Baldur’s Gate 3 Shadowheart Romance Guide: How to Recruit and Romance Shadowheart

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Cody has been in the video game business as part of media and content creation for more than 10 years. During that time, he has contributed and even led some of the largest sites in the world dedicated to gaming and entertainment. He has also dabbled some in PR and was a tester for Activision in the past working on the Call of Duty series. When not playing games or writing about them, he enjoys cooking, sharpening his Japanese skills, and watching the latest anime shows.

Bottom Line Up Front

Shadowheart is the Trickery Cleric for the team in Baldur’s Gate 3. She is one of the first party members you can get in the game, even though she is technically missable. She is also one of the most frustrating at first since she is pretty opinionated and prefers to do things her way. But she is also easily my favorite character in the entire game.

Shadowheart is the prime example of someone who ages over time, almost like a tsundere character for my anime and manga fans out there. She starts out strong with her whole follower of the goddess Shar thing, but then you warm up to her, and she does the same as you get to know her.

But it is easy to make her mad and miss out on the chance to romance her over the course of the three Acts, which is where I come in.

How to Recruit Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3

Before you can ever think about cozying up to Shadowheart at the campsite, you’ll need to recruit her to your party. I should note she is one of the earliest and easiest party members to get in this game, but the problem is she is entirely missable if you happen to skip over part of the game.

What you want to do is start the game and be in the prologue section known as the Escape the Nautiloid main story quest. After freeing yourself from the pod and linking up with Lae’zel, the first party member you find, you’ll eventually make your way to a central room with several more pods.

There are some poor tortured souls you can’t speak with in this room and it is the final one before the bridge where the conclusion of this prologue in the game takes place. In this central room, you’ll find Shadowheart inside one of the pods, and you need to free her to add her to your party.

To do this, you have two main routes. The first is to interact with the pod controls to the right of her. If you do not have a magical class like Wizard with access to some Arcane knowledge, you’re going to have a pretty hard time going about this method without some save-scumming involved.

The idea is to learn more about the pod controls and figure out how they work. You can also use your Illithid powers from the mind flayer parasite in your head to do this as well. Once you connect to the controls and figure out how they work via some skill checks, you’ll be able to open up the pod and let Shadowheart go.

On the other hand, if you can’t pass those skill checks, not all hope is lost. While the game is directing you to the eastern path that will take you into the bridge, there is a northern path into the small room near you. If you head into this room, you’ll find a bunch of mind-flayer enemies to take out.

Once you’re done with them, you’ll find an item here that will allow you to open up the pod in the previous room without having to go through all the skill checks. This is the way you can guarantee recruiting her to your party no matter what class you are.

Speak with her after you free her, and she will want to join up with you but Lae’zel will advise against it. Just ignore her, and also Shadowheart’s attitude, and you can have both of them on your party at the same time.

How to Romance Shadowheart

Now that you have Shadowheart on your team, it is finally time to start romancing her. Like with any character in the game you can romance; it boils down to a couple of crucial features. For one, you want to raise your approval with the character to a certain point. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t notify you of the approval rating you have for someone.

As such, your goal is to focus on a single character or two you really want to romance in the game. In this case, it is Shadowheart, so your goal should be to take her everywhere in the game with you. You get her quite early, so this part is easy, but the more she is with you, the more chances you have to raise your approval rating with her.

In addition, the other part is to focus on talking with her a lot, especially when she has the exclamation point over her head. This means she has something new to tell you, typically about her personal life, and you should pay close attention and take advantage of these valuable moments to raise her approval significantly.

This is how you get to the romance scenes, which I will note further down below. But first, you need to figure out what her likes and dislikes are. The choices you make, the things you say, and everything you do in the game can directly affect her approval of you or disapproval. It is imperative you take the time to get to know her properly and make the right choices.

Thankfully, that is where I come in. Just note that there are some significant spoilers ahead, not only for Shadowheart’s backstory and romance but also for some central plot points, especially in Act 2.

Shadowheart Likes Explained

You want to pay close attention to the things that Shadowheart likes. If you make choices based on the following likes she has, you will consistently see her approval going up with the little notifications of her liking something in the top right corner of your screen. Here are Shadowheart’s main likes:

Honoring her worship and follow of Shar: This is one of the most important parts. Never disagree with her regarding her chats about Shar, and don’t flaunt your worship of another deity in front of her, especially if you follow Selune like me.
Being heroic and saving kids and animals.
Using persuasion and even lying to get around fighting and other unnecessary conflicts.
Fighting with Lae’zel and the Githyanki in general
Helping the downtrodden, outcasts, and the like, such as the Tiefling refugees
Allowing her to do whatever she wants to do, with the one exception being one part late in Act 2 (we’ll get there)

As you can see, Shadowheart is one of the most surprising characters. She follows the evil goddess Shar and devotes everything to her. But, despite this, she is honestly one of the more heroic characters in the game. There are some edgier sides to her, but she likes to see the player do the good thing most of the time.

The other key part is to not trash her for her wild obsession with the evil goddess Shar. Trust me, there is no point in disagreeing with her or pointing out flaws too much in her religion, as there is a central way to deal with this later in the story. This will only make her mad and less likely to be with you.

Shadowheart Dislikes Explained

There are quite a few dislikes Shadowheart has, but they are easy to get around, as she is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve:

Disrespecting, disagreeing, or hating on Shar in any way
Also, disrespecting and fighting back on her devotion to Shar (minus some exceptions I’ll note later)
Trusting the Githyanki too much
Making fun of people or doing outright evil, vile, and violent things that aren’t necessary
Torturing people
Being mean to animals or kids
Being too direct and not letting her have time to process when she asks for it
Helping the villains or evil people in the game, like True Soul Nere and General Thorm
Siding with Lae’zel in conflicts

Act 1 Shadowheart Romance Scene

Act 1 can be as long or as short as you want it to be. After completing the Escape the Nautiloid prologue quest, you’ll wake up in the Wilderness area with Shadowheart near you. You want to journey together for a long time in this Act before dealing with the Druids, goblins, and Tieflings.

