The Lake of Rot Holds Some Necessary Materials in 'Elden Ring'

The map in Elden Ring is one that always has new areas for players to explore, regardless of how many hours you've put into the game. Even the most experienced players have still managed to stumble across new places in the Lands Between they haven't yet seen, uncovering new secrets within the game's different storylines.

The Lake of Rot is an area in Elden Ring that is home to plenty of items you'll find useful in your playthrough, including a Golden Seed and some Smithing Stones to upgrade your weapons. Because of this, even though there are no bosses that you're required to defeat before advancing in the game, you'll likely want to work through this area to gather the materials necessary.

The Lake of Rot gets its name for its red water, which will give a player scarlet rot if you venture into it for too long. Again, while it's not a necessary area in the game, it's still another piece of the map that you'll want to explore to get the most out of your playthrough in Elden Ring.

The Lake of Rot is in a pretty secluded area of the map, and there's really only one reliable way to access it in the game.

To get to the Lake of Rot, you'll first have to unlock the Ainsel River Main region, located in the northern section of the Ainsel River. This means you'll have to have progressed through the portion of the story where you've given Ranni the Fingerslayer Blade to be granted access to the waygate to the Ainsel River Main.

Go to the Nokstella Waterfall Basin Site of Grace and travel southwest. There's a river that snakes through the land in that direction that will dump out in front of the Lake of Rot.

There are two different Sites of Grace near the Lake of Rot: one at the Lake of Rot Shoreside near the entrance to the area, as well as at the Grand Cloister located across the lake. You can find the map to the area on a corpse located near the edge of the water, so walk around the lake until you come across it.