How to Activate Stone Sealed Spiritsprings in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

There are some big mysteries in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, among them, what the Realm of Shadow actually is, what Miquella’s purpose is there, and so many more. One of the little secrets, and one you’ll want to unravel quickly, is how to activate sealed Spirit Springs because getting around without them is just that tiny bit less efficient.

How to Unlock Sealed Spirit Springs in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

The process for unsealing Spirit Springs is quite simple. When you come across a sealed Spring, you’ll see that there’s a ghostly pile of stones called a “cairn” inside of it, acting as the seal. To break the said seal, you need to find the actual cairn nearby and hit it with any attack to shatter it.

With the physical cairn destroyed, a message will pop up saying, “Somewhere, a spiritspring has been unsealed.” The odds are that the spring in question is the one nearby.

Thankfully, there aren’t a ton of sealed Spirit Springs in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, and I’ve only managed to find 4 across multiple playthroughs. Also, thankfully, they aren’t difficult to unseal, and the places you find them are almost always near something cool. One of the most notable is the opening of the Gravesite Plain area, which acts as a shortcut to Scadu Altus long before you’d otherwise be able to get there.

I should mention that while the cairns sealing spiritsprings are always close to the springs they seal (and isn’t that a mouthful), they can sometimes be hidden. The cairn at Rabbath’s Rise in Scadu Altus is hidden behind an illusory wall on the second floor of the tower. The only two blank walls that lead out to the balcony are fake, so roll into them or attack them a single time to reveal the cairn. Destroying it will allow you to activate the spring as normal.

All of the other sealed spiritsprings I’ve found haven’t hidden their cairns very well. The Gravesite Plain cairn that seals the shortcut to Scadu Altus is just up on a hill right next to it. Another is a few feet away behind some bushes. In short, you’ll never need to look too hard to unlock a sealed spiritspring, but the ones with more immediately valuable rewards might be just a bit harder to find.

For more on Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, check out our Elden Ring guides hub and read how Scadutree upgrades work, as well as our review of the DLC.