Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3 is home to some of the unique creatures in the game's universe, and you surely don't want to miss out on exploring every corner of this dark and mysterious place, especially when it comes to collecting loot.
Arcane Tower is one of the southern areas in Underdark, and as the name implies, it hosts a tall tower with multiple levels, but only those who have made it to the top level know about the Guardian Bernard. While defeating him with normal attacks could be quite difficult, there is an easy way to get rid of this powerful robot in combat, but you can also convince him that you oppose no threat to him.
How To Defeat Guardian Bernard
The best way to defeat Bernard is to push him off the tower. We strongly suggest you create a manual save just before you push the button to move to the top level of the tower. In order to push Bernard to death successfully, he needs to be located in the position shown above.
This is quite crucial. If you see he is standing somewhere else, just load your manual save and try again until you catch him in the same spot we mentioned earlier. When the battle begins after the conversation, you need to move your character to the east side of Bernard and push him in the direction shown above.
Keep in mind that you cannot use the simple "Shove" command on Bernard as he is too heavy to be shoved normally. So, you need to have attack types or magics that push the target away greatly. The best example is Force Tunnel. As you can see, this attacking type has a 100% success chance on Bernard, which shows how strong the attack is. Force Tunnel is capable of pushing the target away up to 9 meters.
If you manage to push Bernard away at the maximum range, he will fall off the tower entirely and will die instantly. However, if he drops onto the lower floors of the tower, he will still remain alive, but you will have a great opportunity to get rid of other guardians until you go and deal with Bernard again.
How To Bypass Guardian Bernard
Bypassing Bernard requires you to read a bunch of books before meeting him. Hopefully, all these books can be found inside Arcane Tower. If we count the level above the elevator's power generator as the first floor, you need to get to the elevator and travel to the second floor.
Here, you will find a bunch of plants and bookshelves. There is a bookshelf right in front of the elevator's gate on this floor. You need to read the Threadbare Book from this shelf. Now, get on the elevator and move to the third floor. On the back of the elevator's gate, you will find a bookshelf with a single book on it named "Dusty Book." You need to read it as well. Keep in mind that this book's name will change to Evil's Ascend after reading it.
Now, get on the elevator again and move up to the fourth floor. In a corner of this room, you will find a desk. There is a book named The Roads to Darkness. Next to it, there is also a Handwritten Letter on the same desk. You need to read them both.
It's all done. Now, move up again to meet Bernard. This time around, you will see the following dialogue in your opening options:
- 'Or art thou, friend, a rescue from my lonely wake?'
Choose it, and Bernard will recognize you as his master. However, one more response is still required. Choosing each one of the options below as your response will have different consequences:
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If you want to bypass Bernard, choose the following answer:
- 'How Can I Trust? How Will I Ever Know?/How Can I Show Myself, My Darkest Me?'
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If you want to fight with Bernard, choose the following response:
- 'There is a light in every living thing./It's crawling towards the surface to survive.'
If you bypass Bernard, you will always have the option to go talk to him once again and choose the other option to fight with him.