Black-Key Bolt

Type

Bolt

Physical damage

30

Stamina damage

5

Scarlet rot buildup

60

About this item

Bolts used in Crepus' Black-Key Crossbow, an assassin's tool of exquisite craftsmanship.

The intricate spiral tip bores deep, injecting scarlet rot far into the flesh of its target.

Chest behind the first lower imp seal

Roundtable Hold

Starting Site of Grace: Table of Lost Grace

Before you go

• One Stonesword Key.

1. From the central table, take the corridor toward Hewg and go down the stairs beside his area.
2. Use one Stonesword Key at the first imp statue and enter the newly opened room.
3. Open the chest for Crepus's Black-Key Crossbow and 20 Black-Key Bolts. The second sealed room is a different pickup.

Top of Sellia Gateway

Caelid

Starting Site of Grace: Church of the Plague

1. Reach the Church of the Plague on the high ground above Sellia. Follow the road southwest toward the top of Sellia Gateway.
2. Stay on the upper approach to the gateway rather than searching its ground-level arch. Loot the corpse on top for 20 bolts.

Fortified Manor fireplace room

Leyndell, Royal Capital

Starting Site of Grace: West Capital Rampart

Before you go

• Collect before Maliketh turns Leyndell into the Ashen Capital.

1. Before defeating Maliketh, start at West Capital Rampart. Leave the grace room and use the broken wall beside the stairs to reach the lower walkway.
2. Follow the route toward the small ruined buildings beside Fortified Manor. Climb their roofs and enter the opening in the manor wall.
3. Inside the building that resembles Roundtable Hold, turn left and follow the corridor to the dining room.
4. Loot the corpse by the fireplace, beside Two Fingers' Prayerbook, for 20 bolts.

Corpse beside the first floor switch

Lake of Rot

Starting Site of Grace: Lake of Rot Shoreside

1. Start at Caria Manor in northwestern Liurnia. Defeat Royal Knight Loretta and enter Three Sisters behind the manor. Visit Ranni at the top of Ranni's Rise and agree to serve her. Speak to the spirits downstairs, then return to Ranni to finish the conversation.
2. Defeat Starscourge Radahn at Redmane Castle. Return to southern Mistwood and find the new crater near Fort Haight, marked by floating rocks. Descend using its ledges and enter Nokron, Eternal City.
3. Work across Nokron's rooftops to the streets and continue to Mimic Tear. Defeat it and cross the long bridge beyond its arena. Leave the bridge on the left into the woods, then follow the cliff to Ancestral Woods grace.
4. Jump from the cliff beside that grace onto the roof below. Follow the rooftops and narrow building ledges into Night's Sacred Ground. Continue across the broken stone arch into the church, descend inside, and leave onto the lower street. Follow that street to the enormous seated figure and open the chest underneath it for Fingerslayer Blade.
5. Return the blade to Ranni at her tower. Before doing this, finish any remaining Seluvis rewards you want. Rest after speaking to Ranni, then visit Renna's Rise, the northern tower in Three Sisters. Climb it and use the sending gate to Ainsel River Main.
6. Collect Miniature Ranni from the coffin near where you arrive. Rest at Ainsel River Main and select Talk to miniature Ranni repeatedly until she answers. Finish her dialogue.
7. Follow the river through Uhl Palace Ruins, using cover against the hanging creature's projectiles. Continue through the ant tunnel to Nokstella. Follow the river at ground level through the city and take the lift in the small building at the far end to Nokstella Waterfall Basin.
8. Go through the cave beyond Waterfall Basin and defeat the Baleful Shadow in the open red-lit area. Ranni gives you Discarded Palace Key. Return to Raya Lucaria Grand Library, where you defeated Rennala, and unlock the chest beside her for Dark Moon Ring.
9. Return to the Baleful Shadow area and take the lift beyond it to Lake of Rot. Bring a way to remove Scarlet Rot. Cross toward the southwestern entrance to Grand Cloister, stepping on the raised platforms' switches to create places to stop.
10. Move southwest toward the first floor switch that raises a platform from the lake. Search the corpse beside this first switch for ten bolts.
11. Return to safe ground rather than continuing through the lake while your Scarlet Rot buildup is nearly full.

Rileigh the Idle assassination

Altus Plateau

Starting Site of Grace: Bridge of Iniquity

Before you go

• Complete the earlier Manor contract and collect Rileigh's letter before defeating Rykard.

1. Join Volcano Manor by speaking to Tanith, then read the first contract in the drawing room and defeat Old Knight Istvan at its marked invasion sign in Limgrave.
2. Return to Tanith for the reward and collect the next letter from the drawing room. It marks Rileigh the Idle in the Altus Plateau valley south of Bridge of Iniquity.
3. Reach the marked red sign on the valley floor, interact with it and defeat Rileigh in his world.
4. Winning the invasion awards 20 Black-Key Bolts. Report back to Tanith separately for the contract's other reward.

Notes

• Crossbow ammunition that applies Scarlet Rot buildup. It still needs to fill the target's meter, and rot-immune enemies will not be affected.
• The checked rewards are finite stacks. There is no crafting recipe that turns ordinary bolts into Black-Key Bolts.
• The Fortified Manor stack becomes inaccessible after Maliketh's defeat, and the Rileigh stack depends on the Manor contract route.
• Crepus's Black-Key Crossbow comes with the Roundtable stack, but the bolts are not restricted to that one crossbow.
• Its base Scarlet Rot buildup is 60, compared with 55 for Rotbone Bolts. That makes the finite supply useful, but it is not an instant rot proc against a fresh target.
• Arcane does not increase its fixed rot buildup. A crossbow’s Physical damage and the ammunition’s rot effect are separate parts of the shot.
• Pulley Crossbow fires three bolts per burst and spends three pieces of ammunition. That can build rot quickly, but empties this limited supply three times as fast.
• A headshot improves qualifying impact damage rather than guaranteeing a rot proc. A target still needs enough buildup and must not be immune.
• The five listed stacks contain 20, 20, 20, 10 and 20 bolts, respectively. Complete the Manor contract before Rykard and collect the capital stack before Maliketh if you want those finite rewards.
• Rotbone Bolts offer a craftable alternative. A crossbow already loaded with this ammunition does not turn later ordinary bolts into rot bolts.