Elden Ring Fringefolk Hero's Grave walkthrough

Stuck inside the Elden Ring Fringefolk Hero's Grave dungeon? Despite being one of the first dungeons you'll come across in The Lands Between, the Fringefolk Hero's Grave does not go easy on you: you must survive a poisonous lake, deadly chariots, a fire trap, spirit warriors, and many imp attacks - if you manage to break the Fringefolk Hero's Grave seal, that is.

This guide will show you how to find the Fringefolk Hero's Grave dungeon in Elden Ring and how to explore everything it has to offer before making it out alive.

Fringefolk Hero's Grave location

The Fringefolk Hero's Grave is a dungeon located in the southwestern part of Limgrave, right next to the Stranded Graveyard Site of Grace. Although Limgrave is the first area in the Elden Ring progression order, you'll need two Stonesword Keys before you can enter this dungeon. Stonesword Keys can be found in many important locations, including Stormveil Castle, the Dragon-Burnt Ruins, and Castle Morne, but they're also sold by Patches and many Nomadic Merchants.

Once you've obtained the Stonesword Keys, fast-travel to the Stranded Graveyard and look north; see the stone imp statue in front of the misty grey seal? Offer the Stonesword Keys to this statue to make the fog disappear and gain access to the Elden Ring Fringefolk Hero's Grave dungeon.

Fringefolk Hero's Grave walkthrough

To enter the Fringefolk Hero's Grave, drop down into the poisonous room below. Don't worry; if you immediately run to the other end of the hallway and turn right, you'll reach a patch of stone flooring which will stop the poison buildup. While running in that direction, pause on the stone pots (pictured below) and wait for the poison buildup to drop before moving on.

Watch out for the deadly wagon moving up and down the corridor; as soon as it rolls back down, you can sprint after it and use the second nook on your right side to hide in. There are several nooks to choose from, but some may spawn spirit warriors or spirit archers, so it's best to avoid them.

Starting from the second nook on the right, wait for the wagon to ride past you (upwards), sprint through the next nook on your right (third if counting from the start) and drop down.

Run towards the narrow bridge ahead of you, but instead of trying to cross it, drop down to the right(if you don't, the chariot will come after you and run you over). Make sure you drop down at the very beginning of the bridge, without sprinting too fast, or you might miss the ledge below you and drop to your death.

After you've landed, be ready to defeat two imp enemies. Go down the stairs, but as soon as you've reached the bottom, sprint back up again; a fire trap will activate, engulfing the entire corridor in flames. Although you can use the trap's recharge time to safely reach the first nook on the right (there's an imp in there), it's easier to turn off the trap by hitting it with an arrow.

Before continuing the main path, you can enter the room left of the fire trap, defeat the two imps, and collect lightning grease from a corpse - this is optional though.

In the next area, you can grab the item on the other side of the bridge to obtain the Erdtree's Favor talisman (small arrow in the picture below), but beware that it's guarded by two Grafted Scions (hiding on the roof). While weak to Bleed and Frost, these enemies are very difficult to defeat, so you may have to restart your Fringefolk Hero's Grave dungeon run if you choose to collect this item. It's best to use ranged damage against the Grafted Scions and avoid fighting them on the bridge, as they may knock you down.

Once you've collected the Erdtree's Favor, drop down the ledge on the other side of the room, where you first entered (large arrow in the picture above). Drop down a second ledge, into a room filled with a blood-coloured liquid, and follow the path upwards.

When you reach the platform, collect the item to obtain a Stonesword Key, and be ready to fight a spirit warrior on your left. Before dropping down to the area with the chariot, you must destroy it: equip a bow, take aim at one of the ropes holding the pots, and release the arrow just before the wagon rides underneath the pots. There are three pots on the ceiling, so you have three chances to get this right.

Drop down the ledge and walk towards the narrow bridge you couldn't cross before. When the path splits in two, you can either turn left to reach the boss arena, or turn right to find a room with a spirit knight mini-boss. If you defeat the spirit knight, he'll drop the Dragon Communion Sacred Seal, which boosts Dragon Communion Incantations. The spirit knight uses melee sword attacks as well as a fire-breathing attack.

How to defeat the Fringefolk Hero's Grave boss

Finally, you've made it to the Elden Ring Fringefolk Hero's Cave boss: the Ulcerated Tree Spirit. This massive tree-like boss will constantly charge and swipe at you, so be prepared to block and dodge a lot. Here are some tips to defeat the Elden Ring Fringefolk Hero's Grave boss more easily:

• The Ulcerated Tree Spirit will use physical and holy damage against you.
• Use physical damage and especially fire damage to defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit.
• Dodge towards its flank and target the belly with your melee weapon.
• When the Ulcerated Tree Spirit lifts its head and 'roars', a grab attack is incoming. Don't try to block this; dodge towards the side as fast as you can.
• You can block most attacks except the grab.

For full details, check out our guide on how to beat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit in Elden Ring.

And that concludes our Elden Ring Fringefolk Hero's Grave walkthrough. If you need more help, take a look at our full Elden Ring walkthrough. We can also point you to the Elden Ring boss locations, but you might want to get the best builds and best armor sets first.