Among the immense amount of dungeons available in Elden Ring, the Legacy Dungeons are among the largest and most fearsome. Each one harbors a vast amount of talismans, runes, weapons, armor sets, and increasingly difficult enemies and bosses. Throughout The Lands Between, there are six Legacy Dungeons that players can explore to help bolster their growing character. Legacy Dungeons in Elden Ring are classified by their size, not necessarily by how important they are to completing the game.
In Elden Ring, only four of these Legacy Dungeons are required to complete the game's main story, but exploring the rest will always increase a player's odds of success. The required four are Stormveil Castle, Raya Lucaria Academy, Leyndell: Royal Capital, and Crumbling Farum Azula. An additional two not required Legacy Dungeons are Volcano Manor and Miquella's Haligtree / Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. Although certainly not required to beat the game, exploring both the Volcano Manor and Miquella's Haligtree are certainly beneficial, as they contain some of the better end game equipment and bosses.
Getting started in Elden Ring without direction is a daunting task, but using the helpful Sites of Grace allows the players some reprieve and guidance. Once in Limgrave, players should, by all means, explore it as much as possible to secure plenty of runes for levels and weapons, but when they feel ready to tackle their first Legacy Dungeon, it should always be Stormveil Castle. Stormveil Castle, located in the northeast of Limgrave, is the first required Legacy Dungeon. After defeating the two main bosses there, players will find themselves in Liurnia, the site of their next Legacy Dungeon, Raya Lucaria Academy. After retrieving the key nearby, players will be able to break the seal and enter the Academy. The skills and runes gathered from Stormveil should put players on relatively equal footing with the enemies and two bosses here.
Elden Ring: The Biggest Dungeons To Beat
Once Raya Lucaria Academy's bosses are defeated, there is a choice that the player must make, and each option is a viable choice. When reaching the Altus Plateau, there are two legacy dungeons. First, there is the Volcano Manor in Elden Ring. The Manor has plenty of challenges in its labyrinth-like design with traps to boot; however, it is recommended to go here before entering Leyndell. This dungeon begins to ramp up the boss's difficulty until the endgame. Following Elden Ring's story, linearly will see the players sent to Crumbling Farum Azula after Leyndell. With some callous enemies and bosses, Curmbling Farum Azula is no cakewalk, but nothing compares to the difficulty of the boss and enemies of Miquella's Haligtree, so that is best left for last.
Completing the Legacy Dungeons in this order will allow players a bigger cushion than if explored any other way. Reaching a tough area like Miquella's Haligtree in Elden Ring too early could result in players being totally stumped on the ending boss there if they are under-leveled. Once reaching Leyndell, the boss encounters are as ferocious as ever, so completing other Legacy Dungeons first is almost a necessity, despite the open world Elden Ring offers.
Within each Legacy, Dungeons are valuable items that immensely benefit the player's journey. Although it is possible to explore them a little bit out of order, it is crucial to gain every competitive edge. If a player finds themself in a dungeon they don't feel equipped for; there is no shame in taking a break and coming back to it later. Elden Ring's open-world is designed for this exact purpose.
Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.