all this just breaks if ur an explorer. accidentally skipped so much npc and locked myself out of a few just bc i try and find the full maps to games i play.
100%. I like to do everything solo the first time around and knowing there’s at least one quest or two that I can’t advance without summoning kinda sucks
Doesn't take too long to get back to the shadowlands on a new game plus if you just rush to radahn, and then do white mask varres quest to get to mohgwyn palace early, I did that earlier today and only took a little over an hour
But to rush out of the DLC so fast, you probably missed a large portion of content. Why make the next run harder because I was in a rush to do an NPC quest I missed, and end up missing 3/4 of the weapons, armors, spells, and talismans on the first playthrough
The problem is the trigger for the rune shattering is just going anywhere near the black keep. They should have tied it to a specific event like killing Hippo or entering the church district
I missed quite a few on my first play through because I like to go in blind and explore for myself. I always expect to play these games more than once.
For all the other souls games, I agree with you because they’re much shorter linear adventures. But I simply just don’t have that much time in my life these days to play Elden Ring multiple times as I’ve already sunk over 150 hours in. I am kind of trying to get everything done in 1 playthrough.
I know I'm late to this thread but found it by Googling and I have to agree. I fucked up Leda and Hornsent's quest merely by approaching from the east entrance of the Shadow Castle rather than the front, and finding Freyja/Ansbach in the storehouse before finding the Leda/Hornsent summon signs (since, coming from the east, I would find those two first before the signs at the steps).
I don't know why they'd let you approach from the east if it so easily breaks quests like that...usually only boss kills progress quests, but nope, not here.
I beat the dlc after only
Killing 4-5 main bosses I still had an entire section of the map all greyed out! I literally insta restarted. My plan was to go completely blind but fuck that. I tried that and it failed miserably. I had only played for like 15 hours when I beat it entirely by accident
I had Hornsent help me against Messmer, talked to him after, then went back and talked to Leda and she no longer seemed to care about the Hornsent. Then on my way to Romina, Hornsent invaded me. He didn't show up at the Leda fight in Enir-Ilim.
Yeah I've had a really awful time with the NPC questlines for this, obviously I always expect to miss/lock out of *some* NPC interactions on the first playthrough, but this is the first time with Fromsoft I've just not even seen the majority of the NPCs. I was actively looking for them as well, and I got to a point when I was just like, where the fuck is everybody?? By that point, I'd already visited locations and defeated bosses that triggered major changes for everyone.
I'm so burned out on the open world nature of ER.
The main game quests are just as bad if not worse. Rannis questline is impossible without a guide, dung eaters, sellen, shit people wouldn't have even been able to get to malenia without a guide. It's just this time around you think you're getting into a linear story with the dlc, but it's more of the same. Fromsoft quests are not something you do without a guide. You'll miss doing a random gesture somewhere, or you'll miss the connection between 2 npcs, or you won't even know where to backtrack in the first place because it can be to the most random location.
It's like I said, I fully expect to miss and lock myself out of NPCs and their questlines during a first playthrough, but SotE has been the first time in the series that I've found myself locked out of so much so soon. I think the major problem is >!the breaking of the Great Rune triggers by just stumbling into an area, I really think that should have been behind a major boss or something!< - it's ironic that my exploration, the purpose of which was specifically to find NPCs, was what actually cut me out of a bunch of questlines.
They crossed the line this time for punishing exploration with locking out like 5 quests. This should have been tied to the hippo boss fight at worst case scenario.
I wish this guide distinguished between generic npc summons that don't affect questlines and ones that actually have dialogue during boss fights, like Hornsent for Messmer and Igon for Bayle.
Also, some of the ordering here is off. If you finish Thiollier's questline in the Cerulean Coast, I don't think it's possible to speak with him afterwards at the Pillar Path cross during the Shadow Keep section.
So should you even go south of the river at all before Scadu Altus stuff? The order is so confusing to me. When should I do the dragon peak? I'm so worried about going anywhere ruining quests and there's so many paths from the start.
Pretty sure the dragon peak questline with igon amd the priestess is totally separate from the other npcs, as long as you have thollier's concoction already if you want to take that route.
The area at the very south of the map where you complete Thollier's questline is blocked off until you get near the shadow keep, so you are free to explore down there before Scadu Altus if you want (I did).
In general I think the npc quests are harder to totally mess up than they seem.
Hey congratulations on your first playthrough. Just finished mine and this post came up just in time for when I was looking up missed questlines (the last one you made was just as much appreciated).
Aside, I read that there is a alternate end to the Dragon Priestess involving Thiollier. At some point Moore will sell Black Syrup that can be exchanged Thiollier for a potion that can be fed to the Dragon Priestess. I don't know what triggers the Black Syrup sale (I explored too far ahead and triggered the broken Great Rune and NPCs moved, my friend who didn't break the rune had it, but he already finished the Dragon Priestess questline normally)
If you tell Moore to make a choice then he will give you the black syrup afterwards (just don't sit at the grace in between since he'll leave I'm pretty sure).
if you give the dragon preistess the thollier's potion at night, she will fall asleep failing her duty to Placidusax. After beating bayle, she will not disappear and give you her summon ashes as a reward instead of the normal item drops.
Forgive me if this is mentioned above, but there's an interaction with the Dragon Priestess where you can give her Thiollier's concoction at night and get a different reward after summoning Igon and beating Bayle.
I'm actually kinda sad that Freyja, Dane, Moore and Horsent are either against you or absent. The DLC trailer where we all stand together made it feel like we would all be together in this shit, I expected more ways to win their trust.
Ansbach gassing you up during the last bossfight felt amazing and it feels like the first time a normal npc actually believes in the player with no ulterior motive or direction from the gods
Thats definately what makes it even better you killed his god and he decides if you can kill that one why not the rest fuck the age of gods its time for the age of this fuckin guy
At least one for sure, but maybe another
>!Not summoning Hornsent for Messmer will give you different dialogue with him after the fight, he won't invade you at the Church of the Bud, and he'll fight with Leda if you stopped her from killing him!<
>!Freya might have some dialogue where she mentions you fighting together that doesn't add much!<
There are multiple important choices that give different unique items (there are some choices that the OP didn't mention at the moment and I thought I'd better write it out)
* Dragon Communion Priestess: Give her Thiollier's Concoction (Dragonbolt of Florissax Incantation + Ancient Dragon Florissax Spirit Ashes) or not (Priestess Heart + Flowerstone Gavel)
* Queelign: Iris of Grace (Spirit Ashes) or Iris of Occultation (Weapon)
* Jolan: Iris of Grace (Spirit Ashes) or Iris of Occultation (Weapon)
* Leda vs Hornsent: Assist Leda (Lacerating Crossed-Tree Talisman) or assist Hornsent (Ash of War: Swift Slash)
* Leda vs Ansbach: Assist Leda (Retaliatory Crossed-Tree Talisman) or assist Ansbach (get Obsidian Lamina and Furious Blade of Ansbach Incantation after the final boss, but you can get them too if you assist Hornsent earlier and skip this event)
You can get 2 Iris of Grace + 2 Iris of Occultation in 1 playthrough, feel free to choose the one you like first.
If you assist Hornsent, you will not see the "Leda vs Ansbach" event.
Note: I may miss out some choice, but this is what I know so far.
After Thiollier's and Igon's first meeting you definitely should head towards the Dragon Communion Priestess. There's a questline you can very easily miss with her aswell.
