How to get to subterranean shunning-grounds

The Subterranean Shunning-Grounds is an expansive dungeon found underneath the Legacy Dungeon of Leyndell, Royal Capital - located in the Altus Plateau region of Elden Ring. While its structure behave similarly to the Legacy Dungeon above, it is not required to proceed through the royal capital, and houses key characters and events necessary to obtain certain Endings. This page contains information on the location, walkthrough, and guide to traverse this area, locate all of its treasure, and tips to defeat the enemies within.

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• How to Get to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds
• Subterranean Shunning-Grounds Walkthrough
• Boss Fight - Mohg the Omen
• Exploring the Forsaken Depths

How to Get to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds

The Subterranean Shunning-Grounds is a high level optional area located below the Legacy Dungeon itself of Lenydell, Royal Capital. Though you can access it at any time when exploring the capital, you may find the enemies within much tougher than those above ground, so for this reason we recommend that you hold off on exploring it until you have completed the Royal Capital, and possibly even completed the Giant's Forge if you are still having trouble with the enemies in these sewers. It's highly recommended that you have a weapon with +22 or a special weapon at +9 to be able to deal enough damage.

If you decide to come back to this area after getting to the Giant's Forge, you'll find that a large gold sewer grate along the capital city's main avenue has been removed, allowing you to drop directly into the underground area.

To reach the sewers beneath Leyndell earlier, head to the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace in the middle of the capital just off the main road that runs through it. Go down the stairs to the lower northern ruined part of the city and stick to the left side as you advance to take out the three Leyndell Knights.

Once they've been dealt with, look over the balcony to the left off in the northwest side of the ruined city streets. Among the rubble you should be able to spot a lone well in the shadow of the large dragon wing, guarded by the fast-crawling enemies seen in the Volcano Manor. Head down into the well using the ladder.

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Once down in the well, you may want to activate a Lantern if you have one to help with visibility. Loot the body holding a Rune Arc and open the gate to the left.

Keep heading down the corridors and down the ladders and stairs until you reach a long tunnel full of Giant Rats, and be ready to block or dodge their lunging attacks, though most won't attack too quickly. The path under the stairs leads to bars you can't get through, so move forward to find 6 Poisonbone Dart on a body surrounded by rats, then open the far door to reach this new area.

Subterranean Shunning-Grounds Walkthrough

As you enter these forgotten sewers, you'll be standing on high ledge overlooking a main pathway below. The good news is a Site of Grace lies just below you, but so too does one of the three Omen patrolling this long hall.

Since he's watching the ladder down from your vantage point, ranged builds may want to begin attacking the Omen from the high point, while melee attackers can either drop off to the right and sneak up, or perform a jumping attack from above.

You may have fought Omen before, but make no mistake - these are extremely high level and will deal a ton of damage to you if their blows connect. Certain heavier weapons can cause them to stagger, but their kicks and raised fist attacks absorb most recoil, which means you'll want to be ready to dodge or block them instead of trading blows. They can also spew out cones of holy fire that have impressive reach but little width - so strafing around them to attack is key. If they raise their arms wide, be ready to get out of the way of their running grab attack, which can be heavily delayed for an extremely quick grab animation.

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After touching the site of grace in the small room to the northwest, you'll find the door opposite locked, as well as the two large gates on either side of the hall.

Two more Omen can be spotted at the far side - one of them will patrol from side to side near a Golden Rune 11 and a body holding Bloodsoaked Manchettes and Bloodsoaked Mask - while the other patrols the length of the hall slowly, giving you time to take them on separately and hopefully get off backstabs to start the fight.

With all the Omen in the hall cleared, you'll have two wings of the sewer to clear that link to the large gates - the northeast tunnels, and the large southwest pipe room. We recommend clearing out the southwest first.

Look along the east wall past the locked door and site of grace for a ladder in a recess you can slide down to arrive in a very large sewer pipe room, with pipes criss-crossing the large area crawling with Fanged Imps, and a long drop to the sewer floor where Giant Crayfish roam.

Important Tip: Fanged Imps have a weakness to Crystal Darts - one hit can stun them, and a second will cause them to go haywire and attack other enemies nearby!

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Grab the Freezing Grease to the left as you enter the room, and advance extremely cautiously - as Fanged Imps wait along the pipes to jump down or crawl up to ambush you on all sides. While one patrols the pipe in front of you, wait for it to head away before jumping to the pipe and getting ready to ward off an attack from above. These Fanged Imps hit hard and fast with bleed, but are highly susceptible to recoiling from a shield block where you can follow up with a quick guard counter - so long as you take them on one at a time.

