Ancient Ruins of Rauh - Essential Path Walkthrough - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

The Ancient Ruins of Rauh is the third main region you’ll enter in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. You can access this region through Shadow Keep (Main Gate). Unlike many of the other regions in the Shadow Realm, it contains a boss that is required to complete Shadow of the Erdtree's story. This page contains an essential path walkthrough and guide to the upper region of Ancient Ruins of Rauh, including important character questlines, powerful blessings, items, and weapons.

Learn more about the Ancient Ruins of Rauh in our guide below:

• Rauh Ruins, East
• Rauh Ruins, West
• Romina Boss Fight
• Rauh Base

Ancient Ruins of Rauh Walkthrough

Rauh Ruins is comprised of two distinct areas - the Rauh Base where you can find the Map Fragment, and is accessed by a large tunnel in Scadu Altus going under the path to the Main Gate - and the Ancient Ruins of Rauh high above, which can only be reached by exiting the Shadow Keep via a distinct path down a lift to the west when entering the Specimen Storehouse part of the keep.

Due to the difficulty of the rest of Shadow Keep and its boss, it's highly recommend you visit this region to keep increasing in power before returning to the Specimen Storehouse.

From the path from the Shadow Keep's Specimen Storehouse, you'll cross a long bridge and take a lift up to the Viaduct Minor Tower, which exits out onto the Ancient Ruins. This area has a lot of twisting and fairly limited passages, but still counts as an open world region as opposed to a Legacy Dungeon, meaning there are several roaming World Bosses to contend with, alternate paths, and you can regain flasks by defeating certain groups.

Leaving the tower, the main path cuts through overgrown ruins to the right, but if you want to make a quick detour, you can find a lift to bring up to the left, and take it down to a ruin filled with Bloodfiends.

A small passage near them leads outside to an isolated ledge where a large Hippopotamus enemy can be found. While it does not have the golden powers of the one in the Shadow Keep, it is still a very big threat - though you'll be able to summon a spirit ash if needed. Defeat it, and you'll earn a Scadutree Fragment for your efforts.

Ancient Ruins of Rauh, East

Taking the main path from the Viaduct Tower west will lead into another large ruin interior, filled with a variety of Shadow Undead.

One of them in the first main room holds a sparkling pot, and can be quickly defeated to earn a Revered Spirit Ash. However, a Curseblade Ascetic enemy is waiting among the roots nearby, and will ambush you as you progress.

Through the next passageway, you can find a large stone door to open heading deeper into the ruins. The next area is filled with large Spider Scorpions that can try to overwhelm you.

While you can dash past them on Torrent, you may want to carefully eliminate them first, and then check a large wall to the northeast. Strike the wall between two close braziers to reveal an illusory wall. It leads to a large statue bust of a woman, and at its base you can find a reusable Bondstone item, and the Antiquity Scholar's Cookbook 2.

Down past the scorpion room you can find another area with a large door, and an alternate tunnel path to the left. Going through the door leads to a Spiritspring you can jump to on a lower level, with another Spiritspring to take you back up to where the other path leads.

You should find yourself near an open balcony looking outside, with several Shadow Undead and another Curseblade Ascetic lurking about. However, be on the lookout for yet another jar-holding Shadow Undead in the passage from the Spiritspring that can be killed to gain a Scadutree Fragment.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you can keep exploring this level to the northeast from the room with the jar holder to find another passage full of Spider Scorpions, leading to a giant one guarding Spider Scorpion Ashes.

Head back to the hole in the floor with a spirit spring below, and ride Torrent toward the wall to the nothwest, where you'll find a large statue against the far wall.

There's two paths here, and taking the right one up a slope leads to a room full of Man-Flies and overgrown roots that you can climb to find a Fine Crucible Feather Talisman.

Take the opposite path left into the long lush hallway that leads back outdoors, dodging more Man-Flies as you go. You will know you are in the right place if those bug enemies are all around you. Once you are back outside, keep going east where you will see another Miquella Cross in the distance.

Blocking your path, you'll find a lone Crucible Knight perched on a rock, and it may be a good idea to give the warrior a wide berth and activate the Rauh Ancient Ruins, East Site of Grace on the other side, and grab the Scadutree Fragment by the Cross of Miquella.

