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Gauntlet Of Shar Dungeon Continued: First Puzzles & Yurgir | Spear of Night & Balthazar
We’re continuing through the massive Gauntlet of Shar dungeon in Baldur’s Gate 3. To progress into the heart of the temple, we’ll need to find three Umbral Gems. Each one is hidden behind a Trial. There are three trials to complete, and each one requires a different skill — we’ll have to sneak past shadows, fight mirror images of ourselves and finally take a leap of faith across a bottomless chasm. Each trial is a puzzle and we’ll explain how to complete them all below.
More Baldur’s Gate 3 guides:
Beginner Guide | All Origin Companions | Should You Use Tadpoles? | Recruit Minthara | Recruit Halsin | Recruit Jaheira | Recruit Minsc | Romance Karlach | Infernal Iron Locations | Best Magic Items In Act 1 | Owlbear Companion | Craft Healing Potions | Perfect Pickpocket Guide | Oathbreaker Paladin Subclass | How To Cure Gale | How To Rescue Halsin | Kill The Goblin Camp Leaders | Assassin & Gloomstalker Tips | Defiled Temple Puzzle | Auntie Ethel Guide | Underdark Entrances | Easy Gold Trick
Soft-Step Trial | Second Umbral Gem
Return to the waypoint and travel down the stairs toward the first trial. Down the steps, the first door on the left is the Soft-Step Trial. Approach the Sacrificial Bowl. Shadowheart will request to perform the sacrifice and offer her blood. Agree to get Shadowheart’s Approval.
Astarion or a Rogue Player Character are the best choices for this task. You can also use a Potion of Invisibility or an Invisibility spell to quickly complete this challenge.
- Soft-Step Trial: To complete this trial, you must sneak through a labyrinth without being spotted. A shadow will move through the labyrinth. If you’re seen, you’ll automatically teleport to the entrance.
- Press [C] to sneak and press [G] to split your party. You only need to send one character into the labyrinth to reach the end.
- Use the lever on the right side to trap the first wandering shadow between the two shifting walls. Once the lever is pressed, sneak to the left side and jump through the open window to reach another lever behind a locked gate.
- Exit the maze, we can ignore the lever that unlocks the small gate door. Lockpick the final gate [DC:10] or blast it open with a Smokepowder Barrel or Charge. Alternatively, get the Soft-Step Key from the round table in the hallway with the shifting walls.
Collect the second Umbral Gem from the statue and use the purple glowing diamond to teleport out of the trial. That’s one of three trials complete.
Self-Same Trial | Third Umbral Gem
Down the hallway from the Soft-Step Trial, you’ll find the Self-Same Trial. Like before, if Shadowheart is in your party, she’ll request to complete the sacrifice to activate the trial. Give blood to unlock the doors.
In the trial ahead, your characters will experience debilitating effects for attacking mirror images that aren’t of themselves — Gale can only attack Gale, Karlach can only attack Karlach, etc. If you team up on a character, you’ll get hit with a curse that lasts until a long rest. I recommend ignoring the curse and teaming up on each of the enemy party individually. It makes this battle much easier.
- Self-Same Trial: In this trial, you’ll have to fight your own party! Copies of your characters, with all the same skills and equipment, are lying in wait on the stairs and upper levels of the trial chamber.
- Ambush them first. If you pass a skill check, you’ll spot their hiding spots before they can strike you first. Use a Perception Potion or spell to make spotting them easier.
- If you have a mage in your party, I recommend ambushing the Wizard first. Use your Rogue or simply target them with everything you’ve got. They have devastating spells. Destroy them fast and the Mirror Party will be put at a serious disadvantage immediately.
- Use your most powerful magic early to quickly defeat them before they can use the same skills. Use Haste (or Slow) to give yourself an instant advantage in combat.
After defeating all four, the last Mirror Image will drop the Umbral Gem. Only one more Umbral Gem to go.
NOTE: Attacking a Mirror Image that isn’t your own will trigger a debuff called Cheater’s Folly. This will lower all Ability Scores by -1 until a Long Rest.
Faith-Leap Trial | Last Umbral Gem
Down the stairs from the second trial, you’ll encounter the third trial. Like before, use the Ancient Altar to make a blood sacrifice. You’ll also want to take note of the diagram right at the Ancient Altar.
- Faith-Leap Trial: To complete this trial, follow the path shown on the map in the screenshot above. You can follow most of the invisible (partially-visible) floating pathway from the right-side, going to the center, then going along the right wall to the Umbral Gem. Very simple.
Collect the Umbral Gem, then exit with the Umbral Transporter. You’ll only need to send one character through the labyrinth. If you’re following this guide, you’ll now have all four Umbral Gems required to complete the dungeon.
