Entering the Shadow Dungeon is fairly easy in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, but you’ll only be able to get that far through its front door. If you want to reach and beat its boss Messmer the Impaler, you’ll need to approach Shadow Keep from a different angle – from the east, to be precise, through its church district wing.
Reaching the Shadow Keep church district is no easy feat, however, and requires a long trek around the boundaries of Scadu Altus. But we’re here to help, so read on below to find out how to get to the east side of Shadow Keepand how to visit Manus Metyr Cathedral on my way.
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How to get to the east side of Shadow Keep
To begin your journey to the east side of Shadow Keep, start at the Site of Grace’Moorth Ruins Cross‘ in Scadu Altus (which is an important location of Miquella’s Cross and where you will first encounter Dryleaf Dane).
Head east into the Moorth Ruins under the large archway until you come to a large hole in the ground. There is a small door you can go through that gives you a better view of the fall you are about to take.
You can also find the Shattered Stone Talisman on the corpse on the street corner before going downstairs.
Be warned: we had to work our way here using Torrent, because there isn’t a very obvious path down. We’ve died several times on this journey, so it may involve some trial and error and jumping onto pieces of wall that don’t look like they’re going to support you. We ran through the environment regularly when attempting this, so try not to get too frustrated if it takes you a few attempts to achieve this without instantly dying.
When you finally reach the lower platform, you will have to face three robed mage enemies holding candlesticks. They’re not too dangerous at long range, but just take them slowly and steadily: you don’t want to have to take a long fall. Again if you just died ten times in a row trying to succeed like we did.
When it’s safe to continue, go back down to where the mages were and collect the Golden Bows comes out from the tower room with the torches outside in the corner.
Then head to the other end of this level and go back down to the balcony ledge you can see below.
From this height, it is then possible to descend safely. There is a dead body here with 4x Shady Sunflower on it, but otherwise there’s nothing else here. Follow the torches up and out of the tunnel. Climb the ladder at the end and you will reach the Bonny-Village.
Passing through Bonny Village
Activate the “Bonny Village” grace site (so you never have to go down that horrible hole again) and continue through the village. You’ll notice pot-themed decor in this desolate location and plenty of classic shadow enemies. There is also Great Potentate you’ll encounter here (which would explain why his cookbooks are all themed around potted items…), but they’re very aggressive, so take the opportunity to summon Spirit Ashes here to even the odds.
The Grand Potentate has a large cleaver knife that can cause blood loss if you’re not careful, and he is very sharp on the battlefield. However, with your Spirit Ash keeping him busy, it’s pretty easy to land long-range hits here to take him down pretty quickly.
There aren’t many other items to loot here. There is a corpse with 5x Kukri on your left following the main road, and 1x broken rune on a corpse hanging on a pot. Eventually you’ll come to a broken bridge with ghost dogs chewing on item-laden corpses below. However, before you go down, you can claim the title of Grand Potentate. Bonny butcher knife on a corpse just to your left inside the burned out hangar-like structure.
That’s it for this side of Bonny Village, so feel free to head down and deal with the ghost dogs. On these corpses you can pretend 3x Living Pot Shards, 2x Human Bone Shards and another 2x Living Pot Shards. Cool stuff.
To continue to the other side of the village, you will have to go down the dry river bed to the south, but first: you will have to take the other direction (north) towards the cliffs. There is 1x Revered Spirit Ash to be found at the end of the riverbed, so grab it and return to the other end of the ravine.
There are some rocks you can use to jump to the other side of the village, which is also filled with basic shadow enemies and two more Great Potentates. Like the one you just fought, he’s a tricky guy who loves to jump and dodge everywhere, but between you and your Spirit Ashes, he’s really not that difficult to take down.
Again, there aren’t many other items to collect here. If you return to the bridge area, you can recover 1x big cracked pot of the corpse sitting on the edge of the rock wall, and another 1x big cracked pot on a corpse in a building north of the village.
If you head to the very north of the village, you can also find the Gesture: O Mother by the cliffs. There also appears to be a large stone snake skin next to her in the woods (and the less you think about it the better, if you ask me…).
That’s it for Bonny Village, so when you’re ready, cross the rickety bridge to the east.
Road to the Church district
As you cross the bridge, you will see another ruined cabin on the edge of the cliff. It’s the Whipping hutand you can find a corpse inside with the Toothed whip weapon on it. Very appropriate.
Continue to the next bridge and activate the Site of Grace.Bridge leading to the village‘. From there, cross the forest, keeping an eye out for the many wolves hiding in the trees.
There’s nothing to find off the beaten path here, so unless you want to fight a lot of wolves, just follow the path along the side of the mountain.
There’s a Furnace Golem on the other side, so unless you feel like picking a fight with it, run across as quickly as possible to the other side of the hill (although this will drop the Furnace Golem on the other side). Cerulean Crystal Tear as a reward if you decide to fight him).
You will also see a Sealed Spiritual Source to your left as you pass through this grassy area, but you can’t use it right now, so ignore it and continue moving away from the Furnace Golem.
Keep driving and you will eventually come to another Site of Grace’Church District Road‘. Activate it and take a well-deserved break, especially if you get crushed by the Furnace Golem along the way.
There are two interesting places to explore here: The Ascension of Rabbath and the Manus Metyr Cathedraland both are worth looking into before continuing.
However, if you want to head straight to the eastern entrance to the Shadow Keep Church area, the end is almost in sight. Simply continue west from the Site of Grace, away from the Cathedral and towards the Shadow Keep which is now in view, until you reach this dark archway:
Continue to the end of this corridor and you will eventually arrive at the entrance to Shadow Keep, Church District. Activate the Grace’ SiteEntrance to the church area” and prepare for a daring adventure as you traverse the flooded east wing of Shadow Keep.
You’ll need to make your way through this part of Shadow Dungeon in order to reach its boss Messmer the Impaler, but you’ll also need to take this route to use the prayer room key you found while fighting the Fire Knight Queelign, so make sure to stop by the prayer room before facing Messmer.
Need help? Here’s what to do first in Shadow of the Erdtree, plus our list of Shadow of the Erdtree bosses and all the Shadow of the Erdtree grace sites we’ve found so far.
