A good walkthrough of the Elden Ring Patches questline will show you the highs and lows of this chickenhearted lion. With the 1.05 patch, Elden Ring received new stages and phases for Patches the Untethered, another FromSoftware villain who frequently appears in their games (no pun intended).
For the Elden Ring Patches questline, we’ll go from the murky depths of Murkwater Cave to the stately, overheated Volcano Manor in this detailed walkthrough below.
Elden Ring Patches Questline
The Elden Ring Patches quest walkthrough is fairly lengthy, but depending on where you are in the game’s main story, you may miss entire steps. Plan your route ahead of time using the above map and the following walkthrough, and make sure you don’t miss anything by reading the text following this list!
In order to learn more about any of these steps, you can click on it or simply scroll down.
It is possible to jump forward in Patches’ questline depending on your progress through the campaign and which of Elden Ring’s main bosses you’ve defeated.
Not all of this is a good thing; you may miss out on special weapons and boss encounters that can only be obtained at certain times. In all of these stages, look for Patches as early as possible and remember to exhaust dialogue just in case.
The 1.04 update only added step 12 to the list of changes made in previous versions (as least as far as anybody seems to know). Until Patches’ disappearance, no one seemed to know where he had gone after your encounter with him in the Shaded Castle.
His return to Murkwater has been shown to have been confirmed, and it appears that Patches has returned to his Emporium, which is an unusually grand name for the cheeky bandit who sells scraps from his backpack.
To defeat Radahn in Elden Ring, you can use the NPC dogpile strategy to summon Patches, but this isn’t part of his questline and isn’t even worth it except as a quick joke. If you’d like to know more about his strengths and weaknesses, consult the guide.
Chapter 1: Find the Patches Boss Fight in Murkwater Cave and Spare Him
Visit Murkwater Cave in Limgrave, a small opening in the cliffs below the river’s surface. Once inside, expect to face off against some bandits before facing off against Patches, the room’s sole resident boss. Don’t do this to him!
He’ll give up if you can get him to half health. Step back and wait for the message “Enemy Felled” to appear before resuming your attack. Accept his surrender by speaking with him and turning him into a businessman.
Chapter 2: Use Patches’ Trapped Treasure Chest to Go to Mistwood
The treasure chest near Patches can be accessed at a later date (his bandit minions will always attack upon entering, even if Patches himself is friendly). You’ll be teleported to Mistwood and your fast travel will be disabled until you locate a Site of Grace. Go back to Patches and talk to him again after that.
Chapter 3: Find Patches in Liurnia’s Scenic Isle
Patches will later move to Scenic Isle in Liurnia, where he will remain for the time being. If you talk to him, he’ll tell you to go to Raya Lucaria Academy and get abducted by a special Virgin Abductor (the rolling iron maiden robots). It doesn’t sound safe, but who are we to question the wisdom of good ol’ dependable Patches?
Chapter 4: Get kidnapped by the Abductor in Raya Lucaria Academy
The Abductor is located at the bottom of the water wheel elevator at Raya Lucaria Academy. It’s best to let the Abductor use its “special grab” move on you, which will cause your character to be pulled into the Abductor’s open chassis and killed in the process.
Chapter 5: Escape Volcano Manor
There is no need for you to figure out how to use the Grand Lift of Dectus in Elden Ring now that you’ve been transported into Volcano Manor’s dungeons and have found a Site of Grace to unlock your Fast Travel ability. Run as fast as you can to the nearest Site of Grace, dodging enemies along the way.
Chapter 6: Get tricked by Patches near the entrance to Mt. Gelmir
Grace is resting on a cliff at First Mt. Gelmir Campsite Site of Grace, to the west. You’ll see him kicking you down the ravine if you follow the Rainbow Stones trail that leads near him. Who would have thought this would happen?
Chapter 7: Get your Assassination Target from Patches at Volcano Manor
Return to Volcano Manor’s main entrance hall and look for Patches (if you’ve already made it to Volcano Manor and joined the family through Tanith, the quest will jump to this point automatically). Tanith will ask you to kill Great Horned Tragoth after you’ve completed any of Tanith’s assassinations, and he’ll give you a letter that pinpoints Tragoth’s location on your map.
Chapter 8: Kill the Great Horned Tragoth in Liurnia
In Liurnia’s Ruin-Strewn Precipice, you’ll find a red summon sign on the ground. To invade Tragoth and kill them, use it to evade or use ranged attacks, rather than stalwart blocking and melee.
Chapter 9: Get your Assassination Reward from Patches
Patches in Volcano Manor will give you the Magma Whip Candlestick after you kill Tragoth. At a reasonable range, this weapon deals a significant amount of fire damage and has a high level of faith. Next time you come here, Patches will be there, but he won’t be able to help you in any way.
Chapter 10: Kill Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
After completing all of Volcano Manor’s assassination tasks, or completing the Volcano Manor legacy dungeon, you must kill Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy (aka, the God-Devouring Serpent). Patches’ quest will automatically advance to the next step if you kill Rykard before completing the other parts of his quest.
Chapter 11: Get the Dancer’s Castanets from Patches at Shaded Castle
To defeat Elemar of the Briar, head to the Shaded Castle on the North Altus/Gelmir border and cross the bridge full of statues just outside the arena. The Dancer’s Castanets will be waiting for you when you arrive, courtesy of Patches.
To be fair, she is currently in Rykard’s arena, where she is doing something that we won’t reveal. Handing over Castanets appears to have no effect at this time, but we’ll keep you updated if we learn anything new. After you’ve given them to Patches, they’ll go to sleep and won’t be there when you return.
Chapter 12: Go back to Murkwater and spare Patches again
When you return to Murkwater Cave, Patches will be waiting for you! However, don’t go on the offensive! In the end, Patches will let you go after a few tries because he knows who you are. Once you’ve spoken with him a second time, return later to find him back to business as usual, operating out of Murkwater Cave once more.
There’s no new stock, but you can buy things you couldn’t before, like Margit’s Shackle if you’re having a hard time defeating Morgott in Elden Ring. Even more so than you might expect.
Patches Questline Rewards
It is possible to miss some steps and opportunities along the way in the Patches questline, but the rewards are spread out over time. To help you out, we’ve listed all of the notable rewards in the following order:
- Grovel for Mercy (Gesture) -For saving Patches’ life in the first encounter.
- Leather Armor, Gloves and Boots (armor) and Spear +7 (spear weapon) – To get this, you’ll need to kill Patches, but we don’t recommend it as this will end the quest early.
- Patches’ Emporium (merchant) – Patches becomes a merchant with a good supply of early-game goods after he is spared.
- Bull-Goat Helm, Bull-Goat Armor, Bull-Goat Gauntlets, Bull-Goat Greaves (armor set) – The Bull-Goat armor is one of the best sets of armor in the game, but it is extremely heavy and cumbersome. Once you kill the Great Horned Tragoth, you can snatch it from his body.
- Magma Whip Candlestick (whip weapon) – After killing the Great Horned Tragoth, Patches gave the item to the player.
- Patches’ Crouch (Gesture) – In the final encounter in Murkwater Cave, Patches was spared again.
Well, that’s all we have here about how you can complete the Elden Ring Patches questline without any hiccups. We hope this guide helped you. If you liked this, make sure to check out the Best Elden Ring Mods and how you can complete the Millicent Questline. Make sure to check out the most interesting Nepheli Questline in Elden Ring.
