Should you take the Underdark in Baldur’s Gate 3? Players debate safest path

In Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3, players have the option to travel through the Underdark or the Mountain Pass to reach the Shadow-Cursed Lands. Which is the safest option?

Baldur’s Gate 3 presents you with a simple main quest in the first Act: find a druid who can help you remove the sickness from your mind. The first part of the quest is to rescue Halsin, the Archdruid of Emerald Grove, who had disappeared before you arrived. 

You find Halsin kept as a prisoner in a nearby Goblin Camp, and if you decide to rescue him, he joins your camp after Emerald Grove is safe from the Goblin leaders who were planning an attack on the refuge. You and your party still need to get rid of the tadpole in your head at this point, and when you ask Halsin about it, he tells you to go to Moonrise Tower. 

There are two ways you can get to the Shadow-Cursed Lands, where Moonrise Tower is located: through the Underdark or the Mountain Pass. The snag, though, is that there is a shadow curse that makes getting to the tower nearly impossible until you find a way to deal with it.

Halsin suggests going through the Underdark, as it is safer, but is it really? 

A fan took to Reddit to ask this question: “I’m on my [first] playthrough in act one. The bear guy told me the safest way to travel to my next destination is through the Underdark. Is he thick in the head or trying to get me killed?”

“I have been attacked by [minotaurs], beholders, a thing that tunnels through the ground, exploding mushrooms, [exploding] traps, a hook monster which is absolute nightmare fuel and now a squid wants me to go pick deadly mushrooms to make a potion that will probably backfire.” 

More Baldur’s Gate 3 players commented and the overall response was yes, despite the myriad of new enemies and traps you must navigate, the Underdark was the easier route to take. 

The Mountain Pass contains an important questline for Lae’zel, but the enemies you find there are higher level than in the Underdark. Mostly, players have been trudging through the Underdark to level up before taking on the challenges that come in the Mountain Pass. 

Whether you choose to reach the Shadow-Cursed Lands through the Underdark or Mountain Pass, though, rest assured that you can still explore both areas. Neither becomes locked off to you once you make your choice. 

However, beware that you can lose quests you don’t wrap up before entering the Mountain Pass. As another fan mentions: “Don’t go to mountain pass before clearing up everything you want to in the first area. It finishes tons of quests for you.” 

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3, find out how many people are playing in 2023 and what the best necromancer build is.