Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Leda NPC quest walkthrough

Needle Knight Leda is one of the most important characters in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and completing her quest requires you to make some tough choices. Follow our full walkthrough right here so you don't miss a thing!

Where to find Leda

Needle Knight Leda is found at the Highroad Cross Site of Grace in Scadu Altus, which is likely encountered after defeating Rellana in Castle Ensis.

She is one of the last NPCs that you'll encounter on your travels, so don't worry if you've played for a while and haven't met her quite yet.

If you're struggling with Rellana and want to get this questline started, I'd recommend taking the route through the poison area in the east of Gravesite Plain, heading up to the Fort of Reprimand via a spiritspring, and then heading north into Scadu Altus that way.

Quest walkthrough

Meeting Leda

There are actually two separate points where you'll meet Leda for the 'first' time. The most obvious is right as you start the DLC inside the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, but you'll meet her properly at the south of Scadu Altus by the Highroad Cross Site of Grace after defeating Rellana.

Neither is necessarily required to progress her quest, but I'd definitely recommend exhausting her dialogue wherever possible to get a sense of her character and motivations.

You'll also be able to find a number of notes left by the Needle Knight along your travels, with one at the top of the stairs after you have defeated the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, and then one at the Castle Ensis Checkpoint.

Once again these aren't mandatory, but I'd still advise picking them up and reading them on your travels.

Breaking the charm

The next step involves reaching the point where Miquella discards his great rune and breaks the charm set upon his followers.

This triggers just before you enter the Shadow Keep in Scadu Altus, signalled by a smashing sound and a message stating "Somewhere a great rune has broken, and so too a powerful charm."

After this, you'll want to speak to all of the NPCs that you've met as most will have new and illuminating dialogue - but Leda especially has her own intriguing developments.

Speaking to her enough will eventually reach a point where she asks you to suggest a target, letting you choose between Hornsent, Thiollier, or no suggestion. While this might seem to take the quest in different directions, it actually all leads to the same target.

Suggesting Thiollier is dismissed as his admiration for St Trina poses no threat to Miquella. Suggesting Horsent is the 'true' path of this quest, and sets Leda's sights on the character.

Finally, making no suggestion eventually leads Leda to head for Hornsent anyway - making the Shadow Keep the next destination in this questline.

Assisting in the Shadow Keep

Once you've made it into the Shadow Keep you'll now want to look out for two summon signs on the walkway with the burning boats. They will be just beyond the stairs in the middle, and one will gold whereas the other will be red.

You can ignore this altogether and progress Leda's quest without it, but if we're doing this properly then we might as well go all the way!

You'll want to use the red summon sign to assist Leda, which will teleport you into a fight against Hornsent. Doing this will obviously end Hornsent's quest prematurely - but you will get his armour and weapon as a reward, which I think is a worthy trade! You'll also get the Lacerating Crossed-Tree Talisman on top of this.

Invading Ansbach

After assisting Leda against Hornsent - or summoning Hornsent against Messmer if you choose to ignore the summon signs - Leda will then begin targeting Ansbach.

From the Storehouse, First Floor Site of Grace, continue along the main path after you go up the short set of stairs, and then look for a room to the right. At the back right of the room is where you would find Ansbach - but instead, you'll find another two summon signs.

While assisting Ansbach will technically end Leda's quest, this is essentially the end anyway, as the last 'part' is fixed no matter what you do. Therefore, you should choose the option with your preferred outcome and rewards.

Assisting Leda

Choosing to assist Leda in the fight will give you Ansbach's Attire and his Longbow, but will prematurely end his quest and lock him out as a summon for the last two mandatory boss fights.

Assisting Ansbach

Opting to assist Ansbach, on the other hand, will allow you to still get Ansbach's Longbow, while also giving you Leda's Rune which you can use to gain 40,000 Runes. 

This keeps Ansbach's quest alive - which will not only let you summon him for the last two bosses but also let you get his armour and unique Obsidian Lamina scythe too.

Should you choose Ansbach or Leda?

Unless you feel a particular affinity towards Leda and want to side with her as much as possible, I would always choose to assist Ansbach. Not only do you not miss out on any items, but you also get an extra weapon in the Obsidian Lamina, and get to summon Ansbach in two difficult boss fights.

Leda and her allies

The final step in Leda's quest is the mandatory boss fight against her and her allies. This is encountered near the end of Enir-Ilim, and is required to complete the game, regardless of whether you've progressed the Needle Knight's questline or not.

This boss fight will include at least Needle Knight Leda and Dryleaf Dane, and has the potential to also involve Moore, Freyja, and Hornsent depending on their respective quest completion.

If you've progressed the questlines for Thiollier and Ansbach you'll also be able to summon those - but if not you'll have to weather the storm on your own.

Completing this boss fight will give you the armour of any involved parties, including Leda herself. You'll also get Leda's sword, which is one of my favourite weapons in the game.