Elden Ring Volcano Manor Walkthrough: Getting In, Tanith's Contracts

Volcano Manor is the legacy dungeon of Mt. Gelmir, the volcano on the western edge of the Altus Plateau, and the seat of Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, one of the game's shardbearers. It plays nothing like Stormveil Castle or the Academy of Raya Lucaria. When you first walk in there is almost nothing to explore. The manor opens through conversation and errands: you join Lady Tanith's Recusants, carry out assassination contracts across the map, and only then, or by finding one hidden wall, reach the prison town below, the Temple of Eiglay and the lord of the house himself.

All of it is optional. Rykard is not needed for any ending, but the manor holds a Great Rune, a Remembrance, Ghiza's Wheel, the Erdtree Seal and the heaviest armor set in the game, and five NPC questlines pass through its drawing room. The one hard rule: finish those questlines before you kill Rykard. Once he dies the manor empties, its shop closes and the unclaimed rewards wait for New Game Plus.

How to get to Volcano Manor

There are three ways in, and they deliver you to different parts of the dungeon.

Rya's invitation

Rya waits northwest of the Laskyar Ruins Site of Grace, and the bird's-eye telescope above the ruins picks her out. She wants her necklace back. Blackguard Big Boggart has it and is cooking at the Boilprawn Shack to the northwest; he sells it for 1,000 Runes, and killing him for it instead locks you out of his own story. Hand the necklace over and Rya gives you an Invitation to Volcano Manor and moves on. She turns up again on the Altus Plateau: on the left by a stairway at the top of the Grand Lift of Dectus, or inside the Lux Ruins beside the Erdtree-Gazing Hill grace if you climbed the Ruin-Strewn Precipice instead. Take her hand and she warps you straight to the manor, unlocking its Site of Grace on arrival.

Across Mt. Gelmir on foot

From the Altus Plateau, ride north through the valley to a wooden bridge with a Spiritspring beside it, take the spring up the cliff, and head west to the Bridge of Iniquity Site of Grace. Keep west along the cliffs until a rope ladder drops you at the first grace in Mt. Gelmir. The First Mt. Gelmir Campsite sits directly east of the manor's front door, and from the Ninth Mt. Gelmir Campsite the way is south and west past the rock formation. The region's map fragment is at the monolith by the Road of Iniquity grace, and the Hermit Village lies southeast of the manor.

The Abductor Virgin shortcut

Take the great lift at the Academy of Raya Lucaria to the bottom, pick up the Longtail Cat Talisman there, and let the Abductor Virgin kill you with its grab. You wake in the Subterranean Inquisition Chamber under the manor, and a pair of Abductor Virgins block the exit toward Mt. Gelmir. This is the earliest way in, and the enemies down here are well above a Liurnia-level character, so it suits a return trip better than a first visit. With the talisman equipped, turn right on arrival and drop down beside the lavafall to reach the Temple of Eiglay in minutes.

Joining the Recusants

Tanith sits by the fireplace next to the Site of Grace with an armored knight at her side. Agree to join Volcano Manor and she hands over the Drawing-Room Key, which opens the doors along the side hall. If Rykard is already dead when you arrive, she is gone and the key lies on her chair.

From her throne, turn into the lobby. The second door on the left is the drawing room, where Rya, Knight Bernahl (now calling himself Recusant Bernahl, and still selling Ashes of War) and Diallos wait, and where the table holds the Letter from Volcano Manor and the Recusant Finger used to invade. The first door on the right is a small room with a corpse below an inverted painting; the wall behind it is an illusory wall and the only way underground. Once the first contract is done, Patches takes a seat by the main door, which makes him and Bernahl the manor's two merchants. Upstairs, the dining hall on the first floor is guarded by the phantom Inquisitor Ghiza, who only uses physical attacks but causes bleeding; he drops Ghiza's Wheel, and a corpse in the hall's corner carries a Smithing Stone 6.

Tanith's contracts

Each letter on the drawing-room table names a Tarnished and puts a red mark on your map. Ride there, touch the invasion sign, and kill the target in their world. Report back to Tanith for the reward, then talk to Rya, Bernahl and Diallos, because each of their stories advances one step per contract. The third letter is a Red Letter, and its target is on the Mountaintops of the Giants, so it cannot be finished until Morgott, the Omen King has fallen.

Two side contracts come from the same room. After the second target, Bernahl hands you a letter for Vargram the Raging Wolf and Errant Sorcerer Wilhelm, who fight together at a cathedral on the west side of Leyndell; Bernahl joins the invasion, so pick one and let him hold the other. Winning pays Gelmir's Fury and the Raging Wolf set. Patches, once he is sitting by the door, sends you after Great Horned Tragoth through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice Overlook grace, and that invasion is how the Bull-Goat Set and the Magma Whip Candlestick are earned.

Rya's own thread runs alongside. After the first contract she appears in her true serpent form and gives her real name, Zoraya; after the second, exhaust her dialogue and speak to Tanith about her. Bringing her the Serpent's Amnion from the Temple of Eiglay altar makes her leave the drawing room, Tanith offers a Tonic of Forgetfulness, and Rya is found again past a pool of lava beyond the temple. Killing her, dosing her or simply walking away decides her ending, and every branch pays Daedicar's Woe. Reach her hiding place before Rykard dies or the story cuts off.

