My Baldur's Gate 3 fighter fought through nearly all of Acts 1 and 2 wearing the same pair of gloves. They're pretty good gloves (the ones that give free attack advantage when two or more enemies are in range), but it turns out I missed my chance for a major upgrade. There's a way better pair called the Gloves of the Automaton, and they might just be the single greatest gloves in the game for non-spellcasters.
The Gloves of the Automaton are basically just gloves that grant the usual +1 to strength saving throws, but it's the attached class skill that we're truly after:
Circuitry Interface: Grants the wearer advantage on all weapon attacks for the next 10 turns, once per short rest. You also have lightning resistance and are considered a construct during the duration.
That is a massive perk. For context: most combat encounters wrap up long before 10 full rounds have passed, so you're essentially twice as likely to hit everything for the entire fight.
Pretty snazzy handwear, but it's also really easy to lock yourself out of ever getting them. I borked up my playthrough pretty hard in Act 2, so much that backtracking to get these gloves would take hours. Thankfully, RPG YouTuber Kazu published a thorough video guide explaining where to find the Gloves of the Automaton. All you really have to do is treat a particular gnome with respect, and keep that friendship alive into Act 2.
Baldur's Gate 3: How to get the Gloves of the Automaton
In a nutshell
- Save Barcus Wroot at the windmill
- Save Barcus at the Grymforge
- Recruit him to your camp
- Proceed to Act 2
- Find Barcus at the Last Light Inn
- Buy (or steal) the Gloves of the Automaton
As Kazu explains, the fate of these particularly useful gloves rests with an NPC named Barcus Wroot, who you most likely remember best as the gnome who's kidnapped by goblins and tied to a moving windmill in Act 1. You'll need to keep him alive and friendly to score the gloves, so if you released the brake on the windmill and launched him to an early grave, you're already out of luck. Save Barcus from the windmill, and then make sure you explore the Underdark.
When you next encounter Barcus, he's been enslaved by the Duergar at the Grymforge. Kazu says you have to take down all the Duergar and also Nere, the Drow caught in a cave-in when you first arrive. Once you dispatch his captors, you can recruit Barcus to your camp.
The Barcus arc picks up during Act 2 in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. Early on in the act you'll be led to the Last Light Inn, the headquarters of the resistance against the Absolute and current hangout of characters you met in Act 1. If you did everything right, Barcus will be hanging out inside the inn with a new quest to offer. Accept the quest, and then he'll be available to trade with.
The Gloves of the Automaton can then be purchased from Barcus for around 900 gold. Or you could try to steal them, but would you really do that to a guy who's trying to get back on his feet after two traumatic kidnappings in as many weeks?
