Crimson Desert: How to Reach the Top of the Spire of the Stars

The Spire of the Stars is a tower on the frozen peak above the Scholastone Institute, and the moment you step inside, the lift that carries you to the top refuses to work. Powering it means solving a switch puzzle that the game never really teaches you, using four wall symbols and three stones hidden behind fake panels.

Quick answer: Force Palm the three hidden panels in the side rooms, take the Engraved Stones, and slot them into the empty sockets under the hourglass, square, and triangle switches. Then hang from the symbols until they read, from top to bottom, hourglass, circle, triangle, square. The floor lights up blue and the lift runs.

Spire of the Stars location and entry requirements

The spire sits on the mountains south of Hernand, directly above the Scholastone Institute. You reach it during Chapter 4, The Price of Knowledge, in the Forbidden Knowledge questline, right after the Gate to the Otherworld mission wraps up. You do not need to hunt for it early, since the story routes you there anyway.

From the institute, head north-east past the banquet hall and take the stone staircase outside. The path runs through a short cave, then keeps climbing until you hit the large stone door you unlock with your key. Force Palm is mandatory for the puzzle inside, so make sure you have it before the climb.

Note: The mountain is cold, which slows stamina regeneration and raises the stamina cost of your actions. If you have no cold resistance food or gear, stand next to the fires dotted along the path to top yourself back up.

Objective tracker reading Go to the top of the Spire of the Stars as the character moves through the tower interior — The quest objective updates to “Go to the top of the Spire of the Stars” once you are inside. Image: Pearl Abyss

Get the three Engraved Stones from the side rooms

Inside the spire you will find the dead lift, a wall of four large symbol switches facing it, and two small side rooms, one to the left and one to the right. Each switch has a square socket beneath it, and the circle switch already has a stone fitted. That is why you only need three.

Enter the left side room and look for the yellow wall panel marked with a diamond. It shows up as a purple icon on the minimap.

Aim at the panel and hit it with Force Palm (R3 or the right stick click). The false wall rotates and exposes a niche holding an Engraved Stone. Pick it up.

Player using Force Palm on a glowing rune device set into the side room wall — Force Palm on the highlighted wall device flips it open and reveals an Engraved Stone. Image: Pearl Abyss

Cross to the right-hand room and repeat this on both panels there. That gives you three stones in total, one from the left and two from the right.

Character activating a second glowing wall mechanism inside the Spire of the Stars — The second concealed mechanism in the right-hand room, mid-activation. Image: Pearl Abyss

Before you leave either room, study the mural on the wall. Each one shows two of the four symbols positioned along a vertical bar, and together they spell out the entire answer to the puzzle.

Return to the main chamber and push each Engraved Stone into the empty socket below its matching symbol. Every switch you feed a stone lights up and slides straight to the top of its rail.

The four-symbol puzzle wall with a central rune panel lit up after a stone is inserted — Slotting a stone powers the matching symbol panel and sends it to the top rail. Image: Pearl Abyss

Spire of the Stars symbol solution

There are four rails and four slots on each, numbered here from the top down. Reading the wall from left to right, the symbols are the sideways hourglass, the circle, the square, and the triangle. Only two of them actually need moving once the stones are in.

Symbol	Correct slot	Action needed
Hourglass (leftmost)	1, top	Rises there on its own after the stone goes in
Circle	2, second from top	None, it already starts in place
Triangle (rightmost)	3, second from bottom	Hang until it drops two slots, then let go
Square	4, bottom	Hang until it reaches the very bottom

How to move a symbol down its rail

Climb the wall and grab the bar on the symbol panel you want to lower. Your character’s weight is what drives it, so nothing happens until you are hanging.

Stay attached while the panel clunks down one slot at a time, and release the instant it lines up with the position shown on the mural. Overshooting is the most common mistake here.

Character climbing between glowing symbol panels on the spire's puzzle wall — Climbing to the symbol panels, which slide down while you hang from them. Image: Pearl Abyss

If a symbol ends up in the wrong slot, press the lower button beneath it to send it back and try again. Do the square first, then the triangle, and the wall is done.

How to confirm the lift is powered

Two things change the moment all four symbols sit correctly. The yellow glow on the panels switches off, and the patterns on the chamber floor turn blue. That blue floor is your confirmation that the lift has power.

Step onto the platform and it rises automatically. Get off quickly when you arrive, because the lift heads straight back down if you linger on it. From the upper landing, keep running up the stairs to trigger a cutscene, then interact with the abyssal gate to finish the objective.

If the lift still does not move

You arrived before the story sent you. The lift is quest-gated and only activates once the Spire of the Stars mission is active, so climbing the mountain early does nothing.
A stone is missing. Three panels hide Engraved Stones, one on the left of the lift and two on the right. A switch with an empty socket cannot be moved at all.
One symbol is off by a slot. The panels keep glowing yellow until every one of the four is correct. Use the lower buttons to reset any that overshot.
You fell out of the puzzle area. Dying from a high drop reloads you at the checkpoint with your progress intact.

Passing through the gate drops you into the Abyss and rolls straight into Obsession and Madness, a short platforming section across floating pillars. The cold still applies up there, so a Force Palm upgrade or Double Jump makes the gliding far less punishing on your stamina bar.