The Abyssal Forest, a haven of madness and fear, deep in the bowels of the Realm of Shadow in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, also holds some of its more interesting treasures. Reaching it will take time, discovering a few secrets, and quite a bit of grit. As for what you face there, that’s an entirely different story, one I’ll leave you to discover for yourself.
How to Get to the Abyssal Forest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
The road to the Abyssal Forest starts in the Shadow Keep, shortly after entering via the main gate. You’ll need to defeat the Golden Hippopotamus boss or backtrack from the Back Section area, should you have come in via the Church District. Either way, you’re looking for the rampart northeast of the main gate. There, you should see a corpse with a loot item near some small boats with fire pits in them.
Near the corpse is a ladder. Take it down, go around the corner to the left behind the waterfall, and take yet another ladder way down until you reach what appears to be a dead end. It’s not. Instead, hit the wall on the right side of the room as you enter to dispel the illusory wall, then follow the path down to a coffin.
Get inside and ride that sucker down the waterfall. When you reach the bottom, grab the Castle Watering Hole Site of Grace. From the Grace, head south along the river. You’ll need to jump across the gap several times but hug the right-hand cliff wall after the final gap jump, and you’ll eventually reach the Recluse’s River Downstream Site of Grace. There will be a nearby set of tombstone platforms leading further down.
If you want one of the three Great Katanas available in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, jump onto the river about halfway down the tombstones and follow it around to the east to reach the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum. Beat the boss inside for the Rakshasa’s Great Katana.
Head down the full depth of the tombstones when you’re ready, then continue following the riverbed south, past some turtles (read: dog). On the cliffside is yet another set of tombstones for you to descend.
At the bottom of this second set of tombstones, keep eastward, and you’ll eventually reach the Darklight Catacombs. This mini-dungeon is very linear, but its main threat is the darkness and various death pits that darkness hides. Also deathblight.
Provided you can make your way through Darklight, you’ll descend three separate, very tall elevators, at the bottom of which you’ll come out to a boss fog. Beyond it is the Jori, Elder Inquisitor boss fight, which I do not recommend you take lightly. Even though it’s a fight mostly against advanced mobs, these guys hit like trucks, and there are a lot of them.
Managed to defeat Jori? Then pass through the gate at the back of its boss arena to find yourself in the Abyssal Woods, where your first order of business should be grabbing the Abyss map fragment to guide your way. Beware that you won’t have access to Torrent at almost any point in your journey through the Abyss, and the ghoulish Winter Lanterns hunger for what sanity remains in your Tarnished skull.
As for the rest of the Abyssal Forest? That’s yours to discover. It’s a horrible place. I love it. For more on Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, check out the Elden Ring guides hub. , as well as a piece on how to get Needle Knight Leda’s gear.
