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
- Deals Slash, Standard and Pierce Damage. Can inflict Scarlet Rot in 2nd phase.
- Parriable: Yes. However, she can only be riposted on every 3rd parry, otherwise backsteps.
- Can be poise broken, which allows for a critical attack. Poise: 80
- 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
It's worth mentioning at the top that the Rivers of Blood Unique Skill: Corpse Piler is so effective on Malenia that if you are finding the fight extremely difficult, you should consider being reborn to use it. Silver Tear Mask can give you +8 Arcane if you need bolstering there. Don't neglect Mind when you are reborn.
If you're looking to maximize your strength in battle and take down Malenia with ease, there are a few items you should consider equipping. First, the Claw Talisman, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, Crimson Seed Talisman, and Green Turtle Talisman are highly recommended. Additionally, the Opaline Hardtear and Stonebarb Cracked Tear can provide you with extra offensive and defensive power. Lastly, it's a good idea to make your weapon Frostbite, Malenia is particularly vulnerable to that type of damage. By utilizing this powerful combination of talismans and items, you'll be able to deal significant damage to Malenia and even score critical hits. Furthermore, the increased damage negation provided by these items can help mitigate any mistakes you may make during the battle. With these tools at your disposal, you'll be well-equipped to emerge victorious.
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. Malenia has an active healing effect throughout the fight which provides her with 300 to 400 HP per hit, even if the attack is blocked.
Throughout phase one, she is extremely mobile, being able to close gaps through attacks and dashes. Of the notable attacks, one is an unparriable kick with high poise damage; another is a series of three rapid slashes which is then followed by an additional slash that she sometimes delays. When Malenia goes below 75% HP, she unlocks her Waterfowl Dance attack. This attack is indicated by a huge leap, where she then dives on you with a series of three spinning AoE slashes, followed by a big AoE slash at the end. This ability is deadly to even the tankiest builds and can be extremely hard to deal with.
Phase two begins immediately after a cutscene wherein Malenia sprouts wings and gains access to an array of new attacks, in addition to most of her moveset from phase one. She also gains increased damage. She begins the phase with 80% of her maximum life and always opens with a diving attack immediately followed up with Scarlet Aeonia, a large AoE explosion which leaves a short-lived mist that applies scarlet rot. This phase is mostly similar to the first, except when she leaps she can now decide to: cast Waterfowl Dance (which now applies scarlet rot), cast Scarlet Aeonia, bombard you with scarlet rot butterflies that are in the shape of her (and can also both slice and stab you) or dive on you while triggering a scarlet rot explosion.
The Best Tips for Malenia, Blade of Miquella
- She can avoid most spells/throwable items, with a few exceptions like uncharged Lightning Spear (after being hit with spear, she always dashes two times) or the Night Sorceries of Sellia, such as Night Shard. Therefore, either bring homing spells, night spells, or attack during her attack animations.
- Spells with longer duration such as Dragon Communion Incantation can be a risky alternative, as in second part of this spell she tends to dash towards caster.
- Dragon Communion Incantations, most notably Agheel's Flame, are useful in co-op
- At the center at the arena there is a pool, that decrease her resistance to Lightning Damage and increases to Fire Damage (about 10%).
- Most of her attacks have to be dodged by rolling to the side.
- Her attacks deal Physical-type damage only, so Incantations/Items (f.e. Black Flame's Protection, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman) that boost this type of defense are recommended.
- Her low Poise makes it easy to interrupt most of her actions by just relentlessly attacking her. Stacking poise on your character (around 60) will allow you to keep attacking through most of her own attacks. She is also vulnerable to knockdown attacks in her first phase, so using a weapon or Spirit Ash that abuses this can be helpful.
- Weapons with Bleed are recommended, as it's easy to proc the status on her and it allows you to more easily outpace her self healing. Frost is also a valid option. 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.
- Malenia heals every time she hits you with an attack, even when blocked. In addition, she often dodges backwards at the end of a combo, making parries and guard counters hard to land. This makes most shields less useful than normal. It is recommended that you two-hand your weapon and dodge roll her attacks. A great shield with high block may be useful when she performs her Waterfowl Dance.
- Co-op is not recommended with low latency; her attacks will heal her even if you perfectly dodge. (FIXED WITH PATCH 1.05)
- Powerful summons (if you're able / willing to use them): Redmane Knight Ogha Ashes
- Ogha's greatarrows will often stagger Malenia and can even interrupt her during the Flower Fountain attack. Additionally he will stay in the back and she will focus on you as long as you keep her attention.
- 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 will then activate Waterfowl dance directly afterwards. The only time the player should use ranged attacks is if Malenia is being distacted by a summon. The Night Shard spell will not trigger her evasion, as it's invisible to non-player characters.
- Her opening move in phase two, Scarlet Aeonia, as described above, can be easily avoided by immediately running towards her and turning right upon being almost directly underneath her. She will turn to follow your movement, but as soon as she is looking leftwards you can start moving right and you should be far enough away to avoid both parts of the attack.
