How to start Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

While it’s common for FromSoftware to bury their DLC behind hours of gameplay, it’s surprising to me that the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC in Elden Ring, arguably the most accessible FromSoftware game yet, is also buried behind hours of gameplay. To start Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you need to earn it.

This may seem overwhelming but don’t worry. I’ve jotted down the journey as I went through it, so every action is necessary.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC checklist

To start the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring, you’ll have to beat two key bosses. Depending on your position in Elden Ring, you may have to beat some more. There is a lot of conflicting information out there on what exactly you need to do, but I’ve found the most efficient way of getting there.

To start the Shadow of the Erd Tree Elden Ring DLC, you need to have:

• Defeated Starscourge Radahn
• Defeated Mogh, Lord of Blood

Once you’ve defeated those two bosses, you’ll be in a position to start the DLC.

I was only level 33 when I started my journey to get ready for the DLC in time, and if I can do it, so can you. If you’re not afraid to exploit the game, then you can likely get ready in your very next play session, depending on how far away you are.

Despite Mohg, Lord of Blood, being harder than Radahn, I’d suggest you take him on first if you don’t mind getting a little exploit-ey. It’ll set you up nicely for the Radahn fight. If you’re almost or over level 100, however, then tackle the bosses in any order you decide.

How to get to Mohgwyn Palace in Elden Ring

To defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood in Elden Ring for the Shadow of the Erd Tree DLC, you’ll need to get to Mohgwyn Palace; a place only accessible via teleportation.

There are two ways to get to Mohgwyn Palace – through the teleporter (shown above) in the Consecrated Snowfield, or by completing White Mask Varré’s questline. The questline is likely the fastest way for you, so I’ll quickly detail how to complete it:

1. Speak to Varré when entering Limgrave for the first time and get called Maidenless.
2. Speak to Varré after beating Godrick the Grafted (after Margit, the Fell Omen in Stormveil Castle). He will tell you visit Two Fingers in the Roundtable Hold.
3. Visit Varré in the Rose Church in Linurnia and mention your disdain once you’ve visited Two Fingers. He will give you three Festering Bloody Fingers.
4. Either invade three players using the Festering Bloody Finger (it doesn’t matter if you win or lose) or defeat Magnus The Beast Claw in Writheblood Ruins.
5. Speak to Varré (still in the Rose Church) after invading. Pledge to serve the dynasty and he will give you the Lord Of Blood’s Favor.
6. Soak the Lord Of Blood’s Favor in the blood of the maiden’s corpse at the Church Of Inhibition in Northern Linunia (walk south from the Grand Lift of Dectus). You can ignore the invader and run straight through to gain your item.
7. Speak to Varré to gain the reusable Bloody Finger.
8. Speak to Varré again to get the Pureblood Knight’s Medal.
9. Activate the Pureblood Knight’s Medal to teleport to Mohgwyn Palace.

Now that you’re at Mohgwyn Palace, through either teleportation method, you can progress through the island to get to Mohg’s boss arena.

How to get to and defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood

Mohg, Lord of Blood is an incredibly daunting and challenging boss in Elden Ring. Only 38% of players have beaten him at the time of writing.

If you’re over level 100 and are proficient in the ways of combat, you can try to challenge him. Make sure you have the ability to inflict some kind of status effect (namely bleeding) to make the fight easier for you. There is lots of fire in this fight, so either bring consumables or have fire-resistant armor.

Or, you could totally glitch the boss fight. There is an incredibly ridiculous way of defeating Mohg without stepping into the arena that, for some reason, works. This is the coward’s way that I had to perform as I was so under-leveled when taking on this long road to get ready for the DLC. I promise I’m a Souls fan and will beat him one day in fair combat.

But for now, the glitch works perfectly fine.

Now that Mohg, Lord of Blood, is defeated, let’s go over how you can defeat Radahn. I haven’t found any exploits here, but honestly, with all the runes you’ve earned from the Mohg “fight,” you’ll be leveled enough to take on Radahn.

How to start the Radahn Festival in Elden Ring

The Radahn Festival is a requirement for triggering the Radahn boss fight, and many people say you must advance in Ranni’s questline to do it. This is false. The quickest way to start the Radahn Festival is to simply activate the Grand Lift of Dectus.

The Grand Lift of Dectus is as far north as you can progress without having the medallion halves to activate it. You’ll find one Dectus Medallion half in Fort Haight in Limgrave, and the other in Fort Farroth in Caelid. With both halves, go to the Grand Lift of Dectus and activate the lift.

Make sure to grab the Site of Grace to the left before you fast travel to the Impassable Bridge in lower Caelid. The portal there will now be active, and you can teleport right to where you need to be.

Once teleported in, go forth and activate the site of grace. Beyond, in the courtyard, you’ll be able to talk to the announcer at the top shouting at everyone below. Tell him that you’re as ready as you’ll ever be.

After that, you must carry on walking through the establishment, down a lift, and finally, activate another portal at the edge of the beach. The Starscourge Radahn fight will begin!

How to beat Radahn in Elden Ring

This fight is pretty easy, as you’ve got a litany of summons that you can call upon to do the fighting for you.

Under each of the spectral banners are a certain amount of summons. Each summon has more than one banner that they can be summoned from, but each summon sign can only be used once. At the beginning of the fight, make sure to summon them all, but hold off on resummoning until most are defeated, to keep sending them in waves.

You’ll be able to stay away from the brunt of the fight while riding Torrent, but the phantoms will need your support to take down Radahn as they are limited. My advice would be to bring in a bleeding weapon to chunk down Radahn’s health before fleeing again.

Your phantoms should be able to finish Radahn off. Make sure to keep fleeing as his attacks will likely obliterate you if he is allowed to pull off a combo.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: How to start the DLC

Now that Radahn and Mohg are defeated, you should be able to start the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC when it comes out.

To enter the new land, you’ll need to go to Miquella’s cocoon in the back of Mohg’s boss fight area. You will be able to interact with this cocoon to start the DLC and enter the Land of Shadows.

If you got here without exploiting the game, then my hat goes off to you. If you want to finish off Malenia before you start the new DLC, then we’ve got you covered.