Ymir's Elden Ring Quest: How to Complete All Finger Dwelling Ruins

Ymir's quest Elden Ring is a minor quest line in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion that reveals a lot about the nature of the Fingers in the mythology of the game. As you complete this quest chain, you will receive many rewards: talismans, weapons, ashes, spells and armor. Also, as part of Ymir's story, you will encounter an optional hidden boss of the expansion - Mother of the Fingers Metir, and will open a new zone of the Kingdom of Shadows.

This guide provides a complete walkthrough of Count Ymir's quest in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, as well as listing all the rewards for completing the story.

How to start Ymir's quest in Elden Ring

To begin the quest, travel to the Cathedral of Manus Metir in the Shadowfell. This can be done from the beginning of the DLC.

How to get to Manus Metir Cathedral

From the Plain of Tombstones, ride the Stream along the following route:

Reach the Castle Front grace at Ensis Castle.
From the "Castle Front" grace, follow the southeastern path. At the point where the warriors
In the swamps, follow the Elder's Hut. Not far from the house there is a sealed spiritual source, with the help of which the Flow can make a high jump. Destroy the pile of rocks nearby to activate the source and enter Fort Rebuke.
From Fort Rebuke, ride along the road north to the Ruins of Murtagh. On the territory of the ruins there is a descent into a deep cave that will lead to Bonnie Village.
From Bonny Village, follow the cable car east to the "Bridge Leading to the Village" checkpoint.
Move north, through the forest where wolves live. On the way you will meet a golem. Having ed it, turn left and go up to the Manus Metir Cathedral.

This route has been open from the very beginning of the expansion.

Where to find Count Ymir

Count Ymir in Elden Ring lives in the Cathedral of Manus Metir, sitting on a chair in the middle of the temple. During the conversation, he will immediately give you the following items:

Necklace with Holes - Activates the bells in the Ruins of the Finger House.
Ruins map.

Talk to the NPC again and you will be able to buy shiny stone magic from him.

Walkthrough of Ymir's quest in Elden Ring

Receiving the Necklace with Holes and the Map of Ruins marks the beginning of the Fingers storyline. The first map shows the Ruins of Riya's Finger Abode. Let's figure out how to achieve them.

How to get to the Ruins of the Abode of Riya's Fingers

The ruins of the abode of the fingers of Riya is a location, the route to which is accessible from the beginning of the age. Now, if you own the Necklace with Holes, you can learn the secret of this area. Let's look at the winding route to the ruins:

From the grace of the “Front Side of the Castle” at Ensis Castle, ride, as last time, along the southeastern road. At the point where Messmer's soldiers fight the bloodletting trolls, turn towards the poisonous swamps.
Having reached the swamps, turn northwest and ride the Stream to a pond where a large crab and a family of poisonous flowers live. Nearby you will see the entrance to a cave that will lead to the grace “Cave by the Ellak River”. Coming out to the river, ride south to the Cote d'Azur.
Once you reach the Côte d'Azur, head southeast to the seashore where the Fingers live.
From the coast, head north along a massive stone structure with ghostly lilies of the valley on it.

Soon the Ruins of the Abode of Riya’s Fingers will be revealed to your eyes. Rest at the eponymous grace and gallop into the center of the ruins, which from a bird's eye view resembles a wrinkled fingertip. Along the way, beware of lampreys scurrying around, which are extremely dangerous because they cast an immobilizing spell from a very long distance. After you fall into the immobilizing spell, a random lamprey in the territory of the ruins will teleport to the character and carry out a capture attack: if you don’t want to fight annoying monsters, gallop north, to the center of the ruins. There will be a bell here that you need to sound: do this, for which you will receive a Talisman with bloody seeds +1, which improves the restorative properties of the Flask of Crimson Tears.

Travel to the Ruins of Deo's Finger Abode

After activating the bell in the first ruins, you can return to Ymir so that he will give you a map of the next ones. However, this is not necessary to advance on the assignment. The ruins of the monastery of the fingers of Deo are located in a secret territory, which can be reached if in the right place use the "Oh Mother" gesture. First, let's look at where to find this gesture:

Go to Bonny Village.
Go north from the village, to a lonely tree, near which there is a statue with outstretched arms. Take the "O Mother" gesture here.

