Fog Rift Catacombs - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

Fog Rift Catacombs is one of the minor dungeons you'll encounter as you begin your Shadow of the Erdtree journey. It is an optional dungeon that is home to a few treasure items and various enemies. This page contains information on the location, walkthrough, and guide to traverse this dungeon, locate all of its treasure, and tips to defeat the enemies within.

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How to Get to Fog Rift Catacombs

To reach the Fog Rift Catacombs, you’ll want to head northwest from the Castle Front site of grace in Scadu Altus, and pass through the fortifications beneath the Fog Rift Fort where several Messmer soldiers await you. Push your way through deeper into the valley as fog begins to fill the screen and pass the graves where several Vulgar Militia will try to attack you with their sickles and their poison projectiles.

As you reach the base of the valley, you’ll find the entrance to the catacombs well-lit within the northern cliff face. Push open the doors and head down inside, riding the elevator down you find there. At the bottom, you’ll reach the site of grace for the catacombs.

Fog Rift Catacombs Walkthrough

Go through the tunnel ahead into the next room and a Stone Imp will appear from the far corner. After defeating it, loot the corpse in the northeast corner for a Grave Glovewort 1 and go down the next tunnel to the west to reach a large room with multiple visible Stone Imps. Be VERY careful, as stepping into the room will trigger the spiked ceiling to collapse.

Step out and immediately pull back to bait the ceiling to drop, killing the roaming Imp in the process. Trigger the ceiling again and then rush into the alcove on the left side of the room.

As the ceiling lifts again, run out to the west and a second Imp will drop from above the tunnel. Heading round the corner in the next room, you’ll see a spellcaster on the walkway above, who’ll cast a slow moving projectile at you that’ll splinter and each splinter will rebound off anything it comes into contact with.

Run beneath the walkway and an Imp will spring out at you from the right, so quickly deal with it then grab the Yellow Fulgurbloom plant in the northwest corner. Go down the stairs and another Imp will drop from the ledge above you across the room, and after killing it you’ll have the choice of going to the west or the east.

First head east to confront two Imps protecting a corpse. After killing them, loot the corpse for the Ancient Dragon Knight’s Cookbook 1, then backtrack out and head across to the west. Going down the steps, a spiked ceiling will collapse ahead of you, and you can wait for it to lift and drop down, or jump on top of the ceiling as it rises back up.

Get on top of the ceiling first, and run straight across to reach a platform with a Yellow Fulgurbloom and a corpse to loot for x3 Knot Resin.

Then wait for the spiked ceiling to raise again and run across it to reach the room off to the south. There you’ll find a spellcaster and beyond that you’ll reach the overhead walkway with the spellcaster from earlier. After killing them both, head up the stairs to the east and you’ll face off against two Messmer soldiers and a black knight.

Try to lure the two soldiers away to deal with them separately, and then sneak up behind the black knight for a visceral attack - though be careful of another Messmer soldier that’ll ambush you from the right as you do so.

With the room clear, you can pick up the Great Ghost Glovewort item from the floor. Backtrack all the way to the spiked ceiling you got on top of, and drop down onto it. Then roll off onto the steps to the east and wait for the ceiling to rise again.

Time it correctly and then drop down onto the ground below and immediately go backward into the tunnel to the east where an Imp will ambush you and you can grab another Yellow Fulgurbloom. In the northwest corner is a ladder you can climb to reach an earlier section of the dungeon.

To progress, wait for the spiked ceiling to rise and run straight across to the west, looting the corpse on the floor for x2 Dragonbolt Grease if you can safely do so as you run. You can then ride the next elevator down and head forward to find a fire-breathing Imp just to the left. As you go down the steps, look left to see another Imp waiting there which can be dropped down on and ambushed from above if you so wish.

