The Fringefolk Hero’s Grave is the first dungeon you encounter in Elden Ring, but you can’t get into it until you get a Stonesword Key. Inside this brief dungeon are a strange mechanical contraption, a spooky tree, and some dragon-related loot.
The entrance to this dungeon is right next to the Stranded Graveyard site of grace — you’ll need to use a Stonesword Key in order to remove the fog between the columns, then take the ladder down. Once you go down the ladder, run through the poison water and wait for this section’s obstacle to pop up: the chariot.
This isn’t as much of an enemy as it is a sentient trap. The goal here is to descend to the bottom of the dungeon, all while avoiding being crushed or sliced by this contraption. To do so, you will have to navigate from alcove to alcove and wait for this chariot to pass.
As soon as the chariot starts leaving, move to the first alcove to the left and wait for it to go past you. From there, as soon as it leaves again, start running down and instead of going to the next set of alcoves, skip it and run to the one after that. Enter the one on the right side, which is where you will find a spectral enemy with a crossbow, and another enemy in the alcove on the opposite side of the path. After you dealt with these enemies, wait for the chariot to start moving up past you, and jump down from where the enemy with the crossbow was standing.
As soon as you jump down, continue running until you reach a narrow pathway. There, look for a small ledge below and drop down to reach a hidden area that leads to a few goodies, and a way to get rid of the chariot.
As soon as you land, you’ll have to deal with two imp enemies before continuing further. Dealing with the closest one as fast as possible will make it much easier, so don’t hesitate to be aggressive there. Once the imps are dead, you can start cautiously going down the stairs. When you reach the bottom, entering the tunnel will trigger the fire trap ahead. You can either wait for the flames to subside and enter the hiding spot to the right to say hello to the imp in there before continuing down the tunnel, or just pull out a bow and shoot the trap from the entrance of the tunnel.
From the trap room, going northwest will allow you to get 2x Lightning Grease, as well as a chance to be ambushed by an imp hanging above the doorway. By continuing northeast from the trap room you will reach a large room with a bridge leading to a talisman: Erdtree’s Favor. There is a catch however, you’ll be ambushed by two very annoying enemies as soon as you cross the bridge.
Two enemies will drop down from the ceiling, one on each side of the bridge. You can deal with them a few different ways:
Run across the bridge and deal with the one there first. If you do not get close to the bridge, the other enemy will simply watch from afar without interfering.
You can shoot down the one on the ceiling above the far side of the bridge, which will make it drop down and come towards you. The other enemy will only come down if you cross the bridge.
Run to the other side of the bridge, avoid being smashed by the foe’s landing and grab the talisman. Then turn back around and start running to the side where you came from, before dropping down below to continue through the dungeon without dealing with these enemies. Additionally, you can make it even safer by either equipping a Sacrificial Twig, or going for the talisman once you’ve spent all of your runes.
Regardless of how you decide to approach this area, the path forward will be under the bridge. You’ll have to drop down to a ledge below, before jumping all the way down and riding the elevator in the nearby room, all the way to the top.
From the elevator, you will reach a ledge above the path taken by the chariot. You’ll find a Stonesword Key on a nearby corpse, as well as an enemy at the end of the ledge. After defeating it, stand where it first appeared to make the chariot go back and forth on the path in front of you. Now take a look at the 3 jars hanging from the ceiling above that path. The goal here is to shoot one of them down at the right time so that it drops on the chariot and destroys it. While there are only 3 jars hanging from the ceiling, resting at a site of grace will make them respawn.
Defeating the chariot will not only make it a breeze to explore the rest of this dungeon, it will also grant you the Erdtree Greatbow.
Now that this pesky chariot is gone, you can jump down and continue exploring the dungeon. Instead of dropping down from the narrow pathway, you can safely cross it to continue exploring the dungeon. When you reach a forking path, instead of taking the path going left, which leads to the dungeon’s boss, go right instead. Run all the way up and you will reach a room at the very end of this path. Defeating this enemy will grant you the Dragon Communion Seal, as well as one Dragonwound Grease.
With this taken care of, it’s time to start moving all the way down to the boss room. While several enemies will try to kill you, you can either fight them without having to hide since the chariot is gone, or just run all the way to the boss room while ignoring them.
You’re now all the way to the bottom, and the only thing that remains is defeating this dungeon’s boss: Ulcerated Tree Spirit.
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
On the part of the ramp that gets thin, you can drop on the right side to go to a secret area to collect some more rewards + kill the charriot by shooting things on the cieling
On the part of the ramp that gets thin, you can drop on the right side to go to a secret area to collect some more rewards + kill the charriot by shooting things on the cieling