Although long dungeons in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring are not a new concept, the Shadow Keep in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is something else entirely. This massive dungeon has two separate entrances and access to four different named areas on the map. With so much to find, it's easy to feel oꦺverwhelmed in this maze.

After hours of exploration and testing, we've devised the best way to help you navigate this dungeon in its near entirety and with efficiency. If you're willing to come along for the ride, we'll take you from the Scadu Altus tಌo the Scadutree itself and everything in between. We just hope you packed your snacks; we'll be here a while.

Everything You Need To Know About Entering The Shadow Keep

Located in the Scadu Altus, this keep features several high-profile items: the Messmer, the Impaler, and two other named bosses💧.

It is filled with winding vertical pathways, optional detours, multiple entrances and exits, and ambush after ambush for a dungeon that will take you (at minimum) two hours to find everything.

There are two entrances to the Shadow Keep:

We won't be covering every non-priority item (i.e., minor smithing stones, broken runes, butterflies, common crafting item🦹s you can purchase, etc.) for the sake of time and reason in our wa▨lkthrough.

Any named items, weapons, high-profiling smithing stones, and rare crafting items will s🐼till be included.

How To Reach The Specimen Storeroom Site Of Grace

Your first obstacle is the Golden Hippopotamus. We've already covered it extensively in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:our official guide, so we won't spend too long on the topic here.

The most important things to note about this fight are:

1. It has limited moves, but the second phase horizontal spin attack is the most dangerous because of its multi-hit property.
2. Lightning incantations deal boosted damage in the water.
3. You can summon Redmane Freyja and Hornsent if you talk to each of them before the fight and after the spell breaks.

With the hippo hunted, our journey officially begins through the open door to the west of the boss room.

Outside, there are som𒉰e enemies on the left, but they won't notice you if yo൲u sneak.

While you're pushing them over the edge, we have to warn you of two enemies nearby:

1. One will descend the stairs as you push the ledge enemies over.
2. The second is up the stairs and on the right at the top of the first flight. It will attempt to push you off the stairs as you approach.

Take a right through the door where the sneaky𝔉 enemy had been hiding. There are another two guards to wrap up here:

• One stands at the window.
• One is sitting in the corner of the room to the right of the window guard, visible from his position.

You want both of these gone before yo﷽u 🔯attempt the black knight guard and his cheerleader.

The reason we bother with all this trouble is the weapon you can loot from the corpse in this room.

Return to the stairs outside and climb them to a wide open area.

Two sets of guards to your left and right patrol here, but we recommend taking out the ones on the right first.

Further up the stairs is a room that will take🦩 a little finesse.

There are two black guard knights:

• A shield black knight
• A bow and twinblade black knight

As yo🍌u approach the room, the bow will begin automatically 🧸firing toward the door.

The goal here is to backstab the shield black knight before baiting him out of the room and🅷 down the stairs, where you ༺can fight him in a wider area without interference.

Once the shield black knight is out of the way, you can fight the bow knight more effectively.

Pick up the near wh🌺eꦑre the bow black knight was standing, but don't leave the room yet.

Look for the hole in the wall on the west side for the consumable tool.

In the next area, take a brief detour left for the (yum!). Then, facing the opposite direction, take a de🍰ep breath.

You're almost to a shortcut, but you'll have to fight some vulgar militiamen on the way. They're hiding behind the flaming boats and will leap over them as you near.

Proceed with caution, grab the on the stairs ahead, and then take a right down the hill where you can see v🗹ulgar mi🍸litiamen patrolling.

At the bottom, there is a set of doors you can open to the Site of Grace (you did it!).

The vulgar mili💛tiamen will respawn when you sit at the Site of Grace and can be more bothersome to deal with coming back due to their awkward positioning and refusal to walk through the doors.

At this point, y♓ou can take a detour, but we'l▨l hold off on the detour for now just to open the next site of grace first.

So, climb the hill and the stairs ahead where your first Fire Knight.

If you're allergic to being burnt alive, we recommend you keep the following tips in mind:

1. Many of them wield knives (though not all) and are extremely quick-footed.
2. They like to use a flame incantation that hovers near them, fires after a delay, and tracks the player (similar to , in a way).
3. As expected of an elite, they have decent poise and health and can hyperarmour on some of their attacks.
4. They can be backstabbed and are considered humanoid enemies.
5. Like their boss, they are susceptible to Frostbite damage.

When dealing with them, we had the greatest success when using Frostbite and a weapon heavy enough to reliably stagger themꦦ.

After the Fire Knight is defeated, the Specimen Storehouse Site of Grace is at the top of the elevator ahead.

At this time, we'll step aside for two possible detours:

1. The Ruins of Unte - To unlock a new map area (the Ruins of Unte) and possibly gain more tears for the Wondrous Physick
2. Ancient Ruins of Rauh - To find a special item that can be used for an NPC quest within the Shadow Keep and unlock a new map area (Ancient Ruins of Rauh).