Now you need to get to the location where you should apply the gesture. It is located in front of the arena with Commander Guy. Let's look at the full route on how to get there:

Continue to the Flooded Church District. This area of the Shadow Haven is accessible from the east: enter through the age visible from the grace of the "Ecclesiastical Route", which is north of the Cathedral of Manus Metir.
From the "age to the Church District" grace, go around the area along the ruins and rooftops on the right. The main goal in the Flooded Area is to get into the church through the roof. Get there by making a risky jump onto the flying buttress - the bridge between the side spire and the main church building.
Jump through the gap in the roof onto the stone floors, and from them - even lower, to the first floor. Look around the church corridor: along the way you will meet two knights in red. Where they live, there is a stone path through the flooded part of the area leading to the lift to the Specimen Vault - follow it.
Light the "Storage, back" grace and go up the vertical stairs.
From here, move along the stairs to the next section of the library with shelving. There is a gap in the outer wall here, go through it.
Climb higher along the wooden platforms to the next grace and elevator. Light the grace, use the elevator to rise to the floors under the ceiling.
The floor system is divided into two levels: first, go up the stairs west of the elevator.
Go around the beams counterclockwise: halfway along the path you will have to jump to the level below, since the age forward will be blocked.
Jump down, go west to the vertical ladder and go up again.
Once again on the second level, look to the west and you will see a staircase down. Go to it and go down.
Once down, look north and see another set of stairs, continue down.
Go out into the street, go down first on the wooden, then on the stone elevator to the “bonfire”.
To the right of the entrance to the battlefield with Commander Guy is a room with a statue of Marika, which has shard of the Tree of Decadence. Approach the statue and perform the "O Mother" gesture.

The statue will move away. Behind it there will be a path to the Ruins of the Abode of Deo’s Fingers, as well as to the Shaman Village, where Marika used to live.

To reach the ruins, you need to cross a bridge: the path is guarded by two Tree Guardians, but you don't have to fight them. On the territory of the ruins, the goal is identical - to get to the forge in the center and blow it: Ymir calls this “activate the bell.” There is only one source of danger in this zone - the annoying lampreys, which immobilize you with their sniper spells. The reward for activating the bell is a Talisman with Azure Seeds +1, improving the effectiveness of the Flask of Azure Tears by 30%.

Travel to the Ruins of the Fingers of Miir

Return to Manus Metir Cathedral and talk to Ymir several times until you've exhausted all the dialogue. He will thank you for activating the two bells, and will give you the Priceless Stardust talisman as a gift and the last map indicating the location of the Ruins of the Finger Abode of Miir.

The ruins are located directly below the Manus Metir Cathedral. How to open them:

Having exhausted all dialogues with Ymir, reboot the location, resting at any grace.
Return to the place where Ymir used to sit: the high priest has disappeared somewhere, but his chair can be examined. Press the secret button on the chair, this will open the path under the Manus Metir Cathedral.
Go down the stairs. Below are the Ruins of the Monastery of the Fingers of Miir.

This underground zone is absolutely linear and, unlike its predecessors, is small in area. Follow the path and meet a phantom named Night Swordswoman Anna. Defeat Anna and receive Nightclaws as a reward. Continue north, approach the final bell, ring it and be transported to the secret boss of the expansion - Mother of Fingers Metir.

How to defeat Mother of Fingers Metir

When fighting, consider the following features of the boss:

You can summon spirits and phantoms to fight with the Mother of Fingers Metir.
The boss attacks with two types of damage: physical and magical.
The boss's balance is 120. He can be thrown off balance.
Methyr is vulnerable to slashing damage, bleeding and freezing, and can be poisoned.
Invulnerable to sleep, madness, death.

