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When you arrive in the Mind Flayer Colony, make sure you don’t miss how to get the Githzerai Mind Barrier buff in Baldur’s Gate 3.
The Mind Flayer Colony is quite an unexpected destination at the end of Act 2. While there are many hidden features at the colony, such as gaining Myrkul’s Gift, the Githzerai Mind Barrier buff is an excellent, semi-permanent buff to pick up while you’re in the colony. You have to complete a simple puzzle and find a few potential item upgrades along the way.
Where to Find the Githzerai Mind Barrier Buff
You’ll find the Githzerai Mind Barrier Buff in the southeast section of the Mind Flayer Colony. After your initial confrontation with Ketheric Thorm at the top of the Moonrise Towers, you’ll descend into the colony to complete Act 2.
You must complete a puzzle to access the first item needed to receive the buff. This puzzle is located at Balthazar’s Necrotic Laboratory in the Illithid Colony. You will first complete the puzzle, retrieve the Waking Mind, and then insert it into a Mind-Archive Interface at the other edge of the Necrotic Laboratory.
The puzzle is quite simple to solve; you must connect each node to its corresponding spot on the other side.
Here, you’ll also find three items in addition to the Waking Mind you’ll want to loot:
- The Blade of Oppressed Souls: A rare, +1 longsword that grants the ability “Crowning Strike,” giving the attack a chance to inflict “Crown of Madness” on the target.
- Braindrain Gloves: a pair of uncommon gloves that inflict Mental Fatigue on a target when you deal psychic damage to them.
- Circlet of Mental Anguish: a rare circlet that heals you whenever an enemy fails a Saving Throw against your spell or cantrip.
What Is the Githzerai Mind Barrier Buff?
The Githzerai Mind Barrier buff is a semi-permanent buff that gives you an advantage in intelligence-saving throws. This is incredibly helpful for many of the fights and intelligence checks made for the rest of the game, even though many spells don’t require intelligence saving throws.
A saving throw is a passive roll done by your character whenever they encounter a spell or trap. A saving throw, if succeeded, will lessen the impact of the spell or trap, sometimes negating it entirely. Every spell is different, however, and saving throw advantages are beneficial when lessening the blows of powerful enemies.
Notably, many mind flayer abilities require intelligence saving throws. While this buff would be much more helpful if it were wisdom or dexterity saving throws, you encounter many mind flayers that can all hit pretty hard, so it is absolutely worth picking up.
Is the Githzerai Buff Permanent?
The Githzerai Mind Barrier buff is semi-permanent. It will last through your long rests, but the buff will go away if your character dies. This works like other permanent buffs in Baldur’s Gate 3.
As long as you aren’t dying, the Githzerai Mind Barrier buff is worth getting as you transition into Act 3.
How to Get the Githzerai Mind Barrier Buff
Once you retrieve the Waking Mind, you’ll bring it to the Mind-Archive Interface. You’ll insert the item like the heart for Balthazar’s hidden room.
Your dialogue options don’t matter much here. You find out the mind has been trapped there as a trophy. They will attempt to offer you a deal. If you purge her mind and set her free, you’ll gain the Githzerai Mind Barrier buff in Baldur’s Gate 3. While this is the choice they offer, you can “consume” the mind. Either option will give you the buff.
If you erase her mind, Lae’zel will disapprove, but consuming her mind will cause all your companions except for Astarion to disapprove.
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