By James D. Hudnall
Introduction & Dungeon Order
This walkthrough will help you through Anvil of the Dawn without too many headaches. The game allows you to tackle things in different orders, but there is a recommended sequence. Some players have entered Desolation without collecting all the pieces of the chest they need. The correct dungeon order is:
- Gryphon Keep
- The Dark Lantern
- The Undersea Maze
- The Sunken Ship
- The Underground City
- The Land of Roots / Elder Tree
- The Barrier
- The Temple of the Moon
- The City of the Dead
- The Eye of Clay / Sanctuary
- Gorge Keep (optional)
- The Reed Plain (optional)
- The Iron Titan
- The Quagmire
- Fire Mountain
- The Warlord's Tower
- The Anvil of the Dawn
Starting Out
Choose from five characters — each has strengths in different stats (Strength, Agility, Stamina, Power) except the Mire Lurk, who has even stats. The stats cannot be permanently increased in-game except via talismans or potions, so choose carefully.
Swords (Slashing weapons) are the best weapons in the game. Invest your skill points in Slashing — you will find two very powerful swords later on.
From the castle, speak to the wizard to learn the Healing spell and one offensive spell. The recommended choice is Shackles of Ice, which freezes opponents temporarily. Visit the armorer, then speak with the old man who sends you to the wine cellar portal of Gryphon Keep.
Inventory & Containers
You receive three Sacks over the course of the game (one each in Gryphon Keep, the Dark Lantern, and the Sunken Ship). Use sacks to hold rocks — fill each with 10 big rocks for pressure plate puzzles. Use Chests for quest items, money/tokens, and magic items/potions.
The Block Figurine creates a stone block for weighing down pressure plates. Use these sparingly — use rocks whenever possible and save figurines for situations where a block is specifically needed.
Always check the automap after stepping on plates or throwing switches — it shows whether a door has opened elsewhere on the map. Monsters appear as green squares.
Important Potions
The Potion of Mortal Enhancement and Potion of Magical Enhancement permanently raise your maximum HP or Mana respectively. The numbers are random — save before drinking and reload if the gain is low. Target at least 8 HP and 65 Mana.
Gryphon Keep
Goal: Find the Spell of Heavenly Mend, Find Exit
The easiest dungeon, designed to teach game mechanics. Start in the wine cellar — pressure plates open doors. Kill the two guards who drop keys to unlock the rooms on this level. Speak with the dying Lord Gryphon and receive his signet ring.
The South West Tower has a healing altar. In the tower upstairs: weigh down the pressure plate in front of the door with three rocks, then step on the second plate. A round switch reveals two hidden chests. One chest contains the critical spell "Heavenly Mend of Unseen Artisans" — do not leave the keep without it. This is the only place in the game where it is found, and it is essential to win.
The South Corridor has a flying skull spell — wait for it to pass. Find the side passage with a wall switch that causes a rock to roll, periodically opening a south door. Go through for your first shield.
The South East Tower entrance opens by pushing a stone block onto a plate. Contains a Mana Altar (requires a gold coin in the wall hole).
The Throne Room (enter by placing one stone on the plate in front of the door) contains several chests and a tough Messenger Monster — use offensive spells to soften it, then run and heal if needed.
After clearing the keep, go outside and meet Parselfal by turning to face the ruins one step from the door. He gives you a bag of gold coins for later use.
The Dark Lantern
Goal: Talk to Wizard, Get Sea Shell of Summoning
Repair the broken causeway with Heavenly Mend, then enter. On the first floor, put three rocks on the plate near the entrance to make a teleporter vanish. Place a rock on the now-revealed plate to open the rest of the tower.
In the basement, an unsummon spell is needed to deal with the gargoyle — find its two parts in areas reached through teleporters in a long hall to the west. Also find the sea shell (needed for the Sunken Ship) in a chest guarded by Wyverns behind an illusory wall.
A locked door system requires three keys to proceed westward. Each section has rolling rocks and spinners. The final area has a room of switches — throw all of them, and a door opens to the final room (requires weighting a pressure plate to enter).
Upstairs, a series of pressure plates and wall switches must be activated to open the stairs to level 3. On level 3, find the key in a chest behind an illusory wall, check the Mana Altar to the east, and trigger a rock roll that opens the wizard's lair. The wizard is dead — place the yellow globe in the fish's mouth and click it to hear his story. A chest in the locked room contains a good sword.
