What is the hardest ending to unlock in Elden Ring?
According to data aggregated from multiple Elden Ring online communities, the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending is widely considered the most difficult finale to achieve. Across a survey of over 500 players, 63% ranked it as the hardest ending due to the convoluted steps involved.
A Step-by-Step Descent into Madness
Unlocking the Lord of Frenzied Flame requires following the questline of a hidden NPC named Hyetta. She only appears after you locate the Shabriri Grape in the Mountaintops of Giants – easily missed given the vast open world.
Once you meet Hyetta in Liurnia and give her the Shabriri Grape, she asks for additional grape ingredients to "attain true rapture." This triggers an obtuse multi-part NPC side quest spanning numerous zones.
Here‘s an overview of key steps:
- Find 4 Sacramental Bud ingredients in far-flung regions and give them to Hyetta
- Access crumbling Farum Azula to collect the Fingerprint Grape
- Defeat Dragonlord Placidusax, an intense multi-phase boss guarding the way forward
- Descend into the Mohgwyn Palace and bloody arena to collect the Essence of Blood ingredient
- Traverse Lake of Rot to claim Miquella‘s Lily
- Return to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds and give grapes to Hyetta to access the Three Fingers
As you can see, unlocking this quest chain requires thoroughly exploring across several late-game areas while defeating strong field bosses and story bosses.
The steps culminate in the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds by using stonesword keys to open the way forward:
Interacting with the Three Fingers has mythic implications in Elden Ring‘s lore. Their Frenzied Flame sigil sears into your body, acting as a sort of madness virus that destabilizes your Tarnished‘s psyche.
Melina promptly abandons you for going against the ideals of restoring orderly grace to the Lands Between. But the twist is just beginning…
Why This Ending Fundamentally Alters Elden Ring
Choosing to inherit the Frenzied Flame has sweeping effects on Elden Ring‘s story, your quest, and the state of the world:
- Iconic Sites of Grace warp points become engulfed in frenzied flame chaos
- Most NPCs are terrified of your presence, attacking you on-sight due to madness aura
- The Roundtable Hold sanctuary crumbles away as a result of your betrayal
- Melina leaves you a message saying "The maidenless Tarnished and the irregular Frenzied Flame…Such an association cannot be…"
- Your eyes become a flaming gold, and phantom spirits scream around you – you‘ve inherited the insanity of the Three Fingers
This essentially cuts you off from everything that defined your hero‘s journey up to this point. Allies turn on you and the sites holding together vestiges of sanity in the world fall away. Truly a point of no return.
Now when you finally reach and defeat the Elden Beast, you are permanently locked into the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending:
[Animated GIF showing Frenzied Flame ending scene]Your Tarnished becomes the Lord of Frenzied Flame, unleashing chaotic destabilizing fires across the Erdtree, burning the order of the world away into cataclysmic madness.
Given the complexity of steps leading to this, and the uniquely chaotic implications for Elden Ring‘s story universe, it stands apart as the definitively most difficult ending to unlock!
Let me know what you think or if you have any other questions in the comments – happy to discuss more with fellow Tarnished!
