The Gravesite Plain is your introduction to the Elden Ring expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, and it’s a pretty big introductory area. This guide will walk you through the entire area, including all the locations, important items, dungeons, and bosses.
This guide is a living document, and we will continue to add secrets as we discover them or they are reported!
How to Get to the Realm of Shadow
Accessing the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC’s main region requires the player to defeat two of the main bosses, Radahn and Mohg. Then, you’ll be able to interact with the cocoon in the Dynasty Mausoleum where you defeated Mohg. You can expect to be able to beat these two bosses a little over halfway through the game (assuming you’re playing solo).
The first boss you’ll want to take on is Starscourge Radahn. It’s recommended that you beat Liurnia of the Lakes before heading to Caelid, the region where you find Radahn. Once you’re in Caelid, you will have to travel south and work your way through Redmane Castle. At the end of the legacy dungeon, you’ll fight Radahn — note that you’ll have to have rested at an Altus Plateau site of grace in order for Radahn to become accessible.
Redmane CastleStarscourge Radahn
Next, you’ll have to vanquish Mohg, Lord of Blood. There are two ways to access the Mohgwyn Palace, the area with this boss. The “normal” way is to go through the waygate in the Consecrated Snowfield. However, the faster method — and one that can be done much earlier on in the game — is by doing Varre’s quest line until he gives you the Pureblood Knight’s Medal, which will teleport you to the Mohgwyn Palace.
Mohgwyn PalaceMohg, Lord of Blood
After Mogh is dead, you will have access to the Cocoon of the Empyrean Site of Grace, to which you can fast travel. The cocoon is directly in front of the site of grace. You can talk with Leda first, who is standing nearby — when you’re ready, interact with the withered arm sticking out of the cocoon and select Yes when prompted to enter the Realm of Shadow.
Site of GraceCocoon of the Empyrean
The Gravesite Plain is very large, so we’ve split it up into sections. First up is the western portion, where you are transported to after interacting with the Cocoon.
Gravesite Plain – West
Once you enter the Realm of Shadow, you’ll be able to see the location of the area map monument if you open your map. Do so now, and mark the map monument with a beacon to make it easier to find — we’re going to grab the map before doing anything else. That done, make your way northeast up the stairs, enjoy the view, then make sure you grab the Gravesite Plain site of grace before riding Torrent over to the map monument.
There is a very challenging enemy sitting on top of one of the nearby arches (see yellow circle in image above), and they don’t drop many souls, so feel free to ride wide around it on your way to the map monument. Once you have the map, our next stop is the Church of Consolation, so teleport back to the Gravesite Plain site of grace.
We’ll be using this map for the remainder of the Gravesite Plain West section of the walkthrough — you may find it useful to open the map in its own window while following the walkthrough, which you can do by right clicking and selecting “Open in New Tab”
Church of Consolation
Unique & Important Items
Beast Claw
Black Steel Greathammer
Scadutree Fragment x2
Miquella’s Blessing
From the Gravesite Plain site of grace, go east towards the church. If you want x2 Lump of Flesh (and a jump scare) first head towards the southern portion of the forest to the indicated spot. From there, head northeast into the dead center of the woods south of the road, and you’ll find Logur, the Beast Claw wandering around. He’s a tough enemy, but will drop his Beast Claw weapon when killed.
x2 Lump of Flesh
That’s all that’s hiding in the woods, so you can go north to hit the road again, and continue following it towards the church — along the way you’ll encounter sleeping soldiers that are worth a decent chunk of runes (1689), and two corpses with a Glass Shard and a Black Pyrefly. A few more sleeping soldiers and a flaming dog are in your road, and then you’ll be at the church.
Inside the church is a very tough knight enemy that has a guard counter and a spell attack that fire a line of holy damage, so roll (or ride torrent) sideways to avoid it. You can summon spirit ashes here, and it’s a pretty good idea to do so. The knight drops the Black Steel Greathammer, and at the back of the church is a very important item — the first of many Scadutree Blessings. (See our guide on Scadutree Blessings for more information).
Head northwest out of the church and then turn right (north) and you’ll see a soldier with a torch — nearby is a Miquella’s Blessing (Image 1). Then head back through the church and out the eastern side towards the small camp, where you can kill a few mobs and find x2 Fire Coil the right-hand tent (Image 2). That done, you can once again teleport to the Gravesite Plain site of grace.