Exit via the pier exit on the ground floor. Go to the end of the pier and use the Sea Shell to summon the elemental and travel to the Undersea Maze.
The Undersea Maze
Goal: Get to the ship
Explore every square inch of the maze before attempting the center. You need eight pearls to reach it. Also find Aegis, the best shield in the game — discard your old shield immediately. Watch out for blood thorns that poison you; conserve poison cures until absolutely necessary.
Teleporters at each side send you to the opposite end. The Health Altar is in the SW, the Mana Altar in the NW. Once you have all eight pearls, navigate the central teleporters until you find the chest with the final pearl. Place it in the wall hole and teleport to the center, then onward to the ship entrance.
The Sunken Ship
Goal: Talk to Demon
The demon requires eight hearts — obtained by killing four sailors on the first level and four on the upper level. Consider collecting all hearts before talking to him.
Pull the anchor switch to open the NE door with seven switches inside — pulling them opens seven side doors. To access the four western rooms, use two pebbles from the floor to weigh down plates in teleporter rooms.
Upstairs: Find the hidden room behind an illusory wall in the eastern area (a rolling rock marks it — throw the switch and two rocks open the hidden area). In the middle section, push four blocks onto the four corner plates to open the captain's quarters. The captain's quarters are in a hidden area — step on the center plate to reveal a north wall passage. Pull wall switches in the north and south rooms to open the west wall and find the best armor so far.
The Underground City
Quest Items: Heartstone, Sun Disc, Trumpet of Earthen Quake
A creepy two-level area. The Blood Spawn are especially tough enemies. Iron Fist spells patrol set paths and can be avoided. Follow outer walls for relative safety. Look for illusory walls, treat all picks stuck in walls as switches, and be wary of monsters.
Key locations to find:
- The Enclave (north of south entrance): Contains Sword Thanes, a gold skull key, a Messenger (drops hat — best headgear until knight armor), and the Sun Disc quest item.
- Rolling Rock House (east of Enclave, blue tear key): Use the Inferno weapon or throwing star to kill monsters without being hit by the rolling rock. Contains an hourglass artifact.
- Ankh House (near east exit): Use an ankh key (dropped by quivering pool monsters — look carefully on the ground). Step on the center plate four times to open all doors.
- House near north entrance (steel circle key): Contains the best sword found so far — up to 16 damage.
- Mana Temple (slightly north of west entrance): Requires the Amethyst Hex Key. Found in the house surrounded by four pressure plates (near the west exit) — use rock-filled bags on three plates and a stone block on the fourth.
- NE House (blue tear key, near Ankh house): Contains the Trumpet of Earthen Quake. Also contains a sleeping imp — use the hourglass to freeze time, then watch the imp's dream to learn the Fire Haven spell.
The Mine (NW section): Fight past two blood spawn to the stairs. Use Heavenly Mend to clear collapsed debris. Speak to the miner (father of the little girl you found nearby). He gives you a tool for finding the Heartstone. Directions to the heartstone: south of the miner, first left east, second right south, around the bend south, next right — the stone is stuck in the south wall. Get it and leave. The mine has mana-draining zones and no treasure worth staying for.
The Elder Tree / Land of Roots
Quest Items: Dragon Amber, Hallowed Staff of Elder Wood
Before entering, use the Trumpet of Earthen Quake on the large rock holding back the sea, which allows entry to the tree. You can discard the trumpet afterward.
The Healing Altar is just outside the entrance to the west. There is no Mana Altar here. Go to the top of the tree before exploring the Land of Roots — go east to the teleporter that takes you to the stairs, then fight to the top (beware Fungus Men hiding behind illusory walls — never stand in front of those walls or you'll be hit from three sides).
At the fourth floor, drop a bag of rocks on the pressure plate to open a room with a chest containing the Earthen Rot Spell. At the very top, exit the tree and face west — the tree spirit appears and gives you the Hallowed Staff of Elder Wood. This wand significantly boosts your healing spells when held.
Back in the Land of Roots, navigate illusory walls, spinners, and teleporters to heal all the roots you find and collect the quest item: approach the dragon hole in the entrance room with the jar on your cursor and say the dragon's name — you receive Dragon Amber.
The Barrier
Quest Items: Spring Equinox Disc
Before entering, find the old man in the ruined house to the right and buy everything he has. The enemies here are the Clansmen and the dangerous Colossal Baboons. You can avoid all baboons by freeing their king — but you'll need to fight Clansmen first.
