In the early stages of Elden, you will come across the Stormveil Castle, the Raya Lucaria Academy, and the Volcano Manor legacy dungeons. After you have cleared those out, your next step is going to be the Leyndell, Royal Capital Legacy dungeon located in the Altus Plateau.
Just like the previous dungeons, the Leyndell, Royal Capital also has its own set of bosses, loot, and enemies as well.
Getting to this royal city is the really hard part though, as you must have completed a certain number of prerequisites before you can access the Leyndell Royal Capital in Elden Ring.
Leyndell, Royal Capital location in Elden Ring
The Leyndell, Royal Capital Legacy Dungeon is located in the Altus Plateau region, so your first and foremost step to finding it is to access the Altus Plateau.
Before we do that though, you must know that to unlock the main royal city, you must have obtained at least two Great Runes. You will most probably have both of the Runes if you have completed most of Ranni’s questline though.
Even if you don’t have the Great Runes on you or haven’t activated them yet, then there’s no need to worry because that’s the easy part.
How to get the two Great Runes to unlock the Royal City
The two Great Runes that you must obtain to access the capital city are Rennala’s Great Rune and Godrick’s Great Rune respectively. You can acquire Rennala’s Great Rune, called the Great Rune of the Unborn, by defeating her over at the Grand Library of the Raya Lucaria Academy, Liurnia of the Lakes.
After you have acquired the Great Rune of the Undead by defeating the Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, you’ll be good to go because you do not need to activate or equip it. This Great Rune simply lets you respect your character.
The other Great Rune you must acquire is Godrick’s Great Rune. The Godrick’s Great Rune is the first one that you acquire in the game, specifically by defeating Godrick at the Stormveil Castle.
To activate Godrick’s Great Rune, you must make your way over to the Limgrave Tower Bridge. From there, you can head over to Stormhill, skipping all the enemies in the way by riding past them.
Just ahead of Stormhill, you will be able to find a portal that leads to the Divine Tower of Limgrave. You can interact with the interaction point here to activate Godrick’s Great Rune.
Once you have obtained and activated both of the aforementioned Runes, you will be set to get to the Royal Capital, but for that, you will first have to gain access to the Altus Plateau region.
How to activate the Grand Lift of Dectus to reach the Altus Plateau
You can access the Altus Plateau region by activating the Grand Lift of Dectus, which is just across the path leading northeast from the East Raya Lucaria Gate.
To activate the Grand Lift of Dectus though, you will require two halves of a Medallion. Both halves will be nearby, located at the top of two selected Forts.
The first of these Forts is Fort Haight, located in Limgrave. The second piece of the Medallion is found at Fort Faroth, located in the Dragonbarrow region of Caelid.
Once you have obtained both halves of the Medallion, you can make your way to the Grand Lift of Dectus and activate it to ascend to the Altus Plateau Region.
Once you have entered the Altus Plateau, you can make your way over to the royal city. There are only a few more steps to navigate to your desired location, which will be the fastest way to get to Leyndell, Royal Capital.
How to enter Leyndell, Royal Capital in Elden Ring
Once you have entered the Altus Plateau region, you must continue along the path that leads northeast until you come across a fork. Here, you can find the Altus Highway Junction Site of Grace, where you can take a rest before venturing further.
Reach the Outer Wall Phantom Tree Site of Grace
From the Altus Highway Junction, you must take the path east that leads towards the outer walls of the royal city. You will see a straight path leading all the way up to the gates of the outer wall.
Note that there will be a lot of enemies that will attack you as you ascend through the stairwell. You can bypass them by swiftly riding across them on your Torrent.
You will also come across two Tree Sentinels as you reach the gates at the top, but you can run past them as well, completely skipping the fight.
Enter through the large doors and continue across the path ahead until you come across a golden phantom tree. Besides this tree is the Outer Wall Phantom Tree Site of Grace, where you can take a rest to be free of the Tree Sentinels.
Leyndell, Royal Capital map fragment location
You are now in the Capital Outskirts, and you must make your way to the northeastern gates of the Royal City to access it. Before you continue though, you can make a quick detour to a monolith beside the phantom tree to obtain the map fragment of Leyndell, Royal Capital in Elden Ring.
This map will help greatly in navigating through the capital and will prove to be important when you are looking for ways to get out of the capital.
Reach the Outer Wall Battleground Site of Grace
Now you must make your way through the path that leads northeast through the Capital Outskirts. Instead of directly going through the build path, you can cling to its side from the right to stay away from enemies.
You can take the grass path uphill until you reach the corner towers, from where you can jump onto the rocks to get back on track. Continue up the stairs ahead to reach another large area with another phantom tree right in front of you.
Take the path north from the phantom tree that leads to a large gateway. You will find the Outer Wall Battleground Site of Grace at the end of it. From this Site of Grace, you can look to your right to see a small path leading up onto the hill.
You must climb onto this hill and then follow the path that leads east across a forest all the way toward the main city. You must be careful while venturing through this area, as there are several giants guarding the entrance to Leyndell here.
These giants will fire huge arrows at you, which you can dodge by moving laterally left and right. It is recommended not to fight these Leyndell giants, as they can be pretty hard to defeat – instead, it’s best to just run past them on your Torrent.
After passing the giants, you must make a right to reach the main gates of Leyndell, Royal Capital, as well as a surprise enemy – the Draconic Tree Sentinel.
Defeat the Draconic Tree Sentinel
Your only choice to access Leyndell, Royal Capital is to defeat the Draconic Tree Sentinel that guards its gates, as there is no other way past it. This is going to be a difficult fight, and we recommend that you reach at least level 95 before starting this fight.
The Draconic Tree Sentinel wields a large mace-like weapon and fights on horseback. He has pretty good attack speed as well as mobility, which makes it very hard to defeat.
Your best strategy to defeat the Draconic Tree Sentinel will be to attack him in small intervals, while always keeping on the move and staying away from its attack range. Therefore, it’s best that you hop onto your horse for this fight as well.
The boss attacks you a few times in regular intervals with his mace and shield, but can also use fireballs if you move way out of range. It’s best to stay at medium range and wait out its attacks.
Once the attacks are through, you can quickly close in and make a few quick hits and then step back. If you follow this strategy, you will stagger the Draconic Tree Sentinel and defeat it with ease, especially if you have weapons with Bleed on you.
Defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel will reward you with a Dragonclaw Shield and a Dragon Greatclaw, as well as unlocking the gates to Leyndell as the barriers will be dispelled. Make sure that you have the Great Runes on you though.
Reach the Capital Rampart Site of Grace
After you have defeated the Draconic Tree Sentinel and dispelled the barrier, you must continue along the bridge until you reach the Capital Rampart Site of Grace, where you can take a rest.
Next, head through the door ahead and take a left. At the end is an elevator, which you can use to ascend to the top. Continue across the path ahead of you, looting the corpses, and take a right at the end.
You will come across another path that leads to outside. Move along the path to the end and enter the doorway on your right. Not far ahead will be the East Capital Rampart Site of Grace.
Move across the doorway head and take the stairs downwards until you eventually, and officially, enter Leyndell, Royal Capital. You will be free to explore the royal city, and you can take a look at a few points of interest and bosses below to keep an eye out for:
- Avenue Balcony Site of Grace
- Lower Capital Church Site of Grace
- Divine Bridge Site of Grace
- Godfrey, First Elden Lord Boss
- The Erdtree Sanctuary
- Morgot, the Omen King Boss
- Mohg, the Omen Boss