Grab the 10 Serpent Arrow on a body, and look for one hanging from a pipe above and knock it down with a ranged attack. Once its dead, cautiously advance up the pipe to take on the imp patrolling. Another will climb up where the pipe curves left before a large platform.

You'll want to advance cautiously to the large platform - one Imp will break out from behind some boxes, while two more wait to crawl up on either side, and a third hangs from the pipes above in the middle. Try to trigger them one by one with ranged attacks, or rush them as they climb since they'll be locked in that animation until safely on the ground.

Grab the 5 Fire Grease in the middle of the large platform before moving right along the pipes, and you'll probably spot an imp along the far wall hurling daggers at you. Don't get distracted, because another Imp may drop down from the end of the pipe path off to the right - kill that one first and loot the Somber Smithing Stone 6 at the end of the pipe's platform, then head south to reach the far side of the room with the last Fanged Imp.

Grab the Smithing Stone 7 to the right of the doorway before heading up through the tunnel. The room beyond has a lever to open one of the large gates in the main hallway - but you also need to watch out for an ambush on the left from another Omen.

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This Omen is a supercharged version of the others you'll face, sporting more growths and horns. In addition to blasting you with cones of holy fire, it may charge up in battle to explode in more holy fire, sending several orbs that will track in your direction. Even after this attack, it will be bathed in holy fire that augments its attack power, so be wary and don't get too greedy getting your hits in. Dodge around the large attacks to follow up with your own and try to stagger it when it's not punching or kicking.

Once this Omen is dead, ensure the gate is raised and grab the Shadow Bait Incantation in front of the statue. Before you turn your attention to the northeast tunnels, there's one more thing to do back in the previous room.

Return to the large pipe room and look below the exit to find another large pipe running down below, and jump down to it, then drop down to the floor far below (you'll take a bit of falling damage unless you use Soft Cotton).

Down here there are only two enemies guarding a host of treasures, but the Giant Crayfish are an absolute pain to deal with, especially when you don't have Torrent to outpace them on. While you can take them on one at a time, you may find a viable strategy in pitting them against each other.

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Run to the side past a small half-buried pipe to trigger one of the Giant Crayfish to rise up, then run left to grab the attention of the second. From here, use the half-buried pipe as a way to block them from advancing upon you, sticking around the back where there's less space to move (don't go inside the pipe - they can and will skewer you through it). If done correctly, you can run back and forth towards them to trigger their slams and swipes that will damage the other crayfish - and they'll likely deal far more damage per hit than you will. Stay mobile and be ready to run between open sections if they come around to one side, and eventually one of them should die by the other's hand. That will allow you to fight a hopefully weakened crayfish and take it out before it can grab and skewer you.

Once both Giant Crayfish are finally dead, look around the room to loot 5 Glass Shard, Somber Smithing Stone 7, 4 Smithing Stone 7, and the incredibly important Mohg's Shackle. You can also spot a Scarab hiding in the other buried pipe for an additional Somber Smithing Stone 7.

To get out from the depths, look around the south corner of the room for a hole in the wall. This branches into two paths - one of which surprisingly leads to its own mini-dungeon, the Lenydell Catacombs (see the walkthrough for it here).

The other path leads to a lift back up, where you'll come across a group of spectral crossbow-toting Foot Soldiers who just don't seem to die. Quickly look to the right of the stairs up for a section of wall you can roll into to reveal an illusory wall hiding yet another spectral soldier - but that's not all.

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Roll into the corner on the left, and you'll find the culprit - a Spirit-Calling Snail that keeps summoning these enemies. Kill it to end them for good, and you can get the Haligdrake Talisman +1 that it guards.

Take the path above down a hall to find a Golden Rune 11, and a lever that reveals a secret path back to the gate you previously raised.

Now it's time to clear a path to the other main gate via the northeast tunnel, which you can find by looking for an open floor section in front of the far gate.

Drop through the floor grate into a narrow tunnel full of Giant Rats. One side has a dead end with a few aggressive rats and Preserving Boluses, while the other path has more fairly docile rats, ending with a pipe tunnel entrance on the right, and another hallway to the left.

The Dung Eater's Lair
If you take the path to the left, you'll find three Blighted Miranda Blooms in the way by a corpse holding a Furlcalling Finger Remedy. Run past them or use a fiery attack to stop their poison bursts and stun them, and climb the ladder to the next room. Here you'll find a Rune Arc guarded by Hands hanging from the ceiling, and a buried Giant Hand guarding a Lost Ashes of War.
Just beyond this room is a locked door leading to the Dung Eater's cell. If you found a Seedbed Curse earlier, talk to the Dung Eater in the Roundtable Hold to get the Sewer-Gaol Key, and you can unlock it here to find him banging his head on a wall. If you're really disgusted by him, you can kill him here and now - but if you're enticed by his desire to curse everyone and want to unlock a potential ending, tell him to leave his gaol, and you can further his questline - which will include a duel in the Capital Outskirts Moat. Defeat him there, and he'll ask you to deliver Seedbed Curses to him back in his cell - and if you give him enough, the path to a new era could be yours...

