Saros: Ancient Ruins Walkthrough – Depth Vaults and Bastion

Do this first in Saros: Ancient Ruins: clear the central chamber, activate the Eclipse pedestal, then run both tunnel branches until you power the two Depth Vault Devices. One branch is blocked by a yellow Eclipse shield until Eclipse is active, so the most common wasted run is searching for the second device too early. After both devices are online, the boss door opens for Bastion. Even in randomized runs, that progression logic stays the same.

Current coverage uses both Ancient Ruins and Ancient Depths for this second biome. The important part is that it comes after Shattered Rise, it is a clear difficulty step up, and it trades the first area’s pacing for a tighter underground Lucenite extraction complex full of mechanical threats, jump pads, lasers, and much nastier pressure rooms.

Ancient Ruins route at a glance

• Enter the biome through the World Dial.
• Clear the central chamber and loot the easy side rooms first.
• Check the hidden room under the starting platform for supplies.
• Activate the Eclipse pedestal before committing to full exploration.
• Finish both tunnel branches and activate both Depth Vault Devices.
• Restock, then enter Bastion’s arena fully prepared because the fight starts immediately.

What changes in Ancient Ruins compared to Shattered Rise

This biome is where Saros starts punishing sloppy routing. Enemies are more mechanical, rooms are narrower, and several encounters force movement while environmental hazards stay active. If Shattered Rise let you win by circling and reacting late, Ancient Ruins asks for cleaner target priority and better discipline with healing and weapon charges.

The safest loadout going in is one dependable mid-range primary and one high-impact backup. That matters because the biome mixes hallway pressure with larger arena fights, and the boss at the end is much friendlier to medium-range damage than all-in close-range aggression. If you only have a short-range weapon, you can still clear the area, but the Bastion fight becomes less forgiving.

Central chamber: loot first, but do not ignore Eclipse

Your first real hub in Ancient Ruins is the large central chamber. Before sprinting into the obvious main tunnel, do a quick sweep. Public coverage indicates there are multiple side rooms branching off this hub, and there is a useful hidden room beneath the starting platform with chests and supplies. That is worth grabbing early because Ancient Ruins has a bad habit of draining resources before the boss door even becomes available.

Once the immediate room is stable, interact with the Eclipse pedestal. This is not optional flavor. It powers up the biome’s machinery, changes traversal by moving pillars and rotating platforms, turns on hazard elements such as lasers, and most importantly drops the yellow Eclipse shield that blocks the second main path. If you skip this step, the level feels incomplete because it literally is incomplete.

Do not treat the active machinery as pure danger. It also creates your route. When platforms start moving, slow down for one cycle and read the room instead of forcing an early jump. Ancient Ruins punishes impatient movement more than difficult aiming.

First tunnel path and the first Depth Vault Device

After the hub is open, take whichever tunnel branch is currently accessible and push it to completion. The layouts can vary in randomized runs, but the branch structure is consistent: you advance through combat rooms, survive a pressure encounter, then reach a Depth Vault Device at the end.

The most dangerous rooms on these branches are the Solar Cage encounters. These are the sections where Devastator alpha enemies can spawn, and they are the reason many otherwise clean runs fall apart. The mistake here is standing still to finish damage on smaller threats while the Devastator is active. Kill the enemies that pin your movement, but keep your positioning built around the alpha target. If the room gives you vertical reset tools or cover breaks, use them. Surviving the Devastator cleanly matters more than shaving a few seconds off the clear.

When you reach the first Depth Vault Device, activate it immediately. There is no advantage in saving it for later, and powering it confirms your progress if the rest of the route gets messy. Once it is on, sweep the remaining nearby loot only if your health and charges are stable. Ancient Ruins rewards greed just often enough to bait you into one extra bad room.

Second tunnel path after the yellow shield drops

The second branch is the part players usually miss on a first blind run. If the yellow Eclipse shield is still active, go back to the central chamber and check that you actually triggered Eclipse. After that, the blocked route should be available, and you can push the second tunnel toward the last Depth Vault Device.

