This is another area that was too short to have its own page, so now time to tackle Altus Plateau and Mt. Gelmir. First thing, naturally, is the map. From the Abandoned Coffin Grace you used back at the end of Liurnia, you need to head quite far east before the fog clears enough to see the map fragment icon on your map.
Ranni Questline:
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This might seem like it came out of nowhere, but since this is quite a short page, I thought it might be useful to catch up in the Ranni questline. If you remember back to Liurnia, you met Ranni in her chamber, then in the following page, grabbed the treasure of Nokron for her. If you haven't already, return to Ranni's chamber and give it to her. Exhaust the dialogue, reset, so she isn't there anymore. You receive the Carian Inverted Statue. If you bothered to activate the Great Rune from Rennala back in Liurnia, you need to head back to that tower. If you didn't, here is a screenshot of where it is:
Make your way to the Study Hall Entrance Grace, and once there you can place the statue on a pedestal. This flips the entire building upside down. Your objective is to get to the bottom, which used to be the top. Once that is done, you are on a bridge with a Grace just in front of you. On this bridge is a Godskin Noble boss. While it is simple enough to bypass this one, I recommend beating it, simply to learn its moves, its strengths and weaknesses, etc. That experience is useful later. Either way, the next goal is to head to the other side of the bridge, and up the other tower via the lift. There are two items on a corpse at the very top, grab them, and you're done here. Now, you can fast travel to Ranni's Rise, head out of the tower and head north to another tower:
This is Renna's Rise. Go through the portal on topl. Once loaded into the new area, pick up the item directly ahead "Miniature Ranni" and rest at the Grace so you have a fast travel point. Similarl to what you did with Altus Plateau, you need to rest at one Grace, then leave and come back later. The new area you unlocked has its own section later on, but I thought since this is a fairly short page compared to the rest, it would be a good place to catch up.
Once you've done that, you can get started on the first of three (Yes, just three!) things you need to do in Altus Plateau. Let's start with the easiest one and work our way up.
There is an evergaol in the location the cursor is on in the screenshot above, in the very south of Altus Plateau. Head there, being careful to avoid the giant archer's fire. You need a Stonesword key to enter the evergaol. If you don't have one, the Twin Maiden Husks have three in stock. If you've already bought up their stock and still don't have one, I don't know how that happened but all I can say is to leave this part for now and remember to come back as soon as you find one. Anyway, this was one of the most fun fights for me. Godefroy the Grafted is a boss that is basically identical to Godrick from earlier, except with no second phase. Absolutely destroying him is cathartic if you struggled with the original back in Limgrave. He uses the moveset from phase 1 of Godrick's fight, so in terms of tips all I can offer up is to use whatever it was that got you through the first phase of Godrick. The reward for winning this fight is Godfrey Icon [Legendary Talisman 3/8].
Next up, you are headed to Sainted Hero's Grave:
If you can't find the way up, you may need to head northeast to find a path. Once there, a boss appears guarding a door, but he's not too bad and your mimic can help out. I'm not sure if you can open the door to bypass him or not, but it might be worth a try if you can't be bothered beating him. Behind the door are stairs down to a lift that take you to the actual dungeon. There is an imp statue guarding a room with a single enemy and a talisman that boosts HP regained from the flasks. You may notice the message on the floor, just before the area you need to enter, saying "Shadow bathes in light and knows weakness". In a very vague and loose way, this explains how to kill some of the enemies down here. Basically, some enemies that are completely black are completely impervious to damage until you lead them into light circles on the floor in various places around the dungeon. The goal of the dungeon is to find an enemy like this, a knight, kill him to open the door to a boss fight, then defeat that boss. The boss is Ancient Hero of Zamor, one of the easiest in the game in my opinion. Spell spam worked a treat, and the only damage I took was from summoning the Mimic Tear. The reward is the very reason you came down here; Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff [Legendary Ashen Remains 4/6].
If you're struggling to follow what I said, then there is this video from Powerpyx:
You might find this hard to believe, but you're almost done with Altus Plateau. Seriously! The last task rewards both a legendary and an achievement. Head here:
This area isn't completely visible on your map yet, but you should be able to find it anyway. You probably found the Erdtree Gazing Hill Grace back at the start when searching for the map. Go there and to the east is lower ground. Go north, staying on the low ground, and eventually you come upon another castle. Climb over the walls on Torrent and find the Shaded Castle Ramparts Grace nearby.
The objective now is to make your way through the castle and into the boss fight at the end. It's a fairly tough one, so be ready for it when it comes up. There is a Grace called Shaded Castle Inner Gate and that indicates you're close and going in the right direction. From Shaded Castle Ramparts, take the ladder down. This area has a lot of poison on the ground that builds up your meter and eventually poisons you if you consistently step on it. Run through, ignore the wooden stairs to the right and find the long ladder leading up. Climb it, then go down the stairs and drop onto the red roof, the one with tree branches leaning over it. To the northwest is another roof, hop onto that, then onto the slanted wooden bit that leads up toward a gate. That Grace I mentioned earlier is here. Touch it, continue, and when presented with the choice to go left or right, go left and climb the next ladder. Go into the room ahead and watch out for hidden enemies that hide in corners looking to ambush you. Exit the room, go left, then across the bridge to the right, and enter another room ahead. Again watch out for a stealthy enemy or two, most notably at the top of the stairs. Continue to a knight guarding a lift ahead, either kill or get around him and take the lift. Unfortunately, there's no Grace up here but there is a Stake of Marika as a respawn point should you die. Once you're at the top of the lift, you should see the mist ahead.
