What this page is
The 37 Ancient Ruins challenges, one card each in the order the in-game journal shows them, from three published lists that agree on the names, the count and the order (named at the bottom of the page). Each card gives the location in our words, the skills the puzzle needs, the solution in outline and the reward the sources state. Nothing here is from a playthrough of our own.
1. What an Ancient Ruin Is
There are 37 ruins on the ground, each with a different puzzle; some need particular skills, and none needs story progress. They show up on the map as Mysterious Energy once you get near, and solving the puzzle activates an Abyss Cresset, which hands over an Abyss Artifact, the skill point that buys skills and core stats, and then works as a fast-travel point exactly like an Abyss Nexus. The ruins are marked by the white "?" search areas, which can hold other things too; the Lantern (L1 / LB / Ctrl) and Guiding Light (L1+R1 / LB+RB / Ctrl and left click) pick them out.
In the journal they are the challenge set The Thread in the Forest, under Exploration: Main Menu → Journal → Challenges → Exploration → The Thread in the Forest, Ancient Ruins. Completing all 37 is the Puzzle Solver trophy (the Achievements page has the list). Six of the ruins carry a second reward: a memory crystal that reveals the caves of the region the ruin stands in, worth collecting early for the chests inside. VULKK lists it on all six, PowerPyx on five and Game8's pages on three; each card says which.
The skills the puzzles call for: Stab (the one-handed sword skill, for pedestals, dials and sliding blocks), Blinding Flash for vines and lanterns, Nature's Grasp for gates and debris, Nature's Snare for the drainage mechanisms, Force Palm or Force Current for wall buttons, Turning Slash or a heavy attack for ice and clogged drains, Focus, and a bow with arrows for the statues you rotate by shooting. The Builds page covers the skills themselves.
2. Ruins, Abyss Challenges and Secret Places
Three challenge sets share the Exploration heading and the same reward, an Abyss Artifact plus a fast-travel point, and they are easy to confuse because two of them end at the same object. Each has its own trophy.
Ancient Ruins (this page, 37). A puzzle on the ground whose Cresset only activates once the puzzle is solved. Trophy: Puzzle Solver.Secret Places (60).Abyss Challenges (40).
One wrinkle on "no story progress": Game8 says no ruin needs it, but PowerPyx has the Meandering Hills ruin solved during Chapter 2's Reunion, the quest that teaches Nature's Grasp, and this guide's Chapter 2 page describes that Cresset. The rule stands for the other 36, and two more ruins are met during the Secret of the Lost Seal quest line (Duskwood Waterside, Halssius Conflux) without needing it.
3. The 37 by Region
VULKK and PowerPyx file three ruins under different regions, so their counts do not match; the cards keep VULKK's region and note PowerPyx's on the three concerned.
Region
VULKK
PowerPyx
Why they differ
Hernand 16 15 PowerPyx puts Trembling Woods (no. 2) in Demeniss Delesyia 9 8 PowerPyx puts Red River (18) in the Crimson Desert Demeniss 7 7 PowerPyx gains Trembling Woods and loses Fuming Lands (24) to the Crimson Desert Pailune 5 5 — Crimson Desert 0 2 Red River and Fuming Lands; Game8's own page puts Fuming Lands on Demeniss's northern border
The 37 are numbered in the order of the in-game Challenges tab, which is why the cards keep it: read the list against the journal and the gaps are the ruins you are missing.
4. All 37, with Solutions
One card per ruin, numbered as the journal numbers them. Each gives the region, the location with a nearby landmark, the skills needed, the solution in outline and the reward. Where a solution depends on a reset, save and reload first; the card says so. Ticks are saved in this browser and, if you are signed in, in your account with the rest of the Crimson Desert guide.
