Consecrated Snowfield Walkthrough – Elden Ring

The snow clears out significantly in the northern region of the map, so we’ll once again be able to navigate with just compass directions and landmarks much of the time.

From the Inner Consecrated Snowfield site of grace, ride north to the bank of the frozen river, then ride west towards the spot indicated below:

About halfway to your destination, you should be automatically dismounted, and soon Anastasia, Tarnished-Eater will spawn to the northwest and start running towards you. (There is a bug where she doesn’t spawn — this usually occurs if you’ve killed the Putrid Avatar in this area before reaching her spawn point.) This is probably the third time you’ve faced her; as before, using jumping heavy attacks and/or rolling backwards is a safe bet. She’ll drop a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone upon death, which is pretty excellent loot if you’re using a weapon that requires somber smithing stones.

Next, continue to the ridge (indicated previously). You’ll see a couple of the glowing blue balls up there — just ride horizontally past them while dashing and their attacks will miss. Once they dissipate, you can grab the Stonesword Key from the corpse they were guarding. From the high ground here, look to the northeast, and you should see a pack of wolves chasing an invisible loot beetle.

This beetle is tricky to catch, because it will often stop and change directions, and its path is long and complex. Head over there and kill all the wolves, then watch the loot beetle and wait for it to do one of its pauses+direction changes, then go stand at that spot and wait — these are the best places to catch it. When you finally manage to hit it, you’ll receive the Ash of War: White Shadow’s Lure.

Next, ride east to the large tree (where you picked up this area’s map, actually). Continue around the right (south) side of the tree — all the way on the other side you’ll find a corpse with a Smithing Stone [8]. Pick it up and continue east — you’ll need to swing a bit south around the rocks ahead — to make your way uphill. You’ll be able to go left or right up ahead — go right to take Path A (southeast), the direction the patrolling Albinaurics are going. Continue east past them and you’ll find a corpse in a dead end. Snag the x2 Albinauric Bloodclot and then go back the way you came (to where you turned southeast).

This time, go due east uphill (Path B). You’ll soon see a corpse hanging off of a small ledge, surrounded by albinaurics. Loot the x3 Nascent Butterfly and then continue uphill, northeast and then northwest. When the ground levels off, you’ll see a lone albinauric hanging out near a bunch of loot beetles. Most are flask beetles, but the ones on top of the rocks have items. You’ll need to use Torrent to get up to them, but you’ll be rewarded with a Somber Smithing Stone [7] and [8] for your trouble.

From the northernmost of the two loot beetles, look east-southeast, and you’ll see an even larger version of the rock formation you’re on. Head up the hill and make your way up to the top, where an invisible loot beetle holds a Somber Smithing Stone [9].

Jump down — back on the ground, east-northeast of the loot beetle, is a small tent with x2 Dragonwound Grease in front of it. Pick it up and then ride northwest/north, keeping the rock wall on your right. When you come to a summoning pool (as well as a summoning monument), turn right (east) and ride through the tree guardians. Continue following the path as it winds uphill, southeast towards the Minor Erdtree. As the path turns south, you’ll see a corpse slumped over a tree branch on the left — it’s got x4 Warming Stone, perfect for this climate. There’s another corpse on the right of the path just ahead, but it’s only got x3 Tarnished Sunflower.

Make your way counterclockwise around the Minor Erdtree — once you come around the other side and start heading north, you’ll see a Putrid Avatar hanging out in a small clearing. Fighting this one is no different than any other, except that the space you have is somewhat limited; you’ll have to mind your surroundings or risk falling off a cliff. Stay away from the northern side of the area and you should be fine. This avatar drops the Thorny Cracked Tear and a Ruptured Crystal Tear, plus 160,000.

With the guardian of the tree defeated, you can ride west back down the hill, all the way to the front of Ordina, Liturgical Town. For now, all we’re going to do is grab the site of grace, since this will be the last area we clear before leaving the Consecrated Snowfield.

From the Ordina, Liturgical Town site of grace, ride west-northwest until you’re clear of the buildings, and then turn north — you should see a Rotten Duelist in the distance, standing at the edge of a cliff. Resist the urge to use a spell or ability to knock him off the cliff, as this can prevent you from picking up the items he drops: Rotten Duelist Greaves and the Rotten Greataxe. He can inflict rot with both a breath attack and his axe, so be patient and use hit-and-run tactics with Torrent — wait for him to finish a combo before attacking.

