The Mirror of Loss is a strange magical artifact in Baldur's Gate 3 you can only use in Act 3 for a rare exchange to your character's Ability Scores.
The Mirror of Loss is a powerful artifact you can get in Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3 and acts as a magical conduit you can use to adjust your character's Ability Score stats. However, the bonus provided by this glowing purple object takes until Act 3 to properly use. You must also be prepared to endure a curse as a sacrifice for making one aspect of your character stronger than it could be by leveling up.
Your party can find the Mirror of Loss in the Temple of Shar once you travel through enough of Act 2's main quests. You might even spot the magical effects from the artifact as you complete the Gauntlet of Shar puzzles in Baldur's Gate 3 within the same area. The Mirror costs 1,000 Gold to activate, but you can only access the artifact in Act 3. The Temple of Shar is a location that holds a lot of significance to the companion Shadowheart and is a place you have a better chance of reaching in Act 3 if you maintain a high amount of approval with the character.
How The Mirror of Loss Works In Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)
To use the Mirror of Loss, your character must offer a memory that will be absorbed into the artifact, never to be remembered again. Before you do this, you have to pass an Arcana check and pray to the Mirror following a Religion check to fully understand what this effect means on your character sheet. Regardless of your class build in Baldur's Gate 3 or party composition, you will want to succeed in both rolls to learn what the Mirror does.
The artifact lets you reduce any Ability Score by 2 and then boost any other primary stat of your choice by the same value in Baldur's Gate 3. This can be an incredibly steep sacrifice for your character, letting go of cherished history to shift their strengths for the tough battles ahead. Thankfully, there is a way to trick the mirror into accepting a false memory when you succeed in a difficult Deception check.
Fooling the Mirror allows you not to take any penalty to an Ability Score and only gives you the buff on another trait. Your character or whoever in your party is using the artifact needs to have a fairly high Charisma stat before the buff to accomplish this. Given how many companions have their strengths elsewhere, you may have to equip a magic item or cast a spell that increases your chances of rolling high enough in Baldur's Gate 3.
Shadowheart or any character with the Remove Curse spell can eliminate the -2 debuff given by the Mirror of Loss as soon as you finish giving up your memories.
If you choose to read the Necromancy of Thay in Baldur's Gate 3, you have the option to get rid of the Forbidden Knowledge memory as well. Managing to pass the difficult Wisdom checks needed to understand that the book only gives a +1 to all Wisdom rolls, making the Mirror's offer a bit better. Choosing to give up the taboo knowledge leaves no curse, letting you use the Mirror of Loss without a downside in Baldur's Gate 3.
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Baldur's Gate 3
- Developer(s):
- Larian Studios
- Franchise:
- Baldur's Gate
- Genre(s):
- RPG
- Platform(s):
- macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5
- Publisher(s):
- Larian Studios
- Summary:
- Baldur's Gate 3 is a long-anticipated sequel to Baldur's Gate 2, released in 2000 from BioWare and now being handled by Larian Studios. Set 120 years after the events of Shadows of Amn, Baldur's Gate 3 puts players in the role of a customizable protagonist who has been captured and infected with a parasite that will turn them into a mind flayer. Before the process is complete, the ship they are on crashes, leaving them on a quest to cure themselves as they meet up with other survivors. Gameplay is turn-based and can be played co-operatively online or tackled alone in a single-player campaign with NPC allies.
- Prequel:
- Baldur's Gate 2
- Released:
- 2023-08-31
- How Long To Beat:
- 50 - 100 hours
