Elden Ring: Murkwater Cave, Patches, and Bloody Finger Nerijus guide

Murkwater Cave is one of the dungeons that you’ll find in the Limgrave region of Elden Ring. You’ll battle a boss named Patches, but there might be more than meets the eye during your encounter. Here’s our Elden Ring guide to help you with the Murkwater Cave dungeon, the Patches boss fight, and the Bloody Finger Nerijus encounter.

Note: For more information, check out our Elden Ring guides and features hub.

Elden Ring guide – Murkwater Cave dungeon, Patches boss fight, and Bloody Finger Nerijus

The Murkwater Cave dungeon in Elden Ring is located north of the river in Limgrave. From the Gatefront Site of Grace, make your way southeast along the road until you see a sloping path that leads to the lake. Follow the riverbed to the north past the ravine with skeleton warriors.

Bloody Finger Nerijus

Now, you might think that you’re safe, but a hostile NPC invasion will also occur. You’ll get attacked by Bloody Finger Nerijus, and he’s extremely tough if you’re just starting out.

He has fast attacks that afflict you with the bleeding status. Once the bar is full, your character will experience Blood Loss, getting your HP depleted severely due to hemmorhaging.

You can either run inside the cave and rest in the Site of Grace, causing Nerijus to despawn. Alternatively, you can go back near where you found the skeletons. A friendly NPC named Yura will appear close to this spot, and he’ll assist you against Nerijus. Since it’s a two-on-one situation, you should be able to take him out. Nerijus’ defeat nets you a Furcalling Finger Remedy for summoning other players, as well as the Reduvia unique dagger:

• Perk: Causes blood loss build-up
• Requirements: Str 5 and Dex 13
• Scaling: Str D and Dex C

Murkwater Cave dungeon

As for the Murkwater Cave dungeon, well, there’s really nothing that’s remarkable about it. There are several bandit mobs here, and they’ll get alerted if you trigger the bell alarm traps. So, it’s better to walk while hugging the cavern’s wall to reach the boss’ arena (unless you plan on grabbing other loot).

Patches boss fight

The boss of Murkwater Dungeon in Elden Ring is none other than Patches. It starts once you open the chest in his cavern. He’ll chide you for stealing, then he’d attempt to smack you around.

Thankfully, Patches’ attacks are easily telegraphed. He even has an ability where he blows Poison Mist, but it leaves him open to quick stabs or bow shots.

However, there’s something very important that occurs once Patches is below 50% HP. He’ll suddenly beg for mercy. This nets you the Grovel For Mercy emote.

So, should you keep Patches alive in Elden Ring? My advice would be to agree to “forgive and forget.” This turns Patches into a merchant NPC. You can check his wares by fast traveling and going back to his location.

Margit’s Shackle

If you want to buy stuff from Patches, go ahead and look at his wares. The most crucial one, arguably, is Margit’s Shackle, which costs 5,000 runes. You can take a look at our rune farming guide if you need help amassing the currency.

Margit’s Shackle can be used twice during the Margit boss fight to stun your foe, as long as he’s still above 50% health/it’s not phase 2 yet. It also has another use later in the campaign, which I won’t spoil here.

Hey, there’s another chest!

While talking to Patches, you’ll notice that there’s another chest near him. Remember what happens to people who steal? Well, if you open the chest, you’ll get ensnared in a transporter trap. You’ll get teleported to Mistwood in eastern Limgrave, right behind a giant bear.

You definitely don’t want to go up against it at a low level. To fast travel out of there, you need to look for a nearby Site of Grace and rest there. This will re-enable the function once more.

Where did Patches go?

Much later in your campaign, Patches will disappear from Murkwater Cave. The next time you meet up with him, he’ll be in Volcano Manor. He’s one of the quest givers there who’ll hand you an NPC target that you can invade.

Elden Ring is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.