Elemer of the Briar:
This boss fight can definitely get quite annoying. The small fight room works to his favour, given his strong range attack, and he doesn't stagger very often. If like me, you don't use a shield for most of the playthrough, you may want to change tactics and use one for this boss. Also, using a fast, lighter weapon (Moonveil) helped me here, although spamming Bloodhound's Fang's skill should be just as effective.
- Stay close to him. In my opinion, his strongest attack is the one where he throws his sword anywhere from 2-4 times, which starts when his sword glows red. Also, when he summons the sword back, it can do damage to you AGAIN while it flies back towards him. For this reason, I think staying close is the best play. The AI avoids this attack because it doesn't do much damage at point blank range.
- His shield attacks are strong too. He can either lunge towards you and slam you, the tell for this is when he faces you with his shoulder and stands still for half a second. He can also slam it into the ground, and then emit a shockwave when he lifts it back up.
- If you see a red ball in his left hand, run/roll away quickly. If he catches you with this, he does an animation where he lifts you up and slams his sword into you for massive damage.
- The tough part about this boss is he gives you no time to breathe. None of his attacks are particularly difficult to avoid, except for the sword throw one, but finding time to heal safely, or even use the summoning bell, is nearly impossible.
This boss is by no means the hardest in the game, but it can be annoying if he gets you in a loop where you are constantly taking hits as you heal over and over until you're out of flasks. The small arena doesn't help either. However, at this stage of the game you probably have the required strength to get his health down quickly, since he doesn't have as much as mainline bosses. The reward here is 24,000 runes, Marais Executioner's Sword [Legendary Armament 5/9] and another achievement:
- Elemer of the Briar
Defeated Elemer of the Briar
1 guide
That is Altus Plateau done. The only thing that is left to do here is travel to Leyndell. You can do it now if you want or just wait until the Leyndell page. Mt. Gelmir is up next. Go back to the Erdtree Gazing Hill and this time climb up to the north. If a Tibia Mariner spawns, you're in the right place. Kill it, ignore it, up to you, but you need to head northwest of this little lake. You transition from Altus Plateau to Mt. Gelmir and find a new Grace, Seethewater River. From here, as you continue north, it is a linear path all the way to the next Grace, with a Golden Seed along the way:
The next Grace is Seethewater Terminus. You now need to head uphill, to the left where you see a lake of flames. Cross it to some tombs. There is a village ahead called Hermit Village. Just carry on along the linear path until you reach a new Grace and a corpse.
Talk to the body and with his last movement he hands over Comet Azur [Legendary Sorcery 4/7]. This spell can deal serious damage but the fact it takes up three memory slots and requires 60 Intelligence means you really struggle to find a use for it. It is a legendary, though, so you do have to grab it, and hey, maybe if you're a serious rune grinder this can be useful.
Next up is Volcano Manor. Getting here requires another route, so fast travel back to Altus Plateau, specifically to the location below if you have it. If not, make your way up there:
To the southwest of here, just south of the Shaded Castle, is a bridge over to Mt. Gelmir. Cross it, touch the Grace, and continue. Go until you find the Ninth Mt. Gelmir Campsite.
Right next to this Grace is one of those points where you can jump crazy high while on Torrent. At the top is a boss, but you can ignore it if you like. Look for a piece of ground sticking out to the southwest. Go to the end of it and safely drop down. If you look down, you should be able to see Volcano Manor, and you can also find the map fragment down here. After you've grabbed it, go to the Manor and open the door to enter. Once in, find the NPC sitting in front of what looks to be a bodyguard and speak to them. They hand over a key which opens all but one door on this floor. The only one you need, though, is the first one on the right. In the back corner is a fake wall, running into it reveals the secret path. Down here it is very dark, but just run forwards to find some stairs down, then forward again in the next room, then left to a better lit room called Prison Town Church. Open the door ahead after touching the Grace.
Two bosses are in this area, and I use the route shown in the video below with one difference, so if you prefer following a video, skip the first minute because you've already done that part. Full credit for that video goes to Mattie-L and it helped me out because I had no idea how to get to this boss without having to follow an entire questline.
From the Church, turn right once outside and jump onto the roof ahead. Drop down to the bottom, then head west to an area where you should see a sealed off door where you need to use a Stonesword key. In there is a new talisman that increases health, but it's not necessary if you don't want to enter there. Instead, go towards the door to the south that an enemy guards. It doesn't open, but if you go to the right of this door, there is a ladder to the roof where you can find a way of dropping in. Once inside, it gets very dark again. Head down the stairs of the building you're in to the very bottom and find the exit. There is a ladder you can take down on your right. Find the stairs to the east and go all the way to the top, then take the lift up even further. There is an enemy on some more stairs, and a door at the top you need to go through for a boss fight, but BEFORE YOU DO quickly look to the left to find a different path. Pull the lever and activate a shortcut back to the starting point. I didn't die on this one personally so I'm not sure if this is needed to get back to the boss quickly, but better safe than sorry.
