How to get to the east side of Shadow Keep in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
To beat Messmer the Impaler, you'll need to approach the Shadow Keep via the eastern Church District instead of going through the front door.
Entering the Shadow Keep is easy enough in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, but you'll only be able to get so far by going through its front door. If you want to get to and beat its boss Messmer the Impaler, you'll need to approach the Shadow Keep from a different angle - from the east, to be precise, through its Church District wing.
Reaching the Shadow Keep's Church District is no small feat, however, and requires a long trek round the edge of Scadu Altus. But we're here to help, so read on below to learn how to get to the east side of the Shadow Keep and find its back gate, and how you can visit the Cathedral of Manus Metyr on the way.
How to get to the east side of the Shadow Keep
To begin your journey toward the east side of the Shadow Keep, start at the Site of Grace 'Moorth Ruins Cross' in Scadu Altus (which is an important Miquella's Cross location and where you'll first encounter Dryleaf Dane).
Head east into the Moorth Ruins under the large archway until you get to a large hole in the ground. There's a small doorway you can go through that gives you a better view of the drop you're about to make.
You can also find the Shattered Stone Talisman on the corpse round the corner before you descend.
Be warned: we had to cheese our way down here using Torrent, as there isn't a hugely obvious path down. We died many times making this journey, so it may involve a bit of trial and error and leaping onto bits of wall that might not look like they should support you. We regularly clipped through the environment when we attempted this, so try not to get too frustrated if it takes you a few attempts to make it down without instantly dying.
When you eventually reach the lower platform, you'll have to deal with three robed mage enemies holding candlesticks. They're not too dangerous at long-range, but just take it nice and steady - you don't want to have to make that long drop again if you've just died ten times in a row trying to do it successfully like we did.
When it's safe to proceed, drop down again to where the mages were and grab the Golden Arcs spell from the tower room with the torches outside it in the corner.
Then head to the other end of this level and drop down again to the balcony ledge you can see below.
From this height, it's then safe to drop down again. There's a corpse here with 4x Shadow Sunflower on it, but otherwise there's nothing else here. Follow the torches up and out of the tunnel. Climb the ladder at the end and you'll come out to the Bonny Village.
Going through Bonny Village
Activate the Site of Grace 'Bonny Village' (so you don't ever have to go down that horrible hole again), and continue through the village. You'll notice a pot-themed decor to this desolate place, and lots of basic shade enemies. There is also a Greater Potentate you'll encounter here (which would explain why his Cookbooks are all themed around pot items...), but they're very aggressive, so take advantage of summoning some Spirit Ashes here to help even the odds.
The Greater Potentate has a large cleaver knife that can deal blood loss if you're not careful, and they're very nippy around the battlefield. With your Spirit Ash keeping him busy, though, it's quite easy to get in some long-range hits here to take him down pretty fast.
There aren't too many other items to loot here. There's a corpse with 5x Kukri to your left as you follow the main road, and 1x Broken Rune on a corpse hanging off a pot. Eventually you'll get to a broken bridge with some phantom dogs chewing on some item-laden corpses down below. Before you drop down, however, you can claim the Greater Potentate's Bonny Butchering Knife off a corpse just to your left inside the burnt shed-like structure.
That's it for this side of the Bonny Village, so feel free to drop down and deal with the ghost dogs. On these corpses, you can claim 3x Living Jar Shards, 2x HUman Bone Shards and another 2x Living Jar Shards. Lovely stuff.
To continue up to the other side of the village, you'll need to head south down the dried up river bed, but first: you should head in the other direction (north) back towards the cliffs. There's 1x Revered Spirit Ash to find at the end of the river bed, so grab this and then head back to the other end of the ravine.
There are some rocks you can use to jump up to the other side of the village, which is similarly stuffed with basic shade enemies and two more Greater Potentates. Like the one you just fought, he's a wily fellow who loves to jump and dodge all over the place, but between you and your Spirit Ashes, he's really not that difficult to take out.
Once again, there aren't too many other items to collect here. If you head back to the bridge area, you can collect 1x Hefty Cracked Pot from the corpse sitting on the edge of the rockface, and another 1x Hefty Cracked Pot on a corpse in a building to the north of the village.
If you head all the way north of the village, you can also find the Gesture: O Mother by the cliffs. There also appears to be a large stone snake skin next to it as well in the woods (and the less we think about that, the better, if you ask me...).
That's it for the Bonny Village, so when you're ready, head over the rickety bridge to the east.
Road to the Church District
As you cross over the bridge, you'll see another ruined shack on the cliff edge. This is the Whipping Hut, and you can find a corpse inside with the Tooth Whip weapon on it. Very apt.
Continue across to the next bridge and activate the Site of Grace 'Bridge Leading to the Village'. From here, head up through the forest, watching out for plenty of wolves that lurk in the trees.
There isn't anything to find off the beaten path here, so unless you want to fight lots of wolves, just follow the path round the side of the mountain.
There's a Furnace Golem on the other side, so unless you fancy picking a fight with him, just ride through as fast as you can to the other side of the hill (though it will drop the Cerulean-Sapping Crystal Tear as a reward if you do decide to fight it).
You'll also see a Sealed Spiritspring to your left as you pass through this grassy area, but you can't use it just yet, so ignore it and continue riding away from the Furnace Golem.
Keep riding and you'll eventually get to another Site of Grace 'Church District Highroad'. Activate it and take a well-earned breather - especially if you got clipped by the Furnace Golem on your way through.
There are two interesting locations to explore here: Rabbath's Rise and the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, and both are worth having a poke around before you continue.
However, if you want to head straight to the Shadow Keep's eastern Church District entrance, the end is nearly in sight. Simply continue heading west from the Site of Grace, away from the Cathedral and towards the Shadow Keep that's now in view, until you reach this dark archway:
Continue all the way down the end of this corridor and eventually you'll come to the Shadow Keep, Church District entrance. Activate the Site of Grace 'Church District Entrance' and prepare yourself for some daring platforming as you traverse the Shadow Keep's flooded east wing.
You'll need to make your way through this part of the Shadow Keep in order to reach its boss Messmer the Impaler, but you'll also need to use this route to use the Prayer Room Key you found fighting Fire Knight Queelign, so make sure to stop by the Prayer Room first before you take on Messmer.
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.