Mountaintops of the Giants Walkthrough – Elden Ring

  • Shabriri

As well, after progressing their quests, these NPCs will come to this area


The Mountaintops of Giants is the final required open world area of the game, and isn’t nearly as dense as the previous parts of the Lands Between. Still, it’s far from empty, and within these snowy mountains, you’ll find both familiar foes and unique castles and dungeons. One might also imagine that part of the reason there’s less stuff up here is that few Tarnished ever make it this far — but you did!

The Mountaintops of the Giants are reached by traversing the Forbidden Lands — these are accessible from Leyndell, Royal Capital. However, you’ll also need to go up the Grand Lift of Rold at the end of the Forbidden Lands, which you won’t be able to activate without the Rold Medallion.

To receive the medallion, you must first defeat Morgott, the final boss of the royal capital. First, attempt to enter the Erdtree, then once you discover the thorns blocking your path (you need to actually try and receive the message about the way being blocked) go to the Elden Throne site of grace in the middle of Morgott’s boss arena and rest — there, you’ll be able to speak with Melina, and she’ll give you the Rold Medallion.


This guide is broken up into sections — start with Western Mountaintops, and then use the tabs to navigate to the next section when you’re ready.

Upon finishing your ride on the Grand Lift of Rold, you’ll find yourself in the Mountaintops of the Giants. You’ll be facing north — continue this direction and then northeast as the path bends to the right, and you’ll soon come across a monument with the Map: Mountaintops of the Giants, West at its base. Equipped with a map of the area, you can continue northeast, where the path will open up into a snowy area. On the left by the edge of the cliff is the Zamor Ruins site of grace, and (if you’ve been following his quest) nearby is what appears to be Yura — speak to him and discover the truth of how this dead man is walking.

There are a number of copy/pasted Heros of Zamor in the nearby ruins (that we’ll soon enter), but none of them drop anything useful, so it’s best to avoid them unless you want to test your skills on them — summons are available if you choose to fight these foes.

From “Yura”, look south, where you’ll see some snowy high ground. Use torrent to make your way up via the ruined foundation and the rocks:

from yura mountaintops of the giants elden ring

Once you’re up on the snowy high ground, you’ll see a bird to the south feasting on a corpse. As you approach, a second bird may swoop down on you from the right — kill this one before engaging the one on the corpse, then grab the x2 Sliver of Meat for yourself. Head west to the edge of the high ground and look over the edge to find a torch-lit stairway that leads below the ruins. Down the stairs and through the door is a chest that contains the Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing [3] — you can be sneaky and avoid the patrolling warriors, or you can just go fast and ignore them.

location of smithing stone miners bell bearing 3 elden ring
Head on down!

After snagging the bell bearing, head east from the entrance to the basement and into the ruined building — on your right as you enter through the broken wall is a corpse with the Zamor Ice Storm sorcery. Head due northeast from the building you’re in and make your way to the edge of the ruins, where the final building here has a corpse with some Invigorating Cured Meat. Grab it and continue following the path as it heads east — the very first “tree” on your left is actually a kind of totem with a loot beetle at the top. Use a projectile to knock it down, then pop it for a Somber Smithing Stone [7].

Follow the path east a bit further, and stay on it as it curves northwest around the rocks, and you’ll soon come to a 4-way intersection. Go left (downhill to the southwest) and use target-lock as soon as you turn to find a hawk hiding on the right. Clip its wings and continue downhill — at the end of the path here you’ll be able to snag an Arteria Leaf. Then, go northeast back uphill, where you’ll find a corpse with x4 Smoldering Butterflies to the left of the path. Keep going northeast, and you’ll drop down onto the path and get a nice view (if it isn’t too foggy).

the way forward from ruins mountaintops of the giants elden ring
Butterfly corpse and the way forward

There are a lot of other people here enjoying the view, but fortunately, they’re all very distracted by the scenery. Go a bit further down the hill and you’ll be able to summon your favorite spirit ash if you want to clear this area (although it isn’t necessary). If you don’t want to kill everyone here, go down the main path, then turn left (north-northwest) to head onto the closer ledge that overlooks the bridge. Ignore the enemies and just loot the two corpses here for x3 Arteria Leaf and the Briars of Punishment sorcery.

