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Rise of the Tomb Raider - The Prophet's Tomb, Survival Instincts, traps, water puzzles

How to solve the water puzzles, avoid the traps and find every collectible and Coin Cache in the game's first ruins, The Prophet's Tomb.

Clear the blockage at the end of the passageway and enter the small chamber. Use Survival Instincts to look around. To the right of the door is a lootable container, there's a painting on the wall, and a scroll is resting on a rock near the painting.

As you make your way down the next passageway, you'll narrowly avoid a rather nasty trap. Once it's dropped, pull your gun with LT and shoot the wooden block at the top of the trap to clear the path. The spooky passageway will give way under your feet and lead you into the first puzzle room.

Shoot the block attached to the wooden platform to drop it into the water, then attack the crumbling wall with your axe. The room will half fill with water, allowing you to climb onto the platform and into the next area.

Cover image for YouTube videoRise of the Tomb Raider Xbox One X Gameplay: Rise of the Tomb Raider 4k Gameplay
Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox One X Gameplay: Rise of the Tomb Raider 4k Gameplay

Slide down the slope and head down the corridor. You'll spring another trap, so quickly pull out your gun and shoot the block as it descends, then mash X to free your foot. Once free, quickly swim to freedom by pushing forwards and mashing B until you clamber to safety, then enter the next puzzle room:

Break the crumbling wall on the right-hand side to raise the water level. Swim to the other side of the chamber and climb the skeleton-filled shelves. Jump from the small stone platform onto the hanging wooden platform to open the sluice gate. Swim towards the end of the chamber opposite where you came in, and climb more shelves. Shimmy to the right and round the corner, then pull yourself up.

Once you're up, turn around and activate Survival Instincts. On a ledge in front of you is a skeleton with a map which reveals the location of other collectibles in the area:

  • Religious Artefact: At water-level near the map.
  • Coin Cache 1: On the right-hand ledge in the far alcove.
  • Coin Cache 2: Dig in the back of the alcove.
  • Coin Cache 3 (unmarked): Dig in the alcove on the other side of the chamber from the map skeleton.
  • Coin Cache 4: Under the small structure in the centre of the rear of the chamber.
  • Coin Cache 5 (unmarked): In the small alcove opposite the wooden platform in the next puzzle room.
  • Scroll 1: On a ledge near Coin Cache 3.
  • Scroll 2: Inside the small structure to the right of where you climbed in.
  • Scroll 3: On the right as you enter the next puzzle room.

Once you've got everything (apart from Scroll 3 and Coin Cache 5), jump out of the other side of the small structure - watching out for the spike trap in the middle of the floor - and jump across the pillars to the passageway. As you head through the gloom, keep an eye out for a couple of traps. Jump over the first, and shoot the second. Before tackling the next puzzle, collect the final scroll from the right-hand corner of the room.

Jump onto the hanging wooden platform, then quickly jump off the other side as it descends. Destroy the weakened wall, then shoot down the loose wooden platform. Jump onto the hanging platform to temporarily raise the water level and send the floating platform to the back of the room. Climb onto it, then quickly scramble onto the ledge to your right, then jump across to the pillar. From there, jump onto the wooden bar above the hanging platform.

You'll be washed back into the main room. Climb up the shelves to reach the objective.

After the cutscene it's another "no time to hang around" sequence. Shoot the bad guys, then make a run for it. The next bit's more or less on-rails, so just keep pushing forward on the stick, jumping when needed until you reach safety.


- Keep reading for our guide to completing Rise of the Tomb Raider: Siberian Wilderness, the next section of the game.

- Head back to the first page for the rest of our Rise of the Tomb Raider guide.