Scorched Ruins
Unique & Important Items
Hefty Cracked Pot
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [1]
Revered Spirit Ash
Scadutree Fragment
Blade of Mercy
“The Sacred Tower” Painting
Backhand Blade
Deflecting Hard Tear
Head north-northeast from the Gravesite Plain site of grace towards the Scorched Ruins — if you want, you can head straight through the town and grab the site of grace before exploring it. There isn’t much here, but what is here is important, especially the Hefty Cracked Pot you can find on the eastern side of the lower ruins. From the Hefty Cracked Pot, to the east and up a flight of stairs, is the Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [1].
Hefty Cracked Pot
Once you’ve got both items, go back down the stairs and to the other (western) side of the ruins, then jump into them (Image 1). In the corner by the stairs is a Shadow Realm Rune [2] — grab it and then go up the stairs onto the balcony, grab the x2 Furcalling Finger Remedy from around the corner on your right, then continue into the next building (Image 2) (watching out for the two enemies throwing crap at you from said building). Go through the building onto the next balcony, turn right and go across the roof to the tallest structure, then go through the door up the stairs to find the Blade of Mercy talisman (Image 3).
Image 1Image 2Image 3
Make sure you grab the Scorched Ruins site of grace if you haven’t. Now, you can choose to head west to the Mausoleum, or north to the next site of grace. Either way, there are quite a few items to grab in the immediate area. Most important is the Scadutree Fragment due east of the Scorched Ruins site of grace — kill the shadow mob with the pot on its head, and it’ll drop the fragment.
This lil’ guy has the good stuff
You can also go find the Backhand Blade now, which can be found past the gigantic Furnace Golem to the north, east of the road — the giant is pretty darn tough at this point for most players, so it’s best to give it a wide berth (but it does drop the Deflecting Hard Tear). East and slightly south is another Revered Spirit Ash on the cliff’s edge. You can also find “The Sacred Tower” Painting in a cave to the east on your way. North of the Backhand Blade, near the edge of the cliff, you’ll find another corpse with a Grave Glovewort [3].
There are some birds guarding the path to the Mausoleum, but they’re pushovers and you can ignore them if you want. Inside the Mausoleum you’ll find the Blackgaol Knight, a tough foe that drops his armor set when defeated.
This site of grace, north of the Scorched Ruins, is just what it sounds — a place three paths meet, and at a cross! You’ll find the first of Miquella’s Crosses here, which you can interact with for a bit of lore. Speak with the first NPC near the site of grace, Freyja, and exhaust her dialog. Then speak with the other NPC, the Hornsent, who is just north of the cross, and a bit harder to spot. Exhaust their dialog as well, and they’ll give you a map where you can find the other crosses of Miquella. You should also grab the Empyrean-Blood Burgeon growing by the site of grace.
Before we head north, we’re going to finish clearing the southern portion of the map, so from the Three-Path Cross site of grace, head southwest up the road, through the huge gate that leads to the castle on the hill.
If you return to this Three-Path Cross after killing the boss in Belurat, Tower Settlement and talking twice to Hornsent Grandam in the storage room of Belurat (the first time while wearing the Divine Beast Head), you can give the Hornsent the Scorpion Stew you got from her and exhaust his dialogue to receive 3 Furnace Visages.
Main Gate Cross
Unique & Important Items
Scadutree Fragment x1
Empyrean-Blood Burgeon
Before we head to Prospect Town proper, we’re actually going to grab the site of grace outside of Belurat, Tower Settlement. Go through the gate mentioned in the previous section, and follow the main road generally west, past all the shadowy mobs and up the stairs until you reach the site of grace on the left side of the road, just before the final set of stairs. Grab the Main Gate Cross site of grace, interact with the cross of Miquella, pick up the x1 Scadutree Fragment and the Empyrean-Blood Burgeon, and exhaust the dialog of the NPC by the cross — you can also shop with the nearby armored fellow.
Cliffroad Terminus
That done, head back the way you came, down the hill — we’re going to take a cliff-side path, visible in Image1 . Go down the stairs and then go right where indicated (Image 2) to reach the path.
