1. Complete Varre’s questline and Beat Mohg
This almost goes without saying, if you just got the DLC surely you need to make sure you can access it, right?
The easiest way to do this is by beating Varre’s questline, there is a longer route but it does require you to unlock an endgame secret area.
How to do this;
- Speak to Varre at “The First Step” and then beat your first boss (usually Godrick)
- Go back to Varre to find he’s moved, find him at Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes.
- Tell him you don’t trust the fingers and then invade 3 times, don’t worry, you don’t need to win. If you’re playing offline you can fight Magnus at Writheblood Ruins in Altus Plateau
- You will then get a cloth needing “Maiden Blood”, luckily a dead one can be found in Liurnia of the Lakes at the Church of Inhibition
- Use the item Varre gives you to be teleported to Moghwyn Palace.
- Fight your way up the mountain and through the caves and graves.
- Beat Mohg
- Reload the area and talk to Leda
- Touch Miquella’s hand
2. Obtain the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
A lot of the DLC’s enemies hit HARD, it's great to go in with the best physical damage reduction talisman. Whilst there are +2 versions of elemental damage in the base game, you can pick up the Greatshield versions relatively quickly.
How to do this;
- Unlock the Consecrated Snowfields with the secret medallion from Village of the Albinuracs in Liurnia of the Lakes and Castle Sol in Mountaintops of the Giants.
- Beat the Ordina, Liturgical Town puzzle by lighting the 3 towers
- Navigate down the Haligtree, beating Loretta and progressing to Elphael
- Reach the Drainage Channel site of grace
- Follow the tree branches to the roof of the church and drop down on the beams below
- Follow the beams until you reach the chest with your prize
3. Collect all the Smithing and Somber smithing bell-bearings
Fortunately you’ll get lots of Ancient Dragon and Somber Dragon smithing stones to take the new weapons to +25 and +10, respectively, but you’re not going to be picking up lots of the smaller ones. It great to be able to purchase them from the Twin Maiden Husk in Roundtable Hold.
How to do this;
Smithing (1) - Beat the Crystallien boss at Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel
Smithing (2) - Sealed Tunnel, Altus Plateau
Smithing (3) - Zamor Ruins, Mountaintops of the Giants
Smithing (4) - Beat the Godskin Duo at Crumbling Farum Azula
Somber (1) - Beat the Fallingstar Beast at Shelia Crystal Tunnel, Caelid
Somber (2) - Beat the Stonedigger Troll at Altus Tunnel, Altus Plateau
Somber (3) - First Church of Marina, Mountaintops of the Giants
Somber (4) - Tempest-Facing Balcony, Crumbling Farum Azula
Somber (5) - Beside the Great Bridge, Crumbling Farum Azula
4. Enjoy the scenery
This might sound weird on a guide but take the first 10 minutes of the DLC without a guide. If you’ve been playing Elden Ring since launch it’s been a 2 year wait!
There is something great about going to a completely new area and seeing the breathtaking visuals firsthand and Gravesite Plains is no exception, it’s almost reminiscent of the opening of the Ringed City DLC.
5. Collect the new DLC weapons that require little to no fighting
Before you respec into the new weapon types it’s worth collecting them all to test their moveset, even if you don’t have the right stat allocation, you will still swing the weapons and execute their Ashes of War correctly. Unlike prior Souls games where you’d get a slowed down and inconsistent version of the moveset. I would recommend Roundtable hold to test the moveset or early Limgrave if you want some “‘living” tests.
How to do this;
- Great Katana - North Gravesite Plains in the lake, you can sneak past the dragon if you don’t want to fight it yet
- Backhand Blades - East Gravesite Plains, its in the only Mausoleum in this area
- Beast Claws - Beat Lorgur just East of where you teleport into the DLC
- Perfume Bottle - In a chest just south of Castle Ensis, Gravesite Plains
- Light Greatsword - Enter Castle Ensis and climb the first tower you reach
6. Collect your Scadutree Fragments
In the opening area of the game there are 10 fragments you can acquire without fighting a single boss. This will get you to level 5, increasing your damage dealt by 1.35x and reducing damage taken by 0.74x.
