The Discarded Palace Key is one of several key items that you can find in various places all over the Lands Between in Elden Ring.
You need keys to gain access to new areas or as a quest requirement. They are mostly obtained after defeating certain enemies in the game.
The Discarded Palace Key is said to be a key discarded by the Lunar Princess Ranni, and hence the only way to obtain it would be by following Ranni’s questline.
Where to find the Discarded Palace Key in Elden Ring
You will find the Discarded Palace Key while completing Ranni’s questline in Elden Ring. This will be when you manage to gain access to the Renna’s Rise tower.
Ranni is one of the Elden Ring demigods, and you can meet with her right after you obtain your torrent in the early stages of the game. You will eventually require the Discarded Palace Key which will be necessary to progress through her questline, so it can’t be missed.
There are a certain number of prerequisites that you have to take care of before you can obtain this item though. You will have to defeat the Starscouraged Radhan to obtain the Fingerslayer Blade first, and then find the map fragment in the Ainsel River dungeon.
Once you have the two aforementioned items on you, you can begin your journey to find the Discarded Palace Key.
Talk to Ranni at Ranni’s Rise
The first step to getting the Discarded Palace Key after completing the prerequisites is to talk to Ranni at Ranni’s Rise. This tower is located at the western end of the Three Sisters region, Liurnia.
You can skip the whole journey and reach immediately by fast traveling to the Ranni’s Rise Site of Grace. If you don’t have this Site of Grace found yet, then you can find this tower by traveling northwest from the Caria Manor.
At the top of the Ranni’s Rise tower, you can meet Ranni herself. You must start a conversation with her, and then hand over the Fingerslayer Blade in exchange for a Carian Inverted Statue. Hold on to this because this is the key to unlocking the Carian Study Hall and gaining access to the Divine Tower of Liurnia in Elden Ring.
After handing over the Carian Inverted Statue, Ranni will leave. You must then make your way to Renna’s Rise. This location is just north of the Ranni’s Rise tower.
She disappears after that, and you must now head over to Renna’s Rise, another tower located a bit north of Ranni’s Rise tower. You will find a teleporter at the top of this tower, which you can use to teleport to Ainsel River Main.
You need to loot the small coffin in front of you to obtain a Miniature Ranni item before making your way to the Ainsel River Site of Grace.
Here, speak with the Miniature Ranni and go through all dialogues to get a new quest to find and defeat the Baleful Shadow in Elden Ring.
Defeat the Baleful Shadow
Navigating to the Baleful Shadow’s location may be a little bit tricky. You must first reach the Uhl Palace Ruins. You will find a purple ant attacking you, and a cave right behind it.
You must head inside this cave to reach the Ant Pit. You must take the path on your right and progress to the end to reach the Nokstella City Walls. From here, you can reach the Nokstella, Eternal City Site of Grace by leaving the area through the ladder. This ladder is right beside the gate and can be hard to spot.
Now, you must keep to the river beside the palace and make your way ahead, sprinting past the enemies that you encounter along the way. You will eventually reach a huge building with statues on either side of its main gate.
Inside this building is a lift that you need to take to reach the Nokstella Waterfall Basin Site of Grace just below. Directly in front of this Site of Grace, you will see an entrance to a large cave.
You must enter this cave and proceed to the end until you find it lit with red lighting. Note that there will be areas with fog here, which you must avoid if you don’t want to die instantly.
Once you reach the area with the red lighting, you will encounter the Baleful Shadow. This is a strong enemy, and defeating it will be quite a problem if you aren’t leveled up enough.
Your main strategy to defeat the Baleful Shadow lies in counterattacking. This foe has some quick and strong attacks, you must wait for its attacks and quickly slide behind him after you see it coming. You can deliver a quick few hits and repeat the whole process again,
Defeat the Baleful Shadow in battle and you will be rewarded with the Discarded Palace Key not long after.
Where to use the Discarded Palace Key in Elden Ring
Although you receive the Discarded Palace Key after all that trouble, you aren’t given any indication of where to actually use it. Simply put, you can use the Discarded Palace Key to unlock the chest behind Rennala in the Raya Lucaria Academy.
You will have to play through Ranni’s questline until you have defeated Rennala and unlocked the Raya Lucaria Academy before you can put this item to good use.
Inside the Academy, you must first reach the Raya Lucaria Academy Grand Library Site of Grace first. Right beside it is Rennala, and behind her, you can find the chest in question. Use the Discarded Palace Key to unlock the chest. You will receive a Dark Moon Ring from this chest, which you can place on Ranni’s Doll in the Cathedral of Manus Celes.
Placing the Dark Moon Ring in the doll’s hand will reward you with the Dark Moon Greatsword.
