Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree - Shadow Keep Church District Guide (2024)

The Shadow Keep in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is an incredibly dense area. With hours of content to explore and entrances that don't have any relation to their counterparts, the chances of you getting lost or finding yourself uncertain about reaching other areas is very, very high.

Thankfully, Shadow Keep's nine floors, two entrances, and four bosses are far easier when you can do it with someone else. Engaging in our own type of jolly cooperation, we offer you this comprehensive guide on all the highlights of this impressive and massive dungeon.

How To Enter Shadow Keep: Church District (East Entrance)

Finding the second Shadow Keep entrance is a long and lengthy process that requires a bit of backtracking and exploration in new areas.

If you are looking for this entrance, then it is likely you have not yet discovered the east Scadu Altus with the Cathedral of Manus Metyr.

Your first step is finding the Moore Ruins in the central area of the Scadu Altus.

You need to find the hidden path to the Bonny Village via a very narrow alleyway between two dilapidated buildings (not the giant hole in the ground! But do try nearby).

As long as you venture through all of Bonny Village along the main path, you'll eventually pass through:

• A long swinging bridge
• A new Site of Grace
• A Furnace Golem
• The Rabbath's Rise Tower
• A second new Site of Grace

Just continue along the main path north-east until you see a large gate door which will lead into the Shadow Keep: Church District.

How To Reach The Shadow Keep: Storehouse, Back Section

This watery area is fairly straightforward with only a brief detour for an important upgrade item.

Your main goal is to jump across the building rooftops across the area, though there is a caveat:

A watery monster lurks just out of sight and will gobble you up if you spend too long near the water's edge.

Our first and only detour will require us getting up close and personal with this monster as we venture to the left to a circular structured area.

You'll have to sprint and jump across several logs here to reach the far side and loop around to take the Great Grave Glovewort .

Return to the main rooftop section until you reach a square area to the west.

Flaming corpses will rise from the ground as you near. They're not too dangerous, but they do explode after seeing you.

From this area, use one of the narrow ledges on the far side to go north and up to a new ledge (again with more exploding corpses; it's fireworks season, after all).

The rooftop ahead will also have a dagger Fire Knight guarding x3 Ember of Messmer , so be careful proceeding.

On the far south side of the rooftops, look east to see several long pillar-supports. You have to jump to them in order to proceed up to the next rooftop.

This next rooftop has a giant hole in the middle of it.

You'll need to:

• Drop onto one of the crossing beams below.
• Jump into the section to the south.
• Fall into the hole in the middle of the section.
• Pick up the Lightningproof Pickled Liver as you land.

Instead of going toward the visible Fire Knight for now, turn around and head around the corner to the northeast.

There's a locked door here that you can open with the Prayer Room Key .

Inside, Queelign himself will be lying on the ground.

At this point, you have two options:

• Give him the Iris of Grace.
• Give him the Iris of Occultation.

If you don't yet have an Iris of Occultation, you can come back to this location soon.

To find out what happens for each item, see our spoilered expandable below as this affects more than just Queelign.

Leaving the Prayer Room, go down the hall and take the first left available for a Rune of an Unsung Hero on a corpse.

With that in hand, you can fight the dagger Fire Knight patrolling the hall finally.

Continuing down the hall, there's another FIre Knight ahead.

After defeating it, you should go down the corridor on the left (facing North). We'll ignore the southern room and the statue just for a moment.

Sprinting across the bridge to avoid any water monsters, take the elevator up so you can claim the Storehouse, Back Section Site of Grace at the top.

How To Drain The Church District

Take the elevator back down and now venture into the room with the item in the center.

Ignore the statue's item and run around, cutting through the hallway on the other side to a bridge that goes over the water.

As you go up the stairs on the left, jump over the gap in the walkway (we're warning you because it got us; avenge us, friends).

There are two bats hiding around the corner on the right, so once they're grounded, you can climb the ladder ahead.

Up top is a lever you can push to drain the Church District. This will make available the entire ground level of this area, but we'll focus on the best parts for you.

From here, take the ladder back down and then, very carefully, descend into the room next to the ladder using one of the platforms on the way.

Search for the Sunken Chapel and the Site of Grace within.

How To Find The Scadutree Avatar

From the Sunken Chapel Site of Grace, travel to the far side to see a circular area surrounding a dead tree.

There's an Erdtree Avatar defending this area, so tread with caution and defeat it for the Mantle of Thorns spell.

In the area ahead to the north, there's a small room guarded by a Fire Knight.

