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Elden Ring’s long-awaited DLC pack is an absolute banger, with our own Adam Beck hailing it inhis reviewas “one of the best expansions FromSoftware has made”. That’s the good news. The bad news is that unlocking the content added in Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t exactly a breeze. If you already beat the game, you don’t have to worry about anything because you can immediately jump into the new content. However, if you’re on New Game Plus or still early on in your first playthrough, things can get a bit complicated.
Gaining access to the Realm of Shadowrequires players to defeat bothStarscourge RadahnandMohg, Lord of Blood, two fairly challenging bosses found inRedmane CastleandMohgwyn Palace, respectively. On a regular playthrough, this endeavor can easily take several dozen hours of playtime since these locations are quite far from your starting point inLimgrave, especiallyMohgwyn Palace. Fortunately, you can reduce that time to just a couple of hours by following this handy guide.
This guide is primarily intended for New Game Plus players. We don’t recommend rushing to unlock Shadow of the Erdtree on your first playthrough since some of the new content can be pretty brutal.
The First Step
After finishing the tutorial section and reaching The First Step Site of Grace talk toWhite Mask Varréand make your way toStormveil Castle. ensure to rest at a couple of Sites of Grace along the way, such as theChurch of Ellehor theGatefront Ruins, so you can talk to Melina. Doing so will give you access to Torrent,Roundtable Hold, and a couple of other things you don’t want to skip. Your next order of business is to defeatGodrick the Graftedin Stormveil Castle.
While defeating Godrick isn’t mandatory for unlocking the DLC, you’ll need a Great Rune to speed run to Mohgwyn Palace and his just happens to be the most convenient one to obtain early on. Once you’ve done way withMargit, the Fell Omennear the entrance we recommend entering Stomveil through the front gate if you don’t want to waste any time. Simply talk toGatekeeper Gostocand he’ll open the gate for you.
Godrick The Grafted
Keep in mind that entering Stormveil Castle through the front gate comes with a considerable amount of risk. As soon as you enter the gauntlet, try to make a B-line for the courtyard as fast as possible while doing your best to dodge the ballista projectiles, fire pots, and soldiers coming your way. UsingUnseen FormandConcealing Veilwill enable you to sneak through most of the castle undetected, but there’s still a chance you’ll be spotted. If you can’t make it to Godrick in one piece through the front gate, there’s no shame in taking the back entrance.
As soon as you’ve acquiredGodrick’s Great Rune, proceed north intoLiurnia of the Lakesand activate the Lake-Facing Cliffs Site of Grace. Next up, pay a visit toEnia, the Finger Readerat Roundtable Hold and talk to her until you’ve exhausted all her dialogue. you’re able to also exchange theRemembrance of the Graftedwhile you’re there.
Elden Ring: All Great Runes Locations Guide
In Elden Ring, Great Runes are special items that you can obtain by defeating specific bosses.
This next step is optional but we strongly encourage you to backtrack to theDivine Tower of Limgravein order to active Godrick’s Rune, which raises all your attributes by 5. Go back through the courtyard and turn left before reaching the front gate. Activate the Limgrave Tower Bridge Site of Grace and proceed through the waygate to reach the other side of the ruined bridge. There will be threeGuardian Golemenemies blocking the way to the tower, including an archer. Either defeat or evade them and make your way up to the top of the tower to activate the Great Rune.
Rose Church
Your next objective is to progress White Mask Varre’s questline. Speaking with Enia and obtaining a Great Rune causes White Mask Varre to move to Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes, hence why we didn’t bypass Stormveil Castle to get here. Progressing White Mask Varre’s questline rewards us with thePureblood Knight’s Medal, an item that teleports us directly to Mohgwyn Palace. Naturally, we’ll have to do a couple of things for Varre before he’ll hand it over to us.
From the Lake-Facing Cliffs, start traveling northwest to reach the Rose Church. As always, make sure to active a couple of Sites of Grace along the way as a failsafe in case you die before reaching your destination. Rose Church doesn’t have a Site of Grace, so at the very least you’ll want to activate the Fallen Ruins of the Lakes grace to the east because you’ll need to return to the area later.
White Mask Varre
Once you reach the church, talk to White Mask Varre and accept his first task, which requires you to invade players three times usingFestering Bloody Finger. If you’re not into PvP, simply invade players three times and then use theFinger Severerto immediately return to your world.Defeating or even fighting other players isn’t mandatory for completing the quest.
