The beauty in Elden Ring's progression scheme is that it doesn't exist. It's an imaginary, self-imposed railroading that players who are used to hand-holding from other open-world games keep trying to find in Elden Ring. It takes a while to shake that habit off and once players do, a whole new world of opportunities opens up in the form of shortcuts.

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As it turns out, there are only a couple of regions in the game requiring main quest progression and only one of those is mandatory. Every other level is open to even the weakest of butt-naked wretches fresh out of the tutorial cave. All they have to do is use their wits and follow their curiosity. Here's how Elden Ring speedrunners keep shaving their playthroughs down to less than 20 minutes.

Updated May 21, 2022 by Sid Natividad: Elden Ring shortcuts are some of the most cleverly designed level skips in the history of RPGs. Most of them come unexpectedly, which can blindside players and even kill them. However, once the initial shock from these Elden Ring shortcuts wears off, players will soon realize that they're some of the most helpful mechanics in the game.

For one, players can acquire higher-level items or materials thanks to these Elden Ring shortcuts. The developers somehow sorted Elden Ring areas by level, so by adding Elden Ring shortcuts, players get the luxury of advancing further but still retain the comfort of their intended path. As such, we've added even more Elden Ring shortcuts for the uninitiated.

11 Limgrave Portal To Beastial Sanctum In Caelid

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Players don't even need to look hard for this one, D readily tells players the teleporter's location after they killed the Tibia Mariner in Summonwater Village. In any case, this teleporter is in the pond north of the Third Church of Marika Site of Grace. It's hidden among the plants but still conspicuous enough due to the stream of magic flowing out of it.

For those in their New Game playthroughs, this is the most important and most accessible shortcut. It takes players to the door of the Beastial Sanctum in Greyoll's Dragonbarrow in Caelid. From there, they can access the highest-level area of Caelid including Fort Faroth and that dragon slumber party in front of it which gives tens of thousands of Runes.

10 Unlocking The Altus Plateau Early

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Want to access a mid-game area right away? Then go ahead. Nothing is stopping players from doing so. The most direct way of accessing the Altus Plateau is through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice which is a mining network located at the northernmost tip of the huge lake in Liurnia of the Lakes.

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It's difficult breaking through the area while low-level though since there's a Magma Wyrm boss as a gatekeeper. But if players want to avoid gatekeepers to the Altus Plateau, they can simply look for the Dectus medallions located in Fort Haight (Limgrave) and Fort Faroth (Caelid, easily accessible through the Beastial Sanctum). This will unlock the Dectus lift. No fighting or killing is required in the Dectus medallion method.

9 Dragon-Burnt Ruins To Sellia Crystal Tunnel In Caelid

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Want to get to another mid-level part of Caelid? Specifically the Lake of Aeonia? Then the fastest way to do that is through another (more normal) lake, Agheel Lake in Limgrave. That lake's hard to miss. There's a ruin there called Dragon-Burnt Ruins, and it houses a basement with a chest.

Opening this chest will transport players to the Sellia Crystal Tunnel in Caelid. It's a tough area to navigate, but the entrance to that dungeon is easy to locate. Just run away or past the enemies. Exiting from the dungeon's entrance will take players to the north of Lake Aeonia, near the town of Sellia. The whole place is suffering from magical rabies, it's best to come here prepared.

8 Ainsel River Well

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The city of Nokstella is one of the big underground regions of Elden Ring. It connects to the Lake of Rot and also houses some powerful items. The fastest way to this area without doing any quest is through the Ainsel River Well. It's located in the eastern landmass of Liurnia of the Lakes due northeast of the Eastern Liurnia Lake Shore Site of Grace.

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This will take players to the "junior" part of Nokstella where the Lake of Rot is teased along with some freaky ant and alien enemies. It can be a decent area to farm some Runes since the ants give out quite a lot for low-level players and aren't too difficult to fight.

7 Volcano Manor Transport

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Volcano Manor is a mid-game area where players can snag themselves the most powerful Faith weapon in the game (Blasphemous Blade) along with some quality armor sets (via Volcano Manor assassination quests). But players don't have to wait for mid-game for this.

The fastest way to get to Volcano Manor is by getting killed and kidnapped by an Abductor Virgin at the bottom of the Raya Lucaria Academy. To get to the Abductor Virgin, players will just have to make their way down the lowest level using the huge water-wheel elevator (located along the path from Church of the Cuckoo to the Schoolhouse Classroom). After seemingly "dying," the Abductor Virgin will take players to Volcano Manor.

