In Elden Ring, the Grand Lift of Dectus is one of the most important structures you will find. It allows players to travel between two major regions — Liurnia of the Lakes and Atlus Plateau — and progress to a high level area.
However, many players struggle to activate this lift. In order to do it, players need specific items that are kept in seemingly random places.
The Grand Lift of Dectus can be found at the end of the Bellum Highway, in the northern area of Liurnia. Once you find the highway, follow it going east, and you will eventually find it, but it won’t be active. This is most likely why you need this guide.
So, if you have reached the end of the Bellum Highway and do not know how to proceed, we are here to help you. Here’s everything you need to know on how to activate the Grand Lift of Dectus so you can leave Liurnia and reach the Altus Plateau.
How to Use the Grand Lift of Dectus
In order to use the Grand Lift of Dectus, players must have both sides of the Dectus Medallion in their inventory.
If you don’t have any, there is no way for you to reach the Atlus Plateau from this area. The sides of the medallion are not that hard to locate. In fact, one of the pieces is pretty easy to find early in the game.
The other one is a bit trickier to get, though, and will need you to go far into the corrupted lands where Greyoll rests.
How to Get the Left Side of the Dectus Medallion
The first one is pretty simple. First, you need to take the road near the Gatefront Ruins and follow it until you find a character asking for help over ruins that work as a bridge.
Talk to that character until he starts repeating himself so you can proceed with his questline. He’ll ask you to take back his fort to the south of Mistwood. That’s where you need to go.
In Limgrave, travel through the forest where Blaidd howls until you find Fort Haight West at the end of the road. The left part of the medallion will be inside of a chest within the fort.
You can check on the map above your starting point, the place where you will find the lord in need of help, and the location of his fort.
Once you get there, you will have to fight your way through until you find the chest with a piece of the medallion. Note that you need to defeat the knight that has taken it over to complete this quest.
Once you do, you also get a brand new Ash of War that adds Blood Loss buildup to a weapon with it.
How to Get the Right Side of the Dectus Medallion
The right side is much trickier to get. It demands a lot more horseback riding since you will be visiting areas that you are most likely under-leveled to handle. However, it will be considerably more manageable if you have been playing for a while and haven’t gotten the needed Bell Bearings yet.
In order to get there without too many incidents, find the Third Church of Marika, where you got your Wondrous Flak of Physicks, and look for the portal behind it. That is the same process you go through to defeat the giant dragon in Elden Ring early.
If you followed the road to get the left piece of the medallion, you have probably already visited the Church of Marika. You might even have a site of grace to travel to and make this whole process quicker.
Once you get to the other side of the portal, go south until you find the bridge with a dragon and keep going through the road until you find Fort Faroth.
Enter the fort and look for stairs. Ignore the bats; they are probably too strong for you. Go up and take the medallion piece, and you are good to go.
The enemies might be too powerful for you to handle, so try just to run through and get the item. Expect to be taken down as soon as you get the medallion piece if enemies follow you, so don’t carry runes while doing so.
I wouldn’t worry too much about being hit after taking the medallion. You will be sent back to a site of grace, the item will be in your inventory, and you can fast travel from a safe area to anywhere you need to go after.
Activate the Grand Lift of Dectus
If you don’t know how to access the Grand Lift of Dectus, it’s the same process you have to go through in order to get the Bell Bearings that allow you to buy Smithing Stones in Elden Ring.
In short, go from the Artist’s Shack to the north and follow the road through the woods. Go through the Ruined Labyrinth, find the lake with a walking mausoleum, and head left. Now, at the cliff, look for stones that will let you platform all the way down to the Bellum Highway.
Once there, follow the highway to the East until you find the Grand Lift of Dectus. Now that you have reached it, just stand in front of the circle that you see before the statues. You should be able to press your interact button to activate the lift as long as you have both medallion sides in your inventory.
Final Thoughts
The Grand Lift of Dectus is a way for the game to force you to explore the world a bit; otherwise, you just won’t advance.
Coincidently, both pieces of the needed medallions are in forts. The first piece is in Fort Haight and the second in Forth Faroth.
Once you have both, you can make your way to the extreme north of Liurnia and take the Bellum Highway to the East until you find the Grand Lift. There, with the pieces of the medallion, you will be able to activate it.
With the Grand Lift of Dectus active, you now have access to the Atlas Plateau and a Liurnia of the Lakes. Luckily, you won’t need to go through its activation again since you can just fast travel from one site of grace to another.
