Lake of Rot is a Location in Elden Ring. The Lake of Rot region features treacherous red waters that inflict scarlet rot on players that stay in it too long. You can reach it from Ainsel River Main, by heading south-west from the Nokstella Waterfall Basin Site of Grace (find it on the Interactive Map here).
A great lake of standing water downstream of the Ainsel River. It is said that the divine essence of an outer god is sealed away in this land.
Lake of Rot Map & Map Fragments
- Fragment Lake of Rot: Map (Lake of Rot) is found on a corpse by the water's edge. Elden Ring Map here
Elden Ring Lake of Rot Sites of Grace & Sub-Locations
- Lake of Rot Shoreside. Elden Ring Map here
- Grand Cloister. Elden Ring Map here
Sub-Locations
- Grand Cloister
- Coffin (to Astel). Elden Ring Map here
All NPCs and Merchants in Lake of Rot
- No NPCs in this area
- No merchants in this area
All Items in Elden Ring's Lake of Rot
Gather & Farm Items
- Aeonian Butterfly
- Dewkissed Herba
- Faded Erdleaf Flower
- Golden Centipede
- Smoldering Butterfly
- 10x Black-Key Bolt
Upgrade Materials
- Golden Seed
- Smithing Stone (6)
- Smithing Stone (7)
- Somber Smithing Stone (6)
- Somber Smithing Stone (7)
- Somber Smithing Stone (8)
- Somber Smithing Stone (9)
Elden Ring Lake of Rot Creatures, Enemies, and Bosses
Regular Creatures and Enemies
Field Bosses and Bosses
Walkthrough for Lake of Rot in Elden Ring
Lake Area
You can get to Lake of Rot by heading southwest from the Nokstella Waterfall Basin Site of Grace in Ainsel River Main. There's a lift in the area that takes you down to the northern part of the lake -- the lift is in a building past where the Baleful Shadow spawned. Right as you emerge, you'll find the Lake of Rot Shoreside Site of Grace. At the water's edge, just slightly past the Site of Grace, you can loot a corpse that holds the Map (Lake of Rot), making navigation easier.
The waters here are treacherous, quickly applying the Scarlet Rot Status Effect each second you stand in the water. It is recommended to have many Preserving Boluses on hand to remove the status effect immediately and even equip Talismans (Immunizing Horn Charm, Mottled Necklace), Armor, and Incantations (Flame, Cleanse Me) that can help alleviate its build-up. Also, be aware that Basilisks may come out of the waters to ambush you. The Beast-Repellent Torch will pacify all Basilisks in the area, making it much easier to traverse the lake. The Mushroom Set can make traversing this area a lot easier due to its massive innate Immunity. Its poor defense stats are irrelevant against the Basilisks, which don't inflict any direct damage.
First, from the shoreline, look southeast and you may be able to spot a lone Ancestral Follower wading in the rot in the distance. Sprint to it and kill it, and you'll acquire the Immunizing Horn Charm +1 which greatly raises your Immunity. Immunity raises your resistance to scarlet rot, which will make traversing the place a bit easier.
Warp back to the Site of Grace to begin proper exploration.
If you look out into the lake, you may be able to see four pillars standing on their own small island in the distance. These small islands have buttons on them that raise landmasses in the lake, giving you safe platforms to stand on while navigating through the Lake of Rot. The nearest pillar to you right now at the starting island should be to your southwest, and after that, the next one should be south of the first pillar, easily reached by traversing the newly-raised platforms from the first. To reach the third pillar from here, jump onto the platform directly east from the second pillar, then aim southeast and go onto a large platform with the base of a broken pillar. This central platform will serve as a landmark for further exploration. The third pillar is located just southwest from this large platform.
The fourth pillar is located further southwest of pillar #3, closest to the walls of the distant structure. This time, you don't have any platforms to help get you there cleanly, so you'll have to sprint across the rot. Step on the button and you will be raised with the pillar itself.
