Are you wondering what to put in the Ancient Altar in Baldur’s Gate 3? As is the case with so many things in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Ancient Altar is something you may or may not end up stumbling across as you’re playing through your campaign. Each decision, conversation, and combat can dictate how you’ll see things, or if you’ll see things at all, and even if you do find the Ancient Altar, you’re very unlikely to know what to do with it.
In fact, you can lose the entire game at several points before you even find the place this altar is in. If you do manage to find it, then the game gives you no real hint as to what to do with it. It’s worth figuring it out though, because doing so unlocks a hidden passageway, and we all love a good secret room. With that in mind, we’ve got the answer to what to put in the Ancient Altar in Baldur’s Gate 3 right here.
What to Put in the Ancient Altar in Baldur’s Gate 3
Put a heart in the Ancient Altar to open a secret passage to a hidden room where Balthazar conducted his most secret studies. Although I saw some players online mention that other body parts could be placed on the altar, I tried all body parts in the room and found that only the heart reveals the secret passage. The Ancient Altar is hidden in Balthazar’s room in Moonrise Towers. You’ll have to play around with his bookshelves to actually reveal the altar, but once it’s out in the open, you just need to grab a heart from the piles of viscera and bodies nearby and put it into the altar.
Balthazar isn’t home, so don’t worry about that. Depending on how you’ve been approaching Act 2, you may have already found him. If not, you’ll be glad to know he’s in a nearby mausoleum, which you’ll be warned not to go into by Raphael. Balthazar is down there being all creepy and playing with the dead. It’s safe to say he’s not an especially good dude, and is covered head-to-toe in weird runes and bloody marks.
It also turns out that Balthazar isn’t even his actual name; he basically stole it from someone because he’s a big old necromancer with a penchant for putting together corpses from any body parts he finds lying around. If you decide to fight him then you’re in for a tough battle, but that’s an article for another time. Go ahead and open the Ancient Altar and enjoy what you find inside.
What’s Inside the Hidden Passage?
Once you enter the secret room, you’ll discover that the necromancer was interested in Netherese magic and was experimenting on the tadpoles. You’ll also find four Broken Moonlanters and two Dead Pixies. Inside a locked Opulent Chest, you’ll loot an Elixir of Necrotic Resistance and a Coldbrim Hat that grants you Coldbrim Chill, an ability that causes any condition inflicted on a target to apply two turns of Encrusted with Frost, once per turn.
If you’re looking for more on the game, check out where you can find Dammon after the Emerald Grove in Baldur’s Gate 3.
The above article was updated on April 6, 2024 by Escapist Editorial to include what’s inside the hidden passage.
