The Elden Ring Dung Eater questline begins at Roundtable Hold and eventually takes you through Leyndell, the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, and the Miquella’s Haligtree. To complete it, obtain at least one Seedbed Curse to reveal his quest dialogue, free Dung Eater from his sewer cell, defeat his invasion in the Outer Moat, and give him five Seedbed Curses. The final reward is the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse, which enables the Blessing of Despair ending.
This quest is easy to disrupt because Blackguard Big Boggart and several Seedbed Curses are tied to optional areas. The safest approach is to advance Boggart before releasing Dung Eater, and to collect the relevant items before progressing too far into the endgame. Important game details can change between versions, so cross-check unusual behavior against current in-game information or a current reference such as the Dung Eater quest overview.
What you need before starting
- Access to Roundtable Hold.
- Access to the Altus Plateau. You can reach it through the Grand Lift of Dectus or by taking the alternate route through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice.
- At least one Seedbed Curse to make Dung Eater’s spirit and dialogue appear at Roundtable Hold.
- A Sewer-Gaol Key, obtained from Dung Eater after you exhaust his initial dialogue.
You do not need to defeat Morgott to finish this NPC quest. However, the route includes difficult zones and optional late-game areas, so a useful build and enough healing are important. If you are still developing your character, the site’s guide to farming runes early in Elden Ring may help with preparation.
Step 1: Find Dung Eater at Roundtable Hold
After reaching the Altus Plateau and meeting the Seedbed Curse requirement, return to Roundtable Hold. A previously inaccessible room near the area with the Twin Maiden Husks will contain Dung Eater’s red phantom-like presence. Speak with him and exhaust his dialogue. He is hostile and dismissive, but do not attack him.
Once you have shown him that you possess a Seedbed Curse, he gives you the Sewer-Gaol Key and tells you to find his real body in the subterranean gaol beneath Leyndell. If his room is empty, make sure you have actually picked up a Seedbed Curse rather than merely seen one, then rest at a Site of Grace and return to Roundtable Hold.
Step 2: Advance Blackguard Big Boggart first
This is the most important missable part of the quest. Blackguard Big Boggart starts near the Boilprawn Shack in Liurnia. If you have not done so already, buy Rya’s stolen necklace from him and speak with him afterward. Later, when you reach the Capital Outskirts, Boggart can move to the Outer Moat.
Speak with him there and exhaust his dialogue before freeing Dung Eater. This preserves the encounter in which Dung Eater invades the Outer Moat and allows Boggart’s body to provide an additional Seedbed Curse. If you release Dung Eater first without progressing Boggart, the Boggart-related part of the sequence can be missed or behave differently, leaving you with fewer available curses.
Boggart is not required for the ending if you collect five other Seedbed Curses, but completing his part is the safest way to obtain the necessary total. His quest also intersects with Rya’s early necklace encounter, so do not kill him before you have finished these conversations.
Step 3: Open the sewer gaol
Travel to the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds beneath Leyndell. From the Underground Roadside area, use the open route through the pipes and underground passages until you reach Dung Eater’s locked cell. The sewer contains rats, Omens, narrow platforms, and confusing pipe intersections; mark the Site of Grace and take time to explore rather than rushing directly through.
Use the Sewer-Gaol Key on the cell door and speak to Dung Eater. Choose the option to release him. Do not attack him in the cell if you want the full quest and its Mending Rune. After he leaves, return to Roundtable Hold and read the message in his former room. The message directs you to the Outer Moat.
Freeing him also makes Dung Eater available as a summon for the Morgott, the Omen King encounter, provided you reach that fight while the relevant summon sign is available. This summon is optional and is not needed to complete the quest.
Step 4: Defeat Dung Eater at the Outer Moat
Go to the Outer Moat in the Capital Outskirts, where Boggart should now be waiting if you advanced him correctly. Explore the water and nearby shoreline until Dung Eater invades. Defeat the invading phantom, then return to Roundtable Hold and speak with Dung Eater’s red phantom again.
When you return to Boggart’s location, you can find the consequences of the invasion and collect a Seedbed Curse from Boggart’s body if his part of the quest was active. This is why speaking with Boggart before opening the sewer cell matters. If no invasion occurs, check that you released Dung Eater, read the message at Roundtable Hold, and have entered the Outer Moat rather than another part of the Capital Outskirts.
Step 5: Collect five Seedbed Curses
You must give Dung Eater five Seedbed Curses to complete the quest. There are more than five available across the game, so you have some flexibility. The items are found on corpses in areas associated with Dung Eater’s victims, usually in hard-to-reach rooms or elevated sections of major regions.
Reliable areas to search
- Leyndell, Royal Capital: Search the Fortified Manor, which resembles the Roundtable Hold, and explore the capital’s upper buildings and elevated routes for additional corpses holding Seedbed Curses.
- Capital Outskirts: Boggart can provide one after the Outer Moat invasion sequence, but only if his quest was advanced before Dung Eater was released.
