Baldur’s Gate 3 Whispering Depths: Defeat the Phase Spider Matriarch

You might have seen that Baldur's Gate 3 is bursting with things to do. Whether that’s random encounters with NPCs, romancing companions, or discovering secret areas, you’ll find yourself equal parts overwhelmed and amazed by all there is to do in this RPG. The Whispering Depths located beneath the Blighted Village well are just one small part of all there is to discover.

The Whispering Depths is a treacherous cave full of spiders, so arachnophobes may want to find a way around this one. Alas, if you can handle multiple beady-eyed beasts, this cave is well worth venturing into for its loot, and its easily-missed passage to the Underdark. Here’s what to do in the Blighted Village well, and how to get through the Whispering Depths in Baldur’s Gate 3.

How to find the Blighted Village well and enter the Whispering Depths

You might’ve come across the well in Blighted Village via your own exploration of Baldur's Gate 3, but if not, you’ll find it at the coordinates X26, Y399. To dive into the well and enter the Whispering Depths, you’ll need to pass a Perception Check.

Failing that, there is actually another entrance to the Whispering Depths via the Blacksmith’s House. This is also located in the Blighted Village, and can be found at coordinates X46, Y423.

Once inside the house, simply clear the pile of cobwebs from the floor to reveal a hatch that leads to the basement.

Down here, there’ll be a cracked wall that can be identified using an Investigation check. Destroy the cracked wall using whatever means, and you’ll then be able to enter the Whispering Depths.

How to get through the Whispering Depths in Baldur’s Gate 3

For clarity, we’ll be guiding you through the Whispering Depths as though you have entered via the well.

Just when I thought spiders the size of humans couldn’t get any worse, you’ll want to anticipate lots of Phase Spiders that can teleport in this cave. There’s also a boss fight with a Phase Spider Matriarch that you’ll need to prepare for.

In addition, your characters will likely be afflicted with the Enwebbed status during battle thanks to all the webs across this cave. This will limit their movement distance. To become immune from the status effect, you’ll need to grab the Spiderstep Boots and put them on the character you want to have the most movement.

With that said, let’s go and grab the boots first! From where you entered the Whispering Depths via the well, head left and towards the coordinates X-513, Y-405. You’ll enter a room, shown below, full of crates.

There’s a chest in this room containing the Spiderstep Boots, some gold, and a Malachite. If you can’t see the chest, press ‘Alt’ on your keyboard to have all items of note in the room labeled for you.

Now, pop these boots on and let’s get moving again. Leave the room from where you entered, and proceed north, where you’ll likely end up fighting some Phase Spiders and Ettercaps; they’re no problem.

How to defeat the Phase Spider Matriarch

What we need to do next is avoid the upper levels of the cave, and go around destroying any egg clutches that we find from the lower level. Why’s this? Well, we want to avoid the upper levels because this is where the Phase Spider Matriarch resides, and we don’t want to trigger that boss fight just yet.

As for the destruction of those yellow egg clutches all over the place? This is to help us with the boss fight; if we don’t destroy them and rush straight to the Phase Spider Matriarch right now, we’ll have a much more difficult time as she uses these eggs in battle. If you fancy a challenge, though, go ahead!

Alternatively, you can skip all of this and sneak up on the giant spider with Wyll or a Warlock main character. Line up an Eldritch Blast or anything else with knockback so that the resulting force will push the giant spider off the side of the cliff. This ends the fight immediately and gives you an achievement for good measure.

While exploring the lower level of the cave, use your camera to look around and keep an eye on where the next set of Phase Spiders are located.

The Phase Spider Matriarch will spawn above them whenever you get close, so you won’t actually be able to destroy all the eggs in this cave before battle, which is fine. You can keep destroying eggs during the battle.

When you locate the Matriarch, look very carefully in the area beneath her. If you’re lost, this area is at coordinates X-547, Y-363, and here, you can find the Dark Amethyst glowing purple on the ground below. We’ll want to grab this after the battle, so keep it in mind!

The Phase Spider Matriarch is pretty tough, especially with a bunch of Phase Spiders and Phase Spiderlings helping her. However, she isn’t too hard to take down, especially if you have some Fire spells.

You can destroy the webs that the Matriarch stands on by firing at them, and the fall will take off a chunk of the Matriarch’s health. Rinse and repeat while taking care of the other Spiders, and this battle is much easier than it first appears. You can soon finish off the Matriarch with a basic action or two, if she doesn't quickly die from fall damage.

As for the Spiderlings, which can be quite annoying, move your characters towards a ledge and hope that they follow. You can simply shove them off the edge one by one, and they’ll die. Alternatively, any AoE attack (that isn't Poison) will take care of these guys very quickly, as they tend to target and surround one character at a time.

Once the Phase Spider Matriarch is dead, loot her corpse to retrieve the Poisoner’s Robe item. For those characters with Poison spells, this Robe will see them dealing additional Poison damage!

While you’re here, don’t forget to retrieve the Dark Amethyst from below where the Matriarch spawned; it’ll glow purple on the ground. Pocket it and keep it safe, as you’ll want it on hand when you explore the Blighted Village cellar.

Before we go anywhere else, make sure to interact with the sigil to the west of where we just battled. Now you have an easy fast travel point to the Whispering Depths!

Last, but not least, there is one more secret to uncover in the Whispering Depths, and that’s a passage to the Underdark!

Next to the sigil you just activated, there will be a green glowing chasm that you can dive into; ignore the dark chasm, as this leads to death.

Hold your horses, though, as you can’t just waltz into this chasm and expect to live (as I sadly learnt the hard way). To reach the Underdark via this chasm, you’ll need to use the Feather Fall spell in advance, or your character will simply die from fall damage once they reach the bottom.

If you don’t have the spell, you’ll need to have one of your spellcasters acquire it, or find another entrance to the Underdark. That's the Whispering Depths done with!

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3 that doesn't involve dark depths or spiders, have you met up with Lump the Enlightened? Alternatively, take a look at how to rescue the Gnome in Blighted Village too, while you're nearby.