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Overview

Hoenmark Ruins is a frozen ancient site in Crimson Desert, tucked into the far northwest corner of the Hernand region within the perpetually snow-locked Everfrost subregion. Local legend describes the ruins as the remains of a once-prosperous kingdom that was consumed by an unnatural frost and fell silent. Travelers who push too close to the broken walls are said to be attacked by wraiths, and the site retains a reputation as one of the most dangerous optional locations in the game.

Mechanically, the ruins serve two purposes. First, they are the arena for Beloth, the Darksworn, an optional endgame boss widely cited as the single hardest fight in Crimson Desert. Second, they hold one of the four hidden chest pieces of the Armor of the Shadows set, with the fifth and final piece (the Plate Helm of the Shadows) only obtainable by defeating Beloth himself. The blizzard-bound environment surrounding the ruins inflicts continuous cold damage on any visitor who lacks ice-resistant gear or warming food, so the site doubles as a survival challenge before the fight even begins.

Region and Location

Hoenmark Ruins sits in the Duchy of Hernand, but its placement on the map is at the very edge of that polity's reach. The ruins are tucked into the snow-blanketed mountains of Everfrost on the far northwest side of Hernand, northwest of the Spire of Stars and well to the north of Frostclaw Cave. The closest neighboring landmark used by most guides as a reference point is Everfrost Cave, which sits to the southwest, with Everfrost Watchtower reachable by continuing further north from the ruins themselves.

The ruins themselves are partially collapsed, with a low rectangular keep, exposed courtyards and a rooftop tier on the left side of the main structure. The environment is in active blizzard at all times, with deep snow underfoot and cold-cursed wraiths patrolling between the broken walls. A frozen pool wraps around part of the boss arena and can freeze any visitor who steps into it without ice resistance, which makes positioning during the Beloth encounter as much a hazard as the boss's attacks.

How to Reach

There is no direct path that funnels the player into Hoenmark Ruins through the main story. Most players reach the site for the first time during Chapter 6 or Chapter 7, either while collecting pieces of the Armor of the Shadows or after the Wraith in the Frost faction quest activates the Beloth encounter. The standard approach is to travel west across northern Hernand, pass Frostclaw Cave, and continue north into the deep snow until the ruined walls appear on the horizon.

Once the area has been visited at least once, an Abyss Nexus fast travel point unlocks nearby, which becomes the practical entry method for any return trip. Players who want to skip the long approach altogether can also fast travel to the Spire of Stars or Frostclaw Cave and then ride or glide the rest of the way. Whichever route is used, cold-resistant equipment or warming food should be equipped before crossing into the blizzard zone, as the ambient cold will steadily drain stamina and health from the moment the player enters the snowfield surrounding the ruins.

Quick Reference

Beloth the Darksworn

The defining encounter at Hoenmark Ruins is Beloth, the Darksworn, an optional boss often described by community guides as the hardest fight in Crimson Desert. Beloth is a frost-warped warrior clad in the same set of plate armor the player can collect throughout Everfrost, and his appearance is essentially the lore explanation for the Armor of the Shadows set scattered across the surrounding caves.

Beloth's threat is twofold. He has a very large health pool and hits hard enough that several of his attacks can one-shot an unprepared player, and the arena itself adds steady cold damage on top of every blow. Players who arrive without cold-resistant equipment, or without consumables to refresh that resistance, will burn through healing items at a much higher rate than in any other boss fight in the game. For this reason, most guides recommend pre-crafting the Kuku Cold-Resistant Armor (which uses the Frostcursed Plate Armor and an Enhanced Kuku Pot as base materials) before approaching the ruins.

Beloth's questline becomes available after the player completes Chapter 6 and liberates Pailune, at which point Wraith in the Frost formally activates. The boss is also accessible early: walking up to the ruins before the quest unlocks will still trigger the encounter, but defeating him this way is significantly harder because most of the supporting cold-resistant gear is gated behind progress through the main story.

Loot and Rewards

Hoenmark Ruins is one of the most reward-dense locations in the game for its size. The most prominent rewards are tied to the Armor of the Shadows set, but the site also yields a unique weapon and quest progression items.