- Volcano Manor: One Seedbed Curse is available in the manor’s broader dungeon route. You may need to progress beyond the manor’s central rooms and use side paths to reach the corpse.
- Miquella’s Haligtree: The Prayer Room and the rooftops and side rooms reached from it contain multiple Seedbed Curses. These are among the most demanding to obtain because the route crosses dangerous branches, balconies, and guarded platforms.
The exact path to some corpses is easy to confuse with nearby item routes. A practical method is to search every elevated room and corpse around the Prayer Room and to revisit Leyndell’s Fortified Manor after unlocking more of the capital. The Seedbed Curse walkthrough from Polygon provides a useful route reference for the item locations.
Do not worry about using the curses as soon as you find them. Keep them in your inventory until you have five, then return to Dung Eater’s physical body in the sewer gaol. If you have only four, the interaction will not finish the quest, so continue searching another eligible location.
Step 6: Give the curses to Dung Eater
Return to the sewer cell after the Outer Moat invasion and speak with Dung Eater. Give him the Seedbed Curses one at a time. After the fifth, his quest reaches its conclusion and you receive the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse.
Rest or reload the area if necessary, then return to the cell to collect the Omen set from Dung Eater’s body. The armor is a separate reward from the Mending Rune. The Mending Rune is an inventory key item, while the Omen set is equipment that can be worn normally.
Rewards and the ending choice
The Mending Rune of the Fell Curse is used after the final boss, at the fractured statue of Marika. Selecting it there produces the Blessing of Despair ending instead of the standard ending choice. Completing the quest does not force you to use the rune; you can still select another available ending when the final interaction is presented.
The quest can also provide access to Dung Eater’s summon sign for Morgott if you have released him in time. His equipment rewards are separate from the ending reward. If you kill Dung Eater in his sewer cell instead of releasing him, you can obtain his weapon, the Sword of Milos, and equipment-related rewards, but you lose access to the Mending Rune and cannot complete the Blessing of Despair route in that playthrough.
Alternative: turn Dung Eater into a puppet
Seluvis offers a different outcome involving Dung Eater. With the appropriate progress in Seluvis’s quest and the required potion, you can give the potion to Dung Eater while he is restrained in the sewer cell. This converts him into a Spirit Ash puppet rather than completing his Seedbed Curse quest.
Choose this route only if you want the Dung Eater puppet and do not need the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse. Giving him the potion replaces the normal quest conclusion, so keep a backup save where possible and decide before handing over five curses.
Common problems and missable content
- Dung Eater does not appear: Reach the Altus Plateau, obtain a Seedbed Curse, and reload Roundtable Hold.
- The Sewer-Gaol Key is unavailable: Speak with Dung Eater at Roundtable Hold until his dialogue is exhausted after showing him the curse.
- The invasion does not happen: Release Dung Eater, read the message in his Roundtable room, and visit the Outer Moat. Progress Boggart before the release for the safest version of the encounter.
- You cannot find five curses: Search Leyndell, Volcano Manor, and the Haligtree rather than relying only on Boggart. Several are in elevated or easily overlooked corpse locations.
- You attacked Dung Eater: If he is merely hostile rather than dead, the Church of Vows and Celestial Dew may help with certain NPC aggro situations, but absolution cannot restore every permanently missed quest state.
- You entered the sewer too late: Major story progression can alter NPC availability and capital areas. When possible, complete the Dung Eater and Boggart steps before committing to late-game changes.
For more NPC and quest walkthroughs, browse the site’s Quests category. Because patches and platform versions can change quest triggers or edge-case behavior, verify any unexpected result against the current game version before assuming the quest is permanently broken.
FAQ
How many Seedbed Curses are required for Dung Eater’s quest?
You must give Dung Eater five Seedbed Curses. More than five can be found, so missing the Boggart curse does not automatically make the Mending Rune impossible, although it removes one convenient source.
Can I complete the quest without Blackguard Big Boggart?
Yes, provided you collect five other Seedbed Curses. However, Boggart’s sequence is easy to miss and is the safest way to obtain an additional curse, so advance him before releasing Dung Eater.
Does freeing Dung Eater lock me into his ending?
No. Completing the quest gives you the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse, but the Blessing of Despair ending occurs only if you choose that rune at the final interaction.
Can I get the Sword of Milos and the Mending Rune?
The Sword of Milos is associated with killing Dung Eater, while the Mending Rune requires completing his Seedbed Curse route. Since killing him ends the quest, a single playthrough generally requires choosing between the kill reward and the completed-quest reward.
Can Dung Eater help with Morgott?
After you release him from the sewer gaol, Dung Eater can be available as a cooperator for Morgott’s fight. The summon is optional and does not replace the Seedbed Curse steps.
What happens if I give Dung Eater Seluvis’s potion?
Giving him the potion follows Seluvis’s puppet route and prevents the normal Mending Rune conclusion. Use this option only if you specifically want the Dung Eater puppet rather than the Blessing of Despair ending.