While up here, you can defeat the Alabaster Lord to receive his sword, the Alabaster Lord's Sword, and loot the Somber Smithing Stone (9). There is a slope that leads to a ladder on the east side of the pillar to help you to get down or go back up. The foot of the ramp below this ladder has a Teardrop Scarab that yields a Somber Smithing Stone (6).
If you want, you can backtrack to the large platform with the broken pillar base. Look east, and start sprinting - the boss won't turn aggressive unless you're too close to it. Once you find the eastern pillar and step on it, it will raise several large platforms. This is vital for taking on this area's miniboss, the Dragonkin Soldier. Defeat it for the Dragonscale Blade. From here you can choose to loot bodies scattered all around Lake Rot to obtain items, many of which are Somber Smithing Stone (7) & Somber Smithing Stone (8). One item of note is the Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook (22), obtained from a lone chest in a large ruin in the southwestern section of the map.
The Mushroom Crown can be found on a corpse hanging off a pillar in the ruins in the southeast corner - to get on top of it, you'll have to ascend a ramp along the walls of the area and then hop onto the rims of the ruins.
Grand Cloister
After you're done with this area, head over to the southern section, where you'll find a waterfall. Climb down the stairs next to it to reach the Grand Cloister and grab the Grand Cloister Site of Grace. The area here is infested with Lesser Kindreds of Rot and there are a few corpses with Golden Runes. Be wary of drawing the attention of too many Lesser Kindreds of Rot as their multiple casts of Pest Threads can overwhelm even the most skilled of players. These pests can also drop the Pest's Glaive, which is very good for builds that use elemental infusions.
If you head north, you'll come across a waterfall with two corpses under it, one with a Smithing Stone (6) and another with a Smithing Stone (7). Be prepared as you approach this waterfall, however, as an Ulcerated Tree Spirit ambushes you from the water. It yields a Golden Seed on defeat.
Next, head west, where you'll see a bunch of rot prawns dancing in front of a temple. Carefully dispatch each one from a distance, as getting mobbed by them is incredibly dangerous. When they're all gone, head inside the temple to grab the Scorpion's Stinger. Head back out of the temple and head south, where you'll find an open coffin at the tip of the waterfall. Interact with the coffin to rest in it and a cutscene will play.
Astel, Naturalborn of the Void
If you open your map now, you will find yourself in an isolated area south of the Lake of Rot. Through the mist door, you'll fight Astel, Naturalborn of the Void, and with his defeat, you'll gain the Remembrance of the Naturalborn. Trigger the Site of Grace in this boss arena, then head north past his boss room to find a lift that takes you back to the surface at Deep Ainsel Well. If you don't have the Dark Moon Ring, this passageway will be sealed off.
Elden Ring Lake of Rot Gallery and Notes
What level is Lake of Rot Elden Ring?
Since this location is usually not encountered until later in the game, the recommended levels for this location are much higher ranging from 80-100. Although it is an open world game without linear path, there is a recommended progression when exploring the different regions that the game will naturally guide you along as you progress through the main storyline. By this point, it is expected that you have gained some additional Weapons and Equipment to enhance your Builds through exploring different locations such as Liurnia of the Lakes, and possibly the Altus Plateau. By this point you would've gained enough experience and upgrades, as well as gathered enough upgrade Materials to face the various Enemies and Creatures within the Lake of Rot. This area is notorious for its returning unforgiving terrain since you will be forced to fight with limited combat space even when going against numbers of enemies because touching the water inflicts Scarlet Rot adding to the challenging nature of this area. Once you reach this location, there will be a Legend Boss, Astel, Naturalborn of the Void as well as the Dragonkin Soldier in this location. Some notorious enemies such as the Lesser Kindred of Rot (Pests) can also be encountered here.
Players can reference our page that lists the Recommended Level by Location and our progression suggestions. This will also state the recommended upgrade materials you are to have by this point in the game. To view a step-by-step progression guide to the Lake of Rot, players are also encouraged to view th Game Progress Route that summarizes the overall Walkthrough.
Lake of Rot Other Notes
- Other notes and tips go here.
