Malenia, Blade of Miquella |
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| Location | Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree |
| Drops | |
 480,000Malenia's Great Rune Remembrance of the Rot Goddess |
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| HP | 33,251 |
| Strong VS |
Weak to |
Malenia, Blade of Miquella and Malenia, Goddess of Rot is two-phase a Demigod Boss in Elden Ring. She's the twin of Miquella, the most powerful of the Empyreans, and gained renown for her legendary battle against Starscourge Radahn during the Shattering, in which she unleashed the power of the Scarlet Rot and reduced Caelid to ruins.
This is an optional boss, as players do not need to defeat it in order to advance in Elden Ring.
...Heed my words. I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella. And I have never known defeat.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss in Elden Ring
- This boss is optional.
- This is a Demi-God type boss.
- Closest Site of Grace: Haligtree Roots [Map Link]
- Multiplayer is allowed for this boss.
- Spirit Ashes can be summoned for this boss.
Elden Ring Malenia, Blade of Miquella Location
Malenia is located at the bottom of Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. Her arena is immediately down the stairs from the Haligtree Roots site of grace. [Map Link]
See Malenia's location on the Elden Ring Map here.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Combat information
- Health: NG (18,473 + 14,778), NG+ (18,750 + 15,000), NG++ (20,625 + 16,500), NG+3 (21,563 + 17,250), NG+4 (22,500 + 18,000), NG+5 (24,375 + 19,500), NG+6 (25,313 + 20,250), NG+7 (26,250 + 21,000)
- Malenia heals up to 80% of her health at the beginning of phase 2
- Defenses do not change between phases - she is more aggresive in 2nd phase.
- During recovery from Scarlet Aeonia, there is a damage reduction (~50%).
- Status Effects do not reset during phase transition
- Damage:
Standard, 
Slash, 
Pierce, - Inflicts:
Scarlet Rot (Phase 2) - Stance: 80
- Parryable: Yes, but 3 parries are required per stance break
- Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken or parried
- Can be toppled or knocked down.
- Albinauric Pot does not work to stop her from healing.
- Able to dodge most spells with ease.
- Frostbite/Blood loss can break out of her attacks.
Absorptions
- Phy (Standard): 10
- Phy (Slash): 10
- Phy (Strike): 10
- Phy (Pierce): 10
The absorption numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if an absorption is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% is absorbed. Bigger number = less damage. An absorption of 100 means no damage goes through, and a resistance of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
Poison: 1,481
Scarlet Rot: 1,481
Hemorrhage: 420
Frostbite: 306
Sleep: 688
Madness: Immune
Death Blight: Immune
The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of whatever aux buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs.
Elden Ring Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss Guide
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss Video Guide
[video coming soon]
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Tips & Strategies
General Tips
- Most of Malenia's damage is physical, so stack reduction against it such as the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, the consumable Boiled Crab, the Opaline Hardtear in your Flask of Wondrous Physick, or the incantations Black Flame's Protection or Golden Vow.
- Malenia has low Poise so it doesn't take much to break her stance and leave her open to a critical attack, builds with good physical damage may want to use Stonebarb Cracked Tear. Additionally, she is vulnerable to knockdown attacks in her first phase, so using a weapon or Spirit Ash that abuses this can be helpful. The Blasphemous Blade's Unique Skill: Taker's Flames is also good option for this as it deals good fire damage and will often knock Malenia down, while each strike heals the player a bit, and can stunlocked Malenia for what is essentially the entire fight.
- Malenia heals herself for a percentage of all damage she inflicts, even if the attack is blocked, making shields suboptimal. This makes it even more important to dodge attacks. Ensure you have enough stamina for dodging, the Green Turtle Talisman and Pickled Turtle Neck consumable can help. It is better to dodge towards Malenia's katana than away from it.
- Inflict status effects. Malenia is weak to Frost and Fire. You can Frostbite Malenia, which deals 7% of her maximum health on its own, then remove the frostbitten debuff by inflicting fire damage, and repeat the process. Malenia also has relatively low resistance to Hemorrhage, inflicting bleed on her can allow players to outpace her self-healing, this makes the Rivers of Blood's unique skill Corpse Piler a good option against her as it deals Physical and Fire damage and inflicts Bleed buildup.
- Players can use summons such as Redmane Knight Ogha Ashes, whose greatarrows will often stagger Malenia and can even interrupt her during the Phantom Spirits attack. Additionally, he will stay in the back and she will focus on you as long as you keep her attention. Black Knife Tiche Ashes is also a good option, as she can dodge Malenia's attacks and limit her self-healing. Latenna The Albinauric is also a good option as she can be summoned by the door while the player keeps Malenia away from her. Summons more focused on tanking are not recommended, as Malenia will just heal herself off of them.
Fight Breakdown
Malenia, Blade of Miquella is a two-phase fight, with the second phase beginning once her health is reduced to zero for the first time.
Phase one: Malenia is slightly less aggressive, and will mostly only attack if the player tries to attack her. Additionally, if the player does not target lock the camera on her, she is likely to stay away from the player just walking left and right, use this to your advantage when you need some breathing room for example to drink a healing flask. If attacked with projectiles, she will attempt to dodge them and then rush at the player to attack them. Malenia has a few attacks that she can use to quickly close to gap, the most notable of these is her grab attack, which deals obscene amounts of damage, thus healing her for a big amount. If she takes too much damage, Malenia will attempt to disengage by jumping backwards 2 times, distancing herself from the player.
Once Malenia goes below 75% HP, she unlocks her Waterfowl Dance attack: she leaps into the air sword ready and, after a brief pause, lunges at the player four times with a flurry of cuts. The third leap has more range than the two before it. The fourth leap has massive range, and Malenia will attempt to get behind the player with it. After this final fourth flurry, a final cut strikes around her. All steps of this attack deal massive damage, getting hit by it all will very likely kill the player even at full health. Read the attacks & counter section for tips on how to avoid this attack.
After getting Malenia to 0 health, a cutscene plays and phase 2 starts with Malenia at 80% health. Note that critical attacks will not trigger phase 2, Malenia will survive them even if she has 0 health. Only a non-critical attack will work.