- If the method above does not work or is hard to follow, knowing when to roll the attacks may be a bit easier. When Malenia is in the air and she has the Scarlet Aeonia's petals on her (which will look like orange flowing wings), pay attention to her stance and movement. She will first make the petals appear while raising her sword before she makes any movement. The best time to roll would be a little than a second after she starts moving down toward you. After that, roll again about 1 1.2 seconds later to avoid the second attack from Scarlet Aeonia.
- When you have avoided the Scarlet Aeonia attack, there is a window of about 5-7 seconds where Malenia is unable to move or attack while at the centre of the scarlet rot mist. 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. You can also attack her freely in melee during this window but be aware you will take heavy DoT (Damage over Time) and Scarlet Rot buildup.
- 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.
- Black Knife Tiche is an effective summon. She frequently knocks Malenia down and her special attack deals 2000+ damage. Plus her frequent dodges reduce Malenia's tendency to devour summons for heals.
- While the Mimic Tear is a generally good summon for this fight, note that it doesn't get stat boosts from Godrick's Great Rune, equipment, or other sources; so if you're using any of those to meet the requirements for spells or weapon skills, the mimic won't be able to use them.
- Using the Spread Out gesture can allow the player to avoid most of Malenia's attacks, though don't stay down for too long because her slam can still hit you.
- 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 (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.
Magic and Ranged Strategy
While still requiring you to learn her special moves, the combination of Swarm of Flies, faith and incantation boosts, and Black Knife Tiche make this a more manageable fight for ranged characters. For setup, have Tiche fully upgraded, equip your best seal, and memorize flies and your favorite heal over time. Stay in the light equip load range while stacking faith. A shield can be useful, particularly when you're learning the fight, as the first encounter will start her right on you and a shield can also help while you learn the timing for dodging Waterfowl Dance (but is useless for Scarlet Aeonia).
In terms of strategy, summon Tiche and get to medium range. Once Malenia focuses on Tiche, start summoning flies. A slight delay between casts is a little more effective than constant spam, as it seems 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. If she lands close, roll back to avoid her second swipe. Then back away and watch her as she leaps. As she starts to charge, roll forward to miss the third strike. Then finally you have to roll either forward or backwards (depending on the camera angle and your own roll timing) to escape the final AoE blossom. The final attack depends a little on how you play, so try each one until you know which one works for you. Once this is mastered, the first phase is relatively easy. Just try to shed aggro to Tiche when Malenia turns on you, back away to medium range, then start launching flies again.
Once phase 2 starts, run straight towards Malenia and turn right once you're under her and keep going (the AoE has a large range). Then just spam flies till she recovers. Once that happens, just keep up your phase 1 strategy of letting her pay attention to Tiche, then casting flies until she looks at you, etc. If she casts Aeonia again and she's looking at Tiche, you can just spam flies from a distance as her sword strike will target Tiche and you'll already be at range to avoid the AoE. Malenia's attacks are really designed to screw with your head and make you panic, but because you're at range, you don't have to deal with her healing nearly as much as melee.
For Incantation users, best combo is Borealis's Mist and Lightning Spear. Start the fight with inflicting Frostbite, then keep her at medium distance and spam with Lightning Damage (she will approach the player slowly, plus distance makes avoiding her infamous Waterfowl attack much easier). During the second phase, inflict Frostbite only when she is recovering from Scarlet Aeonia. Look for her attacks with medium/slow recovery time to attack with Lightning Spear for high damage.
Spamming Ranni's Dark Moon spells can be extremely helpful if you have a spirit ash to distract Malenia and attract her aggro. The spell lowers her magic resistance and deals frostbite damage. You can kill her with a little over a dozen Dark Moons in the first playthrough, given a high INT stat.
Note: Do not charge Lightning Spear, as she can avoid that with ease.
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 expressed many different feelings about Malenia, with a lot of people angry with the boss design and others expressing how much fun they had during her encounter. Some people will argue that her encounter requires more skill, while others believe your build can be adjusted to improve the encounter, but some will say her offensive actions are too unreadable to go against. Most people can agree that she is part of the top most difficult Bosses in the game if not all time. 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
AnonymousI have to admit, I expected more out of this 'legendary' boss. Beat her on 4th attempt, SL 43. Faith/Dex build with my trusty uchi and holy weapon. Just dodge, lol.
- Anonymous
What I like about her, is that she never calls us "Tarnished" nor other insults like "Foul Tarnished". All of her dialogue was like her seeing us as a Soldier, like someone to spare with
- Anonymous
Use scythes, stack them with frostbite and bleed(it has passive bleed so it will stack) then use aow sword dance, and that's hit, just spam that sword dance till she dies, oh and waterfowl? Use a medium shield, block the 1st, dodge to the right on the 2nd, then walk backwards while blocking on the 3rd, EZ Boss, ngl I died to mohg more honestly
- Anonymous
Use scythes with frost bite aow(it will stack with bleed) preferably sword dance, and that's it, that's literally all you do is sword dance her until he dies, EZ boss honestly, oh and the waterfowl? Use any medium shield, blocks the 1st one, dodge the 2nd, then walk backwards while blocking for the 3rd and final one, again, EZ boss.
- Anonymous
Malenia doesn't play by the rules. You can't stance break her on certain animations. No other enemy in the game has this. It's like when the trolls pull out their sword and you can't stance bre-... Wait, ****, ignore that. Anyway, she's super unfair because I had to learn her moveset.
