise visual cue but you’ll find a spot that works.
31 You can’t kill children in the game but you can knock them down
32 Optional safety strat : dip your weapon in the candles next to her for potential extra burning damage. You can also cast Sleep to have a guaranteed crit
33 Having high ground and throwing explosive grenades/fireworks will hit twice. Hitting the brain will only deal damage once. Backup if you didn’t deal enough damage : wait for your next turn and cast Magic Missile lv2
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