Image 1Image 2
Be very careful going up the path, as there are two dogs waiting to make you panic and fall off the ledge. There’s a Smithing Stone [3] you can grab from a corpse just beyond the dog. Past the dogs and around the corner are some bats — two are visible, and a third is hiding around the corner on the right. Fight or run past the bats, and you’ll reach another group of three bats — beyond them is the Cliffroad Terminus site of grace.
Church of Benediction
Unique & Important Items
Revered Spirit Ash
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [5]
“Incursion” Painting
Blessed Blue Dew Talisman
Oathseeker Knight Set
Pata
Rest at the site of grace, then turn southeast and follow the road until you reach the ruined house (Image 3). You’ll find the first Revered Spirit Ash on a large corpse there, at the edge of the small pond. Continue south from the ruins, and on your right you’ll see a few large mobs and their dog buddies facing corpses with x10 Great Arrow and x4 Smithing Stone [4]. Down the road further south-southeast is a group of very dangerous lightning goats, including some huge ones you really don’t want to engage. On the right, off the road, is the Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [5] (Image 4).
Image 3Image 4
From here, you can go up the hill to the Artist’s Shack to find the “Incursion” painting, and then you can go right on the edge of the cliff to make your way to the church (see below). The path to the church has a large rat and some smaller ones — the small ones can drop Rune Arcs, and are therefore worth killing. The path will curve left and go down a shadowy section, where a dangerous slicey-guy awaits on a ledge above the path.
Like the one we avoided when getting the map of the area, you can simply sprint past this one on Torrent and continue to the church. In the church, you’ll find the Blessed Blue Dew Talisman, and north of the church on the edge of the cliff is the Pata and the Oathseeker Knight set. Once you have the items, you can teleport back to the Cliffroad Terminus site of grace.
Prospect Town
Unique & Important Items
Forager Brood Cookbook [2]
Outer God Heirloom
String-Seller’s Bell Bearing
Scadutree Fragment
From the Cliffroad Terminus site of grace, you can go three directions:
The Cookbook can be found up the hill just to the southeast — talk to the foraging shrimp fellow to receive the book plus some crafting materials. He can be hard to spot, so here’s his map location as well as a better look at him:
Next we can head into the actual town — or what’s left of it — by going tot he base of the ruins, and then making our way up along the top of the collapsed wall (Image 1). Ahead up the stairs is a duo of enemies — if you want to fight them, it’s best to utilize Spirit Ashes so you don’t get 2v1’d. In the building on the left, opposite the stairs, you can find x2 Beast Blood.
Go up the stairs, around the corner, and up the next set of stairs, then go around the corner and up the ramp (Image 2), grabbing the x3 Whiteflesh Mushrooms from the corpse. Make your way up and across the rubble, turning west to head to the highest part of the ruins.
Image 1Image 2
Ahead is a large group of sleeping enemies, and a structure with a chest containing a talisman. You can sneak around these foes to the right — grabbing the Somber Smithing Stone [4] from the bottom of stairs on your right as you do so — then continue up the rocks and into the building. Loot the chest for the Outer God Heirloom, then go around the back of the building if you want to find some crafting materials.
Path to talisman
Finally, you can teleport once more to the Cliffroad Terminus site of grace, then head to the graveyard, which is up the hill west of the town. In the back of the graveyard is a Ghost Glovewort [4] and a Spiritgrave Stone — note that there are a large number of weak but dangerous mobs scattered throughout the graveyard. Make sure you also kill the mob with the pot on its head, as it will drop a Scadutree Fragment.
East of the graveyard, in the little valley between the graveyard and the town, look up to find a pot hanging against the eastern wall. Use a ranged weapon you can aim, like a crossbow, to shoot the pot and drop the String-Seller’s Bell Bearing it contains.
We’re done with this area now, so teleport back to the Three-Path Cross site of grace!
Greatbridge, North
Unique & Important Items
Ash of War: Savage Lion’s Claw
Great Katana
Dragon Heart
Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [10]
Gravebird Armor
From the Three-Path Cross site of grace, head north across the road, and follow the path just to the right of the large tree (Image 1) — the path isn’t immediately visible, but you can see it on your map. You’ll come to a couple of dogs eating a corpse on the road — ignore the poor soul, and head left (southwest) off the path. Up against the cliff, you’ll find the Ash of War: Savage Lion’s Claw.
