Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree - Lamenter's Gaol Dungeon Guide (2024)

The gaols of Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC are certainly unlike any other dungeon you've encountered in the base game. Consistently long and full of difficult enemies, the winding halls of these gaols are meant to confound and challenge; Lamenter's Gaol is no different in this regard.

However, what sets this gaol apart from the others is its looping maze-like structure and odd final boss. If you think you're ready to take on this gaol, think again. There was nothing that could have prepared us writers for the plot twist at the end of this dungeon. Thankfully, you have a guide.

How To Find The Lamenter's Gaol

Lamenter's Gaol is accessible in Charo's Grave, though you can spy it on the Gravesite Plains section of the map. To reach it, you'll have to pass through the Death Rite Bird's lake to the furthest section north in the cliff-face. The entrance is surrounded by iron cages.

The dungeon's average clear time appears to be 20–25 minutes, making it one of the longer non-legacy dungeons of the game.

How To Find The Upper Lamenter's Gaol Key

As you enter the gaol and descend into its labyrinthian tunnels, you will first come upon a Y-shaped intersection. Your decision doesn't matter here because you don't have the key for the door on the right yet, so take the left. It's time to find a key in a dungeon. While the key is an easy find, let's take a small detour for an extremely important object.

Ignore the first door on the right. It has nothing important and only a trap, so flip your Elden Ring to the shade inside as you run past to the land bridge below.

At the bottom, there's a few shades and a jar innard. Defeat them all and take the Prattling Pate "Lamentation" at the dead end.

Now, you can return to the top of the land bridge with the ability to sound like what we'll all be feeling by the end of this gaol. At the top of the bridge, take your first left into a side room. Beware of the shades hiding in wait behind the rocks on the left before taking the beautiful Gaol Upper Level Key.

How To Find The Clarifying Horn Charm +2

Returning to the locked door at the Y from earlier, unlock the door with your sparkling new key. You can descend the ladder here (or fall, like the clutz we were). At the bottom, pause and put on your ear muffs. You'll need them.

Inside the Ice Room, the Jar Innards have picked up a new trick: screaming. Very powerful screaming. The closer you are, the more damage you'll take. Some of these enemies will be able to one-shot a character with 60 or higher Vigor.

• The first dangerous Jar Innard will walk out from the door on the right. Let him scream a little and then silence him.
• The second is inside a conspicuous-looking jar dead ahead.
• A third is hiding inside a tipped-over jar around the corner on the left (west) side of the room and behind the stalagnate.

There are several doors in this room, but for now, the only one we care about is the one on the west side. Open the cell door and descend the ladder ahead. Down here, you'll want to turn on your lantern and watch for rats. There are several of the small and large varieties.

There will eventually be a path split between south and north. South isn't worth the trip for a silly Innard Meat , but north is a different story. Therefore, take the north path. In the final room (where another of the large rats will try to ambush you) is the Clarifying Horn Charm +2.

How To Find The Lower Lamenter's Gaol Key

Returning to the Ice Room, we'll do a little prep-work for the rest of the run. On the north side of the room, there is a door into a new room. Do not enter.

Instead, attempt either:

1. Using a ranged attack on the jar across the room.
2. Baiting the Jar Innard inside the jar by stepping inside and running out.

When the Jar Innards in the north room are defeated, leave the north room alone and instead go up the nearby stairs to the east exit.

On the east path, you'll run into a trap where the floor will fall out beneath you. Let it happen and descend into the room of shades. Up the stairs ahead, you'd have another choice if you weren't following a guide. Go stay on the stairs and continue up (we'll come back here later; remember this spot).

Climbing the stairs, beware the shade enemy hiding on the right before making a right yourself. Jump over the chasm to the far side and roll down the hill to the Pit of Friendship.

Every jar in this room wants to hug you, so respond in kind with some friendly pats on the back of your own.

Here, you can loot:

• The Lower Gaol Key in the chest, guarded by a large jar
• The Hefty Cracked Pot at the top of the junk pile

Pick up the key, and venture all the way back across the chasm and into the room of stairs (though you can choose to take the item detour in the subsection below first). Now, you can venture to the top of the stairs and drop into the Ice Room's north point where we had warned you about the Jar Innard earlier.

Opening the locked door in this room, you'll gain access to the ladder that leads down to where the boss, Lamenter, is imprisoned.

Wrapping Up The Lamenter Gaol: How To Find The Lamenting Visage

In the Stairs Room from earlier, recall the door you didn't take near the bottom. Return to that door and find a long hallway with a door to the left at the end. The room here on the left has a Call of Tibia within, but that's not what we're here for.

For once, actually, blessedly, the "HIdden Path Ahead" messages were right. In the corridor, outside of the room with the Call of Tibia, face the dead end and roll through it to find a path obscured by a fake wall. A locked cell door can now be accessed.

Using the Lower Gaol Key we just borrowed from the friendly jars, you'll gain access to a room with the Shadow Realm Rune [4] and the Lamenting Visage . There's not much else to safely do here, so you can return to the central room, go north, and challenge Lamenter. Good luck.

How To Defeat Lamenter

Lamenter is not your normal boss fight. This is a gimmick fight. We know. You love your gimmick fights. Don't worry; Miyazaki has both delivered unto you a gimmick fight with a heaping side of headache.

Lamenter's gimmick is that he summons clones of himself that attack independently. If any of these clones are still alive within a certain time frame, you gain what we will call 1 Lament per remaining clone. These Laments are indicated by a tiny floating skull around your head. It does not appear that you can remove these.

If you build up a full ring of Laments, your character will become so depressed that they will fall into the fetal position, cry, and die (which is how most of us will feel at one point or another in this DLC).

Therefore, the trick here is to get rid of the clones. But your time is short. There are two ways to defeat the clones:

1. Kill them.

2. Deal enough damage to the real Lamenter.

Both are tricky in their own ways as the real Lamenter does not visibly appear to have any giveaway.

To deal with this boss, we preferred to use area attacks. The most effective was, unsurprisingly, the Wave of Gold Skill skill on the Sacred Relic Sword . However, there are numerous other options such as (but not limited to):

Likely, you'll have to run through Lamenter's summons multiple times before you can put the crybaby to sleep for good. With his defeat, you'llget Lamenter's Mask as a reward and, most importantly, the exit door. Once you've left and returned to a site of Grace, put down your controller and get a snack. Go on. You've earned it.