Next, ride south-southwest from where you found the duelist, down towards the river. On the rocks just above the riverbank, you’ll find an Illusory Tree with a Golden Seed at its base. Once you’ve secured it, ride west to cross the river, then turn northwest and ride towards the walking mausoleum.

This mausoleum fires magic artillery that does massive damage, and it can feel impossible to avoid. However, if you angle your camera up, you can get some idea of where the magic shells are landing — we’re taking the approach indicated above because it offers more room to maneuver. Riding into spots that have just exploded can also help you avoid taking damage. Once you reach the mausoleum, you’re safe from its magic attacks, and you can clean the skulls off of its feet in relative safety.

From the mausoleum, it’s a short ride north to the Apostate Derelict church. Inside, activate the site of grace, pick up the Silver Mirror Shield from in front of the large Albinauric, and then summon our old friend Latenna the Albinauric. Let her do her thing, then speak with her and she’ll give you Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone and promise to fight with you until the bitter end!

Before you leave — assuming you want to fight a Death Rite Bird — pass time until night at the site of grace. If you want, you can pick up a number of Trina’s Lilies from around the tree northeast of the church. Then ride east, and you’ll find a corpse in a chair on the edge of the cliff, keeping a Somber Smithing Stone [9] nice and safe for you. Grab it, say thank you, and then follow the cliff south for a bit, until you can drop down to a lower cliff. You should land on a corpse that’s being inspected by a couple of land octopuses.

Pick up the Golden Rune [13] and then follow the narrow path south-southeast and then south. You’ll come out into an open area where the frozen river ends — once you near the ice, the Death Rite Bird will appear above the river to the southwest. The reward for defeating this spooky boid is 220,000 and the Explosive Ghostflame sorcery.

After defeating the bird, you can pick up a Golden Rune [7] and a Golden Rune [12] from two corpses on the cliff above you to the west — you’ll need to go south a bit and then head uphill, back towards the church to grab them.

Next, open your map, set a beacon as indicated below, then head that way. You’ll find two things at the marked location: a rune bear (don’t get near it yet) and a corpse on the edge of the cliff with x6 Golden Rune [1] (could this be a fat coinpurse…?). From the corpse, look northwest over the edge of the cliff — on the ground below is a statue that the rune bear can break for you. Go aggro the rune bear, and then lead it down to the corpse by riding north, then making a leftward U-turn to go southwest to the statue.

Stand behind it and wait — if you rode fast enough, the rune bear will do a ranged roar attack (breaking the statue) and then start walking back to where it started. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for the bear to do a melee attack near the statue, then avoid the rune bear as you collect the x3 Smithing Stone [7] and the Smithing Stone [8] from the remains of the statue.

Once you’re out of the bear’s aggro range, you can open your map. If you have the Sentry’s Torch already, you can teleport to the Ordina, Liturgical Town site of grace. Otherwise, you’ll need to purchase it from the Hermit Merchant in the Capital Outskirts (see map location). Don’t worry if you don’t have the requisite faith — it will work for what we need it for regardless. Once you have the torch, you can teleport to Ordina.

Once you’ve teleported, on your right you’ll see a corpse slumped over the edge of a rooftop — you can reach this item by using Torrent and jumping onto the nearby building, and from there double-jumping west-southwest onto the roof with the corpse. Grab the x8 Cuckoo Glintstone, then jump east-southeast onto the nearby roof. You can then jump to the balcony further east (if you have trouble reaching this balcony, you can jump to the one on the left, and from there to the target balcony). Finally, head to the eastern end of the target balcony and jump around the corner to the next balcony, where a corpse holds a Rune Arc.

Jump off of the balcony and go beneath it, where a corpse next to some barrels has x3 Hefty Beast Bone. Next, ride northeast out of town to the edge of the cliff, then turn left and ride northwest towards the arches under the stairs. Under the smallest arch (the one on the far left) you’ll find the corpse of a Black Knife Assassin — loot it for the Black Knife Set, then continue west-northwest under the stairs. Keep going this direction until you can turn left and enter the town again.

Head through the arch and you’ll find a corpse on the ground with x2 Freezing Grease. From the corpse, go east-southeast up the stairs, and then turn around and look northwest. There’s a ruined building here, and hidden in a corner (path 1 below) is a Golden Rune [13]. Then jump up onto the roof (path 2) — on the far side is a corpse with a Golden Rune [13].

