Elden Ring Stormveil castle gate

The Elden Ring Stormveil gate choice doesn't seem to have a clear choice at first glance - do you take the secret opening on the advice of the suspicious NPC, or do you take the Stormveil main entrance and take the full force of Elden Ring head on? It's not easy to know if this tall figure is trustworthy or if there's a particular treasure in either direction unless you've been down both routes yourself - and fortunately, we have! We'll show you the Stormveil castle gate choice options below, and we've also laid out what happens in both the secret opening and the Stormveil main entrance below.

Take Stormveil castle gate or the opening?

Godrick the Grafted

Elden Ring review — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Heading into Stormveil, it won't be long before you need to know how to beat Godrick in Elden Ring. Check out how to beat the castle's final boss at our guide above!

When you first approach Stormveil castle gate you'll see the portcullis firmly closed. However, as you approach, you'll be called into a side door on the left by a lengthy character with some advice.

Speak to him and he'll tell you that if you take the main gate you'll find it 'tightly guarded by old hands'. While, on the other hand, the opening will allegedly get you into the castle via a breach, undetected.

The good news here is that long boy is telling the truth: the opening is the safest way. It will take you around the side of the castle, where you can then use a ledge to reach a breach in the walls and eventually get into the main structure.

Secret opening

The path your friend is suggesting is a far longer, but far easier one. You'll encounter some blade-legged eagle creatures, various guards, knights and even a Grafted (though you can sneak around it). These enemies are more spaced out and easier to manage. It's slower overall, but you'll face a more manageable drip-feed of threats, and you can use stealth a lot as nobody's expecting you. There's even a couple of Sites of Grace to use along the way.

Stormveil main entrance

If you do want to try the gate, Stretchy will open it for you. It's not impossible to take this route, and it will get you in a lot faster, but you'll have to dodge and survive a barrage or arrows, and a group of hard to avoid guards almost as soon as you step inside.

There's also a larger lion face monster...thing you can run into, not to mention more artillery and some trolls further up the path. It's basically much, much more likely to kill you, at least in the early stages. It will obviously get easier as you level and gear up, but if you're at the 'I wonder what I should do here?' stage of playing, definitely take the opening to the side.

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