Summary
- Elden Ring offers hidden areas with valuable rewards
- Lamenter's Gaol contains loot and important charms
- Eastern Nameless Mausoleum features a powerful boss and armor
As an open-world game, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree ticks all the boxes. Not only does it have a large vault of new and exciting biomes for the players to explore, but many of them are so hidden that most players won't even come across them during their first playthrough.
The mark of a great open-world game is that even the unbeaten path is worth exploring, and that's exactly what Elden Ring accomplishes. It has plenty of hidden areas scattered everywhere you look, which is a boon for players who enjoy exploring the beautifully crafted world. It's very easy to overlook these locations if you don't look at the map carefully.
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Updated on October 27, 2024, by Huzaifa Haq: Shadow of the Erdtree crafted a fresh new arena for players to explore. Similar to the base game, these areas are hidden from plain sight, and there isn't an obvious way to reach them. The rewards in these areas aren't necessarily the best, but they're good enough for the players who enjoy exploration to feel a sense of satisfaction from a job well done.
12 Lamenter's Gaol
Hidden Goals in Hidden Locations
- Contains a couple of loot-worthy items
- Can be reached from Charo's Hidden Grave
Located in the far reaches of Charo's Hidden Grave, a location which is hidden both by virtue of its geography and its name, Lamenter's Goal is an important tourist destination for players who make it to the southern border of the land of shadow.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – How To Get Omen Form Transformation (Lamenter's Mask Location)
In Shadow of the Erdtree, unlock Omen form by collecting the Lamenter's Mask and activating it under certain circumstances.
This particular dungeon is of particular importance to players who need a boost to their Focus, as it contains the Clarifying Horn +2 Charm. Additionally, the boss of the area drops the 
Lamenter's Mask, a unique item that transforms the player into an Omen. In this form, players get a boost to damage negation and the arcane stat.
11 Fog Rift Catacombs
The Mist Obscures All
- Contains the Stone-Sheathed Sword Altar
- Can be reached from Castle Front site of grace
Found in the early section of the map, the Fog Rift Catacombs are surprisingly easy to miss if the player isn't specifically looking for something in the confusing, fog-infested path leading from the Castle Front site of grace.
The catacombs aren't particularly standout compared to other dungeons in the DLC, but they contain one of three altars for the Stone-Sheathed Sword. This altar can be used to obtain the sword in question or to unlock the 
Sword of Light or 
Sword of Darkness.
10 Eastern Nameless Mausoleum
Parkour Down the Waterfall
- Leads the player to Rakshasa, who drops one of the best armor sets in the game
- Found near the Ruins of Unte
The Eastern Nameless Mausoleum is located in the Ruins of Unte, far below the Shadow Keep which hosts Messmer's invading army. This mausoleum has one of the best armors in the game, 
Rakshasa Set. Rakshasa's set increases the damage dealt to enemies, while also increasing the damage taken by the player, by 8% when the full set is equipped.
Shadow of the Erdtree: How to Get Rakshasa's Great Katana & Armor
Reach Shadow of the Erdtree's Eastern Nameless Mausoleum to collect Rakshasa's Great Katana and Armor Set.
To obtain it, players need to go head-to-head with the surprisingly basic NPC boss, Rakshasa. Simple doesn't mean easy by any means. She has high enough poise to ignore light attacks and a short enough punish window to disqualify heavy attacks. Fighting her requires a combination of parries, running attacks, and bold reads by the player.
9 Rivermouth Cave
A Hidden Cubby At The Basin
- Leads the player to the Chief Bloodfiend, and has a great spot for players to farm runes
- Can be reached from the Gravesite Plain
The Rivermouth Cave is hidden away in a secret location that is very easy to miss. Players can reach it in two different ways, and the location contains a decent reward for the adventure-inclined Tarnished who reach it.
There is a fun little boss at the end of the dungeon, the Bloodfiend Chief. More importantly, the chamber right before the boss contains a large horde of bloodfiends that can be farmed for runes very easily with the right equipment.
8 Manus Metyr's Basement
The Mother of Fingers Awaits
- Leads to Mother of Fingers
- Can be reached by completing the Manus Metyr Quest
One of the rewards for completing the Manus Metyr quest is getting access to the ruins hidden beneath the manor where the sorcerer resides. When the player visits both finger ruins in the land of shadows, and defeats Ymir, they get the ability to visit this hidden location.