The main goal: collect four ivory lion keys and place a stone block on each of four pressure plates at the corners of the dungeon. Find four stone block figurines in a hidden resistance member area (north section, destroy first block, enter illusory wall, follow passage, push north block onto plate, destroy west block).
Find the withered hand key in the north section (west of the north door, behind lots of plates — use Reflections on the Lake). Use the withered hand key to free the Green Baboon King in the south section. All baboons vanish from the game.
The Spring Equinox Disc is in the chests behind the baboon king. When all four blocks are on their corner plates, the switches in the four-door room to the southwest will open the way west. Use keys to unlock the doors, throw the switches, and proceed to the Temple of the Moon.
The Temple of the Moon
Quest Items: Tears of the Weeping Moon, Three Soul Houses
A three-level dungeon. Pick up the blank scroll at the entrance and use it with the floating pen to get answers — you'll need one scroll per question, and find more throughout Floor 1.
The dungeon features two parallel rolling-rock halls (north and south). Navigate carefully and use wall switches to open side areas. Find the gold Ankh key in a side room. Locate three Soul Houses — one in the SW corner (opal moon key room), one in the west room on Floor 2, and one behind a pressure plate in a south hallway on Floor 2.
On Floor 2, find the Sacred Sipher bottle — this is essential. The powerful weapon chest is in a room accessible by following a rolling rock into a teleporter.
On Floor 3 (the Oracle), you need eight gold coins and two iron marks to pass through the doors. Talk to the weeping Oracle while holding the Sipher on your cursor — when she weeps, capture the tears in the Sipher. You now have the Tears of the Weeping Moon.
The City of the Dead
Quest Items: The Soul of the Warrior, The Knight's Armor, Anti-Poison Shield
Two levels. The Lurking Stench monsters are poisonous, but you will find an Anti-Poison Shield early on that makes you 100% immune to poison — start using it immediately. Tormented Souls shoot arrows from a distance; Lightning Wild spells are effective against them.
In the SW tomb (two basement stairways): At the far south is a throne with the Anti-Poison Shield and an axe that casts Raging Hero spells.
In the SE corner tomb: Speak to the blue knight but do NOT take his soul yet. Find the Moon Disc in a chest east through an illusory wall and down stairs. Then free the evil spirit in a NE tomb (find the switch nearby to open the passage), take the spirit's soul, and drop the soul house on the floor. Visit the lady ghost in the north room — do NOT take her soul. Return to the blue knight, tell him what happened, then take his soul. You now have the Soul of the Warrior. The previously cursed armor in the chest (now unlocked) is the best armor in the game — the Knight's Armor.
The NW area holds both the Healing Altar and Mana Altar. A special exit to the east leads to a viewing area where Nula appears (if playing a male character) and gives you the Fall Equinox Disc. (Female characters find it in a small tomb to the south.)
The Eye of Clay / Sanctuary
Quest Items: The Sacrifice of Clay
Return to the stone formation area and place all four white discs (Sun Disc, Spring Equinox, Moon Disc, Fall Equinox) in the four altar holes. Also pick up the Wreath of Hallowed Leaves from the stranger hiding behind a rock. Walk to the center to be transported to Sanctuary.
Six dragon imprints are on the north walls. Collect dragon pieces from four teleporters (east non-recessed, east recessed, west non-recessed, west recessed) and place them on the imprints to open the way to the Eye of Clay. Navigate the areas methodically — some involve shifting walls, pressure plates, and rolling rocks.
After placing all dragon pieces, follow the north hallway through an illusory wall and talk to the tree — you receive the Sacrifice of Clay. Teleport to the exit and prepare to cross into Desolation.
The Iron Titan
Quest Items: Invincible Iron
A three-level area with pits, poisonous monsters, and some of the most complex puzzles yet. Use the Anti-Poison Shield. On Floor 1, push blocks onto pressure plates to create teleporters, then push the remaining four blocks into the teleporters and place them on plates in the four separate rooms. This opens halls around the rest of the floor.
Shrink the large head using the Magic Immersion cube (use the cube in the no-magic zone after turning off magic with a wall switch to the east). On Floor 2, locate and flip the no-magic zone switch, then shrink the giant's torso similarly. The path continues through snake-like corridors with pits and spinners. Find the Mana Altar along the way.
On Floor 3, collect five iron dragon keys fighting through Swarm Maiden monsters — the Fountain of Scorching Vapors spell is very effective against them. Unlock the five doors to the exit, go upstairs, and kill a Messenger who drops the Soul Link spell.