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Head back to the rat-infested hall and take the pipe tunnel on the northeast wall. These tight confines are full of slugs lining the walls - but thankfully most are docile and can just be swatted away.

Be sure to have your lantern out, as there are a few pitfalls to look out for. Right after the first group of slugs is a hole in the floor leading to a lower pipe, but you may as well take this path first, as it leads down to a small section of a larger chamber where three Revenants guard a Stonesword Key, and you can unlock a door from this side back to the pipe tunnels leading back up.

Past the first hole is the side path down to the previously mentioned chamber, so instead take the main path to pick up a Glass Shard and follow the pipe tunnel right but beware of another hole - as this one will drop you in the larger part of the chamber you found earlier to be surrounded by enemies. Instead, jump over the hole to grab 10 Rainbow Stone Arrow, and then take a left at the fork in the tunnel to reach the large chamber.

After taking out the two nearest Revenants, stay along the left wall and leap over the dung mounds to quickly run down the other two Revenants in the large room, because a Revenant Lord is about to appear in the middle, and fighting in close quarters can be very tricky with this opponent. Use holy magic if possible, and unleash a powerful attack while it's still crawling up from the depths. Always try to strafe around it, as its frontal assaults are hard to withstand even with a lot of stamina. Defeating it will earn you a Ghost Glovewort 6', and you can search the chamber to also find a Smithing Stone 7 and 5 Grave Violet.

Back in the pipe tunnel take the path through the open gate door to find a it littered with slugs - some of which will try to ambush you from a small alcove on the right that holds Fireproof Drived Liver.

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As you head down the far tunnel and leave the pipes behind, you'll be in some trouble - the next room has a small ladder with an Omen at the top who will bellyflop down to meet you, and soon after, another Omen will come wandering this way.

You'll need to immediately engage this Omen (who can also supercharge with holy fire) before his friend can back him up, and if it seems like backup is arriving, you may have to retreat into the tunnels and sprint away from holy fire blasts to run and gun until you can defeat both the Omen - as engaging them both head on will often end badly.

Once defeated, grab the Somber Smithing Stone 8 in the middle of the room before climbing up, and carefully sneak into the room to find the lever for the second large gate for the main hallway, as well as a third Omen standing by a statue. Make sure you open the gate first in case things go badly, then engage the last Omen and claim the Smithing Stone 7 he was guarding.

With both gates open, it's now time to head through a new passage past the gate on the east side of the hallway to the right of the statue. Open the door to enter the balcony of a large circular cistern. It may seem like in impossible drop down, and the path to the right only has a few Putrid Zombies and a body holding a Grace Mimic, but don't worry.

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Look left as you enter the cistern and follow the shimmering sound to drop down the ledge near you to find another path below, along with a Scarab you can kill for a Somber Smithing Stone 6. Head down to the end of the path to find some String by another zombie, then turn right into a passageway to leave the cistern behind.

Grab the nearby Warming Stone, and then make your way through the hallway lined with Putrid Zombies until you come to a longer room with stairs down to some poison plants.

Before checking the path under the stairs, you can look below next to a body holding 2 Fire Grease to find a Blighted Bloom Miranda plant, which is flanked by three Basilisks hiding behind it. Because of the close confines its easy to get Death Blighted if you aren't fast, so you may want to consider sniping them from above first, or dropping down and taking the poison damage to focus on killing the basilisks first.

Look for 8 Poisoned Stone in the corner before moving down the hall and be wary of a few more basilisks at another lower balcony in the cistern where you can find Nomad Ashes.

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Head back up the ladder and look for a passage under the stairs with some Preserving Boluses, for a tunnel with yet more Basilisks and a Commoner by a locked door.

At the end of the tunnel you'll find yourself in the bottom of another pipe room, with an Omen at the other side. It will turn to face left, so you can sneak around to the right and get in a backstab - just be ready for it to explode with holy fire. You'll have a lot of room to maneuver and no other enemies to worry about, so take your time with this fight.

Defeating this Omen will reward you with a special Omen Bairn item, and you can find several bodies along the floor to find 2 Golden Centipede, 4 Glass Shard, and Dappled White Cured Meat.

