For all those who fell off Outriders and are now going back to check out similar games like Remnant: From The Ashes, Ward Prime is the location you end up at after getting through the homestead beginning area of the Subject 2923 DLC. It’s the place where Haarsgard first makes contact with Clawbone, the Root Leader that led the invasion of earth, and where you’ll eventually return to fight the “final boss” of the DLC.

However, it’s a pretty confusing place. There’s a lot to discover in this area, but it all sort of blends together So, let’s go over everything you need to know about Ward Prime and how to get through it.

What Kind Of Place Is Ward Prime?

First off, Ward Prime is a puzzle zone, with very few actual “fights.” Most of the time, you’ll just be wandering around and looking for the next Root Heart to break or the next item to find. Because of that, it’s a polarizing zone, as some people hate the puzzle aspects of it while others love it.

What Enemies Will You Encounter?

Now, let’s talk about enemies in Ward Prime. To be blunt, there really isn’t much to fight outside of two reoccurring enemies:

Root Nemesis

In the regular world, these things can’t hurt you, as they’re essentially ghosts. But it’s a different story in the “Root Realm.” Where has this “Root Realm” been up until now? Who knows, it makes no sense at all.

But they’re invincible in the “Root Realm.” There is no reason to try and kill the Nemesis since doing so only causes them to stagger for a few seconds before coming at you again. Just focus on avoiding them and getting to the Root Heart ASAP.

Root Flyer

These are the other enemy you’ll be facing solely in the “Root Realm,” but these can actually be killed. And you’ll want to just that as soon as possible, considering how much their projectiles hurt.

Root Hearts & The Root Nexus

Next up, let’s talk about the task loop in Ward Prime. To put it simply, you’ll be going into the “Root Realm” through the Root Nexuses spread throughout the place and destroying the Root Hearts ASAP, then moving on to the next area.

But if you’re having trouble getting around the Nemesis or breaking the Root Hearts fast enough, here are some Weapon Mods that should help either distract the Nemesis or tear through the Root Heart HP:

  • Swarm Rattle Weed Mantle of Thorns Banish Hive Shot Explosive Shot Rift Walker

How To Get Through Ward Prime

Now we’ve finally got to the actual process of getting through Ward Prime. Breaking the Ward down into sections should help, and these sections are as follows:

  • The Main Bay The Medical Bay The Laboratory The Reactor Room The Maintenance Area

Getting through each area takes a bit of work, but here’s exactly how we managed to do it.

The Step-By-Step Guide

The first Root Nexus should be easy to see. If you’re facing the gigantic blast door, then it’s directly in the small room to your right. Interact with it, then quickly follow the hallway to the left of the Main Bay Blast Door, avoid the Nemesis, and destroy the first Root Heart to open the way downstairs to the Medical Bay.

Destroy The Med Bay Root Heart

Med Bay is sort of big, so it all gets a little bit confusing. Feel free to explore all the rooms as your leisure, collecting Scrap or Tomes of Knowledge. Once you’re done, you’ll need to find the Root Heart and the Root Nexus that should be on opposite ends of Med Bay (sort of diagonally positioned across from each other) and use the Nexus to break the Heart.

Get The Maintenance Key

After you go through the newly opened doorway in Med Bay, you should be able to explore a new series of rooms. This is a dead-end area, but you will need one item from here. To get it, hop through the window of the only room with a blocked-off door. Jump in, break the bookshelf covering the obvious gigantic hole, grab the Ward Prime Maintenence Key in the next room over, then head back up to the Main Bay.

Open The Maintenence Access Door & Head To The Reactor

Once you’re back in the Main Hall, the key you picked up is used at the single door labeled “Maintenance Access” directly to the right of the first Root Nexus. Open the door, then follow this passageway to the Reactor.

Clear Out The Reactor & Turn The Power On

In this Reactor Room, you should be able to easily see three separate Root Hearts — one on the floor below, one above, and one on your current floor. There’s only one Root Nexus, but you can re-use it for all three Hearts. Go through the process of destroying all three (watch out for all the Root Flyers), then turn on the Reactor from the computer found in the next room over.

Go Back To Med Bay Through The New Route

After turning on the power, walk out of the Reactor Room and break the Root Heart you walked past initially. You can use the Root Nexus in the Main Hall or the one in Reactor to do this. Then, follow this hallway down and you can open up a shortcut back to Med Bay.

Optional: Get The Ring Of Honor

Go back down the hallway you came from to open the shortcut, look for a stairwell leading up, go up the first bit of stairs to the landing, then look through the big hole in the wall. See that gate at the bottom of the stairs through the wall? Shoot the lock on it. Then, go back out and around to the gate, follow it up into a new room, hop off onto the first floor, and grab the Ring of Honor off the floor.

Go To The Medical Storage

After getting that optional stuff done, go back through the shortcut into Med Bay you just opened, and go into the Medical Chiefs’ office right next to the shortcut. Use their computer to unlock the Medical Storage. Go in there and grab the Ward Prime Keycard.

Enter & Clear Out Laboratory

Just like the Reactor, the Laboratory has three Root Hearts and one Root Nexus. But it’s a bit more cluttered, which will make avoiding the Root Nemesis a bit more annoying. You’re looking for the Ward Prime Fuse behind one of these Hearts, though it’s RNG which one of the three it’ll be behind.

Turn The Main Bay Power On

After getting the Fuse, go all the way back up to the Main Bay area. Look for the doorway with the “Main Bay Power” outside of it and follow the room into the back area past the transformers, then plug the Fuse into the fusebox and switch it on.

Optional: Get The Machine Pistol

There’s one last item to get before Reisum, and it’s in the office of Dr. Enji Sato, right before where you popped the first Root Heart. There’s a puzzle in this room involving the Scrabble board that should lead you to what the password is. If you’re having trouble, the password is 2-4-1-3-5-1. Entering this should open up the locked door at the back of the office, which was hiding the Machine Pistol secondary weapon. There are a lot of weapons in the Subject 2923 DLC, but the Machine Pistol has to be one of our favorites.

Now, Onto Reisum!

And that’s it! Go back to the computer outside the Main Bay Blast Door, use it to open the door, then all you need to do is interact with the Root Nexus one last time and shoot the Root Heart covering the portal to Reisum.

NEXT: 10 Tips For Surviving In Remnant: From The Ashes