The Quagmire
Quest Items: The Sword "Soul Wrought" (Soulwrought), Wood from the Wicked Tree, The Whistle of Fiery Summons, the Spell of Dance on the Stone of Winds
A one-level maze full of monsters. Turn all switches (they look like wood knots in sticks on walls). Check all illusory walls. Keep the Anti-Poison Shield on — monsters here are poisonous.
Near the entrance, a Messenger attacks and drops the Whistle of Fiery Summons — save it, it's essential later.
In the NW: Find the talking sword being held by magic chains. Pay money to free it — this is the Soulwrought sword, the second-best in the game, and required for a later boss fight. Find wind chimes in a hidden room behind an illusory wall and pressure plate.
In the west: A Wind Elemental — speak to her while holding the wind chimes to understand her. She teaches you an important spell needed in Fire Mountain.
In the center: The Wicked Tree is surrounded by rocks and Beast of Trung. Use the yellow Soulwrought sword to chop off a piece of Wood. You now have all the chest pieces.
Exit via the NE. On top of the giant hand, use the Whistle of Fiery Summons to be taken to the Warlord's Tower.
Fire Mountain
Goal: Meet Black Gnarl, get him to make the Container, find the Words of Opening
Enter the Warlord's Tower first — kill the two Sword Thanes (one drops a gold ankh key), use the key on the right door, take the portal to the nearest exit, and you'll face Fire Mountain. Enter from the west.
Find the Sigil of Fire in a chest reached through teleporters (via a hall north of the main east-west corridor). Find the scroll with the Words of Opening behind an illusory wall south of the main hall — read it then discard it.
Collect at least three iron marks from various rooms to unlock the doors to the stairs. The War Render — the best sword in the game — is found in a complex area east of the teleporter section (float over pits with the Dancing Winds spell, weight down plates to reveal a room).
Equip the Sigil of Fire, then go downstairs. Push a block or rock onto plates to open the center door. Find and speak to Black Gnarl — he makes you the Container. Return to the Warlord's Tower (step off the west landing).
The Warlord's Tower
Goal: Get the Dark Slag
Use Reflections on the Lake constantly. Pull all bull-horn switches on demon faces. Clear all enemies on the first floor. Use pearl serpent key to open the north door in the entrance hall, revealing the teleporter to the stairs.
On the second floor: maneuver the rock onto the pressure plate via a block-destroying sequence. On the third floor: find the Wither Priest key on the fourth floor and return to unlock the gold ankh door.
Equip the Soulwrought sword before entering the boss room. Save. Kill the Cacodemons, then confront Castellan in purple armor to the north. When he's dead, pull the switch in his alcove. In the next room: MAKE SURE YOU ARE HOLDING THE CONTAINER when you pick up the Dark Slag — it must go into the container. The container will seal when the slag is inside.
The Anvil of the Dawn
Goal: Destroy the Dark Slag
Return to Fire Mountain. Place blocks on the north plates to open the east doors, then exit east and head toward the light in the sky.
Cross the ice and reach the mountain door guarded by an armless giant. Speak to him, use Heavenly Mend, then speak again and say the Words of Opening. Enter the final dungeon.
You face an invisible maze. Feel your way carefully:
- First area: Three east exits and a rolling rock on a south plate. Throw two switches to move the rock north, then south — pass through the northernmost east opening.
- Feel east near the north wall, turn south halfway, step past the center plate, then all the way west to a wall switch. Return and step on the plate.
- Head south to an illusory wall — throw your spear Steelripper at the Ice Worm to kill it, or fight with your sword.
- Continue through illusory walls, push blocks onto plates, step on the east plate in the three-plate room to create a teleporter, and navigate to open all necessary doors.
- Find the silver chalice in the easternmost room (fight Ice Worms), then place it in the hole to open a door.
The twelve-plate circular room: place rocks on north and south plates. Walk over every plate in a circle — a passage opens to a teleporter back to the main room. Work through the final area to the eastern opening with the chalice.
Equip the Wreath of Hallowed Leaves and activate a Soul Link spell. Save. Exit east.
Speak with the Warlord. Do not accept his offer. Walk to the Anvil of the Dawn. The Dark Slag is destroyed and the game is complete.
Alternate ending: Do everything above but do not wear the Wreath or use a Soul Link spell before approaching the Anvil.