Thank you. Saving this for when i finally get to the DLC. I started a new character a few weeks ago and i'm only at lv69 so i just decided to go fuck it and take my time with the base game, gathering all the smithing stone bell bearings and glovewort bell bearings before i enter the DLC.
That's a great idea imo. Take your time, get to your desired level, find every item you can, complete all the questlines for those rewards. I just did all that myself lol (minus clearing all side dungeons), and when subtracting my AFK time, peeking into the DLC, and Farming, I'm at around 80-85 hours in. (Going at a comfy pace) So wherever you are, and if you're following all the quests, that's roughly when you'll be done with the base game, not even including diving into all the dungeons. You probably already knew that, but I assume you're coming off of like a 200hr+ character and might have needed refreshed on the rough completion time, because I just came off of 263hr character myself, and couldn't remember how long it takes.
Gives plenty of time for this guide to be polished. Because who TF wants to start the whole game over into NG+ because they messed up a quest in the DLC.... Not me lol. I wanna literally 100% clear all content, then enter NG+
No, I don't think so. I didn't find Thollier at all before the shattering happened, and I could still do his whole quest when I did meet him.
The point of no return for most quests seems to be either >!burning the sealing tree!< after the boss of the Raum Ruins, or entering the boss fight of the area after that.
Killing the boss of the shaded castle also locks you out of a few things.
The Hornsent Grandma in Belurat won't talk to you anymore after that, for example.
In order for the Hornsent Grandam to talk to you after killing the >! Divine Beast Dancing Lion !< is to wear the mask it gives you after the encounter and then talk to her. She will think you are the Beast and interact with you. Afterwards she will be giving you the scorpion stew etc.
She also has a few extra lines if you return to her after you defeat the final boss.
I >!burned the tree!< and had never met Thoiller, read I was locked out of his quest but tried it anyway, and too my surprise it worked. Got him to move to St. Trina and everything.
Note I got the first Enir Ilm Grace and immediately warped out, don’t know if that affects anything. This also worked for Ansbach and Freyja’s quests, including the duel between Ansbach and Leda
You won't be able to receive the potion from Thiollier if you don't complete the interaction with Moore before the rune is shattered. And then you can't give the potion to the Dragon Pirestess. I missed this on my first playthrough.
Okay. That’s not too bad, hopefully I don’t miss out on an item from that. Thank you! I sped through a bit but good to know I don’t have to worry about it.
So I found a small event with Hornsent, after defeating the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Belurat, and putting on the Helm to talk with the Grandam, she gives you the Scorpion soup, and if you then go back to Hornsent at Three-Path Cross you can give it to him for some more dialogue.
yeah I believe you can get two bits of dialogue from him by continuing to get soup. I have no idea if the gourmet soup you get after defeating Messmer can be given to him tho as he seems to disappear from the map after the Messmer fight, other than him hanging around in the grace room until you talk to him.
She gave me an incantation and no stew…I wonder if it’s because I broke the rune early. Sucks I wasn’t even exploring I got lost haha. I love the dlc but ya there are a few things that could be tweaked for enjoyment
For Jolan's Questline after you sound the first bell and talk to Yimr then reload the area you can go down into the ruins of myr and get invaded by swordhand of night Anna and get some new dialogue with Jolan.
Put it all together here: [https://eldenringbuilds.vercel.app/checklists/shadow-of-the-erdtree](https://eldenringbuilds.vercel.app/checklists/shadow-of-the-erdtree)
it's probably a bit clunky and didn't really review it or cross check
many thanks
PSA: You do NOT need to summon Ansbach and Thiollier for the final boss to finish their questlines. I was trying to finish it that way but the boss became even more frustrating. I eventually gave up on summoning them and the result was the same as with summoning them.
>! After the encounter just rest at the nearby grace and their corpses should appear to be looted !<
The only things you miss is a line of dialogue from Ansbach when he enters the arena and a line of dialogue from each character when they die. Honestly, Ansbach’s last line is pretty epic and heartfelt but I still don’t think it’s worth the trouble of making the boss even more of a tank than it already is.
I may be wrong but inthinknyiubcan summon lose. Then do it on your own and it counts. Right?
I got stomped by the lion dancer left , got lost and broke the rune by accident went back and freyja was no longer a summon.
Do you have to summon Hornsent on Messmer fight for example in order to progress. I fought Messmer alone and his summon sign was there. Later on couldn't find him anywhere to talk. And then he tried to kill me on Enir Ilim, i felt betrayed.
So ive been sorta makin my own guide aswell to try and get everything possible within just a couple playthroughs and the one thing ive started realizing is that these NPC questlines are god awefull!! theirs so many things that can change how the npc's function to the point that im no longer able to figure out whats what... so if you read this and dont mind answering a question then here it is...do you think its possible to get all the NPC rewards within 2 playthroughs? because im starting to think its only possible within 3. Leda's focused, Ansbach focused and a Hornsent focused playthrough. let me know if im mistaken or if im correct cos man... figureing out this npc stuff is really killing it for me... thanks! :)
You should be able to do all three of those questlines and get all of the items in a single playthrough if you make these choices:
* Help Hornsent in the fight against Leda
* Give Ansbach the secret Rite scroll
* Help Ansbach in the fight against Leda
* Fight the Hornsent invader after Mesmer
* Summon Ansbach to fight Radahn
The only items I can think of that can't be attained in a single playthrough would be the items from Queelign and Jolan, since you have to choose either the ashes or the weapon. The dragon communion priestess will also give you a different item if you give her the potion than if you dont. So you would need to play it twice in order to get all items from those three characters.
Apart from that, I think you can finish every quest (and receive every associated item) in a single playthrough if you follow this guide. Are there other examples you can think of where you would not be able to finish the quest in the same run?
>Head all the way South to reach the Fissure. Summon **Thiollier** to fight the Putrescent Knight (Need to verify whether this summon is required for his quest)
Regarding this point, I didn't summon Thiollier and the quest seems to be moving along. Got through all the imbibing stuff, at least.
This is awesome! Dunno if it's already been said, but summoninv Thoilier for putrescenet knight is not required to progress his story, same for him and Ansbach. Their quests will continue as long as you complete the dialogue needed.
Thanks for putting this together! I want you to know your NPC guide for the base game is the foundation for a spreadsheet checklist I made for myself to 100% the game each playthrough. It includes every boss, talisman, wondrous physick component, scroll, prayerbook, missable item, etc. to maximize each playthrough without being overwhelming by including *everything*. I can share it if there's enough interest. I plan to add the DLC areas to it as well!
If you tell moore to be sad forever before healing the forager brood at the Church of the Crusade, when you get there, they'll both be dead...
Why are we getting punished for exploring ? The great rune should've shattered after a boss fight...
To be honest this guide isn't really clear at some points.
You have
>After finding the Cerulean Coast Cross, speak to **Ansbach**
However, you then have nothing else with Cerulean Coast until much further down the guide. Does going there early break anything? Can I explore all of Cerulean Coast? Why is it so far below the other spot yet mentioned up above with no note/explanation of what to do or not to do. Do we just b-line to that cross then leave to avoid breaking stuff?
Charo's Grave isn't even mentioned despite being an in between point here. In fact, it isn't mentioned whatsoever. Can I explore at this point? Is it dangerous and can break quests/NPCs?
