Elden Ring DLC: How to Start Shadow of the Erdtree

To start the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, you need to own the expansion, defeat Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood, then touch the withered arm on the cocoon in Mohg's arena at Mohgwyn Palace. You do not need to finish the main game first. Below is how to clear both requirements, the two routes into Mohgwyn Palace, what level makes sense, and what to do in your first hour in the Realm of Shadow.

We checked these steps against the Fextralife pages for Shadow of the Erdtree, Starscourge Radahn, Mohgwyn Palace, Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ash, the Fextralife DLC walkthrough, the wiki.gg boss list and Bandai Namco's patch 1.17 notes in November 2026.

The Two Requirements, Explained

Shadow of the Erdtree released on 21 June 2024, and the entry condition has not changed since. Fextralife lists exactly two bosses: Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood. Once both are dead, rest at the Site of Grace that appears in Mohg's arena, then interact with the withered arm on the cocoon there. That transports you to the Realm of Shadow.

Nothing else is required. You can reach the expansion without beating Morgott, Malenia or the final boss, and without finishing any questline. The catch is that Mohgwyn Palace is hidden and both bosses are mid-to-late game fights, so many players reach them later than they expect. On Nintendo Switch 2, the expansion is bundled into Tarnished Edition. On PlayStation, Xbox and Steam it is a separate purchase.

If you plan to finish the base game first, the order does not matter much. If you want the DLC early for its weapons, our Elden Ring boss order guide shows where Radahn and Mohg sit in a normal run and what the route expects at each step.

Step One: Beating Starscourge Radahn

The first gate sits in Caelid. Head to Redmane Castle, and if Witch-Hunter Jerren is announcing that the festival is nigh, it is on. If it is not, you have not triggered it yet: per Fextralife, lighting any Site of Grace on the Altus Plateau starts it, and so does pushing Ranni's questline far enough. Once it is running, a portal at the far end of the castle carries you to the battlefield where the general waits, and you can only fight him while the festival lasts.

The fight is built around summons. The wiki lists up to six NPC helpers available at once, including Blaidd the Half-Wolf, Iron Fist Alexander, Great Horned Tragoth, Lionel the Lionhearted, Finger Maiden Therolina and Castellan Jerren, plus Patches if you spared him in Murkwater Cave. Summon every one you can; the more targets Radahn has, the more openings you get. Fextralife lists Radahn at 9,572 HP.

Beating him also opens Nokron, Eternal City through the newly formed Starfall Crater, which is worth exploring before the DLC for its Larval Tears and a Ghost-Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing. Our Larval Tear location guide lists the five tears in Nokron alone.

Step Two: Reaching and Beating Mohg

Mohgwyn Palace is not connected to the main map by road. Fextralife describes two ways in, and both put you at the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace.

1. The Consecrated Snowfield waygate. Northwest of the Yelough Anix Ruins in the frozen west of the Consecrated Snowfield, near a circular rocky spire, drop down a couple of ledges by some white logs to find the teleporter. Fextralife notes it stays inactive until you kill the Sanguine Noble NPC who invades nearby.
2. White Mask Varre's Pureblood Knight's Medal. Varre gives this medal at the end of his questline, after you complete the three invasions he asks for and exhaust his dialogue. Using it teleports you to the palace without crossing the late-game Snowfield.

The Varre route is the early option, which is why it is popular for players who want the DLC sooner. Be aware that the Fextralife route rates Mohgwyn Palace at level 100 and up with +20 to +24 weapons, so arriving early through the medal does not make the area or Mohg any easier.

Mohg is the second gate, and the Site of Grace in his arena only appears once he is dead. If the fight stalls you, this is a good place to summon help. Our Elden Ring co-op guide explains how to set a password and bring in a friend for exactly this kind of fight.

Before you touch the arm, take ten minutes to prepare. Spend any runes you are carrying on levels, since dying in the new area with a large stack is an easy way to lose it. Use any Golden Seeds in your inventory at a Site of Grace, and visit Roderika at the Roundtable Hold to upgrade your favorite Spirit Ash, because summons get their own boost in the expansion. Finally, decide which weapon you are committing to. One weapon upgraded as far as your materials allow will carry you further in the new region than several half-finished ones, and the blessing multipliers below apply to whatever you bring.

