How To Unlock Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

To enter the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC region, you have to defeat two main bosses Radahn and Mohg. And here's how to find them.

Game Guide by Rayan on Jun 23, 2024

While Elden Ring isn't exactly a walk in the park, FromSoftware simply won't let you access the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC until you've advanced a specific level of in-game progression. So to enter the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC region, you have to fulfill two requirements...

Defeat Radahn and Mohg. Both of these are major Elden Ring bosses and to get to them you have to complete Stormveil Castle and defeat Margit, The Fell Omen, and Godrick the Grafted. Once you have defeated them, make your way out of the Stormveil Castle. When you’re sitting at the Site of Grace, Melina will approach you and take you to the Roundtable Hold. There you need to talk to the Finger Reader Crone where the Two Fingers are sitting in the room. This will activate the parts from where you can find and defeat Radahn and Mohg.

How To Unlock Shadow of the Erdtree, Access Shadow of the Erdtree, Elden Ring DLC,

So here are the steps:

Take Part at the Radahn Festival & Defeat Starscourge Radahn

Reaching Radahn’s festival is easy but to activate the event you need to activate the Grand Lift of Dectus first. It’s a lift that connects Liurnia and the Altus Plateau. To activate it you need two The Dectus Medallion (Left) which is located at Fort Haight Mistwood. The Dectus Medallion (Right) can be located in Fort Faroth at Dragonbarrow. Once you have collected both, go to the Grand Lift of Dectus Site of Grace and trigger the cutscene. This activates the Impassable Greatbridge Portal in Caelid which leads to the Radahn Festival.

Grand Lift of Dectus, How To Unlock Shadow of the Erdtree, Access Shadow of the Erdtree, Elden Ring DLC,
Grand Lift of Dectus

Caelid, Radahn Festival, Defeat Starscourge Radahn,
Fort Faroth

But to get to Caelid and the Impassable Greatbridge Portal isn’t that easy. The shortest way to reach Caelid is by going to the Third Church of Marika and finding a portal behind it. Once activated, it’ll teleport you to Bestiral Sanctum, and from there you can simply ride Torrent and make your way to the other part of the map.

It’s the best way to do it because going to Fort Faroth to collect the Dectus Medallion (Right) is not too far from Bestiral Sanctum. Or you can go to the Smoldering Church at the top left of Caelid’s map and keep taking the road to the left side. This will eventually take you to the Impassable Greatbridge Site of Grace.

Once you’ve activated the Impassable Greatbridge Portal, it’ll take you inside Redmane Castle Plaza and you’ll have to beat the mini-boss (in fact, two of them at a time) to reach the NPC sitting on the upper floor of the castle. You need to speak to him and rest at the closest Site of Grace and then talk to him again. This time you’ll see him in front of several other NPCs who are getting ready for the Festival (battle).

Caelid, Radahn Festival, Defeat Starscourge Radahn, Impassable Greatbridge Portal
Impassable Greatbridge Portal

Speak to him and he’ll ask you to take the door (where he was previously sitting). The door leads to another teleporter which will take you to the Radahn boss fight. He’s rather easy to beat if you keep your cool since you can summon several NPCs during the battle. Still, don’t take Radahn lightly in his second phase when he jumps from the sky. He can kill you in one shot if you’re not careful enough.

Find Mohgwyn Palace & Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood

Mohgwyn Palace in Elden Ring is a secret location that can only be accessed in two different very specific ways and this is also where we're going to be entering into the DLC when it releases. So, here’s a quick guide showing you both options to get to this palace and fight Moog.

Mohgwyn Palace is the location that allows us to get into the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. There are two different ways that you can get to this palace. The first and arguably one of the simpler ways to get this done is through White Mask Varre's questline. Varre is the NPC that you meet right as you start the game the first time you walk into The Lands Between and his entire quest line allows you to get to Mohgwyn Palace. There are a lot of different steps but it doesn't take you to the end game if you want to go this way.