Ash of War: Savage Lion’s Claw
Head back to the road and continue following it north, and you’ll soon reach the Greatbridge, North site of grace, which will be on the right side of the road. There are a handful of useful items scattered around the lake, and within it:
The Great Katana is a new weapon type!
To the west is a lake that has the Ghostflame Dragon in the middle of it — this is another very tanky boss, and it drops drop a Dragon Heart and a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. Right in front of the dragon is the Great Katana. Beyond the lake, you’ll be able to enter the Belurat Evergaol, the first dungeon of the expansion — exciting! There’s also the cool bird armor to grab to the northwest, and the cookbook in the little shack to the north of the site of grace.
Belurat Gaol
Unique & Important Items
Greatjar
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [11]
Demi-Human Swordsman Yosh (boss drop)
This dungeon, due west of the Greatbridge, North site of grace, is where you’ll finally get to find out how those living jars are made. Could this be a dungeon without the catacombs tileset? In other words, new content. [Jump for joy gesture].
With not one but two negative adjectives, this location is named in classic FromSoft style. From the Greatbridge, North site of grace, follow the path north-northeast up the hill into the village. There are a handful of enemies scattered around here — while somewhat tanky, they have slow, easy to avoid attacks, and can be ignored if you like. In the intact house on the left, you can find a Broken Rune, but otherwise there’s nothing here until you reach the top of the hill, so keep following the path upwards and north-northeast.
At the top of the hill, you’ll find a large group of enemies, and on the right on a wooden platform is the Ailment Talisman. Look southwest, and you’ll see an item below you — head back down the hill and make your way down the rocks to find a Revered Spirit Ash. Continue south, grabbing x2 Black Pyrefly from a corpse, and you’ll come to a spot where there is a circle of bright tombstones surrounding a Larval Tear.
Larval Tear
Run-Down Traveler’s Rest
Unique & Important Items
x2 Furnace Visage
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [2]
You can reach this area by heading south-southeast from the Greatbridge, North site of grace, or by following the cliff’s edge south if you are coming from the Abandoned Ailing Village You’ll soon come to a small structure that has a cookbook that teaches you how to make the Hefty Furnace Pot, as well as a couple of ingredients for the very same pot.
And with that, we’re done with the western portion of the Gravesite Plain! Next up, Gravesite Plain – East.
Gravesite Plain – East
This area is very confusing to navigate, in large part because so much of it is actually beneath the area displayed on the map, including many of the sites of grace and the river area. We’ll do our best to guide you in an organized, clear way!
We’ll be using this map for the entirety of the Gravesite Plain – East walkthrough. Note that the Ellac River Downstream site of grace is beneath the area pictured on the map, as is Ellac River Cave
Ellac Greatbridge
Unique & Important Items
Lost Ashes of War
Teleport to the Three-Path Cross site of grace, and follow the road north-northeast, across the Ellac Greatbridge. There is a ballista that will fire at you once you’re about halfway across, but all you have to do is move left or right when it fires and it should miss you easily. Two corpses on the bridge hold x5 Ballista Bolt and x1 Lost Ashes of War — grab them and sprint with Torrent past all the enemies for now. Straight ahead are some stairs, and at their base on the right is the Castle Front site of grace.
Castle Front
Unique & Important Items
Scadutree Fragment
Firespark Perfume Bottle
Fire Knight’s Cookbook [2]
From the Castle Front site of grace, we’ll clear the tents to the south and west of items — despite there being a lot of tents and enemies, there aren’t very many items to grab!
If you want the Firespark Perfume Bottle, head to the tents south of the intersection, where you’ll find a dangerous group of perfumers. Don’t miss the Scadutree Fragment in front of the statue on your left as you head there. The perfume bottle is in a chest amongst the perfumers.
On the other side of the road, to the west-southwest of the site of grace, there is a tent guarded by a knight and 2 soldiers — inside is the Fire Knight’s Cookbook [2]. The knight can simply be avoided, but it does drop a Smithing Stone [6].
Fog Rift Catacombs
Unique & Important Items
Spelldrake Talisman +3
Electrocharge
Ancient Dragon Knight’s Cookbook [1]
Death Knight’s Twin Axes
Crimson Amber Medallion +3
From the Castle Front site of grace, head south to the crossroads, then go northwest down the road — watch out for the doggo/man-o pair here, as they are pretty dangerous, especially when the soldier uses the Fire Snake ability. There are a few large troll mobs on the road ahead as well, and just beyond them is a fork in the road — first, go right downhill towards the talisman.
