ER Shadow of the Erdtree Fire Knight Queelign quest guide
As well as two invasions, Fire Knight Queelign has his own quest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree!
In Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Messmer’s Fire Knights are revered warriors, wielding the Demigod’s own furious flames as their own against anyone unfortunate enough to become their enemy.
While many Fire Knights will make your life a misery as you attempt to storm Messmer’s Black Keep and its attached Specimen Storehouse, one named adversary who you square off against more than once is Fire Knight Queelign.
With a devastating light greatsword and a moveset full of explosive, fiery attacks, Fire Knight Queelign can be a tricky invader to deal with, but, as your adventure goes on, he also provides an interesting window into the lore of Messmer, the Shadow Realm and Queen Marika herself.
Here’s where to find and how to complete each step of Fire Knight Queelign’s quest, including whether to give him the Iris of Grace or Iris of Occultation.
How to defeat the invader Fire Knight Queelign
To reach Queelign the first time, start at the Small Private Altar Site of Grace in Bellurat, Tower Settlement and take a right up the stairs. Take another right past the wandering Horned Knight and sprint past the waiting shadows to the large staircase leading down at the end of the path.
At the bottom of the stairs, you find yourself in a rotunda filled with gravestones. There will be a couple of aggressive shadows you need to deal with quickly, but the main event is Fire Knight Queelign, who will invade your world on the far side of the tree in the middle of the area.
The easiest way to deal with NPC invaders is to spam them down as quickly as possible. This stops them from healing with their own flasks as well as pulling off too many janky shenanigans of their own.
NPC invaders are very good at rolling through single-target ranged attacks, but extremely weak to AoE, which they tend to walk right into. If you have any spells, Ashes of War or Incantations which deal damage in a wide area, then they’re likely to come in useful here.
However, often the way to get past difficult invaders is to relentlessly attack them and break through their Poise (the stat which determines how many hits you can take before your attack is interrupted) to stop them from hitting you in return.
Probably the most popular way to do this is with the Bloodhound’s Fang’s iconic Bloodhound’s Finesse Ash of War, which closes distance incredibly efficiently as well as often interrupting attacks.
Really, the only time that you shouldn’t try and break through Queelign’s offense is when he triggers his Ash of War, which is when he leans back and fire envelops his sword. This move seems to have a lot more armor and should be dodge rolled instead.
After this fight he drops the Crusade Insignia, which boosts your attack power after defeating an enemy. This is quite good for grinding at a rune farm or making your way through legacy dungeons with lots of mobs - basically any time you’re fighting lots of small enemies - but is next to useless against bosses.
Where to find Fire Knight Queelign next
The next time you meet Fire Knight Queelign is at the Church of Consolidation in Scadu Altus after you’ve defeated Rellana, Twin Moon Knight.
To reach the church, head northwest from the Highroad Cross Site of Grace. But be aware, this second invasion will only trigger once you’ve defeated Queelign in Bellurat.
The fight plays out pretty much identically to the first time, except once he’s defeated Queelign will drop his Ash of War and the Prayer Room Key, which is used in the next phase of his quest!
Fire Knight Queelign third location
To use the Prayer Room Key, go east from the Highroad Cross towards Moorth Ruins, near the tunnel to collect the top left map fragment. Follow the road down into the lower Ruins and make your way through to Bonny Village. After the rope bridge on the east side of Bonny Village, follow the curved road up north and then back west past the Cathedral to the Church District of the Black Keep.
From the entrance, hop onto the roof in front of you to avoid the flooded streets, then jump across to the second roof using the raised gable to clear the gap.
Sprint past the exploding fire guys and use the crumbling wall to climb up higher, then jump over to the last roof at the back of the area.
Now, go to the bottom end of the roof and jump across to the spokes on the church roof across the water. This is the most difficult jump so far, so be careful not to overcorrect and fall off once you land.
Now climb up the spoke and jump onto the main church roof, then look over the edge of the collapsed roof in the middle.
Drop down onto the stone spokes below, then onto the balcony. Drop down onto the lower floor and take a left, and at the end of the path is a door where you can use the prayer room key.
Should you give Fire Knight Queelign the Iris of Grace or Iris of Occultation?
With Fire Knight Queelign weak and wailing on the floor of the prayer room within the Church District of the Black Keep, you now have a choice to make: should you complete his conversion to the light of Marika with the Iris of Grace, or cut him off from the light with the Iris of Occultation?
Both of these items can be found within the Church District of the Black Keep, but take some finding if you haven’t gotten them already.
To get the Iris of Grace, you need to scour the basement of the Specimen Storehouse. To get there, leave the prayer room and follow the corridor forward until you face off against another Fire Knight.
Either take them down or bravely run away right, past the submerged statue, and across the bridge through the door that leads back outside. At the other end of this bridge, you find an elevator that leads to the Specimen Storehouse, where the Iris of Grace is in the basement.
Drop down to the first floor and rest at the site of grace. From there, go left and through the well-lit room to where you find an elevator down.
In this basement area, search the rooms until you find a large dining hall filled with the malformed meaty insides of living jars. This room is where you find the Iris of Grace.
To get the Iris of Occultation, you first need to unflood the Church District of the Black Keep. From the Prayer Room, follow the corridor towards the Fire Knight, but take a left and go across the bridge outside towards the bats.
At the end of this side path, you find a wheel that drains the water from the streets below. Turn it, then drop down using the helpfully placed board and claim the Site of Grace in front of you.
To your left, there’s a large church building. Inside, at the far end, you find a more ornate looking altar area. Take a right here and at the end of the corridor you find a library. On the other side of the library you find an elevator going down which leads to the Tree-Worship passage. Explore this passage and you will pick up the Iris of Occultation.
With both items in-hand, you can return to Queelign to make your decision:
- Giving Queelign the Iris of Grace will reward you with the Fire Knight Queelign Spirit Ash, allowing you to summon him in battle.
- Giving Queelign the Iris of Occultation will reward you with Fire Knight Queelign’s greatsword, with the Impaling Thrust Ash of War.
Depending on your build each reward definitely has its merits. The thrusting greatswords in Shadow of the Erdtree are a lot of fun with fancy movesets, decent range and good stopping power. This is only improved by the Ash of War that you receive from Queelign.
However, if you’re not a melee character, or are totally set on the weapon you’re using already, the Spirit Ash is strong too. You’ve seen first hand how good Queelign’s moveset is during your two battles and when upgraded to +10 he has more survivability than you might think!