Elden Ring: Black Knife Catacombs Walkthrough

Elden Ring’s Black Knife Catacombs can be found in the northeast of Liurnia of the Lakes. This dungeon contains several necromancers, resurrecting skeletons, and a surprising two boss battles. It is also a major location for several questlines, intersecting between Rogier’s, Fia’s, and D’s.

As you explore the catacombs, you’ll also be able to acquire some useful equipment: the Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger and the Twinsage Sorcerer Ashes. One of the game’s nine Deathroot items can be located here, as well.

Updated by Mehrdad Khayyat on June 13, 2024: Added two videos to help with finding the Black Knife Catacombs as well as the hidden boss room.

How To Reach Black Knife Catacombs

Starting from either the Church of Vows or the Eastern Tableland site of grace, you’ll want to head straight north. While riding northward, you’ll eventually come to a sort of side path to the right. There is no demarcated road to follow down this path, so you’ll want to check your map—you’ll see the path clearly on the map, even though in-game you’ll be riding through ruins and Ancestral Followers. Once on this path, it will eventually narrow into a ravine running north. At the end of the ravine, you’ll encounter a headless spirit knight standing before the entrance to Black Knife Catacombs.

Run past this enemy, enter Black Knife Catacombs, and tag the site of grace there. This enemy can be unexpectedly tough, and it’s a long ride back should you die. Once you’ve tagged the Black Knife Catacombs site of grace, feel free to head back up to the entrance and battle with the headless warrior

Descending Into The Catacombs

When you head deeper into the catacomb, you’ll encounter a single skeleton enemy. When defeated, it will begin to glow with eerie magic. It will rise again unless you strike it while it’s glowing. Be prepared for many enemies like this throughout the dungeon.

Further down, you’ll spot the boss door. After rounding the corner, you’ll encounter one Grave Glovewort followed by a Grave Violet. Beyond, you’ll encounter two more resurrecting skeletons. You’ll find with these, however, that even striking them as they glow will not keep them down. If you head straight down the passage, you’ll find a necromancer wielding a poletorch with the black and white flame at the end. Slaying this necromancer will kill any skeletons under his control. You’ll encounter a few of these in the dungeon, so when you encounter reviving skeletons, you know you’ll need to hunt down a nearby necromancer.

Just to the left of where you battled these two skeletons, you’ll find a room sealed with a Stonesword Key pedestal. If you have a key to spare, you can enter. You’ll encounter two skeleton enemies waiting in the room. On the corpse in the back of the room, you can loot Rosus’ Axe, a cool-looking weapon that scales off of Strength, Dexterity, and Intellect.

Head back to the end of the hall. You’ll hear/see some guillotine traps off to the right, but make sure to grab the single Grave Glovewort [2] to the left.

In the next room with the three massive guillotine traps, you’ll spot a ledge up to the left, two skeleton archers across the room, and a passage at the far end of the room. These two skeleton enemies have a nearby necromancer, so you don’t want to spend much time battling them. You’ll want to run straight through the room into the passage at the far end. Go ahead and loot the item—one Spellproof Dried Liver—as you run. Down the stairs, there will be an aggressive skeleton warrior waiting around the right corner. He has no necromancer, so you’ll be able to slay him after the normal kill/tap combo.

In the room, you’ll find a Grave Glovewort [3] and a short ladder leading down into a water-filled room. Small crabs will be digging in the muck. They will not be hostile to you until you attack them. You can find two Grave Glovewort [2] in the room and one Grave Violet. Straight ahead, through a metal cell wall, you’ll spot the boss door lever, but you won’t be able to reach it yet. You’ll get there later. For now, turn right into the rest of the watery room. You’ll spot an item across the way. You’ll find one Grave Glovewort [3] in the next room before reaching the body.

Right before you reach the body to loot it, a Giant Crab will emerge from the middle of the room. Another Giant Crab will emerge from the center of the previous room. You’ll want to take them on one at a time, so contend with the Giant Crab in this room, defeat it, and loot the Rune Arc from the body. After that, you can go battle the Giant Crab in the previous room.

At this point, it’s clear this is a dead end. Head back to the room with the three guillotine traps. The way forward is to stand on top of the middle guillotine after it drops to the ground—once it begins rising again, it will carry you up to that ledge in the middle of the room. Be wary; the skeletons on the ground will be shooting arrows at you, and a skeleton will appear on the ledge and throw explosives at you.

