TL;DR
- The Spire of Clockwork is locked until you finish Chapter 8 and complete the main quest A Fleeting Dream
- You get the Spire of Clockwork Key automatically after defeating Lucian Bastier
- The spire is located east of Demeniss City at Breezeblown Knoll
- Climb by activating two yellow levers, then navigate the weight tubes to reach the top
- Exit through the spinning clock face, take the elevator up, and enter the Abyss Gate
- Completing this unlocks Riddle Square in the Abyss and the Wind element
If you’ve spotted the Spire of Clockwork while exploring Demeniss and tried to walk in, you already know the front door won’t budge. This is one of the spires that stays completely locked until the story catches up. There’s no trick to get in early — you just have to come back later. Here’s everything you need to know about how to unlock it, enter it, and reach the top.
Spire of Clockwork Location
The Spire of Clockwork sits in the east of Demeniss, past the Golden Plains and the Demeniss Supply Camp, at a place called Breezeblown Knoll. It’s hard to miss — the tower is a huge mechanical clockwork structure that sticks out on the landscape. You can reach it on foot or on horseback easily enough once you’re in the region. Check our Crimson Desert horse guide if you need help with mounts.
How to Get the Spire of Clockwork Key
You can’t enter the Spire without the key, and you can’t get the key without story progress. Specifically, you need to finish Chapter 8: Blood Coronation, including its final main quest called A Fleeting Dream.
This chapter ends with a boss fight against Lucian Bastier, fought from Damiane’s perspective inside his tower. Once you defeat him, the Spire of Clockwork Key is automatically added to your inventory as a quest reward. You don’t need to pick it up or find it separately. Check out our full Lucian Bastier boss guide if you’re struggling with that fight.
Since inventory in Crimson Desert is shared across characters, the key is immediately usable even after you switch back to Kliff. Head to Breezeblown Knoll and use the key on the front door to get inside.
How to Climb the Spire of Clockwork
The interior is a vertical puzzle. You’re climbing through a mechanical tower using rotating gears, levers, and moving platforms. It’s not too hard once you know the steps, but a couple of sections trip people up.
Step 1 — Pull the First Yellow Lever
As soon as you walk in, you’ll see a yellow horizontal lever hanging directly in front of you. You can’t just press a button to interact with it. You need to jump and grab it, then use your weight to pull it down.
This lever can be annoying to grab on the first try. The hitbox is finicky. The best approach is to jump from the center of the lever rather than the edge, or try a running jump. Some players find that gliding down toward it also works well. Don’t get frustrated if it takes two or three attempts — that’s normal.
Once pulled, the first set of gear mechanisms in the tower activates. This opens up your initial climbing route through the lower half of the spire.
Step 2 — Climb to the Second Floor and Pull the Second Lever
With the first lever down, look for the large cogs now spinning in the center of the room. Use them as platforms to climb upward. If you have the Aerial Maneuver ability for your Axiom Force, this section is much easier — use it to grapple onto the metal platforms and pull yourself up. If you don’t have it yet, the spinning gears themselves act as stepping stones.
At the halfway point, you’ll find a second yellow lever sitting on top of a cog. Pull it down the same way you pulled the first one. Same technique, same approach. Once this second lever is activated, the upper half of the tower powers up and the path to the top opens.
Quick tip: there’s a small chest to the upper left of the second platform before you keep climbing. It’s easy to fly past when you’re focused on going up. It contains Silver Ore x2 — not a huge reward, but worth grabbing if you’re collecting resources. Our guide on how to get Silver Ore in Crimson Desert explains other farming spots too.
Step 3 — Navigate the Weight Tubes
After the second lever, you’ll reach a section with two large weight tubes hanging side by side. These move in opposite directions — when you climb onto one, it starts going down, and the other one rises.