AnonymousThey needed to add 50 more of the dragonkin soldiers if they truly wanted to make a successor to Lost Izalith
- Anonymous
You can Focus on HP regen and apply yourself with the weak Scarlet Rot version. To apply a weaker version of the Scarlet Rot roll in the lake until about 75% buildup and get back to shore. Wait for the buildup to apply a weaker version of Scarlet Rot. Then apply HP regen based on what you chose below.
HP regen items
1) Blessed Dew Talisman
2) Icon Shield (you don't need to meet the requirements to gain the HP regen buff)
3) Royal Remains set (will give you 8 HP/s more regen when HP < 20%. Use if you can still maintain medium equip load or use talisman to add equip load)
Pick one of these depending on what you prefer (They do not stack)
1) Crimsonburst Crystal Tear for your Wondrous Physicks Flask
2) Bestial Vitality (12 Faith req)
3) Blessing's Boon (24 Faith req)
4) Blessing of the Erdtree (38 Faith req)
This will allow you to run around the lake without worrying about buildup or having to use Flame Cleanse Me. The added HP regen will be enough to offset the worst of the Scarlet Rot debuff. The last 20% of your HP will last longer as well giving you a larger window to heal in time and this way you will have plenty of flasks to circle around the lake and collect loot.
- Anonymous
Honestly I love this area in term of aesthetics, atmosphere, lore and its well designed and rewards taking risk exploring with very valuable smithing stones at this stage of the game.
Also its finally poison area where you can run normally, unlike blighttown and faron keep
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The bug that makes the Ulcerated Tree Spirit take Scarlet Rot damage has been fixed as of Patch 1.09.
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I killed the Ancestral Follower with ranged attacks and he didn't give me the Immunizing Horn Charm +1.
- Anonymous
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The bug involving the tree spirit still exists. The tree spirit just died by itself and I got the Golden Seed and runes without doing anything (except running around trying to survive in the lake). The lake causes more problems than the enemies.
- Anonymous
invading here is pure hell for everyone involved. 10/10 would rot to death again
- Anonymous
Honestly I was dreading this zone immensely, but maybe because of that dread I was well prepared enough that it ended up not being all that bad. Flame Cleanse Me is truly a lifesaver here; with only a12 faith requirement there's really no reason to skip it. High immunity gear helps as well, but with the platforms and Flame Cleanse Me its not super critical. I imagine with the beast repelling torch it would have been even easier. Thank god the rot water doesn't slow you the way magma or deeper swamps do.
- Anonymous
Not as hard as DS 3 swamp. The rising platforms make it way too easy. I died only once when the lizard boss managed to throw me into the poison
- Anonymous
I feel like this was cut content associated with Malenia's quest but it got lumped in with Ranni at the last minute
- Anonymous
Can't help wonder of that north west part was meant to be playable at some point
- Anonymous
To be honest, I love poison swamps because they punish the kinds of players who just want want to run past everything. It gives me a sort of sadistic glee knowing how much they struggle with them and I understand why Miyazaki keeps making them.
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I beat these bosses like I beat every boss. Terra Magica, Infinite FP flask, Comet Azur. I even summoned my Dung Eater Ashes +10. Melted in 5 seconds, could have even been 4. They didn't even get to take a swing at me.
But also I have the Magic Scorpion Charm, Graven Mass Talisman, Radagon Icon, Azur's armor set, Carian Regal Scepter +10, 60 Mind, and 99 Intelligence. Didn't even try to progress past Rennala until I hit level 200. This game scares me, and I cheese everything because there is nothing that terrifies me more in life than dying in this game.
I want to go home.
- Anonymous
I know Miyazaki get's hard whenever they put a horrible poisonnous/slowing/unfair area in a game, but I think this one takes the cake of every single fromsoft games. He must have seen a doctor after that erection lasted for more than 4 hours...
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this ****ing basilisk filled malenia diarrhea lake makes me want to kms
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this is my favorite place to invade strictly for memes, its utter cancer.
- Anonymous
Genuinely terrible zone. Really makes me wonder what From is thinking for multiple portions of this game
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lol found a funny bug. the Ulcerated Tree Spirit that drops the golden seed here gets rotted by the very rot river he emerges from. pretty easy kill.