You’ll pass a few more mobs, and go through a couple of bats, then continue east until you reach a torch. To the northwest you’ll see another torch lighting a doorway — jump across the gap and go through the doorway to find a chest containing the Spelldrake Talisman +3.
Talisman safely in hand, you can head back the way you came and continue north. The path to the catacombs goes through another soldier camp; this one has even less items, and it’s even more dangerous if you slow down, as there are numerous fire-pot flinging fellas. If you want, you can sneak up the hill to the right of the road, and sneak through the soldier’s camp. There are x5 Black Pyrefly on a corpse under a tent you can grab on your way through. If you are detected, be very careful going through the narrow gap through the rocks, as there are explosive barrels there. After passing through the narrow spot, you can turn right and back track up the hill to find a corpse with x3 Smithing Stone [3]:
Probably not worth the risk
Continue following the path north, and you’ll enter a darker area. Here, you’ll be ambushed by vulgar militiamen — there are two groups of three. You can fight or ride past, and at the end of the path is the entrance to the Fog Rift Catacombs.
From the Castle Front site of grace, ride south to the crossroads, then go east down the road. You’ll encounter another dangerous man/dog pair patrolling near the camp, and then continue east on the road. You’ll come to a spot where you can take a dirt path downhill — this is the way to the river, and eventually to another zone, but first we’re going to clear the hill with the Suppressing Pillar tower, so stay on the made road to the tower.
There are a number of tough soldier enemies in the woods along the path, so if you want to avoid combat, you can. Either way, for now hug the left-hand wall until you reach an enemy facing away from you at the edge of a cliff. Nearby is a Grave Glovewort [5] — to the southwest is the road, so get back on it, make sure you grab the Swift Spear from the corpse, then continue southeast on the road. The road will split again — go left to find the Pillar Path Cross site of grace.
To the Pillar Path Cross site of grace
There, you’ll find a Cross of Miquella, and the usual Scadutree Fragment and Empyrean-Blood Burgeon. You’ll also meet Thiollier – talk to them a few times and you’ll be able to purchase poison and poison accessories from them.
Pillar Path Waypoint
Go back to the fork in the road, and this time go right (south) uphill. Another one of those jumpy, slashy guys we keep avoiding is hiding near a tree by some tombstones, so be ready to fight or run. There’s also a Grave Glovewort [6] on the right-hand side of the road. Continue southeast and you’ll come to yet another fork in the road — this time, there’s the Pillar Path Waypoint site of grace right in between the two paths, so grab that before you head down either path.
Dragon-Hunter’s Great Katana (drops from Ancient Dragon-Man dungeon boss)
From the Pillar Path Waypoint site of grace, head west to the road, then exhaust the dialog of the screaming NPC. That done, you can continue towards the Dragon’s Pit by heading southwest. A bird enemy will fly down from its perch on your right and attack you — use Torrent’s dash to avoid the bird’s first attack, then deal with it before continuing (you don’t want it attacking you during this next bit). You’ll be forced to dismount, and then from the south you’ll see an invader, Ancient Dragon-Man, spawn in.
He has very little poise and is easily staggered (jump attacks OP), and most of his attacks are slow and clearly telegraphed. He does do bleed, however, so don’t let him hit you too many times, and be ready to run/roll behind him if he begins a dragon breath attack. Once he dies, you can continue following the path south, and you’ll soon come to the entrance to the Dragon’s Pit on your left.
From the Pillar Path Waypoint site of grace, go east to the path, then follow it south-southwest uphill. Continue up the stairs — you can fight the birds or ignore them, but grab the Gravebird Bracelets up the first set of stairs — and make your way to the top of the hill and into the Suppressing Pillar. Get off Torrent to trigger the elevator, and at the top of the pillar you’ll find a chest with an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
Ruined Forge Lava Intake
Unique & Important Items
Before Dungeon
Spread Crossbow
In Ruined Forge Lava Intake:
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [13]
Smithscript Dagger (Throwing Blade)
Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone
Anvil Hammer (Colossal Weapon)
From the Castle Front site of grace, ride south to the crossroads, then turn left and continue east on the road. You’ll hit the same fork in the road as you did on the way to the Pillar Path Cross, but this time instead of heading straight, take the right-hand turn onto the dirt path that eventually leads to the river (though we’re just heading to the Ruined Forge Lava Intake dungeon for now). There’s a roadblock with some soldiers on the path, but it’s easy to go around or through it on Torrent.
