The Shadow of the Erdtree Abyssal Woods explained

Jun. 26, 2024

The Abyssal Woods in Elden Ring have madness-inflicting foes weak to parrying

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The Abyssal Woods in Shadow of the Erdtree are a special, optional region North of Jagged Peak in the DLC for Elden Ring in which players fight monstrous figures reminiscent of enemies from Bloodborne. It seems as though they can’t be killed, but they do in fact have a weakness that you can use to get rid of them permanently.

Sneak past or kill them all and you can make it to Midra’s Manse, a dungeon at the edge of the woods that contains new threats and rewards for those who weren’t warned off by all the horrors around in the Abyssal Woods first.

Also, if you want to knowhow to get to the Abyssal Woods in Shadow of the Erdtree, instead of what to do when you’re there, our attached guide will help you with that.

What to do in Abyssal Woods in Shadow of the Erdtree

There’s a few minor locations and treasures dotted around the Abyssal Woods, butthe main location you want to reach is Midra’s Manse,a decaying old manorhouse in the Southwest corner that serves as a middling sized dungeon, and one of theShadow of the Erdtree Remembrance bosseswaiting at the end. We’ve marked its location on the map above, as well as where to find one of theShadow of the Erdtree map fragmentsto reveal the whole area.

Shadow of the Erdtree Somewhere a Great Rune has Broken messageShadow of the Erdtree Scadutree FragmentsShadow of the Erdtree weaponsShadow of the Erdtree Miquella’s Crosses

The Abyssal Woods have several kinds of enemies - frenzied rats, clerics using holy magic - but the main threat that the messages are warning you about,the “untouchable” enemies, are generally referred to as the Winter Lanterns, in accordance with the enemies they closely resemble from Bloodborne, and the bugs of the same name that can be found in the area. They appear as hunched, humanoid with giant, distorted orange heads and sticks held in their hands.

The main way to get around the Winter Lanterns is touse stealth.There’s long grass around them in patches where they can’t see you if you crouch, though that grass periodically has a kind of orange fruit that rattles and alerts them if you touch it, so stay away from those stalks. Keep behind them, keep your distance, and take your time - if they see you and you don’t have the special gear to kill them, you’ll almost certainly be killed, as they teleport or dash towards you quickly, using grapple attacks to inflict high damage and Madness on you.

To kill the Winter Lanterns of the Abyssal Woods, you need to parry their attacks.Yes, that means a shield or weapon with the Parry skill, so if you don’t have one equipped, you won’t be able to beat them. It’s a small window, but parrying the Lanterns' attack staggers them - not only does this set them up for a high damage riposte, but it permanently dispels the effect that renders them unkillable/untouchable, so you can follow up with regular attacks to kill them.

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

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