- Anonymous
Mimic tear + big weapon makes this slightly easier, just remember, 80 poise
- Anonymous
You see, at first I was overwhelmed to be facing the infamous Malenia. To see her regen life with hits was a big surprise, so I put myself to die and learn, and the enjoyment died here. It took a time to master her moves on the first phase, but the second one was pure RNG - there was times that she would waterfowl 4-5 times one after another - which isn't a problem if wasn't for the heal that only prolongs this boring battle.
I agree with the comment that says "Malenia is frustrating to lose to and unsatisfying to defeat" or you utterly obliterate her or you get a saints patience to learn every single move cirurgically - both ways being the most boring, yawn inducing ways to play, to me, at last. I soloed her with a STR/FTH build and can easily say that fight is a C-D tier
- Anonymous
Beat her at lvl 125 (48 VIG 27 MIND 24 END 20 DEX/STR 50 INT) with gargoyle's greatsword +19 (was too lazy too farm for +25 and my other weapons weren't doing it) before fire giant and no summons or spirits. ash of war: carian gradeur.
the ash can be used after ripostes and will knock her down, allowing a follow up, just don't forget she can waterfowl out of hitstun. it can also be used to punish waterfowl and scarlet aeonia if you're fast. I used a shield to avoid first wave of waterfowl (I forgot about bloodhound's step cuz i'm dumb), don't do that, she heals.
I honestly didn't like the fight. a normally undodgeable attack and a heal that punishes you for nothing playing it like it's a staring contest just removes any tactic or strategy from the fight making it really unfun, also probably outright cancels some builds. Don't forget that wether she gets staggered is random so you can't count on that (specially poise breaks).
Almost forgot to mention that she can not only cancel hitstun but she can also CANCEL HER DEATH, happened a couple times within my 100+ attempts, she even completely ignored her death when I riposted her once, i'd try explaining further but i've no idea about how this works, although, it only happened in 1st phase and i don't know if she can do it in 2nd phase but you should watch out for that.
After exhausting 10 flasks of crimson tears and 4 of cerulean tears and also 3 meat dumplings i finally beat her 2nd phase and all i could feel was a sense of relief for finally getting some good RNG.
- Anonymous
Idgaf what y'all say. Best character in the lore and best fight in the game. 10/10, would gladly solo her again anytime.
- Anonymous
The moment I accidentally managed to dodge full waterfowl in point blank made this fight so much more entertaining. I knew already it is possible but it's still different the first time you pull it off and seeing it in a video.
That's what great in this thing. Sometimes, even the little things feel like a breakthrough.
- Anonymous
The feeling of relief when you have her health almost drained and then your attack knocks her to the ground.
- Anonymous
Died a.lot. Faith build (46) with 35 Dex, 25 Strength, HP 40, Mind 36, End 32.
Tried mostly with Black Knife Tiche, Bloodhound Sword, Swarm of flies, Lord of blood talisman, but often easliy got rhough phase 1 and never made it far in phase 2 (maybe 1/4 healt left at best). Just couldn't keep er alife in spite of healing spells.
Then switched to Mimic, first with a mix of frost and bleed and staying with the Bloodhound sword.
But the final setup: replaced the Mogh talisman with Endurance talisman, added a lightning spear instead of Swarm of flies, Black Flame Ritual, Glintstone breath (frost), Troll's CGS with a frost special attack.
Stayed agressive trying to benefit from Mimic's frost and black flame attack and protection trying to get her stunned. Same in 2nd phase but also frequently healing Mimic, but being really agressive helped minimise the long-range attacks and the flower.
- Anonymous
> Heals upon hitting the player
> Extremely lengthy combo attacks
> Inflicts an ailment that passively drains the player's health
This design is possible to beat, but due to all three of the above mechanics working in tandem, there is no way to win a battle of attrition with this boss. You have to keep her staggered and stunlocked while blitzing her to death as quickly as possible. The methods are admittedly varied (Bleed, Frostbite, Fire, dualwielding, Ash Of War spam, Tiche summon, Dragon Communion Incants) but the fight's flow is always the same: Either you utterly dominate her, or you lose. Whoever grabs tempo first and keeps it is the winner.
Some players enjoy this type of gameplay, where you brew a build that annihilates a boss before said boss can do anything. Those are the players who like Malenia. Foe those who prefer back-and-forth tempo trades (as is the norm for Soulslike boss fights), Malenia is frustrating to lose to and unsatisfying to defeat.
I am in the latter category. I hope FromSoft never makes a boss like this again.
- Anonymous
Black Flame Tornado got me through this fight and I think is the great way to go if you don't want to lean on summons or respec into a bleed build. Use Flame Grant Me Strength and Flame + Faith boosting physick and equipment to max your damage. And unless you want to spend hours memorizing frame-perfect roll timing, swap to a bloodhound step dagger when you see her hover to avoid getting waterfowled, one-shot by her phase transition, or ganked by the phantom summons.
