Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Hornsent quest guide

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has a few colourful characters for you to meet, and for once, these NPCs don’t actually want to kill you from the outset. Instead, they offer help with your quest to track down Miquella. Hornsent is one of these, providing you with maps of Miquella’s Crosses and other information about the Realm of Shadow.

That said, these characters may be kind, but this is Elden Ring. You can’t trust anyone, and these characters pose you with decisions that can impact later events in the game. So to help you out with the Hornsent, here’s how to complete the Hornsent’s quest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

There are spoilers ahead for Hornsent's quest and some of the events that are a part of it.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Hornsent quest guide

1. First, speak to the Hornsent at the Three Path Cross>
2. You'll then be able to speak to Hornsent at Highroad Cross after the Castle Ensis boss
3. Explore Scadu Altus, and after the shattering, return to speak with Leda and Hornsent at Highroad Cross
4. Tell Leda to pick either Thiollier or Hornsent, it does not matter either way
5. Head to Shadow Keep and defeat the boss at the Main Gate
6. Go through the Keep until you come to the main plaza of burning boats, at the top of the stairs, choose to help the Hornsent
7. Later, during Messmer's boss fight, summon the Hornsent inside the arena and speak to him afterwards
8. The Hornsent will later invade you in Ancient Ruins of Rauh, and this is the end of his quest
9. We currently believe you can choose to keep the Hornsent alive by visiting Rauh before beating Messmer, but are confirming this

Hornsent Location 1

You’ll kick off the Hornsent’s quest when you first meet him at Three Path Cross in Shadow of the Erdtree. He’ll be here alongside Freyja, with Ansbach and Moore just a bit further west at the Main Gate Cross. Here, he’ll give you a map of Miquella’s Crosses to seek out.

Hornsent Location 2

After speaking with Hornsent here, you don’t have much to worry about in regards to him until after you explore Castle Ensis and beat boss, Rellana, or you can opt to skip her entirely via the Fort of Reprimand. After this, you can speak to him at Highroad Cross just behind Castle Ensis for a new map of Miquella's Crosses, and we then recommend exploring until you encounter ‘the shattering’.

During this time, you can also give the Hornsent some Scorpion Stew (given to you by the Hornsent Grandam) in exchange for rare crafting material, Furnace Visage.

After the shattering occurs, we recommend speaking to all the NPCs again, including Leda, who will also be at the Highroad Cross. Leda will explain that she is intent on ferreting out those who intend to harm Miquella, and offer you a choice between Thiollier and Hornsent. It doesn’t matter who you pick, as she’ll go for the Hornsent either way.

Hornsent Location 3 - Help Leda or Hornsent?

Following the interaction with Leda, you want to make your way to the main plaza of Shadow Keep, where the burning boats are. You access here after defeating the boss at Shadow Keep's Main Gate, but can reach the area earlier by going through the Specimen Storehouse. Here, you’ll find two summon signs: one for helping Leda invade the Hornsent, and one for helping Hornsent invade Leda.

If you want to do right by Hornsent and finish his quest, choose to help him invade Leda. This, fortunately, doesn’t kill Leda off and you’ll still run into her later on.

Hornsent Location 4

After the invasion, you want to continue exploring Shadow Keep until you find Messmer the Impaler in the Dark Chamber area. This is across a bridge to the northwest of the Keep, guarded by a Fire Knight. Inside the boss arena, you’ll have the option to summon the Hornsent. We recommend doing so as he can be pretty useful during this fight, and afterwards, you’ll be able to speak to him again beside the Grace.

It’s all fine and well until Hornsent reveals he is turning on Erdtree denizens… Uh, oh.

Hornsent Location 5

Once you’re done chatting to the Hornsent, we again recommend checking in with all the NPCs at this point. Then, you want to travel to the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, where a letter from Dryleaf Dane reveals that the sealing tree is nearby.

Explore the area thoroughly and you’ll eventually come to Romina, Saint of the Bud. As you approach the stairs leading to her arena, however, a not-so-friendly face will appear: the Hornsent. Complete the invasion, killing Hornsent, to receive his gear and his Falx. This marks the end of the Hornsent’s quest.

That said, if you want to keep the Hornsent alive, he can appear as an adversary during a later fight. To do this, you want to go to Ancient Ruins of Rauh and find Romina, Saint of the Bud, before beating Messmer (we think this is the case, but you may also need to grab Dryleaf Dane’s message in the east of Rauh first too).

You do not need to beat Romina first, but at least reach her. After this point, Leda should forget about targeting the Hornsent and set her sights on Ansbach instead. This is what happened in my personal instance, and I then ran into Hornsent following Romina. If you want an easier time in the late-game, though, we recommend killing Hornsent off at some point or another.

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That’s it for the Hornsent, but for more on Shadow of the Erdtree, take a look at how to complete Thiollier’s quest, and how to complete Igon’s quest. They’re both pretty interesting and take you to some incredibly scenic areas.