You start in Limgrave. It’s huge. You look at that foggy, brown fragment of a map and think, "Okay, I can handle this." Then you find a Map Stele. Suddenly, the fog lifts, and you realize you haven’t even seen ten percent of the world. By the time you’ve actually put together a completed Elden Ring map, the scale of the Lands Between feels less like a video game world and more like a geography project that went off the rails in the best way possible.
It’s daunting. Honestly, FromSoftware is kind of trolling us with the verticality. You see a mountain; you can’t just walk up it. You have to find a well, go underground, ride a spiritual elevator, and then realize the place you wanted to go is actually accessible through a hidden cave in a completely different province.
The Reality of the Completed Elden Ring Map
Getting the full picture isn't just about picking up little paper scraps. It’s about understanding that the map is a liar. It shows you 2D space, but Elden Ring is a 3D nightmare. Take Liurnia of the Lakes. On a flat map, it looks like a big soggy pond. In reality? It’s a multi-layered cake of tragedy. You have the sunken academy at the bottom, the village of the Albinaurics tucked under a massive plateau, and the Moonlight Altar sitting on top of everything—a place you can't even reach until you've basically finished a 20-hour side quest for a four-armed blue doll.
Most players miss the Consecrated Snowfield entirely. They get to the Mountaintops of the Giants, see the fire, and think they’re at the end. But without the two halves of the Haligtree Secret Medallion, your map will always have that giant, glaring white void on the left side. It’s the ultimate "hidden in plain sight" moment.
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The Underground Problem
Let's talk about the Siofra River. The first time you step onto that elevator in the Mistwood, you think it’s going to be a basement. Then the music kicks in. The stars appear—underground stars, which shouldn't exist. You realize there is an entire second map layered beneath the first one.
A truly completed Elden Ring map includes:
- Siofra River and Mohgwyn Palace (the blood-soaked grind spot we all love).
- Ainsel River and the Lake of Rot (wear your mushroom armor, seriously).
- Deeproot Depths, which is basically the roots of the world tree itself.
If you don't have these toggled on your interactive map or tracked in your head, you're missing half the lore and about 40% of the upgrade materials. You can't just look at the surface. You have to look down.
Why the Map Fragments Are Only the Beginning
Collecting the fragments is the easy part. You find the stone pillar, you grab the item, the color fills in. Great. But that doesn't show you the icons. It doesn't show you the 52 different Evergaols or the catacombs hidden behind an illusory wall that looks exactly like every other wall in the game.
The community has spent years perfecting the completed Elden Ring map through sites like MapGenie or the Fextralife Wiki. These aren't just tools; they are survival kits. Because let's be real: nobody is finding the path to the Three Fingers without a guide or a very lucky fall. The game is designed to be shared. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the mastermind behind this, basically expects us to talk to each other to fill in the blanks.
The DLC Expansion: Shadow of the Erdtree
Everything got weirder in 2024. When the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion dropped, the "completed" map grew by about 30%. But the Land of Shadow is even more vertical than the base game. You see the Rauh Ruins? You think you can just ride Torrent over there? Think again. You have to find a specific cave system in the Scadu Altus that looks like a dead end.
Mapping the DLC is a lesson in frustration and awe. There are map fragments guarded by high-level enemies that will one-shot you if you’re just trying to sightsee. It makes the act of "completing" the map a combat challenge in itself.
Navigating the Points of Interest
A map isn't just lines and colors. It's a checklist. If you’re looking at your screen and you don't see the following areas filled with icons, your map isn't done.
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- The Sites of Grace: There are over 300 in the base game alone. If your map looks sparse, you’ve missed a cave. Guaranteed.
- The Great Runes: There are six main ones, plus the optional ones like Malenia’s (good luck with that) and the ones found in the DLC.
- The Divine Towers: Each Great Rune has a corresponding tower. Some are easy to find. The Isolated Divine Tower? You have to get teleported there by a trapped chest in Leyndell. It's ridiculous.
Think about the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. It’s a sewer. It’s miserable. It’s arguably the most complex 3D space FromSoftware has ever built. Mapping it in your head is a rite of passage. If you haven't been lost in the pipes, have you even played Elden Ring?
Missing Icons and Hidden Paths
Did you know there’s a shack in the middle of nowhere that only sells things at night? Or a merchant hidden behind a waterfall in the Siofra River? These don't show up on the basic map fragments. You have to physically walk over the spot for the icon to pop, or manually place a marker.
A lot of people think they have a completed Elden Ring map because the geography is filled in. But if you haven't found the Dragon Communion altars or the various paintings that lead to ghost rewards, the map is just a pretty picture. It’s not a tool yet.
The Psychological Impact of a Full Map
There’s a weird feeling that happens when the last piece of the puzzle clicks into place. You look at the Lands Between—from the bottom of the Mohgwyn Palace to the top of the Flame Peak—and you realize how interconnected it all is.
You can see the Erdtree from almost everywhere. That’s your north star. But once the map is finished, the Erdtree stops being a mystery and starts being a landmark. You start to see the distances. You realize that Caelid isn't actually that far from Limgrave, it's just separated by a wall of fire and rot.
Don't Trust the Roads
Roads in Elden Ring are traps. They are where the Sentinels live. They are where the Night's Cavalry spawns. If you want to actually complete your map, you have to go off-road. You have to jump across the spirit springs. You have to look for the little "jellyfish graveyards" that usually signal a hidden path or a cliffside drop.
Honestly, the map is more about what isn't drawn. The map doesn't show you the teleporters. It doesn't show you the "Four Belfries" and where they lead. You could have a 100% "filled" map and still not know that one of those belfries takes you back to the very beginning of the game to get your revenge on the Grafted Scion.
Actionable Steps for Completionists
If you’re staring at a half-empty screen and want that 100% completion feel, stop wandering aimlessly. It’s time to be systematic. The Lands Between doesn't reward the disorganized.
- Check the Map Steles first: Look for the little "obelisk" icons on the greyed-out parts of your map. These indicate where the physical map fragments are located. Ride there, grab it, and die if you have to—the map stays unlocked.
- The "Bird's Eye" Telescopes: Use these. They are scattered around and give you a zoomed-out view of the local geography. They often highlight buildings or ruins that aren't clearly marked on the parchment map.
- Follow the Light: The "Guidance of Grace" (those gold golden streaks from the bonfires) usually points toward the main boss of the area. If you want to find the map fragments, you often have to go away from the light.
- Underground Wells: There are three main elevators in Limgrave, Liurnia, and Caelid. If you haven't taken all three, your map is incomplete.
- The Haligtree Medallion: Go to the Village of the Albinaurics in Liurnia. Hit the pot. Talk to the guy. Then go to Castle Sol in the Mountaintops. If you don't do this, you miss the hardest boss in the game and a massive chunk of the northern map.
- Lanya’s Quest and Volcano Manor: Some map areas, like the interior of Mt. Gelmir, are a nightmare to navigate without the shortcuts unlocked through the Volcano Manor quests.
Getting a completed Elden Ring map is the only way to truly see the scale of what FromSoftware built. It’s a testament to level design that even after 200 hours, you can open that screen, look at a tiny corner of the Altus Plateau, and realize, "Wait, I’ve never actually been in that building." Go find it. The icons are waiting.
Once you have all the fragments, your next real task is hunting the Bell Bearings. These are crucial because they let you buy infinite smithing stones at the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold. Check the mines—marked as little orange-rimmed black holes on your map—to find the miners who hold these. Every single "hole" on the map is a dungeon. If it’s orange and black, it’s a mine with upgrade materials. If it’s not cleared, your map isn't really done. Go down there and get those stones.