Phase two: Malenia, floating in the air, rapidly crashes on the player using Scarlet Aeonia dealing massive damage, then blooms into an orange flower which deals massive damage and inflicts massive amounts of Scarlet Rot. To dodge it, simply run towards Malenia and get behind her, she will miss because she cannot steer that much while charging the attack. Malenia will repeat this attack every 3 minutes.
Each of Malenia's attacks in this phase inflicts Scarlet Rot, the player should ensure they have Preserving Boluses to cleanse this condition should they be afflicted.
In addition to all her previous attacks and the aforementioned Scarlet Aeonia, Malenia gains a few new attacks in this phase. Most notably, as a follow-up to other sword attacks, Malenia can jump and then slam her sword into the ground to create a delayed explosion. Finally, Malenia can leap very high into the air, leaving behind her a small vortex of rot that deals massive damage, she will then summon phantoms of herself to lunge at the player one after the other, before finally lounging herself.
Advanced notes
While standing on the shallow water poodle in the middle of the arena, Malenia (and the player) gain 10% damage reduction to Fire Damage and lose 10% damage reduction to Lightning Damage.
Using any ranged attacks, perfumes, or throwables will cause Malenia to not only dodge left or right to avoid them, but also cause her to rush the player. Spells or incantations that can track her are recommended. Once she reaches 75% health and starts using Waterfowl Dance, she will proceed to dodge any range attack as usual but may then use Waterfowl Dance directly afterwards. The only time the player should use ranged attacks is if Malenia is being distracted by a summon. Night Sorceries will not trigger her evasion, as they are invisible to non-player characters.
After avoiding the Scarlet Aeonia attack by running behind Malenia so she misses, there is a window of about 5-7 seconds where players can counterattack from range. Use this opportunity to unleash powerful ranged attacks or spells/incantations with a DoT area effect. If you have the FP, Comet Azur can take off a sizable chunk of her HP before she becomes active again. This can be repeated every time she does this attack and is your best opportunity for heavy damage.
If Malenia is running at you at the start of the fight, she will proceed to rush you with a horizontal spinning attack once you are in range. This attack is telegraphed and easily parried. If you're not good at parrying, then dodge toward Malenia's left side (the player's right). If she slows down or starts moving left or right, she will not do the spin attack.
In order to avoid her Waterfowl Dance combo you must start running away from her while maintaining lock-on as soon as she leaps, which will let you avoid the first two spin attacks entirely if done soon enough (if not you will have to roll the second one). The third spin attack has to be rolled through, and make sure to stay away from her until the final AoE triggers. If you are caught by the attack it is better to roll towards her than away; the extreme edges of the attack seem to have more hitboxes.
Ash of War: Bloodhound's Step makes dodging Waterfowl Dance significantly easier. Using that ability, you can completely avoid the combo, even if you're close to Malenia when she starts its windup. Dash away from her, out of range of the first and second flurries (possibly multiple times depending on how far away she is), and toward her (once) to avoid the third flurry. (During the third flurry she jumps to you regardless of the distance, but the first and second flurries have a fixed jump range.)
In Phase 2, make sure you are constantly topped up to full HP. Many of her basic combo attacks are strong enough to deal well over 1000 damage to heavy armour users very quickly, so sitting at 80% HP or below to save on flasks is liable to get you killed.
A weapon with the Ash of War: Wild Strikes and the blood affinity can trivialize the first phase of the fight.
Ash of War: Golden Parry is useful for easily parrying most of her attacks. The increased parry range and window can be of tremendous help to players with less experience in parrying her attacks.
Melee Strategy
The main trick here is to attack her when she's not in an attack animation in order to stagger her, typically after she is done with a combo. Once you hit her and it staggers her, keep attacking to keep the stagger going while paying attention to when she side hops as this interrupts the stagger. When she does so, roll out of the way, keep some distance, and dodge her attacks until you get another opening, while keeping a keen eye on the startup for her waterfowl dance, to which you should run away from the first two volleys and dodge through the final volley. Be mindful of your positioning at all times, you do not want your back to a wall when she does her waterfowl dance. Stay calm, do not panic, watch some videos of her attacks, and you'll realize her flashy moves just seemed intimidating/impossible at first. Do not rely on a shield to do the work for you due to her healing ability, at most you should only use it to block the stray hit. Talisman suggestions would be Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (or your best one), Ritual Shield Talisman, and Green Turtle Talisman to help mitigate damage and improve stamina regeneration.
In her second phase her attacks start to flow together more, but good ones to punish are her slamming attacks as she takes some time to create a rot burst in front of her.
Rivers of Blood and Blasphemous Blade are great options for weapons. If focusing on bleed damage, Curved Swords are a good choice as their dual-wielded jumping attack hits four times allowing quick Bleed build-up. This can be paired with the Raptor's Black Feathers, Claw Talisman, Beastman's Curved Sword, and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia for high DPS. The Scavenger's Curved Sword dual wielded with another Curved sword with a bleed affinity is a good choice for such a build.
Magic and Ranged Strategy
For Incantation users, Swarm of Flies is a good option when summoning, especially Black Knife Tiche Ashes. Once Malenia focuses on Tiche, start casting Swarm of Flies. A slight delay between casts is a little more effective than constant spam, as it seems to catch her fully in each swarm rather than clipping her as she dodges out. If she leaps, just keep your distance and get ready to dodge Waterfowl Dance. With luck, one of your swarms will cause blood loss and she'll be staggered, but because you're keeping range, you should be able to dodge much, if not all, of the Waterfowl Dance. On phase 2, the recovery of Scarlet Aeonia is the perfect time to spam Swarm of Flies.
Other good incantations are Borealis's Mist to inflict Frostbite, Giantsflame Take Thee for its massive damage and high chance to knock Malenia down, Aspect of the Crucible: Tail and Aspect of the Crucible: Horns to knock down Malenia, or Dragonmaw which deals good damage and knocks her down. Protect yourself with both Golden Vow and Black Flame's Protection as they stack. Don't use offensive Holy incantations because Malenia has 40% damage reduction against Holy damage. Rotten Breath or Ekzyke's Decay are not terrible, but Malenia does have very high resistance to Scarlet Rot and Poison. For INT+FTH builds, Ancient Death Rancor is also a very good option, as it deals good damage, has good poise damage, and good tracking.
