This guide covers NPC questlines in both Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree. It explains how to track quests and avoid common progression mistakes, and identifies the expansion’s named questlines. It does not claim to be a complete, step-by-step checklist: a current, verified roster and route for every quest across both parts of the game is not established here.
Contents
- How to track NPC quests
- What can make a quest missable
- Base-game questlines
- Shadow of the Erdtree questlines
- How to use a walkthrough without spoiling outcomes
How to track NPC quests
Use Guidance of Grace to orient yourself, not as a quest checklist. Bandai Namco’s gameplay overview says Grace points toward important locations and appears on the map after you find a map fragment. The map can also help with exploration: icons identify activities such as caves, tunnels, catacombs, and ruins. Neither feature is described as tracking NPC conversations or quest progress.
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- Record the NPC and location. Keep a separate note for each character, including where you first met them and where you last spoke.
- Exhaust dialogue. Speak with the character until their dialogue stops changing. If the world or your progress changes, revisit them and speak again.
- Track actions and choices. Note any item given, item received, request made, or side chosen. These details can affect later steps or outcomes.
- Write down the next destination. A quest may require finding the character somewhere else; a map marker or Guidance of Grace is not a substitute for the NPC’s instructions.
- Check a walkthrough at milestones. Before major story or boss progression, consult a guide that matches your game section and version. Look specifically for prerequisites, branching choices, and fail conditions.
This approach follows the core warning in Bandai Namco’s July 19, 2023 gameplay overview: NPC dialogue is the content most commonly missed, and some questlines can auto-advance as you progress. The publisher does not provide a total count of quests or a checklist in that overview.
What can make a quest missable
- Progress without revisiting characters. Some NPC questlines auto-advance as the game progresses. If a character moves, changes their dialogue, or disappears from a location, check other likely destinations and consult a step-by-step guide.
- Skipping dialogue. Important directions or decisions may be embedded in conversations. Speak with an NPC repeatedly until the dialogue is exhausted.
- Choosing a branch or giving an item. The June 22, 2024 community walkthrough for Shadow of the Erdtree describes outcomes that depend on whom the player sides with or which items are given. Treat choices as potentially consequential and record them before proceeding.
- Attacking an NPC. Bandai Namco advises against attacking NPCs except in self-defense. Its gameplay overview says Church of Absolution can restore friendliness after accidental hostility if you have the required rare item; it does not promise that this reverses every quest consequence.
Base-game questlines
The available official guidance establishes how to avoid overlooking NPC dialogue, but does not provide a verified base-game roster or the ordered steps, rewards, and failure conditions for every NPC questline. For that reason, this guide does not invent a list or present an unverified roster as complete. If you are following a separate walkthrough, check that it identifies its game version and explains branch points and progression-sensitive steps rather than offering locations alone.
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Shadow of the Erdtree questlines
Shadow of the Erdtree is an expansion and requires the base game. Bandai Namco describes it as adding further plotlines. Keep its NPC quests separate from the base-game checklist so that you do not mistake expansion content for a base-game task.
A community walkthrough published June 22, 2024 groups the expansion’s named questlines as follows. This is an orientation list, not a verified current, exhaustive checklist; the walkthrough’s detailed progression claims are community guidance rather than primary-source patch verification.
| Questline grouping | What to check in a walkthrough |
|---|---|
| Ansbach, Leda, and Freyja | Look for prerequisite encounters, branching choices, and story or boss milestones. |
| Moore | Check dialogue changes and any item-related decisions. |
| St. Trina and Thiollier | Check ordered encounters and progression-sensitive steps. |
| Hornsent | Check whom you side with and when you advance the story. |
| Hornsent Grandam | Check the encounter sequence and any prerequisites. |
| Dryleaf Dane | Check encounter order and any required actions. |
| Ymir and Jolán | Check the full sequence, including later encounters and choices. |
| Igon and Dragon Communion Priestess | Check prerequisites and the timing of major encounters. |
| Fire Knight Queelign | Check item-related choices and possible branch outcomes. |
The table names groupings reported by that 2024 walkthrough; it does not establish every individual step or reward. Exact triggers can be progression-sensitive, so use a walkthrough that covers your current point in the expansion and verify its directions in-game.
How to use a walkthrough without spoiling outcomes
NPC quests can reveal story information and branch into different outcomes. Before reading ahead, decide how much you want to know: a location-only hint, the next required action, or the full consequence of a choice. Stop at the next relevant step rather than reading through an ending. If a decision involves an item or choosing a side, read enough to understand the immediate consequence before acting.
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