When does Act 2 start in Baldur’s Gate 3? Explained

Baldur’s Gate 3 features three core Acts for players to explore and complete. You can spend dozens of hours within Act 1 alone, so some players may be wondering when exactly Act 2 begins. Here are the spoiler-light methods by which you’re able to reach Act 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3.

How to reach Act 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3

There are two main ways we’ve found so far where you’re able to reach Act 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3. The actual change of Acts is a bit anti-climactic, not necessarily happening when you might expect it to. You’ll know if you’re in Act 2 by a couple of different ways.

First, if you save your game, the save itself will let you know what Act you’re currently in. In addition, you’ll unlock the achievement “The Plot Thickens” when you officially reach Act 2. The general method of unlocking this is reaching the Shadow-Cursed Lands, the main focal point of Act 2. There are two key routes to this location.

Mountain Pass route

The first way you can reach Act 2 is through the Mountain Pass route. This one is on the far west side of the Act 1 map. There are two routes here: one to the south, which is easier to reach, and another to the north.

The south route is just west of the Goblin Camp. On the other hand, the northern route is near the fiery village, along the route west of where you find Karlach and recruit her, and near where you meet the Githyanki soldiers.

Regardless of which path you take to get to the Mountain Pass, you’ll receive a warning to tie up loose ends before continuing into Act 2. You’ll still be able to access this area and some of its quests, but finish up what you can before moving on.

Underdark and Grymforge route

The other way to reach the Shadow-Cursed Lands and BG3 Act 2 is to head through the Underdark. You can reach this place by heading into the Temple of Selune at the Goblin Camp. Continue from there through the Underdark to the beach area near the dwarves.

Take their boat to the Grymforge area, where you’ll find there’s plenty of content and quests to do. To get the Shadow-Cursed Lands, you only need to take the elevator near where the boats dock.

This is the route I recommend players take to Act 2 since there is more content to do here, and you can still visit the Mountain Pass anytime you want, even if you use this method.

How to get to Act 3 in BG3

We might be getting ahead of ourselves here, but you reach Act 3 in Baldur’s Gate 3 after you clear the Shadowlands. Once you’ve cleared all the main objectives in the Shadowlands, infiltrate Moonrise Towers, and defeat Ketheric Thorm, you’ll then hit the point-of-no-return that marks the beginning of Act 3. At this point, you’ll likely want to be around levels 7-9.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything before advancing to the eponymous Baldur’s Gate, we have a checklist that covers everything in Act 2. Otherwise, if you want a peak at what’s coming up, then you can check out the checklist for Act 3.