Shadow Keep (Main Gate) Walkthrough - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

Shadow Keep (Main Gate) is the first of three sections of the Shadow Keep Legacy Dungeon in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. This page will contain walkthrough and guide information on how to reach Shadow Keep, all the treasures and items that can be found inside, tips for navigating the dungeon, and how to defeat its boss.

Check out our full Shadow Keep (Main Gate) Walkthrough below

Sections in this Page

• How to Reach Shadow Keep
• Golden Hippopotamus Boss Guide
• Shadow Keep (Main Gate) Walkthrough

How to Reach Shadow Keep

This one is fairly straightforward. From the Ensis Moongazing Grounds, exit the castle heading north into Scadu Altus. All you need to do is follow the road until you reach the castle in the distance.

Stop at the Map Stele as you pass to grab the Map - Scadu Altus. Open the map and you will see the Shadow Keep just a little further up the road.

Enter the Keep then ride the elevator up. Activate the Shadow Keep Main Gate site of grace at the top, then get ready to battle the first area boss.

Golden Hippopotamus Boss Guide

Recommended Scadutree Blessing: 4 to 5

Yeah why not, a giant hippo is guarding the main gate of the Shadow Keep. This big guy is about as straightforward as bosses get. He bites, tackles, and swings his head around and all you have to do is dodge. However, due to his massive size and the relatively small arena that isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

The hippo does not have a wide range of attacks but even with multiple Scadutree Blessings he can still kill you with 2-4 hits. Most of his attacks are single hits, so wait for the big swing and do not get baited into panic rolling.

The hippo almost always begins the battle by charging at you with his mouth open. This grab attack results in him biting you multiple times, dealing big damage.

The bite is slow but has huge range and will often grab you even if you roll past, so I recommend just strafing around and attacking him in the side as his charge comes to an end. Most of his attacks leave enough time for one charged attack or a short combo before he strikes again, don’t get greedy!

The rest of his moveset basically consists of various bites and head swings. When he swings his head up while keeping his front feet on the ground, he is going to do a double chin slam. Roll past both before the moment of impact.

When he stands up on his back legs he is going to do a full body slam. You can avoid this by rolling into it at the last second, or more simply by stepping to the side and jumping as the hits the ground. This way you can land a jumping attack combo as he gets up off the ground.

When he dips his head down, he is going to do an upward horn swing. This one has a slight delay before the attack and deals massive damage, so wait for the swing to begin before rolling toward and through his head. This one has a long cooldown, so use the opening to attack.

If you are attacking him from the side he often reacts with a side step / bite attack where he attempts to bump you away from him. As you might expect, you need to roll through the tackle. Watch his body movements close and dodge as he moves in.

His bite attacks are a bit more straightforward. He telegraphs them by opening his mouth wide, then dashes forward as he attempts to chomp down on you. Roll into the bite as his mouth closes and you can avoid them. Just be careful, he loves to combo these quick bites into other attacks like the head uppercut.

Like most big beast enemies the hippo is susceptible to bleed, and of course staggers. Try and use charge attacks whenever you have an opening to build toward a knock down.

At about 60% health the hippo will glow gold, signaling the start of phase two. Long quills will burst from his back, shooting needles into the ground around him. When you see him start to glow you can get a couple of attacks in before the transformation, staying close to him seems to avoid the most of the needle rain.

The hippo’s attacks do not change at all in phase two, except he has one new attack. After glowing gold, the hippo slams himself into the ground and shoots needles out around him. Dodge roll away from the impact, then dodge roll again to avoid the blast of needles. You can quickly get some attacks in as he is standing back up.

Watch carefully, keep calm, and never panic roll! Keep up the steady counterattacks until the hippo is defeated.

Your reward is the Aspects of the Crucible - Thorns, Scadutree Fragment x2, and 200,000 Runes. Activate the Main Gate Plaza site of grace and get ready to explore the Shadow Keep.

Shadow Keep (Main Gate) Walkthrough

Recommended Scadutree Blessing: 5

From the Main Gate Plaza, go through the open door to the left. Pass through the armory and go up the stairs on the other side. At the top of the stairs are a series of platforms which are guarded by various Messmer Soldiers.

Luckily most of them are oblivious to your presence, so use the opportunity to backstab them or push them off the ledge. The first has two soldiers on it, as well as a third that comes down from the stairs in the back corner. Grab the Festive Grease off the body by the stairs before proceeding.

Halfway up the stairs there is a lookout room with two more soldiers. One of them will aggro you immediately, while the other is too distracted looking out a window to notice. Once the room is clear grab the Smithing Stone 1 off the ground.

To the right of the window is yet another room, this one containing more Messmer soldiers as well as a Black Knight. The Black Knight will notice you as soon as you step foot in the room, so proceed with caution.