For Sorcery users, starting the fight with Ranni's Dark Moon can be helpful as it lowers her magic resistance and deals frostbite damage.
Do not use projectile attacks such as Great Glintstone Shard because she will just dodge them. Instead, use sorceries with good tracking capabilities such as the aforementioned moon or Stars of Ruin. Malenia, as all other NPCs, cannot see Night Sorceries so she will not dodge them, making Night Comet a fantastic option especially when paired with a Staff of Loss on the other hand to buff its damage (or, even better, with two Staves of Loss if you can get a second one from another player or a new game + playthrough).
Other good sorceries against her are Greatblade Phalanx for its high poise damage, which can be good if playing with a weapon that can inflict critical attacks once you stagger her, but this is not as good for pure mages that only use staves. Carian Piercer and Cannon of Haima are also good for knocking her down. For INT+FTH builds, Ancient Death Rancor is also a very good option, as it deals good damage, has good poise damage, and good tracking.
If using summons, Malenia might dodge fewer projectiles as she's busy focusing on the summon. This opens the door for spells such as Comet or Shard Spiral. Alternatively, spamming Ranni's Dark Moon while Malenia focuses on the summons is also a valid strategy, though this requires a lot of FP. If not spamming the moon, Glinstone Icecrag can help trigger Frostbite. Finally, Comet Azur can be considered for phase 2 to punish Malenia during her Scarlet Aeonia after dodging it.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Malenia's Dance (1.00 only) | Malenia raises sword to her left and makes 4 long steps - after each steps she attacks with a flurry of attacks. After that she jump towards Tarnished with attack and performs a final whirl strike, knocking down the target. | Attack not used in current version of the game. However, if player wants to face her in 1.00 version of the game, it is best to simply run away |
| Waterfowl Dance | Malenia leaps into the air, after a short pause she dives onto the player and slashes around her in an AoE. She then slashes two more times, closing the gap with a smaller dash each time. Her final slash is then followed with a short AoE that she doesn't move for. This attack also builds up scarlet rot very quickly in phase two. This attack can be blocked. | There are two main ways to dodge the attack, the method depends on the distance between you and her: 1) If you are distanced about four or more meters out of her sword's reach, immediately start running back the moment she leaps in the air. The first two slashes will miss as long as you keep running. Immediately stop running after she finishes her second slash and roll towards her, the third slash will miss since it's programmed to send her behind you. If you've timed this right the fourth slash will miss as well without requiring any additional inputs from you. 2) If she jumps up while you're within her sword's reach, immediately start running back. The timing is precise and requires some training. The moment her foot touches the ground to begin the first slash, jump or roll away from her, this move will dodge the first slash. She'll now wind up her second slash, move towards her while keeping your eyes on her sword arm, then roll towards her left arm (right side from your POV) the moment her sword arm starts to move for a second slash. If timed right this will dodge her second slash. For the third slash, simply roll towards her again and then roll away from her to avoid the fourth slash. 3) If you have a weapon with high bleed build-up (such as dual curved swords with Ash of War: Seppuku), the bleed effect will stagger her out of the Waterfowl Dance attack. 4) Ash of War: Bloodhound Step can also be used to easily dodge through this attack. You can apply the Ash of War to an off-hand dagger and quickly switch to it whenever she begins the Waterfowl Dance animation. Another way to dodge this attack when you're at close range (albeit a lot more difficult), is to circle her (without locking-on) when she's in the air, double roll away from her for the first dash, lock-on to her again and do the same thing as above for the other three dashes. Note: She tends to use this attack more often, if she is engaged with range weaponry/spells (needs further testing). |
| Kick | Malenia will rush the player before she swipes at the player with her leg (unparryable), which can then be followed up by one of four attacks. A slightly delayed stabbing dash attack, a sword swipe followed up by an overhead slam on the ground, or two quick slices followed by another slice. It can also be followed up with a grab attack (see below). |
The kick is fairly easy to avoid. Creating distance can keep you safe from the latter two follow ups. The stabbing dash attack is telegraphed by a small flash on her sword, helping you time a roll. The kick can also be blocked, but consumes high amounts of stamina. |
| Thrust | Malenia will slightly jump into the air, followed by a very quick thrusting attack, dealing a huge amount of pierce damage. This attack usually catches player off-guard. Can be parried at melee. |
Malenia usually does this attack when the player is healing at mid-range. So if you want to heal, make sure to run far away from her first before healing, or wait for the thrust before healing. To avoid the thrust, simply roll left or right (backwards works as well but it's a bit risky). Because of pierce damage, this attack deals increased damage if the player is in counterattack frames. |
| Rapid Prosthesis Slices |
Malenia will shorten her blade (indicated by a ping sound) then rush the player, do three quick attacks in succession, followed by a final horizontal attack that can be delayed. This attack can end up quickly healing her along with devastating the player's health. This attack can also occur on its own, in the middle of a combo, or to end a combo (usually indicated by her delaying the final sweep). Can be parried. |
Malenia uses this attack only if her blade is to her right (the player's left if they are looking at her) which means you can be better prepared for it. Listen for the ping sound to indicate the weapon change, then roll towards her (into the attack) to her right. Back up and if needed roll away from her once you are clear to avoid the final sweep. Do not rush in for an attack unless the final sweep is delayed, which would indicate the end of a combo and an opening for the player. Avoid dodging backwards, since she might sometimes follow it up with the same attack - this can happen multiple times in a row. |
| Uppercut + Slam OR Charge + Spin | Malenia will hold her sword back, then do one of the two damaging attacks depending on the player's location: |
The two attacks are very delayed and extremely damaging, so make sure you recognize the starting animation (indicated by her holding her sword back) immediately and be prepared for the attacks. For Uppercut + Slam: Roll backwards to avoid the uppercut, then wait for her to slam down and roll forward left or forward right. For Charge + Spin: Roll twice as soon as you see her charging towards you to dodge both the spin and the slam altogether. Malenia will be wide open for attacks after performing these two attacks. You can either do a charged strong attack or even a weapon's skills such as Lion's Claw or Spinning Slash. |
