Baldur's Gate 3: How To Recruit Halsin The Druid

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How To Recruit Halsin | Just The Basics
Requirements For Act 1
What To Do First In Act 2
Clearing The House of Healing
Rescue Thaniel From The Shadowfell

There are more characters to recruit in Baldur’s Gate 3 than just your starting 6 Origin Characters. The first characters you can recruit on your journey can be played fully as your main character, but there are a handful waiting to be recruited later in the story. Halsin the Druid is one of those characters, designed only for heroes following the lawful good path in their way against the Absolute. You must commit yourself fully to defeating the forces of the Absolute, otherwise Halsin simply won’t join you.

Recruiting Halsin requires multiple steps that’ll take you through Act 1 and deep into Act 2. Below we’ll cover exactly what you need to do for both acts and give you a quick overview of the steps if you don’t need the excruciating details. This is how (and when) you’ll be able to get Halsin out of your camp and into your party.

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How To Recruit Halsin | Just The Basics

Halsin the Druid is a character you can meet very early in Act 1 or Baldur’s Gate 3 but can only be fully recruited in Act 2. Here’s a quick rundown of steps to recruit him fully.

How To Recruit Halsin: Rescue Halsin from the Goblin Camp and clear out the Goblin Camp leaders.
After saving the Emerald Grove, Halsin will agree to stay in your camp.
In the Shadow-Cursed Lands, reach the Last Light Inn.
Find a sleeping NPC in a bed. Talk to him and tell Halsin.
Get the Battered Lute from the House of Healing to wake the sleeping NPC.
Help Halsin open a portal to the Shadowfell and defend it against four waves of enemies.

After defending the portal, talk to Halsin at your camp. He’ll offer to join you as a full party member. The steps are a little more complicated than that. If you want detailed descriptions, check out the full guide below.

Requirements For Act 1

To progress Halsin’s story, you must follow these specific steps in Act 1. For more detail, check out our guide on how to rescue Halsin.

Rescue Halsin from the Goblin Camp -> Shattered Sanctum -> Worg Pens. Release him from the Pens and talk to him.
Help the Emerald Grove defeat the Absolutists at the Goblin Camp. Defend the grove from the goblin raiders and defeat the three leaders.
You must defeat all three Goblin Camp leaders — True Soul Gut, Nightwarden Minthara and Dror Razglin. Defeat all three and he’ll return to the Emerald Grove.
After he returns to the Emerald Grove, he’ll join your camp. He is not yet a playable character.

After Halsin joins your camp, you must travel to the Shadow-Cursed Lands. There’s no way around this region. Halsin will remain in the camp until you reach the next step in his quest.

What To Do First In Act 2

Once you reach the Shadow-Cursed Lands, go to the dormitory on the first floor of the Last Light Inn. There’s a catatonic NPC called Art Cullagh. Talk to him and he’ll reveal a name — Thaniel. This is very important for Halsin. Travel to the Camp and speak with Halsin. Tell Halsin about Thaniel and he’ll immediately travel to the Inn. This progresses the quest ‘Lift the Shadow Curse‘.

Return to the Last Light Inn and speak with Halsin. To wake up Art Cullagh, hold [Alt] and read the note on his bed. After reading the note, you’ll get a marker on your map for an area called the ‘House of Healing‘ — we need to travel there next.

NOTE: To reach the House of Healing, you must unlock upgraded protection against the Shadow Curse. Work with the Harpers to ambush Kar’niss or talk to Isabel to gain protections that allow you to travel deeper into the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Clearing The House of Healing

The House of Healing is a dangerous location ruled by a sadistic doctor named Malus Thorm. Talk to him when you’re prepared to fight. Malus Thorm is a Level 7 Undead.

During the conversation with Malus Thorm, you can Persuade [DC:20] for the Sisters to attack each other instead of you. With an even more difficult check, you can request Malus Thorm to kill himself with a Persuasion [DC:21] check.

Defeat Malus Thorm and collect the Battered Lute from his body. Take it back to the Last Light Inn and use it on Art to wake him up.

Select the dialogue option [I found a lute. It seems to have belonged to the Flaming Fist.]

Playing the Battered Lute is enough to shock him back awake. This will complete ‘Wake up Art Cullagh’ and begin the next phase of Halsin’s quest.

Rescue Thaniel From The Shadowfell

Talk to Halsin near the lakeshore of Last Light. He’s standing on the large rock to the north of the Inn. Be prepared before talking to him — while the portal is open, enemies will swarm the area. You must defend the portal from an army of shadows.

How To Make This Encounter Easier: Collect the Blood of Lathander from the Monastery in the Mountain Pass to make this encounter much easier. Give the weapon to Shadowheart and use the Spirit Guardians Spell. This spell generates a field of Radiant damage that will continue as long as you continue to Concentrate. This is extremely powerful against Undead enemies.

While the portal is open, Shadows and Wraiths will spawn on the river. Later, Shadow-Cursed Harpers will rush into the area next. You need to survive for four turns. The enemies are Lvl. 8. Don’t attempt this mission until you’re Lvl. 7 or well-prepared for difficult monsters.

Defending The Portal:
More enemies will spawn every turn. Shadowheart’s Spirit Guardians can kill Shadows or Shadow-Cursed Ravens instantly just by being in range of her spell effect.
Other spells like Ice Storm and Fireball, which can deal damage in large areas and slow groups of enemies, are extremely useful here.
The last wave of enemies are all close-range melee attackers, so you only need to slow or block them from reaching the portal. Placing your melee fighters on the steps of rock or blocking the portal physically can stop the incoming enemies. Make the ranged enemies a priority with Fireball before they can deal too much damage with arrows on the portal.

After surviving four turns, Halsin will appear, and the remaining Shadow-Cursed enemies will instantly die. Halsin will return to your Camp. Return to the Camp and talk to Halsin. He’ll explain what needs to be done to help Thaniel — and he’ll finally offer to join your party.

Halsin is a powerful Druid. His high Wisdom stat doesn’t make him a weak mage — instead, he can wade into battle and unleash a flurry of spells while wearing strong armor. Halsin is great at dealing damage and for tanking for your team in his animal forms. If you’re on the side of good, you won’t want to miss this important character.