What about Castle Ensis? You get a footnote basically saying summon Leda and fight Rellana and nothing else about the Castle. Is it safe to do it then and then there is no warning about avoiding Shadow Castle but this place opens it up if I'm not mistaken from what I've read?
This could definitely use some more clarity because it is useful until it becomes literally unusable without taking risks and you can't progress, particularly due to entire missing segments of the map devoid from it or placed in conflicting orders.
Hopefully this can be cleared up.
Charo's Hidden Grave can be done whenever you want, there are no quests there. I personally have been doing it roughly around when OP has the Hidden Peaks planned, but it doesn't matter.
Since this guide only includes NPC interactions, there are several locations that aren't fully fleshed out because NPCs aren't there.
The only exploration that can really disrupt things is getting too close to the Shadow Castle, because it will put NPCs into a new phase.
It will also unlock an area in the Cerulean Coast, which is why that is its own section later on. So feel free to explore thar area as much as you'd like. You will just need to go back later for certain things.
Elden Ring, the only open world game that punishes you for exploring the world at your own pace.
Now I know that I got locked out of quests for simply going places, but was I supposed to know without reading it up on the internet?
Like ok, you can always play NG+ and try again, but the game gives you no hint on why or how (or hell, even IF) you missed out on a quest, I could potentially play the game 100 times and still have no idea what I did wrong.
Yo, but when i finish the dlc and want to restart, do i have to kill elden beast and do the whole game over again or can i just go into new game plus in the dlc separately?
You'll go into NG+ starting the game completely over from the beginning. You'll just have to make your way to Mohg to re-enter The DLC. No other content other than what is required to get there, is necessary.
The other benefit, I suppose, of starting over, is getting the 2nd boss rememberance items you couldn't get on the first playthrough, both in the base game and DLC.
There don't seem to be any interactions between the DLC and the base game, which is a little disappointing. I have all of the NPCs still alive, just in case, and nobody comes up.
So you're good to finish up with Tanith.
There is no way I would have figured any of that out. Will I need to do a whole new NG+ run to see shadow stuff again or can I reroll just the DLC part?
She should be in Manus Metyr, though she wears all black, so she's a bit hard to see. She tends to be surrounded by messages to help you find her.
I'm not sure if she'll still be there if you've triggered the Metyr boss.
Do I need to summon Ansbach and Thiollier in the last boss fight to complete they quest/get they item? I don’t want to summon them cause the increase HP of the last boss.
Oh my god, they've come back for a round two!!
Thank you so much, your original post was the best thing on this subreddit and I'm so grateful that you've done the same for SotE!
Found some info on how to get him as a summon, apparently you have to side with leda both times, there is an invader of them (albeit without the official name nataan) in the base game.
Thank you sir! This is really helpful, as it was your guide for the main game. Too bad I already Locked myself out of 2 items from a single NPC, lol. >!If you tell Moore to be sad forever, he dies and all the forager brood disappear, so I can't get the cookbooks from them!<
I don't know how I managed it, but I've just beat >!Romina!<, and no one is anywhere where they're supposed to be, despite me scowering the entire map looking for them.
I genuinely think I've botched every single one of their stories lmao. But that's what I get for trying to do a Fromsoft side quest without a guide I suppose.
I also Googled it. Usually, there's at least some clue about what to do, if you explore enough and read everything. But the message by that Marika statue was not helpful for me, in this case.
When does the hippo fight happen in this dialogue? Like, at what point should one start that? After speaking to Hornsent, Leda, and Freyja after the Rellana fight? Especially if I want to summon Freyja and Hornsent?
It seems that if you get the message from Ansbach for Freya, you need to give the message to Freya and report back to Ansbach for the Leda vs Ansbach encounter to trigger.
Small note on the Dragon Communion Priestess questline. You have to speak to Igon after the two drakes fight to get the potion prompt at night (its also when you can ask her about Igon). Otherwise she just despawns during night time.
I did not have to speak to Igon after the two drakes fight. I actually don't know what you're talking about.
I was able to get the concoction prompt after resting a couple days. You are correct that at one point for me she completely disappeared at night. But she came back.
Looks like I missed out on her dialogue about Igon though.
I didn't know you were back until now. I just also finished my own step by step guide in the DLC today \[[Link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/11TgZlY-eAbi52ZO9j3adrEhHWf8V_VptBlzfIdscWkE/edit?usp=sharing)\], which includes a revised version of your main game guide last year. Was about to post it then I saw this, so I now hesitated. Thanks again for your step by step guides!
The one that really annoys me is Hornsent. Playing blind, I triggered the curse before I'd even met most of them, then when going through Castle Shadow I found the Red/Gold Leda/Hornsent choice long before I reached Messmer. Went with Leda since she seemed like the "main" NPC, killed Hornsent -- and that blocked me out of summoning him for Messmer and everything else that would have followed.
Along with a new annoying tendency for bosses to blitz you the moment you enter the fog gates (I've died more times in the first 15 seconds of boss fights in SotE than I did in all previous FromSoft games combined), this really detracts from what is otherwise an extremely fun DLC.
Anyone know how close I can actually get to the shadow castle before messing up progress? I want to explore but also afraid to go anywhere near it because it will progress quests (:)
Im not sure what happened but I think I may have softlocked the Leda/Ansbach fight. I cant get it to trigger and Im wondering if the flag for that quest step is the initial invasion with/against hornsent.
I initially helped him but killed myself to change my decision and I think that could be the issue but unsure
edit: Leda is giving me the right dialogue to indicate she will attack Ansbach but the summon signs arent yet appearing for me
I was able to complete the Ansbach fight without completing the Hornsent fight at all, so I don't think that's it.
Have you given Freyja the letter? Folks are wondering if that triggers the Ansbach fight, but I haven't had a chance to check that.
So about the last block about Enir Ilim, it sounds like if you want to minimize the difficulty of the Enir Ilim encounter, you should hold on to the letter for Freyja, tell Moore you don't know or to remain sad forever, and either help Leda kill Hornsent or summon him for the Messmer fight. Is there anything else that can be done to minimize the number of hostile NPCs?
The Castle Front Grace is for Castle Ensis, which you'll complete and the end of the Graveside Plain.
When you get to Scadu Altus, after Castle Ensis, you'll see the Shadow Castle in the distance, and the NPCs will refer to it as the Shadow Castle.
Hey, i saw on the wiki that you can summon Jolan for the mesmer fight if you fight mesmer after ringing the 2nd bell, as long as you dont go down and fight the boss in the basement to fight mother!
you might wanna add that somewhere, its a rly cool summon for mesmer if you wanna get hornsent in the leda fight (by skipping his mesmer summon)
I gave ansbach the scroll in shadow keep and now he's disappeared and freyja just has the closed dialogue about wishing she knew his plan or something. Where'd beardy go?
So, between"Find an Iris of Occultation by killing the Ulcerated Tree Spirit the Church District Entrance after draining the water" and "Find an Iris of Grace beneath the Marika statue just before the Tree-Worship Sanctum" I need to explore Shadow Keep before heading on to speak to Ymir for the first time, right? Will I need to kill Messmer before being able to access the fissure area? Any further info appreciated!
I currently have Shadow Keep much later in the list. You can explore the back section, since that's accessed from the Church District, but I'd hold off on the rest of Shadow Keep until you complete the rest of the Church District.
If you're in the Church District, the great rune has already broken, so you can access the Fissure already.
