I’m watching the newest Retry Elden Ring episode (Early Access) and they are in the firstt legacy dungeon–Stormveil Castle. I’m watching Rory struggle, and I remember how hard I found it in my first playthrough. Of course, there are going to be *SPOILERS* about the legacy dungeons in the game. It’s classic Dark Souls, and it’s gureling as fuck. The common soldiers of the area are hard enough, but then there are the Banished Knights who are nails hard. As indicated by their names, they were not meant to be there. They were banished from elsewhere, and they are this game’s equivalent of Black Knights from the Souls series.
Honestly, I skipped most of them the first time around because I was such a squishy little caster. They do whirlwinds that do massive health, poise, and stamina damage.
I loved the open world of Elden Ring, but I felt at home when I was in the legacy dungeons. This was my jam and where I’d spent thousands of hours (collectively). Stormveil Castle is so classic, it made me nostalgic. When I wasn’t cursing under my breath. There are fewer bonfires, er, Sites of Grace, but more shortcuts. There were branching paths that you had to make choices, and each one was difficult.
I was messaging with Ian about it, and he said that Raya Lucaria (the second legacy dungeon) might be his favorite so far (he’s less than halfway through the game). I had forgotten about Raya Lucaria, which is wizard school, by the way. It was really difficult for me the first time as a sqkishy caster, but it’s fucking breathtaking.
It’s magical, indeed, with the stone-faced wizards. The thing about it, though, is that you can miss half the level. The first time I made it to the final boss, I thought, “This dungeon is rather short. Huh.”
I don’t remember how I found out–oh, right. There’s an NPC, Thops, who asks you to find him a Glintstone key s o he can get back into Raya Lucaria. I had not found the extra key by the time I met the big boss of the dungeon. I Googled it, and it said to go up on the roofs…what??? You can go up on the roofs?
You most certainly can. Not only that, but there are other little areas that you can reach if you roof-hop. I can’t tell you how much my mind was blown when I realized taht there was another level to the level. I can’t say for sure, obviously, but roughly a third of the level is up on the roofs. And, yes, I found Thops’ key on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Oh, also, there is a lower level, too. There’s not much there, but it does contain a really good armor and a secret that you can find out ahead of time if you talk to Patches. If you give Thops the key, you will find his body here later. It’s rather tragic, but then again, so are most of the NPC questlines.