Players who want only the chest piece can avoid the boss entirely by ignoring the courtyard, scaling the rooftop on the left side, and following the Force Palm trick into the hidden room below. The chest piece scales with the player's progression, but pulling it does not aggro Beloth, which makes Hoenmark Ruins viable as a quick loot run even before the player is ready to fight the boss.

Enemies

The ruins are patrolled by frost-cursed wraiths and frozen guardians that attack on sight. They are not individually dangerous compared to Beloth, the Darksworn himself, but they will swarm players who linger in the open courtyards and they apply additional cold damage on hit, stacking with the ambient blizzard.

Connected Quests

Hoenmark Ruins is the staging ground for one named faction quest and is repeatedly referenced as a side stop in the broader Armor of the Shadows collection effort.

Tactics and Preparation

Because the ambient cold at the ruins is itself a damage source, preparation matters more here than at almost any other location in the game. The community-recommended loadout is a mix of ice-resistant armor and craftable consumables.

Equip the Frostcursed Plate Armor and ideally the Frostcursed Plate Cloak before approaching, as both reduce the cold damage tick that drains health while the player is on the snowfield. For the Beloth fight specifically, players who have unlocked the Kuku Pot questline can craft the Kuku Cold-Resistant Armor, which combines the Frostcursed Plate Armor with the Enhanced Kuku Pot, a Power Core (Crown of Shadows) and a Core of Exaltation from the Sanctum of Exaltation. This is the single biggest survivability upgrade for the encounter.

Bring stamina-restoring food, fire-aspected oils for weapons, and at least one stack of high-tier healing items. Avoid stepping into the frozen pool that wraps around the boss arena, since the ice patch can apply a freeze status that locks the player in place long enough for Beloth to land a fatal combo. Players who lack the Kuku armor can still survive the fight by heavy use of Blinding Flash to interrupt Beloth's wind-ups, plus aggressive dodging timed to the gaps in his combo strings.

Lore

In-world legend frames Hoenmark Ruins as the resting place of a kingdom that was consumed by an unnatural frost. The exact identity of that kingdom is not detailed in any single in-game text, but its ruin is consistent with the broader theme of the Everfrost subregion, where curse-bound wraiths haunt collapsed strongholds across the snowline. The wraiths described in local rumors map directly onto the Frost Wraiths and Frozen Guardians the player fights inside the ruins, and the boss Beloth, the Darksworn wears the same plate set the player is hunting, which positions him as either the kingdom's fallen champion or a more recent claimant who took the armor for himself.

The Wraith in the Frost faction quest under House Lanford treats the ruins as unfinished business for the noble house, and resolving the Beloth encounter is presented in dialogue as laying the local curse to rest. This connects the location thematically to the larger Hernand storyline of failed lords, ruined holdings, and the slow restoration of order under the Greymanes and their allied factions.

Nearby Locations

Notes and Trivia

• Some third-party databases (notably the standalone Crimson Desert Wiki and crimsondesert.gaming.tools) catalog this location under the variant spelling Hohenmark Ruins. Both refer to the same site, but every English-language guide and the in-game compass marker use Hoenmark Ruins, which is the canonical title used here.

• The Wraith in the Frost quest is also referenced as White Blizzard in some community guides; both names point to the same Beloth encounter at Hoenmark Ruins.

• Hoenmark Ruins is one of only a handful of optional sites in Crimson Desert where a single boss kill yields both a unique armor piece and a unique weapon, which is why Beloth, the Darksworn is frequently included in 'must-do optional content' lists despite his difficulty.

• The Force Palm rooftop trick that opens the hidden chest room is one of several environmental puzzles in Hernand that reuse the same ability prompt, which makes Hoenmark Ruins a useful early teaching ground for players learning the Plate Cloak of the Shadows route.

• Although Beloth is technically optional, his fight is so frequently cited in 'hardest boss' lists from Game8, PowerPyx, PC Gamer and GameRant that many players treat clearing Hoenmark Ruins as a soft endgame benchmark.

See Also

Beloth, the Darksworn

Wraith in the Frost

Armor of the Shadows

Plate Helm of the Shadows

Plate Cloak of the Shadows

Frostcursed Plate Armor

Everfrost

Everfrost Cave

Frostclaw Cave

Everfrost Watchtower

Spire of Stars

Hernand

Duchy of Hernand

House Lanford

Locations