- Anonymous
Even with the healing and Scarlet Rot, this fight would've been amazing if it weren't for Waterfowl Dance
- Anonymous
Does anyone else think we will fight Malenia again in the DLC since the speculation is that it's related to Miquella and from the description of her incantation it states "It has bloomed twice already. With the third bloom, she will become a true goddess" We'll meet an even worse version of her?
Killed her before Maliketh. Is that normal for the average player?
- Anonymous
So, I’ve been practicing parrying her attacks and for the most part I’ve been able to successfully parry her parryable attacks, except for one. I don’t think it’s mentioned on this page but it’s simply just 2 very fast sword swings that you would need ultra fast reflex to be able to parry or even dodge. And I don’t see any pattern that could help me predict such a move.
- Anonymous
This boss is hard just to be hard, not to be fun. Gael and Sister Friede, were a hard fight, but it was fun, and fair.
- Anonymous
I found, after much trial and error, that it worked better when dodging water fowl dance, to first run away, but then roll towards the centre of the attack, rather than away. Every time I followed the guide, I would take the brunt of the attack, caught on the edges, and it would mess me up. Rolling towards her, I might take a couple of hits, but often took none. Only on the last flurry did I dodge away to the right, to not get caught in the finish. Still took ages, but at least I finally did it without summons (although I had to use rivers of blood and completely change my build).
- Anonymous
Not even Isshin gave me more of an adrenaline rush as much as this boss did, this was truly the dance of a true lord!
- Anonymous
its so odd to me that she can heal from hitting you if you have 100% physical mitigation
you aren't taking damage so what is she siphoning to heal herself?
- Anonymous
She moves like she is constipated. Has the rot messed up her internal organs?
- Anonymous
i want to beat every boss on my new second character without summons or spirit ashes I am still stucked at malenia after the game release i have a paper with how many tries I did it is 7454 tries damn man damn.
- Anonymous
This boss is a joke. Random whether she'll be good or not. Awful design, stupid boss. GFY fromsoft, and F Y HARD.
- Anonymous
Why not try dual wielding a Cold Uchigatana and Rivers of Blood? Use the Mimic and mind your dodges, and you should be able to ***** slap her hard enough that Miquella will feel it
- Anonymous
Doing this fight at level 60 with +9 weapons is one of worst gaming experiences of my life. This fight is nonsense, mostly because the c*** leeches health like a mf and has the most bs attack in the game. F- on this one.
- Anonymous
Malenia doesn't seem able to avoid the Frienzied Burst incantation during her 1st phase. She'll try to dodge it after she's been hit by the bolt already. I could even chain 2 fully charged shots from afar.
- Anonymous
I beat her first phase but sort of gave up on trying to learn the second phase when the scarlet rot crap gets introduced. Black Knife Tiche+10 proved to be a great summon for this fight. Took her down a peg for sure.
I noticed she can almost repeatedly be staggered if you can manage to hit her with a large weapon charged R2 a couple times. Still difficult to pull of but I did it a couple times.
- Anonymous
made my way through Farum Azula and Haligtree as a level 1 no upgrade weaponary and no spells. using almost any weapon type from daggers to collosal weapons.
this fight just sucks, 33k hp, the 3rd parry mechanic, instant hyper armor, with extremly defencive Ai as she dodges or fly. honestly this just make me waste the day trying to get to phase 2. no boss so far gave me as much trouble as her, even gank fights like Niall or valiant gargoyles or Godskin duo can be done in consistant effective methods, you may figure it out and play in a good strategy, but this is difficult for the sake to be difficult.
I don't think it is my fault if I died and neither I get much accomplishment for this obstacle, this time the developers pulled a very big ****, Morgott used to be the hardest boss to learn after Elden Beast to me, mastering him felt so much satisfaying and reasonable, the fight with Malenia is so exhausting and didn't encourage me to learn for a good strategy, one mistake and you waste 1 more hour. if I ever do it, it is for a record, and honestly I'm studying rn, it sucks so hard that I'm stuck in a childish confrontation of a stubborn difficulty maker developers, I really wish the upcoming dlc doesn't result in a total artficial difficulty the doesn't respect your time, of all bosses and optional bosses until Maliketh, she felt just cheap from the developers.
here I am reading the whole article or seeking your advice if anything is helpful.
- Anonymous
I was level 130 when I reached Malenia, which is a bit higher than usual I think but I basically wasn't optimized for anything. Mostly just Vig, End, and a dex/str/faith spread because I like trying out as many weapons as possible...
This made her a real problem because I wasn't really into bleed on anything. I had to review some of the comments and suggestions here but at the end of the day I found the most effective strategy was dual spears (Naginata/Shortspear) as light as possible to reduce stam consumption. Having a weapon with innate bleed in the main hand and an infused bleed in the offhand let me make good use of Blackflame blade.
Tiche was an essential summon for this fight because of her agility and special attack. I had to run Cerulean Hidden tear in my physick to be able to summon her because of the high mind cost, then backed that up with Stam regen from Crimsonburst tear.
I played around with a lot of armor sets but eventually found that light roll seemed to work best. That said, I configured my talismans around wearing the heaviest armor I could (Dragoncrest, Erdtree +1, R. Shield, G. Jar) while getting off light rolls (I had 40 end at the time).
