Maliketh, The Black Blade |
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|---|---|
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| Location | Crumbling Farum Azula |
| Drops | |
 220,000Remembrance of the Black Blade |
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| HP | 10,620 |
| Stronger VS |
Weaker to |
StrikeBeast Clergyman and Maliketh, The Black Blade is a two-phase Legend Boss in Elden Ring. The Beast Clergyman is found at the end of Crumbling Farum Azula and is revealed to be Maliketh, the Black Blade once you deal enough damage to him. Similar to how Blaidd is to Ranni, Maliketh is Queen Marika's shadow-bound beast. He was tasked to guard the Rune of Death, but his failure to do so led to the Night of the Black Knives. In order for this to never happen again, he imbued the rune into his very flesh.
This is not an optional boss, as players must defeat it to advance to Leyndell, Ashen Capital and finish the game.
Gurranq, Beast Clergyman is an NPC variant of the first phase of this boss.
Cower before Maliketh, Marika’s Black Blade.
Elden Ring Maliketh, The Black Blade Boss
- This is not an optional boss as Maliketh must be defeated to unlock Leyndell, Ashen Capital and advance the story.
- Closest Site of Grace: Beside the Great Bridge
- Multiplayer is allowed for this boss
- You can summon Spirit Ashes for this boss
Elden Ring Maliketh, The Black Blade Location
From the Beside the Great Bridge Site of Grace, head west and then south up the stairs, then up the ramp past the Draconic Tree Sentinel and into the door to Beast Clergyman's boss room. [Map link]
Maliketh, The Black Blade Combat information
- Health: 10,620 HP
- Defense: 120
- Stance: 80
- Parryable: Yes, with a well-timed use of Blasphemous Claw against 2 specific attacks
- Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken
- Damage:
Standard, 
Slash, 
Pierce, Magic (Clergyman), Standard, Pierce, 
Holy (Maliketh) - Drops 220,000, Remembrance of the Black Blade
Negations (or Absorptions)
Magic
Fire
LightningThe negation numbers are the % of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40% of that damage by that type will go through and 60% will be negated. Bigger number = less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
Poison: 351 / 449 / 739 / 1196
Scarlet Rot: 351 / 449 / 739 / 1196
Hemorrhage: 574 / 864 / 1321
Frostbite: 574 / 864 / 1321
The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs. The values after the "/"s indicate the increased resistances after each successive proc.
NG+ and Beyond (click to reveal)
| NG | NG+ | NG+2 | NG+3 | NG+4 | NG+5 | NG+6 | NG+7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP | 10,620 | 10,631 | 11,694 | 12,225 | 12,757 | 13,820 | 14,351 | 14,883 |
| Defense | 120 | 120 | 123 | 126 | 132 | 138 | 144 | 156 |
| Runes |
220,000 | 440,000 | 484,000 | 495,000 | 528,000 | 539,000 | 550,000 | 561,000 |
Resistances |
||||||||
| Poison |
351 / 449 / 739 / 1196 | 375 / 473 / 763 / 1220 | 380 / 478 / 768 / 1225 | 386 / 484 / 774 / 1231 | 391 / 489 / 779 / 1236 | 397 / 495 / 785 / 1242 | 403 / 501 / 791 / 1248 | 408 / 506 / 796 / 1253 |
| Scarlet Rot |
351 / 449 / 739 / 1196 | 375 / 473 / 763 / 1220 | 380 / 478 / 768 / 1225 | 386 / 484 / 774 / 1231 | 391 / 489 / 779 / 1236 | 397 / 495 / 785 / 1242 | 403 / 501 / 791 / 1248 | 408 / 506 / 796 / 1253 |
| Hemorrhage |
574 / 864 / 1321 | 614 / 904 / 1361 | 623 / 913 / 1370 | 632 / 922 / 1379 | 641 / 931 / 1388 | 650 / 940 / 1397 | 660 / 950 / 1407 | 669 / 959 / 1416 |
| Frostbite |
574 / 864 / 1321 | 614 / 904 / 1361 | 623 / 913 / 1370 | 632 / 922 / 1379 | 641 / 931 / 1388 | 650 / 940 / 1397 | 660 / 950 / 1407 | 669 / 959 / 1416 |
 Sleep |
2277 / 2277 | 2436 / 2436 | 2472 / 2472 | 2509 / 2509 | 2545 / 2545 | 2582 / 2582 | 2618 / 2618 | 2655 / 2655 |
 Madness |
Immune | |||||||
Elden Ring Maliketh, The Black Blade Boss Guide
Maliketh, The Black Blade Boss Video Guide
[video coming soon]
Maliketh, the Black Blade fight strategy
Fight Overview