If you search down to the northeast of the Site of Grace, you can also find an abandoned campsite by some falls that have the Ash of War - Dryleaf Whirlwind for the hand-to-hand weapons.

When you're ready to take on Crucible Knight Devonia, be prepared for a tough battle. Like all Crucible Knights you've faced previously, she is hard to stagger, and deals massive damage with her greathammer.

She can also use her Crucible magic to take on a centaur-like form, and leap around the arena on beast legs to smash into you with little warning. If you manage to defeat her, you'll gain Devonia's Hammer, and the Crucible Hammer-Helm.

Ancient Ruins of Rauh, West

Near the site of grace you will see a long bridge that connects to another platform to the southwest. Hop on Torrent and ride across the bridge, but look out for the Furnace Golem on the other side who will try to blast you with flames.

To avoid his ranged flaming tornado attack, stop near the end of the broken bridge and wait for him to fire, and then jump down to the lower portion of the bridge, and the projectile will pass right above you.

Once on the other side, you can continue to avoid the Golem as you make your way over to the waterfalls behind him or try your hand at taking the Furnace Golem down by attacking its legs and using Torrent to double jump over his flame stomps (which he highly recommend if you want to explore more of this area without fear of attack). Either way, you should still go left until you cross over a small ridge and find the Rauh Ancient Ruins, West site of grace on the other side.

There's also a sealed Spiritspring jump in a watery area north of the Furnace Golem's lair, but we'll find the stone cairn later on. Defeat the Golem now if you wish, and you'll earn a Furnace Visage and the Crimson-Sapping Cracked Tear.

You will notice a ruin next to the site of grace. Hop on Torrent and head inside. Go up the stairs, avoiding the Fire Spritestones being tossed at random by a few Shadow Undead.

On the second floor, there are more Shadow Undead tossing projectiles, as well as a Curseblade Ascetic lurking by the pillars. Take them out, and be sure to grab the Scadutree Fragment from the back of the room by an exit back outside.

Note that there are two alternate routes here: A path leading to a lift to the west inside the ruins, and the path leading out an an exterior. Though you'll be in for a tough battle, it's a good idea to head outside first.

Now we are back outside, and you will see two giant gazebo-like structures to the left and right (the one on the left has a Revered Spirit Ash inside). However, there are two Horned Warriors here, one of which patrols the waters, and another inside the gazebo itself. As they are pretty dangerous to tackle with, it's best to take them on one at a time (or try riding past them).

There's a lot more ruins past the gazebos here: the ones to the northeast are filled with Scarlet Rot Dogs and Bloodfiends but not much else, though you can head through the ruins directly north to find a lower level filled with Spider Scorpions, and a path to the base of a circular ruin where a Miranda Poison Plant guards Aspects of the Crucible - Bloom.

As you use a lift to get back up from the northern area, you'll find a high ledge full of Shadow Undead, one of which holds a jar that contains a Revered Spirit Ash you can add to your collection.

To the northwest of the two gazebos is another ruin interior, this one filled with scarlet rot and kindreds of rot who can deal a lot of damage with their pest threads. In the back left corner of this first room is an elevator that you want to ride up to the upper floor - the same place the lift in the previous ruin leads to.

Taking either lift in the ruins either south or north of the two outdoor gazebos will lead to a higher part of the scarlet rot filled ruins, and also another outdoor gazebo guarded by a Divine Bird Warrior, an even scarier variant of the Horned Warrior (though you can bypass him if you wish). A corpse in the waters in front of the gazebo hold the Divine Bird Feathers incantation the warrior uses.

Before re-entering the scarlet-rot infested ruin, be sure to check the ledges to the northeast past the gazebo. Here you can finally find the stone cairn that has sealed the Spiritspring far below.

Try heading back down and use it to leap up to a high plateau to the east near the circular ruins, and you'll find a set of stairs leading to a chest that holds the Mottled Necklace +2 Talisman.

Back in the scarlet rot ruins, you'll find a large staircase heading up to the Church of the Bud where the main Remembrance Boss of this area can be found. Be sure to look around behind the stairs going up to find the Pest-Thread Spears Incantation.

