The Shadow Of The Erdtree Secret Gesture And Statue You Need To Access 20% Of The Map

Yes, much of the challenge in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree is beating its tough bosses, but it’s also just…figuring out how to get places.

One of those places is a giant chunk of the map in the northeast, seen above. You may have tried to figure out 50 different way to get there, but none of them work. Well, that’s because it’s a secret that really can only be passed on with floor messages or guides like this one.

This is the Hinterlands, and subsequently the Fingerstone area that you will need to visit for a significant quest. You will find old enemies here, Scadutree Fragments and other rewards, including one of the best items in the game to take on the final boss of the DLC. Here’s the rather absurd process to get there.

To start, you need the O Mother emote, which is a new one found near Bonny Village. It’s not even in the village, but a bit north under a random tree, which is certainly easy to miss for the key to the entire region. Here’s where to find it.

Afterward, you need to travel to the Shadow Keep, Back Gate waypoint. This is the area you access by going around the back side of the Shadowkeep after you solve the Flooded Church District jumping puzzle. Out the front door is one of the hardest fights in the game, the board-riding Gaius. But to the right is a statue with a Scadutree Fragment.

Do the O Mother emote in front of the statue and it will slide open, revealing a door that leads out into the entire Hinterlands. I will not spoil exactly what you’ll encounter there, but be sure to visit the nearby Shaman Village which is enemy-free but contains the extremely valuable talisman I mentioned earlier that is amazing for the final zone and the boss fight itself at the end of the main story.

Again, it would be close to impossible to figure this out on your own. I had some messages saying to gesture on the floor, but not which gesture, and finding O Mother is really, really easy to overlook given its location. But there you go, enjoy (or fear) what you find in the Hinterlands.

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