The day is nearly upon us, Tarnished: Elden Ring’s largest and, sadly, final expansion launches on June 21. With tons of new locations, weapons, armor, and bosses spanning dozens of hours, Shadow of the Erdtree is everything Elden Ring fans could have hoped for. There’s just one caveat: you need to have progressed far enough into the base game to actually play it.
Since Shadow of the Erdtree fits neatly into the existing Elden Ring lore (and adeptly expands upon it while still leaving a hint of mystery), lowly Tarnished are required to meet and defeat a couple of the key players, Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood, before venturing into the Shadow Realm. We’ll give you some pointers to getting to them as quickly as possible, but it’ll still be up to you to beat them. (Need help defeating Elden Ring bosses? Hit up KingTut33 on Xbox Live and I’ll happily add you to my list of satisfied Tarnished.)
Starscourge Radahn (Normal Method)
Although you can technically fight these two bosses in whichever order you want, it make sense to start with Radahn. Radahn is a tough boss that is ultimately located in Redmane Castle in southeastern Caelid (yes, the red rot area), but only after you unlock the Radahn Festival. There are a number of methods to doing this. The most straightforward method involves playing through the story as the developers intended, beginning with battling through Stormveil Castle and defeating Godrick the Grafted.
After he’s down, continue on to the Liurnia of the Lakes region, specifically the Raya Lucaria Academy towering above it in the center of the map. Here, you’ll need to fight your way through magic-wielders galore (this is a wizarding school, after all) and platform your way up some massive lifts to gradually make your way to the boss awaiting you at the top. Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon isn’t the most challenging fight in Elden Ring, but it’s certainly one of the most memorable.
Once you’ve beaten both Godrick and Rennala, you can make your way to Redmane Castle in Caelid to begin the Radahn Festival and take on this tough boss with or without the help of the many summons available to you. What would you expect at a festival dedicated to defeating a powerful boss?
Starscourge Radahn (Fast and Easy Method)
Don’t feel like taking your time and making your way through the game’s golden path naturally? Try this shortcut, which cuts about 20 hours of play down to about two hours.
The Festival of Radahn is triggered by doing certain things in the game. Defeating Godrick and Rennala is the way most players will be able to access it, but you can also activate any Site of Grace in the amber fields of Altus Plateau after getting the right and left halves of the Dectus Medallion and taking the Dectus lift up. So where do you get those, you might ask?
The first (left) side of the medallion is found in Fort Haight in the starting area of Limgrave, only a few minutes ride from your first site of grace. Even better, you don’t actually need to fight any of the enemies! You can run right in, grab the medallion half, and run right out (or die and respawn). Best of all, you can do the same thing when you’re grabbing the right half of the medallion, which is located in Fort Faroth in northern Caelid.
After you’ve grabbed both halves, just head to the Dectus Lift at the north end of Liurnia (on Bellum Highway) and follow the “hoist medallion” prompt. When you’re at the top, ride straight north for a moment and you’ll find a site of grace.
Now it’s on to Radahn!
Mohg, Lord of Blood (Normal Method)
Here’s where things get a little trickier. Even the “normal” method for accessing Mohg is a bit of a challenge and is pretty far into the game (before I dive into the details, there is one important note: This boss is not the same as Mohg, The Blood Omen, who is located in the sewers of Leyndell). To get to Mohg’s home, Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, you’ll need to play through a good chunk of the game. Following the so-called golden path of the story, you’ll need to defeat all of the main bosses through Morgott, the Omen King, who is located in the city of Leyndell.
Once Morgott has been downed, you’ll be able to access the Grand Lift of Rold, which will take you up to the snow-covered area called the Forbidden Lands. There’s one twist here: the western part of the Forbidden Lands, called the Consecrated Snowfields, is hidden and requires another special, split medallion. The first part of the medallion is found at Castle Sol in the northern area of the Forbidden Lands and requires you to beat the tough Commander Niall boss to get it.
The other half of the medallion can be found back in southwest Liurnia in an area called Village of the Albinaurics. This can be a little tough to spot at first, as it’s under a massive overhang in the dark (it’s not quite a cave, but it’s not not a cave either). As you work your way through the Village, you’ll hear some moaning coming from a large jar. Roll through it to meet Albus, who gives you the other half of the medallion.
Now that you’ve got both halves, head back to the Grand Lift of Rold. There’s now a second option when you hit the lift that says, “hoist secret medallion”. When you’re standing on the lift platform, press right on the D-pad to see the secret medallion option. Now that you’re up in the Consecrated Showfields, find a site of grace and make your way to the southwest part of the area.
After defeating a bleed-inflicting Sanguine Noble and exploring through the ruins, you’ll find a blood-soaked portal that will take you to Mohg’s area. You’ll still need to fight through his mausoleum to get to Mohg, but it’s not too tough given the level you’ll probably be at.
Mohg, Lord of Blood (Fast-ish and Easy-ish Method)
Don’t feel like playing through 40+ hours to make your way to Mohg’s secret palace the more straightforward (yet still quite labyrinthine) way? There’s another method that you can do right from the start. The first NPC you meet when you come up the elevator to Limgrave, White Mask Varre, is the key to this method.
After you talk to Varre the first time, you’ll need to play the game as normal and defeat Godrick. Once he’s down, Varre will move to the Rose Church in Liurnia, which is on a small island in the western part of the lake. Speaking to Varre there will give you the option to answer that something seems off with the Two Fingers. Doing so will cause Varre to give you several Festering Bloody Fingers, which you can (and should) use to invade other players’ games. You only need to invade their game, not beat or even fight them. Once you invade, just use the Finger Severer to leave and return to your world.
Once you’ve gotten the three invasions done, speak to Varre again and he will reveal himself to be a servant of Mohg and invite you to join the Knights of Luminary Mohg. Respond with the “Anoint me” options and he’ll then give you the Lord of Blood’s Favor item, which you’ll need to soak in the blood of a maiden.
The easiest place to find an already-dead maiden is in The Church of Inhibition. This is located in the northeast corner of Liurnia above the Frenzied Flame Village. Just stroll up to the maiden and select the prompt to soak the Lord of Blood’s Favor. (Note that you can also kill Hyetta, who you’ll meet right next to the first site of grace in Liurnia after clearing Stormveil Castle. However, since she’s also a quest and item giver, it’s not recommended that you do this.)
Whichever source of blood you decide on, you’ll need to return to Varre yet again to give him the blood-soaked Favor. He finally inducts you into the Order and take your finger for good measure, leaving you with the Pureblood Knight’s Medal. Finally! You can now use this item to be teleported to Mohgwyn’s Palace. You can either sprint or fight your way through any enemies you encounter to finally make it to the Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint site of grace, where you can prep for your battle with Mohg.
Touch the Withered Arm
After you’ve defeated both Radahn and Mohg, either in a 3-4 hours using the “quick” methods listed above or in 40+ hours using the longer methods, all you need to do to access the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC content is touch the withered arm hanging out of the cocoon in the area in which you defeated Mohg. Best of luck in the Shadow Realm, Tarnished!
(Once again, if you’re having any trouble defeating Radahn, Mohg, or any of the other dozens of bosses in Elden Ring OR Shadow of the Erdtree, drop KingTut33 a line on Xbox Live and I’ll do my best to help!)
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