Darklight Catacombs walkthrough - Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree

Here’s how to clear the Darklight Catacombs in Shadow Of the Erdtree

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Looking for a full rundown of the Darklight Catacombs in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree? The Darklight Catacombs is a mini-dungeon in Elden Ring ’s DLC Shadow Of The Erdtree that’s bathed in darkness and packed with imps who’ll stab you from the shadows. This is a pivotal dungeon to surmount in order to progress further into the Land of Shadow, and those who reach the end will find themselves with a nice spear as a reward, as well as a clear pathway to the Abyssal Woods.

Prepare your torches or light-creating magic. In this guide, we’ll explain exactly what you need to do to clear the Darklight Catacombs in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree.

Darklight Catacombs walkthrough

The Darklight Catacombs separate the wider Scadu Altus region and the Abyssal Woods, and finding the catacombs’ entrance is a tricky adventure in its own right. Check out our guide on getting to the Abyssal Woods for information on the secret passageway in the Shadow Keep that leads to the Darklight Catacombs.

Prepare yourself for many wanderings in the dark. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

When you’ve made it to the Darklight Catacombs Site of Grace, be sure to get out some form of illumination, like a torch or the Starlight sorcery. As you might expect from its name, the catacombs are dark as heck, and while it’s possible to get through without a light source, it’s much easier with one.

Once your light is ready, head north and watch out for an imp. Pick up the Grave Glovewort [5] and go down the path to the east, taking note of the Yellow Fulgurbloom on the way. These plants give off a dim glow, and if you don’t have a torch of your own, you can rely on their meagre light to guide you through the catacombs.

Expect to face imps all throughout this dungeon - their erratic movements and fiery blasts can be a pain if you’re moving without a light. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Keep going straight, turn left, and pick up another Yellow Fulgurbloom . Soon you’ll find yourself on a ledge with two more imps. Once you kill them, hop off the ledge and you’ll see a passage that leads to a lever. Pull it, and a chasmous stretch of the dungeon that was previously dark will now be illuminated by torches. Go back to the ledge and then venture in the opposite direction, taking out another imp.

You’ll emerge in a room that overlooks the chasm area you just illuminated. Carefully jump down from the railing onto a narrow ledge, and navigate along this ledge until you reach a room with a Veridian Amber Medallion +3 contained within a chest. Exit the chest room and drop onto a pathway that crosses the chasm. Turn around, because there’s a spellcaster behind you who will shoot ricocheting projectiles along the tunnel wall. Take out the spellcaster and the imp behind them and pick up 2 Yellow Fulgurbloom and a Grave Glovewort [1] . Once the area is emptied, follow the path and you’ll eventually come across a lift.

These inquisitor spellcasters are the other main enemy in the Darklight Catacombs. Be careful of their projectiles bouncing off of walls. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Go north down the ramp. If you want, you can hop off the left side of the ramp onto the jagged ledge and climb up a ladder to access a platform with a spellcaster and a corpse that holds a Shadow Realm Rune [5] . Jump off the platform, kill the imp, and loot the nearby corpse for Ghost Glovewort [2] . Then retrace your steps to the ramp, fight another imp, and keep going until you come across two towering pillars. A Yellow Fulgurbloom lies on the wall opposite these pillars, and as you pick it up another imp will probably try to ambush you from behind. Once you’re dispatched it, climb the ladder on the pillar.

From your new vantage point, turn east and jump into a room with a lever that you can pull to turn on more illumination throughout the dungeon. Jump off the ledge with the lever and you’ll land on a staircase. There’s a corpse with 4 Thin Beast Bones in front of you. Grab these, then go up the stairs. You should see a teeny ledge to your right beneath the stairs and railing; you can drop down on this to enter a chamber with a spellcaster, a Yellow Fulgurbloom , and an imp hanging to the ceiling. Also hidden here is a corpse carrying the Death Knight armour set , an excellent arrangement of gear that’ll more than justify the twisty turns of this dungeon.

After nabbing the armour, turn around and exit via the ladder to the north. Kill the spellcaster who attacks from your right as you follow the platform, and loot the corpse on your left for a Ghost Glovewort [9] . Jump off the platform to land in a room with a Yellow Fulgurbloom and an imp. Then exit via the ramp leading downwards to reach another lift.

Go straight and you’ll eventually see the silhouette of a bigmouth imp standing on a platform in the distance. This huge miscreant will fire explosive shots at you, conveniently illuminating the area but also requiring you to dodge and roll. Jump down, sprint forward, and kill the two imps in front of you beneath the platform holding the bigmouth imp. Go north and pick up 3 Yellow Fulgurbloom and keep running until you reach a chamber with a lever. Pull it and the room with the giant imp will light up - and even better, the platform holding the massive bastard will lower. Now you can rush up and kill him - thankfully, he doesn’t have an extended health bar despite his size.

Watch out for the explosive shots of this bigmouth imp. Once you lower his platform down to the ground, you’ll find that despite his size, he goes down easily. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Once the big boy is gone, you can breathe easier. Explore your surroundings to find a Great Ghost Glovewort and 2 more Yellow Fulgurbloom guarded by an imp, and then head north to find a chest with the Bigmouth Imp Ashes . Aww yeah, now you can summon this guy to blast away bosses. Now climb up the ladder and run down the passageway. Another imp drops from the ceiling. Off him, drop down to the stairs, go north, and grab a Ghost Glovewort [4] from the corpse. Then retrace your steps and hop on another lift. When the lift touches down, you’ll be in the chamber overlooking the Darklight Catacombs’ boss.

How to defeat the Darklight Catacombs boss

Start moving; as this boss fight is a real pain especially if you have no ranged attacks whatsoever. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Jori, Elder Inquisitor , is one of the more annoying bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree if you’re a pure melee fighter with nothing in the way of range. He fires off rune arc projectiles that’ll slam into you from afar, and he summons a bevy of helpers to attack you from all angles, including a particularly chonky fellow who spins like a top and will bounce on you when you’re nearby.

Luckily, it’s a pretty big boss arena scattered with trees and gravestones, all of which can serve as good cover against Jori’s attacks. If you’re a Spirit Ash user, dodge the projectiles and summon your Ash of choice. Jori and his helpers will focus on your summon, giving you time to let off your own attacks. If you don’t use Ashes, you’ll need to dodge around the room, periodically getting close to Jori for a few quick attacks before rolling to cover again.

Jori’s attacks are all telegraphed when he raises his staff in the air, and when he does this and you see energy swirling around him, start running. He’ll cast ground spells at the areas you’re standing in, but you can dodge them all if you sprint quickly enough. Ultimately, the best strategy during this battle is to always stay moving.

Once Jori’s dead, you’ll receive the Barbed Staff-Spear and 260,000 Runes . The Forsaken Graveyard Site of Grace will become available, and you’ll now be able to travel onwards to the Abyssal Woods.

The Barbed Staff-Spear is a nice reward for having to contend with Jori’s many projectiles and summons. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Congratulations on making it out of the Darklight Catacombs and into the Abyssal Woods! For more Elden Ring: Shadow of The Erdtree dungeon walkthroughs, take a look at our guides to the Ruined Forge Lava Intake and the Fog Rift Catacombs . If you’d rather read up on reaching tricky areas of the Shadow Realm, check out our guides for getting to the Cerulean Coast , the Cathedral of Manus Metyr , Charo’s Hidden Grave , and the Stone Coffin Fissure .

Elden Ring

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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