Then go back to the main path and cross it heading southeast — keep going this direction onto a hard-to-spot path that leads to the Giants’ Mountaintop Catacombs.

path to giants mountaintop catacombs elden ring v2

These catacombs are a bit of a maze, but we’ll (soon) have a guide to make things easy for you!

From the Giants’ Mountaintop Catacombs entrance, go north, riding quickly past the enemies to make your way out onto the precarious “bridge” that leads further north. When you’re about halfway across, look for a corpse in a chair on the left — it’s easily spotted from the bridge, so don’t fall off trying to look over the edge for it. Grab the Lost Ashes of War from the corpse and continue north. At this point, you’ll soon come under fire from a giant archer. Fortunately, there’s cover — when you first come under fire, you’ll be able to hide behind part of the bridge just ahead. Once you hear an arrow hit your cover, head to the second piece of cover — from here, you’re actually safe from the archer, and you can continue around the cover and northeast up the narrow path on the right of the large stone block.

hiding spot on bridge mountaintop catacombs elden ring v3

You’ll be exposed once you come back up level with the bridge, so dash quickly forward, and then drop down to the left where a corpse is slumped against the bridge. If you stand up against the wall, right on top of where the corpse is, the arrows will just barely hit the wall in front of you.

The corpse you’re so unceremoniously standing on has a Golden Rune [7], so make sure you grab it — once the next arrow hits in front of you, dash north, grab the x4 Rainbow Stone and x2 Drawstring Holy Grease from the other two corpses just ahead, then continue northeast to make your way off of the bridge. Once you get close enough to the giant, his arrows should hit the ground in front of him, but you can hide behind cover when he prepares to fire just in case.

Make your way around the rocks to the giant archer and start hitting his feet — not only for revenge, but because otherwise he’ll keep shooting you as you explore the area beyond. Dodge his stomps and he should fall pretty quick — run around to his left side and stab his glowing hole once he falls to the ground, which should finish him off. Northwest of the giant archer is a corpse with a Golden Rune [13], and there’s also an Arteria Leaf blooming nearby.

From the corpse, ride northeast through the huge pillars. Beyond them to the east-northeast is a huge loot beetle rolling around a Somber Smithing Stone [8]. After smacking the beetle around, continue east through the arch, and you’ll pass some broken columns and then find a corpse with x6 Soft Cotton. Then go right around the rocks ahead and go north uphill, crossing over the arch you just went under.

As you make your way up the path, you’ll see a huge arch supported by two columns — the Ancient Snow Valley Ruins site of grace sits at the base of the left-hand column. Rest here, then — if you’re following Millicent’s questline — speak to her nearby and exhaust her dialog.

If you want an Arteria Leaf, go east-southeast to the nearby rocks, then follow the steps in the GIF below to get onto the high ground and grab the crafting material.

mountaintops arteria leaf elden ring gif

Next, follow the hard-to-see path northeast and then north, and you’ll soon reach a frozen river, patrolled by another giant. Feel free to ignore it (and the rest of the enemies on the frozen river for that matter) — head left to go west, following the frozen river past a number of demi-humans. You’ll soon come to the support columns of a bridge, where demi-humans and bats are battling each other. If you like, you can intervene here and pick up some runes for your trouble — some of the bats in this area seem to occasionally drop a Golden Rune [10].

Beyond the battle, further to the west, is the Shack of the Lofty, which is easy to spot amidst the snow. Inside, you’ll find the Traveling Maiden set. The pile of giant corpses south-southeast of the shack has x3 Warming Stone and an Invigorating White Cured Meat on top, plus a Smithing Stone [7] on the northeastern side of the pile. Grab the items and then continue south to the Spiritspring jump. Use it to jump up to the northeast, and then turn right (south-southeast) and continue downhill until you find the Hermit Merchant at the end of the path. Check out his wares, then head back up the path the way you came. When you get to where you landed after the Spiritspring jump, you’ll need to jump up the left side of the rocks to get onto higher ground.

jumpin up rocks mountaintops of the giants elden ring

Once you’ve jumped up the rocks, you’ll find yourself in front of a bridge. Now we’re going to go grab a site of grace in order to avoid having to come all the way back up here if you die. To do this, head over the nearby bridge heading north-northwest. On the other side, a huge spectral skeleton will come out of the ground and attempt to blast you with what’s essentially a laser beam — but he’s really slow, so just dash past him.