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The NW part of the map, what's over there? I kinda hope there's a future DLC that'll explore that area.
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I just tanked rot damage while beating Dragonkin Soldier in melee with my two Longswords +16 and +14. This one specimen is actually quite simple because he doesn't transit into phase 2. After initially dashing with a series of blows on his back as he slowly woke up, I proceeded baiting him into his stumble and hitting his arm, and I repeated this tactic until he was dead. Of course I was emptying HP flasks in the meanwhile to mitigate rot DoT. Physick with HP regen also helped me.
I didn't try to stay exclusively on the platforms because I had to move around a lot and rot builds up very quickly anyway, so trying to keep myself clean would've only made the job harder.
The same way I fought Tree Spirit downstairs, though it was really problematic due to how incredibly messy that thing is. I set Cold affinity to one of my swords, frostbite applied twice to the foe and I guess that helped me succeed with fewer attempts.
- Anonymous
I came near the entrance of the grand cloister and the health bar of something started ticking down and it died. I got 55,000 runes. (first playthrough)
Others have mentioned that the dumb tree spirit died. Was it that, that is inside the cloister?
- Anonymous
Is there any current way to get to the NW side of this map? It looks like there is a lot of darkened area on this map that we can't reach.
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Dragonkin died easily, lake of rot nourished my skin 10/10 would swim again
- Anonymous
If you spend long enough killin the lil rot guys by the altar, the ulcerated tree spirit will contract scarlet rot and die. Praise the free golden seed! :)
- Anonymous
I don't like to cheese bosses but if the boss itself or like here the area all's fair so I didn't give a fair fight against the dragonkin soldier in a lake of scarlet rot a second thought, that's masochistic not fun. I had the mushroom set, immunising horn and mottled necklace +1 and flame cleanse me equipped to deal with the rot, without the flame cleanse me incantation and only relying on boluses I'm not sure it would have worked so well. I used the black bow +7 with serpent arrows, equipped arrow's sting and arrow's reach talismans. Following natural progression through the lake you will raise a set of pillars where an alabaster lord spawns. There is a ladder that gets you down to a rock outcrop and a scarab with a smithing stone, put a blue marker on the map there on the lowest point of the outcrop so you'll know exactly where to run with reduced visibility when the boss fight starts and be able to jump up out of the lake before it catches up to you. There are some stone platforms in the lake where you can see the dragonkin soldier, you'll need to find one that's not too close but close enough to hit with your bow. You'll know you have found your range when you see it twitch when the arrows hit it through the magnified manual aim. When the poison from the serpent arrows proc the boss fight starts and you'll see its health bar, but you're far enough away from it be able to sprint to the blue line on the compass casting flame cleanse me when you need to as you go. When you get on the rock outcrop and are out of the lake you can easily kill the dragonkin from there without taking a hit, it wont come that far but it will start to walk away but comes back when the next arrows hit and it is a very easy kill compared to fighting it in the lake of rot itself.
- Anonymous
Lake of Rot is what my toilet was looking like tonight after exorcising flaming hot cheetos and a 4Loko upon my bathroom
- Anonymous
This horseshit feels like cut content that was hastily tossed back into the game without being balanced at all.
- Anonymous
Increasing your Immunity stat barely affects your Rot resistance, if at all. Not to mention it doesn’t decrease the time it takes for the bar to go down.
This area honestly looks fantastic, but there should’ve been more ruins buried around the area, more verticality, essentially.
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So this is where the river of rot in DS3's Ariandel steam from.
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I wish the ruins were more extensive, this had a chance to be elden ring's shulva
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I logged on to this page and am writing this comment as a way to pass the time while I wait safely on one of the lake's platforms to let my rot meter go down without expending one of my precious boluses. Welp, that oughta about do it. Back in I go.
is it possible to get the platform near alabaster lord back down, i died of rot and now cant take sm. stone
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i mean, put 10 points into faith and spam Flame, Cleanse Me, it took a while for me to figure it out but it is actually worth it.