This is because it is a slow burn to get Shadowheart on your good side. You want to spend plenty of time with her so that she will start to like and even trust you. You’ll want to pay close attention to the times when she chats with you about her personal life.

This should happen at least once, if not two times, where she shares more about her personal life before you do the goblin fight in Act 1 and pick a side. Once the fight concludes, there will be a party at your camp, and this is when you want to speak with Shadowheart.

She will note some of her thoughts about what happened, and the key here is not to disagree with her. You can ask her about her worries and if Shar disapproves of your actions, but don’t go too far to disagree with her or question her thoughts too much.

Do it right, and she will offer you the chance to share a bottle of wine with her after the festivities. Say yes, and you will have the chance to have the first romance scene with her in the game. Rest at your camp and the time will pass so you can spend time with her. Don’t commit to someone else, or you will lose this chance.

When you meet up with Shadowheart later that night, the goal here is to listen to her, ask questions, and be kind. You want to show your affection, but never ever pick the final option on the conversation list. These options are there to finish up the romance scene, which will not result in a good conclusion for your romance time.

If you keep entertaining her and spending time with her, you’ll get a kiss. Better yet, you even have the chance to sleep next to each other that night, though no funny business happens at this time. Agree to sleep together, and you’ll do so until the morning.

Act 2 Shadowheart and Nightsong

baldurs gate 3 shadowheart and nightsong

Act 2 is the most dangerous part of Shadowheart’s romance saga. This is a lot that happens here, mainly because of the Gauntlet of Shar that you end up in during the main story. Before you even get to the romance scene at the end of the Act, the goal here is to make the right choices for Shadowheart.

Now, there are two possible routes to take with her at this point. First off, make sure that Shadowheart doesn’t offer herself fully to Shar at the statue, as this could lead to some strange situations with the finale of this dungeon.

At the conclusion of the Gauntlet of Shar, spoiler alert, you’ll encounter the Nightsong and have to deal with her. You can have Shadowheart spare the Nightsong lady, which will have her blessed by Selune. Or you can have her kill the Nightsong, which will have her blessed by her patron, Shar.

The latter will see her fully devote herself as the Dark Justiciar she always wanted to be, which means she isn’t that interested in romance. It is possible to keep romancing her this route, but it takes some persuasion and skill checks to make it happen.

On the other hand, I think this is a bad ending for Shadowheart, personally. It is best for you to spare Nightsong and have Shadowheart be blessed by Selune. This makes her more interested in an entire relationship with you, and I believe it leads to the best possible ending for her in terms of learning about herself and coming to terms with the truth.

While this doesn’t lead to an actual romance scene, it is crucial for her character development and future.

Act 3 Shadowheart Romance Scene

Finally, near the start of Act 3, you have the last main romance scene with Shadowheart. This is somewhat a mix of the scenes for both Acts 2 and 3, so a lot happens, but it is pretty easy to progress through. It is also where that spicy stuff happens that you might be looking for. It is best to spare Nightsong for this event.

After the conclusion of everything, you’ll finally have a chance to sit down and speak with Shadowheart near the start of Act 3. There is a chance to reflect on her decision regarding Nightsong and the future of your relationship. She will end up asking the player to go on a swim with her.

If you do this, this will lead to a steamy water scene where you both happen not to have too many clothes on in the water. This is the central romance scene for her in Act 3 and the climax of your relationship with her. Note that it is possible to romance and have trysts with characters outside of your main party in Act 3, but mainly stay committed to her for the best possible relationship ending.

FAQs

Question: Can you Romance Shadowheart in Baldurs Gate 3?

Answer: Yes, you can undoubtedly romance Shadowheart in Baldurs Gate 3. If you have to ask that question, it tells me you either haven’t started playing yet, or you are struggling to get intimate with her. In that case, put her in your party and make sure to always make decisions based on her likes. Talk to her often and spend time with her at the campsite to turn things around.

Question: How do you Advance the Shadowheart Romance in BG3?

Answer: Unfortunately, a lot of players want to know how to advance the Shadowheart romance in BG3. After the initial romance scene in Act 1, after the goblins versus Druids and Tieflings fight, you’ll have to wait until very far into Act 2 before you are able to romance her again in a specific scene.

Question: How do you Sleep with Shadowheart in Baldurs Gate 3?

Answer: I like the direct question that a lot of players are wondering about how to sleep with Shadowheart in Baldurs Gate 3. If you want to sleep with Shadowheart in Baldurs Gate 3, the earliest point to do this is surprisingly in Act 1. Travel with her a lot in this chapter, and ensure you learn about her past before completing the core conflict in this Act. At the party, you’ll have the chance to lie down with her for the night.

Find the Best Armor to Put on Shadowheart

When it comes to romancing Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, the one phrase I would use to describe her is “worth the wait.” She is the type of character who starts off a little intense and obsessed with her own way of handling things. It can be annoying, and it is easy to not like her at first.

But I find that she is one of the most rewarding characters in all of Baldur’s Gate 3. There is a reason I romanced her in my first playthrough of the game, and it still remains my favorite and the best romance story for me. To do all of that, though, you really have to take your time and get to know Shadowheart well.

To get to know Shadowheart and spend enough time with her, she’ll need to be in your party at all times so you can raise her approval the fastest. But that also means she’ll have to be in combat quite a lot, which is why it is essential you find the best armor for her in Baldur’s Gate 3. Thankfully, she is one of the most helpful party members as a Cleric.

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