Revision 3

Overview

The Duskwood Waterside Ruins are an Ancient Ruins site located in the Duskwood subregion of Hernand. The ruins contain a checker-style board puzzle that resembles the traditional board game Go, with black and white stones arranged on a raised stone grid. Solving the puzzle unlocks the area's Abyss Cresset and awards an Abyss Artifact. Unlike many other ancient ruins puzzles in the game, this one does not require combat skills or Axiom Force abilities; it is purely an observation and placement challenge.

This is widely considered one of the easiest ruins puzzles in Crimson Desert, though it can trip up players who do not notice the Mossback Crabs disguised as stones on the board. Once you know what to look for, the whole puzzle takes under a minute to complete.

The Duskwood Waterside Ruins are one of 37 Ancient Ruins sites scattered across the continent of Pywel. This particular site becomes accessible after reaching Chapter 4 of the main story. Players passing through the Duskwood area on story quests will often stumble upon the ruins naturally, though the site is easy to miss without deliberately exploring along the riverbank.

Location

The Duskwood Waterside Ruins sit beside a river in the western part of the Hernand region, a short distance northwest of the Kilnden Workshop. The quickest way to reach the ruins is to head west from Hernand, cross the river, and look for the Kilnden Workshop as a landmark. From the workshop, continue northwest toward the river and you will find the ruins on the bank.

The ruins are almost entirely in the open, but shrubs and trees can obscure them from view. If you are having trouble spotting the site, use a Lantern or the Blinding Flash ability to reveal the area more clearly. On the map, the ruins are marked as a Mysterious Energy location (the question-mark icon that appears in unexplored fog of war).

There are two convenient fast travel options. Players can warp to the Abyss Nexus near Kilnden Workshop and head northwest, or use the Abyss Nexus near the cave to the east and travel toward the river. The ruins occupy a flat area between the river and a small cave.

Puzzle Description

The centerpiece of the ruins is a large raised stone grid that resembles a board for the game Go. Black and white stone pieces sit at various intersections across the grid. The objective is to align five stones of the same color in a row, whether horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. This makes the puzzle similar to the Japanese board game Gomoku (five in a row) rather than traditional checkers or Go.

Players can freely pick up and reposition both black and white stones on the grid. However, the stones already placed on the grid are in their correct positions. Moving them will only make the puzzle harder to solve. The key to a quick solution is finding the hidden white stone that sits off the grid, near the Abyss Cresset pillar at one corner of the ruins.

Mossback Crabs

Before attempting the puzzle, check the grid for Mossback Crabs. These creatures disguise themselves as small mossy rocks with greenery growing on their shells, blending in with the stone pieces on the board. They can appear directly on the grid, occupying spaces where stones need to go. Their camouflage is convincing enough that many players mistake them for ordinary scenery on a first visit. Up to three Mossback Crabs can spawn in the area.

If a crab is sitting on the grid, it will interfere with your interact prompts when you try to place stones. Eliminate any Mossback Crabs first. Using a ranged weapon (such as a bow) is strongly recommended for clearing them, because melee attacks will often displace nearby stones from their correct positions, forcing you to rearrange the board before you can solve the puzzle. Shooting the crabs from a distance keeps the board intact. Once the crabs scatter, you can place your stone without obstruction.

If you do not have a ranged weapon equipped, there is another option. You can walk up to a Mossback Crab and kick it to flip it over, which causes it to scurry away from the board without a fight. This method avoids the risk of displacing stones entirely, though it requires getting close enough to trigger the interaction. Either approach works; the key is to clear the crabs before you start moving any stones.

Step-by-Step Solution

The puzzle is open-ended, with multiple valid arrangements that produce a line of five. The method below is the most efficient approach, requiring only a single stone to be placed.

1. Clear the grid of Mossback Crabs. Scan the board for any mossy rocks that look slightly different from the actual game pieces. If one is blocking an intersection, shoot it with a bow or ranged weapon from a distance. Pay special attention to the westernmost part of the grid, where a crab commonly sits in the exact spot you need.

2. Locate the hidden white stone. Walk to the Abyss Cresset pillar at the far corner of the grid. On the ground in the grass beside the cresset (not on the grid itself), you will find a single white stone. It blends in with the surrounding foliage, so look carefully.

3. Pick up the white stone. Approach the stone and use the interact/grab prompt to pick it up. Your character will carry it.

4. Identify the gap in the white stone line. Look at the grid and find the existing row of white stones. There is a horizontal sequence with a gap in it, roughly where the westernmost Mossback Crab was sitting. This empty intersection is your target.

5. Place the white stone to complete the line. Carry the hidden white stone to the empty spot in the sequence. Hold the Place button, then press Drop to set it down. This should complete a horizontal line of five white stones.