Turn right once you’re on the other side of the bridge and follow the path as it leads northeast, then east, heading uphill. There will be a corpse with a Golden Rune [11] on your right as you go up the path, and another Golden Rune [10] just to the right of the path right where the path levels off — at this point, you can leave the path and continue due east — you’ll soon reach a drop, and below you will be the Snow Valley Ruins Overlook site of grace. Hop down and activate it, rest if you need, and then from the site of grace, look to the south-southeast — see the bridge there? That’s your next destination.

to the bridge mountaintops of the giants elden ring

To reach the bridge, you’ll need to go northwest and then turn left around the rocks to head south, then continue the left turn to go east-southeast across the bridge. On the other side, you’ll be able to summon your spirit ash of choice, then continue south towards the foot of the Minor Erdtree to fight the Erdtree Avatar. This is just like all the other ones you’ve faced, with one exception: at ~50% HP, it will summon another version of itself. Both can be damaged (they have a shared healthbar), but it does complicate the fight slightly. Crafting Fire Pots (or even better, Giantsflame Fire Pots using the Fire Blossoms found in this area) before this fight is helpful, since you can throw them from horseback and stay away from the Erdtree Avatar once it duplicates itself.

Once you defeat the Erdtree Avatar(s), continue southwest past the Minor Erdtree, and you’ll soon find the path again. Follow it as it curves west — you’ll encounter a number of Demi-Humans here, including a chieftain, but you can ignore these foes. The path will bear right, and you’ll see a demi-human sitting on the edge of what appears to be a cliff — head over to him and you’ll be able to drop down onto a corpse with a Golden Rune [10] (although it’s got a few more demi-humans hanging around it).

minor erdtree loot mountaintops of the giants elden ring v2

Jump back up to the path and continue west-northwest across the bridge. On this bridge, you’ll find a corpse in a chair with a Somber Smithing Stone [9], and you’ll also meet Goldmask and Corhyn if you’ve been following their questline — exhaust their dialog before continuing across the bridge. On the other side, follow the path downhill as it curves north, then head northeast into the Stargazers’ Ruins.

Make sure you don’t summon any spirit ashes to help you kill the bats here, as you’ll need that cooldown soon. Head into the central building of the ruins, killing any bats that aggro — inside, you’ll find a poor sweet Jellyfish who misses her sister. Summon the Jellyfish Ashes to reunite the two sisters — this will unlock the seal at the bottom of the nearby stairs (plus give you the Fancy Spin gesture), and you’ll be able to enter and open the chest containing the Primal Glintstone Blade.

head into the main building mountaintops of the giants elden ring
The central building

Go back up the stairs and then leave the building through the northeastern doorway. Outside, continue up the stairs, deal with the three bats, then in the far right corner of what’s left of this building, you’ll find a corpse with x2 Freezing Grease. There’s nothing else here, so head southwest, back to the entrance to the ruins, then turn right to head north-northwest towards the bridge once again. Before you cross the bridge, open your map and place a beacon at the location indicated below — it can be challenging to find (and explain how to find!) where we’re going next.

path from stargazer ruins to the tibia mariner
X marks the spot (that you should put a beacon down) — a path is also indicated to help you with reaching the marked location

Once you’ve placed your beacon down, follow the path — as in the image above — by first crossing the bridge to the north-northwest. Do so rapidly, as a huge skeleton will once again come out of the ground and shoot a laser out of its eye. Turn right at the giant skellington and continue northeast. Keep moving so you don’t get hit by lasers, or by the other giant skeletons that come out of the ground and try to slap you. If you didn’t grab it earlier, you should see a corpse on your left with a Golden Rune [10], right where you need to turn off the path to reach the beacon.

If you want another Arteria Leaf, you can make a detour to the southern edge of the ridge — the leaf is guarded by a few skeleton snails (see map location).

