In Elden Ring, the Lake of Rot is one of the trickiest places to navigate. The waters here will inflict deadly Scarlet Rot within a matter of seconds, and you’re unable to summon a horse to traverse safely. Our Lake of Rot map guide will highlight the key items scattered throughout this region. We’ll introduce the gear you need to bring, and show how to cross the Lake of Rot safely. Or as safe as a bubbling pool of rot allows for, anyway.
Elden Ring: Lake of Rot map guide
© FromSoftware
The first thing to note with the Lake of Rot in Elden Ring is that you are going to be afflicted with Scarlet Rot. There’s little avoiding this fact, so prepare in advance. We highly recommend equipping armor and items which boost immunity, or apply Incantations like Flame Cleanse Me. That can be obtained from the Fire Monk camp south of the Church of Vows in Liurnia.
On top of that, you’ll want to bring a large supply of Preserving Boluses which cure Scarlet Rot. If you can’t craft them, you’ll need to collect the Armorer’s Cookbook [6] from Siofra River. It’s on the cliff close to the Siofra River Bank Site of Grace.
Our Elden Ring Lake of Rot map above highlights the key locations across this painful-to-traverse area. The white dots are the platform pillars which will raise pathways across the lake (see below).
There are several Somber Smithing Stones ranging from (6) to (9) around the lake edges and center, as marked by the blue dots. The southern one is held by a scarab at the lake edge. In addition, a number of Golden Runes can be collected around the Dragonkin boss, though we don’t recommend fighting him until you’ve raised all the platforms in the lake. There are several other key items to collect:
- The Immunizing Horn Charm +1 massively boosts immunity. It can be gained by killing the lone Ancestral Follower wandering the lake here.
- The Mushroom Crown helmet has high immunity and boosts attack damage when anyone nearby is afflicted by poison or rot. Grab it from the corpse on the pillar in the middle of a ruin. Climb around the outside to jump over to it. Beware the basilisks within.
- The Nomadic Warrior’s Cookbook (22) allows crafting of Rot Pot, Rot Grease, and Drawstring Rot Grease. Grab it from the chest in the southwest corner.
- The Alabaster Lord’s Sword can be collected by beating the Alabaster Lord which spawns on top of the ruins raised up here.
How to cross the Lake of Rot
© FromSoftware
To cross the Lake of Rot in Elden Ring, you’ll need to raise several land chunks by standing on pressure plates. These are spotted as pillars poking out on platforms from the lake surface. The first should be visible southwest from the Lake of Rot Shoreside Site of Grace. We’ve highlighted each of them on the map below.
© FromSoftware
The first three pillars will raise small chunks of stone pathway for you to walk on. Watch out for basilisks leaping from the lake around you as you progress. The fourth pressure plate will raise you up with it on a large platform. There’s an Alabaster Lord you can fight up here in order to claim the Alabaster Lord’s Sword. You’ll need to climb down again to reach the ruins on the southern border.
The main platforms raised will forge a path from the Lake of Rot Shoreside Site of Grace down to the Grand Cloister, and we highly recommend activating that Site of Grace before exploring the Lake of Rot fully.
© FromSoftware
The final and fifth pressure plate is over on the east side of the map. Activating this one will raise a ring of platforms around the central Dragonkin boss. Make sure to stop at this one before starting the fight.
That’s everything we can teach you about the Lake of Rot in Elden Ring. It’s a painful place to explore but, so long as you come prepared, you should be able to scoop up all the key items and take down the key enemies. Once you're through, you can make your way down to the Astel, Naturalborn of the Void boss fight and leave the Scarlet Rot ridden swamp behind for good.
