Look, let’s be real. Entering the Realm of Shadow for the first time is a total nightmare for your internal compass. You step out of that cocoon, look up at the Scadutree, and realize the map is just a gray, featureless void of nothingness. It’s intimidating. Honestly, it’s even worse than the base game because the verticality in this DLC is absolutely unhinged. You might think you're standing right on top of a marker, but really, the thing you’re looking for is three hundred feet below you in a ravine you didn't even know existed.
Finding Shadow of the Erdtree map fragments is the very first thing you need to do. If you don't, you’re basically playing a 100-hour game of "blind man's bluff" with Messmer’s fire knights. The map in this expansion doesn't just reveal terrain; it reveals the layers. This place is like a lasagna of despair. You've got the Gravesite Plain, sure, but then there's the Scadu Altus, the Rauh Ruins, and the Southern Shore, all stacked and twisted around each other.
The mechanic is the same as the base game—look for those little stone obelisks on the "blank" map—but the pathing to get to them is way more cryptic this time around.
The Gravesite Plain Fragment: Your First Breath of Fresh Air
You get this one almost immediately. It’s hard to miss, but in the panic of being chased by a giant flaming basket-man (the Furnace Golems), some people still manage to breeze right past it. As soon as you spawn into the Gravesite Plain, you just head north-northeast. You’ll pass through some ruins, see some ghostly headstones, and the obelisk is right there in the middle of the road before you hit the Three-Path Cross site of grace.
It’s a relief. Suddenly, the jagged cliffs and the massive bridge leading to Enir-Ilim start to make sense. But don't get comfortable. This is the easiest one you’ll find. From here on out, FromSoftware decided to make you work for your geography.
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Scadu Altus and the "Hidden" Paths
Getting to the Scadu Altus map fragment is where the game starts messing with your head. You’d think you could just walk there. You can't. Well, you can, but you have to go through Castle Ensis and beat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight. She’s a wall. A magic-flinging, fire-swapping wall. Once you’re through her boss room, you emerge into the high plateau of the Altus.
The fragment is sitting north of the Highroad Cross site of grace. If you’re trying to skip Rellana—which you can actually do by using the Spirit Spring behind the Elder's Hovel—you’ll end up coming at this from the side. It’s a bit of a trek, but it saves you the headache of fighting a Carian princess if you’re under-leveled. The Scadu Altus is huge. It’s the hub of the entire map. Without this fragment, you won't understand how the Shadow Keep connects to basically everything else. It’s the piece of the puzzle that makes the "world-tree" logic finally click.
Why the Southern Shore Fragment is a Total Pain
Okay, this one is genuinely annoying. To get the Southern Shore map fragment (the blueish, coastal area at the bottom of the map), you have to go on a literal subterranean hike. You start at the Castle Front site of grace in Scadu Altus, head southeast down a path that looks like it’s going nowhere, and eventually find a cave called the Dragon’s Pit.
Kill the boss at the end. It’s a Magma Wyrm variant, nothing you haven't seen. But then—and this is the part everyone misses—you have to jump down a literal bottomless pit at the back of the arena. You won't die. I promise. It leads to the Jagged Peak and the path toward the Cerulean Coast.
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Follow the coast south. Keep going. Past the giant sleeping animals and the blue flowers. The obelisk is right there on the main path. Finding this fragment reveals the layout of the Fissure and the path to St. Trina. Without it, you're just wandering through a sea of blue flowers wondering why the boss music is getting louder.
Rauh Ruins: Verticality at Its Worst
The Rauh Ruins fragment is tucked away in the northwest. To get there, you have to go through the Shadow Keep. Specifically, the "back way" or through the main plaza and toward the West Rampart. There’s a long bridge guarded by a fire knight that leads into a forest area.
This place is a maze. It’s full of rot, pests, and those annoying bird-warriors. The fragment is located at the base of the ruins, near the Rauh Ancient Ruins East site of grace. The tricky part isn't finding the stone; it's navigating the two different levels of the ruins. The map makes it look like one flat area, but the Rauh Ruins are split into a "base" level and an "upper" level. If you’re on the top, you can see the fragment, but you can’t get to it. You have to find the elevator or the specific ramp that leads down into the marshy bottom.
The Abyss: Don't Forget the Woods
Abyssal Woods. This is the "horror" section of the DLC. You can't even use Torrent here. The horse is literally too scared to be summoned. To get this fragment, you have to find a hidden path in the Shadow Keep’s main library (the Specimen Storehouse). There’s a coffin you can hide in—classic Dark Souls logic—that takes you down to a lower river.
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Follow that river all the way through the catacombs, beat the boss (Jori, Elder Inquisitor), and you’ll emerge into the Abyssal Woods. The map fragment is at the Woodland Depths. Honestly, the map doesn't help much here because the area is shrouded in fog and "stealth" mechanics involving those guys with the winter lantern heads, but it’s better than nothing. Having the fragment at least shows you where Midra’s Manse is so you can finish the area and get the heck out of there.
Common Misconceptions About the Map Obelisks
- They aren't always on roads. In the base game, map fragments were almost always on the main golden path. In Shadow of the Erdtree, some are tucked behind ruins or at the end of long, winding ravines that look like dead ends.
- The "little icon" isn't always accurate. Because of the verticality, the little telescope icon on your gray map might look like it's right in front of you, but it could be 200 feet above you on a cliffside. Always look for a path that slopes up or down before assuming your game is glitched.
- You don't need all of them to beat the game. You can technically finish the DLC without a single fragment if you’re a literal god at navigation. But for us mere mortals, the fragments are essential for finding Scadutree Fragments, which are the real "level up" mechanic of the DLC.
Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough
If you’re currently staring at a gray screen and feeling overwhelmed, do exactly this. First, stop trying to explore every nook and cranny before you have the local map. It’s a waste of time. Ride Torrent, ignore the enemies, and look for the faint "pillar" icon on the blank map.
Prioritize the Scadu Altus fragment immediately after Gravesite Plain. It opens up the center of the world. If you hit a wall like Rellana and can't progress, use the Spirit Spring jump north of the Fort of Reprimand to bypass her and grab the map. This gives you access to higher-level upgrade materials and more Scadutree Fragments, making the boss fight easier when you eventually go back.
Lastly, check your "inventory" of map icons. If you see a fragment icon in an area that looks unreachable, look for a cave or a hole in the ground nearby. In the Realm of Shadow, the shortest distance between two points is almost never a straight line. It's usually a tunnel, a hidden ladder, or a leap of faith into a mysterious coffin.
Go grab the Scadu Altus piece first. It changes the entire experience from "lost in a forest" to "planning a siege." Everything else becomes much easier once you can actually see the shape of the land you're trying to conquer.
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