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Black Knife Catacombs
Black Knife Catacombs is one of the Minor Dungeons found in the Liurnia Region in Elden Ring. It is an optional dungeon that is home to a few treasure items and a miniboss Foe. This page contains information on the location, walkthrough, and guide to traverse this dungeon, locate all of its treasure, and tips to defeat the enemies within.
Enemies | Boss | Notable Loot |
---|---|---|
Skeletons/Necromancers | Cemetery Shade / Black Knife Assassin | Rosus' Axe, Rune Arc, Assassin's Cerulean Dagger, Black Knifeprint, Twinsage Sorcerer Ashes |
How to Get to Black Knife Catacombs
In northern Liurnia, just northeast of the Erdtree, you'll come across a path on the eastern side leading into a small canyon. Upon arrival, you'll encounter Lhutel the Headless, a spectral headless enemy with a flaming sword will be guarding the entryway. Riding circles around them with Torrent makes the fight relatively easy.
Buried in the cliff face, you'll note the double doors to open leading down to a Site of Grace.
Black Knife Catacombs Walkthrough
Heading down the steps to the left of the Site of Grace, you'll encounter a Skeleton. As a rule of thumb, with these skeletons you will want to strike them once they go down (as the blue light appears on their corpse), or else they will resurrect and require defeating again.
At the bottom of the stairs, you'll encounter the locked doors and Summoning Pool. Root Resin is in the left-hand corner of the room. At the top of the stairs to the left is a Grave Glovewort (2) plant, and at the bottom is a Grave Violet plant. As you approach the bottom, two more skeletons will awaken, but you'll notice that trying to perform the strike whilst they're defeated won't work. That's due to the necromancer enemy with the staff who will come from further down the corridor. Only by defeating him can you ensure the skeletons stop resurrecting.
To the left you'll spot a Imp Seal, which if unlocked is revealed to house two skeletons, a swordsman in the center of the room, and an archer in the immediate left-hand corner. After those are dealt with, loot the corpse on the right to obtain the Rosus' Axe weapon.
Heading back to the hallway, follow the path left and you'll find a Grave Glovewort (2) plant on the left. On the right there will be a number of dropping blades, requiring well-timed movements to avoid. There are also two skeleton archers beyond the blades to complicate matters. These archers also continually resurrect regardless, so once they're down sprint down the stairs and prepare to be ambushed by a skeleton on the right. Next to the coffin you'll find a Grave Glovewort (3).
To the left of the room, you'll note a ladder descending. Head down and you'll emerge in a large sewer room filled with small crabs. There are a number of Grave Violet and Grave Glovewort plants dotted around. As you head to the right where you'll spot a corpse, a giant crab will emerge from the ground. If you start swinging as it emerges, it should be low enough health where it can only pull off one or two attacks before you down it. The corpse holds a Rune Arc. Be careful though, as a second giant crab will have also emerged from the area you entered from.
Heading back up to the room with the blades and undying archers, wait for a blade in the center of the room to drop, then stand over where it fell for it to raise you up, enabling you to roll off onto the higher platform. There you'll want to kill the necromancer to defeat the archers below as well as the skeleton guarding the necromancer.
Continuing down the pathway, run past the two skeleton archers and turn right to face another necromancer. Kill them and all three skeletons in the room will die immediately. Continue and you'll enter a room with a skeleton warrior on the right and an archer on the left. Defeat those and then strike the back middle wall to reveal a hidden path to a mist wall.
Boss Fight - Black Knife Assassin
The Black Knife Assassin is a full-health, far more aggressive variant of the one you can encounter in the Deathtouched Catacombs in Limgrave. It is a good idea to use the gold summon sign outside the mist wall to bring D, Hunter of the Dead in to fight alongside you, and using any Spirit Ashes will help to draw aggro off of you for a short while.
Like the other Black Knife Assassin, it performs a 360-degree spin with its blade buried in the floor, ending in a slash outwards. This attack, like all others in this fight, are highly aggressive and much faster than you will have experienced from its doppelganger. If you get caught by this spin, the slash at the end can send you flying backwards through the air, and with its speed, the Assassin can very easily get a follow-up attack in. As such, keep your distance as they wind up for most of their attacks, and be methodical when you time your strikes.
This speed is especially true with the Assassin's spectral dodge into a lunge attack with its knife. If hit, this can very easily temporarily stagger you.
This Assassin also has a couple of unique moves, one of which being a spinning launch into the air with a lock-on slam attack that deals heavy damage. It's dodgeable but requires pinpoint timing just before the Assassin comes back down to the ground.
The other unique attack to be particularly wary of is a grab attack that is telegraphed by it swinging its left arm behind it then lunging forward. If it connects to you, the Assassin will then plunge its knife into your chest and can very easily kill you, so it's in your best interest to ensure your health is 100% full just to cover for this possibility.
By defeating him, you'll earn the Assassin's Cerulean Dagger and the Black Knifeprint.
As you exit the room after the fight, look to the left in the middle of the room (where the skeleton archer was) and you'll notice an opening. Drop down and you'll re-enter the sewer area but on the other side of the metal fence.
A skeleton warrior will be there in the corner to defeat, as well as two levers to pull. One will open the locked doors at the beginning of the Catacombs, and the other opens the door of the metal gate, acting as a shortcut back. By pulling the lever to open the metal gate another skeleton warrior will emerge next to you, so be ready to fight.
Backtrack to the entry area of the Catacombs and the previously locked doors will be open, leading to another mist wall.
Boss Fight - Cemetery Shade
A haunting black shade with devastating blade attacks and an immobilizing spit, the Cemetery Shade is a fragile yet highly dangerous opponent.
Alongside the Shade are three skeletons; two warriors and one archer. Due to the small nature of the arena and sheer speed of the Shade, it's recommended to use Ashes like the Lone Wolves to draw some aggro off of you (and potentially stagger some enemies) as you prioritize dealing with the skeletons.
The Shade has a slashing combo with its blades that occur in two staggered bursts before an overhead strike. Dodging is your best bet as the speed of the slashes makes it almost impossible to parry.
The main attack to look out for is telegraphed by the Shade summoning a green oozing sphere above its head, which will quickly fire in your direction and, if it hits, will completely immobilize you as the Shade approaches and begins feasting on your face. This can very easily be an insta-kill scenario, so if you can dodge-roll the projectile or better yet, keep a pillar between you and the Shade as it performs this move.
The Shade doesn't have a massive health pool, so timing your strikes well and being aggressive is the best strategy. Once defeated, the Shade will drop the Twinsage Sorcerer Ashes.
In the chest, you'll find some Deathroot, alongside some Root Resin in the back left corner.