You will need a site of grace in order to use them to upgrade your shadowland blessing.
7. Collect your Revered Spirit Ash
Like it or not, spirit summons WILL help you in the shadowlands
How to obtain ash in the opening area
There are also 7 spirit ash in the same area, again without having to fight a boss. This will also get you to level, increasing your spirit ash damage by 1.38x and reducing incoming damage by 0.75x.
After collecting them remember to upgrade your shadowland blessing at a site of grace.
8. Meet the new band of NPCs
There’s going to be times where you’re going to have to make a decision
How to meet all the nps and complete their quesltines (spoilers, obviously)
There are several questline throughout the DLC that can be quite easy to mess up, especially Thiolliers, the easiest way to start them all is to meet them in the opening area of the game.
Ansbach and Moorh can be found just information of Belurat. The Hornsent and Freya right in the centre of the Gravesite Plains. Both locations are marked by a cross of Miquella. Thiollier is a bit further afield, all the way to the east but still in Gravesite Plains
How to do this;
- Enter the Gravesite Plains from Mohg’s arena in the base game
- Ride directly north until you see one of Miquella’s crosses, these are big holy crosses standing by graces.
- Talk to Freyja and The Hornsent until you’ve exhausted their dialogues.
- From this cross ride west through the tunnel. This will take you to the stairs to Belurat.
- Beside the stairs is another Miquella cross with Ansbach and Moorh the merchant. Again speak to them until you’ve exhausted their dialogue.
- Go back to the previous site of grace and instead go east, over the bridge.
- From the steps of the castle go south east and follow the road
- At the end of the road is another of Miquella’s crosses, here is Thiollier. Again…exhaust their dialogue.
9. Collect the Gravesite Plains map fragment
Like the base game, the moment you reach a new area you should probably go for the map fragment. Again, they’re shown as tiny monoliths on your map and you will just need to ride Torrent over to them and pick them up.
How to do this;
- After exiting the cave into Gravesite Plains you should be able to see a town and a Furnace Golem in the distance. Head towards them
- As you get close to the town find the main road that runs through it
- Follow it South and you’ll find the map fragment
10. Complete Scorched Ruins
Now, you don’t get a fantastic item from this location, a talisman that boosts damage after a critical strike, but you will learn something a lot more valuable; verticality.
More So than any other Souls game this DLC relies on you jumping (and double jumping with Torrent), and getting used to this change in play style will really help you to understand some of the navigation puzzles later on.
How to do this;
- After exiting the cave into Gravesite Plains you should be able to see a town and a Furnace Golem in the distance. Head towards them
- As you progress through the town look for burnt drapes you can run up, broken pillars to jump across and balconies underneath that you’ll have to drop down to and then jump in (using Torrent)
- Once you’ve worked your way up to the top, claim your prize
11. Beat the Furnace Golem
You can see this happy guy immediately after entering the DLC
How to beat it
The Furnace Golem is the new Erdtree Avatar and will also drop the new tears for your Physick. For this reason I’d recommend practising on the first one you come across, it has the least health of the Golems and is also an unarmoured version which makes it significantly easier.
The Furnace Golem is best fought on Torrent, stick close to his legs and then jump over his stomps.
How to do this;
- Stick close to avoid his fire kicks and his homing projectiles from his “head”’
- Double jump over his stomps, the range is massive
- Don’t get too cocky and use all your stamina on attacking
- Critical Strike whenever he goes down, 2 cries WILL kill him
- If you stun him, try to concentrate on his other leg
- Like the fire giant, attack the hair around his ankle
12. Head to Belurat, Tower Settlement
How to reach Belurat
At the beginning of the DLC your choice is Belurat or Castle Ensis. The latter is easier and the boss, Rellana, is very cool with some great rewards but it’s not that big. Belurat is the game’s first legacy dungeon, maybe about the size of Stormveil Castle, and is a much better introduction to the Shadowlands.
How to do this;
- After teleporting into the Shadowlands head north to the Miquella Cross
- Head into the tunnel to the west and follow the main path
- Work your way upwards through Belurat
