The Blood of Dawnwalker: All 13 Ancient Circle Locations

Ancient Circles are stone ruins scattered across Vale Sangora, marked on the world map with a white ruins icon. Each one holds a mural and an altar, and each one can be woken up with a single witchcraft skill. Do that and you summon the circle’s guardians. Beat them and a chest appears with a skill manual and gear that scales to your current level.

Quick answer: There are 13 Ancient Circles. Visit one during the day, hold Focus (L2/LT) and aim at the glowing altar in front of the mural, cast Astral Communion, kill the summoned guardians, then open the chest that spawns beside the pillar. The circle only counts as done after you search that chest.

What you need before an Ancient Circle will activate

Four conditions have to line up, and if any one of them is missing the altar simply will not respond.

Daytime. Astral Communion is a Witchcraft ability, and these trials can only be started while it is day. Returning at night wastes the trip.
The Astral Communion skill. It sits in the Witchcraft tree and unlocks automatically through the prologue, so you should already have it once the open world opens up.
One free time segment. Every circle you start consumes 1 time segment, so factor them into whatever else you planned for that day.
Combat readiness. The altar summons specters and undead the moment you cast, including Vidmos, Psoglavs, and Guardians. Heal and repair before you interact, not after.

The fastest way to get all 13 onto your map at once is to climb the 11 Scouting Towers. Each survey point you tag from the top fills the map with question-mark icons, and the circles resolve into ruins markers from there. Towers are a night activity and they do not burn time segments, so a single evening of climbing sets up every daytime run afterwards.

All 13 Ancient Circle locations and rewards

Each circle carries its own journal title, which is the reliable way to check your progress. The map does not attach those titles to individual pins, so match the name in your journal rather than counting pins by position. The northern half of Vale Sangora holds the swamp, pass, and Maragir clusters; the southern half covers Tantari, the Silts, and the gorge.

Ancient Circle	Notable chest rewards
Northern Swamps	Mercurial Favor Manual, Potent Revitalizing Tonic recipe, Red Darksteel Bracers
North-West Pass	Cycle of Ruin Manual. The Durandal legendary sword sits in the same ravine
The Wallows	Cycle of Ruin Manual
East of Parlita	Burning Blood Manual, Burnished Battlesword, Potent Fortitude Paste recipe
Maragir Wealds	Burning Blood Manual, Tempered Cuisses
East of Maragir	Mercurial Favor Manual, Tempered Long Basilard
St. Tyna’s Grove	Soul Reaping Manual
Tantari Vista	Cycle of Ruin Manual, Unbreakable Veteran’s Sword
Silts Overgrowth	Perfect Riposte Manual, Red Darksteel Bracers
Hills of Tantari	Perfect Riposte Manual, Highland Noble Surcoat. One enemy also drops a Sharp Eye Manual
Southern Swamps	Stinging Blade Manual, Amulet of Crimson Steel (legendary)
Blind Gorge	Artery Strike Manual, Sanguine Bladedancer’s Tunic, Mortal’s Blood Infusion recipe
South-West Silts	Restless Blade Manual, Potent Vigor Infusion recipe

Note: the weapons and armor pieces scale to your level when the chest spawns, and they are usually a higher rarity than anything vendors stock. The skill manuals are the consistent part of the haul; the gear roll can shift depending on when you clear the circle.

World map open on the MAP tab with the East of Maragir circle marker highlighted — The map marker for the East of Maragir circle, in the northern half of Vale Sangora.

Vale Sangora world map showing the ruins marker east of Parlita — The East of Parlita circle sits in the same northern cluster as Maragir Wealds.

Map screen showing the St. Tyna's Grove ruins marker among nearby locations — St. Tyna’s Grove, which sits close to one of the Scouting Towers.

Map screen with the Silts Overgrowth circle marker visible in southern Vale Sangora — Silts Overgrowth, one of the southern circles.

World map showing the Southern Swamps ruins marker and surrounding location icons — The Southern Swamps circle, which hides the legendary Amulet of Crimson Steel.

How to complete an Ancient Circle trial

Travel to the ruins marker during daylight hours and walk inside the stone ring. The Mercurial Fervor witchcraft skill or the Vampirism Shapeshift skill both cut the travel time between distant circles considerably.

Inspect the mural, or fresco, on the standing pillar. This is optional and does not gate the trial, but it is quick and it confirms you are standing at an Ancient Circle rather than a nearby activity.

Hold the Focus button (L2/LT) and zoom in on the glowing altar directly in front of the mural. You have to be at the altar itself, not just somewhere inside the outer ruins, for the prompt to appear.

Cast Astral Communion. The objective changes to a survival instruction and the circle’s guardians spawn around you immediately, so do not stand still after the cast.

Kill every summoned enemy without leaving the circle. Retreating leaves the activity open, and you will have to come back and fight the encounter again.

Open the chest that appears beside the pillar. Only this last interaction closes the activity out and hands over the manual, gear, and recipes.

How to confirm a circle actually counted

Two signals have to agree. The local objective should run all the way through the altar, survival, and chest stages, and your journal should log the successful result: “I’ve awoken the magic slumbering in the ancient circle and gained its power.” You also pick up XP and a skill point for the completed trial.

Arriving at the ruins does not count. Neither does clearing the fight. If you walk away before searching the chest, the activity stays open even though the guardians are dead, and your total will come up short later. Tick each circle off your own checklist only after the chest interaction.

Why an Ancient Circle will not start or complete

There are only a handful of real causes, and each has a direct fix.

Problem	Fix
No prompt at the altar	It is night, or you are standing in the outer ruins instead of at the altar. Return in daylight and step up to the stone.
Astral Communion unavailable	Leave the marker unfinished and come back once your current character can use the Witchcraft ability. The marker is not wrong.
Guardians spawned but the objective stays active	The encounter is not finished. Clear the remaining enemies inside the circle rather than moving to another pin.
Fight is over but nothing completed	The chest has not been searched. Look next to the pillar and open it.
You are missing a circle you thought you cleared	Compare journal titles against the list of 13, then revisit any location you cannot personally confirm.

One more thing worth separating out: seeing all 13 markers on the map is discovery, not completion. If your journal ever records “I didn’t find the way to activate the ancient circles after all,” treat that as an unfinished set and follow whatever objectives are still live in your current journal.

An efficient order for clearing all 13

Skip the numbered route. Because each circle costs a time segment and only works during the day, the practical approach is a regional sweep. Pick a discovered fast travel point near a cluster of unfinished circles, hit the ones that fit your existing destination for that day, and finish each altar-to-chest sequence completely before moving on.

The northern group around the swamps, the pass, Parlita, and the two Maragir circles makes for one natural sweep. The Tantari, Silts, gorge, and southern swamp circles form the other. Grouping them this way avoids leaving half-finished activities behind, which is the main reason players lose track of which circles they have genuinely cleared.

The structure is close to what Haunted Sites ask of you, so if you have already worked through those, the rhythm here will feel familiar. The difference is scale: 13 circles across the whole of Vale Sangora, each one paying out a skill manual you would otherwise have to hunt down elsewhere.