| Lunging Grab | Malenia will raise her hand in preparation for a grab attack, then lunge in a straight line towards the player very quickly. If the grab connects she will toss the player into the air and impale them, dealing 2225 base thrusting damage, before tossing their body onto the ground. During Phase two, this attack can be immediately followed by a flying sweep + thrust attack. This attack cannot be blocked or parried. |
Dodge roll when Malenia lunges, preferablyto the sides (backwards works too if you time it right). During Phase two, be prepared for the flying sweep + thrust attack (See below) as it may catch the player off-guard. While this attack can be interrupted by most player attacks while she winds up the grab, it's not suggested to do so because of the risks. |
| Scarlet Aeonia | Phase two only. Malenia will dive onto the player and summon a giant flower that explodes around her. This leaves a lingering mist that applies scarlet rot and a DoT effect in the area. This attack is always used as her first attack in phase two. | Roll as soon as you see her sword is lifted, then sprint away for her for a little bit (around half a second), then roll away from her again. Remember to not attack her right away after the explosion as the rot will linger for quite a bit (around 4 - 5 seconds), use this time window to heal, recover FP, reapply buffs, or even cast some spells if you're a ranged user. After the scarlet rot is gone (indicated by the flower disappearing), she will be unable to move for a while, and is wide open for attacks, use this time window to use your skill (or a charged strong attack) on her to deal massive damage in a single hit. |
| Scarlet Explosion | Phase two only. Malenia will retain its original moves from Phase one, however there is a chance that she will do a follow-up on most attacks, where she flies up into the air briefly, then slams down her sword, dealing a huge amount of damage and creating on the ground a small vortex of rot, which then explodes after a brief delay and builds up scarlet rot. The explosion can also occur from the slamming attacks from Phase one, which she can follow up and result in a double Scarlet Explosion. | This attack usually occur when she is done with her regular Phase one combo. Roll in any direction to avoid the slam, roll again if you're unsure whether exploson will hit you. This attack can be heavily punished if you roll into her and get to her back, as she will be wide open for attacks after the slam. |
| Flying Sweep + Thrust | Phase two only. Malenia will fly up into the air, and glides down onto the player from the left, followed by a very quick thrust attack. This attack can be followed up with the Scarlet Explosion attack. | She will usually do this attack when you're at long range. Roll left to avoid the first sweep, then roll left or right to avoid the thrust. See above to learn how to dodge the Scarlet Explosion follow-up. Because of pierce damage, the follow up thrust attack deals increased damage if the player is in counterattack frames. |
| Counter Kick | Phase two only. Sometimes, when the player hit Malenia, she will follow-up by countering the player with a kick (different from a regular kick). Although this kick doesn't do a lot of damage, it'll usually catch the player off guard and stagger them greatly. | Never attack twice in a row when she's in a walking/running animation and always be prepared for the counter kick, roll backwards when she begins to lift her leg to avoid the attack. Unlike the regular kick, Malenia will not follow this up with another attack and will stand still for a solid second. You can exploit this weakness by doing an attack after dodging the counter kick (either doing a running attack, quick weapon's skills, or just a simple attack if you have a long weapon). |
| Phantom Spirits | Phase two only. Malenia will fly into the air, creating a pool of scarlet rot on the ground below her, and consecutively fire out four phantom versions of herself that will do two horizontal sweeps, a vertical slam, a third horizontal sweep followed by a quick thrust, one final thrust, before Malenia herself comes down with a high speed flying thrust to player, dealing high damage. The first and last phantom will stay longer in order to do a single thrust attack each, occurring after the fourth's sweep attack. | Roll in the directions as the following order: Backwards twice (delay a bit between these two rolls), followed by two forward rolls (immediately after one another), then roll to the left twice (immediately after one another). The timing for the third and fourth roll might be a bit difficult to get a grasp on (and will usually result in death as you'll get hit by two phantoms), but once you get those two rolls right, you'll never get hit by the phantoms. Note: This attack can target more than 1 player.
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Elden Ring Malenia Lore, Notes & Trivia
FAQ: Is Malenia the hardest Elden Ring boss?
- The Souls games are well-known to be one of the most challenging games around; forcing players to adjust to each encounter and improve their Combat skills and reactions according to the opponent's movesets. Amongst all the Bosses, the community has been polarized on Malenia. Her design, fighting style, arena, and voice acting have been universally prasied. Conversly, some of Malenia's mechanics have been strongly criticized, such as her ability to lifesteal without even damaging the player, as well as the massive range and damage of Waterfowl Dance. Some critics deem Malenia as an unfair boss, while her supports argue that this is why she is an optional boss. Polls have even previously been conducted surveying players on who they believe is the hardest Elden Ring boss, and most people agree that it would be Malenia.
- In Elden Ring, FromSoftware has given the tools to allow players a choice in how difficult they want their combat encounters to be. A few returning souls players will opt to face these bosses without the additional aid, 'OP' Weapons or Spirit Ashes. The available tools that the developer provided in the game is said to determine the gameplay difficulty since there are no official difficulty settings in the game. However, a little assist for players does not hurt if it helps them progress and improve. Some ways to alleviate the difficulty would be to experiment with different Builds, Weapons and equipment. A Faith or Bleed build could prove to be more effective aginst her. Spirit Ashes can also be summoned for additional help in the arena against her. There are plenty of Spirit Ashes to choose from depending on how much help the player needs during her encounter.
Elden Ring Malenia Other Notes
- "In the first year after launch, From Software reported that Malenia had killed players 329 million times" - How Many Times Players Attempted Malenia
- In version 1.04 of Elden Ring, there was a bug related to the healing mechanic, which was present only when players fought Malenia in co-op - each attack would result in heal, even if the attack missed due to i-frames. This has since been fixed as of update 1.04.1
- Malenia first unleashed the Scarlet Rot in her battle with Radahn, destroying the region of Caelid in the process.
- She is an Empyrean like Ranni and her brother Miquella.
