Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree - Castle Ensis Legacy Dungeon Guide (2024)

With Elden Ring taking on a decidedly more open-world approach than its predecessors, the necessity of making challenging dungeons for players became paramount. That amounted to the Legacy Dungeons, massive areas all centred in a single location to give players a more curated experience.

These return in Shadow of the Erdtree, and Castle Ensis may likely be one of the first you encounter. While it does not have the same scale and complexity as the likes of Stormveil Castle in the base game, it offers some fun challenges and great rewards if you know where to look. Read on to discover every hidden area and item there is to find in Castle Ensis.

Castle Ensis Main Bridge And Courtyard

Castle Ensis looms on the horizon from the moment you enter the Realm of Shadow, and be seen most prominently after passing Ellac Greatbridge. Your journey into Castle Ensis will begin at the Castle Front site of grace, where Torrent will no longer be able to proceed.

Immediately as you cross the bridge, you will be met with a large Troll Knight capable of wielding Sorceries. They are solidly difficult but do not respawn so feel free to give them your all and simply return to the Castle Front site of grace to heal afterwards.

There is a small room to the right once you cross the bridge that contains an enemy. They may aggro while fighting the Troll Knight so be wary of them. In the room they spawn in you will find a Spelldrake Talisman +3 . You can also go around the small outcropping to the side of this building to find a corpse with another item on it.

With this, the courtyard is clear and you can continue upwards.

To The Checkpoint

Past the Troll Knight, you will go up a hill that lets you go left and right. Go to the left first up the wooden stairs. There will be a soldier with a guard dog here.

After defeating them, you will find another ladder at the top of the stairs, and a chest containing the Light Greatsword, Milady . Now take the path to the right from where you started.

Here you will find another soldier and guard dog. Defeat them and continue through the small cave until you enter into a large courtyard. Before proceeding forward, wait for the Black Knight with a Greatshield to approach you and defeat him one-on-one in case he aggroes any other enemies.

After beating him, there is a stone building to the left. Enter that, and pick up the Loyal Knight's Cookbook from the chest.

There will be a small campfire with two enemies beside it in the corner of the courtyard. Defeat them and drop down from the ledge there to pick up an item from a corpse.

Work your way back to the courtyard from there and run right up to the locked checkpoint. Here you will find the Castle Ensis Checkpoint site of grace, a Miquella's Cross, a Scadutree Fragment , and the Castle Cross Message. Rest at the site of grace to make sure you're all topped up.

Opening The Checkpoint

With the checkpoint forward locked, you have to find a way to open it. Starting from the Castle Ensis Checkpoint site of grace, go immediately to the right of the checkpoint to where a soldier is sitting on a ledge. Follow down this ledge until you fall into a small cave with dogs. Defeat them and run out where you will find yourself on a tight cliff edge around the moat of Castle Ensis.

You will be met with two paths. Take the south path first which will lead you to a rooftop with a corpse holding an item. Pick it up and then follow the north path.

Time your jumps carefully here as you climb up the waterfall. After doing so, first run to the waterfall at the back of the area and through it, picking up an item off a corpse inside. After this, take the ladder to the left up to a small room with two soldiers waiting inside.

After defeating them, run across to the next room and pull the lever. This will open the Checkpoint and allow you to continue your journey through Castle Ensis

The Courtyard And The Carian Chapel

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Proceed across the bridge through the checkpoint, though be wary of the enemies. Any not in melee range will immediately take out crossbows. After defeating them, continue upwards, though be careful of a guard dog lying hidden in the bushes.

After them, continue to the west until you enter another small courtyard containing a Carian Chapel.

There will be an enemy standing on the cliff shooting Sorceries at you, as well as two other enemies on the same level as you that can disappear after attacking. Defeat the ones on the same level as you, then weave around the cliff to find a way up to defeat the final enemy. There is a Page on the small building here as well.

After defeating them all, continue on to the Carian Chapel.

Moonrithyll, Carian Knight

A unique NPC enemy, Moonrithyll will spawn here. He is a difficult foe and has a wide range of Sorceries at his disposal. Like most human enemies, however, he is highly susceptible to blood loss as well as having quite low poise. Heavy weapons or high blood loss will have him defeated in no time.

Upon his defeat, he will drop his Colossal Sword, Moonrithyll's Knight Sword .

After this, rather than going through the two doors, proceed down the slightly obscured stairs in the corner. Follow the stairs down until you enter a small room with a chest. Open it to get the Wolf Crest Shield .

Return to the main chapel now, chat with the spirit by the altar, and then pick up the Rellana's Cameo talisman. Proceed through the chapel, defeating an enemy in a side room and another on the stairs leading out.

Once you exit the chapel, you will encounter another enemy using ranged sorceries on a rooftop. Defeat them with ranged abilities or ignore them. Either way, open the large gates to the left and proceed down the broken section of the wall into an optional area.

Pick up the item from the corpse and then proceed up the stairs onto the roof where the ranged sorcery enemy was.

Defeat them and the Page enemy with a crossbow, and then proceed along the rooftops to drop down to another area. Pick up the item from the corpse to get the Glintblade Trio Sorcery. Drop down here and pick up the Wolf Crest Shield if you didn't earlier.

Return back to the opened gates.

Along The Ramparts

From the gates, after defeating the first soldier, you will encounter a large group of soldiers and dogs together. Defeat them at a distance to avoid them ganging up on you and be wary of enemies higher on the ramparts as well.

After defeating them, proceed towards the tower at the end of the ramparts. Around the corner will be an enemy with a spear that is very keen to push you to your death. Feel free to guide them towards the ramparts for a safer battle. After this, proceed up the stairs and you will be met with a Black Knight guarding the way forward.

Before engaging them in battle, turn completely around and enter the door. In the chest you will find an Imbued Sword Key .

Now return to battle the Black Knight. Like all others, they are slow but quite strong. Your best chance at beating them is to circle around and backstab them.

After their defeat, take the lift upwards and run to the Castle-Lord's Chambers site of grace.

Around The Castle-Lord's Chambers

First off, step on the lift to send it back down, you'll want this for later.

Before heading up the stairs towards the boss arena, instead go out the door leading to another corpse with an item. After picking this up, jump from this balcony to a small open area with a tower.

Climb this tower to find the Ash of War: Wing Stance. Afterwards, return to the second level, cross the bridge, and weave your way back to the Castle-Lord's Chamber.

You will drop beside the Black Knight from before, so take the lift back up that you sent down earlier to avoid battling them again. Once you are back in the Castle-Lord's Chambers, you are now free to go battle the boss of Castle Ensis.

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight Boss Fight

Before entering the arena of Rellana, you may summon the Needle Knight Leda. You can still summon your Spirit Ashes while she helps you, so feel free to summon her if you're having difficulties.

Rellana is a very fast boss and can have quite a large health bar. Her second phase uses many of the same moves, though with added fire and ice effects. Her openings are short, but take your time and you'll eventually succeed. Your reward for defeating her will be the Remembrance of the Twin Moon Knight .

With that, Castle Ensis is complete. Congratulations!