The goal is to use this movement to gain height. Climb one tube and let it descend a bit, then time your jump across to the other tube as it reaches a good height. Let it carry you upward. It’s a timing puzzle more than anything else. Don’t rush the jump — wait for the right moment and commit.
There are also some stairs in this section that can cause geometry glitches if you rush through them carelessly. Take the stairs slowly and don’t clip the edges. Getting stuck in the geometry means restarting from an earlier checkpoint, which wastes time.
Use Axiom Force throughout to grapple onto pipes and platforms where you need a little extra reach. Make sure your Axiom is leveled up — the higher it is, the more responsive and powerful your interactions with the environment feel. Our guide on how to use Axiom Force in Crimson Desert covers the full system if you need a refresher.
Step 4 — Exit Through the Spinning Clock Face
Once you’ve reached the top of the interior, you’ll be facing the large rotating clock face from the inside. Watch its rotation and wait for the gap to line up with where you’re standing. Walk through the gap when it opens to step out onto the exterior balcony.
Don’t rush this — just wait for the right moment. Running into the spinning dial will knock you back.
Step 5 — Take the Elevator to the Roof
Once you’re on the balcony, turn right and follow the catwalk along the outside of the building. You’ll find a button mounted on the wall on the right side. Press it to call up an elevator.
Ride the elevator all the way to the very top. Stay on it until it stops — this takes you to the roof level of the Spire of Clockwork.
Step 6 — Enter the Abyss Gate
At the top, head into the room in the center of the roof. An Abyss Gate will appear. Walk into it to complete the Spire of Clockwork challenge and teleport into the Abyss above.
Stepping through the gate also locks in a permanent fast travel point at this location, which is useful for returning to this area later. Don’t skip this — that fast travel point is worth having for Abyss farming runs.
What Do You Unlock After Completing the Spire of Clockwork?
Finishing the Spire of Clockwork takes you to Riddle Square, the Abyss connected to this spire. It’s part of The Wanderer’s Way cluster of Abyss puzzles.
Riddle Square is a movement-based Abyss rather than an environmental one. You activate a central contraption using Axiom Force, which powers a series of fans. The goal is to glide through a set of rings within a time limit. Passing through each ring restores your stamina, so running dry isn’t a concern if you’re hitting your marks. Completing Riddle Square and its circular Force Palm mechanism gives you an Abyss Artifact and unlocks the Wind element.
The Wind element lets you summon a smoke bomb to break enemy line of sight and escape. To equip it, hold right on the D-pad to open the equipment menu and select Wind from the radial menu. Completing Riddle Square also unlocks access to Origin of Thoughts, the next Abyss in the cluster. Check our Origin of Thought puzzle guide for that walkthrough.
Tips Before You Start
A few things that will make the climb smoother:
Make sure you’ve eaten before going in. Climbing and using Axiom Force depletes stamina, and you don’t want to be low halfway up. Our guide on how to cook the best healing food in Crimson Desert has you covered there.
If you haven’t already unlocked the Swift Flight ability in the skill tree, do that before attempting Riddle Square at the top. It makes the ring glide challenge much more manageable. For a broader look at which abilities to prioritize, check our best skills to level up first guide.
The Aerial Maneuver for Axiom Force is also very helpful inside the Spire itself. If you don’t have it yet, the gears still work as platforms — it just takes a bit more patience.
Other Spire and Abyss Guides
Working through all the Spires and Abysses? Here are other guides you’ll find useful:
- Ascetic’s Rest Abyss puzzle solution
- Vault of Vengeance Abyss puzzle
- Secret Garden Abyss puzzle
- Monolith Crown Abyss cube puzzle
- Ether Rest Abyss puzzle
- Loop of Life Abyss puzzle
- Frostbitten Paradise Abyss puzzle
- How to get the Focused Force Palm ability
For the full picture on all eight Spires and every Abyss challenge in the game, visit our Crimson Desert hub page where we have everything organized.
Crimson Desert is available on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Visit the official Crimson Desert website for the latest updates.