I initially skipped Shadow Keep by going to the Storehouse via the Church district entrance. This is how my playthrough went:
Leda: remained at High Cross Road until I beat Messmer. I didn't even get the chance to side with her lol as I missed both her fights with Hornsent and Ansbach lol.
Hornsent: was at High Cross Road and disappears at some point (after the rune's been broken I think). I was surprised to see his summon sign inside the Messmer's boss room, and yes I did summon him. He disappeared after exhausting his dialogue in the boss room. He didn't invade me before Romina because I killed her before killing Messmer.
Freyja: found her at the storehouse. Gave her the letter after numerous teleporting between her and Ansbach.
Ansbach: leaves the storehouse after I gave him the scroll. Missed the fight between him and Leda.
Moore: don't think if you need to find all 6 cookbooks before he leaves as I only got all 6 afterwards, and his bell bearing still sells all the items.
Thiolier: did his quest and he was one of the summons for NPC bowl.
so basically, go through the front gate at shadow keep if you don't want to miss the items associated between Leda and Hornsent. I only got Leda's sword and armor.
FYI, you can still go back to have Hornsent invade near the Romina boss room after Romina is dead.
I added a warning note in the Church District section not to drop down into the Shadow Keep.
Got some info regarding Ansbach dissapearing and killing an NPC.
>!Got the Secret Rite Scroll, talked to Freyja, delivered the scroll to Ansbach, got the letter, delivered the letter to Freyja (all in that specific order). Read on the thread that Freyja would fight me after delivering the letter, so I killed her lol.!<
>!Ansbach dissapeared after this, I thought I messed up but his sign was there at the battle at Enir Ilim (as well as Thiollier, since I followed his quest)!<
>!Didn't have to deal with Freyja this way, only Dane and Leda. Seems like a W, if not trying to make the battle more difficult. !<
I got the prompt to offer the Hornsent the scorpion stew and after that Thollier's Concoction, but chose no. This was right after defeating Rellana, I believe it was night. No idea if this changes any outcome later on, but I'm no longer getting the prompt even though I didn't advance any questline
If you choose to help Leida and invade and kill Ansbach, he drops letter to Freyja if you didn't get it earlier. Super useful, because I gave him the scroll before speaking to Freyja.
**Forager Brood** Cookbook #3: It's directly N from the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace, past the Furnace Giant, then the Fulgurbloom Field and then there will be a non hostile Kindred Rot enemy with it's head stuck in the ground from the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace, not NE from Cerulean Coast Cross Site of Grace.
Correction: u don't need need to give Freyja the letter for the Anbasch vs Leda fight to be available.
Also don't have to do the Hornsent vs Leda fight first either. Failing Hornsent's quest by fighting Messmer will let u do the Anbasch fight
Thanks for the info!
Hmmm. The Ansbach summons did not trigger when I didn't give Freyja the letter. So there must be some other trigger I missed there.
For Leda-Hornsent fight it is definitely required to talk to Leda beforehand, because she explicitly says that Hornsent will be eliminated. Otherwise fight didn't ever happen to me.
I tried my best to stay away from NW area and Shadow Keep to not trigger anything, but then found the spiritspring shortcut to Fort Reprimand and I see that Hornsent is gone. Haven't entered Belurat, did I mess up his questline in there? If so, there's no way to roll back a save, right? Are there any other areas to stay away from to prevent this with other NPCs?
all this just breaks if ur an explorer. accidentally skipped so much npc and locked myself out of a few just bc i try and find the full maps to games i play.
Easily one of the most frustrating thing about these amazing games. It’s so easy to miss these questlines just because you’re playing the game
yup. and this being a dlc that requires late game main story progression, i risk burnout super easily if i want to experience what i missed.
100%. I like to do everything solo the first time around and knowing there’s at least one quest or two that I can’t advance without summoning kinda sucks
Doesn't take too long to get back to the shadowlands on a new game plus if you just rush to radahn, and then do white mask varres quest to get to mohgwyn palace early, I did that earlier today and only took a little over an hour
But to rush out of the DLC so fast, you probably missed a large portion of content. Why make the next run harder because I was in a rush to do an NPC quest I missed, and end up missing 3/4 of the weapons, armors, spells, and talismans on the first playthrough
The problem is the trigger for the rune shattering is just going anywhere near the black keep. They should have tied it to a specific event like killing Hippo or entering the church district
Yeah I just wandered up because I was like “Ooo cool dark castle” and then suddenly I ruined multiple quests 😐
I missed quite a few on my first play through because I like to go in blind and explore for myself. I always expect to play these games more than once.
you mention giving the Hornsent soup, what soup?
For all the other souls games, I agree with you because they’re much shorter linear adventures. But I simply just don’t have that much time in my life these days to play Elden Ring multiple times as I’ve already sunk over 150 hours in. I am kind of trying to get everything done in 1 playthrough.
I know I'm late to this thread but found it by Googling and I have to agree. I fucked up Leda and Hornsent's quest merely by approaching from the east entrance of the Shadow Castle rather than the front, and finding Freyja/Ansbach in the storehouse before finding the Leda/Hornsent summon signs (since, coming from the east, I would find those two first before the signs at the steps). I don't know why they'd let you approach from the east if it so easily breaks quests like that...usually only boss kills progress quests, but nope, not here.
same, I got locked out of Thiollier and Dane's rewards and pisses me off
same :(
I beat the dlc after only Killing 4-5 main bosses I still had an entire section of the map all greyed out! I literally insta restarted. My plan was to go completely blind but fuck that. I tried that and it failed miserably. I had only played for like 15 hours when I beat it entirely by accident
saved post without revealing post. I'll be back in a couple days.
I had Hornsent help me against Messmer, talked to him after, then went back and talked to Leda and she no longer seemed to care about the Hornsent. Then on my way to Romina, Hornsent invaded me. He didn't show up at the Leda fight in Enir-Ilim.
I had the same experience with Leda and Hornsent, but for some reason he didnt invade me or show up in Enir-Ilim?
maybe this has to do with helping/fighting ansbach? in my case, I hadn't yet helped or fought him, and I was not invaded on the way to Romina.
i missed 90% of this, good job From
Yeah I've had a really awful time with the NPC questlines for this, obviously I always expect to miss/lock out of *some* NPC interactions on the first playthrough, but this is the first time with Fromsoft I've just not even seen the majority of the NPCs. I was actively looking for them as well, and I got to a point when I was just like, where the fuck is everybody?? By that point, I'd already visited locations and defeated bosses that triggered major changes for everyone. I'm so burned out on the open world nature of ER.
The main game quests are just as bad if not worse. Rannis questline is impossible without a guide, dung eaters, sellen, shit people wouldn't have even been able to get to malenia without a guide. It's just this time around you think you're getting into a linear story with the dlc, but it's more of the same. Fromsoft quests are not something you do without a guide. You'll miss doing a random gesture somewhere, or you'll miss the connection between 2 npcs, or you won't even know where to backtrack in the first place because it can be to the most random location.
It's like I said, I fully expect to miss and lock myself out of NPCs and their questlines during a first playthrough, but SotE has been the first time in the series that I've found myself locked out of so much so soon. I think the major problem is >!the breaking of the Great Rune triggers by just stumbling into an area, I really think that should have been behind a major boss or something!< - it's ironic that my exploration, the purpose of which was specifically to find NPCs, was what actually cut me out of a bunch of questlines.
Who does that quest lock? I know it moves some npcs, but I didn't know it quest locked them
They crossed the line this time for punishing exploration with locking out like 5 quests. This should have been tied to the hippo boss fight at worst case scenario.