Through the roadblock, head right (west) to the edge of the cliff by the bridge, where a small camp with soldiers contains the Spread Crossbow on a corpse (Image 1). Then head south-southeast up the gently sloping hill, through the fighting mobs, to the entrance of the Ruined Forge Lava Intake (Image 2) — it’s a hole in the stone wall at the top of the hill.
If you’re coming from the Ruined Forge Lava Intake, you can simply head northwest until it’s safe to drop down onto the path that leads downhill to the southeast. Otherwise, from the Castle Front site of grace, once again ride south to the crossroads, turn left, and continue east on the road. At the fork in the road, go right onto the dirt path, and then take a left at the next fork to continue downhill to the southeast (Image 1). There are some bloodfiends (the large troll-lookin fellows) on the road that can be avoided if you like.
The path will lead to a poison swamp area. Miyazaki just couldn’t help himself, but Torrent makes places like this much more manegable. At the bottom of the hill, you’ll have a few choices on where to go (Image 2). We’ll go to the Hovel and the Back of the Fort area in the subsequent sections, so for now lets just grab the grease before we head down to the river.
Turn right in the shallow poison and continue south-southwest, and you’ll be able to go either way around the rocks ahead to find the Festive Grease on a corpse near the cliff’s edge. Go back the way you came, and this time continue forward until you find the path that leads downhill (Image 3). Ignore the areas to either side, as they have nothing, just go downhill on the path. There are a few vulgar militiamen on the path, plus poison traps on the ground, so either stay mounted and keep moving, or else be very careful in how you engage these mobs.
Image 1Image 2Image 3
At the bottom of the path you’ll reach a shallow lake with a crab. Turn left (southwest) and you’ll see a hole in the cliffs — head inside.
I got back up and pwnd him
The path on the left leads upwards, but grab the Deep-Purple Lily on the ledge before continuing southwest deeper into the cave. There are no enemies here, but there is a Revered Spirit Ash on the right in a larger chamber. In the chamber beyond the spirit ash is the Ellac River Cave site of grace.
Elder’s Hovel
Unique & Important Items
Talisman of the Dread
Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [7]
If you reached the Ellac River cave from the poison swamp area by following the previous section of the walkthrough, we’re simply going to retrace our steps now.
From the Ellac River Cave site of grace, head north east through the cave — there’s only one way forward — until you exit. Then head uphill, going generally southeast. At the top of the hill, turn left and look for the large poison flower. Behind it, you can find the Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [7]. Now go southeast/east, and you’ll soon reach the Elder’s Hovel (on your way, make note of the locked Spiritspring Jump on the left). where you’ll find the Talisman of the Dread.
Locked spirit spring jump
Behind the Fort of Reprimand
This route allows you to skip Castle Ensis if you want to, granting access to Scadu Altus via an alternative route.
First, make your way to the Elder’s Hovel (see above). From the hovel, head due northwest, and on the ledge above the locked spiritspring jump (see image above), you’ll find a little rock mound (see image below!). Hit it with a weapon to unlock the spiritspring jump just below you to the west. Make sure you jump towards the cliffs to the north-northwest. After jumping, continue east-southeast and at the far end of the cliff you’ll find another spiritspring jump. Jump due north, and you’ll reach the Behind the Fort of Reprimand site of grace.
Break to unlock spirit spring jump
Rivermouth Cave
Unique & Important Items
Before Cave
Horned Bairn
Two-Headed Turtle Talisman
Mushroom-Seller’s Bell Bearing
In Cave
Bloodfiend Hexer’s Ashes (boss drop)
From the Ellac River Cave site of grace, leave the cave via the southern exit, then turn right and continue northwest through the canyon. Note that the little round rocks are actually crafting materials (Roundrocks, go figure), so grab ’em if you like. There is a duo of bats on the left side of the canyon, plus a few rats just ahead — it’s best to clear them, as the upcoming boss fight might lead you into them otherwise. You’ll soon come to a wider area with a pillar of rock in the middle (Image 1). Clear the rats, then go around the pillar and you’ll spawn an Ulcerated Tree Spirit (you can see exact spot location in Image 2), which drops the Horned Bairn when killed — this reusable item gives you a version of the glintblade phalanx via FP.
