What to do first in Shadow of the Erdtree, with a walkthrough and guide

What to do first in Shadow of the Erdtree can be tricky to work out as the Elden Ring expansion is as broad and indecipherable as the main game, but while the DLC goal is simple - find Miquella - the steps involved are harder to work out. 

This is a game where exploration is key, though. So getting lost, finding new things and progressing organically is part of the process, but given the challenge here some help won't hurt. Especially when it's easy to miss key details or not understand an objective, making things even harder still.

For that reason, I've assembled a broad walkthrough, laying out all the major steps in Shadow of the Erdtree you need to complete - where you need to go at any given point, and what you should be doing next. This guide also includes a simple guide, checklist and further details on the different phases of the story to help you on your way.

Warning: the following guide contains some spoilers for the main plot of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (obviously).

Shadow of the Erdtree walkthrough and what to do

This basic step-by-step walkthrough on what to do in Shadow of the Erdtree should help you find the next key step in the story. So if you get lost, refer to this to get back on track. These are all the things you need to do to complete the main story and I'll have more details on each step further below.

1. Upon starting Shadow of the Erdtree, head to Belurat, Castle Settlement and kill the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss. This will give you access to the front door of the Tower of Shadow, though you can't get inside yet - it's currently sealed off.
2. Head to Castle Ensis and beat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight. This will give you access to the Scadu Altus Region beyond.
3. Head north to the Shadow Keep and defeat the Golden Hippopotamus to get access to this sprawling central citadel.
4. Take the Western exit from the Shadow Keep and 1st floor of the Specimen Storehouse, and enter the Ancient Ruins of Rauh.
5. Follow the ruins to the Church on the west side to slay Romina, Saint of the Bud. This allows you to access the Sealing Tree past her arena, on the cliff edge.
6. Head back to the Shadow Keep and this time climb the Specimen Storehouse to the very top, to fight Messmer the Impaler. Win and you'll get Messmer's Kindling, a key item.
7. Take the Kindling to the Sealing Tree and choose to burn it with Messmer's Kindling. This will allow the Tower of Shadow to finally be accessed. This point can shut of a lot of NPC questlines so make sure you're as update date as you can be before triggering this.  
8. Go back to the Dancing Lion's arena, and go into the Tower through the now open door past it.
9. Climb the Tower. Along the way, you'll have to fight Leda and other NPCs in a major challenge.
10. At the top of the tower you'll encounter the final boss. Defeat them and you'll have completed the central story of Shadow of the Erdtree.

If you're wondering how long all this will take, I've laid that out in our how long to beat Shadow of the Erdtree page.

The main goal overall is to get to the top of the Tower of Shadow, and everything you do is in service of that objective. You kill the Dancing Lion to reach the front door of the Tower, kill Romina and the bosses blocking her off to get to the Sealing Tree she's protecting, and kill Messmer to get the Kindling that lets you burn the tree and unseal the Tower. Then the goal is to ascend the tower and reach the top - where the final encounter is waiting. 

Below, we'll cover the main steps with a little more detail. You'll need to find all the various Shadow of the Erdtree map fragments to see the full map which, while not technically essential, is obviously a useful and important part of progressing.

Where to go first in Shadow of the Erdtree

The Shadow of the Erdtree Divine Beast Dancing Lion is the first boss you should target, waiting at the highest point of Belurat, Castle Settlement. Belurat is long but relatively linear, with only a few divergent paths along the way, and a good place to test yourself for the threats ahead. The Lion uses Lightning and Frostbite attacks, so acquire some defences for those before going in.

Once the Lion is dead, you can go through the arena to the entrance to the Tower of Shadow - only to find it sealed shut. To get inside, you need to remove the Seal, but that won't be any time soon.

Where to go after the Dancing Lion boss

After defeating the Dancing Lion you'll want to head over the bridge to Castle Ensis. It's a more active area full of soldiers but, again, it's relatively linear and a bit shorter than Belurat So head in directly and fight your way through - be prepared to deal with a lot of magic users.

This area ends with the Shadow of the Erdtree Rellana Twin Moon Knight boss fight, an even tougher challenge than the Lion. She uses a mix of magic and fire channelled through various sword combos. She can be parried - if you're very skilled - and is weak to Lightning damage, with an NPCs you can summon outside for help.

Rellana doesn't own anything particularly plot essential, she's just blocking the way to the next area - the Scadu Altus. This would probably be a good time to do some exploration off the beaten path, find new optional areas and level up yourself and your gear.

Where to go after the Rellana boss fight

After Renalla head directly north to the Shadow Keep, a massive area guarded by one of the Shadow of the Erdtree Furnace Golems (the big fiery basket boys). Once you get inside, you'll find it guarded by a boss called the Golden Hippopotamus, a bulky, but comparatively manageable encounter. Stay at the back end, away from the giant mouth, and get ready to move with greater agility when phase 2 comes and it begins using projectiles. This is one of those bosses where it's far better to dodge than to block.