Steel Mountains Ruins Journal #1 · Hernand. The Mysterious Energy sits between the Steel Mountains and the Deepwoods, and the entrance is at the northern foot of a small mountain there, north-west of the Spire of Insight. Solution: take the mallet by the bells and read the notes pinned beside them, then hit the bells in the order the notes give, which, numbering them left to right and top to bottom, is 1-2-3-4-5-6-4-3-2-1 (they can also be shot in the same order). Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Trembling Woods Ruins Journal #2 · Hernand. PowerPyx files this one under Demeniss. South of the Unreachable Village near Trembling Gorge, south-east of the Galepulley. Needs Stab for one wheel. Solution: three horizontal wheels work a mural. The right wheel completes the compass symbol at the top right, the centre wheel moves the big mechanical ring until it frames that compass, and the left wheel, worked with Stab, sets the two small rings around the small moon and the icon at the top left; then drop into the water for the Cresset. The water in front of the cranks drains once everything lines up. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Deepfog Basin Everfrost Ruins Journal #3 · Hernand. In the Deepfog Basin forest at the foot of the Argent Peaks, north-west of Calphade Farmhouse. Needs Stab. Solution: Stab into the four slots of the central pedestal, each of which moves a different set of pillars, until the four movable pillars match the fixed one on the left. A save-and-reload first resets the puzzle (you respawn at a nearby altar); then, with the Cresset as twelve o'clock, the twelve o'clock slot raises pillars 1 to 3 halfway, the five o'clock slot raises 1 and 4 (1 to the fixed pillar, 4 to the height of 2 and 3), and twelve o'clock again lifts 2 to 4 the rest of the way. Counted in clicks instead: pillars 2 to 4 four clockwise, 1 to 3 three clockwise, 1 and 4 one clockwise. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Duskwood Hill Ruins Journal #4 · Hernand. In Duskwood, up the main path north of Phoniel Ranch in the Alfonso Estate, between two streams, south-east of Warspike Spearmaker. Needs Blinding Flash for the vines (a fire arrow lit at a brazier also works) and Stab. Solution: the same five-pillar puzzle as Deepfog Basin, with the same slot sequence after a save-and-reload; another order: raise pillars 3 to 5 halfway, then 2 to 4 until 3 and 4 match the first, then 2 and 5, and a botched order resets if you teleport to another region and back. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Timberdale Cliff Ruins Journal #5 · Delesyia. North-west of Dewhaven, south-west of Dewhaven Logging Camp, in the forest. Needs Blinding Flash for the vines and Force Palm or Force Current for the discs. Solution: three wall puzzles, each solved by punching discs so the lit lines join the wall's two sides. North wall: the third disc from the right. East wall: bottom centre, top centre, left centre, bottom right, centre right, bottom right. South wall: bottom centre, bottom-left corner, centre-left, middle, bottom right. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Timberdale Gorge Ruins Journal #6 · Delesyia. East of the Sanctum of Devotion, by the river. Needs Turning Slash (or Force Palm Expertise) and Force Palm or Force Current. Solution: reset first by saving and loading or fast travelling, break the clogged drain north of the ruins by the stairs so the water empties, then inside press the outermost left and right buttons of the centre wall, then middle-left and top-right on the west wall, then middle-left, top-middle, third-row-fourth-column and top-right on the east wall. Take the walls centre, right, left: they will not connect out of order. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Hunter's Cabin Ruins Journal #7 · Hernand. A cemetery north-west of Haunted Hill, south-east of the Haunted Hill Hunter's Cabin. Solution: light every stone lantern in the graveyard. Only two are unlit, one by the stairs and one to the right, and Blinding Flash lights them without spending anything; the tomb door then opens. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Wiggling Hill Ruins Journal #8 · Demeniss. North-east Demeniss, east of the Sanctum of Mortification. Needs Nature's Snare. Solution: light the five unlit lanterns, then stand by the sunken Flood Device and spin it with Nature's Snare until it rises and the water is gone (draining first and lighting second also works); the Cresset activates once both are done. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Blue Thicket Ruins Journal #9 · Delesyia. North-east of Blue Thicket and of Mount Benus, north-east of the Sanctum of Veneration. Needs Nature's Grasp. Solution: lift the two stone walls, let the wheeled platform roll out, and wait for the walls to drop; the Cresset is behind them. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Black Wall Ruins Journal #10 · Pailune. Inside the small tomb at the Black Wall, east of the Upper Denn River and east of the City of Pailune, north of the Black Wall label. Needs Nature's Grasp. Solution: use it on the wall on the right inside the tomb; a short cutscene shows the Cresset nearby and the challenge, Unravel the Secret of the Ancient Ruins, is done. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Meandering Hills Ruins Journal #11 · Hernand. Closed ruins in the Meandering Hills north-west of the City of Hernand, solved during Chapter 2's Reunion, the quest that teaches Nature's Grasp (this guide's Chapter 2 page has it). Needs Nature's Grasp and Force Palm. Solution: lift the stone gate, then Force Palm the giant buttons so all are down at once; pressing one lifts its neighbour, and from the starting position the order is buttons 2, 1, 3 (middle, left, right). Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Duskwood Waterside Ruins Journal #12 · Hernand. By the river in Duskwood, closest to the Kilnden Workshop fast-travel point, and met during Traces of Shadows in the Secret of the Lost Seal quest line; south-west of Duskwood Bandit Camp, east of the City of Hernand. Solution: line up any five stones of one colour on the grid, in a row, column or diagonal; white and black stones can be moved anywhere. The easiest way: the white stone beside the Cresset goes near the east corner as the fourth white in a line of five, where a Mossback Crab tends to be standing. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Beardtree Hills Rock Ruins Journal #13 · Delesyia. The western side of Beardtree Hills, west of Beardtree Gorge, near and west of the Redfox Trading Post. Solution: step on a symbol tile and walk to its twin without re-using a tile or crossing your own path; a tile stays lit once stepped on. Three rounds: one pair, then three, then five that use every tile; the first is three steps straight ahead, any mistake means starting again, and the door at the back opens after the third round. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Precipice of Echoes Ruins Journal #14 · Hernand. South-east of Fort Perwin at the northern foot of the Mountain of Frozen Souls. Solution: the same tile game as Beardtree Hills Rock Ruins, linking identical icons across the grid; a used tile or the wrong icon resets it. The route: first a straight path to the centre; second, from the start again, around the first route and away from the very edge; third, the triangles, then the fishbone, the Z, the squiggles, and the last pair along the very first path. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Deepfog Basin Dragon Head Ruins Journal #15 · Hernand. On the hillside west of Thalwynd, with an Abyss Nexus further north. Needs the one-handed Stab. Solution: a sliding-tile mural. The sequence after a save-and-reload reset: centre to bottom-left, top-centre to bottom-centre, middle-left to top-centre, middle-right to top-right, bottom-centre to middle-right, bottom-left to middle-left, bottom-right to centre; the door behind the dragon statue opens. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Five-Finger Mountain Icy Ruins Journal #16 · Pailune. East of the tip of First-Finger Lake, west of the Cloister of Ruination, across the mountain. Ice first, with a kick, a strike or Turning Slash, then Stab to move the blocks. Solution: break the cracked ice at the side to drain the pool, then the ice over the puzzle, then slide the blocks: bottom-left block to the bottom-left corner, top-right to the top-right corner, centre to centre-left, top-centre to centre-right, the bottom-left block to top-centre, bottom-right to centre. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Five-Finger Mountain Valley Ruins Journal #17 · Pailune. West of Silver Wolf Mountain on the north side of Pailune, west of Longbranch Village on the round lake, north-east of Whisperleaf Fortress. Needs a bow. Solution: push each of the three stones to reveal the statue opposite (it slides back after a few seconds), then shoot the statue's panel to turn it, the gold lines for a fast turn and either side of the glyph for a nudge, until, left to right, they show battle axe, sword and shield, the weapons the central statue holds; blue means right. Cross the chasm on the cable, or with a Force Palm boost and a glide, for the Cresset. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Red River Ruins Journal #18 · Delesyia. PowerPyx files this one under Crimson Desert. The eastern bend of the Red River, north-east of the Red River Cliff Watchtower. Needs a bow and a good stock of arrows. Solution: push the horizontal wheel clockwise until the statue gates open (it winds back when you let go, so do not get caught in it), then shoot the statues' sides to turn them until, left to right, they show axe, sword and shield; the target face is the helmet with a beard, like the visible middle one. They glow blue when right, faintly on some graphics settings. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Bamboo Forest Seonangdang Ruins Journal #19 · Demeniss. North-east of the island of Serpent Marsh, south of Demeniss Port and south of the Sanctum of Revelation, across the river. Solution: find the three stones around the shrine and stack them on the pile in front of it, largest to smallest, which is red, blue, then yellow ribbon; place them with aim, and a lost stone comes back if you teleport away and return. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Kingshield Mountains Ruins Journal #20 · Demeniss. North-east of the Kingshield Mountains, west of Tariv near the Denn River. Solution: stack three sturdy jars on the one already standing in front of the Cresset, four high; only uncracked jars survive, a cracked rim gives one away, Precision Aim helps with the balance, and it helps to lure the ambushers nearby away first. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Sunrise Plains Ruins Journal #21 · Hernand. Also called the Grace Estate puzzle: in the Sunrise Plains behind thick vines just south of Glenbright Manor. Solution: turn the statues by the dials behind them until all four face the Cresset; turning one also turns the one opposite. The order, facing south-east with the statues numbered 1 to 4 from top left: turn 2 to face the middle, turn 1 so that 3 faces the middle, turn 4 so that 1 and 4 both do; Blinding Flash clears the damaging vines around the outside. Since patch 1.16.00 the controls no longer lock up while you examine a statue's dial, a fix shared with the Golden Plains Ruins. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Golden Plains Ruins Journal #22 · Demeniss. East of the Kingshield Mountains, hidden in a wood, east of Burnhand Quarry. Needs Blinding Flash. Solution: burn the vines in front of the middle statue to reveal a hidden fourth; turn the middle statue, which also turns the fourth, and then the leftmost, which turns the one in front of it, until all face the centre. An audible budge marks the spot, and a statue's feet should point at the tip of the triangle on its platform. It is the same 2, 1, 4 sequence as Sunrise Plains, facing north. Since patch 1.16.00 the controls no longer lock up while you examine a statue's dial. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Arboria Forest Ruins Journal #23 · Hernand. North-east of the City of Hernand, between Hook Rapids and the Hills of No Return, south-west of Arboria Castle, in the forest. Needs Stab (RB + Y, or Shift and right click). Solution: stab the notches on each fountain statue's base and turn it until its water falls into the fountain, with both spouts of every pillar toward the middle. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Fuming Lands Ruins Journal #24 · Demeniss. Also called the Smoking Lands Ruins; PowerPyx files them under Crimson Desert. On the northern border of Demeniss, north or north-west of the Hexe Sanctuary and east of Deadfire Mountain. Needs Blinding Flash (Concentrate Light) and Stab. Solution: burn the vines and bushes, then Stab the square frames of the fountains and turn them so their water runs toward the well; the well fills and the flower in the middle blooms when it is done. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Beardtree Hills Sunflower Ruins Journal #25 · Delesyia. Eastern Beardtree Hills, just below the Beardtree Gorge label, east of the Redfox Trading Post. Needs Nature's Snare with Focus. Solution: spin the turbine by the ruin wall to lower the water, then the second one submerged in the pond, twice or more, until the water is gone and the Cresset shows (the two spinning parts rise). Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Silver Wolf Mountain Ruins Journal #26 · Pailune. South-west of the City of Pailune, beside the river running north, north-west of the Sanctum of Solace. Needs a Heavy Attack or Turning Slash for the ice, and Nature's Snare. Solution: break the frozen pool, use Nature's Snare on the mechanism in front of the stairs, then again on the second one hidden under the water; fully drained, the Cresset activates by itself. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Haunted Hill Ruins Journal #27 · Hernand. A flooded ruin east of the Haunted Hill Abyss Nexus and east of the Sanctum of Atonement, at the top of the second river down to Three Saints' Falls. Needs Focus according to Game8, Nature's Snare according to PowerPyx (learned from the hologram by the Cresset if you lack it). Solution: channel it on the submerged mechanism, two spinning parts, until it rises and the water drains. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Halssius Conflux Ruins Journal #28 · Hernand. In the Halssius Conflux directly south-east of St. Halssius's House of Healing, met during Where All Comes Together in the Secret of the Lost Seal line, on the lower level of the cliffs. Needs Nature's Grasp for the fallen pillars and Stab for the dial. Solution: clear the pillar debris off the centre, then turn the dial to the symbols of whichever statues the light picks out: first the single disc (the oval mirror), then the group of three, lyre, scale and jar, then the whole run of disc, lyre, scale, jug and both horses; the door in the statue opens. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
The Grey Forest Ruins Journal #29 · Delesyia. The northern part of the Grey Forest, east of Mount Benus, near and east of the Venus Bandits' Hideout, south-east of the Sanctum of Veneration, south of the crossroads. Needs Stab, and Nature's Grasp if debris is on the platform. Solution: step on the round platform to light the first symbol, a vase; Stab the mechanism and drag it to that symbol, pull the sword out to light the next set, two mirrors and a horse, then the last, a horse, two scales, two harps and a vase, which reveals the Cresset at the centre. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Drakesfall Gorge Ruins Journal #30 · Hernand. The hallway structure in the open ground of Drakesfall Gorge, south-east of Drakesfall Castle. Solution: stand on the stone floor opposite the big statue and the Cresset to start a game of Red Light, Green Light: the statue keeps turning its head to look, eyes blue, and you freeze whenever it does, then reach the Cresset unseen. Playing it in first person makes the head easier to watch. The Regional Maps page describes this one too. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Mount Benus Ruins Journal #31 · Delesyia. Just south-east of the foothills of Mount Benus, north-west of the Delesyia Beacon. Solution: the same game as Drakesfall Gorge, stopping whenever the statue's eyes glow blue; some structures collapse on the way and hurt. Clear the vines and the bush enemy on the path first, beating the bush with one of the logs lying nearby. Reward: an Abyss Artifact.
Dragon's Stone Chamber Ruins Journal #32 · Hernand. The Mysterious Energy shows over Thinker's Meadow, but the entrance is in the ravine to the south in the Hernand Highlands: drop in beside the main road and push the bright door mural in the ravine wall, south-west of Howling Hill camp, inside the big hole. Solution: three dials. The clues are murals, one inside pointing to three more on the southern cliffs of Anvil Hill, the Anvil Hillside Terrace, and finding them is optional. The positions: left dial a quarter turn clockwise so the sun points up, centre dial half a turn so the outside line faces left, right dial a quarter turn anticlockwise so the outer swirl sits bottom left; the wall under the dragon opens. Reward: an Abyss Artifact and the Memories of Abundance.
Hidden Chamber of Wisdom Ruins Journal #33 · Pailune. A cave on the southern side of Silver Wolf Mountain, south-west of the Sanctum of Solace, with the entrance on the north wall near the road under the painting on the cliff. Needs Force Palm, holding resist, or Force Current from a distance. Solution: cross the spiked gap on the thin rope past the swinging traps, then push the buttons for fire, water, wind and lightning; the symbols are painted around the mountain: wind above the entrance, water a little south of it, lightning on a ruined building by a river south of the mountain, fire on a hillside east of the entrance near a path. Reward: an Abyss Artifact; VULKK and PowerPyx add a memory item, Memories of the Northern Wind, which Game8's page does not list.