The boss battle consists of two phases. In the second phase there will be more area magic attacks. Let's look at the main techniques of the Mother of Fingers in the first half of the fight:

[1 hit] Single Beam Shot - Magic missile attack. Used at long range. Block with a shield or dodge.
[2-3 hits] A series of head hits on the floor with the addition of a jump is a physical attack. The mother of the fingers hits the hero with her head 2 to 3 times. After the first blow, he begins to hit his head while jumping.
[1 hit] Beam cut - burns a beam through the area in an arc, in a sector in front of itself. If you see this attack, do not roll to the side: roll forward or backward, or tank with a shield.
[2 hits] Beam Blast Head Smash - The boss slams his head into the ground in front of him. After a while, the glowing area around the head-finger explodes with magic. Roll away from the AoE spell's area of effect: it's easiest to take cover at one of the boss's sides.
[1 hit] Side Finger Slash - A quick physical attack by straightening the side fingers on the boss's body. Applies when the character is on the side of the boss. Protecting yourself with a shield is the best solution.
[Rapid series of strikes] Side Finger Step - quickly moves your side fingers, literally stepping on the character. Applies when the hero is on the side of the boss's body. The easiest way to tank is with a shield.
[2-5 hits] Combo of hand attacks. The basic is a physical double swing in front of you. Sometimes three more hits on the floor with both hands are added to it. Tank with a shield, as the combo does not remove too much stamina. Cast by Mother when the character is standing in front of her.
[1-2 hits] Opens the belly and pours liquid over it. Sometimes after this he makes a jerk with his whole body in the direction of the character.
Summons three small enchanted hands once per battle.
[1 hit] Powerful full body crash with delay. Applies when the character is standing in front of the boss. It is better to learn how to avoid rolling, since during this skill a large window for a counterattack opens.
[1 hit] Full body dash. A physical technique to break the distance, from which the Shield will help you escape.

In the second phase, Mother of Fingers Metir ignites the microcosm sphere on her tail and enhances her previous techniques:

[3 hits] Triple Magic Shot: Replaces the previous single shot.
[1 hit] Soars into the air, spins and flies with his whole body at the hero. The shield does not always save you from this attack; try to dodge the moment the boss lands on the character.
[2 hits or higher] Summons magic balls from the ground around you that explode after a couple of seconds. If you get into the area where the ball is summoned, you will receive damage that you can dodge or protect with a shield. The orbs float near the boss, so it's best to stay away during this period.
[Ultimate] Activates a microcosm sphere that releases two lasers that continuously burn everything around in a long radius. At the time of this attack, you cannot get close to the boss, since the power of the sphere will push the character away and greatly waste stamina. Stand further away, raise your shield and endure until the attack ends.

To counter the boss, we recommend making tank build, based on the following parameters and equipment:

Take the big shield from high protection from magic and good strengthening the block (responsible for reducing stamina consumption when blocking). Recommended options: Large Eclipse Shield, Large Green Copper Shield. Do not forget pump up shields from the blacksmith, which increases the block's gain.
Wear heavy armor. Focus on heavy loads.
Upgrade your characteristics with a focus on vitality (from 60) and stamina (from 45). Upgrade characteristics for damage modification as desired. If necessary, use Raya Lucaria Academies.
Recommended Talismans: Blood Seed Talisman +1, Stamina or Stamina Recovery Talismans, Large Shield Talisman (+10 Block Gain), Green Copper Disc (increases defense against all damage when heavily loaded), Physical and Magic-type defense talismans damage.
Combine a large shield with fast weapons - rapier, gloves, dagger, saber, spear, etc. Suitable sharpening for physical damage from characteristics, bleeding, freezing, poison. It's better to choose rapier or spear, since you can stab them without lowering the shield.

High shield and stamina builds work great against DLC bosses that use long chains of combos that are extremely difficult to avoid with timing. The shield eliminates the need to learn long chains of attacks from opponents and allows you to focus on studying their finishing attacks, which open windows for infusion of damage. Finally, don't forget about the game's special progression system based on two items:

Shards of the Tree of Decadence — modify the character’s attack and defense.
Ashes of the Glorious Spirit — increases the attack and defense of the summoned spirit.

