How many Sanctum Shrines have you freed and cleaned in Crimson Desert? Did you notice a skill test there that rewards important resources for the Kuku Pot after the clean-up? No? You are not alone in this.
What is this feature for? One of the most important faction quest lines in Crimson Desert comes from the witches, for whom you must free and cleanse Sanctum Ruins occupied by enemies all over the continent of Pywel. The process is always the same:
- You defeat the local enemies until the progress bar drops from 100 to 0 percent. Occasionally, you also need to defeat a boss.
- Then, you need to power up the shrine again to cleanse it. For this, you have to find the one or two missing parts nearby and bring them to the shrine with your grappling hook. The broken pillars can be easily repaired with a powerful blow. The large stone blocks belong in the empty slots next to the shrine – here too, a targeted power fist helps with the final push.
After that, one of the witches appears, congratulates you on the next cleansing, and you complete the associated quest. As a reward, you unlock one of the blueprints for the Kuku Bird. Additionally, you can find a hidden treasure chest at each of the shrines.
For many players, the task is complete at this point, and they leave the respective sanctum to turn to the next adventure. No wonder, there is no hint that an additional skill test is hidden at each of the shrines.
The Right Button at the Right Time
What kind of test is this? On a side wall of each shrine, you will find a special stone block, in the center of which a light blue stone stands out, surrounded by circular white stones. A small blue stone above the center indicates a special position on the outer circle.
Once you have cleansed a shrine, you can rotate this circle using the light reflections of your weapon and make the white stones glow. Proceed as follows:
- Stand a little distance from the shrine, so that you have a good view of all the white stones in the circle when your weapon is raised.
- Lift your weapon with the front two shoulder buttons (RB and LB). Then release the left button and aim while still holding the right shoulder button exactly at the center of the light blue stone.
- Hold the right button down and now activate the left front shoulder button again to activate “Gather Light” and set the circle in motion.
- Important: “Gather Light” can only be active as long as the small blue stone is above one of the white stones. Once the blue stone reaches one of the gaps, you have to release the front left shoulder button. Don’t worry, the circle keeps spinning. At least if your timing is right. Once the blue stone touches one of the whites again, press the front left shoulder button again.
If you manage to complete the rotation with the right timing once fully, you activate additional energy, causing the device to spin wildly in circles and the respective shrine to spit out its component for your Kuku recipes.
What do I need this for? Directly west of Hernand City, you’ll encounter the Kilnden Workshop and the dwarf Grimnir. After completing a quest, he will not only provide you with the base version of the Kuku Iron Pot, but also grant you access to his workshop, where you can craft more pots and various other Kuku items.
There you will find, for example, a helmet that shoots laser beams, useful backpacks, Oongka’s jetpack, armors with strong resistances, boots, rideable mechs, and all sorts of spear variants. To craft these special Kuku items, you will often need the special components from the hidden skill tests at the witch shrines.
You might be experiencing what I did some time ago: I had already cleansed various witch shrines when I found out through a video about the optional light play. So there was quite a bit of backtracking to do to the ruins I had already visited. On one hand, that’s pretty annoying. On the other hand, it beautifully shows how absurdly much is hidden in the world of Crimson Desert. What do you think?
Even though Crimson Desert is not a service game, the developers at Pearl Abyss have invested a lot of time since the release to implement feedback from the community. The result: The player experience of the open-world adventure has noticeably changed in the past weeks: 8 improvements that make Crimson Desert a completely different game 6 weeks after launch
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!