You’ll need to find the Elden Ring Glintstone Key to get into the Raya Lucaria Academy. But knowing where to look requires decoding the Meeting Place map, and that isn’t exactly the clearest thing to read. However, this isn’t something you can put off either, as the way into Raya Lucaria Academy, and the Glintstone Key you need to do that, are a critical part of the main Elden Ring path
There’s a lot going on here. Not least of which is an encounter with Glintstone Dragon Smarag that can go one of two ways depending on your preparations. What you’re about to undertake will also see you meet one of the Elden Ring main bosses – an enemy that you really have to defeat to progress. You can skip them but it means fighting an even harder boss for a crucial item, and missing out on a vital character for the Elden Ring respec and Larval Tears system you can use to change your character.
So, we’re going to show you how to find the Glintstone key, get into the Raya Lucaria Academy and deal with the boss you’ll find inside. All of which starts with working out where the Meeting Place map is sending you in Elden Ring…
The Elden Ring Glintstone Key location
The Elden Ring Glintstone Key for Raya Lucaria Academy is located in the lakes to the West of the building itself, though narrowing it down beyond that requires you to do a bit of treasure hunting. And yes, this is necessary for getting inside – there’s no access to the Academy without a Glintstone Key, as the building is effectively in magical lockdown and only the Key will break through it.
Finding the Elden Ring Glintstone Key is very difficult (though not impossible) without a certain piece of knowledge: the Meeting Place Map. Approaching the Academy from the South will have you come across a massive gateway blocked by a blue magical seal, one that none of your spells or weapons can breach. However, there’ll also be a corpse leaning against it with an item, the Meeting Place Map. You can pick it up and read it in your inventory with the Square or X button, depending on your controller.
Elden Ring Meeting Place map
The Elden Ring meeting place map gives a very rough indicator of where to look, a crude drawing of the local environment that can be easy to get wrong. However, we’ve marked exactly where you should be going on the map above – an unnamed outcropping of rock in the lake West of the Academy. Ride there on Torrent, but stay alert for the local enemies, including a new and very big one…
How to deal with Glintstone Dragon Smarag and get the Glintstone Key
Red Wolf of Radagon
If you’re heading into the Academy, knowing how to beat the Red Wolf of Radagon in Elden Ring, the first boss, will definitely help!
We recommend approaching this rock from the South, but be careful. There’s a boss sleeping in front of it, presumably the reason that the meeting never took place. This is the Glintstone Dragon Smarag, a cursed creature even more powerful than Swamp Dragon Agheel in Limgrave. Luckily you can get the Glintstone Key without ever fighting Smarag – crouch down and slowly approach, then walk behind Smarag to the space between it and the rock. It will wake up as you get closer, but that doesn’t mean it knows you’re there – as long as you’re behind Smarag, it should remain oblivious.
The Glintstone Key is behind Smarag among several other items, on a corpse wearing a large bearded stone mask. Grab the Key and go – you don’t need to fight Smarag, so either sneak away or make a break for it on Torrent. Come back to this fight later when you feel you’re ready.
There’s also mention of a second Glintstone Key if you went to the Church of Irith earlier and spoke to the lowly sorcerer Thops. Thops wants his own key, but won’t accept this one (as it’d stop you from getting into the Academy yourself). To find out how you can get him a spare and earn some unique rewards, check out our Elden Ring Thops questline guide where we’ve laid out all the important details in a comprehensive walkthrough.
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