The good news is this Black Knight has no shield, so he is very susceptible to being stunlocked and staggered by charge attacks. The bad news is he has long fast combos and can deal huge damage, so if you see him start swinging his twin blade around try and back off. If you get far enough away he will switch to his longbow, which can give you an opening to run back in and attack between shots while he has to switch weapons.

Once the Knight is dead you can explore the room he was standing in where you will find the Main-gauche weapon on a corpse. Don’t drop off the ledge here, unless you need to get back to the site of grace.

Return to the stairs, and go up to the next platform. Here there are four Messmer soldiers waiting, two of which will notice you as you step up. Deal with the first two before ambushing the other two, then grab the Rainbow Stone x6 from the ledge before proceeding up the next set of stairs.

This leads to a dining room where there are two more Black Knights waiting. I recommend baiting the shield knight and drawing him out of the room and down to the lower platform so you can battle him one on one. Remember these guys can dish out quick shield bashes and slow mace swings. You want to stand back and wait for the mace swings before jumping in with an attack.

Go back to the dining room and carefully approach the other knight, who will be shooting with a bow. Lay into him with as many attacks as you can while he is weapon switching to his twin blade, then retreat if he tries to start up a combo. Once the knights are dead, grab the Shadow Realm Rune 6 from next to the fireplace, and the Golden Vow from the ledge on the right side of the room.

Exit out the door in the back corner. This leads to a long rampart where there are a bunch of burning boats. Grab the Holyproof Pickled Liver off the ground straight ahead, then go right toward the ships.

This area is full of militiamen enemies, the same ones from the base game, who are waiting to ambush you. These guys are small and quick, but also pretty weak and staggered easily. Back away and wait for them to leap at you, then counter with an attack of your own. The only real threat is if they come at you in a large group, so take them on one by one if you can.

Grab the Messmerfire Grease next to the second boat, then make your way over to the stairs straight ahead. From here the path splits four ways.

We are going to start by going down the giant staircase to the right. The stairs are guarded by one patrolling militiamen, and there are three more waiting at the bottom. Defeat them, grab the Drawstring Golden Grease from the bottom of the stairs, then open the door at the bottom which leads back to the Main Gate site of grace.

Don’t rest unless you really need to, unless you don’t mind battling the militias again. Go back up the stairs to the four way split, then head back toward the dining hall from before. However instead of going in, look down from the bridge where you will see a landing below with an item on it. Drop down and grab the item, Smithing Stone 6 x5.

Go to the edge of this platform where you will see a black knight guarding an item below you. Get the drop on him (literally), then grab the item once he is defeated, Golden Vow x3.

Next head into the armory behind the black knight. Inside is a Messmer soldier, as well as a Twinblade Black Knight. Quickly kill the soldier so you can deal with the knight one on one. Remember you want to back away from his long combos and use any opening for a jump attack or charge attack. He has no shield, so try and combo into a stagger! Grab the Smithing Stone 1 x4 from the back of the room.

Here you will also see a doorway that leads to a ladder. This ladder takes you back up to the dining room. We still have some more exploring to do, so ignore it for now.

Exit the armory and walk over to the giant golden tree. It is surrounded by shadow enemies, but they are not aggressive so you can freely walk up to the tree and grab the item at the base, the Talisman of Lord’s Bestowal (Boosts poise after using a Flask of Tears).

From here, make your way to the open doorway in the back corner of this plaza behind the tree. This leads to a walkway high above the first room of this zone. Grab the Somber Smithing Stone 9 from the body on the walkway, then drop down to get back to the Main Gate site of grace.

From the grace, go back up the giant stairs and back to the four way path. This time go right toward the rest of the burning ships. Over here you will find more militiamen as well as two items, Smithing Stone 8 x3 and Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot.

Next to the Fowl Foot you will notice a ladder that leads down to the water below. Go to the bottom of the ladder then go left where you will find a secret tunnel behind the near waterfall.

Ignore the waterfall for one second and keep following this ledge to find a Somber Smithing Stone 8, then return and go inside the tunnel.

This leads to another ladder, which brings you to a secret room under the castle. Inside this room you will find a painting, “Domain of Dragons”.

But wait, there's more! Notice the strange featureless wall on the right side of the room? Strike it to diffuse the illusion and reveal another path. This path leads to a coffin that you can climb inside to be taken to the Castle Watering Hole, a new area of Scadu Altus below Shadow Keep. If you choose to explore this area just make sure you grab the Castle Watering Hole site of grace before you leave.

Warp back to the Main Gate grace and backtrack to the rampart. Return to the four split path and we can finally go up the stairs and deeper into the Keep. Grab the two items off the ground straight ahead, Bone Dart x8 and Smithing Stone 2 x8, then get ready to battle a new Messmer Knight enemy.