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Am I the ONLY person who calls this place "Watermelon Soup"?
Surely, there MUST be others. I mean, LOOK AT IT!
(it's prolly just me)
- Anonymous
For how quickly it takes to get scarlet rot and go through all of your flasks, I'm surprised anyone at Fromsoft thought that the lake area of this place would be a good idea. They really went back to Dark Souls 2 tier decision making here.
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I love that the first time you see this area from Ainsel River Well, you might assume it's just part of the background. It was one of my favourite sites and a bunch of people put down "wondrous view ahead".
If only we all knew at the time.
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if the rotten lake giving you much trouble, try pumping as much immunity as you can. try immunizing horn charm, mottled neclace. also use vulgar militia armor, it has pretty good immunity for its weight. also dont forget stock up some consumables like preserving boluses for cure rot and and warming stone to heal the scarlet rot damages.
wait between "dry floor" and wait the rot buildup goes away is good strategy too.
- Anonymous
This area isn't as bad as it could be. Getting to the lake is the hard part. There are so few people here that coop is out of the question, and with that invasions are also nothing more than a distant memory from the little pouch of nightmares that is soulsborne
- Anonymous
Is the whole upper left area cut content? Why is it part of the map if you cannot get there?
- Anonymous
I can’t believe they added Florida to elden ring. Bravo miyazaki!
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hey lets put giant boss that does over half your health i one attack in a toxic swamp. now thats good design. garbage area
- Anonymous
Am I the only one who feels like this place is incomplete? I can imagine a finished version including full ruins rising from the lake, allowing one to ignore the scarlet rot almost entirely.
Reason I think this is cus the other swamps had side gimmicks.
-Blighttown was relatively minimal with the swamp section, being more focused on climbing down the wood platforms
-haven't played enough ds2 to judge that one(DeS too)
-Nightmare Frontier was also surprisingly minimal, focusing on sun-bleached rock faces and only requiring about ten seconds of swamp trudging on the most efficient route
-And Farron Keep(best iteration imo) had the whole trick of lighting fires in a maze-like forest, while having to manage chugs and moss clumps individually.
But Lake of Rot? I'm sure this was an area that fell victim to "f*ck it" protocol. Hell, it even looks like it should slow you, but the devs changed it at the last minute.
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I like how there's an ancestral follower just chilling in the rot
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As of last night the ulcerated tree spirit on the bottom level rots itself and slowly dies while you are on the upper level. I saw the lifebar ticking away through the floor but got blue ringed into coop. After going back and killing the alabaster lord and exploring around (the worm apparently died and) I got the golden seed and runes. This did not happen on my first playthrough.
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Why isn’t the corpse wyrm near the water fall included in this
- Anonymous
honestly my favorite place in the game so far. the vibes are great and the bosses are cool but not annoyingly difficult. Loot is good too. Only complaint is they should add more scary enemies other than just basilisks.
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I've never been so glad I chose to do incantation that day two months ago.
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Does the coffin respawn if you go inside it, get to Astel, then teleport out before you beat him? Or are you just softlocked from beating Astel if you teleport out?
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What does this place have to do with Ranni, or Astel even? Pretty weird
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For anybody who struggles with the basilisks (death frogs), buy the Beast-Repellent Torch from the Isolated Merchant in Caelid, and equip that. Basilisks will not attack you until you attack them, making it easy to just kill them one at a time, or ignore them entirely.
The rest, all I can say is good luck and either bring “Flame, Cleanse Me”, lots of preserving boluses, soap, or be prepared to wait out the build-up of rot constantly.
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Honestly, I say just switch all your flasks to red and sip your way through it. It takes a couple runs to get everything, but that was better than changing gear and then changing back scrolling through all my hundreds of armor pieces both times
- Anonymous
I was able to trigger the Ulcerated monstrosity by walking near the top of the waterfall by the grace. Imagine my surprise when it got infected by rot and died without me needing to get near it
- Anonymous
wow what creative and unique level design. I've never seen such amazing level design before. /s
- Anonymous
i want to go home o i want to go home
in short i want to go home o i want to go home
- Anonymous
The fact that there's a surprisingly low amount of angry comments on this page simply means that we're all resigned to our fates. Ah, miyazaki, you truly do excel in giving us one level for everyone to hate in each game. Bringing the world together, one poison swamp at a time.