Go up the staircase directly ahead of the elevator, then go left to head outside and find the Church of the Bud, Main Entrance site of grace. Rest up and prepare for the boss fight ahead.

Romina, Saint of the Bud Boss Guide

Recommended Scadutree Blessing Level: 6 - 8

Note that you can also summon Dryleaf Dane to assist you in this fight. He'll use a mix of Holy ranged attacks along with his martial arts that can be helpful, but having a summon will also make the boss take longer to kill.

Romina, Saint of the Bud appears to be some sort of human centipede scorpion mix, and of course she inflicts Scarlet Rot. If you have a purifying spell like Flame Cleanse Me make sure you have it equipped before you head into battle.

Romina’s unique body allows her to attack in two ways, either striking you with her insect body or slashing at you with her spear. For the most part you will want to attack her side, where you can see her spear attacks coming and strike at the widest side of her body. To create openings, stand well out of her attack range and wait for her to approach. She has many big, but slow, attacks you can bait to find your way in.

If you are out in front of Romina make sure you are keeping an eye on the centipede head. It will usually wiggle or rear back as it is getting ready to attack with a tackle or bite attack. Romina likes to combo these attacks with her spear, so be ready to dodge multiple attacks. These can be mostly avoided by staying in her melee range (by her side) as much as possible.

She will also occasionally attack with her scorpion tail, though this attack seems to be somewhat rare. You will see the tail rear up, then come crashing down on top of you. Roll toward Romina as the tail is about to impact to avoid it and get a quick strike in.

She has two types of spear attacks, the quick neutral slashes which she usually combos together whenever you get too close to her. The other are the rot powered slashes, which come out whenever she lights her spear up pink. Of course she will also occasionally chain them together, so watch her posture and only strike when she is returning to her default stance rather than preparing another swing.

Anytime she lights up her spear get ready for a slower, wide slashing attack. She can do these up close, and from a far distance with her jumping attack. These deal more damage, but are much more punishable than the neutral slashes as long as you dodge them. The leaping slash in particular is easy to see coming, as long as you remember she executes a second slash after landing. Use the opening after the second slash to get in a couple of hits.

When she wraps her body up in her tails, she is about to unleash a three hit spinning combo. You will need to dodge the head, the tail, then the head again as she spins in a circle. Dodging away for the first two then toward her for the final strike can make the timing a little easier.

When she rolls up into a wheel-like shape she will roll toward you and around the map, before coming to a stop. As she stops she will unfurl and unleash two more attacks, a tail whip and sword slash. Try and dodge roll at the last possible second to avoid both swings in a single roll.

When she wraps her body up and lifts into the air, keep an eye out for the pink flash. Right after the flash Romina comes crashing back down. Roll into the impact just as she hits the ground to avoid it, then you can get some attacks in.

If you see her spin her spear above her head, the centipede head is about to try and grab you, which results in you getting stabbed by the tail and inflicted with rot. If you aren’t confident in your dodge timing simply run away as you see the spear spin, otherwise roll into and past the centipede head as it lunges to get some attacks in.

Around 50% health she will unleash a new attack where she envelops herself in a pink glow, releasing butterflies in the area around her that deal damage and inflict scarlet rot. She will lift into the air and then activate the butterflies, which then explode dealing more damage and rot. As soon as you see this attack start, simply run away, then stay away from the butterflies until it is over at which point the fight will return to normal.

As the battle goes on she will continue to use this attack, as well as a new super powered slash attack. After lifting into the air, Romina will charge her spear then come swooping down after you with a huge swing. She follows this immediately with a second swing, then a delay before she comes spinning toward you with the final attack of the combo. The final attack is flanked with explosive butterflies so make sure you don’t stand in the path.

Thankfully these swings are heavily telegraphed, so just dodge roll carefully as she is coming toward you to easily avoid them. She likes to immediately follow this attack with her jumping slash, so stay on your toes.

Defeating Romina gets you the Remembrance of the Saint of the Bud, as well as 380,000 runes.

Defeating Romina also gets you access to the sealing tree behind the church. If you have Messmer’s Kindling you can use it to burn the tree and gain access to the final legacy dungeon of the DLC. Just note you will be warped directly there, so only perform this action when you are fully prepared.

