Crimson Desert: How to Clear Path of Trials for Ice Element

Path of Trials is one of the late-game Abyss puzzles in Crimson Desert, and most failed attempts come down to two things: the freezing island that drains your health the whole time you climb, and a power-core puzzle that players keep trying to solve the wrong way. The reward is worth the trouble — clearing it unlocks the Frost element and an Abyss Artifact.

The short version

• Path of Trials is the last room in the Frostbitten Paradise Abyss chain: Spire of Ringing Truth → Ether Rest → Frostbitten Paradise → Path of Trials.
• The whole island deals constant cold damage. Light every lantern you pass (Raise Lantern is mapped to L1) to hold back the cold and stay alive; Ice/cold Resistance gear helps but is optional.
• Traversal is about gliding between the floating platforms: the wall fans push you across and the large updraft fans launch you upward, then you glide to the next platform. You can also pop into the air with Force Palm (R3) and glide from there.
• The power-core puzzle is solved with lava, not fire arrows: pull the frozen core out with Axiom Force, carry it to the nearby lava room, dip it until it glows, then socket it back in.
• Clearing the trial grants the Frost element (the Frost Mantle skill) and an Abyss Artifact. The next Abyss area afterward is the Sanctorum of Darkness.

Where Path of Trials Starts

Path of Trials is the final room of the Frostbitten Paradise Abyss chain. You reach it by working through the chain in order: Spire of Ringing Truth, then Ether Rest, then Frostbitten Paradise, which opens into Path of Trials. If you have not finished Frostbitten Paradise yet, that is your prerequisite — see how to clear Frostbitten Paradise and reach Path of Trials first.

Once inside, the layout looks more complicated than it is. The area is built around floating ruins, but the route is essentially linear. The real test is environmental pressure, not platforming: the island applies cold damage over time, so you are managing warmth checkpoints while you glide from platform to platform rather than solving a precision course.

What to Have Ready Before the Outdoor Section

• Enough healing to recover from one or two bad landings, but treat lanterns — not potions — as your primary defense against the cold. A little Ice/cold Resistance makes the whole climb more forgiving.
• Stamina to spare for climbing and gliding. Panic-jumping burns stamina fast and is what turns a clean run into a fall.
• Your traversal inputs understood before the first long gap. You cross by gliding between floating platforms, riding the wind fans that push you up and across; Force Palm (R3) gives you an extra pop into the air when you need height before a glide.

Lanterns are your safe anchors. Reaching one and not lighting it immediately is one of the easiest ways to throw away a clean run, because the cold meter keeps ticking the whole time you hesitate.

How to Cross the Freezing Platforming Section

Once you step outside, treat every platform as a link between warmth points. Move to the first reachable lantern and light it the moment you arrive — that buys you breathing room and time to line up the next jump. Do not linger for perfect camera angles while the cold meter is climbing.

The drop below is the next hazard — avoid it completely. Falling turns a recoverable mistake into a death spiral, costing you time, position, and health at once. If a route looks like a shortcut straight down, it almost never is.

For the long crossings, let the wind fans do the work: the wall fans push you between platforms and the big updraft fans launch you high enough to glide down to the next landing. Height before distance is the key — players fail here by gliding too early. Build up the lift first, let your arc stabilize, then glide so you arrive with enough control to light the lantern immediately instead of scrambling along the edge while freezing. If a gap has no fan, pop into the air with Force Palm (R3) and glide from there.

After that, climb toward the next lantern and continue to the upper platform. If your stamina is low when you start a climb, wait a beat after lighting the previous lantern rather than forcing it mid-recovery. Break each stretch into two deliberate moves — secure warmth, then move — instead of trying to do both under pressure.

Power Core Puzzle: Thaw the Core in Lava

After the platforming stretch you reach the mechanism that powers the next phase. This is the step most players get wrong. Grab the frozen power core and pull it out of the device with Axiom Force — the same pull/push ability you use on Abyss objects (you can rotate it while holding it). It is frozen solid, so it will not work in place.

Carry the frozen core to the nearby lava room and drop it into the lava until it glows and thaws. Then bring it back and socket it into the mechanism to restore power. This is the actual solution — there is no fire-arrow trick here. Trying to brute-force the route with healing, or carrying the core around without thawing it in the lava, accomplishes nothing.

Final Climb and Nexus Activation

With power restored, move to the central structure and climb it rather than hunting for another side puzzle. The end of Path of Trials is vertical and direct: ascend to the Abyss Nexus at the top.

This is the last place players lose time, because they assume the trial is over the moment the device powers up below. It is not — you still have to reach the Nexus and activate it. Keep the camera centered on the structure so you do not drift onto the wrong ledge, then continue upward to the reward point.

At the Nexus, use Force Palm (R3) on the center of the platform to channel power through it. That activates the Nexus, completes the trial, and unlocks the Frost element — letting you imbue your skills with Frost through the Frost Mantle — along with an Abyss Artifact. If you are chasing every element, this is one of the core unlocks — see the fastest route to unlock all elements to plan the rest.

Common mistakes

• Not lighting lanterns immediately. Reaching safety and then hesitating lets the cold keep ticking.
• Falling off the platforms. Even if you survive, recovery costs more health and time than any shortcut saves.
• Gliding too early on the long gaps. Ride the fans up for height first, then glide.
• Trying to thaw the core with fire arrows. The frozen core is pulled out with Axiom Force and thawed in the lava room, not by shooting it.
• Healing through the cold instead of using lanterns. The island is built around lantern use; potions are a fallback, not a strategy.
• Stopping too long on exposed ledges. Steady movement beats cautious standing still here.

If one crossing keeps failing, reset your setup instead of retrying from a bad angle. A clean re-approach is almost always faster than salvaging a sloppy launch while the cold meter climbs.

Practical takeaway

Work through the Frostbitten Paradise chain to reach Path of Trials, then treat the climb as a series of warmth checkpoints: light every lantern, ride the wind fans for height before gliding, and stay off the edges. Solve the power-core puzzle by pulling the frozen core with Axiom Force, thawing it in lava, and socketing it back in, then climb the central structure and use Force Palm on the Abyss Nexus to claim the Frost element and the Abyss Artifact. From there the chain continues into the Sanctorum of Darkness, and your new Frost power feeds straight into building out your best Abyssal gear.