The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to Get Durandal Without Fighting

Durandal is the strongest sword you can realistically carry in the opening hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it sits at the bottom of a chasm full of enemies that can one-shot an under-leveled Coen. You do not have to beat them. The wreckage pile holding the sword can be looted from a ledge above the fight, which turns a brutal encounter into a short climb.

Quick answer: Descend into the Cursed Chasm on the right-hand side, Shadowstep onto the broken wooden platform above the wreckage, crouch, and hit Loot All through the floor. The wolves and supernatural enemies below cannot reach you, and Clawride gets you back up the wall.

Where Durandal is and what guards it

The sword is the reward buried in the largest wreckage pile at the bottom of the chasm reached through The Cursed Chasm side quest, in the northwestern corner of the Briar Sloughs fiefdom. Fast travel to the Coward’s Path Shrine, head west toward the mountains, and follow the path to the broken bridge. Interacting with the orders left near the edge of the gorge starts the quest and costs two Time Segments, so factor that into your day-night planning before you commit.

The threat comes in two waves. A pack of wolves circles the wreckage first, and supernatural enemies — including a Vidmos and an Echo — spawn once the fight gets going. If you arrive early, those enemies carry a red skull next to their health bar, which means a single connected attack kills Coen. Around level 11 the same enemies drop to a yellow marker and the fight becomes survivable, but the ledge route works regardless of your level.

Coen moves down the canyon toward two creatures with the compass marker pointing northwest. — Two of the creatures patrolling the chasm floor near the wreckage. Image: Bandai Namco

What you need before trying the no-fight route

Three abilities carry the entire trick. Shadowstep is what places you on the platform above the enemies, Clawride handles the vertical rock faces on the way down and back out, and Focus Mode is what makes the loot markers and the Shadowstep target visible in the first place. You also want a full stamina bar before the climb out, since wall-walking drains it.

Shadowstep — teleports Coen to a highlighted point, including surfaces enemies cannot path to.
Clawride — Vrakhir form wall-walking, used to descend the cliff and to escape afterward.
Focus Mode — highlights the broken wooden pile you aim at and the loot marker on the wreckage.

How to loot Durandal without fighting

Get down into the chasm. Use Vrakhir form and Clawride to walk straight down the rocks from the broken bridge, or take the longer conventional route by returning to the Coward’s Path Shrine and heading due west instead of northwest.

Start creeping once the objective marker is close. Stay crouched and keep to the right-hand side of the ravine floor, away from the open ground where the wolves patrol. Getting spotted here is what forces the fight you are trying to skip.

Crouched approach along the path with the objective marker reading 19 meters on the compass. — Crouch-walking in with the objective marker roughly 19 meters out. Image: Bandai Namco

Walk up the stone ridge on the right. This is the raised shelf that runs alongside the wreckage rather than through it, and it puts you at roughly the same height as the broken timber overhead.

Moving along the ridge with the objective marker down to 18 meters on the HUD compass. — The ridge on the right side keeps you off the open chasm floor. Image: Bandai Namco

Turn on Focus Mode and aim at the broken wooden pile on the structure above the wreckage. You need the highlight to register before Shadowstep will accept it as a destination, so hold the aim until the target lights up.

Focus Mode picks out the debris ahead in gold while Coen stays crouched. — Focus Mode marks the debris and the timber you Shadowstep to. Image: Bandai Namco

Shadowstep onto the wooden platform. You land directly above the enemies, and they will aggro and mill around underneath without a path up to you. Their attacks do not reach the platform.

Crouch and take the loot. Crouching lowers Coen enough for the interaction prompt on the wreckage below to register through the floor. Confirm Loot All and the reward window closes with Durandal in your inventory.

Climb out. Face the adjacent stone wall, engage Clawride, and run straight up it to leave the area with the enemies still stuck below. Watch the stamina bar on the way, because dropping back into the pack undoes the whole thing.

The Clawride prompt appears on screen while an Echo's health bar is still showing below. — The Clawride prompt on the wall out, with the Echo still active below. Image: Bandai Namco

Everything in the wreckage pile

The single interaction hands over four things. Denarius amounts can vary slightly, but the sword, the recipe, and the cuffs are the fixed contents of that pile.

Item	Type
Durandal	Legendary sword
Recipe for Minor Balm of Fortitude	Crafting recipe
Adventurer’s Ruddy Cuffs	Armor
Denarius (28)	Currency

Durandal stats and effects

Durandal is a Legendary longsword whose real value early on is the stamina discount. Cheaper attacks and cheaper dodges mean far more actions per bar, which matters against enemies that punish a whiffed swing.

Property	Value
Rarity	Legendary
Max damage	66
Weight	1.5
Cost	1770
Damage against Corrupted	+8%
Attack stamina cost	-15%
Dodge stamina cost	-15%
Sword skill cooldown	-5%

If the loot prompt does not appear

Two failure states cover almost every attempt. If the screen shows Out of range, you are standing too far along the platform from the pile below — shuffle along it while crouched until the prompt flips to Loot. If no prompt shows at all, you are probably standing upright; crouching is what brings the interaction into reach through the boards.

Note: the enemies staying aggressive underneath you is normal and not a sign the trick failed. You know it worked when the loot window opens and Durandal appears in the item list alongside the recipe and cuffs.

What skipping the fight leaves behind

The sword is only one part of what the chasm holds. Down on the floor there are more wreckage piles and skeletons that yield a Ring, the Final Report explaining what happened to Catalin’s soldiers, a stash of silver you can sell to the Silver Trader in Svartrau City, and the Treasure Map: Silver Cache that triggers the Finders Keepers quest. Those are all ground-level interactions, so grabbing them still means dealing with the wolves and the supernatural enemies.

The practical move is to take Durandal from the ledge now, use the stamina savings and the bonus against Corrupted enemies to level up elsewhere, then come back around level 11 and clear the chasm properly for the silver and the treasure map.