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Baldur's Gate 3: How to open the Ancient Door in the Overgrown Ruins

The first difficult lockpick check you'll run into, how's how to get that door open in BG3.

Ancient Door in Baldur's Gate 3 Overgrown Ruins
Image credit: VG247 / larian
How to open the Ancient Door in Baldur's Gate 3 is likely one of the first questions a new player will have as they start their first playthrough. Locked from the outside, it's likely the first head-scratcher you'll run into.

As such we've written out this quick guide on how to open the Ancient Door in the Overgrown Ruins. It'll take you step-by-step through your options. Don't worry if things go wrong, there's a way in for every player.


How to open the Ancient Door

So you've come across the ancient door, right of Overgrown Ruins waypoint. If you want to open it from the outside, you'll need to lockpick the door open. In order to do so, you'll first need to pick up some thieves tools nearby.

Once you have thieves tools in your inventory, you'll be able to lockpick. To do so, hover your cursor over the ancient door and you should see a lock symbol appear. This indicates that the door is indeed locked. From there, right click to open up the sub menu for the door, and you'll see an option to lockpick.

The difficulty roll requires to open the door this way is a staggering 20. This means that you'll need to roll the D20, and with the aid of any dexterity and profecieny bonuses you have, hit 20 or higher. If you're not a dexterity-focused character, this is very hard to do!

Lockpicking the Ancient Door in the Overgrown Ruins in Baldur's Gate 3
This, for many characters, is a brick wall. | Image credit: VG247 / Larian

If you're not particuarly dexterious, there's a friendly face nearby that is. Walk back towards the Nautiloid ship and out the other side. There you'll find Astarion, who you can recruit to your party. He has a very high dexterity stat, so you can bring him back to the door and let him give the door a crack.

Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3
When in doubt, bust Astarion out. | Image credit: Larian

If Astarion, you, and any other companions you have with you fail to open the ancient door, don't worry. You can still get inside, but you'll have to go the long way around. Make your way up to the top of the overgrown ruins - via the crashed Nautiloid ship. Once there, you'll have to deal with some tomb raiders. Once they're either dead or gone, you can enter via the nearby door, or by shooting a stone down and making a hole.

This will take you inside the Overgrown Ruins! There's a lot in here - including several fights, hidden treasure, and a very helpful camp follower for you to recruit in the form of Withers. The ancient door you tried to get through early can be found in the large tomb room in the deeper part of the ruins. From the inside, it's far easier to lockpick open. You can also find a key on one of the skeletons nearby that'll let you open it normally.


If you're looking for more Baldur's Gate 3 guides, check out our pieces on Gale and Shadowheart romances, as well as where to find a shovel, which you might need if you try messing around with both of 'em at once.

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