Collect as many shards and ashes as possible in the open world before going against the bosses of the expansion. Below are some tips on how to kill the Mother of Fingers Metir:

Using a build based on a heavy shield + rapier/spear, you can stand still with a raised shield and stab the enemy as long as your stamina allows. Occasionally you will have to lower the shield to restore the parameter. The main idea of the build for endurance and a large shield is precisely that you don’t have to memorize the boss’s moveset: just stand in a block and poke the enemy with a rapier or spear. Lower the shield in the windows between attacks so that the stamina is quickly replenished, this will allow you to emerge victorious from the battle.
Mother Metir has an exceptional attack, which sometimes cannot be protected from by blocking with a shield - this is a technique where the boss spins in the air and falls on the enemy. It is better to learn to overcome it by rolling.
When Mother Metir summons small enchanted hands, don't ignore them and kill them as quickly as possible. They really interfere in battle, stagger the character, and attack in the back.
The boss is quickly poisoned. If you don’t want to sharpen your weapon for poison, then create Poisonous Bone Darts. Ten is definitely enough to cause poisoning.

After defeating the boss, return to the Cathedral of Manus Metir.

How to defeat Ymir

In Manus Metir, the phantom Night Swordswoman Yolana will invade the character’s world. There shouldn't be any difficulties with it. Just in case, take pills to treat bleeding.

After defeating Yolana, Count Ymir, the mother of the Fingers, will appear. Defeating him will not be difficult: take a shield and a magic resistance talisman. Constantly attack the enemy, as almost every weapon strike has a spell-breaking effect. The boss will occasionally summon annoying little fingers, but is otherwise non-threatening.

After defeating Ymir, you will receive his set, staff and bell sphere. Offer the latter to the merchant at the Table of Lost Grace (hub). After dealing with the boss, rest at the grace and examine the western cemetery near the cathedral: near one of the graves there will be a “Caring Fingers” spell.

What to do with Yolana

After resting at the grace after defeating Ymir, return to the room where the count was sitting and examine the column near the exit to the cemetery, where you will find the dying Yolana. As part of the dialogue, you can tell her one of two irises: The choice you make will affect the reward.

What happens if you use the iris of grace

By giving the warrior the iris of grace, you will receive the ashes of the Night Swordsman Yolana, which, after finding Anna's doll in Rabbath's Rise, will allow you to get an even more powerful phantom.

What happens if you use the iris of darkness

Give Yolana the Dark Iris to get the Nightblade in Elden Ring,

How to explore the summit of Rabbath's Rise

Count Ymir's quest has been completed, but there are still hidden rewards indirectly related to it. Rabbath's Rise is a magical tower northeast of the Cathedral of Manus Metir. Initially, the tower can be explored, but access to the top floor is only available if you go down up the rocky steps from the Shaman Village.

From grace before the fight with Commander Guy, run into the open age with the “Oh Mother” gesture. Go up to the Shaman Village - Marika's home. Walk to the cliff to the west of the village and look down: you can go down the rocky steps. Once you reach the bottom step, jump onto the balcony of the Rabbath's Rise tower and go inside. How to get rewards for exploring the upper section of the tower:

Go to Anna's doll and, if you have Yolana's ashes, mix them. As a result, you will receive the powerful ashes of Anna and Yolana. Anna's doll in Elden Ring is always available for interaction: you can share the ashes at any time.
Jump down from the partition where the doll lies. Examine the mage's corpse and receive a bell sphere.

Awards

For completing the entire chain of quests you will receive the following prizes:

Runes: 420 for killing Mother of Fingers Metir on the first playthrough.
Memory of the Mother of Fingers. At the Finger Reader in the hub, you can exchange the memory for one of two items: Staff of the Great Beyond or Contemplating Finger.
Talisman with bloody seeds +1, Talisman with azure seeds +1, Priceless stardust.
Claws of the night.
If you gave Yolana the iris of darkness - the Sword of the Night. If you chose the iris of grace - Yolana's ashes.
The "Caring Fingers" spell.
Bell sphere of Ymir. Give it to the merchant at the hub to be able to buy spells even after her death.
Mother's staff.
The high priest's set, worn by Ymir.

We hope our guide helped you complete Ymir’s quest in Elden Ring and not get lost in difficult routes. If you have any questions, be sure to ask them at comments. Read more DLC guides at Elden Ring section.