There's still one last thing to do in the upper ruins before exploring the ruins base far below (if you want to do some further exploration). Return to the area below the Church of the Bud where the Divine Bird Warrior stalks near a stone gazebo, and look around in the southwest corner.

Here you can spot a series of connected pillars and thin platforms that you can jump down to on Torrent, and carefully make your way around the pillars. Further south, you can find a lift to take you up, but if you keep exploring around the lift, you can find a small tunnel to a room holding the Talisman of All Crucibles!

Taking the lift up to a plateau across from the church leads to the Ancient Ruins, Grand Stairway Site of Grace. A large staircase will lead down to the northeast where a Guardian Golem is posted with its greatbow.

By taking the stair all the way to the bottom, you can jump off to a large open building where an extremely tough optional boss awaits you - another Divine Beast Dancing Lion. He's a bit tougher than the one in Belurat, and most importantly can unleash one more element: Death. This will cause him to spew Deathblight, and summon a small horde of Basilisks into the arena! Defeat him, and you'll gain the Divine Beast Tornado Incantation.

Rauh Base

An optional portion of this region lies far below the ancient ruins above, which you can reach from Scadu Altus. If you haven't found this path already, you'll need to ride north from the Moorth Ruins and through a tunnel on the north edge of a pool of water past some Perfumers. Once you reach the poison fields full of Deathbirds, head west under the Shadow Keep through a much larger tunnel to reach the Rauh Base.

If you explore the path to the north, you'll find it well guarded by Misbegotten and sporting a few Scarabs you can chase down before reaching a Taylew's Ruined Forge, which promises many smithing stones for exploring.

To the west, you'll find many Bloodfiends, some of which are fighting with Messmer's Soldiers at the entrance to a small cave. Inside that cave, a much tougher Bloodfiend is smacking the ground where you can find a Bloodfiend's Arm Weapon (if you haven't found one by chance after defeating other Bloodfiends).

Heading south through more of Messmer's Soldiers, be sure to look for a small camp tent that holds a chest, and inside you'll find the Pearl Shield Talisman.

At the southern edge of the Rauh Base area you'll find the Temple Town Ruins, as well as a sealed Spiritspring at the base of a large plateau to the southeast. You can find the stone cairn sealing it up a ledge going south alone the base, and then jump to the plateau to find the Northern Nameless Mausoleum where the optional boss, Red Bear, awaits you.

South of the Temple Town Ruins, you can explore around the outskirts to find a waterfall and stone coffins leading down to the Ellac River in Gravesite Plain, but also a headless corpse altar holding a Revered Spirit Ash.

Inside the Temple Town Ruins themselves (accessed from a small hole in the southern wall), you can find a Scadutree Fragment on a corpse on a high rooftop, and then take the path to the town's main temple to find a chest holding a Two-Handed Sword Talisman.

At the foot of the temple, turn your attention to the walls of the north plateau to spot another temple built into the cliffs. As it happens, there's another Spiritspring to the north that will let you jump to a ruin near the one of the bridge's large pillars. You can then jump to a path through the cliff face to reach the temple, and find a chest with the Divine Bird Warrior Ornis Ashes.

The northern ravine path will lead through a land infested by Scarlet Rot and teeming with Kindred of Rot, and eventually a Site of Grace past a Horned Warrior patrolling the river. Be sure to also explore the western part of the ravine above the river where an area is guarded by Gravebirds, as you can find a tomb holding Gravebird's Blackquill Armor.

The final area north of the ravine is a dangerous one, as it's teeming with Runebears in the wooded area to the north, and flying Spider Scorpions along the river to the west.

Search quietly and carefully in the center of the woods to find several dozing Runebears around a pile of rocks that hold the Gloried Set of armor (and then beat a hasty retreat), but look out for a wandering boss bear to the east, Rugalea the Great Red Bear!

Finally, the end of the river in the southeast leads to the Scorpion River Catacombs. Despite its namesake, it holds horrors much worse than the Spider Scorpions outside.

Once you've had your fill of exploring this optional area, there's another big optional area to finish exploring, and a major questline to start - located in the eastern half of Scadu Altus.