Beating the Hippo lets you gain proper access to the Shadow Keep. It's relatively linear up until you reach a large area called the Specimen Storehouse… then things change.

Where to go in the Shadow Keep

The Shadow Keep is a location with multiple entrances and exits, with paths and secrets, hidden sections and more. For the critical path through, you want to get to the Specimen Storehouse first floor Site of Grace, then take the elevator to the West, going downwards.  

Fight through the basement full of horrible jar monsters and more, and you'll eventually reach a bridge where a mage tries to rain bloody fire on you. Make it past them, and you'll hit the Ancient Ruins of Rauh.

Where to go in the Ancient Ruins of Rauh

After reaching the Ruins of Rauh, your goal is to access their Southwestern point, the church on the cliffs overlooking the Tower of Shadow. To reach it, cross the bridge (avoiding attacks from the Furnace Golem), turn South to the Site of Grace and start making your way up, level by level, through the Scarlet-Rot filled rooms and outside cliffs ledges.

Eventually you'll come to the Church of the Bud, a ruined church with a boss fight against somebody called Romina, Saint of the Bud. Romina is tough, but seems to have a vulnerability to fire damage. Her attacks also tend to be fast, but highly telegraphed in some way, so perceptive players will be ready to dodge.

Once Romina is beaten, past her you'll find the Sealing Tree, a little plant made of shadow. The goal is to burn it - but you don't have anything that will do so just yet.

Where to go after Romina and how to burn the Sealing Tree

The Sealing Tree needs to be burned, and to do that, you'll need to defeat another boss who has what you need. Head back to the Specimen Storehouse, and this time start climbing the tower, up the stairs, to the highest point. It's a long journey with multiple Sites of Grace along the way, and some bastard Fire Knights that will test your patience, but keep going.

At the top, you'll have to fight Messmer the Impaler himself. This is a two-phase boss fight and a brutal one; Messmer deals primarily in fire damage, with sweeping AOE attacks and little warning about when he strikes. Play defensively, stay agile and bring in a sturdy summon to distract him, waiting for his cooldowns between long attack combos to launch a counter attack. Once beaten, you'll get Messmer's Kindling.

Where to go after the Messmer boss fight

Once Messmer is beaten, it's time to head back to the Sealing Tree in the Church of the Bud again. Interact with it and choose to "Burn the Sealing Tree". You'll get a cinematic where the shadows around the tower disappear, as well as being teleported to its outer wall automatically. You'll also get the tower's real name: Enir-Ilim. It's important to note that this is a major cut off point for several NPC questlines where it might be impossible to progress them anymore after this point. So make sure you're ready. 

Where to go after the Sealing Tree is burned

Once the tree is burned head back to the Dancing Lion's arena and go through the now-unsealed door - it's a shortcut that skips over the first section of Enir-Ilim, and you can always go back to that area if you want to explore it anyway.

Where to go in the Tower of Shadow, Enir-Ilim

Enir-Ilim is a rough gauntlet of enemies - mostly tanky opponents who use holy or lightning damage - and your goal is to just keep climbing. Staircases, elevators, ladders, windows leading to ascending sections of roof - if you can go up, you should. There'll be multiple checkpoints along the way, and some very good items, though some of the toughest non-boss enemies are patrolling this area - the bird-faced knights being particularly nasty for the unexpected.

Near the top, you'll be confronted by Leda - who tells you you're not going any further. She leaves behind a red summon sign and you'll have to trigger it to progress, leading to a fight with her and other NPCs you've met along the way. Who appears and what happens depends on dialogue choices and questline progression.

Fighting Leda and her friends is an exercise in caution. Individually none are too tough, but with several of them at once, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Summons are your friend here, and powerful AOEs or spells that can be cast quickly are a good way to keep a healthy distance while whittling them down.

Where is the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree?

We won't spoil what/who the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree is, but we can tell you where it's found and give some advice on how to beat it. At the highest point of the Tower of Shadow (now Enir-Ilim), and past Leda and her peers is a golden gate to a boss arena. Step inside and you'll be immediately confronted by the last of the Shadow of the Erdtree main bosses.

Keep in mind that this is an almost unreasonably tough encounter. You'll definitely want to comb the rest of the DLC for Scadutree Fragments, level up to at least level 200, probably a lot higher, and maybe plan a specific build accordingly. The boss deals a lot of holy damage in their second phase, and seems to be somewhat vulnerable to bleed damage, so insulate and arm yourself accordingly. You'll also want to be agile - this foe does too much damage to make shields a viable option for most players.

Beat them and the last thing to do is interact with a little golden sprite floating in the middle of the arena where it says "touch memory". You'll get a final cutscene to close off the main story of Shadow of the Erdtree, and congrats! You've conquered some of the hardest challenges in all of Elden Ring. Don't worry, all the DLC areas are still totally explorable even after completing the critical path.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission