Go toe to toe with the goddess who destroyed Caelid.
Some bosses in Elden Ring just stand out more than others, and Malenia, Blade of Miquella is one of the game’s deadliest foes. Boasting high speed, maneuverability, and a deadly array of close combat attacks with strong evasion, this boss is incredibly deadly and will likely serve as a real challenge for most players. But there’s hope, as she remains beatable thanks to a couple of glaring susceptibilities she has. Read on for our guide on How to Beat Malenia in Elden Ring!
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss Guide: How to Beat Malenia in Elden Ring
Malenia has 2 principal weaknesses that make her far more manageable, Frostbite and, more importantly, Blood Loss. Whether you fight her from a distance or up close, keep your attacks to a methodical pace so you can keep your guard up or be ready to dodge-roll from her dangerous physical attacks. Her first phase can be conquered with relative ease once you get familiar with her attack patterns, and after most of her moves, she’ll be wide open to a couple of strikes with your best Blood Loss-inflicting attacks. Seppuku and Swarm of Flies will come in handy here, as well as Adula’s Moonblade to inflict Frostbite and keep her stamina recovery down.
If you can combine Frostbite and Blood Loss, power to you, as her reduced stamina recovery will open her up to having her poise broken. She can also be susceptible to knockback from the right attacks, but the most important thing to do when that happens is inflicted more Blood Loss, to watch her HP drop like a stone. Once you deplete her first health bar, she will enter her second phase, where she unveils herself as Malenia, Goddess of Rot, and things get a lot more tricky, but the same approach will still win you the battle.
The Attacks
Malenia’s first phase has her slowly approaching you or, if you’re in the coop, whoever aggros her the most. Most of her attacks are combos of strong physical strikes that can quite easily be blocked, but there are a few you should watch out for.
First is when she takes to the air and looms over you, she will soon shoot down to where you were last standing and start a series of 3 sword flurries, or “Waterfowl Dance”, the last one having a secondary burst after it ends. To dodge this, when she is in the air, run in the opposite direction at first as she will not be able to connect with her first attack. If you run far enough, the second will also miss, but the third, wait for her to appear in front of you, and then dodge away twice, or block if you’ve got the poise. This will also have the bonus of her being open to counterattack, so lay waste.
Second is a grab attack where you see her telegraph it by swinging her offhand back, hand open before she lunges – simply dodge left or right here. If she catches you, she will throw you into the air and impale you, resulting in a likely death.
Malenia’s second phase is similar, but with a few added tricks. Her flurry combo is very similar but even scarier, and most of her attacks will also heal her, so don’t give her anything. She starts the phase by using Scarlet Aeonia, shooting herself at you or any PvE partner who got her aggro before the second phase, simply run away from her before she lands. When she does land, a flower will bloom around her, causing a large explosion that can inflict heavy damage and Scarlet Rot, so roll as necessary. She will be completely wide open for what feels like an eternity here, so definitely consider Swarm of Flies here, and any time she uses this later, capitalize on it, as it will likely result in her dying far more quickly.
The second phase’s attacks are fairly similar to the first, although she is far quicker to get close to you and inflict heavy damage. Attacks to watch out for are all largely telegraphed by when she goes into the air, as not only does she unleash her sword dances from this as well as Scarlet Rot divebombing, she can also release clones of herself for individual strikes from multiple sides. Finally, she likes to come up close and unleash a two-hit combo, the first of which is not very effective, but she’ll then go into a thrust stance – dodge left or right before she moves in, and you’ll evade this completely.
Spoils of Victory
Malenia is an elusive but not overly defensive fighter. She is deadly and will likely kill you several times, so you must bring whatever you can to inflict Blood Loss, Frostbite, or break down her poise reliably. The nice thing about Blood Loss in particular is, there are so many builds that can easily accommodate it, and spells, even abilities, require very little to use it effectively, stat-wise and either HP or FP. Once you beat this fight, you’ll earn a massive bursary of 480,000 runes and the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess.
Malenia is an incredible source of lore in the game, and it turns out when she unleashed the Scarlet Rot for the first time in her battle with Radahn, it enveloped Caelid in the process. She is an agile foe and a fantastic but challenging boss, and one of the ultimate tests of your mettle in the game. Getting her armor is an added treat you can purchase afterward at Roundtable Hold.
This concludes our guide on How to Beat Malenia in Elden Ring! Be sure to check out our other guides, and our review!
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Series X|S.
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