There is probably a world where a build using heavier armor and Endure works because if you cast Endure before you get hit with her first Waterfowl jump, you pretty much always survive (even in PH2). I sucked at dodging WFD though, so I ran Braggerts on the Naginata for increased damage and, more importantly, the stam regen buff.
Still took a while, but when I finally won (i.e. learned enough pattern) I ended the fight with probably 8-10 flasks left. Really enjoyed this fight, I'm all for keeping bosses challenging.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
- Anonymous
glinstone phalanx with rivers of blood to stagger when gets close, back away and repeat--still difficult but worked for me
- Anonymous
The boss fight itself is good except for 3 things: Malenia regenerates her HP from hits at an alarming rate. This partially destroys your progress on this boss. Another thing, she sometimes breaks her combos when hit, sometimes not. As if she had hyper armor active. And lastly: if Malenia hangs in the air and you are within her melee range, you're screwed. Watefowl is no joke - you can avoid some damage by instinctively rolling, but you're playing with fire. In conclusion, you are penalized for not only being greedy but also offensive play, which forces you to hit & run tactics, which significantly lengthens, but also simplifies the fight. Keeping your distance and waiting for an opportunity with jump attacks and AoW is the key to victory. Ofc just running and rolling back won't avoid her lunge and the whole waterfowl so you have to learn it. Same with her phase 2 skills.
Maybe some fromsoft gaming god with a clown hat with bells, bare chest and a katana can dodge every attack while still in her melee range, but 99% of players don't have time for that. And luckily the margin isn't more important than the total, so if you still can't handle the boss, then use the help of another player or Ashes.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
It's no wonder this is the hardest fight in the game, she's Miyazaki's two favorite things combined, poison swamps and bare-footed women.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Scouring Black Flame + Omen Cleaver with RKR resulted in a very easy fight. She demands to be fought with patience with her infinite super armor and Waterfowl: if you can be patient, you'll soon conquer this. You cannot afford to get greedy when the input reading is this insane
- Anonymous
Did you guys know she’s Malenia, blade of Miquella, and she’s never known defeat!
- Anonymous
She has trouble dealing with the stagger from whips. I used double whips to take her out at lvl 50 for a build
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I like this boss, I do but I feel waterflow dance from melee range is kinda bs, but other than that the whole fight was the definition of fun for me. Also I want to add that at first I was super annoyed by her healing, but later on I stopped noticing entirely . Anyways, my advice is to craft Freezing pots if you are struggling with waterflow, I personally used it when she started the attack when I was in melee range, also you can interrupt phantom attack this way too. Hopefully dlc will bring more human-sized bosses like Malenia, although hopefully not as long as this fight, because roughly 35k hp + all the healing from hits is kinda a lot of hp.
- Anonymous
What worked for me was Mohg’s spear, plus Ironjar Aromatic. Her slash attacks did little but ticks, and Mohg can burn her down faster than she was able to heal.
Tried to “get good”, but at my age and with arthritis, I need to think of a strategy that will work with my limitations.
- Anonymous
Finally beat her totally solo. Waterfowl was nuts at first but not actually that bad after a while. The key to this fight for me was mostly patience. Most of my deaths came from swinging first. It's best to punish big swings at the end of her combos. Otherwise keep some distance and try to keep the walls away from your backside. The easiest way to dodge Waterfowl is just to hold dash and run away in a straight line until the third flurry pops, then dodge the other way straight past her to miss the fourth and fifth. I didn't even have to mess with the target lock at all and there's time to start up an attack or heal afterward. Her second phase is harder because she doesn't wait around as much, but the same rules apply. Just be careful with your stamina and try to focus on punishing moves more than trying to stun her out of them and you'll get it eventually.
- Anonymous
Just beat her RL1 solo. It took me days and days and DAYS of attempts but I finally did it. I must have died what seemed like 200 times at least (could be more).
Used cold uchi, blue gold kite shield, radagons soreseal, ritual shield, ritual sword, and Dragoncrest Greatshield. Could not figure out how to get the parry timing down for some of her attacks so I just resorted to plain dodging and shielding as a backup for when I missed a dodge.
Ritual shield + dragoncrest ensures that most of her attacks in phase 1 won’t insta-kill you on RL1. The exceptions are her thrust, grab, uppercut, charge (all of which are pretty straightforward to dodge and leave big windows to attack her) and of course waterfowl dance.
Phase 2 more of her attacks will insta-kill but saving your physick with opaline hardtear in it for the second half of the fight helps make some of the attacks not insta-kill again.
Used bloodhounds step to dodge waterfowl dance. Even after the nerf of Bloodhounds step I couldn’t find a better solution to this attack. I found the most consistent way to dodge was to start running away immediately and then the minute she hits the ground for her first wave of strikes you use bloodhounds step. This will make it so the second wave goes off right in front of you but does not hit you. Dodge through the 3rd one. And then just mostly just stand in place for the last few (strafe a little bit away from her but no dodging or anything like that). This pretty consistently worked for me no matter how close I was to her when she started the attack.
