Fill out Elden Ring's map as soon as possible with this handy guide.
One of the first things you should do when playing Elden Ring is unlock the map. Information is crucial in Elden Ring. You need to know where things are, and more importantly, where enemies are...and that's hard to do if you can't get do good scouting.
Unlocking the Limgrave map early on will help your adventures through the perilous region and (hopefully) reduce any unnecessary deaths along the way. You'll need to find two fragments to have full access to Limgrave's map.
West Limgrave Map Fragment
- Location: Gatefront Ruins (north of Church of Elleh)
- Notes: Guarded by entire squad of knights
- Things to do: Kill knights for rune XP, open 3x chests including the useful Whetstone Knife
This fragment is on the main path of the game, but if you're not looking for it you might miss it. Follow the road north from the Church of Elleh to the Gatefront Ruins. Be forewarned--there's a full brace of knights on patrol, including two spear knights with tower shields. Take them out one at a time to get extra runes, or run right past them to the stone stelae (towering stone rectangle) nestled on the path to the Gatefront itself.
There's also 3x chests in this region, two of which are by wagons. One chest contains a Flail, one contains a Lordsworn's Greatsword, and the underground chest has a Whetstone Knife (definitely get this).
East Limgrave Map Fragment
- Location: Forest to the East (gigantic tree on the map)
- Notes: Guarded by huge bears (watch out!)
- Things to do: Unlock grace point, collect materials
The path to the East Limgrave Map is much more dangerous. You'll have to go southwest from Gatefront, cross the river, and then go north and follow the road until you get to a very discrete Grace Site.
If you venture south, be sure to avoid the huge monstrous poison-spitting flowers at the Waypoint Ruins. Also keep an eye out for any Tree Sentinels that roam around on horseback.
Once you're at the Grace Site, just go east-southeast through the forest, keeping a low profile to avoid aggroing any bears along the way. Definitely keep to the bushes if you can. The fragment is housed in a towering stone obelisk just like the west fragment. Grab it and move on.