Malenia of Elden Ring is an optional encounter but also by far the hardest boss in the game.
She is, however, a required adversary if you want to complete Millicent’s questline and obtain Miquella’s Needle, which is a key item to reverse the Frenzied Flame Lord ending if you had visited all three fingers.
As Malenia has attacks that can easily shoot you, it’s highly recommended to use Spirit Ash Summons for this fight just to give yourself some breathing room.
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Looking for direction? Our what to do first in Elden Ring, Elden Ring walkthrough, Grace site locations, and main bosses in the order pages can help you out.
How to prepare for Malenia, Blade of Miquella
Summoning a spiritual ash, especially Mimic Tearis going to be essential for most players, so bringing a spirit to level +10 is highly recommended.
The higher your Spirit Ash level, the higher their health will be, and they will actually survive Malenia’s attacks which will normally mean instant death for a human player.
Malenia is susceptible to bleedingwhich makes Bloodhound’s Fang a very effective melee weapon against her.
She is too weak to frostbitealthough be aware that FromSoftware has since possessed the Hoarfrost Stomp skill, and you don’t really want to be rooted in place for too long against this fast opponent.
You need to be at least level 120 (but preferably even higher) before you even consider taking on Malenia, and make sure you’ve upgraded your weapon and shield to their max levels.
You might also want to respec your character so that your stamina is around 50. While you should ideally dodge his attacks, having a high guard boost and stamina gauge means you’ll withstand the first part of his Fatal combo that will normally kill you.
It will also be useful to have armor or items that give you high resistance to scarlet rot during its second phase. Oh yes, there is a second phase.
How to defeat Malenia, Blade of Miquella
While she can be a very nimble opponent, Malenia approaches you at a walking pace to begin with, meaning you have plenty of time to summon a spirit, brew a potion like a Flask of Wondrous Physick before facing you properly.
Malenia attacks with swipes and swipes from her blade, and the real kicker is his attacks recover his health with each hit, even if you block.
It’s a particular downside to bringing allies with you, as it potentially means more opportunities for his health bar to stay topped up, so coordination is key.
Its fearsome attack power is offset by the fact that she has little self-control so her attacks can easily be interruptedalthough you preferably want to stagger her before she even begins her attack animation.
Players with an ally should try to flank her and coordinate attack timings to prevent her from having wiggle room.
Successive attacks (such as two combos from Bloodhound’s Fang’s unique skill and follow-up) will knock her down and open her up for a critical attack, though she’s quite nimble and can easily spin out of your reach.
Its attacks can also be parried, but be warned that It takes three successive parries to stun him for a riposteso this tactic is not recommended unless you are incredibly confident with your parry timings.
A few attacks to watch out for, one is his charged thrust which has huge range but takes a few seconds to charge up so you can usually anticipate that and dodge underneath.
The other is a grappling hook that has a much smaller window to react to when she pulls her arm back before reaching out to grab you.
If caught, she’ll throw you in the air and then impale you on her sword, which will likely kill you right away. A high level spirit caught in this attack will survive it though.
the Malenia’s deadliest attack occurs once you bring her health below 75%.
She’ll leap into the air, hold for about a second, then swoop towards you with a flurry of vicious attacks that will deal enough damage to kill you.
And if not, it follows up with a second burst, then a third, which ends with a small stationary AOE burst. The first part is the most fatal, while the second and third parts can be avoided by dodging.
To avoid the first part, if you have a spirit ally, there’s a chance they’ll run towards them instead, and a high-level spirit will survive successive attacks (although this also means Malenia will regain good part of his health).
If she comes looking for you, you can try to run away, but you have to anticipate her otherwise she will almost certainly catch up to you and you will be dead.
The best tactic is to have a shield with a high guard boost and a high stamina gauge, and you will be able to block the first part of this attack.
You should still have stamina to dodge the next part of the attack, and if you’re still caught in the attack, it won’t be enough to kill.
We’ve also found that it’s actually possible for a heavy attack with great range to knock it out of this attack phase, but the chances of that being very slim, so we wouldn’t recommend it as a strategy unless that your summoning spirit does not fire extinguished.
When you reduce his health to zero, don’t congratulate yourself right away. It’s time for his second phase!
How to defeat Malenia, Goddess of Rot
Unfortunately, Malenia is one of those rare Elden Ring bosses. where their second phase actually means a new health bar.
She retains some of her same moves from the first phase, including the ability to heal from her attacks, except they can also inflict Scarlet Rot.
At least she’s still susceptible to the same attack damage as before and can still be stunned.
If you’re unprepared initially, she’ll likely kill you right away with her new attack. She will start floating high in the air and then dive-bomb you.
Fortunately, this can be avoided simply by rolling forward when it dives. As soon as you’ve avoided it, flee immediately as it will summon a giant flower that will explode like a mini nuke around it, leaving a Scarlet Rot inducing mist in its wake.
Consider this area radioactive until the petals fall off and disappear, as it not only harms your health, but also inflicts Scarlet Rot.
The good news is that Malenia remains stationary for the duration, so ranged or magic users can take advantage of this opportunity to unleash their strongest attacks from a safe distance.
Melee players can always rush in safely at the last moment to get a few hits in as well.
Another new attack to be wary of is when Malenia flies through the air and fires spirit versions of herself to attack you.
You can lock onto her and dodge spirits as they come, but also watch when she finishes herself off with a dive attack.
She also has an attack where she leaps into the air then slams her blade on the ground, followed by a gust of wind causing the Scarlet Rot in front of her. This flurry happens shortly after, giving you a small window to attack before backing up.
Your best bet is to avoid the worst of these attacks and continue to coordinate with your spirit, if they’re still alive.
Also, make sure you have the maximum number of Healing Flasks and hope you haven’t used too many during his first phase.
Due to the heavy damage and potential Scarlet Rot, you’ll want to keep your health maxed at all times.
Once you’ve chosen a starting class (like samurai) and a starting souvenir item, you first need to figure out how to level up, how to respec, and how to use Ashes of War and Attribute Scaling. Need direction from there? Try to find Golden Seeds, Holy Tears, Crystal Tears, Talismans, and some of our top weapon and armor picks. If you want to improve your prowess, we recommend farming runes – especially before facing Magrit, Godrick the grafted, Crystalian, Leonine Misbegotten, Starscourge Radahn (required as part of the Ranni quest), Red Wolf of Radagon and Renalla Queen of the Full Moon after finding the location of the Glittering Stone Key.
Malenia, Goddess of Rot reward
Malenia, Goddess of Rot drops a whopping 480,000 runes when defeated.
You’ll also be rewarded with the Souvenir of the Rotten Goddess item, which can be traded at the Round Table for powerful items and abilities, as well as the Malenia Great Rune.
You’ll need to travel to the Secluded Divine Tower via the Leyndell Divine Bridge portal to restore the power of the Great Rune, which when equipped grants you Malenia’s ability for your attacks to recover your health when you consume a Runic Bow.
That’s not all. Once you’ve defeated Malenia, rest at the new Grace site that spawns and you’ll see a flower has bloomed in the middle of the room.
If you have the Unalloyed Golden Needle near the end of Millicent’s questline, interacting with the flower will grant you Miquella’s Needle, an item needed to reverse Frenzied Flame Lord’s ending, as well as ‘a dark elder dragon’s forge stone which is used to strengthen special weapons to their maximum level +10.
Congratulations on overcoming Elden Ring’s greatest challenge!
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