You begin the encounter fighting his Beast Clergyman form. The fight takes place in a large round arena, with tall pillars throughout and a dangerous open pit around the edge. It is highly recommended to move forward into the arena as soon as you enter through the fog gate. Don't let the Clergyman engage you on the short bridge right in front of the fog gate. Beast Clergyman has several low horizontal swinging attacks, most of which you can safely jump over to close distance and counterattack. The boss also has several rock sling and air burst ranged attacks, all can be dodged by rolling forward through the animations. Occasionally, Beast Clergyman will plunge his dagger into the ground, ripping large boulders into the air at the end of the animation. These boulders float above the camera and crash back down, the damage is avoidable. Strong attacks allow for a posture break, where the player has enough time to riposte and land a heavy attack while Beast Clergyman is in recovery animation. Posture break buildup carries over into phase two, which can score you an easy riposte during the most dangerous phase of the fight.
At roughly half health, the second phase of the encounter begins. A brief cutscene takes place and Maliketh, the Black Blade is revealed. Sword damage from Maliketh will temporarily reduce your max health, and cause a damage over time effect. Many of Maliketh's sword attacks cause frontal cone area of effect damage that can be avoided by staying under and rolling behind the boss. Maliketh will jump high into the air and use the pillars to travel around the room during this phase of the encounter. While airborne, Maliketh uses the Black Blade to sling multiple black blades at the player, which may be dodged by rolling.
If Maliketh jumps into the air and plunges the Black Blade into the ground, be prepared to avoid the delayed explosion by rolling or moving away. Otherwise, pushing forward into melee range is recommended at all times. Maliketh is more likely to use regular sword attacks while in melee range, these attacks are easier to avoid. Many of the frontal cone Destined Death attacks can be avoided at the feet of and behind the boss. Strafing forward and to the right of the Maliketh will cause some sword attacks to miss completely, leaving openings to score damage. You can also roll into the boss to avoid the 360 spinning attack, and be in range to retaliate. Maliketh is most dangerous at a distance, as the boss is more likely to use ranged Destined Death attacks. Press forward and close distance as often as you can.
The Best Tips for Maliketh, The Black Blade:
- Use the pillars in the arena to block his projectiles if you need to heal.
- Practice posture breaking Beast Clergyman with heavy attacks to learn the requirements, then work on forcing phase 2 of the fight to start with the boss near a posture break. This will allow you to stun Maliketh early with only one or two heavy attacks.
- Blasphemous Claw lets you do a special kind of parry on Maliketh.
- There are only two parriable attacks: Black Blade attack (ending part, both slash and dive attack). This is indicated by white aura around his sword.
- Stun window is larger after parrying dive than slash.
- A parry may also be performed briefly during Maliketh's vertical double-spin attack, which often follows the moment he lands on his sword. This window is much smaller than the Black Blade attacks.
- A successful parry stuns Maliketh for few seconds and deals minor damage to him. Also makes his damage resistance lower for the duration of stun (around 20 percent).
- There is some risk that the player will receive damage despite a successful parry. This is because you are parrying too late. It depends on the distance where you parry which can effect the parry window. It is more likely to happen during cooperation, but can happen in solo playthrougth too.
- There are only two parriable attacks: Black Blade attack (ending part, both slash and dive attack). This is indicated by white aura around his sword.
- The Crimsonburst Crystal Tear can offset the damage-over-time effect of Maliketh's attacks.
- 2nd phase: It's possible to put his AI in "pacing" mode if you unlock the camera and position a pillar between you. He will circle around trying to find sight, and if you change direction repeatedly it stalls the fight completely. Delaying allows time for his HP defuff which removes max HP% (lasting 10-15 seconds) to wear off, and gives you room to plan the next move. This mostly works if fighting without summons.