What To Do With Remembrance of the Mother of Fingers In Shadow of the Erdtree
Players get the Remembrance of the Mother of Fingers from an optional boss in Manus Metyr, and can be exchanged for a weapon or a staff.
At the end of this arduous journey is the Mother of Fingers, an extraterrestrial entity that was sent by the Greater Will to ensure its authority in the region quite a long time ago. Players will need to go against this alien boss to obtain its remembrance, which can be exchanged for a few powerful rewards.
7 Church District
Gothic Worshipers of the Scadutree Avatar
- Leads to Scadutree Avatar
- Can be reached through Bonny village
Although it drops a remembrance, the Scadutree Avatar is an optional boss who can be reached by going through a lot of hoops. It is a manifestation of the Land of the Shadow, and is a symbol of worship for the locals, with a dedicated Church.
Appropriately, this boss can be found at the end of the Church District region in the DLC. To reach it, players have to travel from Moorth Ruins, travel through a cave, and reach the Bonny Village. From there, they have to follow the path north, covering a large part of the map, to reach the Church District. After they finish the area and solve its water crisis, they can finally reach the Scadutree Avatar boss.
6 Shadow Keep Back Gate
Messmer's Hold Has a Backyard
- Route to reach Commander Gaius, a gravitational magic user like Radahn
- Can be reached through the Church District
The resting ground of yet another optional remembrance boss, getting to the Shadow Keep Back site of grace is relatively easy once you've unlocked the Church District. Instead of worrying about fixing the water problem in the church district, players need to use it as a jumping ground and use a series of ladders to get back to the Storehouse in Shadow Keep.
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Following the path from there, they will eventually reach the back gate of Shadow Keep, where they will be able to fight Commander Gaius, a remembrance boss with a particularly difficult-to-dodge charge that has left many players frustrated.
5 Scadutree Chalice
Scadutree Fragments Galore
- Contains Five Scadutree fragments
- Located just beyond Gaius' boss arena
Once you've killed Commander Gaius and claimed your spoils of war, don't leave the arena. It might seem silly to anyone who's explored the region, but it's not surprising that a lot of people will miss the fact that they can continue exploring the fields behind Shadow Keep after the boss is gone.
Continue traveling north, and you will reach the Scadutree Chalice. Here, players will find a surprisingly large number of Scadutree Fragments, 5 to be exact. So defeating Commander Gaius is recommended because he doesn't just give you a remembrance and some runes, but also the invaluable Scadutree Fragments that make your life that much easier in future fights.
4 Abyssal Woods
Horror Games Deserve Love Too
- A secret location that can be accessed from a hidden section of Shadow Keep
- Leads players to Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame if they can sneak past the untouchable enemies.
The creepiest area of the game, the Abyssal Woods, is extremely hard to find. It is a completely optional region that most people will miss simply because it is so difficult to find without guidance. After you've defeated the Golden Hippopotamus, players need to explore the keep, find a secret ladder, go through a waterfall, discover the secret of a painting, and finally take the classic FromSoftware teleporting coffin to the Castle Watering Hole.
From there, they travel down that path, and clear the darklight catacombs, defeating a boss in the process, to reach the Abyssal Woods. There, they have to contend with a large stealth section without Torrent and untouchable enemies that have to be avoided just so they can reach Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame hidden inside a castle.
3 Hinterlands
Nature Never Looked This Beautiful
- Route to a Fingers ruin as well as the Shaman Village
- Can be found behind a statue near Shadow Keep Back Gate site of grace
If getting to a secret area behind the Shadow Keep wasn't exciting enough for you, Shadow of the Erdtree has you covered. To the right of the Shadow Keep Back Gate site of grace, is a room with nothing but a giant statue and a message. If you perform the O, Mother gesture in front of the statue, it opens to reveal a hidden passage leading to the Hinterlands.
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One path from there leads to Shaman village, a peaceful area shrouded in a timeless aura that has cool lore implications and a few goodies on top of that, while another path leads to creepy ruins with giant fingers jutting out from the ground that are a part of a larger quest involving Count Ymir who can be found in Manus Metyr.