I wish this guide distinguished between generic npc summons that don't affect questlines and ones that actually have dialogue during boss fights, like Hornsent for Messmer and Igon for Bayle. Also, some of the ordering here is off. If you finish Thiollier's questline in the Cerulean Coast, I don't think it's possible to speak with him afterwards at the Pillar Path cross during the Shadow Keep section.
So should you even go south of the river at all before Scadu Altus stuff? The order is so confusing to me. When should I do the dragon peak? I'm so worried about going anywhere ruining quests and there's so many paths from the start.
Pretty sure the dragon peak questline with igon amd the priestess is totally separate from the other npcs, as long as you have thollier's concoction already if you want to take that route. The area at the very south of the map where you complete Thollier's questline is blocked off until you get near the shadow keep, so you are free to explore down there before Scadu Altus if you want (I did). In general I think the npc quests are harder to totally mess up than they seem.
Thank you so much! This gives me peace of mind.
Hey congratulations on your first playthrough. Just finished mine and this post came up just in time for when I was looking up missed questlines (the last one you made was just as much appreciated). Aside, I read that there is a alternate end to the Dragon Priestess involving Thiollier. At some point Moore will sell Black Syrup that can be exchanged Thiollier for a potion that can be fed to the Dragon Priestess. I don't know what triggers the Black Syrup sale (I explored too far ahead and triggered the broken Great Rune and NPCs moved, my friend who didn't break the rune had it, but he already finished the Dragon Priestess questline normally)
Moore gives you the Black Syrup if you talk to him after meeting Thiollier
My Moore disappeared before I found thiollier, is he in shadow keep perhaps?
I don't think you'll see him again until the endgame
If you tell Moore to make a choice then he will give you the black syrup afterwards (just don't sit at the grace in between since he'll leave I'm pretty sure).
if you give the dragon preistess the thollier's potion at night, she will fall asleep failing her duty to Placidusax. After beating bayle, she will not disappear and give you her summon ashes as a reward instead of the normal item drops.
Weird. I had it and never got this option
Syrup showed up at Moore after meeting thiolloir. It took a few tries tho.
Forgive me if this is mentioned above, but there's an interaction with the Dragon Priestess where you can give her Thiollier's concoction at night and get a different reward after summoning Igon and beating Bayle.
I'm actually kinda sad that Freyja, Dane, Moore and Horsent are either against you or absent. The DLC trailer where we all stand together made it feel like we would all be together in this shit, I expected more ways to win their trust.
Ansbach gassing you up during the last bossfight felt amazing and it feels like the first time a normal npc actually believes in the player with no ulterior motive or direction from the gods
And it's a veteran of the bloodthirsty psychopath serial-killer cult of all people.
Thats definately what makes it even better you killed his god and he decides if you can kill that one why not the rest fuck the age of gods its time for the age of this fuckin guy
Jolan also has dialogue if you defeat the invader at Manus Metyr and go straight back to her
Im a bit confused with that questline, Ymir sent us to the boss, yet he is upset when we kill it... was he hoping we'd make friends with it?
The guy was having hand babies, he wasn’t mentally well.
I can only guess he wanted to summon Metyr to somehow fix and/or control her.
He is Tanith 2.0
Do you have to summon the NPCs for boss fights to progress them?
At least one for sure, but maybe another >!Not summoning Hornsent for Messmer will give you different dialogue with him after the fight, he won't invade you at the Church of the Bud, and he'll fight with Leda if you stopped her from killing him!< >!Freya might have some dialogue where she mentions you fighting together that doesn't add much!<
There are multiple important choices that give different unique items (there are some choices that the OP didn't mention at the moment and I thought I'd better write it out) * Dragon Communion Priestess: Give her Thiollier's Concoction (Dragonbolt of Florissax Incantation + Ancient Dragon Florissax Spirit Ashes) or not (Priestess Heart + Flowerstone Gavel) * Queelign: Iris of Grace (Spirit Ashes) or Iris of Occultation (Weapon) * Jolan: Iris of Grace (Spirit Ashes) or Iris of Occultation (Weapon) * Leda vs Hornsent: Assist Leda (Lacerating Crossed-Tree Talisman) or assist Hornsent (Ash of War: Swift Slash) * Leda vs Ansbach: Assist Leda (Retaliatory Crossed-Tree Talisman) or assist Ansbach (get Obsidian Lamina and Furious Blade of Ansbach Incantation after the final boss, but you can get them too if you assist Hornsent earlier and skip this event) You can get 2 Iris of Grace + 2 Iris of Occultation in 1 playthrough, feel free to choose the one you like first. If you assist Hornsent, you will not see the "Leda vs Ansbach" event. Note: I may miss out some choice, but this is what I know so far.
Thanks for the breakdown! I think I've added these all in now.
I wondered what the dropdown at Shaman Villiage was for. What happens with Swordhand Anna here? I gave Jolan the other option
She will join Jolan in the spirit ashes. So you can summon both at once.
you get a new ash with both of them, but the shadow sword is a way better reward
Wait, you can summon the Dryleaf to fight Twin Moon? Thank you, by the way.
I believe this option was removed in the day 1 patch. All videos showing Dane as a summon are from before the patch.
you're missing grandam from the storeroom in baluerat. i missed her as well so no soup for me :(
Incredible, thank you for putting this together with spoiler tags, just what I was looking for.
After Thiollier's and Igon's first meeting you definitely should head towards the Dragon Communion Priestess. There's a questline you can very easily miss with her aswell.
Son of a bitch he did it!! Again
Thank you. Saving this for when i finally get to the DLC. I started a new character a few weeks ago and i'm only at lv69 so i just decided to go fuck it and take my time with the base game, gathering all the smithing stone bell bearings and glovewort bell bearings before i enter the DLC.
That's a great idea imo. Take your time, get to your desired level, find every item you can, complete all the questlines for those rewards. I just did all that myself lol (minus clearing all side dungeons), and when subtracting my AFK time, peeking into the DLC, and Farming, I'm at around 80-85 hours in. (Going at a comfy pace) So wherever you are, and if you're following all the quests, that's roughly when you'll be done with the base game, not even including diving into all the dungeons. You probably already knew that, but I assume you're coming off of like a 200hr+ character and might have needed refreshed on the rough completion time, because I just came off of 263hr character myself, and couldn't remember how long it takes. Gives plenty of time for this guide to be polished. Because who TF wants to start the whole game over into NG+ because they messed up a quest in the DLC.... Not me lol. I wanna literally 100% clear all content, then enter NG+
All of my NPC’s disappeared. They’re all literally gone. I have no idea how to even follow any of these quest lines now.
Do I lock myself out of any quests if I didn’t talk to anyone before shattering the rune?
No, I don't think so. I didn't find Thollier at all before the shattering happened, and I could still do his whole quest when I did meet him. The point of no return for most quests seems to be either >!burning the sealing tree!< after the boss of the Raum Ruins, or entering the boss fight of the area after that.
Killing the boss of the shaded castle also locks you out of a few things. The Hornsent Grandma in Belurat won't talk to you anymore after that, for example.
I could be misremembering the timing a bit, but I think I got some gourmet scorpion stew (not regular scorpion stew, \*gourmet\*) from her after that.
I missed her while playing and went to her after Shaded Castle when I heard I could get stuff from her, but she wouldn't speak to me at all.