Melee Users
A shield can negate his dagger swipes but be aware that his incantations will still inflict some chip damage through a 100% physical negation shield. His forward dagger lunge can be dodged by rolling into him, but be aware that he will back up a little bit with a quick sideways dagger swipe or follow up with Bestial Sling. His dagger plunge is easiest to punish.
A lot of his incantations have very obvious tells, usually involving plunging his claw into the ground. His Bestial Sling has him hold his claw across his chest, and can be difficult to dodge given how fast it comes out. Stone of Gurranq uses a slow projectile that can be evaded easily. Both Beast Claw variations are slightly delayed after he plunges into the ground, sometimes dragging along the floor, but have a blind spot right in front of him and can be safely evaded by rolling forward.
He doesn't take too much to force to his second phase. Stagger him with a few good heavy attacks and he can easily fall to the phase change threshold.
Maliketh is a lot more mobile and is more of a test of patience. However, he retains some of the blind spots of his first phase and will whiff if you get up close or behind him. He'll frequently start with a jumping wide slash that can be rolled into. A lot of his attacks will inflict a max HP debuff and a damage over time which can be lethal if his sword combos left you near death.
Try to stick up close or behind him while he's on the ground. Wait for him to finish his airborne attacks before moving to strike.
You may notice his blade glow gold during some of these attacks; these show that it can be parried with the Blasphemous Claw. Catch him on the descent and he'll be stunned for a long time.
Magic and Ranged Users
Use high-speed, low-recovery spells like Lightning Spear or Night Comet as your main offense, because the punish windows at range are fairly short.
The Beast Clergyman's attacks all have relatively short range, so if you can outspace him you have plenty of room for long-reaching projectiles. Use the pillars to create space if you need it. Bestial Sling is the toughest to dodge due to the speed of the projectile, and any one clipping you can interrupt your casting animation.
The Clergyman begins the fight by moving towards you. If you notice he's not at full sprint, you have the room to set up and unleash a Comet Azur or Crystal Torrent to force him to phase two right away. Incantation users can use this opening behavior to inflict Scarlet Rot on him with Ekzykes's Decay. If the Clergyman starts with a full sprint, you may not have the time to pull this off.
The second phase is a lot tougher due to Maliketh's greater reach and mobility. Refrain from casting while he's in the air and only do so right after you've dodged his attacks. Again, the pillars can block his Black Blade projectiles but don't hug them too closely as his slashes can clip through and get you.
Beast Clergyman Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Side To Side Swipe | Swiftly swings his sword either side of him directly in front of him. | Either roll into or away from him |
| Forward Ground Stab | Lunges forward a short distance to stab the ground | Roll to either side (preferably right) |
| Bestial Sling | Collects rocks from the ground with his hand and throws them at the player | Expect either this or a boulder toss, dodge a second before they hit you due to the speed |
| Bestial Sling (Variant 2) | Swiftly circles the player and collects rocks while jumping and throws them as soon as he lands | Roll a second after he lands from his dash |
| Bestial Sling (Variant 3) | Executes a Forward Ground Stab but follows it up with a Bestial Sling directly afterwards |
Dodge directly into your left (his right) to avoid the rocks |
| Beast Claw | Raises his hand over his head and slams into the ground, once he withdraws his hand shockwaves travel towards the player | Avoid dodging to the side as it can catch you easily. Roll forward into his blind spot instead. |
| Lunge Swipe | Very similar to the Bestial Sling Variant however he doesn't throw rocks but swiftly slashes from his left to his right | Stay a mid-long distance from him or dodge into his belly |
| Ground Rupture | With both hands he reaches up and grabs the ground, bringing up huge chunks of earth which crash down after (similar to Fallingstar Beast), however he occasionally follows this attack with a Bestial Sling so be ready to dodge | Observe the ground as he hits the floor, there should be visual columns of dust, this is where the rocks will come from so try and stand somewhere with no dust and keep rolling away from him |
| Stone of Gurranq | With one hand he grabs a boulder and chucks it at you in a straight line | Easily dodged by rolling forward or to the side |
