The Duskwood Hill Ruins pillar puzzle in Crimson Desert is a finicky one, tasking you with not only freeing the puzzle itself from brambles and vines, but then solving it by stabbing your sword into a pillar multiple times. The solution to this particular puzzle is not at all straightforward and it can be very easy to lose track of what you have done.
Fortunately, we’re here to help with that. Here’s the Duskwood Hill Ruins pillar puzzle solution in Crimson Desert.
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Crimson Desert Duskwood Hill Ruins pillar puzzle solution
Upon arriving at the Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle, there’ll be a small pillar shrouded in vines in the middle of the area, as well as five pillars behind it also covered in vines.
You need to set these on fire to dispel the vines, which you can do by either using Focus Light during your Blinding Light skill on a sunny day, or by setting the tip of one of your arrows on fire using the nearby fire sources. Then, fire your arrow at the brambles.
You’ll have likely also seen a spirit upon arriving giving you a clue as to what to do next; they can be seen stabbing the first, stockier pillar using their weapon, and this is exactly what we need to do. However, we need to do things in a very specific order for the puzzle to be solved.
It’s also worth saving at this point, as there is a chance this puzzle will not reset upon running away and trying to restart it, so that backup save will come in handy if you need it.
Now, the goal of this puzzle is to elevate the four rightmost pillars to be the same height as the first, illuminated pillar on the left-hand side. To do this, we need to stab the four different slots in the small, central pillar in a specific order, but each hole controls a different set of pillars. That’s what makes this confusing!
Before we continue, remember to press ‘R1 + Triangle’ on PlayStation and ‘R1 + Y’ on Xbox to perform a stab. A basic hit with your sword won’t do when it comes to controlling the small pillar!
If you want to try solving the puzzle yourself but require a hint to help you along, we’ve noted below what each hole of the small, central pillar controls. We’ve also labelled each of the central pillar’s holes from one to four, starting with the hole facing away from the pillars being one, then going anticlockwise.
We’ve also labelled each of the tall pillars one to five, going from left to right (which means the illuminated pillar is pillar one).
- Hole 1: This is the hole that faces away from the pillars and out into the surrounding area. It controls pillars two and four.
- Hole 2: Assuming your body is facing Hole 1, this is the hole on the right-hand side of the central pillar. It controls pillars two and five.
- Hole 3: Assuming your body is facing Hole 1 still, this is the hole opposite you that faces the pillars ahead. It controls pillars two, three, and four.
- Hole 4: Assuming your body is facing Hole 1 still, this is the hole on the left-hand side of the central pillar. It controls pillars three, four, and five.
Now, to actually solve this puzzle without much of a hitch, here’s the order you want to stab each of the central pillar’s holes in and what pillars they’ll move:
- Stab Hole 2, and turn it to raise pillars two and five by half a block.
- Stab Hole 3, and turn it to raise pillars two, three, and four by half a block. Pillar two should now light up.
- Stab Hole 1, and turn it to raise pillars three, four, and five by half a block. Pillars three, four, and five should now light up.
It’s very important that you elevate the pillars by just half a block, rotating the central podium by approximately 45 degrees to do so. Raising the pillars further means you will have to eventually reset the puzzle and try again, or stab the holes in reverse order to undo your work.
Once the puzzle has been solved, and you can now claim your reward from the glowing podium: an Abyss Cresset.
Crimson Desert Duskwood Hill Ruins pillar puzzle location
The Duskwood Hill Ruins pillar puzzle is found north of The Witchwoods and southwest of Hernand City.
To get there from Hernand, you want to take the path southwest out of the city and keep following it until you are required to cross a large river with waterfalls along it. Cross that river and you then have two options: climb up the river, heading west as best you can, or alternatively keep heading south along the path until the path eventually veers right. Follow the path and keep heading right. Once you arrive in Alfonso Estate, you’re nearby!
More specifically, this puzzle is found just a few meters southeast of the Warspike Spearmaker in The Witchwoods (shown on the above map from MapGenie).
Good luck completing the Duskwood Hill Ruins puzzle! For more on Crimson Desert, take a look at how to open the Arboria Castle Strongbox, how to open the Stellen Manor Strongbox, and all fast-travel locations in Pywel.