What Level Should You Be?

There is no official recommended level. Fextralife says most testers started at level 150, that players can start around 100 to 120 depending on their build, and that at level 200 and up with fully upgraded weapons you will probably be overleveled. The real power curve inside the expansion comes from two new systems rather than your character level.

Scadutree Fragments raise your Scadutree Blessing at any Site of Grace. Fextralife counts 50 fragments, enough for the maximum blessing of 20. Each level raises the damage you deal and lowers the damage you take, but only inside the Realm of Shadow. The early levels give the biggest jumps. Revered Spirit Ash does the same for your Spirit Ash summons and Torrent, with a maximum blessing of 10 that takes 25 ashes.

Scadutree Blessing milestones (Fextralife, current values after patch 1.12.2)

Blessing level	Total fragments	Damage dealt	Damage received
1	1	1.10x	0.909x
5	9	1.35x	0.740x
10	20	1.65x	0.606x
15	35	1.92x	0.519x
20	50	2.05x	0.487x

The practical lesson: if a DLC boss feels impossible, look for fragments before you grind levels. By Fextralife's table, going from blessing 0 to 10 multiplies your damage by 1.65 and cuts the damage you take to about 0.61 of normal, a bigger swing than a handful of character levels.

Your First Hour in the Realm of Shadow

You arrive in the Gravesite Plain. The Fextralife walkthrough's opening steps:

1. Walk toward the faint light and rest at the Gravesite Plain Site of Grace.
2. Head northeast to the dirt path and follow it north. Map: Gravesite Plain sits on a stone slab on your right.
3. Call Torrent and ride. The walkthrough flags a Curseblade near the path and plenty of mushrooms and Rada Fruit along it.
4. At the Church of Consolation, you can sneak behind the altar for two Scadutree Fragments, or beat the Black Knight in front of the statue for rewards and two fragments. A Revered Spirit Ash sits on a small altar across the ravine on the eastern cliff.
5. Activate the Three-Path Cross Site of Grace to meet Miquella's followers. Exhaust Hornsent's dialogue for the Cross Map, then talk to Redmane Freyja.

From there, the walkthrough points you to Belurat, Tower Settlement as the first legacy dungeon, which it rates at level 150 and up. Its boss is the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. Fragments from the Church of Consolation and the area around it are the best way to make that fight fair.

Also worth knowing: patch 1.17 in August 2026 upgraded some field items and powerful-enemy drops in the Realm of Shadow to higher-tier items or other treasures. Bandai Namco notes items you already collected are unchanged, so a new character picks up the improved versions.

Mandatory DLC Bosses and What Is New

Wiki.gg lists three bosses that must be beaten to complete the expansion's story: Messmer the Impaler, Romina, Saint of the Bud, and Promised Consort Radahn. Everything else in the Realm of Shadow is optional, including many of its hardest fights.

The expansion also brings a lot of new gear. Fextralife's overview lists 70 weapons, 10 shields, 39 talismans, 14 sorceries, 28 incantations, 20 Spirit Ashes, 25 Ashes of War and 30 armor sets, along with eight new weapon types: Beast Claws, Backhand Blades, Great Katanas, Hand-to-Hand Arts, Light Greatswords, Perfume Bottles, Throwing Blades and Thrusting Shields. The DLC also has its own merchant Bell Bearings, which our Bell Bearings guide covers along with the base-game ones.

Want the DLC Gear Without the Hunt?

Many of the expansion's best weapons and armor sets sit behind the hardest areas. If you would rather experiment with them right away, the store's Shadow of the Erdtree service offers two packages. Per its product page, Package 1 covers DLC armor and weapons, listed as all 95 weapon types, 30 armor types, 10 shield types, 25 War Ash types and 39 talisman types. Package 2 drops all 95 DLC weapon types at max level and requires you to already have one weapon maxed at 10/10 or 25/25.

The page lists PlayStation, Xbox and Steam as supported platforms. See the Shadow of the Erdtree armor and weapons service for details, or browse the rest of the Elden Ring section.

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