Maliketh, the Black Blade, is a mandatory boss in Elden Ring who serves as the last opponent in Crumbling Farum Azula. Defeating him is the key to triggering the world event that transforms Leyndell into the Capital of Ash, granting access to the Erdtree’s interior and the game’s final boss fight. Maliketh does not begin his fight as the Black Blade but instead starts as a Beast Clergyman, with abilities identical to Gurranq in Caelid’s Bestial Sanctum. However, after Maliketh’s transformation, he becomes a challenging foe that can take down even the strongest of Tarnished warriors.
How To Defeat Malekith In Elden Ring
Unfortunately, there is currently no way in Elden Ring to cheese Malekith outside of creating broken builds to defeat him. Most Tarnished are undoubtedly familiar with the Level 100+ Arcane-based builds that can swiftly take the Black Blade down. Nonetheless, an essential strategy for this boss battle is to understand when the right moment to attack the beast.
Elden Ring: All Painting Locations and Solutions
The first technique to defeat Maliketh in Elden Ring during his first phase as the Beast Clergyman is only to strike when the boss is performing an animation. Indeed, it would seem naturally better to attack while he isn’t doing anything, but Maliketh can move surprisingly fast and attack the player at a moment’s notice. Therefore, solely land hits on the boss while his most recent animation is finishing.
Phase 2 of Maliketh, the Black Blade, will doubtless be the bane by which most players die in this Elden Ring boss fight. The first approach is to use the broken pillars around the arena to take cover when he is sending out his blade’s projectiles. When Maliketh is executing basic swing attacks, stick to his right hind leg, as his normal strikes cannot reach this area. This tactic also applies to the situation when he executes his spinning sword moves or other swiping abilities, except for his ground-stab AoE burst. Maliketh’s right back leg is most vulnerable because he holds his sword on the left side (from the player’s angle) and has no moves to attack from his unarmed side. Once Elden Ring players understand the rhythm of Malekith’s moveset and focus their attention on his back leg, defeating him shouldn’t be as challenging.
Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