| Quick Slash | Much like Sif from Dark Souls 1, he quickly slashes in front of him and backflips away from the player | Try and block it with a good shield or simply roll into or away from it |
| Sword Drag | Stabs sword into the ground and drags it around him from right to left | Stick to his left hip and roll into his left buttock to avoid the blade |
| Gurranq's Beast Claw | Similarly erupts Beast Claws from the ground however, these travel in a circle around him, tends to occur more at close range | Roll forward into his blind spot or jump over the ground-based projectile |
| Slash and Stab | Quickly slashes in front of him followed by a forward stab | Either block with a good shield or simply dodge to the right |
Maliketh, the Black Blade Attacks And Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Flip And Slash | Often the opening move to the second phase, he flip towards the player with a low sweep of his sword, may often follow it up with another swipe/ overhead slam | Roll through the first slash and dodge the slam to punish. Maliketh appears to always start phase two with this attack. If you simply hold forward at the end of the cutscene, you can safely position yourself behind him to punish as the attack ends, no dodging necessary. |
| Piledriver | Very similar to Black Blade Kindred he jumps into the air and lands on his sword which is followed by an AOE explosion | Dodge the initial slam and roll away from the boss If you move about 2 rolls' distance from Maliketh while he is still on top of his sword, he will transition into 2 overhead sweeps followed by a flurry, rather than jumping away. By rolling toward Maliketh and through the flurry, you can punish this move. |
| Black Blade | Backflips into the air and slashes his sword at the player, blades will shoot from the blade towards the player at high speeds, can vary from 2-3 blades however, If it is 2 blades he will most likely follow with a Piledriver which has an AOE. If it is 3 blades he will charge towards player and perform the "Double Spin" attack while moving through the air. | Do not panic roll, wait for about half a second after the slash begins to start rolling and count the slashes. If it is 2, copy the advice from the previous row. If it is 3, roll towards Maliketh when "Double Spin" is about to hit you. Since he is moving during the attack, the second slash will not hit you. Be careful not to stand close to an edge, since Maliketh will simply stop moving forward making the second hit near impossible to dodge. You can parry this attack on the descent with the Blasphemous Claw. |
| Quick Black Blade | Quick flip with a single Black Blade projectile. | Simple to roll through or block |
| Roar | Roars at the player which knocks them back a few meters. | Keep your shield up to reduce the impact, no damage is taken though. Alternatively, time a roll to avoid the impact. |
| Destined Death | The most punishable attack, he slashes the floor in front of him and follows it with a overhead slam leaving his back exposed | For the swipe simply roll to your right and get a hit or two and for the slam roll into his rear to avoid it and punish carefully. It's best to wait a moment to punish in case he follows up with his deadly variant described below. |
| Destined Death (followup) | Same as previous row however, he follows with the blade circling himself twice and stabbing the ground in front of him, creating a cloud of slashes, rapidly cutting through anything in front of him. | If he begins to circle the blade around himself simply stay close to him and either block or dodge the swipes and dodge the stab and punish. If there is time, move behind him before the stab to avoid the slashes. |
| Double Spin | Spins around twice in place with the blade in hand | Roll twice. The timing of the second swing perfectly matches the timing of your second roll if you successfully rolled the first swing. |
| Blind Swings | After successful parry, Maliketh covers his eyes and performs a slow slash (Multiple slashes, if the player parried Piledriver attack). | Stay under him and attack before he recovers |
Maliketh, The Black Blade Lore, Notes & Other Trivia
- Voice Actor: Jonathan Keeble
- Was originally called the Beast Pastor in the 1.00 version of the game.
- Maliketh was the half-brother and sworn Shadow of Queen Marika, to whom she entrusted the Rune of Death. Ranni the Witch stole a fragment of the Rune of Death to forge the daggers used during the Night of the Black Knives, causing a series of events that resulted in the Shattering. After which, she gave the Blasphemous Claw to her brother Rykard, to give him the power to challenge Maliketh.
- In order to ensure that the Rune of Death was never stolen (again), Maliketh bound the blade that contained it to his own flesh.
- Bug: If Tarnished dies during the second phase with the "debuff" on, they will not spawn with max HP. This applies to cooperators as well.
