Gravesite Plain (East) Essential Path Walkthrough - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

The Gravesite Plain is the first main region you’ll enter in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. This page contains an essential path walkthrough and guide to the eastern half of Gravesite Plain after completing Belurat, including important character questlines, powerful blessings, items, and weapons - and the path to the second main boss in the minor Legacy Dungeon: Castle Ensis.

Gravesite Plain (East) Walkthrough

With the Gravesite Plain region being as dense as it is, there’s plenty more to do on the other side of the large river that splits the area — which holds its own “minor” Legacy Dungeon, as well as many more smaller dungeons. Our essential path guide will lead you to each of these while finding important items and meeting special characters along the way.

From the Three Path Cross Site of Grace, turn your sights to the Ellac Greatbridge leading east. Be sure to zig-zag along the bridge on Torrent, as there is a ballista installed on the far side that will try to hit you as you cross.

You’ll find yourself in a large encampment of Messmer’s forces, which includes many of Messmer’s Soldiers. Be sure to inspect the camp sites thoroughly, as you can find a new weapon type here among several Perfumer enemies - a Firespark Perfume Bottle. Meanwhile, the northern camp hides a Fire Knight’s Cookbook 2 guarded by a Black Knight.

In the center of the camp, you’ll find a Castle Front Site of Grace next to another statue of Marika that holds another Scadutree Blessing. The bridge beyond leads right to the next main dungeon, Castle Ensis. It’s more of a “minor” Legacy Dungeon in size compared to Belurat, but still holds a powerful boss inside, who blocks access to the next part of the map. Before we head inside, there’s a lot more to explore on this side of the Gravesite Plain.

For starters, be sure to look just to the left of the bridge to the castle, and you can find a sloping path leading below the bridge toward a brazier in the distance. Once you head down the path, leap over the chasm to a room at the base of the castle, and inside you’ll find the Spelldrake Talisman +3!

To the north, you can find a road leading to a heavily defended fort with no entrance. If you cautiously make your way through a choke point filled with explosive barrels, you can find a small fog-filled valley and the entrance to a mini dungeon, the Fog Rift Catacombs, which holds a wealth of items including weapons, spells, spirit ashes, and more!

The Pillar Path

Taking the path to the south, you’ll find that it splits into an upward and downward slope. Taking the upward slope first leads through a small soldier camp with a Swift Spear, and a graveyard full of Shadow Undead, where a subtle path splits to the left.

Take this to find another of Miquella’s Crosses at the Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace. Nearby, you’ll meet another of Miquella’s faithful - Thiollier. The masked man sells a variety of poisons that you can stock up on, including a Deadly Poison Perfume Bottle weapon.

Return to the main slope and keep riding upwards past docile blue creatures to find another Site of Grace, along with a screaming man on the road to the right. This injured man, Igon, curses a creature named Bayle but seems keen to continue the fight.

There’s not much else you can do for him now, but if you continue past him, you’ll be invaded by a literal Ancient Dragon-Man among the dragon statues here. As you might expect, he can use incantation magic to summon dragon heads, and also deals heavy damage with a great katana. Defeating him will allow you passage to a mini dungeon entrance behind him, the Dragon Pit - which is essential to unlocking a new region that you probably don’t want to go to just yet.

If you take the path upwards past the Site of Grace, you can take the road past dozens of Gravebirds - some of which guard a body that holds another piece of the Gravebird Set: The Gravebird Bracelets.

The end of the rising slope leads to a large Suppressing Pillar. Inside you’ll find a lift to take you to the top, which sports a nice view of the Realm of Shadow, and also holds a chest holding an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone!

Path to the Ellac River

Return back down the long slope toward the Castle Front, and this time take the lower sloping path to a small camp of Messmer Soldiers. Be sure to check down to the right behind the camp for a lower ledge where three more Messmer Soldiers guard a Spread Crossbow, allowing you to fire a crossbow like a shotgun!

This path leads south past a group of Bloodfiends fighting Soldiers of Messmer to a large ruin opening that hides another mini dungeon, the Ruined Lava Forge Intake. Note that these types of dungeons don’t have bosses, but do have special weapons and dragon smithing stones as rewards for reaching the end!

Be sure to look for another ramp to the east of this area, as it leads past more Bloodfiends down to a large poison swamp area along some cliffs. There’s a couple of interesting things to find here, including an Elder’s Hovel along the eastern edge of the cliffs where you can find the Talisman of Dread alongside a ghost cursing at Bayle, looking off at the Jagged Peak far in the distance.

You can also find a trapped Spiritspring here, and a stone cairn located on a higher ledge not far away to unlock it. This will actually let you bypass Castle Ensis entirely if you choose, taking you right up into a smaller Fort at the edge of the Scadu Altus.

Return to the main area of the poison swamp, and look for a path leading north into a recessed area with a large Miranda Poison Plant and Giant Crab. The plant is actually guarding a cave entrance, which you can take to find a secret path into the Ellac River that runs under the greatbridge you crossed earlier.

As you reach the Site of Grace in the cave, be sure to look to the right before reaching it to find another headless corpse that holds Revered Spirit Ashes for you to claim.

The Ellac River is a long optional stretch of water that has a path to the south down several waterfalls leading all the way to a new region - the Cerulean Coast. However, due to its increased difficulty and some locked features, we’ll be heading here later.

Instead, you can travel north to awaken an Ulcerated Tree Spirit in the river. Defeat it, and you’ll earn a Horned Bairn tool item.

Just north of the tree spirit are a host of flymen and a mountain of dead bodies from the Ailing Village above. Past them, you can reach the northern edge of the river that holds an entrance to the Rivermouth Cave dungeon.

If you venture beyond the waterfall at the northern edge, you’ll find a secret cave room with hostile worm-like spirits guarding a Twin-Headed Turtle Talisman.

With all the important items now in your possession, it’s time to return to the Castle Front Site of Grace and head into the next major dungeon - Castle Ensis.