- Anonymous
i got killed by the dragonkin soldier on the way up with the platform... is there any way to get it back down? or another way to get up there? seems like it's impossible now
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You should note you can only go north after beating Astel if you have the Ring of Oath. Apprently I don't.
- Anonymous
At least it isn't farron/blighttown's slowdown and at the end of the lake leading to the grand cloister there's a bolus
but he can't keep getting away with it
They really just put the pink mood slime from Ghostbusters 2 in the game. This is the greatest crossover of all time.
- Anonymous
I reccomend crafting plenty of Preserving Blouses. I went through 8 of then just crossing the lake and killing the dragonkin.
- Anonymous
If you activate the lift and miss getting on it (the one that leads to the somber smithing stone 9) is it possible to get up there despite not staying on it when it went up?
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is there any lore reason the Lake of Rot is under Liurnia and not Caelid?
- Anonymous
How do you get back up on the platform where the albastor lord is as I fell down and can not get back up?
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yeah uh the praying prawns were definitely NOT oblivious to their surroundings and aggro like normal, whoever wrote this is insane.
- Anonymous
what in the ever loving f***k is that ulcerated tree spirit, it only gives like 10k souls and 1 golden seed
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Walking around here made my realize how much i was simping for Ranni.
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Is there any way to get up to that section which looks like a bunch of terraces? Or are they just for show?
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The ulcerated tree spirit spawns and contracts scarlet rot and dies on its own. Happened in both my game and my wife's game when we tried to summon each other at the bottom of the pillar next to the site of grace... summon failed and was sent back to my world then the tree spirits life bar popped up on its own and started taking steady damage until it dies and awarded me with golden seed... same thing happened in my wife's game when I tried to summon her and it failed and she went back to her world she got golden seed without ever triggering tree spirit to spawn. He just spawns and dies on his own.
- Anonymous
Dunno if this has already already mentioned but I equipped the full Mushroom gear in this are and it barely made a difference. Rot build up was just as fast, only difference was health bar lasted 10 seconds instead of 8.5 lol. Waste of a costume change.
- Anonymous
Dragonkin boss can be easily cheesed by going up the Rocky path on the left side (if you're facing it) of the building that leads to the inner area. The one that has a ladder at the end that lets you go up the pillars with the Alabaster Lord. Just walk to the boss and run like hell to the rocks, he won't follow you up there and you can finish him easily with magic or a bow.
I cant go to Nokstella Waterfall Basin Site of Grace... Is a mission or something we need to make to arrive to that site?
- Anonymous
No mention of “the ring of oath”? Needed to break the seal after the coffin boss
- Anonymous
the northernmost section of this area (the darker part on the map) does not seem to be accessible at all. i checked with noclip. there's no way to get up there and the textures are low resolution. i think it's just there to make the area look bigger
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honestly just max out your health flask allocation and make a mad dash to the other site of grace at the end. no point stressing yourself over the items here, the katana you get sucks and everything else are just smithing stones/a dagger/and some mushroom gear (if you want)
- Anonymous
There’s a talisman not described here that you can find in the lake of rot, look for the Ancestor enemy walking around in the rot, South-East of the Site of Grace, lure him onto the nearby platform and dispatch him for the Immunizing Horn Charm +1. “Greatly raises Immunity.”
- Anonymous
I like how this page's description of how to "reach" there is one that leads to a cliff... I mean yeah, technically that is correct? gg lol....
- Anonymous
If you want to explore this place and get all the items, you can do so without boluses. Just allot all your flasks to Crimson Tears, then pick a part of the map to explore, and just go run and grab some items. Use the flasks as your health gets low. When you're low on flasks, warp back to the site of grace and start with a different section of the map. (Did this with 40 vigor and Crimson Tears +7)
looks tasty ngl
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