Lords Of The Fallen: How To Unlock The Dark Crusader

If Todd Howard up and left Bethesda, it would "leave a big hole," says Skyrim's lead designer, insisting that the Starfield director has "an attribute that none of the rest of us did."

There’s a totally optional area of Lords of the Fallen you can find when you’re about halfway through your mission in Mournstead. This creepy underground excavation site is where you’ll find a powerful boss — and a method to access a secret bonus ending. We won’t get into the ending here, but we will explain exactly what it takes to access the Revelation Depths area. You’ll find it hiding right beneath the second beacon.

The spooky Bell Rise is an unofficial location in Lords of the Fallen — the only reference to it you’ll find is a map, but it is an area all the same. The area can be unlocked extremely early in the game, and if you visit right away, you’ll be shocked by the difficulty of the standard enemies here. Everything in Bell Rise is designed for higher level characters. I recommend waiting until after you’ve discovered the second beacon at least — maybe even the third beacon.

The first beacon beckons you in Lords of the Fallen. Your first major goal in the story is to defeat the Hushed Saint and reach the first beacon. Your goal in the story is to find and repair five beacons — each one is glowing red in the sky, leading you to an inevitable boss battle. Because the Hushed Saint is such an important boss, he’s also an impressively difficult battle. Unlike the fight against Pieta, you’ll need to learn the value of dodging or you’ll get crushed. Although, there is one very specific moment you’ll want to parry the Hushed Saint to deal maximum damage.

After defeating the first major boss in Lords of the Fallen, multiple areas will finally open up for your Dark Crusader to explore. But you might not even know how to access these areas until you’re much, much further in the game. If you want to get closer to the Fief of the Chill Curse, one of the major areas where you’ll find a beacon and a new massive boss, you’ll need to acquire the Fief Key. Getting the key and figuring out where to use it? That can take a very long time. Here’s everything you need to know.

It's been five years since Todd Howard revealed the startling news that yes, Bethesda is going to make The Elder Scrolls 6, and it will be years yet before it actually arrives. It's a virtually unprecedented gap between a game's «announcement» (such as it was) and tangible evidence that something's being done to make it happen, and Howard himself said not too long ago that he regrets handling the reveal the way he did. The obvious question then is, why announce it at all? According to longtime Bethesda designer Bruce Nesmith, the fans basically bullied him into it.

There’s a feature you can miss for a surprisingly long time in Lords of the Fallen — if you don’t collect a specific lost book, you won’t be able to assign runes to your weapons or shields. Runes are a bonus feature that allows you to further enhance your gear by improving attribute scaling. This means your weapons (or shield) will become stronger if you have a high attribute. Runes will only begin to drop AFTER you unlock this feature, so you’ll want to make it available as soon as possible. Here’s where to find the Cracked Rune Tablet and how to start socketing runes.

One of the first areas of Lords of the Fallen is the Forsaken Fen, and it’s worth checking out completely. The Forsaken Fen is a dreary, poisonous bog that’ll aggravate you like some of the cruelest locations in the Dark Souls series. And like any of these games, there are optional bosses you can fight by exploring the unseen corners of each area. One shortcut route is protected by a powerful Umbral enemy called the Mendacious Visage. This challenging creature can only be fought in the Umbral — and it patrols a unique boss arena with extra enemies you’ll need to take out. Learn how to handle the Mendacious Visage optional boss and clear another path through the upper levels of the Forsaken Fen.

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The most balanced spell caster class in is the Putrid Child, an archetype you may only unlock by reaching a hidden ending. A dark follower of the Umbral in service to the Putrid Mother, this class is unique compared to other starting options for your character. There are unfortunate risks you'll have to take in a playthrough dedicated to discovering the right ending needed to obtain the Putrid Child.