- Melina's armor set can be found in the area directly before Malenia's boss room. This and the similarity of their names has led many fans to speculate that they are related in some way.
- In the Elden Ring trailer shown at E3 2021, Malenia's arena is slightly different, with a much darker appearance and fewer roots in the background. However, the clip from her pre-battle cutscene has the final arena design.
- First phase can't be finished with a critical strike - Malenia will remain with 1 HP left, even with poison or rot damage. In a very earlier version of the game, if the player managed to finish that phase with critical strike, 2nd phase Malenia would spawn with 1 HP.
- After the player parries her three times and she enters the animation that allows for a critical hit, she can be staggered by any attack (including things like throwing knives), knocking her out of the critical animation.
- Malenia is featured in the game's Collector's Edition, which includes a statue of her and a replica of her helmet.
- Bug: If player depletes her poise while she performs attack with hyper-armor, she will not be put in a state that allows to perform a riposte.
- Bug (possible only in co-op or with Spirit Ash): If player manage to end first phase with a riposte while Malenia's HP is 0, she will spawn with 1HP in 2nd phase.
- This can cause some odd situation in her attacks, as her first one will not be Scarlet Aeonia.
- Voice Actress: Pippa Bennett-Warner
Dialogue
Introduction:
I dreamt for so long.
My flesh was dull gold...and my blood, rotted.
Corpse after corpse, left in my wake...
As I awaited... his return.
... Heed my words.
I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella.
And I have never known defeat.
During Fight
Defeating player in phase 1 (1.00): Now do you understand? I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella...
Defeating player in phase 1 (after 1.00): I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella...
Defeating player in phase 2: Let your flesh be consumed. By the scarlet rot.
Intermission
Wait.
The scarlet bloom flowers once more
You will witness true horror.
Now, rot!
After Fight
Your strength, extraordinary...
The mark...of a true Lord...
O, dear Miquella...
O, dearest Miquella, my brother...
I'm sorry. I finally met my match...
Malenia, Blade of Miquella Image Gallery
AnonymousMost balanced and well designed boss in fromsoftware history
- Anonymous
black blade over blasphemous blade all day (especially if you main str). i struggled with timing takers flame, but destined death is way more forgiving in that regard and still knocks her down every time. got her on my third try with this strat (after a lot of trial and error lol) and i don’t think i even saw her waterfowl dance that time. good luck! (actually, i’m sad i finally beat her… gonna miss that crazy girl)
- Anonymous
I'm scared they will keep this boss design philosophy for future games
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This game is easy. All you have to do is use mimic and hide. Bet you didn't think of that before!
- Anonymous
Happy to have even beat her, despite using a summon. I used a faith build: Grave Scythe + Black Flame Tornado + Mimic. The fight basically becomes dodge everything and black flame tornado when she's not aggro towards you (otherwise dodge + poke). It gets even easier if you have high enough hp to survive running in during Scarlet Aeonia, to take advantage of the 5+ seconds she's vulnerable, it's an easy 25%+ damage to her each time then.
- Anonymous
As part of my first clear of this boss, hearing of its infamy and watching through countless videos of people getting absolutely ripped to shreds by waterfowl dance, I thought I'd give this fight a clean shot without any summons on a fairly underlevelled character running a greatsword, diving into her on purpose to try to learn the close range waterfowl dodge. After about 20 hours of attempts, I honestly can say I have a really great time fighting her, aside from 3 real "main" issues I have with the fight.
1) The fact that she has seemingly a random amount of poise.
The amount of times I've jump attacked her and she just immediately walks out perfectly fine and chain hits me to death is honestly pretty absurd. You're telling me a crippled woman with an arm and a leg missing wouldn't get staggered by someone jumping them with a giant ass sword and a side swing followed up after? Other times a single hit on the exact same move is enough to stagger her and that's just absolutely baffling to me.
2) Chain Combos
I try to maintain a fairly aggressive style throughout the fight, sticking close and going for hits whenever I can. This usually works for most of the fight, but at times she can chain the 3-slice + slow/fast swing move multiple times in a row. I've been chained by that combo 4 times in a row and I'm honestly not too sure how I'm supposed to dodge past the third without getting absolutely shredded starting on 0 stamina.
3) Waterfowl Dance itself
I've gotten... Alright at the melee range dodge but still have a very rough time with my angling and positioning but I can otherwise still live through most waterfowls if I'm next to her, maybe taking a hit or two by the first flurry. My main problem here is the fact that she can instantly go from a stagger to starting a waterfowl, and I'd be queueing up another hit and have zero time to reposition myself into being able to dodge it at all. If I'm a bit too close to run away from her but too far to walk up and roll her though, I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do there. I really wish this attack at least either couldn't be started right off of a stagger or had half a second extra of windup time to recover, because I've gotten killed because I had no time to position after an extra attack when she was staggered instantly transitioning into a waterfowl more times than I can count.
Other than these 3 things I honestly do really enjoy the fight though. She's a very punishing fight that requires you to master every single move evidently, since her lifesteal encourages you heavily not to get hit, and most of my deaths other than one of the 3 things above usually feels like it's totally my fault that it happened, which is something I enjoy a lot in boss design. I do realize I've put in a lot more hours into this single boss than a lot of people would be willing to ever put even into an entire game at times trying to learn everything, but I genuinely believe with some very minor toning down she'd be one of my favorite fights From has made.
Fiery foul feeted bold blaspheming blade provides the sublime smouldering satisfaction of mimicking a tit for tat life stealing reciprocal response that puts an end to melancholy.
I saw a post recommending the giant rat ashes for this fight, i tried it and it doesnt work. Malenia heals too much via hitting them and they cannot consistently stunlock malenia due to their slow move speed. It also summons them in the middle of the lake behind Malenia.
What worked for me was the Omenkiller summon. Each hit will stagger Malenia except for the fire breathing attack. In phase 1, Malenia is not very aggressive and will usually walk slowly towards you if you are not attacking or too far away, the Omen can run up to her and stagger her from the sides if her focus is on you.
Ranni's dark moon + snow witch hat + carian scepter is decent if you can afford the FP, the initial hit is not impressive but it can consistently hit her and stagger her with each hit. It can also interrupt waterfowl dance. The debuffs also make follow up hits deal more damage and it will apply frostbite.