Dialogue
INTRODUCTION
Thou, who approacheth Destined Death. I will not have it stolen from me again.
INTRODUCTION
(if Gurranq is given all Deathroots)
Tarnished, why wouldst thou... Why... Tis no matter. I hereby vow, that Destined Death shall not be stolen again.
DURING FIGHT:
Defeating player in phase 1:
I shall not part with it again.
Defeating player in phase 1
(if Gurranq is given all Deathroots):
Stay away from Destined Death.
Defeating player in phase 2:
Cower. Before Maliketh, the Black Blade.
Defeating player in phase 2
(if Gurranq is given all Deathroots):
Cower. Before Maliketh, Marika's Black Blade.
PHASE TRANSITION:
O, Death. Become my blade, once more.
AFTER FIGHT:
Witless Tarnished... Why covet Destined Death?
To kill what?
(if Gurranq is given all Deathroots):
Forgive me, Marika... The Golden Order... cannot be restored.
Maliketh, The Black Blade Image Gallery
Anonymous
- Anonymous
"nah he doesn't bite, he's a nice boy feel free to go and pet him!"
- Anonymous
As soon as he transitioned into his second phase, he slashed at my mimic and she parried him. I ran in and went for the crit.
And that whole time I was thinking "damn, I didn't even know you could parry him"
My mimic is better at this game than me, props girl
- Anonymous
It would be nice if I didn't have to fight the camera at the same time.
- Anonymous
Yet another spastic cocaine-fuelled beast in a small arena with obstacles. Really cool design and lore but incredibly annoying to fight.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
He sounds so betrayed why do you gotta make me feel like a piece of **** man... :(
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Okay cool that guy I've been forced feeding death root was the blade of death all along. Alright oh his attacks reduce my max HP and deal dot? Neat mechanic. Really cool flashy attacks and I died. Let's try this again. Oh I beat him already and didn't even learn his full moveset. TLDR: He needs more health.
- Anonymous
Phase 2 is easy to cheese by baiting him around the pillars and using rot breath
- Anonymous
thank you elden ring for 80 holy damage negation just what I needed
- Anonymous
He also has a thrusting poke with the black blade that he follows up with destined death. 2 years later and I saw that for the first time today. Needless to say, I was not expecting it, and I got blasted.
- Anonymous
he was fking weak to the spear of gransax i did it in like 3 tries
- Anonymous
hp: 4 night comets (my dad plays as a sorcerer, I am pure dex)
- Anonymous
best boss not just in this game but in video games in general
- Anonymous
He's like Slave Knight Gael's first phase, if Slave Knight Gael's first phase was bad. Dude just flies around the arena half the time, they really traded good boss mechanics and gameplay practicality for flashiness in this game.
- Anonymous
Opposite of radagon and elden beast. Atrocious first phase into amazing second phase. Would have been so much better without that shitty clergyman phase.
- Anonymous
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Bad kitty! Off the walls! Stop spamming ranged AOE attacks from up there! Bad kitty! Stop jumping up there and being virtually immortal for 2/3rds of the fight! Stop with the death razor attack that's bigger than a mid-roll! Stop hitting me through the gigantic columns! Where's my spritz bottle!?
Hate Phase 1 but OMG I love Phase 2
The fight feels so cinematic and epic while you dodge his attacks screaming "Oh Sht, Oh Fck, Oh Sht"
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you're gonna give a boss a name as badass as "Maliketh the Black Blade" you KNOW he better go hard
And by God, does he go hard
- Anonymous
Just a note that you can cheat this boss with some cowardly play style using the columns around the area + Mohg Spear AOW.
Cheers
- Anonymous
The evasive double swipe he does is probably the most infuriating attack in all of Elden Ring. Still think the fight is fun though.
- Anonymous
I always struggle with this guy on regular playthroughs, but holy **** this guy is ridiculous on RL1. I just dont get it.
- Anonymous
whiffing most of my punches because this guys hit and collision boxesare wack is the most agonising thing ever.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
if Maliketh the Black Blade has a million haters, then i am one of them. if Maliketh the Black Blade has ten haters, then i am one of them. if Maliketh the Black Blade has only one hater then that is me. if Maliketh the Black Blade has no haters, then that means i am no longer on earth. if the world is with Maliketh the Black Blade, then i am against the world.
