Catacombs in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree are always a bit tricky dungeons to explore, with each one featuring a unique gimmick. Some of these catacombs are carefully hidden and can be easily missed if you don’t know where to look for them.
Scorpion River Catacombs is an optional dungeon that can be accessed right after you clear Castle Ensis and gain access to the Scadu Atlas Region. The dungeon is a bit of a hassle to explore as you keep getting inflicted by Death Blight, but there’s plenty of loot here that might be worth picking up, especially if you’re using a Faith build.
How To Reach The Scorpion River Catacombs
The Scorpion River Catacombs is located at the end of the river that flows across the Scadu Atlas Region. If you haven’t unlocked the Rauh Ruins base area yet, you’ll have to start from the Moorth Ruins Site of Grace in Scadu Atlas.
From there, head north into a lake with glow-worms. You’ll find a cave with Marika’s statue in front of its entrance. Head further in, and you’ll find two perfumers around a golden tree. Here, you can grab the Heal From Afar Incantation, and you’ll also find the exit to the cave leading into a poison swamp.
Dash across the poison swamp until you reach the Ancient Ruin Base Site of Grace. Head southwest from there, and you’ll come across two giants, dash past them, and continue in that direction till you reach the Temple Town Ruins inside the river.
You can also grab the map of the area right before the Temple Town Ruins, which will make the rest of the journey a lot easier.
Now, continue moving alongside the riverbank, but be wary of the Pests and other strong enemies. Once you’ve gone further ahead alongside the river, you’ll encounter flying mosquitoes and a few spider scorpions. Head straight through the river, and you’ll find the entrance to the Scorpion River Catacombs.
Scorpion River Catacombs: First Layer Walkthrough
Once you’ve rested at the catacombs’ Site of Grace, head straight into the room ahead. Here, you’ll encounter your first enemy, a bigmouth Imp who will drop down the wall as you step into the room. Kill it and proceed to the left.
After heading downstairs, you’ll come across a large room with a bridge leading to the front. There will be an Imp wielding a greatsword right in front of the bridge. Kill it but don’t proceed to the bridge yet. There will be a room on the left; head inside but be wary of another imp in the room. Once you’ve killed it, grab the Rejuvenating Boluses from the corpse.
Be sure to craft and equip Rejuvenating Boluses into one of your quick item slots, as you’ll need a lot of those in this dungeon.
As you start walking on the bridge, you’ll notice a Basilisk statue right above the gateway to the room ahead. Two black eyes will pop up from the statue and will slowly inflict Deathblight on anything in its sight. Upon moving further, you’ll also encounter an imp on the bridge.
You can use the Mimic’s Veil item to transform into a random object, which nullifies the trap’s effect unless you get too to it.
Dash across the bridge and then head downstairs, but be wary of the Imp hidden towards your right as you get there. Head to the room on your left. There’s another imp waiting to ambush you on your left. Move downstairs, kill one more imp, and you’ll find a Grave Glovewort [3] on a corpse to the right side of the room.
Proceed further into the dungeon, and you’ll come across a larger room. There’s a Bigmouth imp waiting to shoot explosives hiding behind an opening to the room’s left; kill it, and you’ll be able to loot a Redflesh Mushroom from a corpse in the room.
Head further downstairs, and you’ll come across a narrow pathway to your front and stairs leading down to your right. The narrow pathway leads you into a room with two imps, kill them, and loot the Ghost Glovewort [5] before getting out of the room to go downstairs.
Here, be wary of the spike trap as you head into the room downstairs. Wait a bit and let the spike trap fall; once it starts going back up, dash and hide behind an opening towards your right. Do that again, and this time dash straight forward, and you’ll reach a larger hall with three Messmer's soldiers.
Be wary of another spike trap above. There’s a ladder in the opening to your right where you can avoid the spike trap. But, if you want to get your hands on the Black Knight Captain Huw Spirit Ash, you’ll have to get back into the large hall and fight the three Messmer's soldiers.
Once you’ve taken out the three Messmer's soldiers, you can loot the Black Knight Captain Huw Spirit Ash from the altar. Get back to the ladder to proceed further into the dungeon. Here, you’ll see a bridge, as well as a Basilisk statue with the Deathblight trap right ahead of you.
You can jump over the spike trap from here to get the Imp Head (Lion) equipment and the Knight’s Lightning Spear Incantation. But, to progress through the dungeon, you’ll have to head over the bridge and take the elevator to reach the second layer.
Scorpion River Catacombs: Second Layer Walkthrough
As soon as you get here, you’ll see a pair of Death-blighting eyes moving back and forth through the corridor. If you come in front of the eyes, it will cause Deathblight buildup. Wait for the eyes to reach the left, and once they start moving to the right, follow them to get downstairs. There’s a safe space in the corridor that can be used to avoid the eyes.
Downstairs, you’ll find an imp, kill it, and then jump over the rubble. Towards the end of the corridor, you’ll find a pathway to the left. You’ll enter a huge hallway. Two imps are waiting for you there, and one larger Bigmouth imp is waiting further down the hallway, guarding a Grave Glovewort [4] that’s right in front of it.
After defeating the large Bigmouth imp, proceed further, and you’ll reach a large room with several imps and a spell caster on the floor above. If you have ranged attacks available, quickly take down the caster after luring out and killing the 2 imps, one by one. There’s a Ghost Glovewort item by a coffin at the end of the room.
From there, look to your right, and you’ll find a ladder leading down. Go down, and you’ll find a Great Ghost Glovewort. Turn backward, and you’ll see three Basilisks. You can choose to kill them or go back up on the ladder and proceed further into the dungeon.
Here, you’ll find stairs leading up to a corridor with those Deathblighting eyes moving back and forth. Let the pair of eyes move in your direction first and then chase behind them. When you’re walking on the bridge, you’ll see a place where you can drop down. Jump from the bridge and then move towards the ladder after killing the imp.
Once you’ve gone up the ladder, you’ll reach a room with a treasure chest guarded by a bigmouth imp. Be wary of another imp hiding inside a narrow pathway to your right. The treasure chest contains the Ancient Dragon Knight’s Cookbook [2].
If you head down the narrow pathway, you will reach the Deathblight sorcerer who was giving you some trouble a little while ago alongside another imp. Kill the two and move towards the left of the room to return to the main corridor with the Deathblight eyes. This time, instead of jumping off the bridge, head straight behind the eyes to the end of the corridor, where you’ll find a lift to your right leading to the boss arena.
How To Beat The Death Knight Boss
Compared to many other bosses in the Elden Ring DLC, the Death Knight is fairly easy to deal with. Just watch out for that one self-healing grab attack, which is something it’ll only use once throughout the battle.
Defeating the Death Knight rewards the player with a Death Knight’s Longhaft Axe, a Greataxe weapon that scales of Dexterity, Strength, and Faith to deal Physical and Lightning damage, alongside a Cerulean Amber Medallion +3 Talisman, which increases your FP.