After the phase 2 cutscene, you can quickly swap to azur's helm, run under Malenia to dodge the dive, roll backwards out of the rot bomb AOE, drink a flask with infinite fp + magic damage increase, then comet azur most of her health away. The omen wont survive long in this phase and Malenia cant be knocked down so its a race against time to kill her before things get too problematic.
- Anonymous
For STR builds, I recommend giant's hunt as an ash of war and to stay close. Giant's hunt most often land and launches her, allowing for follow-up attacks and if you stay close, at least in my last game, malenia doesn't use any of it's broken moves that are designed to one-shot you. If you keep up the pressure and manage to avoid most of malenia's attacks, you will win. Frost and bleed work infusions work well along with frozen pots.
Ah who am I kidding. This boss was lame with limitless stamina, constant chains, regen on hit, one-hit combos that are very difficult to dodge and at times (depending on your distance) seem impossible to avoid if you're not light rolling or using quickstep. This boss is a build check more than any other boss which makes it bad and feel more like AC6 (which is a fun game in it's own right). Miyazaki has a fetish for fictional female bosses that are unrealistic and broken.
- Anonymous
There is no fun way to fight this boss. I guess I will have to look into summons and bleed builds then sprint back and forth till her health bar goes to zero. This is no nameless king btw. Melania is boring asf.
- Anonymous
Petition to take away her frame 1 reaction hyper armor kick that just ****s you with rng anytime you try to approach her.
- Anonymous
Bug found
If you finish phase 1 with reposte and throw volcanic pot on her she starts phase 2 with 100-200 hp
- Anonymous
She was the only boss I ever summoned help for I got a guy named Monke, he wore no armor and had two Eleonora twinblades. The moment he spawned in he used the Prattling Pete to say "Lets get to it". Buffed him with erdtree blessing and the moment we got in he immediately went for her. About 3 minutes later I was walking away with a free scarlet aeonia, I was kinda disappointed I didn't get to actually fight her but the show Monke put on was all worth it honestly. God bless the Monke.
- Anonymous
Mohgs spear+10 shard of alexander and mimic tear +10 make this trivial
I guess malenia was supposed to be lady tomoe in sekiro dlc. She literally uses every tomoe art and the waterfowl dance resembles the spiral cloud passage.
Also both of them would go down easily with a red katana
I guess malenia was supposed to be lady tomoe in sekiro dlc. She literally uses every tomoe art and the waterfowl dance resembles the spiral cloud passage.
Also both of them would go down easily with a red katana
- Anonymous
Getting summoned as a phantom is watching people getting instakilled by either woterfowl, scarlet aeonia or her spirits attack over and over again. And its not that all those people cant play, its just she has those garbage moves that she can pull off instantly and be 100% resistant to stagger etc. Aeonia is quite easy to dodge, but still, its such a d ck move to start a 2nd phase with an instakill true combo aoe move. Think about how many people struggled to get to this point and die in 2 seconds without even see any of her other 2nd phase moves.
- Anonymous
as much as i hate to admit it shes lowkey one of the best bosses, probably because shes leftovers from sekiro
- Anonymous
This was the most frustrating and unenjoyable boss fight in this entire game + dark souls 3. If you plan beating her with a strength build, try dual colossals with frost, and be aggressive. Break her stance, takes about 3-4 hits from each sword, trade with her if you know you will break it. Guts sword with giant hunt helped a lot as it will make her drop down giving you 2-3 free hits which can break the stance too.
- Anonymous
For anyone using mhog’s spear
the skill can cancel waterfowl sometimes
and if you use mimic tear and you both use it because of pure luck you an effectively stunlock her and it works in both phases
Blasphemous Blade +10 with Mimic and wonderous physick Crimson Bubble Tear+ Speckled Hard Tear for surviving start of second phase. At long last, Success!
it took me x8 attempts to kill her , I had the mimic and the Blasphemus Blade , try and hit as much as you can , the Blasphemus blade stunned her every time it hit allowing me to keep up the attack , once in the 2nd phase dodge the initial attack heal and attack again , she went down quite easy to my surprise , good luck
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I literally beat all bosses in this game without co-op or spirit summons. They are all fair fights, except this cheap rothead. Even fighting Radagon and Elden Beast back to back is fair. But that boss , i mean specifically that lifesteal mechanic really irritates me. Everything else is fair enough even the waterfowl dance. This lifesteal mechanic should never been used again in future games. Thank you Mohg for kidnapping Miquella. Malenia deserves every bad thing in the world.
- Anonymous
You know, Malenia would actually be a fun, fair fight if not for Waterfowl Dance. Every attack is dodge able except that one. You need a god damn Master's Degree in soulslikes for a mere chance at dodging that attack. If that attack was removed, or toned down in some way, Malenia would be my favorite boss in the game.
Fought her about a hundred times already. Still cant time the waterfowl slashes correctly. Measure the distance, close or far. Run, light roll, use bloodhound step, watched guides. I still suck, best i can do is get to phase 2 and get her like 70% hp.
How is it possible in the lore that she didnt obliterate radahn, she is a million times tougher
How is it possible in the lore that malenia and radahn fought to a stand still? Milenia is a million time tougher?
In any case this boss drives me crazy. Im trying to do it cleanly as possible, saw every guide and try to roll light, run away, use bloodhound. Tried it a hundred times already i cant still nail the timing correctly…
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Maxed out petal whip and thorned whip with mimic tear made this so much easier. She was stunlocked for probably half the battle, her dodges typically didn’t get her out of range. When I ran out of stamina I would back up and let mimic tear take aggro.