The hidden path to Prison Town Church

Strike the wall behind the inverted painting in the first room on the right and a passage opens. Serpent Snails hold the tunnel and the broken cell beyond it, where a Budding Horn lies beside them. A side passage to the right is a dead end with a corpse carrying the Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook [21]; come back, clear the last two snails, and take the stairs that have appeared in the dark room. A Bloodhound Knight prowls the basement at the bottom; ranged attacks handle it, or run past. Its corpse gives Bloodhound Claws, a Fireproof Dried Liver lies nearby, and the gate on the right leads to a hallway whose stairs on the left climb into Prison Town Church and its Site of Grace.

Prison Town is the manor's true middle. A cell in the southeastern corner holds the Erdtree Seal, a corpse in the church area carries the Crimson Amber Medallion +1, and the Man-Serpents patrolling these roads are the only source of the Magma Blade. A balcony hung with two small cages hides the switches for a cage lift: sending it down starts a fight with an enraged Magma Wyrm, sending it up carries you on through the town. A Teardrop Scarab in the prison church pays a Somber Smithing Stone 5, and a second one waits at the edge of the lava pool under the bridge.

The Guest Hall and the Temple of Eiglay

From the Prison Town grace, pull the lever on the bridge to the right first; it is the direct shortcut to the temple boss. Follow the wall to a staircase where the path splits three ways. The bridge straight ahead leads to a building where a Man-Serpent guards a locked door; take the ladder to the right instead, cross the roof, drop onto the platform at the far end and go through the room to a window. Jumping out lands you at the Guest Hall Site of Grace, with Black Dumplings scattered on the stairway before it. From the Guest Hall, two lefts and a flight of stairs lead outside; the first ladder on the left goes to the roof, and a drop down to the right ends in a room with an Omenkiller and the Albinauric Staff and Mask. North of the Guest Hall, the manor's only Imp Statue Seal covers a bridge, and the room behind it holds a Seedbed Curse for the Dung Eater.

Drop to the lava-filled lower area, head east, climb the stairs on the right to a rocky platform with another Man-Serpent, and ride the elevator at its far end up to the Temple of Eiglay. Godskin Noble waits inside and buffs at half health into a rolling attack, so a Mimic Tear to split his attention is the standard answer. He drops 50,000 Runes, the Godskin Stitcher and the Noble Presence incantation, and the Serpent's Amnion sits on the altar behind him. A Somber Smithing Stone 7 lies on a ledge beyond the temple guarded by an Abductor Virgin. The temple's own lift is dead when you first touch it; the pressure-plate elevator to the left of the grace, a drop from the railing of the long staircase, and a route around the lava pit and across a bridge to a tower bring you to the machinery that switches it on.

Reaching Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy

There are two ways into the arena. Finish Juno Hoslow and Tanith sends you there herself. Otherwise walk: from the temple, take the elevator to the right of the altar, sprint to the middle of the balcony and look over the edge for a path up a lava hillside, past an Abductor Virgin, to an arch with a gateway. The route described on the Rykard page is the same climb from the other side: right side of the mountain, across the magma river, through a small door and up a ladder, left along the corridor and through the first door on the right onto a balcony with the portal. The Serpent-Hunter lies on your left just before the boss, and the fight is built around it: its thrusts throw a gust that reaches him across the lava.

The fight has two phases, the God-Devouring Serpent and then Rykard himself. Winning pays 130,000 Runes, Rykard's Great Rune and the Remembrance of the Blasphemous, which Enia turns into the Blasphemous Blade or Rykard's Rancor. Return to the grace afterward and Tanith is eating the corpse. Kill her and her knight steps in; beating him gives the Aspects of the Crucible incantation. Leave her be, hand over the Dancer's Castanets Patches gave you, rest, and her clothing is left behind. Diallos moves on to Jarburg, and Bernahl waits to invade in Crumbling Farum Azula with the Devourer's Scepter, the Blasphemous Claw and the Beast Champion Set on him.

Volcano Manor loot checklist

Volcano Manor FAQ

Is Volcano Manor optional?

Yes. Rykard is one of the shardbearers you can skip, and nothing in the manor gates the route through Leyndell. Skipping it means giving up his Great Rune and Remembrance, the contract rewards and everything on the checklist above. The dungeons guide places it among the six legacy dungeons of the base game.

Can I still get in after killing Rykard?

The building stays open and the hidden path still works, but Tanith has left, the key is on her chair, the shop is gone and the NPCs have moved on to the last scenes of their stories. Any contract you did not finish first is lost until New Game Plus.

What order should I do things in?

Arrive, join, take the first two contracts whenever you like, and speak to everyone in the drawing room after each. Clear Leyndell and Morgott, collect the Red Letter, kill Juno Hoslow, then let Tanith send you to Rykard. Do the hidden path and the Temple of Eiglay in between, since Rya's Serpent's Amnion comes from there. The Elden Ring wiki hub lists where this sits in the wider progression route.