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It is customary for fans of the Souls genre to be stricken with crippling curiosity and paranoia after a new Souls game. The thought of Hidetaka Miyazaki hiding secrets and Easter Eggs in every nook and cranny of a new Souls game is what fuels the lore, after all. Elden Ring is no exception, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is also brimming with secrets and Easter Eggs.
Luckily for you, I have torn the walls and peeked underneath the floorboards, searching for the voices madness-inducing Elden Ring DLC secrets and Easter Eggs– so you don’t have to.
Unlocking Spirit Springs With Mohg/Margit’s Shackles
That’s all the more reason to hunt down these Omen-humiliation shackles. If you have either of these shackles, you don’t need to locate the rocks that unlock the sealed Spirt Springs. You can just slam down Mohg’s or Margit’s Shackles to release them.
This can save you a significant amount of time with exploration and can even open up higher-level areas that have been limiting your progression. It’s not clear what the lore explanation for this would be, but it’s a handy trick and Shadow of the Erdtree secret that lets you skip dangerous traversals.
Parrying the Aging Untouchable Enemies
The seemingly unkillable enemies called Aging Untouchables in the Abyssal Woods aren’t invincible after all. You can gradually drain their HP with every successful parry though this is easier said than done. You have to do it before they lower their wands and only parry them one by one.
However, there’s an incentive for doing this if you have a Madness-focused or min-maxed build. The Aging Untouchable located nearest to the Abandoned Church, southeast in Abyssal Woods will drop the Aged One’s Exultation talisman, which increases damage every time Madness is triggered in the Vicinity. Some of the top builds in Elden Ring are using this.
Sekiro Easter Egg
As if the katanas and mounted bosses are not Easter Eggs enough, there is one more hidden Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Easter Egg in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. In the rot temple in the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, a Teardrop Scarab will drop a peculiar Ash of War named The Poison Flower Blooms Twice.
It’s not just for show too. The Poison Flower Blooms Twice is also quite powerful and might just enable some battlemage Poison or Rot builds. It might also be useful against some of the bosses as it practically nukes them with the remaining Poison or Rot status damage.
Divine Beast Head and Hornsent Interaction
While exploring the Belurat Legacy Dungeon in Elden Ring, you’ll eventually find a secret room with an NPC named Hornsent Grandam. This room is easy to miss since it’s a detour and requires the Storeroom Key. But even if you unlock it, Hornsent Grandam won’t talk to you.
If you put on the Divine Beast Head which is a reward from the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss, Hornsent Grandam will actually talk to you. He will even give you an Incantation that looks cool. Apart from that, you won’t find much practical use for the Divine Beast Head– it’s more of a debuff to be honest since it reduces Flask effects.
Commander Gaius’ “Wife” and Leg Armor
You might think that Elden Ring NPCs are mostly devoid of humor (apart from Shrimp Bro Boggart), but a curious piece of armor and the enemy holding it proves otherwise. After you defeat Commander Gaius in the Scaduview area, look for the Albinauric’s Shack before the Scadutree Chalice.
An Albinauric woman riding a wolf will attack you and if slain, she will drop the missing Gaius’s Greaves (which isn’t available from Enia in Roundtable Hold). It’s not clear what she’s doing with the greaves but the community has assumed that the Albinauric woman is someone close to Gaius. Also, the leg armor description states that the greaves were mostly a joke since Gaius has no legs and depends on his boar for movement.
Shadow of the Colossus Easter Egg
It’s not just Sekiro that got a dedicated Easter Egg in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree but also Shadow of the Colossus. Apparently, Miyazaki is a big fan of Shadow of the Colossus. That’s why he included a secret Sword of Light weapon that looks similar to Wander’s sword in Shadow of the Colossus.
You can obtain this by finding an invisible bridge in Rauh, heading to the connected altar, and holding up the Stone Sheathed Sword. It will then glow and transform into the Sword of Light whose weapon skill (Light) is also similar to Wander’s Ancient Sword. Come to think of it, the whole Ancient Ruins of Rauh area also looks similar to Shadow of the Colossus‘ environment.
The Secret Night Armor
One of the coolest-looking armor sets in the game is sadly hidden in a rather freaky dungeon populated by Jar enemies (Bonny Gaol). You can only find it by playing around with a jar elevator. The armor in question would be the Night Armor set, the same one worn by Jolan in Ymir’s questline.
Apparently, it belongs to the Swordhands of Night, or warriors born deep underground for some reason. So no, you don’t get the Night Armor by murdering Jolan prematurely. She won’t drop it. Instead, you have to wade through the muck and darkness. Quite fitting and dark as one of the Shadow of the Erdtree secrets.
A Quick Way to Defeat Armored Furnace Golems
Unarmored Furnace Golems are easy enough to deal with since you can poise-break them. Armored Furnace Golems, on the other hand, are tricky. However, a throwable item called Hefty Furnace Pot, which you can craft early in the DLC, lets you deal with Armored Furnace Golems rather quickly.
You can find the recipe in the Run-Down Traveler’s Rest, just north of Three-Path Cross (Grace). Also, you will need to craft Hefty Furnace Pots. Around three of them thrown into the Armored Furnace Golem’s burning basket head is enough to bring them down. The tricky part is to find an elevated spot from which to throw the Hefty Furnace Pot.
Getting the Verdigris Armor Early
The Verdigris Armor is the best in the game in terms of protection and poise. Moore wears it, and you can find him immediately outside of Belurat. Usually, you have to wait until you’re near the final DLC boss to get the Verdigris Armor, but you can also get it early (while also losing Moore in the process).
To do this, you have to break Miquella’s charm by getting close to the Shadow Keep (not necessarily inside). Once you get the message “Somewhere, a Great Rune has broken…” and so on, return to Moore in front of Belurat, and tell him to ‘Remain sad forever’ instead of the other more positive option. He’ll then disappear and leave his Verdigris Armor behind the Church of Crusade, east of Scadu Altus.
A Use for Miquella’s Great Rune
If you’ve fought the Scadutree Avatar and were rewarded with Miquella’s Great Rune, you’ll want to keep it in mind once you get to the final boss in the Elden Ring DLC. That’s because you can use Miquella’s Great Rune to dispel the final boss’s devastating grab attack. It’s one of the most useful Shadow of the Erdtree secrets.
As soon as Radahn grabs you, you can use Miquella’s Great Rune as a reusable tool so that Miquella’s charm will have no effect on you. This way, you can escape that instant kill move from the final boss. It’s not exactly a cheese method, but it might just get you through that rather unfair boss fight.
