Where to Find the Academy Glintstone Key in Elden Ring

To get into the Academy of Raya Lucaria in Elden Ring, you need to know where to find the Academy Glintstone Key. Without the Glintstone Key, you can’t get past the powerful wards around the school, and without access to the Academy, you can’t take on the Legacy Dungeon and its steward.

How to Get the Academy Glintstone Key in Elden Ring

You can find a clue to the Academy Glintstone Key’s location from a map you loot off a corpse at the eastern Lucaria Academy gate. It points to a collection of standing stones to the west of the Academy, where a meeting of some persuasion was to take place.

The key rests on the corpse of a mage from the Academy, itself nestled in a nook reachable on the southern side of the group of stones. There’s just one problem. Glintstone Dragon Smarag sleeps just before the mage’s body and rouses to attack shortly after you arrive. She’s a fearsome opponent if you’re lower than level 50 or so, and has a different attack set than Agheel, who you may have fought in Limgrave. She’s also incredibly resistant to magic, making one of your best ranged options almost entirely pointless unless you’re running Fire Incantations (which you probably don’t have at this point in the game).

Thankfully, there’s a kicker: you don’t need to fight Smarag to get the Academy Glintstone Key. The key doesn’t disappear when she dies, nor is it tied to her in any meaningful way besides proximity It will be there whether you fight her or not.

You’re perfectly within your rights to snatch the Glintstone Key and book it to one of the Academy entrances. You can even ride in on Torrent, snatch the key, and use the map to fast travel to any nearby Site of Grace, provided you are fast enough in the menus. Smarag will, of course, remain a thorn in your side until you deal with her, always rising when you near the standing stones. You aren’t liable to return to this part of Liurnia for any reason, though, so leaving her alive isn’t a huge impediment. Also, if you think her presence adds to the ambiance of the area or provides some extra tension, by all means, leave the beast alive.

That is, of course, unless you like Dragon Incantations. To unlock those, you need to kill dragons and take their Dragon Hearts, one of which belongs to Smarag. The more dragons you kill, the more Hearts you get, and the more Dragon magic you unlock. Take out the oversized lizard when you grab the Glintstone Key for free once you have that powerful bit of viscera. With it, you can pass the wards and officially can now enter Raya Lucaria Academy and make your way to the boss, Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, who also allows you to respec once defeated.

Now you know where to find the Academy Glintstone Key to get into Elden Ring’s Raya Lucaria Academy. Make sure you can get there quickly and easily by following our guide on finding the Torrent Mount. It’s also easier to fight the dragon while two-handing your weapon, so check our guide on that, too. Our Elden Ring guides hub for more.