Baldur’s Gate 3 is brimming with secrets. The Mind Archive Interface is a hidden interaction only possible at the end of Act Two and only if you have acquired the correct items throughout the campaign.
After you enter the Mind Flayer Colony following your first clash with Ketheric Thorm, you have the rare opportunity to search around the Mind Flayer base. The Mind Archive Interface can give interesting information about the Absolute, Mind Flayers, and Colony. If you’re trying to find or use the Mind Archive Interface in Baldur’s Gate 3, here’s what you need to know.
Where to find the Mind Archive Interface in BG3
You can only access the Mind Archive Interface after you enter the Mind Flayer Colony at the end of Act Two. Travel to the Necrotic Laboratory inside the Mind Flayer Colony, located under the Moonrise Towers. You’ll get access to the Mind Flayer Colony after you face off against General Ketheric Throm atop the Moonrise Towers for the first time. He flees there wounded. Mind Flayer Colony is beneath the towers, and you can reach it by entering the hole that spawns after you defeat Ketheric Thorm for the first time.
When you reach the Necrotic Laboratory, defeat Death Shepard and his minions. The easiest way to defeat Death Shepard is by focusing on him before attacking his minions. If you leave him alive, he will just resurrect his minions, and the fight can get out of hand. I usually aim to AoE down his minions and send one of my tankiest characters (Lae’zel or Karlach) to take out the Shepard.
How to use the Mind Archive Interface in BG3
Looking around the Mindflayer Colony, you will see brains in jars. The first of these items can be found on the Nautiloid ship at the beginning of the game. If you loot these brain jars, you can later insert them into the Mind Archive Interface in the Mind Flayer Colony to learn more about them.
The Waking Mind is the most beneficial brain you can plug in since you get a buff after using it. You can find this brain by solving the puzzle to the east of the Mind Archive Interface. It’s a fairly easy puzzle you can solve by matching the cranial trait, such as Emotion or Memory, to the correct mind. Click on the section of the brain you want to connect, follow the white line, and select the first neuron in your path. Rinse and repeat the process until all your neurons are connected.
When you finish, you get the Waking Mind as a reward.
Whenever plugging the Waking Mind into the Mind Archive Interface, you can purge the mind to receive a Mind Barrier buff, giving you an advantage on Intelligence Saving Throws.
Githzerai Mind Barrier buff
- Buff name: Githzerai Mind Barrier
- Buff description: “Having assimilated a splinter of Githzerai knowledge, mental barriers have been erected in the affected entity’s mind. It has an Advantage on Intelligence Saving Throws.”
- Effect: You get an advantage on Intelligence Saving Throws, a permanent buff (lasts until death)
This buff is great when fighting against spellcasters like Mind Flayers, but you won’t get much use out of it with Ketheric Throm and the Apostle of Myrkul. Ketheric doesn’t use Intelligence and it’s one of his lowest stats.
Githzerai Mind Barrier is a permanent buff and your spellcasters using Intelligence as a main stat will love it. Wizards are the best-known example of an Intelligence-based class.
In a nutshell, the buff doesn’t make or break the Ketheric encounter, but it will come in handy if you manage to keep it for Act Three.
