ER Shadow of the Erdtree Black Keep Church District walkthrough

Tucked into the eastern corner of the Black Keep, the Church District in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree hides a terrible secret…

While this unsuspecting, flooded nook of the Shadow Realm seems like a completely optional area, it in fact hides the entrance to not one, not two, not three, but four otherwise inaccessible areas. Two of which are critical to the main path of the DLC’s overarching story.

The first hides one of the required bosses needed to complete Shadow of the Erdtree, while the other is the only path that leads to the final main area of the game.

But, in true Elden Ring tradition, it’s like the Church District is trying to get you to bounce off it and try your hand somewhere else.

It begins with the most legendarily janky aspect of any FromSoftware game: platforming. Then, once you’ve finally got the jumping down, it throws a series of incredibly tough regular enemies at you - almost as if it’s teasing you to do the jumping part all over again.

Next, when you’ve made it inside the titular church, there are now so many different side paths to explore, that it’s easy to get lost or miss an important aspect all together.

Shadow of the Erdtree Church District Walkthrough

To get to the Church District, you need to head east from the Highroad Cross Site of Grace, then go down into and through Moorth Ruins. Head east through Bonny Village on the other side before turning north, passing Rabbath’s Rise and the Cathedral as the road curves back west to reach the Church District.

When you arrive at the Site of Grace, you find the waterlogged streets flooded, with only the rooftops peeping out from the murky depths.

It’s platforming time.

From the Site of Grace, leap to the rooftop in front of you, then use the raised gable on the other side to jump to the next roof.

As you do, fiery, exploding zombies will rise up from the ground - a piece of theme that definitely makes total sense for a watery, crumbling church.

Ignore them, they’re just going to pop anyway, and use the crumbly, triangle-shaped wall behind them to reach the higher wall on your right.

There will be more zombies up here, but you can give them the slip and hop straight to the large roof on the back edge of the district.

On top of this roof is your first real test. Wandering, for some reason, who knows why thematically, is a Fire Knight. These elite soldiers of Messmer wield a deadly combination of fire magic and powerful melee to incredible effect.

You now have a decision to make, a decision that every Elden Ring player has to make in the face of insurmountable or annoying odds: do you play the game properly and fight the bad guy, or bravely run away from them until they get bored?

If you choose the former, you need to stay at medium range as much as possible to stop the Fire Knight from using their fireball attack.

This is for a few reasons, first of which being the dodge timing for it is really weird. The noise you hear is actually just the Knight summoning the fireball, but it’s really tempting to roll in response to the audio cue. Grit your teeth and respond to the visual fireball, only rolling when it actually starts its path towards you.

Second, the Fire Knight absolutely spams the fireball if you stand too far away from them. This puts you under an extreme amount of pressure which makes it very hard to close the distance, so try to take the initiative.

They have a strong posture (meaning they can tank a lot of hits before their attacks are interrupted), so your best bet is to roll diagonally forward and through their attacks, before slashing back quickly. But don’t get greedy, as I said, that high Poise will let them shrug off your hits and punish you dearly if you stand there wailing at arm’s reach.

Thankfully Fire Knights don’t have too much health. However, you need to get used to them. They patrol the inside of the church you’re trying to get inside, as well as the Specimen Storehouse you need to explore later on.

Whether you’ve fought this Fire Knight or not, your next destination is the spoke of the church roof leading up to the main building on the bottom side of the roof you’re standing on.

It’s a difficult jump, but the most important thing is to not panic and overcorrect when you land. The way that most people will die here is not missing the gap, but landing on the other side and running straight off the edge.

Carefully walk up the spoke, then jump up to the main roof.

Walk up towards the hole and peer over the edge. You should be able to see a stone structure below which you can drop down onto.

Go forwards down the ledge and jump off onto the balcony, then drop through the hole onto the floor below.

To your left is the secret door where you can use the Prayer Room Key to continue Fire Knight Queelign’s quest.

But to the right, wandering the corridor menacingly, is another Fire Knight.

In the enclosed space of the corridor, fighting this one is even less appealing. Happily though, it’s also much easier to avoid them.

Sprint forward along the corridor, then take the first left outside and across the bridge watching out for the bats on the other side.

Take a left, avoid the ambush from the bat in the crevice on the right then climb the ladder. At the end of the path you find a wheel you can use to dredge the flood water and reveal the streets below.

Peer over the ledge and drop down to the platform below, then the ground level to rest at the Site of Grace.

Sunken Chapel Site of Grace

In the eerie, sodden streets, there’s a foreboding lack of movement. It’s quiet. Too quiet.

Bear left and you see a rotunda with a tempting item in the middle. As you approach it, an Ulcerated Tree Spirit, similar to the one in the Poison Swamp in Belurat, Tower Settlement, will burst out from the ground.

Your goal is to snag the items in its lair, then get through to the main church behind it unscathed.

In said Church, walk forward and you’re beset by some more of the exploding zombies from earlier - weren’t these guys just underwater? Why are they so hot?

Whatever you think of the theming, head towards the back of the church and there are some unique items behind the altar at the head of the church. Once you’ve grabbed them, turn back on yourself and turn left.

Run up the long corridor, through the big doors and you’ll find yourself in a library which, again, is looking in good shape considering it was just underwater.

Push open the door at the back of the library and there’s an elevator you can ride down. This leads to a linear tunnel called the Tree-Worship Passage. Have a nose around, pick up the Iris of Occultation, then battle the boss at the end.

Once you’re done, ride the elevator back up to the bottom of the Church District, or teleport back to the Site of Grace next to the Tree Spirit.

After Tree-Worship Passage

There’s one more area you need to explore, which is back in the upper level of the main church.

From the altar area with the exploding zombies, there’s a small, hidden elevator in the bottom corner. Ride it up and you’ll come face-to-midriff with another lanky Fire Knight.

This time sprint past them and take a right, which leads to another bridge outside. At the end you find a long elevator which leads to an exciting new area, the Specimen Storehouse!