Unlike other Fire Knights, he suffers from severe bouts of loneliness that can only be cured by summoning hoards of exploding corpses (we all have a type).

However, his summoning is his only strength, so dispatch him for the Death Mask Helm .

Search the chamber with the statue of Marika to find the Fire Knight's Seal hiding behind her (sneaky little thing).

With all the items now filling up your bag, you can leave the chapel through the northeast corridor.

There's a balcony with two stairs on either side framing a door. Go upstairs briefly for the Battlefield Priest's Cookbook [1] .

Then, you can now descend through the door to the Tree Worship Site of Grace.

This is where you should start getting ready for your next boss fight.

How To Defeat The Scadutree Avatar

The Scadutree Avatar is not a hard boss, but it is certainly a quirky one.

A three-stage boss with three separate healthbars. It will keep resummoning itself with each death.

As it isn't a hard boss, we've got a quick summary to help you get the edge on defeating it quickly:

• Use Fire-themed attacks and target the head for incredible amounts of damage.
• Don't pass up the critical hit attacks. They will reduce the healthpool of the boss's next incarnation.
• The thorn attacks deal Bleed damage, so don't get hit by them too often if you can help it.
• It has a multi-hit area attack that deals extreme amounts of holy damage. When you see it about to burst, run or practice the narrow timing window.

Once you've defeated the Scadutree Avatar, your reward will be the Remembrance of the Shadow Sunflower and Miquella's Great Rune .

What an absolutely amazing find!

But we're not done yet, so return to the Backstage Site of Grace in the Specimen Storeroom.

How To Find The Storehouse, Loft Site Of Grace

From the Backstage Site of Grace, run across the bridge into an armoury where several fire mage shades and a Fire Knight are roaming.

There's a Carian Thrusting Shield against the back wall.

Return to the bridge to take the ladder up to a ledge where a Fire Knight is standing. Kick him off, just to be a bully.

Then, up the stairs nearby, watch out for another Fire Knight that is patrolling the area behind you and to the right. He's guarding a Fire Coil .

Exploring the area, go northeast to a balcony where you can grab the Fire Serpent incantation for free off a corpse. And free is best.

Back inside the stacks, look at the wall to the southeast to discover a large hole. Jump through it.

To your right, the outside path has a Blessed Bone Shard and no enemies, so stroll up to the next Site of Grace at the top.

How To Reach Commander Gaius And The Back Gate Site Of Grace

From here, you can take the nearby lift into the Lofts area.

This pesky area is about to test every nerve in your body. Keep your snacks close for patience and prosperity.

Your first task is learning how to deal with the bats here.

• Mages and archers don't need to worry much here. They can shoot anything from afar.
• Melee characters will have a much trickier time. We recommend using a shield or the guard on your weapon to prevent being pushed back by attacks.

Exploring the lofts, take the first ladder (once you grab the Thin Beast Bones around the corner) you come across. Then, take a left.

Up here, there's a Smithing Stone [7] on a corpse on a central pillar.

Follow the loft path to a bat in the southeast and then around a corner northeast that looks like a dead end.

You'll have to jump down onto another beam and then take the first ladder you see up.

There's a Fire Knight up here.

Travel to the lift within sight and take it down to an area with another Fire Knight and a Rune of an Unsung Hero .

Then, you can take the lift up again.

Continue in the lofts area and take your first right toward a visible ladder nearby.

How To Defeat Commander Gaius

There are not enough words in the English dictionary to fully describe the amount of hatred the community feels for this boss.

If Messmer the Impaler was fair, Commander Gaius can sometimes feel like his exact opposite.

His first attack will always be a boar-charge attack, and its dodge window is very small. Often, you'll be clipped by a final frame as you're dodging through.

When fighting Commander Gaius seriously (and not using the many, many cheeses he deserves from a dedicated community of YouTubers), we would like you to keep these notes in mind:

1. Gaius is a two-phase boss that uses gravity magic often in his final 50 percent health.
2. His best attack to punish is his gravity lance thrust, which you should roll forward into to set up for an attack.
3. He appears to have a resistance to Cold damage.
4. He is not a mounted combat fight. Summoning Torrent has mixed results.
5. His most dangerous attack is a combo with the boar and his lance. To best avoid it, try rolling forward-right to stay on the boar's left side.

With much patience and inner-frustration, you will eventually put the boar and his rider down.

Your reward? The Remembrance of the Wild Boar Rider and, much further ahead, five Scadutree Fragments .

With the back lot available to you and all these rewards in tow, you can now finally say that you've explored all of the Shadow Keep.

Phew...