This branch tends to feel more awkward because the live machinery becomes part of the combat rhythm. Moving pillars, rotating surfaces, and active lasers create enough visual noise that it is easy to lose the real priority. Keep the order simple: clear the enemies that control space first, then move on the platform cycle, then finish anything left. If you try to platform and duel at the same time, you usually take chip damage from both.

Use jump pads aggressively when the route gives them to you. In Ancient Ruins they are not just mobility shortcuts; they are reset buttons that break bad spacing and let you cross dangerous floor lanes without eating laser damage. Once you activate the second Depth Vault Device, the boss door in the central section unlocks. That is your cue to stop wandering unless you still need a very specific resource.

Weapons worth keeping in Ancient Ruins

Two notable weapons associated with this biome are the Soltari Shotgun and the Dispiritor. Because Saros uses randomized runs, treat these as strong finds rather than guaranteed fixed pickups in every identical spot.

The Soltari Shotgun is excellent for close pressure rooms, especially when smaller enemies try to body-block you during Solar Cage fights. The tradeoff is obvious: Bastion is not the kind of boss you want to chase at point-blank range unless the rest of your build is already carrying the encounter. If the shotgun is your best weapon, use it for room clears and try to save a stronger mid-range or power option for the boss.

The Dispiritor is more naturally suited to Ancient Ruins and its boss. Current coverage describes it as a power weapon that fires tracking shots and applies damage over time. That combination is valuable in movement-heavy fights because you can keep damage ticking while you reposition, ride a jump pad, or wait out a dangerous pattern. If you find it before Bastion, it is one of the cleanest power-weapon pickups you can carry into the arena.

How to beat Bastion

Do not walk into Bastion’s room half-ready. Public coverage indicates the fight begins without much warning once you cross the threshold, and it plays out across three phases. Heal first, reload or recharge what you can, and make sure your preferred weapon is already equipped before you enter.

The most reliable approach is medium- to long-range pressure. Current boss guidance consistently leans toward rifles, hand cannons, or any other accurate mid-range weapon, with your power weapon saved for stable damage windows rather than panic firing. Bastion punishes overcommitting at close range because the arena pressure stacks quickly and the fight expects you to keep moving.

• Keep firing whenever you have a clean line. This is not a boss that rewards long passive laps around the arena.
• If Bastion sends blue projectiles and your shield interaction is available, absorb them when it is safe to do so. Current boss coverage treats that as an important way to convert defense into extra weapon value.
• Use the arena’s jump pads to escape beam attacks and grid-style pressure. Running on foot alone is often too slow once patterns overlap.
• If Bastion deploys turrets during downtime, remove them quickly. Letting the arena clutter stay alive is how a manageable phase becomes chaotic.

Because detailed phase mechanics are not fully documented across current public sources, the best universal advice is to reset your position after each transition. Do not stand where the last phase left you. Re-center, identify whether adds or turrets are active, and then restart your damage cycle. Most failed attempts happen because players keep shooting through the transition instead of re-reading the arena.

If your build entering Bastion is shotgun-heavy, play the edges and wait for safe collapses instead of forcing close damage every time you see an opening. If you found the Dispiritor, use its tracking and damage-over-time effect to keep pressure up during your movement windows. In either case, jump pads are the most important survival tool in the arena, not a gimmick.

Common Ancient Ruins mistakes that cost progress

• Searching for both Depth Vault Devices before activating Eclipse.
• Ignoring the hidden room under the starting platform and entering the branches understocked.
• Treating Solar Cage rooms like ordinary skirmishes instead of Devastator checks.
• Overvaluing the Soltari Shotgun for Bastion when a safer mid-range weapon is available.
• Crossing into the boss arena before topping off health and weapon readiness.
• Forgetting that randomized runs can change exact room order and item drops, while the core route logic stays the same.

The clean Ancient Ruins route is simple once you stop fighting the level’s logic: central chamber first, Eclipse early, both Depth Vault Devices next, then Bastion with a movement-focused mid-range setup and full use of the arena’s jump pads.