Dungeons

Optional dungeons in Octopath Traveler are not hidden so much as unmarked. They sit off the side of travel routes you already use, they hand out unique weapons you cannot get anywhere else, and the game never once tells you which of them you are ready for. That last part is the only thing that matters, because walking into a level 50 Danger Zone at level 30 is a wasted evening.

So this page is ordered by Danger Zone, the level band the game assigns to each dungeon, from the three you can clear almost immediately to the four that are effectively endgame. Orsterra has 15 optional dungeons and we have mapped 14 of them. Full directions for each are on our optional dungeons guide.

Every optional dungeon by Danger Zone

Danger Zone	Dungeon	Where to start looking	Boss	What it pays
15	Untouched Sanctum	East of the North Cobbleston Gap	None recorded	Chests only
15	Path of Beasts	West S’warkii Trail, a small path southeast on your right from the trail start	None recorded	Chests only
15	The Whistlewood	North from North Atlasdam Flats, then the northern path at the fork	None recorded	Chests only
20	Carrion Caves	South Bolderfall Pass, northern exit, over the bridge, then downhill	Heavenwing	Capturable with Beast Lore
20	Twin Falls	South Clearbrook Traverse, north from the signpost pointing at the Sunlands	Monarch	Capturable with Beast Lore
25	The Hollow Throne	Western Noblecourt Flats, northwest from the ruins save point	Throne Guardian	The Moonblade
30	Farshore	East Saintbridge Traverse, east side, then south from the save point	None recorded	Chests only
30	Derelict Mine	Quarrycrest, or the South Quarrycrest Pass entrance	Manymaws	The Carnage Blade, and capturable afterwards
35	Tomb of the Imperator	Western Stillsnow Wilds, along the Victors Hollow Trail, east from the save point	Behemoth	Gaolbreaker
45	Maw of the Ice Dragon	Southern Northreach Wilds, west from the settlement sign	Dreadwolf	The Forbidden Dagger
50	Loch of the Lost Kings	West Grandport Coast save point, north over the wooden bridge, then west	Tyrannodrake	Improved Bow of the Eagle, and capturable
50	Marsalim Catacombs	Eastern Wellsprings Sands entrance, south, then west at the signpost	Lord of the Sands	Master’s Spear
50	Refuge Ruins	North Riverford Traverse save point, east, then east again at the first fork	Gigantes	Enchanted Rod and an Energizing Pomegranate, and capturable
50	Everhold Tunnels	The Shrine of the Runeblade via West Everhold Pass, then the secret pass below the chest	Devourer of Dreams	The Bright Stone, and capturable

Four of the fourteen have no boss recorded on our pages at all, which is worth knowing before you plan a trip: the Untouched Sanctum, Path of Beasts, The Whistlewood and Farshore are chest runs. Everything else ends in a fight.

The early three: level 15

The Untouched Sanctum, Path of Beasts and The Whistlewood all sit at Danger Zone 15, which puts them within reach of a party that has finished two or three opening chapters. None of them has a boss at the end, so they are pure looting, and they are the right places to learn how the game signposts a dungeon entrance: a small unmarked branch off a named travel route, usually a single screen from a signpost.

The Whistlewood is the clearest example. Start at North Atlasdam Flats, head north, and you reach a fork; the northern branch is the dungeon and the other is the road. That is the shape of almost every entry on this list.

The capture window: levels 20 to 30

Carrion Caves and Twin Falls are the first two dungeons with named bosses, and they are also the first two you can capture. Heavenwing at Carrion Caves is weak to Polearm, Bow and Darkness. Monarch at Twin Falls takes the same spread, Polearm, Bow and Dark. Neither gives a weapon, so the reward for both is the beast itself, which means H'aanit needs to be in the party for the trip to be worth making at all. Our Beast Lore guide covers how capture works.

The Hollow Throne at Danger Zone 25 is the first dungeon that pays a weapon. Throne Guardian takes Sword, Dagger, Staff, Ice and Wind, which is a wide enough spread that almost any party can break it, and drops the Moonblade.

