Elden Ring Golden Scarab talisman location and walkthrough

The Elden Ring Golden Scarab talisman that boosts runes earned, but you'll have to get it by killing the Cleanrot Knights in Caelid's Abandoned Cave. Not that abandoned, then. Still, it's absolutely worth battling through! As tough as the Cleanrot Knights are, the Golden Scarab Talisman will do a huge amount to boost your runes across the whole of Elden Ring, so it's really worth fighting through to get them. For that reason, we'll show you in greater detail where to find the Golden Scarab talisman, the Abandoned Cave, and how to beat the Cleanrot Knights below.

How to get the Golden Scarab talisman in Elden Ring

To get the Golden Scarab talisman and boost your Runes in Elden Ring, players should head to the region of Caelid, East of the starting Limgrave. Specifically they're looking for an abandoned cave called… er, the Abandoned Cave. This is found East of the Smouldering Wall Site of Grace, past the dead trees occupied by a couple of mangy monster dogs. We've got both a walkthrough for the Abandoned Cave itself, as well as an explanation for how to beat the Cleanrot Knights boss fight.

On the far side of this area will be a ravine that blocks off your path, but there's a large branch crossing it into the cliffside opposite - and leading to an open cavern (seen above). That's the Abandoned Cave, but be very careful crossing the branch. Stepping anywhere but the very centre has a nasty habit of causing you to slide off the edge to your death (it's a long drop).

Once you're inside, the challenges are only beginning. Use the Site of Grace, and make sure you have quite a few Preserving Boluses, or any item that can be used to cure Scarlet Rot. Some poison cures wouldn't go amiss either, but they're not quite as essential if you're careful. 

Abandoned Cave walkthrough

Abandoned Cave walkthrough

The Elden Ring Golden Scarab is at the far end of the Abandoned Cave mini-dungeon, the reward for killing a couple of bosses. But the Cave itself is pretty brutal, so we've put together this step-by-step guide on getting through it.

1. From the Site of Grace you'll notice down the ledge is a red river of goo - that's pure Scarlet Rot. Standing in it will raise your Rot meter, and if that meter maxes out, you'll contract Scarlet Rot. This disease drains your health until it eventually kills you, wears off, or is cured through items, magic or resting at a Site of Grace. The waist-high goo also slows you down, a dangerous effect in certain circumstances.
2. You'll also see bubbling Geysers that regularly erupt - standing in these even when they're simply bubbling causes damage, and if you're standing in it when it explodes, you'll take a lot of damage, potentially killing you. 
3. Go left from the Site of Grace. Stand on the ledge and jump down into the river when the Geyser has just exploded, giving you the widest opportunity to jump down. Once it has, sprint through the bubbles, hugging the wall, and head straight for the giant Iron Maiden opposite, which is standing on a little island above the Rot (don't worry, the Maiden itself is inactive).
4. You have two choices of path now. The one on the right is a dead end with Dragonwound Grease to claim (if you want to brave the Geyser blocking it). The left one takes you deeper into the cave. 
5. Take the left path and you'll get a mercifully dry path with a Martyr Effigy halfway down. Now's a good time to light a Lantern if you have one.
6. Follow the path into a wider cavern with another ledge - and more Geysers of Scarlet Rot below. There's an item in the middle of the Geysers - the Serpent Bow - but you don't have to get it if you're not feeling brave. 
7. If you just want to survive, head to the far-right side of the ledge before dropping down, and kill the fungus mage down there before he can fire poison projectiles at you. Keep heading right (or South) down the tunnel to dry land again.
8. Now the cave opens up a little more. There's rats ahead and another fungus mage who'll shoot poison at you from a distance, but there's an alcove on the right side to take cover in before charging forward to kill him.
9. After carving up that piece of shiitake, head past him into a smaller room with a couple of rats and some Fire Grease on a corpse. Follow the tunnel down, but take a moment before heading into the cavern ahead.
10. The cavern itself has numerous threats - pools of Scarlet Rot, fungus mages firing at you, and the giant poison-firing flower monsters you might've seen in your adventures. We recommend avoiding all of these things if you feel you're not ready - hug the right-hand side of the wall and run up the slope to where two of the fungus mages are. Kill them if you want, then duck into the Northern tunnel behind them. 
11. If you're feeling brave, you can head back into this big room at any time and fight your way to the West ledge to get a unique weapon called the Venomous Fang, but to progress to the Golden Scarab, you need to follow that Northern tunnel. 

At the end of this tunnel is the golden fog that marks a boss arena. Make sure you're ready before you go in - have your Rot cures and Flasks ready, as well as equipment well-suited to close-quarters fighting. This battle won't be kind to mages.

How to beat the Cleanrot Knights boss fight in Elden Ring

The Cleanrot Knights should be just about manageable for anybody who's gotten past Godrick, and fairly easy for anybody who's made it to Leyndell or past that. Anybody before that point might find them tough, and even those who are past it still need to be careful, as they're well equipped to make use of player complacency.

• The Cleanrot Knights' arena has a river of Scarlet Rot going through it. You need to note where this river is, and do everything to avoid standing in it once the fight starts - the last thing any player wants is to be bled of health throughout a fight.
• When the fight starts, there'll just be the Spear Knight ahead of you, getting up from kneeling. If you're fast enough, you can sprint behind them and get the backstab before the fight begins proper.
• Both knights can block attacks by crossing their weapons before them, and can turn that block into a painful shove that knocks back players trying to break through. If you see them do this, give them their space until they lower their guard.
• The Sickle Knight doesn't enter the arena until the Spear Knight has lost about half health. Both have their own advantages - the Spear Knight leaps in for jabs close-quarters fighting while the Sickle Knight fires ranged discs and makes wider, sweeping attacks.
• The best advice is to take down the Spear Knight first, no matter what. They'll be more damaged to begin with, and their efforts to fight close to the player means you'll have to deal with them more anyway. Try to do as much damage to them as possible before the Sickle Knight comes in, use their thrust attacks as chances to get behind them, and make sure to keep the Sickle Knight in your field of view so you can't get caught unawares by any projectile attacks.
• Once the Spear Knight is dead, the second Cleanrot is much more manageable. The Spear Knight uses wide sweeping melee strikes with very clear wind-ups, making them easy to dodge, and their magic projectile discs, though they break through shields well, can be evaded simply by rolling in the opposite direction from wherever he fired them from.

Once you beat the two Cleanrot Knights, you'll get 7000 Runes, but you'll also actually get a lot more than that - as they drop the precious Golden Scarab.

Golden Scarab talisman rune boost effect explained

The Golden Scarab is a Talisman that can be put on in your equipment menu. While worn, we discovered that it boosts Runes earned through killing enemies by about 17%-20% (though not through using Rune items or selling gear to merchants). It also stacks with the Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot for even more of a boost.

Either way, this is very much a big deal - there's literally nothing more important in Elden Ring than Runes for progression, and the longer you wear it, the more it's going to speed up your ascent through the game. Once you have it, we recommend pinning it to your character's lapel and never, ever taking it off. It'll certainly work wonders if you head to our Elden Ring Rune farming locations, making a profitable experience even more so.