Detour: How To Reach The Ruins Of Unte

From the Fire Knight Site of Grace (where you fought the Golden Not-A-Hippopotamus), exit the doors to the east where the vulgar militiamen are.

Up the hill, turn right toward an area of flaming bo꧒ats you haven't yet explored. Like the left🌠, the boats are guarded by vulgar militiamen behind them, so tread with caution.

There are a few items in the area, but only the at the back wall is of note.

What we're looking for is a ladder toward the back wall and on the north side (left, when you're entering the boat section).

Descend the ladder, but as you come to stop, beware:

You're standing on a thin ledge.

Walk carefully to your right from the ladder wher🔴e the shadows are darkest to a waterfall.

Behind the waterfall is a path into a lower area, and you'll find the , but that's not the only prize here.

Roll against the wall to the north.

Great, that's still a wall.

Now roll against the wall to the south and find the real secret path.

You can follow the secret path to its finale: a waterfall with a coffin.

You know what to do. Jump into Elden Ring's coziest bed and enjoy the ride.

Your coffin will take you to the Ruins of Unte, where you can find several items, but most importantly, two Furnace Golems.

Detour: How To Find The Ancient Ruins Of Rauh And The Iris Of Grace

From the Specimen Storeroom Site of Grace, enter the west room filled with shad💙es and pick up the free Rune Arc in here.

With the arc in hand, we can venture through this westward area until you can take an elevator down.

Directly ahead, there's a room with a lar jar guarding a Golden-Pickled Fowl's Foot, but our real destination is through the first door on the right.

There's a jar innard that will jump out at you from the door on the left. It guards the very important on a corpse on the railing.

Continue down the main path, and you'll find a set of stairs with a 🍌jar innard patrolling it.

But before you go down the hill, notice the back wall left of the stairs. Roll into it to discover the .

Down the stairs, your favorite jar innards 🎃now come in a duo.

We recommend baiting one of these up the st🔯airs to avoid trying to fight both simultaneously.

The following room of rotting beds and corpses is patrolled by jar🀅 innards and tiny living jars.

However, the only enemy of note is the giant jar innard that can summon a sort of wave of flesh on the ground that can drastically slow you. We recommend ranged combat after defeating all surrounding enemies.

Behind this giant jar innard is the ♏, a necessary item for Queelign's personal questline as well as Count💯 Ymir's.

Going through the door opposite the Iris of Grace, beware the jar innard to your right, and then head down. You'll find ✨a large room, but th🍸ere's nothing notable here.

Continue on until you reach a Site of Grace.

The set of double doors ahead cannot be opened, so kick them on the way around to the tiny door to the right.

Ahead is a large bridge of bats, but the real danger is what lies behind them. A Fire Knight that can cast is ahead.

You can't entirely avoid its attacks, but you can find respite between sprints at a few overpasses along the way. Defeat the knight, and you'll gai✱n access to another site of grace just outside a new map area: The A🔯ncient Ruins of Rauh.

Wave, and return to Shadow Keep's Specimen Storehouse.

Back On Track: How To Reach The Specimen Storehouse Fourth Floor Site Of Grace

Okay, now we're cooking with gasoline. With our new items in hand and a little exploration out of the way, we can focus on the💮 sto🗹rehouse again.

From the main site ༒of grace, we're going to look at t💮he main path and shake our heads at it. Main paths are for chumps.

Instead, we want to:

1. Go right and look through the stacks of tablets against the wall until you find a narrow path you can squeeze through.
2. Follow the path until you seemingly hit a dead end, and then turn left and slightly back for a 110-degree turn.

This will lead to a public study area.

In this room, we'll discover the extremely valuable on a corpse at the end of the large divider.

To exit, pull the lever to the left of the bookshelf against the west wall.

Climb the stairs here, defeating any fire mage shades and vulgar militiamen you encounter on the way, and take a left to round up another set of stairs.

There are a few items on this floor, like the , but the most important thing of note here is the set of stairs down into a new room with a fossil on display.

Ansbach, an ally of our mutual and dear friend luminary Mohg, can be found in the far right corner.

Make sure to speak with him and exhaust all his dialogue before making your way to the third-floor stairs, which are located in the northeast.

Don't worry if you get a lit💃tle turned around here. The second floor isn't very big, but every corner has its own little item to make gettꦇing lost not so bad. But beware of the patrolling ____ on this floor.

Before we explore the third floor too much, look right over the banister as you reach the top of t♈he stairs and take a few steps forward.

You should see the tops of several bookcases toward the big petrified specimen. We're going to use these cases in a game of leapfrog all the way to the specimen.

Once you reach the specimen, climb to the top for a .

You can either:

• Try jumping over the stone tablet stacks to the three guarded by the shades or
• Jump down and climb your way back up to the third floor to reach it on foot.

Beware of the fire mage shade on the far balcony. You can't get reven♈ge on him yet, but the day will come.