6 Deeproot Depths Portal To Leyndell

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Getting to Leyndell is quite difficult since the outer moat in Altus Plateau is littered with knights and a jacked-up version of the Tree Sentinel is guarding the direct entrance to the city. Players don't have to go through that. They can instead go through the Deeproot Depths in the Prince of Death's Throne Site of Grace.

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There's a teleporter there that will take players inside Leyndell, but it will only unlock once players have beaten several NPC invader bosses known as Fia's Champions. They're easy to defeat, don't worry. Once the teleporter is unlocked, players are free to run amok within the streets of Leyndell.

First and foremost though, players will have to unlock Deeproot Depths which requires defeating Radahn and defeating the Valiant Gargoyle due in the area that Radahn's falling star opened up. There's a coffin inside the Valiant Gargoyle boss arena that will take players to Deeproot Depths.

5 Tower Of Return Transporter Chest To Leyndell

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Another easier method of getting inside Leyndell without doing all the hard work and exploration is through the Tower of Return in the southwestern part of the Weeping Peninsula. It's easy to get there, no need to fight. There's a transporter chest on top of the tower that will take players to Leyndell's Divine Bridge. Near that bridge is a large elevator which is locked and can only be activated from below.

That makes the shortcut useless, right? Well, only for those who are offline. Because players who are online can wait on that elevator for an invader. The invader will spawn from below and will have to activate the elevator from down there, thus opening up Leyndell's whole city area. It doesn't matter if the invader kills the players, the elevator is already unlocked.

The hard part is waiting for invaders in that area. Players might have to ask around online for that favor. But in any case, this will unlock the streets of Leyndell effortlessly. No need to fight Margit, Godrick, or even Radahn. They can just waltz in without any Great Rune in their possession.

4 Mohgwyn Dynasty Palace Shortcut

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The Moghwyn Palace area is one of the best farming spots in the game and thankfully, players can unlock it very early. They just need to complete Varre's questline. For this to happen, Varre will need to have moved to Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes. This in-game event is triggered once players have obtained their first Great Rune. So players will need to defeat either Godrick, Radahn, Rykard, or Rennala.

Once players have a Great Rune, here are the instructions to get to Mohgwyn Palace:

  1. Go talk to Varre in Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes (southwest of the Academy).
  2. Invade other players thrice using the Festering Bloody Fingers.
  3. Talk to Varre again, he'll give the Lord of Blood's Favor and ask players to soak it in Finger Maiden blood.
  4. The most accessible dead Finger Maiden is in the Church of Inhibition (northeast of Liurnia), use the Lord of Blood's Favor on the dead maiden.
  5. Go back to Varre, he'll give the Pureblood Knight's Medal.
  6. Using the medal will transport players to Mohgwyn Palace.

3 Skip Elphael And Head Straight To Malenia

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Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree is easily one of the most frustrating zones in Elden Ring. It's filled with enemies that deal too much damage and have too much HP. Players don't need to go through that kind of ordeal and exhaust themselves before fighting Malenia. There's a tower that leads straight to her.

That would be the third bell tower after going through the exit of the Prayer Room Site of Grace. At the bottom of this tower is an elevator whose pressure plate needs to be pushed for it to become active. Players can simply plunge their corpses at this pressure plate by jumping down. It's tricky at first as players will have to jump directly down the center of the elevator shaft so be prepared to take a few tries.

2 Skipping Hard Spots Using Weapon Skills

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For this shortcut, players will need to be in the high-level areas already. It's also more of a general way to skip certain hard spots in elevated areas. This can be done using weapon skills. Two weapons come to mind here: Hand of Malenia and Marika's Hammer. Here's a video demonstration for an example.

Both of those weapons have weapon skills that will propel the player forward regardless of their footing. Hence, players can use this to cover distances that are impossible to traverse by just jumping. This comes in handy in later Legacy Dungeons such as the pipes in Subterranean Shunning-Grounds or the stairs and bridges in Crumbling Farum Azula. In many cases, they even lead straight to the boss arena.

1 Endgame Area Teleporter In Liurnia

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Want to get to the final area in the game? Then head on over to the western landmass in Liurnia of the Lakes and look for the Four Belfries. Near one of those towers is a magical key that can be used to unlock three portals. Make sure to unlock the portal with the Crumbling Lands message near it.

This takes players to the Crumbling Farum Azula which is an endgame area. However, the area where the players land there is inaccessible to the rest of the map. But there's a method called "Wrong Warp." From the teaser area in Crumbling Farum Azula, players can travel back to Roundtable Hold and then force quit the game while it's loading. Open it again and once it loads, it should take players to the playable area in Crumbling Farum Azula. This will likely get patched out sooner or later so enjoy it while it lasts.

Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows.

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