- Anonymous
Lvl 143, Eleonora's Poleblade L2 + mimic. Took 4 tries to beat. She didn't even get off 1 waterfowl the last time, and maybe 3min fight. Poleblade absolutely wrecks her with melt + stagger. Also I am NOT a skilled player so just a heads up for anyone struggling.
- Anonymous
My honest reaction to dying to waterflow for the 50th time: :o
- Anonymous
Used flame of the fell god + giantsflame take thee on the first phase then on the second phase switched to lightning spear incant and each time after she used the scarlet aeonia move i used blackflame tornado on grave scythe.
As a caster the waterfowl dance is not too difficult to dodge, but the phantom attacks were something else i had to record my attempts just to know how to dodge that move.
Black flame tornado was very powerful, when fully charged dealing ~5k dmg (with FLAME-SHROUDING CRACKED TEAR and SPIKED CRACKED TEAR) , but with my whole stamina bar as a tradeoff.
Great boss, let's see if my opinion stays the same after attempting full melee on the next run.
- Anonymous
Easy cheese rivers of blood and the crystal tear that boots consecutive damage rotten or not winged sword insignia warrior jar shard and Flame Grant Me Strength
- Anonymous
Tiche +10, Bolt of Gransax +10. That was how the deed was done, after many, many attempts. Still needed to learn her moves because Tiche would not always hold aggro, but if you position Malenia so she is walking towards you across the pond and away from Tiche, the water amplifies the lightning just enough so she is regularly knocked down and stunned and has barely anytime to let off Waterfowl.
- Anonymous
I get they wanna make her lore accurate, but waterfowl dance goes against the design philosophy of all precious souls games. If there are videos dedicated to showing how to dodge a single move, you’ve clearly designed a terrible boss.
- Anonymous
Are the 4 quick slices even possible to dodge without light roll if youre right infront of her? Never managed to fully dodge it with medium roll when im infront of her
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I get they wanna make her lore accurate, but waterfowl dance goes against the design philosophy of all precious souls games. If there are videos dedicated to showing how to dodge a single move, you’ve clearly designed a terrible boss.
- Anonymous
Are the 4 quick slices even possible to dodge without light roll if youre right infront of her? Never managed to fully dodge it with medium roll when im infront of her
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The only boss besides Margit that gave me such a tremendous adrenaline rush (heart racing, hands shaking after victory) :) What a supremely challenging fight. I played it at level 121 with most points in dex/vig/end. Light load, +23 Cross Naginata. No summons, no pots, no consumables, nothing else. Just a good ol' 1v1. For the most part it's a fair fight but I do think the massive health regen is a bit of an overstep considering the boss also has to be killed twice and has about every single advantage in the world you can imagine with her only weakness being a semi low poise. But once you DO learn every single one of her moves you can actually start getting in to no-hit runs pretty frequently (I often got her to p2 without getting hit once). My biggest gripe with her was the duration of the encounter. At my power level with my resources the attempts took a bit too long (I'm talking probably 10 minutes for good attempt). It felt really demoralizing wiping in p2 and having to start it all over. Never been a big fan of attrition battles like this one (don't even talk to me about Sister Friede lol). All in all though solid 9/10. Won't forget this one anytime soon.
PS. For anyone struggling with Waterfowl.. You roll away (or sprint away if you're far enough when it begins) the first 2 flurries and then roll AT HER for the third flurry. If you learn this well you can avoid getting hit by waterfowl almost 100% of the time.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss and Radagon/Elden beast do something that annoys me eternally. Why do they revert back to 1st phase when you die. They have a whole new lifebar, practically an entirely different boss so why do I have to keep proving that I can beat 1st phase over and over. It also annoys me on a lore/game perspective because why would they go back to their 1st form and why would my character be surprised every time (cutscene) when they transform again. Just let me fight second phase. :,( Just got annoyed with this on my 4th playthrough with my level 101 turtle build that makes it hellish to fight her.
- Anonymous
This boss is broken. No, I don't mean "broken hard", I just mean broken. Her AI is so inconsistent and unpredictable that it's the reason many people will say "I actually think she was pretty easy", but others will say "WTF THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE". Waterfowl is overtuned for sure, and the heal gimmick should not work through shields, but the real kicker here is that she can cancel herself out of hit-stun (no other boss can do this). But sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes she has hyper-armor, and sometimes she doesn't. She can be attacking your summon and then do a 180 degree turn mid-move and stab you with the charge pierce attack. Sometimes she'll use Waterfowl every 40 seconds, and sometimes she'll only use it once per phase. It feels like they did almost no work in refining this boss's AI patterns, which fits with the commonly agreed notion that the late game was short-changed development-wise.
