You've probably been wandering around the desert of Sumeru, staring at a locked door in the Tanit Camps, feeling like you missed a memo. It’s annoying. You see the prompt for the Genshin Impact Ancient Stone Key, check your inventory, and find absolutely nothing. Honestly, most players expect these things to just drop from a chest or a random mob, but HoYoverse decided to hide this one behind a massive wall of world quests and a very specific "wait-and-see" mechanic.
It’s a classic move.
You can’t just stumble upon the key. It’s physically impossible until you’ve cleared the entire "Her Foes Rage Like Swollen Waters" questline, which itself is the messy aftermath of the "Dirge of Bilqis" saga. If you haven't finished helping Jeht find her place (and dealing with the betrayal-heavy drama of the Tanit tribe), that door is staying shut.
Where the Ancient Stone Key Actually Lives
Forget looking for a hidden puzzle. The Genshin Impact Ancient Stone Key is sitting on a rug. Specifically, it's on the rug where Babel, the Matriarch of the Tanit tribe, used to stand. But here is the kicker: she has to be gone first.
You have to kill her. Well, technically, the quest forces the confrontation. After you wrap up the final cinematic moments of "Her Foes Rage Like Swollen Waters," the entire Tanit Camp becomes a ghost town—or a graveyard, depending on how you look at it. Once the dust settles and Jeht leaves to find her own path, you need to teleport away and come back, or just head straight to the carpeted area where Babel spent all her time looking down on her tribe.
There will be a small glowing investigation point. That's your key.
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Why people get stuck here
Many players finish the quest, feel the emotional weight of Jeht’s departure, and just log off. They don't think to go back to the exact spot where the boss stood. Or, they try to find it during the quest. It won't spawn while the NPCs are still alive. The game requires that specific world state—post-genocide of the Tanit—before it lets you loot the "inheritance" of the tribe.
It’s dark. It’s grim. It’s very Sumeru.
Opening the Treasure Vault
Once you have the Genshin Impact Ancient Stone Key in your bags, you don’t have to go far. Drop down to the very bottom level of the canyon right below Babel’s platform. There’s a large, inconspicuous stone door built into the rock face.
If you try to interact with it before getting the key, the game just gives you a generic "locked" message. With the key, it slides open to reveal... a lot of money.
Specifically, you’re looking at four Precious Chests. Each one contains 50,000 Mora. That is 200,000 Mora total.
Is it worth the hours of questing? If you’re low on funds for leveling up Alhaitham or Dehya, definitely. But for most veterans, the real reward is the closure. That door represents the end of the Tanit storyline. It’s the final piece of the puzzle regarding what Babel was hiding from her "children."
The loot breakdown
- 200,000 Mora (distributed across four chests).
- Standard 3-star weapons and enhancement ores.
- The satisfaction of completely clearing the Tanit Camp map area.
Don't expect Primogems. HoYoverse is stingy with those in these types of "hidden" follow-up rooms. Usually, the Primos are loaded into the quest completions themselves, leaving the physical vaults for raw currency.
The Pre-Requisite Nightmare
You cannot skip the line. If you are looking for the Genshin Impact Ancient Stone Key and it isn't on Babel's rug, check your quest log for these specific titles:
- The Dirge of Bilqis: This is the massive multi-part series where you first meet Jeht in the desert and explore the Eternal Oasis. It's long. It takes hours.
- Rejoice With Me, for What Was Lost Is Now Found: A smaller bridge quest involving Jeht's Benben.
- Her Foes Rage Like Swollen Waters: This is the trigger. It only appears after a daily reset once you've finished the previous parts.
If you haven't seen "Her Foes Rage Like Swollen Waters" pop up, try moving your in-game clock forward or waiting for the actual server reset. The game is finicky about when it triggers the "aftermath" content.
There's a common misconception that you need a certain level of Sacred Tree favor or a specific rank in the Jinni bottle. You don't. While the Jinni (Liloupar) is central to the plot, the key itself is a physical item tied to the world state.
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Dealing with the "Missing" Key Bug
Sometimes, the glow simply doesn't appear. It’s rare, but it happens.
If you’ve definitely finished the quest—meaning Jeht has walked away into the sunset and the Tanit Camp is empty—and the key isn't on the rug, try the "Paimon Reset." Log out of the game entirely, wait a minute, and log back in. This forces the world to reload all active entities.
Another trick: Teleport to the city of Sumeru and then back to the Tanit Camp waypoint. Sometimes staying in the zone prevents the "Investigate" spot from spawning because the game still thinks you're in the "quest" version of the map rather than the "open world" version.
Beyond the Key: What's Left in the Desert?
The Genshin Impact Ancient Stone Key is essentially the "Exit" sign for this region's lore. Once you've emptied those chests, there isn't much left to do in the Tanit Camp. However, it often leaves players wondering about the rest of the 3.4 and 3.6 map additions.
If you're still hunting for completion percentage, check the "Chess Pieces" for the Safhe Shatranj area. A lot of players confuse the stone key with the activation devices for the chess pieces. They are totally different. The key is for the Mora vault; the chess pieces are for the massive glowing hologram puzzle in the middle of the desert.
Also, check the scattered notes around the camp. Now that everyone is gone, you can read the various letters left behind in the tents. They paint a pretty gruesome picture of how Babel was manipulating the tribe and why the "betrayal" was inevitable. It’s environmental storytelling at its best, even if it's a bit depressing.
Tactical Advice for Efficient Clearing
Don't rush this. The Sumeru desert is notorious for "underground" navigation issues. Even with the layered map updates HoYoverse added, the Tanit Camp can be confusing because of the verticality.
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When looking for the vault door, stay at the water level. If you're climbing, you've gone too far. The door is almost directly beneath the main bridge that leads to the Matriarch's hut.
If you are a newer player and you've stumbled upon the Tanit Camp early: leave. You will waste hours trying to find a way into that vault. You can't glitch through it, and there are no "secret" back entrances. Focus on the "Golden Slumber" questline first, which starts at Aaru Village. That is the thread you have to pull to eventually reach the point where the Genshin Impact Ancient Stone Key becomes available.
Next Steps for Completionists
Once you have the Mora from the vault, your next move should be checking your "Wonders of the World" achievement category. There are several hidden achievements tied to Jeht and the Tanit tribe that don't show up in your quest log. Specifically, look for the "if they had known the unseen..." achievement, which relates to the Liloupar storyline. Also, make sure you've visited the Eternal Oasis one last time; there are three thrones there that require "Memories of Eternal Oasis" items to activate, which provides a much better reward than just Mora. Clear those out and you can officially say you've conquered the Hadramaveth Desert.