- Anonymous
if Maliketh the Black Blade has a million fans, then i am one of them. if Maliketh the Black Blade has ten fans, then i am one of them. if Maliketh the Black Blade has only one fan then that is me. if Maliketh the Black Blade has no fans, then that means i am no longer on earth. if the world is against Maliketh the Black Blade, then i am against the world.
- Anonymous
fighting this guy with fist weapons is the angriest a souls game has ever gotten me. Your attacks just pass through him sometimes because his body is thicker than his hitbox and pushes you away
- Anonymous
Would be more fun if he had like 4x health and deal half damage with same aggressiveness.
He dies too fast and hit like a truck, average fight with him only last like 30 secs while his bomb ass soundtrack is 6 mins long.
- Anonymous
Maliketh is one of those fights that *really* makes me wish there was some way of replaying bosses. Boss Rush mode, DS2 Bonfire Aesthetic, doesn't matter. I really enjoy getting into the "flow" of Maliketh's fight (among a couple others), but whether he two-shots me or I two-shot him, it's always over before I want it to be over. And I'm not keen on doing hundreds of GinoMachino challenge runs just to get better at fights.
- Anonymous
am i wrong for intentionally dying to this guy just so i can listen to his theme longer
- Anonymous
Man, I’ve played this game since release and cannot figure this guy out. He pulls no punches. Phase 2 is so unforgiving. You make one mistake and you get shredded. The ultimate glass cannon boss.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
some of the most unclear and confusing hitboxes in the game for both phases
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
yeah I guess the boss is kinda cool, but holy sh.it. shut the fu.ck up already. His dialogue lines are not good at all, and the delivery is even worse. Why must EVERY SINGLE boss do lame quip all the time.
- Anonymous
Wait a minute, what happens to this fight if you killed Gurranq before finishing Farum Azula?
Man I can beat Malenia 1 try consistently. But I have never been able to beat this guy without help from summons.
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG
- Anonymous
Once you know how to parry this guy, you'll never lose again.
- Anonymous
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- Anonymous
There is one jump attack of him that he uses miltiples attacks that you need to dodge fowards.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I have listened to many an audiobook read by Jonathan Keeble. I had to read this page to recognize him though - damn you autotune! *g
- Anonymous
dear god please use a decent range weapon when fighting. I'm using antspur and most of the attacks arent connecting despite me literally touching his hitbox
- Anonymous
In case anyone cant be bothered to read the whole guide, in general you want to stick close against him, you'll be harder to hit due to the height difference, and bait out his regular swings as they're easier to dodge compared to his leaps and spells, don't panic roll and prepare to heal twice in a roll.
The boss is comparatively squishy, no need to greed for charge or heavy attacks.
- Anonymous
I have beaten this game 5 times now and I have never learned this boss. Every time I fought him I died 1 or two times and then got lucky on my last attempt and thought "That was it?"
- Anonymous
Lol hes easy once you figure out his gimick get underneath him he can't touch you then pound away then roll on time to dodge his AOE rinse repeat. Use a summon if you have to to pull away agro etc the game gives you all the tools you need to win use them ffs. This whole community is full of whiny man babies who can't handle a challenge grow up and git gud.
Bring on the down votes you're just proving me right.
- Anonymous
Phase 1 isn't that hard; except the first time when I rolled completely off the edge at the gate without realizing that there's a massive drop there. Roll away from the rocks and roll into/towards him everytime he makes an attack, there should be a pause to get in your own attacks. Phase 2, I let Tiche just do her thing while I dodged and rolled behind pillars to heal and to use Ancient Dragon's LIghtning Strike. Tried using Blasphemous Claw but never could get the timing nailed down as the bright colors and fast movement of his moveset blew my focus.
- Anonymous
Funny enough I had more trouble with his first phase than the second. His second phase deals a lot of damage but all of his moves are telegraphed and easy to avoid, and his sword attacks are super slow. His beast clergyman phase he spams his bestial incants constantly and some of his dagger attacks have next to no telegraph
- Anonymous
Maliketh is one of very few major bosses in this game that are genuinely enjoyable to fight and win against, alongside Placidusax and maybe Godfrey.
