How to find and complete the Abandoned Cave in Elden Ring

One of the highest priority items you can find in Elden Ring is the Gold Scarab, an item that boosts your Rune gain passively. It’s a talisman, so it can easily fit onto most builds as a way to boost your income while exploring or delving into dungeons. Finding it, however, isn’t easy — you have to navigate the Abandoned Cave, a perilous dungeon filled with Scarlet Rot and poisonous foes. Here’s how to find and complete the Abandoned Cave in Elden Ring.

First, some prep-work. Ensure you have plenty of Poison and Scarlet Rot curing items — Neutralizing Boluses and Preserving Boluses are what you’re after. If you don’t have a steady supply of those, you can always equip a Sacred Seal and use the Flame, Cleanse Me! incantation to instantly clear your affliction. Finally, make sure your Ashes and weapons are leveled as high as you can get them for the boss.

Getting there

Make your way to the Smoldering Wall Rite of Grace — this is our start point. Head due east on Torrent, avoiding the bipedal hounds and the Abductor Virgin. Carefully head towards the cliff — you should see a giant branch that extends out towards a cave. Walk across the branch and tag the Site of Grace in the Abandoned Cave. Ready your Scarlet Rot healing options and jump down the hole.

Scarlet Rot, and lots of it

Immediately race towards the Abductor corpse located on a tiny island located above, and cure your Scarlet Rot. You can see an item off in a side passage — that’s Dragonwound Grease, and it’s up to you if it’s worth the trip. Turn on your lantern and head to the west down the tunnel. You should see a multiplayer pool icon, which you can activate before proceeding.

Before you leap, look down and to the right, over the cliff. You should see an enemy lounging around — jump attack onto him and dispose of him. Head down the passage and hit your target lock. You will lock onto a diseased rat, but off in the distance is also another poisonous enemy. After disposing of them, continue on, being mindful of the two additional diseased rats lurking in the corner.

The final stretch

At the end of this tunnel is a bunch of Miranda plants — these inflict Scarlet Rot instead of poison. Instead of fighting them, dash to the right and jump up on the ledge, pictured above — on this cliff are two poisonous enemies that were waiting to snipe at you. From here, you can decide if you want to fight the Mirandas or move on. If you choose to move on, head down the tunnel near where you jumped up to find the Cleanrot Knights.

These knights are tough, but only one is spawned in at first. Immediately after entering, summon an Ashes ally — if only to distract one of the knights while you focus on the other. These knights are easily stance-broken, simply dodge into their attacks and circle behind or hit them with a heavy-enough weapon. Neither of them have much health, but they do significant damage. Be mindful of the arena as well — part of it is covered in Scarlet Rot, and can be problematic if your resources are low. Your reward for clearing this dungeon is the Gold Scarab, a super-useful item that boosts your Rune gain passively, and slots into a Talisman slot.