Unlock Two Heroes of the Old City in Genshin Impact by defeating both corrupted defenders in Old Kitezhgrad’s outer courtyard. The first encounter involves frozen protection, while the second puts several enemies in the same room. Start by opening the city through its World Quest, then follow the western statue route and continue south to the stone hall. Both fights sit within the fortress ruins, so you can tackle them on the same visit.
How to access Old Kitezhgrad
Progress through The Deserted City of Scales and Calamity Crystals, a World Quest in the Old Street Where Sorrow Echoes questline in Snezhnaya. This storyline opens access to Old Kitezhgrad.
Your destination is the ancient fortress on Winged Peak. Both defenders are in its outer courtyard, but they occupy separate areas: a frozen-statue courtyard to the west and a ruined stone hall to the south.
Returning after the relevant story events makes the ruins easier to navigate and lets you use the nearby Teleport Waypoints. The route below starts from the western Teleport Waypoint in the fortress’s outer courtyard.
Start at the western waypoint
First defender: the Everfrost statues
Follow the western courtyard path
Use these landmarks to reach the first encounter:
- From the western Teleport Waypoint, follow the dirt path uphill toward the right.
- Continue toward the small courtyard surrounded by damaged buildings.
- Look down for a platform with a large block of ice and three snowman-like Everfrost statues.
- Drop into the courtyard and approach the frozen figures.
The group of three statues is the landmark you need. Reaching the platform does not release the guardian by itself; you must interact with the frozen figures using the regional mechanic.
Locate all three frozen statues
Release the defender and break its cocoon
Use the regional return ability to destroy all three Everfrost statues. Its default PC binding is T.
During combat, the guardian can surround itself with an icy cocoon. Break this protection before returning your attention to damaging the defender efficiently.
Elemental attacks help remove the frozen protection. Characters capable of triggering Stellar Reactions can also help break it more quickly. Prioritize access to elemental damage for this encounter, since the cocoon interrupts straightforward attacks against the guardian.
The statue interaction and the cocoon are separate tasks: the return ability releases the enemy, while elemental attacks help deal with its protection during the fight.
Break the defender’s icy cocoon
Once the defender falls, collect the courtyard’s treasure before moving to the southern encounter. The route onward begins back on the dirt path above the statue area.
Second defender: the southern stone hall
Reach the chamber through the ruins
You can walk to the second location from the first courtyard:
- Return to the dirt path used to reach the Everfrost statues.
- Head south through the surrounding ruins.
- Climb the stone wall opposite the frozen-statue area.
- Continue through the narrow passage between the nearby houses.
- Follow the passage into the ruined stone chamber in the southern outer courtyard.
Inside, look for a beastlike Alv accompanied by two supporting enemies. This is a multi-enemy encounter from the beginning, so prepare for attacks from more than one direction as you enter.
Clear the Alv and its companions
Clear the Alv and both supporting enemies
Area damage is useful here because you face three opponents together. Use Elemental Skills and Bursts that can hit several enemies, and keep moving to avoid being surrounded.
Consider defeating the two supporting enemies first. Removing them lets you concentrate your attacks on the Alv without continuing to handle the full group. If your party has strong area damage, use it while the opponents are close enough to hit together.
Finish every enemy in the chamber. With the western defender already defeated, clearing the Alv and its companions unlocks Two Heroes of the Old City automatically and makes the southern hall’s chest available.
Chest rewards and completion checks
The two encounters award four treasure chests in total. Their distribution differs, so use the breakdown below to check which location still has rewards to collect.
| Encounter | Common Chests | Exquisite Chests | Precious Chests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Everfrost-statue defender | Two | One | None |
| Southern stone hall group | None | None | One |
The western courtyard contains most of the chests, while the southern hall holds the highest-rarity chest from this pair of encounters. Check both reward locations before leaving the fortress.
If the achievement has not appeared
Check the encounter you are least certain you completed. Finding both locations is insufficient; both corrupted defenders must be defeated.
- Western courtyard: Make sure you destroyed the entire statue group and defeated the guardian released from it. Breaking the statues alone does not complete this encounter.
- Southern stone hall: Check for a surviving supporting enemy. Defeating the Alv while leaving one of its companions alive does not finish the room.
Use the western Teleport Waypoint to revisit the statue courtyard, then retrace the southern passage if the stone hall still needs clearing.
