The Elden Ring Deathtouched Catacombs is a small dungeon in Stormhill, Limgrave. This optional dungeon is home to Skeletal Warriors and the Black Knife Assassin Boss. Since it is a small dungeon, you won’t get that much loot from it, but it will still reward you with valuable loot like the Assassin’s Crimson Dagger, Uchigatana Katana, Deathroot, and Bloodrose.
To help you out with completing the Deathtouched Catacombs dungeon, we’ve prepared this guide where we’ll walk you through the entire dungeon, step by step. And if you are looking for the summary, the following table can help you with location, loot, and the boss:
| Deathtouched Catacombs Overview | |
| Boss | Black Knife Assassin |
| Enemies | Skeletons |
| Notable Loot | Uchigatana |
| Assassin’s Crimson Dagger | |
| Deathroot | |
Is it too Challenging?
While it’s one of the most famous dungeons/catacombs in Elden Ring, Deathtouched Catacombs isn’t that hard to complete especially if we consider the primary reward it has to offer, the lovely Uchigatana. The weapon is still a viable option and has multiple overpowered builds associated with it.
How to Get to Deathtouched Catacombs in Elden Ring
The Deathtouched Catacombs are present in the Stormhill area of the Limgrave region.
It is located in the northern part of Limgrave. You can reach this dungeon by traveling northwest from Saintsbridge or northeast from the Warmaster’s Shack.
The door to the Deathtouched Catacombs is in the field below the eastern corner of the wrecked bridge (the one that connects to Stormveil Castle). To find the doors, be on the lookout for a white ghost that sits outside the door.
Elden Ring Deathtouched Catacombs Walkthrough
After going through the doors to the Deathtouched Catacombs, the first thing you need to do is to find the Site of Grace.
Go down the staircase up ahead to find it. Continue moving downwards, and you’ll find yourself in a room with a Summoning Pool and a locked door.
Grab the Root Resin from the floor and then go down the stairs to the left to the next area. You’ll have your first enemy encounter against two Skeletal Warriors in this area.
If you haven’t fought Skeletal Warriors before, there’s a very important mechanic you need to understand. When you first kill a Skeletal Warrior, its skeleton will break into pieces and start emitting blue light.
If left unbothered in this state, the skeleton will re-form and come back to fight you. Therefore, after killing the Skeletal Warrior, you need to attack it again when lying on the ground in pieces. Doing so will ensure that the enemy does not resurrect itself.
After defeating the two Skeletal Warriors, go down the stairs to the left and turn around. You’ll see a sheltered area below that area you were just walking on.
In this area, there will be three more Skeletal Warriors. And this time, one of them will have a bow.
Luckily, the Skeletal Archer will not attack you until you grab the Grave Glovewort, sitting in the corner to your right.
So, you can fight the two Skeletal Warriors first and then grab the Grave Glovewort and defeat the archer skeleton. After defeating the three skeletons, you can either go down the stairs or through the tunnel.
For now, proceed down the stairs to the next room. This room will have four Skeletal Warriors and three Skeletal archers on the floor above.
You can cheese the Skeletal Archers by simply staying right below the overhangs. This will block you from their field of vision, so you won’t have to worry about them while you defeat the Skeletal Warriors.
Defeat the four Skeletal Warriors and then run to the corpse that you see on the other side of the room. This corpse will have a Bloodrose. After looting the corpse, make sure to grab the Grave Violet from the statue’s right.
Now, pull on the lever to open up the locked door you saw when you first entered the dungeon. Retrace your steps until you find the tunnel which you went past earlier. This tunnel will lead you to a room filled with coffins.
Inside this room, you can find Grave Violet and Grave Glovewort. However, prepare for a fight before collecting them, as two skeletons will spawn in the room.
Take care of the skeletons and then go through the tunnel on the room’s left. This will take you to the floor, which has the Skeletal Archers.
Defeat the Skeletal Archers and grab the Uchigatana blade and the Grave Glovewort. Now, go back to the room which had the Summoning Pool and the locked door.
Since the door is now unlocked, you can go through. This door will take you to a fog gate, so you’ll need a Stonesword Key. Behind the fog gate is the boss area where you’ll fight the Black Knife Assassin.
How to Defeat the Black Knife Assassin at Deathtouched Catacombs
As expected, the Black Knife Assassin is a very nimble foe that prefers to keep its distance from the player and perform quick, lethal attacks.
Usually, the first attack of the assassin is a spin attack where they plunge their blade into the ground and use it to spin around and strike the player. Even though most of the assassin’s attacks are quick, this one is not.
This opening attack will have a long animation, giving you ample time to dodge it.
The next notable attack the assassin will likely perform is a dash attack where they dash in a specific direction and then strike with their blade. You can dodge this attack or roll, parry/block it.
Note that there is a bit of a delay between the end of the dash and the slash with the blade. This means that if you dodge too early, you might get hit anyway.
These two attacks are the only attacks you need to look out for in this fight. From here on out, the fight will be run-of-the-mill, so you won’t have to play with any unique strategy to defeat the Black Knife Assassin boss.
In this fight, you can use Lone Wolves Ashes to distract the boss while you get free hits on them, making the fight easier.
As for the weapon choice for the fight, it’s good to use a fast-attacking weapon as the Black Knife Assassin is very susceptible to being staggered.
Using such a weapon will allow you to keep the boss staggered throughout the fight, which will make this fight a walk in the park.
Once you defeat the Black Knife Assassin, you’ll be rewarded with the Assassin’s Crimson Dagger.
Before leaving the dungeon, grab the Root Resin from the back end of the room and open the chest to get a Deathroot.