Once you reach the top, you’ll find the necromancer waiting up there. Slay him, and the two skeleton archers below and the one skeleton on the ledge with you will all die. While you’re here, grab the Grave Glovewort [4] on the ledge beside you.

In the next passage filled with Burial Watchdog statues, you’ll encounter two more skeleton archers, who will immediately begin shooting at you. Run past them and around the corner. You’ll encounter another sword-wielding skeleton—and their necromancer. Slay the necromancer, and the three skeletons will collapse, defeated.

The next room is a little tricky. Two skeletons will rise on the left and right sides of the room. They have no necromancer, but they will need to be hit again while they’re down, or else they’ll rise again. On the right side of the room, you’ll spot a small alcove with one Grave Glovewort [3] in front of it. The alcove itself will drop you down to another room, but don’t do that yet—the wall at the far end of the room is an illusory wall. Strike it, and you will see the familiar golden fog of a boss encounter. This is the first of the dungeon’s two bosses.

You’ll find one Grave Glovewort [4] before the boss fog.

First Boss: Black Knife Assassin

This boss can be very difficult. The Black Knife Assassin moves very quickly, has several quick and delayed moves it strings together, and it has a devastating grab attack. On top of all of that, the room in which you fight is a small chapel of sorts, leaving you very little room to maneuver. Because of how quickly the boss moves and attacks, it can be difficult to find a good opening during which to heal. After the Black Knife Assassin leaps toward you with its grab attack, assuming you avoided it, you should have a few moments to heal without the boss attacking you right away. Otherwise, it’s more or less a coin flip whether or not the boss leaps in to attack or if you drink from the flask without also taking damage.

If you’ve progressed D’s questline enough, he can appear as a gold summons just outside the boss room, but it requires some specific quest steps. If you find you’re really struggling against this boss, it might be worth going back and completing D’s questline enough to get his summons. You can also summon another player to assist with this boss fight, but only if you haven’t defeated the other dungeon boss already. Once the main dungeon boss is defeated, you won’t be able to summon another player to assist with the Black Knife Assassin.

Upon defeat, the Black Knife Assassin will drop 3,150 Runes, the Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger Talisman, and the Black Knifeprint—a quest item part of Fia and Rogier’s questlines.

Boss Door Lever

In the boss room, you’ll have the option to teleport back to the entrance, but don’t take it; you still need to unlock the second boss’ door in the dungeon.

Head out of the Black Knife Assassin’s boss room and back to that small alcove—now on the left side of the next room. Drop down the hole, and you’ll find yourself down in the watery muck where you fought those Giant Crabs—but now you’re on the other side of that metal cell wall. Two skeletons will rise—one in the corner of the room, one by the exit—so dispatch them first.

Loot the Ghost Glovewort [3], then pull the boss door switch at the back of the room, which will open the dungeon boss door. Now, you can pull the other lever which will open the metal cell door. Head back through the dungeon to rest at the site of grace, then head back down the stairs to the final boss.

Second Boss: Cemetery Shade

This boss doesn’t have a ton of health, but don’t let that fool you; this fight can put up quite the challenge for the unprepared. The Cemetery Shade will teleport around the room in a puff of black mist, striking out with its two blades when it draws near. The boss is also accompanied by three resurrecting skeletons. Taking out the skeletons helps simplify the fight quite a bit, but needing to strike them again on the ground proves to be a challenge. One of the Cemetery Shade’s signature moves is shooting out a green projectile toward you. If it lands, you will be stunned, and the Cemetery Shade will grab you with its insect-like head and feed on you. The Cemetery Shade tends to fire this green paralyzing attack right when you are about to land the killing blow on one of the skeletons.

As long as you’re wary enough to avoid the green paralyzing attack, dispatching the skeleton enemies will greatly simplify the battle. The Cemetery Shade can still dish out some vicious attacks, but as long as you’re alert to the boss’ stun move, you should be able to dispatch him in no time.

Upon defeat, you will receive 3,500 Runes and the Twinsage Sorcerer Ashes. Before you leave, make sure to loot the Deathroot from the chest at the back of the room.