Elden Ring walkthrough: where to go, in order

The most common Elden Ring question isn't 'how do I beat this boss' — it's 'where am I supposed to go?' The Lands Between hands you a huge map and almost no direction. This is a spoiler-light progression roadmap: the order the main path expects, and the level and weapon-upgrade band that makes each region fair. It names regions and the major legacy-dungeon bosses (unavoidable to explain the route) but skips story beats. Elden Ring rewards detours, so treat this as the spine you can wander off and come back to.

1. Limgrave — the starting region (target: level 15–30)

Start by exploring Limgrave freely: grab the Whetstone Knife from the Gatefront Ruins so you can add weapon skills and affinities, find your first Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears to upgrade your flasks, and pick up Torrent (your mount) automatically after your first Site of Grace visits. Two early priorities matter more than any single item: level up your flasks, and get your main weapon to a comfortable upgrade level at Smithing Stones.

The gateway boss is Margit, the Fell Omen, at the entrance to Stormveil Castle. If Margit walls you, that's the game telling you to explore more first — go find levels, a summon (the Spirit Ashes bell comes early), and upgrade materials, then return.

2. Stormveil Castle — first legacy dungeon (target: level 25–40)

Stormveil is the first big 'legacy dungeon': a dense, hand-built area ending at Godrick the Grafted. There's a sneaky side entrance that skips some of the front-gate gauntlet. Clearing Stormveil grants your first great rune and opens the way north.

3. Liurnia of the Lakes (target: level 40–55)

North of Stormveil the map opens into Liurnia, a rainy lake region. The critical-path objective here is the Academy of Raya Lucaria, ending at Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Liurnia is also full of optional value — it's a good time to chase questlines, more flask upgrades, and a second weapon so you have options against different bosses.

4. (Optional) Caelid — high risk, high reward

Caelid, the red rot region to the east, is reachable very early but is tuned much higher. Visiting under-levelled is a classic mistake; go for specific rewards or a questline, not as your main path, until you're comfortably past Liurnia.

5. Altus Plateau → Leyndell (target: level 55–80)

Reach the Altus Plateau either with the two halves of the Dectus Medallion (using the Grand Lift of Dectus) or by climbing the Ruin-Strewn Precipice as an alternative route. Altus leads to the capital, Leyndell, the game's largest legacy dungeon, which ends at Morgott, the Omen King. Beating Morgott is the point where the map's remaining direction opens up.

6. Mountaintops of the Giants → Crumbling Farum Azula (target: level 80–110)

After Leyndell the path goes cold and snowy through the Mountaintops of the Giants to the Fire Giant, then to the dramatic endgame area Crumbling Farum Azula and its boss, Maliketh, the Black Blade. This is the difficulty spike; a fully upgraded weapon and maxed flasks matter here far more than raw level.

7. Return to Leyndell for the finale (target: level 110+)

Beating Maliketh changes Leyndell, and returning there sets up the final stretch: a gauntlet of late bosses leading to Radagon of the Golden Order and the Elden Beast. Before the point of no return, make sure you've finished any NPC questlines you care about — several affect the endings, and the game doesn't warn you when you're about to lock them out.

Getting into Shadow of the Erdtree (the DLC)

The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion is not on the main path. To enter it you must defeat Starscourge Radahn (in Caelid) and Mohg, Lord of Blood (a hidden area reached from the Mountaintops), then interact with the withered arm in Mohg's arena. Do this once you're strong — the DLC uses its own separate 'Scadutree Blessing' upgrade system, so your normal level matters less than collecting those DLC-only upgrades.