Illusory Walls were a staple of theDark Soulstrilogy, with each title hiding paths and treasures for the perceptive player.Elden Ringis no different; adding on to the formula of Dark Souls, the Illusory Walls in Elden Ring may not be as obvious to veterans of the Souls games. Although Illusory Walls encourage players to explore and question their environment, the sheer scope of Elden Ring makes some Illusory Walls exceedingly difficult to find. In addition to the size of the environment, the walls (and sometimes floors!) can blend in very well.
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Alongside the usual methods of locating a Wall — that is, the “interact” button or swinging with a weapon — Elden Ring also provides more magical means to dispel these illusions: Tools such asMargit’s Shackleand Mohg’s Shackle or the Intelligence-based Incantation,The Law of Regression, can unveil the walls as well.
10Auriza Side Tomb
Any Tarnished who enters theAuriza Side Tomb, located just outsideLeyndell Royal Capital, slowly figures out what the tomb has in store: a set of nearly identical dungeons linked with teleporting chests. This tomb can feel like a maze, as navigating the layout can easily lead to second guesses and accidental backtracking.
Any Tarnished who successfully escapes the tomb, thankfully, is sure to have found the Illusory Wall in the final room. Players may be overly focused on the duplicate dungeon and teleportation mechanic; as such, they may initially overlook this key Illusory Wall.
9Kingsrealm Ruins
Players who have a great deal of experience with Illusory Walls know what to look for: a path leading to a dead-end, an archway that is perfectly centered in the wall, and a plethora of other slight tells. As such, there are some Walls in Elden Ring that are more novel in their approach. One major example is located in the northwest section of Liurnia, onthe road to Caria Manor.
Walking into the Kinsgrealm Ruins, Tarnished are greeted by the usual array of enemies in an environment of broken brick walls. One particularly large brick archway, however, is set into the main road. Since it is far too large to be a conventional Illusory Wall, some Tarnished may have gotten lost in the Ruins.
8Kingsrealm Ruins Pt. II
If the Tarnisheddidget lost in the Kingsrealm Ruins, they may have incidentally stumbled onto yet another Illusory “Wall” in the area. In the eastern section of the Ruins, players may roll onto or hit a suspicious rectangular section on the floor. This is yet another unconventional Illusory Wall in the area, leading players into an underground boss fight with aRoyal Revenant. The fight rewards the Tarnished with the Frozen Needle rapier, a solid early-game weapon for Dexterity and/or Intelligence builds.
7Church Of The Cuckoo
TheAcademy of Raya Lucariahas plenty of Illusory Walls set into the grand edifice of this magical place. Without the assistance of messages on the ground or a keen eye, there is one in particular that players may run by quite easily.
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Nearby the “Church of the Cuckoo” Site of Grace, the Tarnished can run into a sizable church, with enemies by the altar and entrance on the far side. From the Site of Grace, the Illusory Wall is directly to the left of this entrance, on the wall in the corner. The wall exposes a hidden cemetery with a Rune Arc on one end. Assuming that the Tarnished enters the church and immediately runs after the enemies on the altar, it is fairly easy to bypass this innocuous illusion.
In Liurnia,Road’s End Catacombsis not the place where the Tarnished necessarily misses an Illusory Wall; rather, there areso manyIllusory Walls — seven in total — that the Tarnished will likely miss one or two.
Once players reach the “end” of the Catacombs, they will likely uncover an Illusory Wall that leads to a dead-end with a chest. While working backwards, there will be another set of Walls by the next staircase. Heading up the staircase, there is another set of Walls set into the archways on the penultimate landing. This set leads to yet another Illusory Wall, which in turn leads toanotherIllusory Wall, hiding a boss fight with the Spirit-Caller Snail.
5Sellia Hideaway
Ideally, the Tarnished would want to spend as little time in Caelid as possible, but that is not the primary reason why this Wall may be missed. To the northeast of the Church of the Plague, there is an Illusory Wall that is nicely camouflaged, set into the rocky outcropping.
It can be difficult to locate it, given that there are not really any visual cues on the Wall itself. Nearby, however, there is a graveyard with a single, spell-casting enemy; this is the only cue to watch out for. Once inside,The Crystal Spearis also hidden behind another Illusory Wall.
4Leyndell Catacombs
Just like the Road’s End Catacombs, Illusory Walls are especially tricky when two things happen: when Illusory Walls are hidden behind Illusory Walls, and when Spirit-Caller Snails are hidden behind that second set of Illusory Walls. Indeed, this is also the case in the Leyndell Catacombs.
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Once there are enemies that are spawned by the Spirit-Caller Snail, it’s time to go hunting. By the large staircase, there is an Illusory Wall followed by an Illusory Wall. Not only will these help defeat the Snail (and its associated enemies) but it will also lead to a Haligdrake Talisman +1. The main difficulty factor here: players will frantically look for the Snail in the heat of impossible combat, compounded by the usual Snail trickery of having double the Illusory Walls.
3Cathedral Of The Forsaken
Okay, this one is technically not an illusion exactly, but the mechanics for opening up this “Illusory Wall” function the same way. After the boss fight with Mohg, The Omen (not to be confused with Mohg, Lord of Blood), a Site of Grace will unlock, alongside a nearby chest. The Cathedral of the Forsaken appears to be a dead-end; after all, there was just a major boss fight, a Site of Grace to teleport away, and a chest as a reward — there’s a grand air of finality to this dungeon crawl.
Behind the Grace and the chest, however, is an intricate wall in the middle of the altar. After hitting it, the wall lowers into the ground (so it’s technically not an illusion) leading the Tarnished down a dark path: towards the Frenzied Flame Proscription.
2Frenzied Flame Proscription
Once players are in the Frenzied Flame Proscription, they are greeted by an entirely unwelcoming and unnerving environment, filled with corpses of the mysterious merchants. After a jumping puzzle to get to the bottom of the chasm, players are further confounded by a large door composed of magma, alongsideHyetta (if her storyline has been developed).
These two entities surely take up most of the attention of any Tarnished, whereas the attention should go to the archways directly across from the Site of Grace; here, there is an Illusory Wall leading to a chest. Behind the chest, however, is yet another Illusory Wall, leading directly into the Root-Facing Site of Grace (this serves as a back door into the Deeproot Depths). Given the difficulty of reaching the Frenzied Flame Proscription alongside the narrative elements related to the Chaos ending in the vicinity, these Illusory Walls are exceptionally well hidden.
1Hidden Path To The Haligtree
The sheer challenge of the Malenia boss fight drove plenty of Souls veterans to seek her out. As such, many Tarnished necessarily had to go to her home in the Haligtree.After activating The Grand Lift of Rold, players find themselves in the aptly named Hidden Path to the Haligtree.
Here, there is a circular landing between two staircases, with a broken railing on the side. Falling off the side does not lead to certain death — it leads to an invisible walkway, leading directly ahead to visible ground. Turning right and heading down the hallway, players will encounter an Illusory Wall that hides away the Silver Scarab (an item that significantly increases Item Discovery). Given that this Wall is not in a mandatory area and that the walkway itself is invisible, this is certainlytheIllusory Wall that stays hidden from most Tarnished.