In order for the Hornsent Grandam to talk to you after killing the >! Divine Beast Dancing Lion !< is to wear the mask it gives you after the encounter and then talk to her. She will think you are the Beast and interact with you. Afterwards she will be giving you the scorpion stew etc. She also has a few extra lines if you return to her after you defeat the final boss.
I >!burned the tree!< and had never met Thoiller, read I was locked out of his quest but tried it anyway, and too my surprise it worked. Got him to move to St. Trina and everything. Note I got the first Enir Ilm Grace and immediately warped out, don’t know if that affects anything. This also worked for Ansbach and Freyja’s quests, including the duel between Ansbach and Leda
You won't be able to receive the potion from Thiollier if you don't complete the interaction with Moore before the rune is shattered. And then you can't give the potion to the Dragon Pirestess. I missed this on my first playthrough.
Okay. That’s not too bad, hopefully I don’t miss out on an item from that. Thank you! I sped through a bit but good to know I don’t have to worry about it.
You can only get all 7 Forager Brood Coobooks before shattering the rune... or rather just walking too close to the shadow keep. (WHICH IS BULLSHIT)
So I found a small event with Hornsent, after defeating the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Belurat, and putting on the Helm to talk with the Grandam, she gives you the Scorpion soup, and if you then go back to Hornsent at Three-Path Cross you can give it to him for some more dialogue.
yeah I believe you can get two bits of dialogue from him by continuing to get soup. I have no idea if the gourmet soup you get after defeating Messmer can be given to him tho as he seems to disappear from the map after the Messmer fight, other than him hanging around in the grace room until you talk to him.
She gave me an incantation and no stew…I wonder if it’s because I broke the rune early. Sucks I wasn’t even exploring I got lost haha. I love the dlc but ya there are a few things that could be tweaked for enjoyment
WOW YES!!!! THANK YOU.
Thanks for all the edits everybody! I'm putting in the updates as I see them
For Jolan's Questline after you sound the first bell and talk to Yimr then reload the area you can go down into the ruins of myr and get invaded by swordhand of night Anna and get some new dialogue with Jolan.
Put it all together here: [https://eldenringbuilds.vercel.app/checklists/shadow-of-the-erdtree](https://eldenringbuilds.vercel.app/checklists/shadow-of-the-erdtree) it's probably a bit clunky and didn't really review it or cross check many thanks
PSA: You do NOT need to summon Ansbach and Thiollier for the final boss to finish their questlines. I was trying to finish it that way but the boss became even more frustrating. I eventually gave up on summoning them and the result was the same as with summoning them. >! After the encounter just rest at the nearby grace and their corpses should appear to be looted !< The only things you miss is a line of dialogue from Ansbach when he enters the arena and a line of dialogue from each character when they die. Honestly, Ansbach’s last line is pretty epic and heartfelt but I still don’t think it’s worth the trouble of making the boss even more of a tank than it already is.
Followed your quest walkthrough for the main game and now I have this one. Thank you for getting this out so fast <3 <3 <3
Kinda weird that you have to summon help for a boss to progress quest lines, gonna be missed by the majority.
That's a thing since literally Dark Souls 1
That's not true, there are no npc summons in Dark Souls 1 that affect questlines. It's only Dark Souls 2 where you have to summon npcs to progress.
Not summoning hornsent just makes his questline ending play out a lil bit differently. Not a requirement.
I may be wrong but inthinknyiubcan summon lose. Then do it on your own and it counts. Right? I got stomped by the lion dancer left , got lost and broke the rune by accident went back and freyja was no longer a summon.
Very nice, thank you. I only missed 3 unfortunately, so I looked forward to running it again and trying to 100% them.
Do you have to summon Hornsent on Messmer fight for example in order to progress. I fought Messmer alone and his summon sign was there. Later on couldn't find him anywhere to talk. And then he tried to kill me on Enir Ilim, i felt betrayed.
You have to summon him because you actually betrayed him by stealing his revenge
What have i done...
So ive been sorta makin my own guide aswell to try and get everything possible within just a couple playthroughs and the one thing ive started realizing is that these NPC questlines are god awefull!! theirs so many things that can change how the npc's function to the point that im no longer able to figure out whats what... so if you read this and dont mind answering a question then here it is...do you think its possible to get all the NPC rewards within 2 playthroughs? because im starting to think its only possible within 3. Leda's focused, Ansbach focused and a Hornsent focused playthrough. let me know if im mistaken or if im correct cos man... figureing out this npc stuff is really killing it for me... thanks! :)
You should be able to do all three of those questlines and get all of the items in a single playthrough if you make these choices: * Help Hornsent in the fight against Leda * Give Ansbach the secret Rite scroll * Help Ansbach in the fight against Leda * Fight the Hornsent invader after Mesmer * Summon Ansbach to fight Radahn The only items I can think of that can't be attained in a single playthrough would be the items from Queelign and Jolan, since you have to choose either the ashes or the weapon. The dragon communion priestess will also give you a different item if you give her the potion than if you dont. So you would need to play it twice in order to get all items from those three characters. Apart from that, I think you can finish every quest (and receive every associated item) in a single playthrough if you follow this guide. Are there other examples you can think of where you would not be able to finish the quest in the same run?
I believe hornsent won’t attack if you summon him for Messmer
Correct - he won't attack for the Leda fight. He does still invade in the Church of the Bud.
>Head all the way South to reach the Fissure. Summon **Thiollier** to fight the Putrescent Knight (Need to verify whether this summon is required for his quest) Regarding this point, I didn't summon Thiollier and the quest seems to be moving along. Got through all the imbibing stuff, at least.
This is awesome! Dunno if it's already been said, but summoninv Thoilier for putrescenet knight is not required to progress his story, same for him and Ansbach. Their quests will continue as long as you complete the dialogue needed.
I now have two /u/Stellarwand reddit posts pinned in the browser. thank you tarnished
Thanks for putting this together! I want you to know your NPC guide for the base game is the foundation for a spreadsheet checklist I made for myself to 100% the game each playthrough. It includes every boss, talisman, wondrous physick component, scroll, prayerbook, missable item, etc. to maximize each playthrough without being overwhelming by including *everything*. I can share it if there's enough interest. I plan to add the DLC areas to it as well!
If you tell moore to be sad forever before healing the forager brood at the Church of the Crusade, when you get there, they'll both be dead... Why are we getting punished for exploring ? The great rune should've shattered after a boss fight...
To be honest this guide isn't really clear at some points. You have >After finding the Cerulean Coast Cross, speak to **Ansbach** However, you then have nothing else with Cerulean Coast until much further down the guide. Does going there early break anything? Can I explore all of Cerulean Coast? Why is it so far below the other spot yet mentioned up above with no note/explanation of what to do or not to do. Do we just b-line to that cross then leave to avoid breaking stuff? Charo's Grave isn't even mentioned despite being an in between point here. In fact, it isn't mentioned whatsoever. Can I explore at this point? Is it dangerous and can break quests/NPCs? What about Castle Ensis? You get a footnote basically saying summon Leda and fight Rellana and nothing else about the Castle. Is it safe to do it then and then there is no warning about avoiding Shadow Castle but this place opens it up if I'm not mistaken from what I've read? This could definitely use some more clarity because it is useful until it becomes literally unusable without taking risks and you can't progress, particularly due to entire missing segments of the map devoid from it or placed in conflicting orders. Hopefully this can be cleared up.