Radagon Rennala and Godrick are meh, Rykard is too gimmicky and simple, Radahn and Morgott are ok but a pain in the ass unless you summon or are over-leveled, Mohg and the Fire Giant are infuriating beyond hell, and Elden Beast and Malenia are such cancer you don't even feel accomplished after you beat them just exhausted and glad that the damn fight is over.
Just a glorified typical From dog - jumps around, hits for hundreds dmg. Only, this time it wields the mfking Death itself.
- Anonymous
I think what I hate about this boss is the constant flask punishing. I feel like I can never safely heal. And considering how much damage he deals, that’s quite the problem.
- Anonymous
Keep in mind that with this flurry death attack he uses, it only goes infront of him, so go into him not away
- Anonymous
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i cannot even fathom why they did not put a stake near the fog wall
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
On my first playthrough this boss was the first time I was really stuck. I had a heavy brick hammer and was going to use his runes to upgrade it, but after the umpteenth time of getting anime lasered to death I bit the bullet and used the runes in my inventory to bring it from +15 to +20 and beat him the very next try.
Moral of the story: upgrade your weapons, people.
A side note but I also think this is perhaps the worst runback of the game. No torrent and just a long boring hallway once you beat the knight.
- Anonymous
I finally kill this dude but I forgot to spend the runes, i die two times and i lost 220k after all the trouble to kill him...
- Anonymous
Mohgwyn's spear makes this fight easy, both first and second phase, since you can inflict high damage from behind the pillars with its skill.
Maliketh, the black blade,, user of maliketh black blade, blade of maliketh
- Anonymous
This boss made me go find Mimic tear ashes and use them for the first time
First phase is almost braindead easy, then second phase goes from being really hard, to a complete pushover once you realize he has no idea how to deal with you dancing on his toes.
- Anonymous
kicks my butt but definitely not a boss I can complain about design (Fire Giant)
hes really cool
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
i'm not gonna lie he is harder than malenia if you are playing with a colossal weapon in his second phase because half of the phase is just about running around the pillars trying to catch him while he's sending his 6th million projectile slashes from across the arena. thank god from only gave him one health bar instead of two different for each phase instead.
- Anonymous
Even in Malenia, you can survive without dying, but even if you hold a shield against this boss, you will melt to death.
- Anonymous
The deadliest boss in the game and the one I fear most, if you don't act quickly and kill him, he will kill you very quickly if he hits you.
- Anonymous
i thought i would rip my veins out while fighting this guy at level 85, finally did it. The absolute euphoria that flows through you is unexplainable feeling (first time playing elden and no magic no summons.) btw: The second phase is better than the first one in my opinion.
- Anonymous
One of my favorite bosses in the game but I absolutely bullied him in NG+ with Darkmoon Greatsword, broke his poise as soon as his second phase started and gave him frostbite while doing the crit. Finished him off with a projectile. Poor bastard lasted like 15 seconds lmao
- Anonymous
Beat him after ~15 tries, the key is aggression. Counterintuitively, you need to rush him whenever he gets near, exit your comfort zone, doing your best to disregard punishment. He is definitely the hardest boss I've encountered so far.
- Anonymous
one of if not the best designed fight in the entire game. you have to be aggressive which a lot of these people down here don't understand and instead blame the boss for their lack of skill. Maliketh is lanky and imprecise and you're supposed to use that to your advantage.
- Anonymous
Man what a cool boss, a great, fun, fair fight with a cool and well implemented gimmick to it, fantastic lore for the character, and a badass design! The boss soul rewards are sick too! Surely there won’t be an agonizing, slow, difficult to punish and uninteresting first phase that you have to fight anytime you want to refight the boss!
- Anonymous
You know maliketh kinda reminds me of the lorian boss is ds3. With the way he goes everywhere in the arena.
And is verry simular to ds3 bosses in terms of the boss dance of dodging his attacks and hitting him afterwards. Unless he usses destined death weapon art as his combo extenstion. Beut when he does that he leaves himself wide open for a punish if you succesfull doge that.