A Fire Knight is also here on the third floor, so defeat it for the it's guiding.

Now take the stairs to the fourth floor.

There's anot🐽her Fire Kni🦩ght up a few steps who will alert to you, even while sneaking.

Once they're dispatched, you can step b꧃ack down the steps and take the west route through a doorway to fight another Fire (yay!). This time, your prize is... It's another Beast Horn.

From here:

1. Travel east, up the set of steps.
2. Continue until you see a long bridge path with an item on a corpse (a Furlcalling Finger Remedy).
3. Stop and look left over the railing to see a support you can walk on.
4. Jump over the rail and into this mini area to find the Dueling Shield.
5. You can now return to the bridge path where several vulgar militiamen lie in wait at the end.

Optionally, you can elect to continue into the next area for a and another Beast Horn. It's guarded by another Fire Knight, so෴ if you're not keen on another elite enemy, we recommend skipping this side area.

From the bridge path, look over the railing to the west for a statue with a pair of feet next to the rail.

From here, you'll want to:

• Jump onto their feet
• Climb their back.
• Jump off the horns and over the railing.

T💎he Fourth Floor Site of Grace and Cross are b♉oth here.

Collect the here, and we highly suggest resting and preparing for yet another long haul.

Ignore any texts telling you to jump. No matter how tempting it may be, there is no way to jump from the fourth floor to the side area𝔉 with the ladder and bookshelves. You can't. You don't💖 have the right.

How To Reach The Seventh Floor Site Of Grace

Venturing outside the Fourth Floor Site of Grace room, you can climb the stairs to find a Fire Knight who's found a new trick.

It's glowy, and flashy, yes, but a simple forward roll is all that will be needed to𒁃 overcome itꦯ.

There are bats in the following area, including two above a single one feasting on a corpse, but we'll set our sights on a set of downward stairs after taking care of them.

A and the can be found in the room at the bottom.

There's a on a ledge just on the side of the stairs.

Up the stairs and through a door on the left, you'll want to ignore the left side of this room (there's not much of value that way except x2 .

Travel right until you reach a set of winding stairs. You'll be tempted by a room ahead, but it isn't worth the risk against two Fire Knights for a simple .

Just continue climbing the stairs until you can see a room with a Site of Grace.

Redmane Freyja is here. Exhaust her dialogue and then head back down.

Beware the Fire Knight patrolling around the Site of Grace. If he gives you trouble, just🎃 sit down at the grace.

Going back downstairs, ignore the room ahead and instead go toward the furthest room south.

At the end is a lever that you can use to l🍰ower the central apparatus and the statues attached.

But before you go jumping:

• Climb the stairs.
• Take a left toward the statue at the end of a pathway (opposite the Site of Grace room).
• There's a on top of it, just like the last.

Now, you can jump into the area below and then onto the central apparatus.

Climbing the apparatus of statues, you can venture back outside and up a🐷 flight of stairs guarded by twℱo meager shades.

The far scarier opponent is the sword Fire Knight guarding the set of large doors at the top.

He's susceptible to backstabs, so we recommend making use of his twirling attacks and punishing them. Last we checked, only Malenia has a pasꦜs for dance move🅠s in the middle of combat.

Your reward for defeating him will be the and a .

But the prizes don't end there. A lies behind the double doors ahead, and up the stairs is the creme-de-la-creme: Messmer.

Detour: How To Get The Pearldrake Talisman +3

With all our ducks in a row, there's now an opportunity to go back for a highly valuable item: the .

This will require us to fast-travel to the Fourth Floor Site of Grace.

Here, the statue has now moved, making it possible to jump onto her feet again and run up to her head as you did to reach the grace the first time.

Jump down, and the Pearldr🌸ake Talisman will be sitting on the groun𓄧d in front of the statue's head.

How To Defeat Messmer The Impaler

Messmer is the faiꦯrest fight you'll have in the DLC.

All of his moves are telegraphed, rhythmic, and g♑enerally satisfying to learn. His he♌alth, unlike many DLC bosses, is not egregiously oversized.

We've summarized the most important tips for icing the cover boss for this DLC:

1. He has two phases, both starting with a similar plunge-and-explode attack, which should be used to your advantage as these are your best openings for damage.
2. Messmer is extremely susceptible to Frostbite damage.
3. He can be parried, and if you are using a shield, we recommend it.
4. Summon Hornsent. He isn't a greatly useful summon and dies quickly, but his dialogue is interesting for story purposes.
5. Remember that you can jump. His spreading flame attack can be jumped over, as rolling through or back is typically inconsistent without practice.
6. Messmer's combos are long. Don't get ambitious, and wait your turn.
7. Messmer's second phase is a cutscene trigger, and it is played around 50 percent of his boss bar (no second bar).

As long as you match Messmer's dance, never overplaying your hand, you'll come out on top for the and Messmer's Kindling.

With these in hand, rest and prepare to take on the second, optional half of the ღShadow Keep in Part Two of our Walkthrough guide.