Here's how to find this important exit to both the Scadutree Chalice and Hinterland regions.
Guide by Katharine Castle Managing Editor
Published on
The Back Gate of Shadow Keep is a tricky location to find in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, but locating this important exit is vital for tracking down every last Scadutree Fragment, and unlocking one of the Shadow Realm's most secret areas: The Hinterland.
In this guide, we'll show you the exact route you need to take from within the Shadow Keep in order to get to the Shadow Keep's Back Gate, and what you need to do once you get there - as you'll need to do something quite unusual to find the entrance to the Hinterland. So read on below to find out exactly where the Shadow Keep's Back Gate is and how to find it.
How to get to the Shadow Keep Back Gate
The quickest way to find the Shadow Keep's Back Gate is to start from the Site of Grace 'Storehouse, Back Section', which can only be accessed by coming in through the east side of the Shadow Keep via the Church District. You'll need to use this entrance to beat Messmer, the Impaler, too, as he, too, can only be accessed via this route into the Storehouse.
From this Site of Grace, head west and use the ladder on your right to access the upper levels of the Shadow Keep.
Once you're at the top, head right up the stairs. You can fight the Fire Knight here if you wish, but you can also sneak out unseen if you prefer.
At the top of the stairs, another Fire Knight is patrolling the floor, so once again, you may want to hang back and creep around behind him if you want to avoid a fight. Sneak round the two bookshelves in front of you, but do not go into the next section of the floor. Instead, double back round and you'll see a hole in the wall.
Hop through this makeshift window and continue up the rickety wooden stairs up the outer side of the tower. Grab the 6x Shadow Sunflowers and 1x Blessed Bone Shard off the two corpses as you go.
At the top of the scaffold, you'll re-enter the Storehouse and have the opportunity to activate the Site of Grace 'Storehouse, Loft'. Do this immediately, and step into the small lift in front of you.
You'll now be in the Storehouse rafters, and it's a long, long way down if you fall off (the kind that results in instant death most of the time), so you'll need to watch your step as you make your way around this level of the Storehouse.
Start by heading left, and following the beams round the corner. Unhelpfully, there are both enemy bats and bat-like gargoyle statues up here, but it's fairly easy to tell them apart if you take things slowly. Just make sure you don't fall off when the bats come down to attack you.
Before you use the ladder to go up to the next set of rafters, be sure to collect the 7x Thin Beast Bones round the corner. Now, ascend the ladder. Turn left and follow the beams round (right is an unfortunate dead-end), and collect the 4x Smithing Stone (7) from the corpse in the middle of the beams.
Carry on round, and after you fight the next bat, stop when you get to the large cog below you. There's one of Shadow of the Erdtree's new spells here: 'Wrath From Afar', which you'll need to drop down and collect. Do so gently, as you don't want to drop too far or too fast.
To proceed, you'll need a bit of a running start for this next section, as you'll need to jump to the wooden platform jutting out to the north. Hold onto your stomach as you make this vital jump.
Next, climb the ladder back up to the level you were on before you dropped down to claim the spell. You'll need to be careful in this next section, as there's a Fire Knight here who can easily knock you back to your death with a powerful wind spell. You'll see them directly in front of you as you get to the top of the ladder.
If you want to stay and fight it, do so in this corner of the room, as there's a platform below you to catch you directly to your right. The spell has a very long range, so you won't be safe even from where you are by the ladder.
If you do get knocked back down to the lower platform, drop down to the lift below you to get back up to the right level again (though not before exploring the level where the lift is, as you'll find a corpse (and another dagger-based Fire Knight, what joy) here with 1x Rune of an Unsung Hero to loot. This can be consumed for 50,000 Runes, but whatever you do, don't use it just yet, as you wouldn't want to die and potentially lose all those valuable runes.
The lift will bring you back up right by the Fire Knight sorcerer, and if you're clever, you can probably attack it long-range from the lift with relative safety. However, if you'd rather not deal with the Fire Knight at all when you reach the top of that ladder facing it, simply run (walk) for your life (slowly) to the left (in a north-westerly direction) as soon as you reach the top of the ladder.
Descend the ladder to your left, and claim the 4x Rada Fruit from the corpse at the bottom. Then turn right (in a north-east direction) and descend the second ladder down to the platform with the opening back to the outside.
Once you're outside again, use the (very tiny) lift to your right. It will take you down to a lower wooden platform, which has another (much larger) lift on it that will take you all the way down to the bottom level of the Shadow Keep.
Once you're at the bottom, activate the Site of Grace 'Shadow Keep, Back Gate'
Congratulations! You made to the Shadow Keep's Back Gate. Now, you have two options available to you:
- Continue straight to face Commander Gaius, who is a Remembrance Boss and stands in the way of five (yes, five) Scadutree Fragments up by the Scaduview Chalice.
- Head right into the room with a large statue to start your journey to The Hinterland.
Before you do anything, you should visit the room with the statue anyway, as there's another Scadutree Fragment to claim here.
How to get to The Hinterland from the Shadow Keep Back Gate
On the ground, you'll also see a white tablet message that reads: "Have mercy. For the spirited-away shamans". It's not immediately obvious what this message means, and you might also be thinking: this is a dead-end, how do I get to The Hinterland from here?
Well, what you need to do is perform the O Mother gesture in front of the statue.
After a second or two, the statue will begin to move across to the right automatically, revealing a new doorway out of the Shadow Keep. This leads to Scaduview's Hinterland, and is an important region for progressing Ymir's questline and finding the location of the Ruins Map he gave you back at the Cathedral of Manus Metyr.
That's it for getting to the Shadow Keep's Back Gate. We'll have more guidance on how to find the Ruins Map secret shortly.
Need more help? Improve your stats by finding all of Shadow of the Erdtree's Scadutree Fragment locations and Revered Spirit Ash locations. Alternatively, see which Erdtree bosses you've still got left to beat, and track down some great new early weapons to help you on your adventure.