Climbing up the ladder on the far side, you won't be able to jump to the raised pipe in the middle, so exit through the other doorway to find yourself back in the main pipe room crawling with Fanged Imps. You'll be on a higher platform along with a body holding 3 Poisoned Stone, and the door across the bridge leads back to the main entrance hall and the site of grace.

From this raised area in the large pipe room, look for another sloping pipe and be wary of more Fanged Imps looking to crawl up from the sides of the pipes.

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The path leads to a long pipe with Fanged Imps on all sides - so try to lure them at you one at a time so you don't get swarmed. Once you get to the end of the pipe, drop off either side to the lower platform and be ready for more imps to be coming your way. Be careful about falling on the lower pipe here, as more imps are waiting to ambush you while you head up to the door on the right that has a Golden Rune 10.

The door up ahead leads to the previous pipe room that has a ladder you can kick down on the side, and hole in the center of the pipe you can enter.

These pipes can get extremely confusing, as its a maze of different passages and various teardrop scarabs. To advance, you need only chase the giant rat down the southeast path, but if you want to explore the pipe maze, you can find a Golden Rune 8, 4 Smithing Stone 7, Smithing Stone 8, Warming Stone, and an Eye of Yelough.

Chasing the Giant Rat down the tunnel will lead to a fork with a Golden Rune 11, but don't take the straight path as there's a hole just up ahead. Go left first to find the smaller rat, and jump over another hole until you find a larger rat in front of the hole.

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Then back track to the earlier hole to drop down to find yourself on the other side of the locked door where the Commoner was standing.

Head the opposite direction to exit the tunnels into a chamber with several Living Jars. Rush the largest one in the corner to defeat it before it can wake and spin at you, then clean up the smaller ones before looting a Ritual Pot.

From here you can take a long lift to the bottom of the cistern where the Forsaken Depths Site of Grace is - as well as a boss fight that looms ahead.

Boss Fight - Mohg the Omen

If you haven't gotten Mohg's Shackle from the bottom of the large pipe room, it's highly recommended you go grab it, as it can help tremendously for this fight.

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Mohg may be an Omen just like Margit/Margott, but their attacks are very different, and due to the high difficulty level of this area, getting hit may take huge chunks out of your health. It's highly recommended you take a +8 or +9 Spirit Summon into battle with you that can divert Mohg's attention - all the better if that summon can dish out heavy attacks like the Mimic Tear, Kaiden Sellsword, or some of the legendary knight summons.

It's also highly recommended that you craft some Stanching Boluses to deal with a lot blood loss you may experience in this fight - especially if you haven't invested too much points into Vigor and have lower than average HP.

Mohg deals primarily in attacks that deal "bloodflame" damage, meaning many of his attacks will deal both fire damage and cause bleed buildup - even if you block. Some of his attacks may even leave pools of fiery blood on the ground that will hit you if you cross over it after the attack has landed. Mobility is key for this fight, as staying in one place will just saturate you and you'll likely burn or hemorrhage before long.

While Mohg carries a large trident, many of the attacks you'll need to watch out for are more magical in nature. He can summon a portal of blood to reach into and pull lots of magic out of: if he reaches up into a portal in front of him, he'll toss out a huge swath of bloodflame in front of him to saturate the area. If you're already close to him, he may just rain down blood from a portal overhead to soak the area right in front of him with bloodflame.

If he rends the very air with his claws to create a flame trail, back off immediately or face an explosion of flame magic directly in front of him. He can also do this after planting his trident down, ending his rend with a quick explosion that has less delay than the other attack.

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Other than that, you can expect Mogh to vary up these bloodflame attacks with more standard swings, sweeps, and frontal slams with his trident. These attacks are all very slow and telegraphed, and thankfully doesn't delay strikes like Margit/Morgott do. Because of this, you can usually block or dodge these strikes straight on and follow up with quick hits between his 2-3 combo attacks.

If you have Mogh's Shackle, you'll find that it works exactly like Margit's Shackle - using it will bind him to the spot for a sizeable moment, allowing both you and your spirit summon to unleash your strongest attacks that he won't be able to dodge. If you time it right, you can follow up your sustained hits with another few strong attacks to possibly stagger him, letting you land a critical strike just after he regains his movement. The item can be used twice in the fight, and will then have no effect.

Between using the shackle and having your spirit summon direct his sweeping attacks and bloodflame away from your direction, you should find plenty of opportunity to unleash strong attacks and stagger Mohg between stunning him.

Defeating his boss will earn you the Bloodflame Talons Incantation - but that's not all. A chest at the front of the main altar holds the Erdtree's Favor +1, and if you strike the altar with your weapon, it will move back into a recess to reveal a secret path that can only be traversed once you have defeated Morgott in Leyndell, Royal Capital.

