Where is the point of no return in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree?

There’s a point of no return in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree that you should pay attention to. If you’re a lore chaser or want to get as close to 100% completion on your first run of this, make sure to do every sidequest and NPC questline you see.

Note: This guide will, necessarily, contain spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, including boss names and locations.

Where is the point of no return in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree?

The point of no return in Shadow of the Erdtree starts after defeating Romina, Saint of the Bud. This area is accessed by exiting the West Rampart section of the Shadow Keep. 

Chronologically, you should be here after defeating Messmer in this dungeon. However, you can get here earlier by taking a detour from the Storehouse, Fourth Floor area of this place. As you fight your way through the long bridge, you’ll eventually get to the Ancient Ruins of Rauh. 

Keep going west and that’s when you’ll eventually run into Romina. This boss fight is surprisingly easier than Messmer, but she is the last obstacle before getting to that point of no return.

Upon defeating her and moving onwards past the Site of Grace, you can interact with the Sealing Tree. Since you now have Messmer’s flame, you have the option to burn it.

What happens when you burn the Sealing Tree?

When you burn the Sealing Tree, it’s basically like in the base game where you commit the Cardinal Sin at the Forge of the Giants. You burn a tree, everything in the land gets altered, and you end up in another new area.

In the instance of Shadow of the Erdtree, you end up at Enir-Ilim. This is the area that can be seen soaring high above the Belurat area.

At this point in the game, all NPC quests that you started and didn’t see to the end are mostly lost. Unless you have exhausted all dialogues up until this point, only those who you have seen through the end will continue here. 

The only way to recover these or see the questlines through is if you had a previous save file, or just started a new run (or the next New Game Plus level) on your current character.