In the covered section will be another Yellow Fulgurbloom and another Imp that’ll leap at you from an alcove on the left. After defeating the remaining Imp in the room, head to the room to the west where a spellcaster will attack you, along with an Imp that’ll drop from the ceiling. With both enemies defeated, you can loot the corpse in the corner for a Grave Glovewort 2. Head back out and go down the stairs to the south to arrive at a giant room with a spellcaster at the far end.

In order to reach the far end of the room, you’ll need to move incrementally. Bait the spiked ceiling to come down and then rush to the first alcove along the left wall. As you arrive there, an Imp will drop down from the wall so be ready to kill it immediately. As the spiked ceiling raises again, rush to the next alcove on the left wall, but be careful as there’s a large hole in the ground that you can drop into.

Rush into the next alcove along to loot a corpse for a Glass Shard, and then rush across to the other side of the room. Before continuing west, time it so you can run up to where the spellcaster is, dealing with multiple Imps that you find there. After clearing the area, loot the open tomb on the raised platform for a Shadow Realm Rune 3. Now return to the intersection between rooms to the west, and bait the spiked ceiling in the next room to drop and then sprint across, looting the Broken Rune from the corpse as you go. Riding this final elevator down, you’ll reach the fog door for the boss fight of the dungeon.

Boss Fight - Death Knight

The Death Knight is a dual axe-wielding enemy, similar in stature to the black knights you’ll have encountered throughout The Lands Between. Throughout the fight the Death Knight will conjure electricity in a variety of ways to attack you. Beginning on the opposite side of the room, it’ll likely begin by summoning two lightning bolts that it throws at you one after the other. You can time a dodge roll to avoid them, or strategically use the pillars in the room to block the projectiles.

It will also continually close the distance on you by performing spinning swinging attacks, arcing wide with both axes swinging in one direction, and then back the other. Occasionally it’ll also cross its axes over in front of itself and swipe outward, which is also a relatively wide reaching attack if you don’t have some distance before the attack begins.

If the Knight transforms its cape into spectral wings with a gust of wind that knocks you back, you’ll need to be careful as it will immediately gear up for a rapid grab attack in which, if it makes contact, you’ll be lifted into the air and for a few seconds it’ll leech your health and restore its own before throwing you back down to the ground.

Another electrical attack the Death Knight can employ is pulling both axes to one side as they begin to spark, and then slashing in one direction followed by a slash in the opposite direction. Both slashes produce a widespread AoE on the ground that’ll shock you if it makes contact. Your positioning can protect you here if you’re lucky, but you can also attempt to jump as the ground electrifies to avoid it.

It can also wind up in the exact same way as the attack above, but instead of shooting out AoE zones on the floor, the Knight will simply spin rapidly towards you, with a split second break before it spins again.

You’ll be relieved to know that the Death Knight is incredibly easy to stunlock and/or animation cancel by continually using heavy attacks, particularly jumping heavy attacks. The Death Knight is also very susceptible to Bleed.

Upon defeating the Death Knight, you’ll earn the Death Knight’s Twin Axes, and the Crimson Amber Medallion 3, alongside 110,000 Runes. A wispy strand at the back of the room can be used to teleport yourself back to the entrance of the dungeon.

Down the Hole

If you backtrack up to the giant room with the large spiked ceiling (with the various alcoves), return to the alcove with the hole in the ground and drop down. To the east is a spellcaster alongside various fleshy blobs on the ground. Deal with them all, being careful of the blobs stabbing capabilities, and then loot the corpse for a Ghost Glovewort 4.

Then go north into the next room where another spellcaster and more blobs are off to the left. Be careful as you approach the spellcaster, as more blobs will drop from the ceiling and can trap you or land directly on you and leech your health. When ready, go through the tunnel to the west to find two additional spellcasters and several blobs on the ground and those that will drop from the ceiling.

Whether you choose to kill all the enemies or not, be sure to loot the corpse near the center of the room for the Electrocharge Incantation. You can then go to the previous room and climb the ladder to the north to reach a shortcut back to an earlier section of the dungeon.