Baldur’s Gate 3 – How to Unlock More Illithid Powers

Your character and companions can learn abilities in Baldur’s Gate 3. Some, like Illithid Powers, emphasize the use of psychic force. Telepathy and telekinesis go hand in hand when you want to eliminate your enemies. However, there are stronger variants you can get. Our guide explains how you can unlock more high-level Illithid powers in Baldur’s Gate 3. Also, remember that this guide contains spoilers.

How to Unlock More High Level Illithid Powers in Baldur’s Gate 3

To unlock the high level illithid powers of Baldur’s Gate 3, you must rescue the Mind Flayer Emperor. Here is a brief summary of what this process entails:

• At the start of the game, you gain access to Basic Illithid Skills. You can award more points by acquiring Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens of a few selected opponents.
• In Act 3, your party will be ambushed at Wyrm’s Crossing. You must fight the Githyanki attackers, enter a portal to the astral plane, and help the emperor. Attacking it will simply lead to a game over, as the Absolute will end up with full control over your “reborn” character.
• After talking with the Emperor, he offers you a chance to “evolve”. The decision is entirely up to you. If you agree, he will provide an Astral Touched Tadpole.
• If you link your psyche to it, you will become a Demi-Illithid.

How to transform into a half-Illithid

Depending on their appearance, your character will have visible jagged veins on their body. But, if you open the Illithid Powers tab (i.e. press “B” on your keyboard), you’ll see that level 3 options are now available. Additionally, Tier 1 options are automatically unlocked even if you haven’t assigned points. As such, you should have enough points to spare for better powers.

High level Illithid powers in Baldur’s Gate 3 can also be unlocked by tadpole infested companions (i.e. not Halsin or Jaheira). However, you have to convince them via a dialog check for them to accept. If successful, place the Astral Touched Tadpole in their inventory and have them use it.

List of high level Illithid powers

Below we list the top tier Illithid powers in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Psyche fracture (support action) – Decrease the armor class (AC) of the target by 1 point; if the target dies while affected by the debuff, you can recast this spell.
• Illithid Expertise (Passive) – You gain expertise in persuasion, deception and intimidation tests.
• Psionic Dominance (Passive) – If a spell within 18 yards targets you and it’s level less than or equal to your mastery, you can use a reaction to cancel the spell completely.
• Black hole (offensive action) – Target a point in a location and pull in nearby enemies, with the ability to slow them down. Five more black holes can be summoned after their initial launch into combat. Then you need to take a short rest to recharge the ability.
• Steal (support action) – It allows you to fly, and it is also automatically unlocked. It also doesn’t cost a spell slot.
• Mind Blast (offensive action) – Inflicts 6 to 34 psychic damage; fires cone energy that can stun targets.
• Mind Sanctuary (support action) – Create a field that allows those in it to perform actions and bonus actions interchangeably.
• Freecast (passive/toggled) – Removes resource costs for spell slots and charges; refreshed after rest.
• Absorb Intellect (support action) – Reduces a target’s Intelligence by 1 point and heals you for 1 to 8 HP for five turns.
• Displacer Beast Shape (shape-shifting action) – Transform into an astral-powered cat. It’s cute and deadly.

As you can see, the high level Illithid powers in Baldur’s Gate 3 are truly amazing. Fly lets you ignore obstacles, making it easier to traverse and explore. Black Hole, on the other hand, is one of the best spells in the game, as it allows you to make devastating setups for AoE abilities. As for Illithid Expertise, it makes it possible to succeed more often in the dialogues. And there’s also Freecast, which is great for spellcasters because they won’t have to worry about refreshing spell slots.

In any case, these are the abilities we have discovered so far. Will there be more later in the game, or will there be major ramifications? We’ll update our guide in due course, so stay tuned.