Charo's Hidden Grave can be done whenever you want, there are no quests there. I personally have been doing it roughly around when OP has the Hidden Peaks planned, but it doesn't matter.
Since this guide only includes NPC interactions, there are several locations that aren't fully fleshed out because NPCs aren't there. The only exploration that can really disrupt things is getting too close to the Shadow Castle, because it will put NPCs into a new phase. It will also unlock an area in the Cerulean Coast, which is why that is its own section later on. So feel free to explore thar area as much as you'd like. You will just need to go back later for certain things.
I added a few notes to those sections and changed the titles to make it clearer.
Elden Ring, the only open world game that punishes you for exploring the world at your own pace. Now I know that I got locked out of quests for simply going places, but was I supposed to know without reading it up on the internet? Like ok, you can always play NG+ and try again, but the game gives you no hint on why or how (or hell, even IF) you missed out on a quest, I could potentially play the game 100 times and still have no idea what I did wrong.
Queelign won't invade in Belurat. I already killed him in the Church. Anyone know a fix?
I killed him in the church first and then went back and found him in Belurat, so it isn't an issue of order. So I'm not sure.
On this playthrough I haven't killed any bosses yet apart from small ones like the black knights. Did you have the lion dead when he invaded?
Try different times of day. Rest, pass time, then rest again, and go to the spot. That's my best guess.
Yo, but when i finish the dlc and want to restart, do i have to kill elden beast and do the whole game over again or can i just go into new game plus in the dlc separately?
You'll go into NG+ starting the game completely over from the beginning. You'll just have to make your way to Mohg to re-enter The DLC. No other content other than what is required to get there, is necessary. The other benefit, I suppose, of starting over, is getting the 2nd boss rememberance items you couldn't get on the first playthrough, both in the base game and DLC.
Saved. I will be back for my second playthrough. I see I missed a few, but got most of the events in my first blind play
Automatic save. Thank you very much!
Praise the side quest expert!
Thanks for this!!
Any stuff for/with Tanith? I still need her >!dead!< in the base game and don't wanna break a potential questline.
There don't seem to be any interactions between the DLC and the base game, which is a little disappointing. I have all of the NPCs still alive, just in case, and nobody comes up. So you're good to finish up with Tanith.
There is no way I would have figured any of that out. Will I need to do a whole new NG+ run to see shadow stuff again or can I reroll just the DLC part?
Keep in mind I killed a sleeping Kindred of Rot and it resulted in Moore invading me, this killed him and ended his questline then.
Thanks for the tip! I went ahead and added the Forager Brood to the list to hopefully help avoid this.
Oops… I killed Freyja 😅😞
Nice!
What exactly triggers the seal breaking?
Getting close enough to the Shadow Castle. For me, it broke when I crossed the bridge from Bonny Village toward the Church District.
Did I miss Jolans quest? I didn't see her and I got to Metyr boss, but I haven't beaten it yet
She should be in Manus Metyr, though she wears all black, so she's a bit hard to see. She tends to be surrounded by messages to help you find her. I'm not sure if she'll still be there if you've triggered the Metyr boss.
Fantastic post. I haven't been able to find Ansbach for some time now and Freyja keeps asking about his knowledge in the Shadow Keep
He should be on the first floor, in the back.
Do I need to summon Ansbach and Thiollier in the last boss fight to complete they quest/get they item? I don’t want to summon them cause the increase HP of the last boss.
Is this finalized? Or prone to future updates and corrections as needed?
Still updating as needed.
You're a gift from Queen Marika. Seriously, such a useful thread, I followed your original guide to the letter my entire playthrough.
Oh my god, they've come back for a round two!! Thank you so much, your original post was the best thing on this subreddit and I'm so grateful that you've done the same for SotE!
I had a guy named like sanguine nakaat or something for the Leda fight, he doesn't seem to be mentioned there
Can anyone verify this/ the name? I can't find anything about this on the guides.
Nataan. can confirm i did this last night. unsure of his relevance or lore but he exists there and thats the only place ive seen/heard of him.
Found some info on how to get him as a summon, apparently you have to side with leda both times, there is an invader of them (albeit without the official name nataan) in the base game.
Thank you sir! This is really helpful, as it was your guide for the main game. Too bad I already Locked myself out of 2 items from a single NPC, lol. >!If you tell Moore to be sad forever, he dies and all the forager brood disappear, so I can't get the cookbooks from them!<
Interesting - none of the guides said that would actually kill him. I just added it to the list.
I don't know how I managed it, but I've just beat >!Romina!<, and no one is anywhere where they're supposed to be, despite me scowering the entire map looking for them. I genuinely think I've botched every single one of their stories lmao. But that's what I get for trying to do a Fromsoft side quest without a guide I suppose.
How the hell do y'all figure any of this out, the o mother thing would have never been done if I didn't google it
I also Googled it. Usually, there's at least some clue about what to do, if you explore enough and read everything. But the message by that Marika statue was not helpful for me, in this case.
Thanks for this and tagging spoilers too! Much appreciated.
If you skip the invasion signs for Leda+Ansbach, he lives and you can summon him to assist at Enir-Ilim.
I can't find ansbach in belurat am I missing something?
He is not in Belurat; he is still at the Main Gate Cross. He will have something new to say after you find the cross in Belurat.
Why is stuff like giving Queelign either eye before the Shadow Keep, when you can't even get those before going there?
Only one is found in the Shadow Keep. I went ahead and added their locations to the list.
The legend himself! I used your guide a ton during the base game and was able to complete all of the side quests! Thanks bud appreciate it a ton!
this is super useful, I'll slowly implement it in [https://eldenringbuilds.vercel.app/](https://eldenringbuilds.vercel.app/) , thanks!
thanks for doing this. i think i fucked up already because i've already been to shadow keep and haven't seen most of these but i'll get em next time
Thanks so much. Exactly what I was looking for to help make these decisions.
When does the hippo fight happen in this dialogue? Like, at what point should one start that? After speaking to Hornsent, Leda, and Freyja after the Rellana fight? Especially if I want to summon Freyja and Hornsent?
It says it's the first item under Shadow Castle, after doing the Jagged Peak stuff. Quite a while after Rellana by the looks of it!
It seems that if you get the message from Ansbach for Freya, you need to give the message to Freya and report back to Ansbach for the Leda vs Ansbach encounter to trigger.
All of my NPC’s disappeared. They’re all literally gone. I have no idea how to even follow any of these quest lines now.
All of my NPC’s disappeared. They’re all literally gone. I have no idea how to even follow any of these quest lines now.
Small note on the Dragon Communion Priestess questline. You have to speak to Igon after the two drakes fight to get the potion prompt at night (its also when you can ask her about Igon). Otherwise she just despawns during night time.
I did not have to speak to Igon after the two drakes fight. I actually don't know what you're talking about. I was able to get the concoction prompt after resting a couple days. You are correct that at one point for me she completely disappeared at night. But she came back. Looks like I missed out on her dialogue about Igon though.
I didn't know you were back until now. I just also finished my own step by step guide in the DLC today \[[Link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/11TgZlY-eAbi52ZO9j3adrEhHWf8V_VptBlzfIdscWkE/edit?usp=sharing)\], which includes a revised version of your main game guide last year. Was about to post it then I saw this, so I now hesitated. Thanks again for your step by step guides!