- Anonymous
Figured I'd share this. Bloodborne will forever be my favorite game ever. But Malenia takes 1st favorite boss. After telling my wife and daughter about her and her infamous difficulty, they didn't understand why I was so excited/nervous to fight her. After several nights of playing for an hour after the kids went to bed, and dying over and over, I decided to have my wife and daughter watch the show. It went from "ugh why do I have to watch this" to "LIONS CLAW HER NOW, ROLL ROLL ROLL!! WATERFOWL QUEUE, RUN!!"and we all had a blast. Died several more times, but after a little bit I came out victorious (+25 executioners heavy greataxe with lions claw) and the wife and kid were probably more pumped than I was. Great boss, great bsckstory, great fight, great time. Thank you, From and Malenia
- Anonymous
lol after it became universally accepted how broken the design of this boss is, now it's become the cool trend to pretend that she actually isn't an absolute pile of garbage and one of the worst bosses From has ever made
- Anonymous
Just wanted to note something I caught onto. In first phase she seems to do waterfowl dances at ~65% ~45% ~25% and less than 5%. If you are around those numbers you can get some range and throw a projectile at her. She will most likely jump into waterfowl after the dodge. A good way to time your spacing to help avoid it. She still does it out of nowhere sometimes but I honestly think this happens if you let her heal past one of those aforementioned thresholds and then bring her back down to them.
- Anonymous
Best tip for malenia: Get light roll. It makes her waterfowl, rapid slices and phantom attacks WAAAY easier
- Anonymous
Probably the worst boss From has ever given us; even a year later. Too quick (and covers too much distance in the arena), too high damage, too many punishes, Waterfowl can be spammed and still hits me even if I avoid the way I'm "supposed" to. To defend this boss you either have to have less of a life than I do or had to be on hard-core drugs.. **** Malenia and the horse she rode in on. Hate this comment all you want, wallow in denial. Just proves me right more and more. This **** is NOT exempt of criticism no matter how harsh
- Anonymous
Incantation users use Flame of The Fell God
INT build, spam those night comets
STR, Greatsword with Lionclaw
- Anonymous
For beast results, use +10 mimic tear with Marias Executioner sword with in the main hand, and a sacred seal with swarm of flies and lord's heal or higher (Plus any other incantations you want it to use). In your main hand use ROB or Marias Executioner sword. this combination will knock her out of many attacks (Even waterfowl dance if your lucky). If you are bad at dodging scarlet aonia, use a shield that just has 100% damage negation as you move out of range to spare you the massive damage (Rot will still build up so don't stay in the flower w/ the shield.
- Anonymous
hit her with a volcano pot to trigger the end of her first phase... in the second phase she'll only have a sliver of health and will not start with the bloom attack
- Anonymous
The real meta strat for this boss is suing her for sexual harassment after the second phase starts for undressing in front of you without your consent.
- Anonymous
Just did it after 3 weeks. I learned to be a better player, and a bit of luck. But man, I feel as proud, or even more, than Ludwig, which was my wall for so long. Finally I can go and kill Radagon and finish my first playtrough, after 122 hours!
- Anonymous
It took me about 80 hours to complete this quest solo. I started a new playthrough with a wretch, got Blue Dancer Charm, Uchigatana, Buckler and did a no armour run. Now my pers has 50 VIG, 21 INT, 30 END, 12 STR, 80 DEX and 15 FAITH to cast Bloodflame Blade and Flame, Grant me Strength. Talismans are: Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Green Turtle and Dragoncrest Greatshield. I learned to parry her, but had no luck with it. However, keen Nagakiba with Double Slash did the trick. This AoW is cheap and melts her healthbar quickly. 2-3 aggressive attacks is enough for phase one. Just do watch the stamina bar and run away after each attempt. The second phase is a bit trickier, but well, 80 hours of dodging helps here. :) It is a pity I can not do her with Giant-Crusher yet.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Does feel like it requires luck for her waterfowls for when she decides to use them.
- Anonymous
If you try to play the game solo with a heavy weapon, or refuse to strip down / respect your entire build, it boils down to the RNG of her cycles. On average she Waterfowled 6-7 times every attempt for me, which meant that even if I dodged it perfectly it was just a matter of time before I'm caught in a situation where dodging is impossible and I just die.
Even with me consistently parrying EVERY parryable attack, it still took me many many tries before I got her. Doesn't help that the huge weapon obscures her on the screen and makes it more difficult to tell what move she is lining up.
My advice would be to just bite the bullet and respec to something thats effective against her. No use torturing yourself with this crap fight.
- Anonymous
If she didnt recover health and she had a extra 30% to her health bar, would that make her easier? I say yes. For the 2nd phase, I suggest using a shield for attacks where you struggle. Accept her health recovery and dont fixate on her health bar. If you get caught in waterfowl blocking can help you survive. Blocking every attack will not work, but the attacks you struggle with, like waterfowl, will help you survive. You cannot win if youre dead.
- Anonymous
they fixed her phantom proccing heals on you during coop so why can't they do the same for pvp -__-
You can sneak kill first phase by using poison mist. Just use assassin's gambit, unseen form, crepus vial, concealing veil and bait malenia to turn her back with spectral lance weapon art. For true metal gear experience.
- Anonymous
Here's the strategy that finally worked for me. I am running a dex/int build and had the Bolt of Gransax upgraded to max. Equipped a decent greatshield and summoned Black Knife Tiche. Keep medium-to-long distance from her and spam the lightning spear whenever she's engaged with Tiche. If she busts out the Waterfowl Dance, retreat while blocking with the shield. If you have a decent amount of stamina, you should take no damage from it, as none of her hits land that hard; the only thing you have to watch out for is the final reverse of the dance where she ends up behind you but even that is blockable. Once she does this just back away without blocking to regain stamina since she takes a breather. As soon as phase 2 starts, back away while blocking; this will keep you from getting clobbered by her initial flower attack which she does every time, and also from being rotted. Then back off, let Tiche draw her aggro, and hit her with the lightning spear again. She's even more easily staggered in phase 2, which means you might be able to knock her down two or three times with the spear before she can do anything. The only real problem here is how to keep your summon alive and with enough help through phase 1 that they're still useful in phase 2, because if she kills the summon then it's over. But you only need one decent run of luck to take her down.