I had fire affinity on ***h whips, greatshield talisman, lord of bloods exultation, winged sword insignia, and godskin swaddling cloth to give her a taste of her own medicine. Also had beastial seal w flame cleanse me, flame grant me strength, and beastial vitality
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I love how after she does Waterfowl Dance, one of the most oppressive, precise, and unfair moves in the entire soulsborne history- she immediately just goes back to attacking. There is nearly zero time to respond with a melee attack after she does that move. There is no high reward on conquering it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Pretty okay boss... if you stay at range. She has two moves that basically end the run if you're close. Obviously, waterfowl unless you can bait her away. BUT THE REAL KICKER is that her phantom slash has an AoE at the bottom that basically guarantees death, making melee players suffer more yet again
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I was getting hard time trying to beat her 1st phase, for 3 hours, as a mage, my first playthrough. Until my first try using Ranni's Dark Moon, it hits her like a truck. My first time ever seeing her 2nd phase, and she just got destroyed right away, less than a minute. Kind of bummer, I didn't even see all her moves yet.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I was playing the Convergence mod and they brought back the "Malenia's Dance" attack, and I have to say the fear that overtook me when I saw she could have a second, weaker waterfowl was immense
- Anonymous
This severed harpy is the coolest boss in souls history. 10/10 would waterfowl dance with at the prom.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Can anyone tell me why sometimes I stance break her with 2 lion's claw, while other times I hit her 6 times with it and she's still going.
- Anonymous
Starscourge greatsworded this *****. Really easy just spam that AoW as soon as she comes in range.
- Anonymous
her great rune, her rememberance or her other loot might be proof of you defeating her, but doing it with the starscourge greatswords is another feeling entirely.
- Anonymous
I've beaten here twice on my own, but i never understood how to properly deal with her second phase. I never felt like i mastered it, but merely survived long enough to somehow deplete her healthbar.
Hardest boss in all Souls games for me, and it's not even close.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I don't hate this boss. Most of her attacks are easy to learn, her damage is high but that's mostly cancelled out by her other attacks being simple, and she's cool as hell.
Waterfoul is definitely the fun-killer for me though. I feel forced to remain passive for most of the boss fight because she could pull Waterfoul out at any time and I'm often in the middle of an attack animation which means I'm gonna get hit (I don't have Bloodhound's Step or Quickstep to help bail me out).
I don't even mind the heal on hit that much, it's definitely annoying because trades are often won in her favour unless you stagger her, which doesn't happen nearly as often when you aren't running heavier weapons like Great and Colossal Weapons. But overall her self-heal doesn't make it feel impossible.
To me, at the very least, this feels like a boss fight which is so incredibly close to being one of my favourites, but is being held back by one single move which is ruining my experience, which sucks. Most of Elden Ring has felt pretty fun to me, I liked bosses like Morgott, Mohg (LoB), Godfrey/Hoarah Loux, Radahn etc, but it's just this one boss which is being held back by a single attack which feels unfair.
- Anonymous
Everybody talking about Waterfowl Dance attack, but nobody talking about the fact that if you get caught underneath her Phantom Spirits attack, you will get oneshot every time. The pool of scaret rot will stunlock you to death no matter your health and armour. Its so annoying as cooperator summon, because there is zero reaction time.
- Anonymous
i beat her with powerstancing BHF + Morgott's sword in a jump build (no spirits ofc). It took me forever to beat her. It's a fun fight honestly once you learn how to semi consistently do first phase, the second phase is kind of really RNG and it depends on whether or not she does WFD, but I got lucky and she died before she could do it. Overall, for my first From game this was probably my favorite boss. Bullshit when you're fighting her, but so satisfying when you finally win.
- Anonymous
Doing Malenia parries only and I noticed an odd occurrence. I am 99% certain the tip/upper half of her sword is in parry frames but she ignores it and I get hit anyway. Can anyone else confirm? Is this a thing with other bosses or is this unique to Malenia?
- Anonymous
Waterfowl Dance is nothing compared to her one-shot NUKE!!!! Damn is that unfair.
- Anonymous
Who the hell decided to make her stance brake only last like half a second? She can literally start getting up before the attack animation of some weapons even finishes. Frequent stance breaks is the main selling point of colossal weapons, but against Malenia that advantage is so hard to make use of. I don't understand why stance breaking her doesn't last any longer, currently it's just a **** you for people using colossal weapons. It's not like slow weapon users have it easy against her anyways and it's not like making her stance break last half a second longer would make the fight too easy. I simply don't see the point in artificially forcing players to use a faster weapon, when the fix is that simple. That being said, the Great Omenkiller Cleaver with cold affinity absolutely destroys her, poor girl barely even moved in her second phase.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Took me 90 attempts to confirm, but now I'm certain: she is Malenia, Blade of Miquella.
- Anonymous
Defeated her first try, that may because I am not one of those "git gud" tryhards, but parried for the whole game anyways xD
also Latennavis tge greatest summon for this fight, keeping her distracted
- Anonymous
Malenia is the hardest boss in the game. To make a boss harder than her would require a really, really bullshit gimmick. Honestly, I'm concerned about Shadow of the Erdtree going full artificial difficulty.
- Anonymous
Since someone deleted the information how many runes does she give on NG+7?
- Anonymous
boss is fairly fun and satisfying. ive always found bosses with poise to be especially engaging. although the looming threat of waterfowl dance takes away from the satisfaction of a high tempo aggressive duel as having her do it at point blank range means youll be losing a large chunk of health. i have mastered dodging it face to face which makes fighting her much more fun, however, i think that if the attack was completely removed or was simply less difficult to avoid this boss would be praised by more people. although, the boss would be much easier and her status as elden rings hardest boss would arguably be taken away. but should one attack be this much stronger than the rest of her moveset? probably not. visuals are overall great. phase 2 wings sometimes block the camera or obscure her windups but its not such a big deal. 7/10
- Anonymous
I think Malenia should get a spin off, she's too cool to be a crappy endgame boss.
- Anonymous
One of the most enjoyable boss encounter's of all time.
The feeling of overcoming the first phase flawlessly, is euphoric.
Such a challenge. Malenia handled me differently.
- Anonymous
7ish hours, 73 deaths, and i did it. Cool boss honestly, a good challenge
- Anonymous
She is by far, one of the most challenging bosses in Elden Ring thus far. And I'm pretty sure that Uncle Maliketh has something to do with it.