Image 1Image 2
Grab the Shadow Realm Rune [2] on the stone pillar near the tree spirit’s spawn, then continue further northwest into the ravine. You’ll pass a ton of fly mobs, but they are easily ignored. Ahead is a corpse pile, and on it is a corpse with a Silver Horn Tender. Keep heading northwest, and you’ll come to a wider area where there are two paths — use the map below to guide you through the next few steps.
First, go right and head to the waterfall — you can ride Torrent straight through the waterfall, and inside the small cave you’ll find the Two-Headed Turtle Talisman. Leave the cave and continue hugging the right-hand wall, and you’ll soon find a proper cave, the Rivermouth Cave. Before you enter, however, continue to the spot indicated on the map and look up to find a Bell Bearing pot — shoot it with a ranged weapon to claim the Mushroom-Seller’s Bell Bearing.
From the Ellac River Cave site of grace, leave the cave via the southern exit, then veer left and continue south. You’ll quickly reach a waterfall, but you can use torrent to jump from rock to rock to continue south. You’ll see an item after a few jumps (Image 1) — you can double jump straight to it, just make sure to let go of the left stick and kill your momentum once you’re above the rock. Grab the Greater Potentate’s Cookbook [12], and then you can keep jumping southeast on the rocks to reach the nearby waterfall (if you fall, that’s OK, there are just a few weak fly mobs below). Use target lock to determine which birds are real and which are statues, and make your way down the path — watch out for the bird hiding around the corner at the bend in the path (Image 2). Deal with it quickly, as another bird further down the path will aggro as well.
Image 1Image 2
Grab the Somber Smithing Stone [4] from the base of the nearby statue, then continue southwest and south down the path — you’ll soon see the site of grace just ahead, though you’ll need to drop down a few times from the rocks to reach it. Activate the Ellac River Downstream site of grace, and then — assuming you want a Somber Smithing Stone [6] — turn around and go north, back the way you came. At the rocks go into the corner to the left (Image 3), then use torrent to get up the rocks at the spot indicated (Image 4). Then head through the crack to the northeast (Image 5), go out onto the waterfall, and go left (north).
Image 1Image 2Image 3
Keep going this direction and you’ll eventually find a lobster guarding a Somber Smithing Stone [6]. Ride away quickly, back to the site of grace, unless you have a death wish (or really like killing lobsters).
Next, from the Ellac River Downstream site of Grace, go south, dropping down the rocks until you see a long pillar of rock to your left that goes across the face of the waterfall (Image 4). Jump east as indicated and then use a ranged weapon to shoot the pot on your left (Image 5). Continue east and jump off the pillar, head south to the low ground and the water, then go north to where the pot’s item fell to claim the Mushroom-Seller’s Bell Bearing [2].
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Off to the south you’ll see a Fire Golem you can challenge if you’re up for it and/or you want the Viridian Hidden Tear — for now, we’re going to leave the water and head east, hugging the left-hand cliff wall. At the cliff’s edge, you’ll see a forager nearby (Image 6) — speak to them to recieve x3 Yellow Fulgur Bloom and the Forager Brood Cookbook [3]. Due south from the forager is a lake being struck by lightning and patrolled by a huge lightning goat. In the middle of the lake is a corpse with the Lightning Perfume Bottle, and there are lots of Yellow Fulgurblooms to collect as well.
From the lake, head southwest and you’ll find a tunnel through the cliffs that leads to the Cerulean Coast site of grace — grab it for later.
Where to Go Next
With that, we’re finished with the Gravesite Plain’s open world section! If you haven’t cleared Belurat, Tower Settlement, you can do that now if you wish. The Cerulean Coast is another great place to continue, especially as we just grabbed that site of grace, and the enemies aren’t too tough. A final option is to return to the Castle Front site of grace and clear Castle Ensis — doing so is how you gain access to the next open world area, Scadu Altus (unless you want to take a shortcut through the Fort of Reprimand).
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
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