These guys are sort of like super powered perfumers, using a variety of pyromancy magic and sword combos. Most notable is their delayed fireball, which does a twirl in the air before chasing you down. They use this spell constantly and it is not advised to approach them when the fireball is out. The only good news is that they don’t have a shield or other defensive option, so once you get in close you can lay into them with a combo as long as you keep an eye out for their sword counter attacks.

Once you have defeated the Messmer knight you can use the elevator behind him to ascend up the Keep and into the Specimen Storehouse. At the top of the elevator, go straight ahead and activate the Storehouse, First Floor site of grace.

From this site of grace you can either go up into Specimen Storehouse, or down to the West Rampart. This section of guide covers the path to the West Rampart. For Specimen Storehouse, see our Shadow Keep, Specimen Storehouse Walkthrough.

Ahead of you is an altar, as well as a giant statue. There is a militiaman hiding behind the altar, and a Fireproof Fried Liver on the right side of the statue.

Go into the room to the left of the site of grace where you will encounter more shadow enemies. These ones cast the same delayed fireball spell as the Messmer knight, but they lack any other combat prowess so you can usually walk right up to them and take them down with a quick combo. Grab the Rune Arc from the right side of the room, then proceed into the next room and take the elevator down.

From the bottom of the elevator, go straight ahead toward the item at the end of the hall. As you enter the room you will get ambushed by a jar warrior. These guys can do some damage, but their attacks are slow so just wait for him to come to a stop then attack. Once the jar warrior is defeated grab the item from the room, a Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot.

Head back toward the elevator and go down the nearby hallway. About halfway down the hall a fleshy beast known as the condemned will leap out to attack you. These guys appear to be the innards of a jar warrior set free. They can damage you by flinging their body around and lashing out with what appears to be a tentacle, but their fleshy bodies have no defense so the best strategy is often just to rush them down.

Walk out onto the balcony where the condemned came out of and grab the item from the railing, the Ash of War - Wall of Sparks. Return to the hallway and make your way to the room at the other end. Here you will encounter another condemned.

To the right you will see a staircase leading down. Ignore that for now and instead go toward the dead end wall to the left of the stairs. This is an illusory wall, punch it to break the illusion and grab the item on the other side, Battlefield Priest’s Cookbook 4.

Go down the stairs where you will encounter two more condemned. The one in back will shoot a blood projectile at you while you try to fight the closer one, so look out for that as you enter the battle. There is a Hefty Beast Bone x5 hidden behind the overturned jars to the right.

Go through the door on the left side to enter the large holding room. This room is full of little jar warriors who will try and jump tackle you. Thankfully they have low health and will probably die to a single charged attack.

To the left is a sort of altar where there is a special condemned who summons a quagmire of blood on the ground around him. This blood slows you down and deals slow damage, so try and rush and jump attack him before he can summon the effect.

Kill it then you can grab the item from in front of the altar, Iris of Grace, as well as the item from the nearby bed, a Hefty Cracked Pot.

Make your way to the other side of the chamber and into the connected room. Defeat the condemned by the door, then go down the stairs. In the room below are a bunch more little jar warriors, as well as a new site of grace, West Rampart.

Go up to the gate and pass through the smaller door on the right. This leads to a long bridge that leads to a new area, Ancient Ruins of Rauh. If you remember Leda’s note from earlier, we need to explore these ruins to burn the sealing tree that is blocking our path forward.

Hop on Torrent and start riding across the bridge. Along the way you will encounter a bunch of bats, as well as a series of items (Rada Fruit x4, Beast Liver x3, Beast Blood x3, Rada Fruit x4, Furlcalling Finger Remedy, Thin Beast Bones x8, Rada Fruit x4).

As you approach the end of the bridge flames will start falling down from above. You can take cover from them under the pillars. The flames are coming from the special Messmer Knight at the far end of the bridge. Ride directly up to them and jump attack them while they are channeling the spell.

This enemy dual wields knives, dashes around a lot, and executes long knife combos. If he begins his spinning combo just run away until he tires himself out, then you have an opening to attack as it winds down. Strafe around him and wait for him to do a slower attack, like his double knife swing, then leap in with a counter attack. Defeating this enemy gets you Salza’s Hood and the Rain of Fire Spell.

Enter the room behind Salza and grab the item, Smithing Stone 8 x2. Go up the nearby stairs which lead to an elevator that will deliver you directly to the Ancient Ruins of Rauh. Activate the Viaduct Minor Tower site of grace.

This completes Shadow Keep (Main Gate). From here you can begin to explore Ancient Ruins of Rauh, or return and explore the Specimen Storehouse. Specimen Storehouse is significantly more difficult than the other areas of the Shadow Keep, and leads to the Shadow Keep area boss.