How to start the Radahn Festival in Elden Ring

Want to start the Radahn Festival in Elden Ring? The Radahn Festival changes the status of Redmane Castle, allowing you to find its boss, Starscourge Radahn. Without triggering the Radahn Festival, you can't defeat Radahn, which is part of Ranni's quest and a requirement to access Nokron, the Eternal City.

Until you begin the Radahn Festival and defeat Radahn himself, you also cannot begin the new Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC. So if you want to experience everything that Elden Ring has to offer, the Radahn Festival is an aboslute must to trigger. As it's rather difficult to figure this out on your own, this guide will show you how to start the Radahn Festival in Elden Ring.

How to trigger the Radahn Festival

The Elden Ring Radahn Festival event must be triggered if you wish to defeat the Starscourge Radahn boss in Redmane Castle (south of Caelid). Radahn, in turn, must be defeated to access Nokron, the Eternal City. Triggering the Radahn Festival changes the outlook of Redmane Castle, creating a reddish atmosphere and removing all ‘normal' opponents. If you speak with Witch-Hunter Jerren inside the castle while the Festival status is active, you'll be able to reach Starscourge Radahn.

There are two ways to activate the Radahn Festival:

• Go to Altus Plateau and rest at a Site of Grace.
• Follow Ranni's questline.

The Altus Plateau method is arguably the easiest as you will have to enter this Elden Ring area anyway, following your progression through Limgrave and Liurnia. To cross the border between Liurnia and Altus Plateau, you must either activate the Grand Lift of Dectus (which requires both Dectus Medallion halves) or take the hidden Ruin-Strewn Precipice path. For more details, take a look at our guide on how to get to the Altus Plateau in Elden Ring.

Remember, once you're there, you must rest at any Altus Plateau Site of Grace to activate the Radahn Festival in Redmane Castle. The only Sites that don't count are the ones in the Volcano Manor.

If you'd rather follow Ranni the Witch's quest, you must clear Caria Manor, agree to serve Ranni, and speak to Blaidd in Siofra River. When asked, you must visit Seluvis and Sorceress Sellen, and then inform Blaidd of what you've learned. Once you've exhausted Blaidd's dialogue, the Elden Ring Radahn Festival will start.

If that sounds rather complex, you might want to use our Elden Ring Ranni quest walkthrough for a more detailed explanation. If you don't feel like following this lengthy questline anymore, remember that you can always enter the Altus Plateau to activate the Radahn Festival.

An alternative way to trigger the Radahn Festival during Ranni's questline, is to meet with Witch-Hunter Jerren (in Redmane Castle) and War Counselor Iji (south of Caria Manor, the ‘Road to the Manor' Site of Grace). You must first speak with Jerren about Iji, then go to Iji and speak with him about Jerren.

And that's how to activate the Elden Ring Radahn Festival. Take a look at our full Elden Ring walkthrough to find your next destination in The Lands Between. 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.