- Anonymous
You can sneak kill first phase by using poison mist. Just use assassin's gambit, unseen form, crepus vial, concealing veil and bait malenia to turn her back with spectral lance weapon art. For true metal gear experience.
- Anonymous
You can sneak kill first phase by using poison mist. Just use assassin's gambit, unseen form, crepus vial, concealing veil and bait malenia to turn her back with spectral lance weapon art. For true metal gear experience.
- Anonymous
You can sneak kill first phase with poison mist. Just use crepus vial, concealing veil, assassin's gambit, unseen form and bait malenia turn her back by using spectral lance weapon art. For true metal gear experience.
- Anonymous
If you plan to beat her fair and square consider using light armor load, wearing something like Marionette soldier chest, which is light and leans heavy on slash reduciton. The long roll will solve a lot of her combos. You can get reduction from better sources, like Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman gives flat 20% (it can replace a lot of endurance points) and Boiled crab also helps.
- Anonymous
Did you guys know that Malenia is the Blade of Miquella, and that she has never known defeat?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
There's not a single other boss in the entire Soulsborne series that makes you feel so unbelievably shitty for missing a dodge. Receiving damage is one thing, but having your progress constantly undone because of healing on hit takes the challenge to next level. Gotta hand it to From though, in a game where you can cheese almost any boss in multiple ways, Malenia really requires you to re-think your tactics and learn her moveset regardless of your strategy. Not an absolute fan of her design but it's interesting nonetheless
- Anonymous
just started playing and this boss is an absolute joke for game play how she is buffed. Not enjoyable thanks FS.
- Anonymous
Blasphemous Blade + Bloodhound Claws.
Be adaptable, Blasphemous Blade for large openings and Takers Flame for the poise break, knock down, heal and heavy damage. Bloodhound Claws for BHS and hit and run tactics and to escape SA and Waterfowl.
- Anonymous
You know what sucks? I want to do a bloodborne style run using her greatrune.
In a standard game, she's locked behind 3 of the 6 shardbearers.
Even using the Leyndell Elevator Skip, you still have to beat at least Morgott.
- Anonymous
As a completionists , I explored as many dungeons/caves as possible ,looted every item and upgraded my weapon and mimic tear to the max ,cleared most major bosses she's probably my 4th boss from the last(only before Godfrey,Radagon and elden beast).
at level 160 I deal massive physical damage to her while using mimic tear as a distraction, my mimic tear just gave her non stop stagger and wipe the floor with her. At first I do felt like I cheated this fight , but she heals with each hit which feels like a chest too tbh, I crawled high and low throughout the lands between and worked my ass off for all my powers and recourses it's not like I got them for free, can't deny I do feel proud of my self that I beat her with wits and saves a lot of time ,which is the god damn point of all those time spent exploring the world.
- Anonymous
With my current dex/arc build, I honestly had a far harder/frustrating time with Radagon than Malenia. Once you learn the right distance to run away/dodge the waterfowl attack, the rest of her moves are easy/basic and is just a dance between you too.
I used Morgott's cursed sword. Two clean weapon art hits staggers her in both phases and does a ton of bleed damage.
- Anonymous
I've died like 30 times, every single one of them to water fowl. Its not a hard boss. Its an annoying boss with a heal factor that extends the fight just long enough to catch you on a move that you either need to perfect or get one shotted. Kinda wack honestly
- Anonymous
Can't we all just be glad that the checkpoint is literally next to his doorstep and not frustratingly miles away like with enemies designed to piss you off like the OG Dark Souls ?
If anything,that kinda soothed the boss fight for me cus i got one less thing to worry about and it's just only me and the Malenia and i can take all the time i need to re prep or try different strategies to beat her and beaten her i did after 10 or 15th time.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I remember an attempt where I riposted her on her first phase which should have killed her, but she got up with 0 hp. I hit her as soon as she got up but she just ignored my attacks, backstepped and did a fast combo, getting some health. And finally I waited for an opening and did a jump attack which should have killed her, but she survived, backdashed, and did the undodgeable(?) attack... this is a abomination of a fight, the first and last boss in this game I had to cheese. I think she literally breaks the games poisebreak meachanics, so if she is cheesing, then so shall I
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
boss fight that i expected buying this game, beating every boss before her in 5< attempts, this boss actually gave challenge and I spend 2-3 hours killing her. Of course I killed her with no summons no magic, just my good ol' zweihander
- Anonymous
Petition the red mark mimic users so their opinions on the fight can be ignored
- Anonymous
I feel as though using Latenna with Shabriri's woe is a good choice
Any tips for rl1 no weapon upgrades im fine with summons but i keep getting her to 5% then water fowl happens
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