Grab the item and continue off the path, heading directly to the beacon marker, where you’ll find a Tibia Mariner. This one doesn’t have a boss health bar, but it also doesn’t summon any friends — the handful of skeleton snails (let’s call them Skelly Shellies) in this area (and the boss’s impressive HP) are its only advantages. When it dies you will receive Helphen’s Steeple and a Deathroot. Next, we’re going to go fight a Death Rite Bird, so if you used up a lot of resources on the Tibia Mariner, you may want to teleport back to the Snow Valley Ruins Overlook site of grace. However, there’s a Stake of Marika near the bird, so unless you’ve got a Rune Arc active you want to protect it’s easier to just head straight to the boss.

Head back the way you came onto the path and continue downhill (southwest) — when you see the bridge and enter more open ground, curve to the right until you’re heading north, and you should see a summoning pool in the distance. Take a left at the nearby tombstones and continue southwest downhill — soon you’ll enter a somewhat open area, and the Death Rite Bird will spawn.

Summons are available for this boss, and the terrain is such that it’s pretty easy to simply ride away if you don’t want to die and don’t think you can win the fight. Interestingly, this Death Rite Bird will spawn even if it’s not night.

In the area in which the Death Rite Bird appeared, there is a stone quarter-sphere on the north-northwestern side of the cliffs where you can find Starlight Shards. Next, head back to the “entrance” of the boss area and turn left to head northwest down the path that leads to the low ground to the north (it’s visible on the map). It will wind downhill a bit, and you’ll end up heading east-northeast towards Castle Sol.

You’ll pass a few lightning-struck areas with Fulgurblooms you can harvest, and there is also a walking mausoleum out in front of the castle. It’s hard to tell thanks to all the ice and snow, but there are skulls on the mausoleum’s feet you can knock off to make it settle down — unless you want to listen to the bell bing bonging the whole time you’re in Castle Sol, it’s a good idea to clean the mausoleum’s feet before you go inside. Grab the Castle Sol Main Gate site of grace by the castle’s front steps, but don’t go inside yet! There’s some loot behind the castle to grab first.

From the site of grace, go north and jump up on the rocks at the corner of the castle, then continue northeast around the castle walls (1). There are lots of nooks and crannies back here, but no items, so continue east-northeast and straight through the gap between the walls ahead (2).

You’ll have to jump over a rock to continue forward, and then you’ll be behind the castle. To the southeast is a graveyard with a fairly skimpy assortment of Golden Runes, but free is free. Once you’re finished grave robbing, head south and make your way around the corner of the castle there. You’ll encounter two hawks here — if you’re fast you can kill one before they’re aware of you. Continue southwest and you’ll see some Nascent Butterflies hanging out on your left. From there, continue west until you reach a drop (don’t go too fast or you might fall off) — a corpse with a Somber Smithing Stone [8] sits on the edge of the rocks. Grab it and then drop down, and you’ll find yourself back at the front of Castle Sol — time to head in!

After you’ve cleared Castle Sol, you can teleport to the Snow Valley Ruins Overlook site of grace — with the western section of the mountaintops cleared, it’s time to clear the other side of the map.

This walkthrough continues in the Eastern Mountaintops tab!


While the next step on the main path is Crumbling Farum Azula, there are a number of optional areas you can and should do first if you’re interested. If you’ve acquired both halves of the Haligree Medallion — (left) and (right) — you can use the Grand Lift of Rold to get to the Consecrated Snowfield, by way of the Hidden Path to the Haligtree; this is the area that lets you access both Miquella’s Haligtree and Moghwyn Palace.

Share this article:
DanielD
DanielD

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.

Articles: 1609
Subscribe
Notify of
guest


7 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Moon
Moon
3 years ago

I have been following this guide since limgrave and very much appreciate to you all who patiently write all of these in details!! Such a noob person like me who never play any soul games before, love these walkthrough! Cheer! 😁

Phil
Phil
2 years ago

Your walkthrough directions from place-to-place, plus your descriptions and procedural suggestions are the the best, bar none. Thanks. So helpful.

Strongf1sh
Strongf1sh
3 years ago

Thank you very much. I definitely missed a bunch of stuff. You may want to include the hermit merchant on the same plateau as the stargazer ruins. He is hard to get to but he’s definitely there.

Argo
Argo
3 years ago

You forgot Prelate Charge Loot Beetle above in a tree just after the big monk guy (after the imp key)