And i previously hated maliketh only becease his damage is high. And that blinded me for seeing the boss for what he really was a faster version of the ds3 boss dance.
But i still don't like beast clergyman phase 1 though. But love fighting maliketh
- Anonymous
i find it very annoying that u can take damage even if u successful parry Maliketh's vertical double-spin attack
- Anonymous
I have no idea why people call him to fast. His speed is perfect for this game. People are once again playing the game as DS3 and as such have a bad time
- Anonymous
Just beat with him nightrider halberd at level 110, 50 vigor 60 strength 30 arcane. First phase is much easier just dodge his attacks towards him and run away after one hit. The second phase is very punishing requires a lot of patience, I kept doing poke attacks after he did his heavy moves that he recovers slowly from. Use the pillars to heal. The light roll physick is very helpful along with the damage reduction one
- Anonymous
Upon multiple playthroughs, I've started to join the side that thinks that Maliketh (aka 2nd phase) should have more health (and 1st phase probably less). To me, Maliketh is starting to feel more and more like a Slave Knight Gael-type of a boss, where it's punishingly hard, but also very fair, and it gets easier (and also more enjoyable) the better you understand his moveset (and your own positioning). And using Blasphemous Claw is insanely satisfying, even if it makes the enjoyment even shorter. I just beat him (and this isn't a brag) on my first try on this run, and I felt quite bummed out by the briefness, as it felt like the whole thing was over in a jiffy. So yeah, I wish the Gurranq-phase (which I don't really enjoy) would last only until, say, the health was at 75% and Maliketh would have more time. As it is now, it feels like an overly long, annoying foreplay for a very brief, albeit very satisfying, main event.
- Anonymous
I actually find Phase 1 harder than Phase 2. Phase 2 is easier to get the hang of when you learn what he’s doing, but Phase 1 has so many weird timings and quick slashes that always seem to get me.
- Anonymous
He's not a vigor check. He's a patience check. The 4th time he instantly flew away after I ran to him I was searching for tickets to Japan to strangle Miyazaki.
- Anonymous
Does Gurranq actually deal magic damage for phase 1? If so, with which attacks? I thought the bestial incantations he's using all did physical damage.
- Anonymous
First playthrough, defeated phase 2 with 10 rot pots while rolling like a maniac. Probably hit him with a greatsword, too. Not sure.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss blows and makes me wish I could bypass Faram Azula on every replay. It is insane to me that more people complain about the Godskin Duo than Maliketh. It's bad enough that his air-born projectile attacks force you to just wait for him to come back down and let you hit him. It's bad enough that his sword-plant lets him option-select between an AOE and a giant nonsensical mass of anime blades that clip through the pillars. They had to give him both a Damage Over Time Effect AND and an anti-heal Max HP reduction effect on every attack in Phase 2.
Spirit Ash for Aggro-management into Rotten Breath is my favorite way to fight this guy, and I don't think that's ever going to change. Call me casul all you like, I know bad design when I see it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Not enjoyable, spectacle in place of good gameplay is pretty irritating. Plainly bad first phase and the second phase just isn't engaging. The walk to the fogwall (Assumedly so you can fight and kill a copy paste fodder dips*** first try) is also pretty annoying. Remember when you'd fight a boss instead of watching him flip around like a r*****?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Lv 120 dual wield halo scythe and winged scythe +9 and +10 with claw talisman and 40 faith 40 dex -
1st phase fell to around 8 jump attacks
2nd phase fell to 10 jump attacks
Took me like 5 tries
- Anonymous
Beat him at level 25. First Rotten Breath proc gets you through phase 1. Summon Black Flame Amon just before phase 2 starts. Let him draw aggro to find a window to proc Rotten Breath again. Just survive and you're home free.
I really think this is one of the best bosses in the game, especially when it becomes more manageable when using the Blashpemous Claw. Although, I could just never neat Beast Clergyman solo, and always had to summon +10 Black Knife Tiche, which made it a cakewalk.
- Anonymous
Fighting him back when the game released was so good. Watching the phase transition for the first time as a Berserk reader filled my heart with so much joy.
Still the best Boss for me in Elden Ring
you spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round
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