Exploring the Forsaken Depths

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After defeating Morgott, you can return to the altar past Mohg to find the seal gone, and a large open crypt with a very long shaft surrounded by the corpses of Nomads - much like the ones you've been buy items from this whole game. Among the corpses here you can also find some Yellow Ember - but be wary as you cross the narrow wooden plank to the other side - not all Nomads are dead.

As you reach the opposite platform, you can probably hear some of them playing their strange instruments - but those sitting ones blending in amongst the dead won't attack unless provoked - but one wandering up from the nearby stairs will.

These nomads seem to have no eyes left and attack haltingly and move very slowly. While the deal little damage with their strange instruments, they are extremely deadly thanks to their Frenzied Flame attacks. Once they start casting them to shoot beams of madness-inducing fire in large arcs around them, its hard to stop or stagger them, so you'll need to be quick and decisive in your strikes, or fight at long distance.

Several items can be found seemingly trapped under ruined tarps and structures, but you can lure the Nomads into destroying them with their frenzied flame attacks - just don't suffer their madness in the process!

Be sure to let the first Nomad hit the ruined structure against the far wall, as you'll find the Nomadic Merchant's Chapeau, Nomadic Merchant's Finery, and Nomadic Merchant's Trousers in the corner, as well as 5 Grace Mimic Nearby not trapped under any structures.

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Head down the stairs on the other side carefully to find another wandering Nomad among the dead, and a structure against the left wall he can destroy with his frenzied flames. There's also another Nomad playing music along the ledge, but won't join the fight unless you strike him. Grab the 5 Eye of Yelough hiding behind the structure, and if this Nomad gives you trouble, you can try sneaking up behind him.

There's another narrow beam crossing the pit here you can take down to a ledge filled with rubble and a Golden Rune 11, and then drop down to another perpendicular beam below to find the Frenzied's Cookbook 2 on one end, and a music-playing Nomad on the other near a body holding 3 Hefty Beast Bone, but the path stops here - and things are about to get more difficult in terms of platforming.

You'll need to carefully drop down the shaft using what little platforms you can find in the stone coffins that are jutting out along the edges of the pit. There are lots of ways you can attempt this task, some are easier than others - but using items that lessen or negate fall damage won't help if you hit the bottom.

We recommend jumping to the west set of coffins first and drop down among the group towards the southeast corner. Once you reach the corner, double back and jump down to the northwest corner, and then turn to the northeast corner.

This is the hardest part, as you can see three sets of coffins above one another on middle of the the east wall, and the coffin at bottom has a body holding an item - your ultimate destination.

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Trying to aim for the middle coffin will often end with you bouncing off the edge of the top coffin and falling to your death, so take a running jump to reach the top middle coffin, then look for another one lower down in the southeast corner. If successful, you can skip the middle coffin and jump down to the lowest one holding the Inescapable Frenzy Incantation, and you'll find a safe path to tread once more.

There's another structure here hiding an item, so turn around to find a small dark hallway leading to sitting Nomad guarding a Fingerprint Stone Shield.

Hit the sitting Nomad once to get him to rise, and let him chase you back to the tent to destroy it with his frenzied flames, and under it you'll find a Note - Miquella's Needle.

As you head down to the lowest point next to a music playing Nomad, there's nowhere else to go but to the end of the pit, but thankfully this time you won't die from fall damage. Instead, dropping down will cause the floor to shatter and lead you all the way down to the Frenzied Flame Proscription. Interestingly enough, with the floor broken, you can now jump all the way down from the top of the shaft and no longer take fall damage.

Here you'll find the creepy burned door leading to the Three Fingers of the Frenzied Flame - but the door won't just open for anyone. If you helped the maiden Hyetta along through Liurnia by giving her Shabriri Grapes, she'll be here now to the side, and give you the clue you need to meet with the Three Fingers - divest yourself of your possessions, and they will surely welcome you.

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Warning - proceeding down this path will not only unlock a new possible ending for you, it will lock you out of certain other endings that pertain to Melina. Think carefully before opening that door.

By interacting the door while naked, your character will pry it open, despite the frenzied flames. The cutscene inside will leave your character forever marked by the Frenzied Flame, and returning to Hyetta will have you seal your pact by giving Hyetta the flame of chaos inside you. After talking to her a final time, she'll leave you with the Frenzied Flame Seal and 5 Frenzyflame Stone.

When you go to rest at the nearby site of Grace, Melina will disavow you and will part ways with you for good, giving you a grim warning as she does so.