Secret Chamber of the Golden Plains Ruins Journal #34 · Demeniss. North of the city of Demeniss, in the Golden Plains, north of Wheelsmith Wainright. Needs Blinding Flash. Solution: burn the roots to open the way down, duck under the fire trap on the stairs (the pool in the next room puts you out), take the door on the left and cross the spiked room by a precision jump onto the zipline (or a double jump to the grapple hook), then hit the wall buttons grape, horse, pomegranate, bird and fish in any order; the wall lowers. Reward: an Abyss Artifact; VULKK adds Memories of Prosperity, which neither Game8's page nor PowerPyx lists.
The Screaming Vault Ruins Journal #35 · Demeniss. A basement south of the southern main road through the Golden Plains, down a ladder in a ruined building into a trapped cellar with the dials in cells, west of Rustleleaf Farm, down the hole in the ruins above, and full of loot to sell. Solution: three dials; the clues, optional, are a mural of farmland marked with red crosses and three scarecrows, two in Furlington Farm and one in Stonewell Farm, that show the orientations. The positions: the left dial turns until the line from its centre points up (PowerPyx and Fdaytalk; Stealthy Gaming puts the bar just past 11 o'clock). The sources split on the other two: Fdaytalk sets the constellation on the centre dial and the circles above the triangles on the right one; PowerPyx has it the other way round, circles above the triangles on the centre dial and the constellation's double lines pointing up on the right one, and Stealthy Gaming also puts the circles on the triangles in the centre, with the right dial's bow facing 3 o'clock. The scarecrows show the true orientations. Reward: an Abyss Artifact; VULKK and PowerPyx add a memory item, Memories of Turbulence, which Game8's page does not list.
Memory-Laden Ruins Journal #36 · Delesyia. Northern Beardtree Hills, north of Beardtree Gorge, east of the Swamp Ruins, north-east of the Stoneback Crab Wetlands. Needs Blinding Flash (Concentrate Light), a bow and Force Palm. Solution: burn the vines at the entrance, shoot the ropes so the hanging platforms drop and jump across the spikes past the swinging traps, then Force Palm the four buttons on the left of the last room. The symbols are carved on trees around the Red River, in four spots: west and north of Shadow Cliff Watch Camp, the bank west of the Bursada Castle Ruins and the southern bank. Reward: an Abyss Artifact and the Forgotten Memory.
Azure Moon Labyrinth Ruins Journal #37 · Hernand. A shack in Phoniel Ranch hides a ladder down to the labyrinth, with the puzzle room at its end. Solution: the mural before the puzzle room maps five marked trees around Pororin Village, and finding them is optional. Lean on the five buttons that match the tree marks: F, P, F with three lines, P with three lines and P with one line, which by position are buttons 2 and 3 on the F side and 1, 3 and 4 on the P side. Reward: an Abyss Artifact and the Memory of Tide.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 21 September 2026 against the guides of VULKK, Game8 and PowerPyx, and on 8 October 2026 against PowerPyx and Game8 again and the official patch notes; on 11 October 2026 the Screaming Vault dials against PowerPyx, Fdaytalk and Stealthy Gaming, and the Trembling Woods wheels against PowerPyx and Patch Crazy; the guides hold the same 37 ruins in the same order; where they disagree on a region, a reward, a required skill or whether story progress matters, the card or section names each side. The earlier version of this page listed 37 ruins of which 35 had invented names ("The Sundial of Kings", "Kweiden Ice Mirrors", "Vault of the Greymanes") with invented puzzles; its ids were positional, so the ticks made on it are orphaned by this rewrite, whose ids come from the real names. Not from a playthrough: nobody here has played it, and what the sources do not describe is not on this page.