How to Find Mohgwyn Palace, Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood, White Mask Varre, Varre's questline
Varre, Rose Church in Liurnia

Now to start Varre's questline is very simple simply exhaust all of his dialogue when you first meet him at The Lands Between. Since you’ve already defeated Godrick the Grafted and spoken with the Finger Reader Crone at the Roundtable Hold. This is going to activate the next steps inside of Varre's questline and he’ll move him from the starting area of Limgrave into the next area, Liurnia (the lake area).

You will find him at the Rose Church in Liurnia, standing there right in front of the church. Once again start talking to him and exhaust his dialogue. During this conversation, there will be dialogue choices. So, the first pick “They didn't seem right”. This is when he's going to give you some Festering Bloody Fingers that allow you to go into multiplayer and invade different realms.

Note that if you’re doing this on PlayStation 4/5, you’ll need PlayStation Plus if you’re going to invade other players. Now, if you're online and can access multiplayer, you’ll have to use the Festering Bloody Fingers three times and invade other players. You don't have to defeat the people in these realms you just have to go into the realm and return to your realm in any way possible. One small tip here, if you haven’t unlocked the entire Elden Ring map yet, and if you are holding to a huge number of runes, only invade nearby areas so that you can retrieve them if you die in the PVP.

Now if you are not online and don't have an internet connection to do multiplayer, make your way to the Northeast of Stormhill Shack in Limgrave, Agheel Lake, toward Murkwater Catacombs in in Limgrave, and Writheblood Ruins in Altus Plateau. These invasion locations will count towards this questline. No matter which way you complete this part of the questline once you have completed it make your way back to Varre, and then he will get you into the next section of his quest line which will be to find Maiden's Blood.

How to Find Mohgwyn Palace, Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood, White Mask Varre, Varre's questline, Church of Inhibition
Maiden, Church of Inhibition

There are multiple ways to do this but there are two in particular that are very easy to find and do not require you to kill an NPC. The first of these two options can be found at the Church of Inhibition. This is going to be right next to one of the Madness Towers that's constantly attacking you from up the hill and very close to a lot of Walking Mausoleums. Whenever you arrive there and go to the Site of Grace, you'll see the Maiden that is dead right next to this you can then use her to cover up the cloth and proceed through the questline.

Once you have the cloth covered in Maiden's Blood return to Varre at the Rose Church. Exhaust all his dialogue and go through a short cutscene where he puts different blood into your finger. After the cutscene talk to him again and he will give you another item that will allow you to teleport to Mohgwyn Palace.

Now to actually teleport to Mohgwyn Palace, go to your inventory and simply use the Pureblood Knight's Medal Medallion and you will spawn in an area close to Mohgwyn Palace. Note that, it is a difficult area and if you're not leveled up enough it will be tough.

Pureblood Knight's Medal Medallion, How to Find Mohgwyn Palace, Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood, White Mask Varre, Varre's questline
So now we've made it to Moguins Palace, this is where the DLC conversation starts because this is one of two parts that we have been confirmed that we have to do to fully unlock the DLC in our current playthroughs. We know that the actual entrance into Shadow of the Earth Tree is by interacting with Mikola's hand which is reaching out of the Cancun inside of Moguins Palace. Now to even get the ability to interact with this hand, you of course first have to interact and fight Moguins Palace.

Now, Mohg, Lord of Blood is considered one of the toughest bosses inside Elden Ring. So be prepared to fight him at the highest level that you possibly have with every little trick in the book that you do have, especially if you're under-leveled. If you have PS Plus, you can also summon other players who can help you to defeat him. This might take a few tries, but you’ll eventually make it.

After you’ve defeated Mohg, rest at the Site of Grace which shows up inside the Moguins Palace and rest there. Once you stand up, you’ll see an NPC standing there. Speak to her and then touch Mohg’s cocoon to teleport to Shadow of the Erdtree.

How to Find Mohgwyn Palace, Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood, White Mask Varre, Varre's questline
Difficulty in Shadow of the Erdtree is very high compared to Elden Ring but the DLC gives some additional items and weapons that greatly help during the playthrough. Especially the Shadow of the Erdtree: Scadutree Fragments & Revered Spirit Ash. Here’s the early Shadow of the Erdtree: Scadutree Fragments & Revered Spirit Ash locations guide. I recommend picking them up before you head to the major areas of the game.