6. Collect your reward. A short scene plays showing the Abyss Cresset activating. Approach the cresset and interact with it to receive an Abyss Artifact.

When carrying a stone, the game provides on-screen placement guidance as you approach valid grid intersections. Hold the Place button to see a preview of where the stone will land before committing. This makes it easy to verify you are dropping the stone in the correct gap. If the preview does not appear, you may be standing too far from the intersection or a Mossback Crab is still occupying the spot.

Alternative Solutions

While the puzzle board allows you to pick up and reposition any stone freely, testing by the community has found that only two specific placements actually complete the puzzle. Other arrangements of five stones in a line do not trigger the completion event.

• Place the hidden white stone in the gap (recommended): Pick up the spare white stone near the Abyss Cresset pillar and carry it to the empty intersection in the existing row of white stones. This completes the horizontal line of five and is the intended solution.

• Move the leftmost white stone into the gap: Instead of fetching the hidden stone, pick up the white stone on the far left end of the row and reposition it into the gap. This also completes the line and triggers the puzzle. However, this approach is riskier since you are rearranging stones that were already in place.

Other configurations that appear to form a line of five (such as using black stones or creating diagonal lines) have been reported as not working by multiple players. If you have tried an unconventional arrangement and the Abyss Cresset does not activate, try one of the two methods above.

Controls

Moving stones on the grid uses the standard object interaction controls.

Rewards

Completing the puzzle unlocks the Abyss Cresset at the ruins, which grants the following reward.

The Abyss Cresset also becomes available as a fast travel point after activation, making it easier to return to the Duskwood Waterside area in the future.

Journal Tracking

Completion of this puzzle is tracked under the Ancient Ruins section of your journal's Challenges tab. If you are unsure whether you have already solved this particular ruins site, open your journal and check the Ancient Ruins challenge list. Completed puzzles are marked with a checkmark icon. This can be helpful when tracking your progress across the many ruins sites scattered throughout Hernand and the wider world.

Troubleshooting

If the puzzle does not register as complete after placing a stone, one or more of the existing stones on the board may have been knocked out of position. This commonly happens when using melee attacks against Mossback Crabs, or when accidentally bumping into stones while carrying another piece.

Unfortunately, there is no automatic reset button for the puzzle. You must manually return each displaced stone to its original position. If you cannot remember where a stone was, the safest approach is to leave the area entirely and return later. The board resets to its default layout when you travel far enough away or reload the area. Once the stones are back in their correct positions, fetch the hidden white stone from beside the cresset and place it in the gap to complete the puzzle.

If you are holding a stone and want to put it down without placing it on the grid, simply press the Drop button without holding Place first. The stone will fall at your feet, and you can pick it up again when ready.

Tips

• Do not move the existing stones. The stones already on the grid are positioned correctly. Rearranging them will only make the puzzle more difficult to solve.

• Check for crabs first. Mossback Crabs can block your placement attempts. Clear them before picking up the hidden stone so you do not have to set it down and fight mid-solve.

• Use ranged attacks on crabs. Melee attacks frequently knock nearby stones out of position. A bow or other ranged weapon lets you remove the crabs without disturbing the board.

• Look near the cresset pillar. The hidden white stone is in the grass right next to the Abyss Cresset, not on the grid. It is easy to overlook because it blends in with the surroundings.

• One stone is all you need. The fastest solution requires placing just a single stone. If you find yourself moving multiple pieces, step back and look for the hidden stone near the cresset instead.

• Use a Lantern if the ruins are hard to spot. The site is open but partially hidden by foliage. A Lantern or Blinding Flash will help reveal the area when approaching from a distance.

• If the puzzle does not register, double-check stone positions. Accidentally nudging a stone during combat with the crabs can break the arrangement. If the cresset does not activate after you place the white stone, verify that no other stones were displaced.

• The whole puzzle takes about 30 seconds. Once you know to clear the crabs, grab the hidden white stone, and drop it into the gap, the entire process from arrival to reward collection should take well under a minute. Do not overthink the board layout.

Related Puzzles

The Duskwood region contains multiple ancient ruins sites. The nearby Duskwood Hill Ruins feature a completely different puzzle involving pillar height alignment rather than stone placement. Other notable puzzle locations in the broader Hernand region include:

• Ancient Ruins Solutions (full list of all ruins puzzles)

• Ancient Ruins Challenges (challenge tracking for all ancient ruins)

• Abyss Cresset Locations (all Abyss Cresset locations and rewards)

• All Abyss Artifact Locations (complete guide to every artifact)

• Abyss Artifacts Farming Guide (how to farm artifacts efficiently)

• Strongbox Puzzle Locations and Solutions (combination lock puzzles found across the world)

• Sealed Ancient Gate Puzzle Solution (another nearby puzzle type)