The Derelict Mine, the one worth a detour

Of the fourteen, the Derelict Mine is the one most people put off and the one that repays going early. It sits at Danger Zone 30 in the Cliftlands, reached from the mining town of Quarrycrest, which is where Chapter 2 takes both Cyrus and Tressa, so you will pass it on the main path anyway. There is also a back route in through the South Quarrycrest Pass.

The draw is the Carnage Blade off Manymaws at the end, which lowers the physical attack of whatever it hits and is one of the strongest weapons in the game. The mine also holds a Conscious Stone, which stops a character fainting, an Inspiriting Plum (M), an Olive of Life (L) and a Wind Soulstone (L).

Manymaws is weak to Swords, Axes and Fire and has a small health pool, so nothing about the damage is difficult. What decides it is Foul Odour, a status attack that drops one of five ailments on everybody at once. Alfyn is the counter, since he shrugs it off and his Boosting Balm removes it from anyone else. Then, once it is dead, Manymaws starts appearing as a 3% random encounter in the mine, and that is your window to capture it with H'aanit.

The mine also has the fiddliest chest in the bucket, in the bottom right of the map with no path to it. Get onto the platform above it and look for a small crack in the wall next to a flaming torch; that hidden entrance drops you at the chest. Every enemy in the mine, its weaknesses and its drop rate is tabled on our Derelict Mine guide, and the boss itself is covered on our Manymaws page.

The four at level 50

Loch of the Lost Kings, Marsalim Catacombs, Refuge Ruins and Everhold Tunnels all sit at Danger Zone 50, which makes them a single block of endgame content rather than four separate goals. Three of the four bosses are capturable, and Marsalim Catacombs is the exception.

The weakness spreads are worth reading before you commit a party. Tyrannodrake takes Axe, Staff, Ice and Wind. Gigantes takes Dagger, Bow, Ice and Wind. Devourer of Dreams takes only Sword and Light, which is the narrowest spread in the bucket and the one most likely to leave you unable to break anything. Lord of the Sands is narrower still at Polearm and Bow, and pays the Master's Spear for it.

Everhold Tunnels is the only one with a genuinely awkward entrance. You have to find the Shrine of the Runeblade first, heading toward the West Everhold Pass, then go south from the shrine and locate a secret pass below a chest. Our shrines guide covers finding the shrine itself.

The Moldering Ruins, which is not optional

The Moldering Ruins is on this page but not in the table above, because it is not one of the fourteen. It is a story-adjacent area and clearing it is what unlocks Cyrus Chapter 4, which makes it the one dungeon here you cannot simply skip.

It also carries two side quests. Looting Grave Robber is a duel against a Grave Robber with a strength of 7 who fights defensively and buffs himself; he is weak to Axe and Polearm, so H'aanit or Olberic settles it, and it pays 4,000 leaves and an Energizing Pomegranate (L). Ashlan the Beastmaster (III) is the chest route through the rest of the ruins.

There are five chests along that route. From the brazier, head west through the archway, then right and north for an Inspiriting Plum (M). Back to the brazier and up the north stairs is where the Grave Robber ambushes you, and a chest near that fight holds a Shadow Soulstone (L). Southeast from there, a detour along the northern dirt trail gives a Healing Grape Bunch. Back on the main trail heading west, a hidden opening at the end of the eastward path holds a Thunderstorm Amulet. And down the stairs in the Vivifying Stone area, southeast, sits a locked chest holding the Hypnos Crown that only Therion can open, which is why he has to be in the party if you want to finish the area in one visit.

Opening that last chest completes the area for 11,000 leaves, a Monster Trainer's Hat and a Slippery Nut (L). The full route with the enemy table is on our Moldering Ruins walkthrough, and our purple chests guide covers the locked chests generally.

How to plan a dungeon trip

Three things decide whether a dungeon run is worth making. First, is the Danger Zone within about five levels of your party, because the bands are honest and the enemies scale with them. Second, does the boss's weakness spread match what you are carrying, since a narrow spread like Devourer of Dreams' Sword and Light will simply stall you. Third, is there a party member the dungeon specifically requires: H'aanit for any capture, Therion for a locked chest, Alfyn for Foul Odour.

If you are short on levels rather than gear, our grinding spots and XP farming guides will close the gap faster than another dungeon run will.