Godskin Noble:
Remember this guy from the tower in Liurnia when you caught up with the Ranni questline? That one wasn't a proper boss, but this one is and beating him unlocks an achievement so this time you can't simply ignore him. This boss has a very annoying moveset but at level 80 I actually found I was over-levelled here. With my +6 Bloodhound's Fang, my staff that has S intelligence scaling with my intelligence at 40, and my +7 Mimic Tear, I completed this first try.
- Until dropping below half health, the boss has pretty simple sword attacks, rarely getting a combo going and having many moments to punish. Because of the increase in difficulty past 50% HP, you should try to take a maximum 1 or 2 hits before that point to have the flasks for when the fight gets tougher.
- Mimic Tear is crazily effective here. One of the more annoying moves in the second phase is when he starts rolling towards the target. I found that my Mimic took the aggro for this attack every time, as well as taking the damage instead of me for a number of other attacks.
- If you're at a distance in this fight, the rolling attack is pretty much the only one that can get to you, and like I said, Mimic often takes that one for you, so stay at a distance, firing off Pebbles or Rock Sling.
- Melee users should find circling around Godskin Noble just as effective as magic unless he does the rolling attack. On his own, he doesn't have a whole lot to offer in terms of difficulty at this stage.
There is also a pretty crazy cheese that appears to work still, where you freeze his AI, similar to what you did to Loretta, and get a free kill. Credit to Tyrannicon again:
And as always there are some nice rewards for winning. You get his weapon and this achievement:
- Godskin Noble
Defeated Godskin Noble
1 guide
Now we can press on to the main event. A Grace appears in the room once Noble is down, and to its right while facing east is a lift. Go up it, then out onto the balcony. Follow it around until you see that it's safe to jump over without falling to your death. Avoid/kill the flaming slugs and go up towards the item, then look left and drop down. Jump up until you reach the flaming lake, jump forward onto the only safe part and go towards the building to the west. One of the most annoying enemy types in the game is here. I would definitely recommend simply running past this one. You need to go through the window on the side to enter the building. From here, it is linear until you reach a door that needs opening. Climb the left stairs and go back outside through the left opening to find a portal to the next big boss. There's a Grace here, so if you've lost health, don't worry, you can get it all back there.
Shardbearer Rykard:
This one certainly divides opinion. Just like Radahn had the gimmick of building your army to fight him, this one also has a gimmick in the form of a weapon that is given to you right before fighting. It is called Serpent Hunter and it doesn't have any stat requirements but does scale with strength (B) and Dexterity (E), so you're in luck if you have those stats high. If you're wondering if you truly NEED to use this weapon or not, you technically don't but getting hits on him with anything else requires taking fire damage. Also, this weapon can be exploited to make this fight insanely easy. Once again, we use a method from Tyrannicon.
To put the method in text form: After you pick up the weapon, put it in two hands and proceed towards the boss. Once he wakes up, use the weapon's skill (
) and watch his arm. When it hits the floor, attack again, and he doesn't have time to retaliate before getting hit once more. You can repeat this until the first health bar is entirely gone, stopping to recover FP with flasks when needed, and you can do the entire first phase without even coming close to taking a hit, unless you got unlucky while using a flask. When the cutscene plays and he reveals himself as Rykard, the second phase starts, but this method still works in that one too. There is literally nothing different, attack, watch the arm, attack, repeat. What is crazy is that even if you mess up and break the loop, it is just as simple to get started again as it was at the start. And there you go. That is pretty much a free 130,000!!! runes, remembrance, great rune, and achievement.
- Shardbearer Rykard
Defeated Shardbearer Rykard
2 guides
Note on the remembrance - Don't sell this one. Grab Rykard's weapon with it (Blasphemous Blade). It's insane.
You're done with Mt. Gelmir now, but before ending the page, there is a bit of backtracking for another legendary you can do now that you've got Comet Azur. Fast travel to Waypoint Ruins Cellar in Limgrave. Speak to Sorceress Sellen and choose to show her Azur's sorcery. She gives you an item and tells you to find Master Lusat. To save you the trouble, he's in a cave in Caelid that is hidden behind a fake wall, and that cave is here:
Once inside, the cave might seem impossible to navigate, but the secret is that there are even more invisible walls down here. Once you learn that, it becomes linear. If there doesn't seem to be a way to progress, just hit a wall at the dead end and it disappears. Look for a magic barrier at the bottom that unlocks with the item Sellen gave you. Once inside, speak to Lusat and, similar to Azur, he hands over a spell and seemingly dies. The spell is Stars of Ruin [Legendary Sorcery 5/7]. After picking that one up, find your way back out or just die to respawn at the Grace if you don't have many runes to lose. Head out of the cave back into Caelid. You can continue the Sellen questline if it interests you, but that is as far as you need to go from an achievement perspective.
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