To solve the Crimson Desert Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle, also known as the Duskwood pillar puzzle, you must burn the vines, stab a stone, and rotate a mechanism in the correct order and direction. It’s a tricky challenge, but in the end, this Duskwood ancient ruins puzzle will reward you with an abyss artifact.
As there are two ancient ruins puzzles in the Duskwood, don’t confuse this one with the Duskwood Waterside Ruins puzzle (the checkerboard). Got the right one? Here’s how to untangle the vines and pillars and find the Crimson Desert Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle solution.
How to solve the Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle in Crimson Desert
The Crimson Desert Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle, which falls within the “ancient ruins” puzzle category, is located southwest of Hernand Castle and just north of The Witchwoods. It’s a short walk east from the Fort Warspike abyss nexus location. As always, the puzzle area will initially be marked as a “mysterious energy” spot.
The first step to solving this puzzle is to burn the vines. To do so, use Blinding Flash, hold it, and use Concentrate Light while aiming at the vines — it will take a few seconds to create a fire. On PC, you must press Ctrl plus the left mouse button, then hold the left mouse button and press Ctrl or the side button on your mouse. On a controller, press LB/L1 plus RB/R1, hold RB/R1, and press LB/L1 again.
When the five rectangular pillars and the rotation device in the center are free of vines, the pillar on the left will glow yellow. To solve this Crimson Desert Duskwood puzzle, you must adjust the height of the remaining four pillars to match the glowing one. When they’ve reached the correct height, they’ll start glowing too.
To make the pillars taller or shorter, turn the rotation device clockwise or counterclockwise, respectively. As the rotation device doesn’t have a handle, you must aim for one of the four slots on the side and use the Stab ability. Make sure you’ve unlocked this skill in the skill menu (it’s in the “stamina” category). To use Stab on a keyboard, press Shift and the left mouse button. To use it on a controller, press RB/R1 and Y/Triangle. Now you can use your weapon as a lever.
Beware that placement matters, as each pillar responds to different slots. To make it easier, we’ve numbered the slots on the rotation device in the picture below (facing the pillars). To solve the Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle, follow these steps:
- Use slot 2 to make the pillars taller. Push them 45 degrees clockwise (only half a quarter). The three pillars on the right should be slightly higher than before, but not yet glowing.
- Use the slot between position 3 and 4 (the former slot 3) and push it 45 degrees clockwise. Let go when the third and fourth pillar start to glow.
- Us slot 1 and push 45 degrees clockwise again, until the second and fifth pillar start to glow.
Don’t forget to grab the abyss artifact from the abyss cresset pillar before you leave this part of the Crimson Desert Duskwood.
Just starting out in Crimson Desert? We have guides to help you learn the basics and refresh your memory on how some of its systems work. The world of Pywel is huge, so you might have a hard time deciding where to go first, but you can make your journey a little easier with the help of our interactive map. Along the way, make sure to learn a few life skills like fishing, logging, cooking, and mining, all of which can help you make money.
We also have walkthroughs for puzzles in the Abyss like the Root’s End and Precipice of Truth, as well as ancient ruins like the Dragon’s Stone Chamber.