With that out of the way, return to White Mask Varre for your next task, which requires you to soak a piece of cloth known as theLord of Blood’s Favorin the blood of a maiden. There are several possible candidates, but the best one is the dead maiden found at the Church of Inhibition in eastern Liurnia of the Lakes close to theAltus Plateau. We’ll need to reach Altus Plateau anyway to start the Radahn Festival (more on that later), so might as well get it over with now.
Church of Inhibition
Normally, unlocking access to the Altus Plateau requires players to collect the two halves of the Dectus Medallion and use them to activate theGrand Lift of Dectus. However, we’re in a bit of a hurry here, so we’re just going to take the shortcut through theRuin-Strewn Precipiceinstead. From Rose Church, make your way northeast pastRaya Lucaria Academyand proceed forward until you reach a narrow corridor that takes you through the mountains. If you keep going, you’ll eventually reach the path that takes you to the Ruin-Strewn Precipice, however, we’ll need to make a quick detour first.
Elden Ring Guide: Where to Find Dectus Medallion Pieces to Access Altus Plateau
There are two pieces to be exact.
Once you reach The Ravine Site of Grace, keep traveling northeast while hugging the cliff to your left. You’ll soon come across a path that will take you up the mountain toBellum Church. From there, make your way northeast while going around the mountain and you’ll eventually reach the Frenzy-Flaming Tower. Once there, travel south to reach the Frenzied Flame Village and then finally northwest to get to the Church of Inhibition.
As you approach the church, you’ll be invaded byFestering Fingerprint Vyke, so get ready for a fight. After dispatching Vyke, enter the church and soak the Lord of Blood’s favor in the blood of the dead maiden found inside.
Altus Plateau
With the quest item in your possession, head back to The Ravine Site of Grace and start traveling northeast again. This time, keep going until you reach the very end of the path where you’ll find a Site of Grace and a series of ladders that lead to a tunnel. Make your way through the tunnel and you’ll eventually reach the Ruin-Strewn Precipice. Continue making your way up and take the lift at the very top to find a Site of Grace and the entrance to a boss arena.
When you’re ready, enter the cave and defeat theMagma Wyrminside. This is a pretty tough enemy but it shouldn’t cause you too many problems. Dispatch the Magma Wyrm and continue through the tunnels until you reach Altus Plateau. Unlocking the Starscourge Radahn boss fight requires us to initiate the Radahn Festival, and the easiest way of doing that is by activating any Site of Grace in Altus Plateau. Hence why we came all the way up here. Once you activate the first Site of Grace you come across, it’s time to head back.
Starscourge Radahn
We now have everything we need to challenge the two bosses that need to be defeated in order to unlock Shadow of the Erdtree. you may tackle them in any order you want, but we’re going to start with Radahn just because he’s a bit easier. Starscourge Radahn can be found inside Redmane Castle in Caelid, which is basically on the other side of the map. However, there’s no need to worry because we know a handy shortcut that will get us there in no time.
Return to Limgrave and make your way east toward Caelid following the usual path pastSummonwater Village. Once you reach the Rotview Balcony Site of Grace, head south until you stumble across Fort Gael. Make your way to the top of the fort to find a waygate that teleports you to Castle Redmane. The castle’s gate is locked, so don’t even bother trying. Instead, turn around and cross the bridge to the other side to find another waygate. Activate it to teleport inside the castle. Once inside, talk toJerrento start the Starscourge Radahn boss fight.
Mohg, Lord of Blood
Once Starscourge Radahn has been defeated, head back to Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes and talk to White Mask Varre. Show him the soaked Lord of Blood Favor and the NPC will grant you the Pureblood Knight’s Medal as a reward. Mask Varre tells you not to use the item just yet, but you can simply ignore his warnings.
When you’re ready, activate the Pureblood Knight’s Medal from your inventory to make your way to Mohgwyn Palace. From there, it’s just a short trek up the mountain to the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum where you’ll find Mohg, Lord of Blood. Make sure your Robustness is up to snuff because both Mohg and the plethora of enemies you’ll encounter along the way inflict a ton of Blood Loss buildup.
After you defeat Mohg, reload the area and talk to Needle Knight Leda to learn about the Realm of Shadow. Exhaust all her dialogue and interact with Miquella’s withering arm to start your adventures in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware’s groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree: Enir-Ilim Secret Area, Euporia Location
Shadow of the Erdtree has a stronger focus on its open world, but there’s still some intersecting of their older designs.