- Anonymous
easy win with mimic tear + facetank build
braggarts roar + black flames protection + full tree sentinal armor + opaline hardtear + dragoncrest greatshield talisman
71% prot + 10% negation is plenty to eat a whole waterfowl dance and live with more than half hp from 1900
boiled crab could be good for an additional 15% protection
crimson seed talisman to stretch each heal farther and green turtle talisman to be able to do more dps
bull goats talisman also helps so you arent constantly on the ground
dont forget the great turtle shell for even more stamina and my weapon was a maxed heavy zweihander
- Anonymous
this took 2 hours and some good luck on a pure STR build. Ow.
- Anonymous
I swear to god they improved the tracking on WFD.. i've beaten her on several playthroughs but this time around (summonless, somberless Dex build) i can not.
Malenia herself isnt awful. but i swear to god it seems like shes busting out WFD 3+ times in her first phase?? i can survive the first one by the skin of my teeth. "still practicing the turnstile dodge on the initial flurry.... but goddamn its like she is input reading every single heavy attack i throw? probably just bad RNG as ive got her down to 20% in second phase... but i feel like i shouldnt be having this much trouble at RL 130 with all the appropriate talismans and vigor...
Could someone please tell me does her stat scale in ng+ cycles?
- Anonymous
This is my first time fighting her after not playing for a month (I've soloed her a few times so I'm not inexperienced), but is it just me or does her WFD first flurry seem harder to dodge? Like she's on more of a turnstile before she launches herself
- Anonymous
souls fans appear on the other side if the git gud argument snd say the boss design is bad to cope with their skills
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Learning to run away and jump to dodge first flurry of waterfowl dance makes this fight so much enjoyable. Now i can fight her head on without ane worry.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I'm Tarnished, blade of my azz, and I've been defeated so many times that I can't remember
- Anonymous
Don't let people tell you that doing this fight a certain way is "invalid" do it however you want, and just have a good time!
- Anonymous
Blasphemous blade+ Alexander Shard+ Carian Crest + extra poise damage tear + fire cracked tear + Fire Scorpion Charm makes this easy af. Throw in a mimic tear if you are feeling angry.
- Anonymous
I got blinded during phase 2 when she shoots the phantoms, covered my vision so I didn't see her jump down. Make sure you don't back up too far that a wall will screw your screen.
- Anonymous
I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella I am malenia blade of miquella
- Anonymous
If she had less tracking on the start-up of waterfowl then the up-close speedrun-tier manipulation dodge might've been easier to pull off for us lowly humans who aren't genetically engineered to play video games.
- Anonymous
Waiting for DLC to see her secret twin sister Moronia in an evergaol.
- Anonymous
I can only ever beat her first phase solo. The moment I see "Goddess of Rot" im summoning lmao
But fr tho, my biggest gripe with her is the healing on hit. Take that away & this is a fun fight (this is from the perspective of someone who cant dodge waterfowl consistently so I use a shield with the barricade AoW).
- Anonymous
doesnt posture break during hyper armor, cancels stagger animation to block or dash away, like thats actual cheating, but its still more fun then 15/16 demons souls bosses
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I'd rather fight 15 more ulcerated tree spirits than this garbage.
- Anonymous
As if healing, instant infinite hyperarmor spikes, endless stamina, input reading, weapon twice of your size, iframes on dodges and poison isnt enough, lets add a 3 phase 50 hiy conbo with infinite poise and range that stunlocks you and has no indicators of how to dodge it. But she's kinda cute so its a good boss right? If she looked like crystal sage nobody would fate her good.
I beat her 1v1 no status effects, no light roll, no guides, no ashes of war 3 times. I did the thing, didnt enjoy it at all, earned myself the riggt to cheese her and i'll cheese her in 20 seconds every single time from now on. She's just an unfun annoying obstacle on the foad to somber smithing stone for me. Make it as quick as possible and move on.
- Anonymous
Guys, please heed my warning… do NOT use rivers of blood along with a mimic tear. I beat her my very second try at RL145 and I am disgusted with myself.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Strategy I did that worked, had a cross Naginata with repeating thrust/cold, Mimic Tear+10 and black flame. if she's close enough to you and the mimic rush her with the reapting thrust, it should stagger her and with the mimic attacking should help. if she jumps away from you and is still targeting you play defensively until the mimic grabs her attention (then proceed to either rush in to assist the mimic or use black flame from a distance) but overall more aggressive.
Second stage is okay to use a shield and just block when she does Scarlet Aeonia. Unfortunately the mimic is probably just going to rush her and get itself killed but throwing black flames while she's doing this is just free damage.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If there's one thing I really dislike about these games, it's that people act like they're much better at them than they really are. Whether it be Souls, Bloodborne or Sekiro, they usually have one overcentralizing defense mechanic like dodging or deflecting. So when people realize that, they think that's all the game is and call it "roll/parry spam." But usually there are a couple of bosses or attacks in the game that subvert that expectation like Blazing Bull in Sekiro, or Malenia's Watefowl Dance and Elden Beast's Elden Stars. The answer here isn't to press circle at the right moment and to always avoid the attack on reaction. With Waterfowl Dance, it's to always expect the attack and respect Malenia's space. Back off after one or two hits instead of constantly pressuring her. With Elden Beast, it's to not get chipped out and play well enough beforehand so you still have healing charges left. I don't see what about the game would invalidate challenges like these except people's preconceived notion that they're very good at the game because they know to abuse an overbearing defensive mechanic. And when that expectation isn't met, they get angry and blame the developers instead of adjusting because heaven forbid you're not as good as you thought you were. It must be the game that's wrong.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I guess you have to be level 500 to make this a fun fight lol
- Anonymous
this boss is actually fun and good u guys just suck and dont understand it, also her 2nd phase ost is great
- Anonymous
This fight is so ez just put shard of Alexander and carian filigreed crest and just spam cursed blood slice. Too ez
- Anonymous
The fight would be way better if she didn't heal on hit, especially when blocking with a shield. It just arbitrarily increases the difficulty and causes most builds to be completely useless against her, which is why you see most streamers switch to RoB, Moonveil, Bloodhound Step, Mimic Tear.
- Anonymous
I drank a whole liter of wine before attempting Malenia and it still worked out after using shitload of blasphemous L2:s
I'm terrified to see how Fromsoftware will find a way to make a fight harder than her
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