Loot the corpse and then jump to the roof to the east, and from there it’s another easy jump northeast to the evergaol. Equip the Sentry’s Torch in your off-hand, and when you’re ready, go ahead and enter the evergaol — you’ll be transported to another, more dangerous version of the town.

This area is populated by invisible Black Knife Assassins, so don’t stray off the path described below, unless you want to farm Ghost Glovewort [9]. The Sentry’s Torch will reveal the assassins, but they’re still very tough enemies. Fortunately, the path we’re going to take only has one that we have to fight, and it doesn’t respawn. You may also want to equip one piece of the Briar Set (like the gauntlets or greaves) before entering the evergaol.

Make sure your torch is in your hand, then head southeast until you reach a staircase. Go down the stairs slowly, and your torch should reveal a Black Knife Assassin patrolling the path at the foot of the stairs. Once the assassin is revealed, you can two-hand your weapon if you want — as long as the torch is still selected in your off-hand weapon slot, the assassin will stay visible (if you swap to another off-hand weapon, it will disappear).

This can be a hard fight, but there are a few things you can do to make it easier. Equipping a piece of the Briar Set will make your rolls interrupt the assassin, which is very helpful. Ranged characters should fight the assassin in the narrow area at the top of the stairs, as this will allow ranged attacks to land more often. For melee users, heavy jumping attacks are (as always) effective, and you can often stun-lock the assassin by chaining them. These assassins appear to have similar movesets to Alecto, so our guide on that boss may be of some use if you struggle to kill this foe.

Once the assassin goes down, go down the stairs if you haven’t yet, then turn left (east), loot the Golden Rune [10] from the corpse, and then jump up into the shrine that contains a statue of a woman holding a candle.

Light the flame, then hop back out of the shrine and head west-northwest through the arch, then turn slightly right and head to the ruined building to the right of the stairs(1) — we’re going to jump up on the same roof as we did to reach the evergaol. This time you won’t have torrent to help you, so you’ll need to jump onto the lowest point of the broken wall, then make your way up onto the roof (2).

Once you’re up on the roof, you’ll need to move quickly, as you’ll come under fire from archers behind you. Kill the albinauric archer on the other side of the roof, and then get a running start and jump northwest to the next roof and make your way to the circled area (1), where you’ll be safe from the distant archer. Continue northwest and make your way to the right-hand side of the next roof (2). Then get a running start and jump south-southwest, from the highest point of the roof you’re on to the lowest point of the roof ahead (3).

Continue southwest and jump up onto the next section of roof, then go around the left side of the tower to find a Golden Rune [12]. Circle around to the other side of the tower and you’ll find a ladder that leads to the second statue you need to light. Get that candle lit, and then head all the way back the way you came (to where you first jumped up onto the initial roof), staying on the rooftops the whole time to avoid fighting the assassin below. Once you’re back on the ground, look southwest across the stairs — there’s a ladder there, but you’ll need to jump up on the guardrail to reach it.

Don’t go up the ladder right away, however. First, go west around the corner to find a corpse with x5 Crystal Dart. Then head back to the ladder and climb up. You’ll reach the top and be confronted with another ladder — climb this one as well, then light the statue’s candle and drop down onto the roof to the southeast. From here, look northeast and you’ll see a couple of albinaurics waiting to snipe you (there’s also a corpse with x3 Slumbering Egg).

Use the small section of roof to head northeast and cross to where the corpse is — you’ll want to crouch to avoid getting hit by the archers. Then, sprint northeast and jump onto the next roof, and zig-zag back and forth as you make your way to the left-hand archer. Alternatively, you can also try using a shield and the Barricade Shield weapon art. This may be the most challenging part of the evergaol, so don’t feel bad if you die on your first few tries! Here’s a GIF to help you get a sense of the rhythm you’ll need to move in to avoid the arrow volleys:

Once you reach the archer on the left, the other one won’t be able to hit you, so you can be patient and careful as you eliminate the one you’ve closed the distance with. Once she’s dead, climb the ladder on the east-southeast side of the roof, and then climb up the next ladder as well. At the top, you can light the final statue’s candle — the seals in the town will open, and you’ll be transported back to the “real” version of the town.

From the evergaol’s entrance, go east to the stairs and head up them. Grab the Invigorating Cured Meat from the corpse, then continue to the top — just ahead is a waygate that will take you to Miquella’s Haligtree.

This concludes our time in the Consecrated Snowfield — next step, the Haligtree!