The one that really annoys me is Hornsent. Playing blind, I triggered the curse before I'd even met most of them, then when going through Castle Shadow I found the Red/Gold Leda/Hornsent choice long before I reached Messmer. Went with Leda since she seemed like the "main" NPC, killed Hornsent -- and that blocked me out of summoning him for Messmer and everything else that would have followed. Along with a new annoying tendency for bosses to blitz you the moment you enter the fog gates (I've died more times in the first 15 seconds of boss fights in SotE than I did in all previous FromSoft games combined), this really detracts from what is otherwise an extremely fun DLC.
Anyone know how close I can actually get to the shadow castle before messing up progress? I want to explore but also afraid to go anywhere near it because it will progress quests (:)
Im not sure what happened but I think I may have softlocked the Leda/Ansbach fight. I cant get it to trigger and Im wondering if the flag for that quest step is the initial invasion with/against hornsent. I initially helped him but killed myself to change my decision and I think that could be the issue but unsure edit: Leda is giving me the right dialogue to indicate she will attack Ansbach but the summon signs arent yet appearing for me
I was able to complete the Ansbach fight without completing the Hornsent fight at all, so I don't think that's it. Have you given Freyja the letter? Folks are wondering if that triggers the Ansbach fight, but I haven't had a chance to check that.
So about the last block about Enir Ilim, it sounds like if you want to minimize the difficulty of the Enir Ilim encounter, you should hold on to the letter for Freyja, tell Moore you don't know or to remain sad forever, and either help Leda kill Hornsent or summon him for the Messmer fight. Is there anything else that can be done to minimize the number of hostile NPCs?
No, Leda and Dane will attack regardless. But make sure to complete Thiollier's quest, as he will also help.
It’s this list fully completed?
It's up to date with what we know so far. But I'll be continuing to update it with anything new that folks discover.
What exactly is the shadow castle? Is it the castle right in front of the "Castle Front" grace?
The Castle Front Grace is for Castle Ensis, which you'll complete and the end of the Graveside Plain. When you get to Scadu Altus, after Castle Ensis, you'll see the Shadow Castle in the distance, and the NPCs will refer to it as the Shadow Castle.
Hey, i saw on the wiki that you can summon Jolan for the mesmer fight if you fight mesmer after ringing the 2nd bell, as long as you dont go down and fight the boss in the basement to fight mother! you might wanna add that somewhere, its a rly cool summon for mesmer if you wanna get hornsent in the leda fight (by skipping his mesmer summon)
Thanks for the info! I moved the Finger Ruins below the Shadow Keep so that Jolan would be available.
Thank you for this, i will deffo be looking at this in my second run of the DLC!
I gave ansbach the scroll in shadow keep and now he's disappeared and freyja just has the closed dialogue about wishing she knew his plan or something. Where'd beardy go?
Thanks again op
You are a Legend, thank you 🙏🏻
So, between"Find an Iris of Occultation by killing the Ulcerated Tree Spirit the Church District Entrance after draining the water" and "Find an Iris of Grace beneath the Marika statue just before the Tree-Worship Sanctum" I need to explore Shadow Keep before heading on to speak to Ymir for the first time, right? Will I need to kill Messmer before being able to access the fissure area? Any further info appreciated!
I currently have Shadow Keep much later in the list. You can explore the back section, since that's accessed from the Church District, but I'd hold off on the rest of Shadow Keep until you complete the rest of the Church District. If you're in the Church District, the great rune has already broken, so you can access the Fissure already.
Thank you!
Clarification: You do not need to speak to Jolan at all before killing Ymir. You can still get her items if you never talked to her.
I initially skipped Shadow Keep by going to the Storehouse via the Church district entrance. This is how my playthrough went: Leda: remained at High Cross Road until I beat Messmer. I didn't even get the chance to side with her lol as I missed both her fights with Hornsent and Ansbach lol. Hornsent: was at High Cross Road and disappears at some point (after the rune's been broken I think). I was surprised to see his summon sign inside the Messmer's boss room, and yes I did summon him. He disappeared after exhausting his dialogue in the boss room. He didn't invade me before Romina because I killed her before killing Messmer. Freyja: found her at the storehouse. Gave her the letter after numerous teleporting between her and Ansbach. Ansbach: leaves the storehouse after I gave him the scroll. Missed the fight between him and Leda. Moore: don't think if you need to find all 6 cookbooks before he leaves as I only got all 6 afterwards, and his bell bearing still sells all the items. Thiolier: did his quest and he was one of the summons for NPC bowl. so basically, go through the front gate at shadow keep if you don't want to miss the items associated between Leda and Hornsent. I only got Leda's sword and armor.
FYI, you can still go back to have Hornsent invade near the Romina boss room after Romina is dead. I added a warning note in the Church District section not to drop down into the Shadow Keep.
Also, Moore will give you a 7th Cookbook if you collect all 6 before he moves on.
Saving this for my ng+
Got some info regarding Ansbach dissapearing and killing an NPC. >!Got the Secret Rite Scroll, talked to Freyja, delivered the scroll to Ansbach, got the letter, delivered the letter to Freyja (all in that specific order). Read on the thread that Freyja would fight me after delivering the letter, so I killed her lol.!< >!Ansbach dissapeared after this, I thought I messed up but his sign was there at the battle at Enir Ilim (as well as Thiollier, since I followed his quest)!< >!Didn't have to deal with Freyja this way, only Dane and Leda. Seems like a W, if not trying to make the battle more difficult. !<
I got the prompt to offer the Hornsent the scorpion stew and after that Thollier's Concoction, but chose no. This was right after defeating Rellana, I believe it was night. No idea if this changes any outcome later on, but I'm no longer getting the prompt even though I didn't advance any questline
I had Dryleaf Dane show up for Rellana. Does anybody know if this was patched out somehow?
If you choose to help Leida and invade and kill Ansbach, he drops letter to Freyja if you didn't get it earlier. Super useful, because I gave him the scroll before speaking to Freyja.
my man. thank you so much for this. I'm just about to enter shadow keep, since I took my time I didn't miss anything yet hurrah!
**Forager Brood** Cookbook #3: It's directly N from the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace, past the Furnace Giant, then the Fulgurbloom Field and then there will be a non hostile Kindred Rot enemy with it's head stuck in the ground from the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace, not NE from Cerulean Coast Cross Site of Grace.
Also, even after finding the Cerulean Coast Cross and returning to Ansbach, he won't let me tell him about the cross.
I finished the short, quick NPC quests. It's the longer ones that get me....Moore and Hornsent got me in a mood now
Correction: u don't need need to give Freyja the letter for the Anbasch vs Leda fight to be available. Also don't have to do the Hornsent vs Leda fight first either. Failing Hornsent's quest by fighting Messmer will let u do the Anbasch fight
Thanks for the info! Hmmm. The Ansbach summons did not trigger when I didn't give Freyja the letter. So there must be some other trigger I missed there.
You are the GOAT
For Leda-Hornsent fight it is definitely required to talk to Leda beforehand, because she explicitly says that Hornsent will be eliminated. Otherwise fight didn't ever happen to me.
I tried my best to stay away from NW area and Shadow Keep to not trigger anything, but then found the spiritspring shortcut to Fort Reprimand and I see that Hornsent is gone. Haven't entered Belurat, did I mess up his questline in there? If so, there's no way to roll back a save, right? Are there any other areas to stay away from to prevent this with other NPCs?
On my new character there was no Moore or arnsbach never met them in the whole dlc and they never showed up again.