If you thought Elden Ring’s Caelid was bad, the Rotted Woods – one of Nightreign’s Shifting Earth events – are even worse. As soon as you enter the area, your Scarlet Rot gauge will begin to fill, and you’ll be inflicted with the unpleasant status ailment throughout your time here until you acquire the area’s reward.
As a result, it’s only worth venturing here on Day 2 of your expedition, and much like The Crater event or The Mountaintops event, there’s no time to waste! Here’s exactly how Nightreign’s Rotted Woods work and what rewards the area has hidden away.
Nightreign Rotted Woods event explained
The Rotted Woods is one of four Shifting Earth events currently in Nightreign, and fortunately for you, the reward this area provides is easy enough to grab. This particular event unlocks after defeating approximately 4-5 Nightlords, and you’ll only be able to explore the Rotted Woods area during an Expedition if the event is active.
To skip the event, you can rest at the bed in the Hold until the event concludes. Shifting Earth events also typically last a few runs – between three and five – before they end and Limveld is returned to normal.
That said, we recommend only visiting the Rotted Woods on Day 2 of your Expedition so you’re adequately levelled (and fortunately, the Night’s Tide tends to close in around the area on Day 2). There’s also a lot of Great Enemy bosses here that are good to tackle on Day 2, after you’ve explored the area.
What to do in the Rotted Woods in Nightreign
Let’s talk about getting the reward from the Rotted Woods event in Nightreign.
First things first, look for a red/orange quest marker on your map of the area; this should mark a castle. If you go ahead and explore this castle, there’ll be a map to grab upstairs. The map is a lot like the ones found atop forts that reveal Teardrop Scarab locations to you, but instead, it reveals the location of a flower inside the Rotted Woods where you can acquire the area reward
After collecting the Rotted Woods treasure map, look at where the quest marker has moved to on your map. Head over there, and you should see a huge flower attached to a tree with a legendary item attached to it (shown below).
Climb the tree and collect the item – which is the area reward – and it’ll provide you with complete immunity to Scarlet Rot. It also provides a unique mechanic in which there is a short cooldown between taking damage and that damage actually being removed from your HP bar, giving you ample time to heal up before being downed.
For more on Nightreign, take a look at our Nightreign tips and tricks, which character you should play, and how to unlock outfits.