How to get to Scadu Altus and skip Castle Ensis in Shadow of the Erdtree
There's a secret route to Shadow of the Erdtree's second main area without defeating any bosses.
If you want to get to Scadu Altus in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, you have two main options. You can follow the main story route and access it by defeating the boss of Castle Ensis, or you can get there via a hidden route that doesn't require beating any bosses at all. It's handy to know both routes, especially if you want to explore Scadu Altus to get its Map Fragment, or pick up some tougher weapons to help you tackle this difficult dungeon.
Below, we'll outline both routes to show you how to get to Scadu Altus in Shadow of the Erdtree, paying special attention to that hidden route so you skip Castle Ensis completely.
How to get to Scadu Altus in Shadow of the Erdtree
As mentioned above, the traditional route to Scadu Altus is through Castle Ensis. After beating its boss Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, you'll be able to open the rear doors of the castle and access Scadu Altus immediately, allowing you to continue your journey onwards towards the Shadow Keep.
However, Rellana is quite a difficult boss, as is Moonrithyll Carian Knight directly before her, which can make Castle Ensis an early stumbling block for players who want to do more exploring.
Luckily, just like Stormveil Castle in the base game of Elden Ring, there's a way to skip this castle entirely. Here's how to do it:
Starting from the Site of Grace 'Castle Front', head east down the hill in the direction of Ruined Forge Lava Intake down by the trolls fighting each other on the cliff edge.
Ride past these trolls further down into the valley, and following the bend round to the left when you get to the end of it.
Follow the edge of the cliffs through the poison swamps and go past the Miranda Sprout on your left. Keep heading toward the shack you can see on the very eastern edge of the cliff.
Eventually, you'll see a Sealed Spiritspring on your left:
If you bought the Note about this from Moore the Merchant back at Belurat, Tower Settlement, you'll know that certain Spiritsprings in Shadow of the Erdtree will need to be unsealed before they can be used. You can identify Sealed Spiritsprings by the small pyramid of stones in the centre of spring:
To unlock these, you'll need to find where they've been sealed and destroy it. Luckily, every seal can be found very close by to its respective Spiritspring, and the one for this Spiritspring can be found just a little further up the rocks.
Follow the cliff round and double back on yourself until you're on the slope above the Sealed Spiritspring. You'll find another pile of stones glowing in the dark:
Attack this pile of stones, and the seal will be destroyed. You'll see the Spiritspring rise up in front of you from where you are, so call for Torrent and drop down to it. Use the Spiritspring to jump all the way up the cliff, and keep going until you land at the Site of Grace 'Behind the Fort of Reprimand'.
Congratulations! You're now in Scadu Altus. You'll have to make your way out of the Fort of Reprimand before you can start exploring this new region of Shadow of the Erdtree, but as you'll discover in our Fort of Reprimand walkthrough, this is a very small and simple dungeon to complete, and you'll be out in the world in no time.
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.