Maliketh, The Black Blade |
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| Location | Crumbling Farum Azula |
| Drops | |
| Crumbling Farum Azula: 55,000 |
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| HP | ≈ 10,620 (Legend) |
| Strong VS |
Weaker to |
Maliketh, The Black Blade is a Boss in Elden Ring. This Elden Ring Maliketh, the Black Blade Guide features boss locations, tips, strategies and videos on how to defeat Maliketh easily, as well as boss stats and lore for Maliketh.
Maliketh is the second and final form of the Beast Clergyman who is found in Crumbling Farum Azula. The transitional cutscene shows the Clergyman's cloak being burnt off to reveal his armor and Maliketh pulling out the Black Blade from his left hand. 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 reach Leyndell, Ashen Capital. In this second phase, Maliketh's attack can now inflict Destined Death and temporarily lower your character's maximum HP. Using the Blasphemous Claw (dropped by an invader in Crumbling Farum Azula) before he hits you can parry these attacks, negating the Destined Death effect and giving you an opening to counterattack. He drops the Remembrance of the Black Blade when defeated.
Bosses are unique and challenging Enemies that can be encountered all over the Lands Between. Legend bosses drop their own unique Remembrance capable of being transformed into powerful Weapons, Spells, Ashes of War, and Talismans for the player.
Cower, before Maliketh, Marika’s Black Blade.
Elden Ring Maliketh, The Black Blade Boss
Maliketh, The Black Blade is a Legend Boss found in Crumbling Farum Azula.
- This boss is not optional.
- This is a Legend type boss.
- Closest Site of Grace: Beside the Great Bridge. [Map link]
- Multiplayer is allowed for this boss.
- Spirit Ashes can be summoned for this boss.
Elden Ring Maliketh, The Black Blade Location
Maliketh, The Black Blade can be found in Crumbling Farum Azula, and if defeated
you'll be transported to Leyndell, Ashen Capital. [Map link]
Maliketh, The Black Blade Combat Information
- Health: NG (10,620), NG+ (13,000), NG++ (??), NG+3 (??), NG+4 (??), NG+5 (??), NG+6 (??), NG+7 (??)
- Defenses do not change between phases.
- Deals Standard Damage, Magic Damage (1st phase), and Holy Damage (2nd phase).
- Parriable:
- Beast Clergyman: No.
- Maliketh: Yes, with Blasphemous Claw only.
- 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.
- A successful parry stuns Maliketh for few seconds and deals minor damage to him.
- There is some risk that the player will receive damage despite a successful parry.
- Poise can be broken which allows for a critical attack (both phases). Poise: 80.
Absorptions
- Phy (Standard): 35
- Phy (Slash): 35
- Phy (Strike): 35
- Phy (Pierce): 35
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 means the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is.
Resistances
Poison: 351
Scarlet Rot: 351
Hemorrhage: 575
Frostbite: 575
Sleep: Not immune, but very resistant.
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 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.
- The Blasphemous Claw Item lets you parry Maliketh. Look for when his sword glows gold to see the cue.
- 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 is going 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 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 | 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. |
| 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 | Simply spins around twice 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, Malekith 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
- 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.
- Bug (rare): During the second phase, sometimes there is no music (probably related to co-op).
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
AnonymousI love his moveset, so fun to watch him going apeshit around the arena! Hard to hate him when he does such sick air flips
- Anonymous
Finally defeated this arse of a boss. Summoned Black Knife Tiche (+10) and ended up using my +10 Godslayer’s Greatsword to get through Phase 1 as quickly as possible, getting into Beast Clergyman’s face and hitting him hard, so Tiche had as much HP as possible for Malekith. Then just hid behind a pillar during Phase 2 whilst Tiche dealt with Malekith.
- Anonymous
finally killed the bastard! vig 42 str 40, Melee build ofc.
for 1st phase just summon Engvall +10, then get abit away from them fighting and spew any of the decay breaths, then go behind a pillar use Magic Barrier inct. + Scholar Shield magic on your shield + use Wondrous Physick with anything that reduces damage taken and wait for the second phase to start
here u need a bit of luck and some dodging from its golden attacks (3 times in a row), go behind a pillar and wait for it to finish Engvall then (now lucky part) run to it (especially when it's walking towards you or just around, sometimes it just jumps away and spams insta killes sometimes raises the sword and tries to bash your skull, if he raises the sword and u manage to get under his belly now's your chance to spew decay inct. and just run away. you can slowly run around a pillar and mostly it will slowly follow you around. once the inct. is done draining its HP you just need 1-2 more hits with Blaid's blade to finish it off.
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Rebirth with intelligence, Mimic tear then upgrade a staff and equip only rock sling spell, allocate almost all pots to cerulean, gg ez stun lock him
- Anonymous
I just wanna be done with this ****ing game. Why does every late game boss kill me with one hit?
- Anonymous
DAE think he's squishy asf? Not saying easy at all or trying to humblebrag but my 24+ Heavy Claymore was hitting like a truck at 45 str, felt weird after Godskin Duo
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This was a tough one for me. Camera was causing me all kinds of problems and I was getting killed in 2 hits. Then I gave in and summoned the greatshield soldiers and they aggro'd him where no other summons would.
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maliketh when he says his name and occupation is so much better than when malenia does it
- Anonymous
So Elden Ring's answer to the grim reaper is a big sexy werewolf clad in plate armour with a giant sword made of death, who does a whole bunch of ridiculous anime moves and backflips? Yep I'm a certified Maliketh simp.
- Anonymous
In the heat of the moment I was too focused on getting my ass shredded, but looking back on it, his dialogue and lore made me feel so sad for killing him, the way he sounds so betrayed in his intro after you give him all of the deathroot really hurts, this fight really made me feel like a complete ******* for turning on him like that.
- Anonymous
This is "that" boss for me. The boss where, if you know the lore, you wouldn't want to kill him. I didn't realize this until I had a funny incident with a friend in co-op, where Maliketh pretty much ignored the host (my friend) and kept stayed aggroed on me the whole time. I did pretty well but host was a naked 45 vigor enjoyer on NG+ so they died by getting slapped on the face once by Maliketh while he was attacking me.
Later I fought Maliketh with full Guts set up, Lion's claw on colossal GS and all. Right at the very end, on the first attempt, when I was on my last HP flask, and Maliketh was one punch away from death, I realized I didn't want to kill Maliketh anymore.
I did the Gurranq questline and felt sorry for him, but it really struck me at that moment, along with Maliketh's giant sword.
I got backed into a corner afterwards, not managing to get a single hit in, but by some miracle I finally got him. And then I heard the secret dialogue and almost cried.
- Anonymous
The bug where the debuff still applies after dying and carries over past the death reset at a grace checkpoint from dying in the second phase must have been patched sometime after this page was last edited. All three times he killed me were in the second phase and he had absolutely no trouble hitting me with that, my HP was back to normal for each new attempt to beat him.
- Anonymous
What I really like about the beast clergyman transforming into Maliketh, the cut scene was f**king epic, is there are hints right from the first visit to the Bestial Sanctum to hand over the deathroot from the tibia mariner at summonwater village. Apart from the gargoyle outside referred to as black blade kindred, so kin of Maliketh the black blade, the sword that it drops is explicit, referencing the blackened corpse wax as "such is the mark of those who serve Maliketh the black blade" so his identity is hidden in plain sight all along, that's pretty awesome.
- Anonymous
Got him on the fourth attempt. It's a brutal boss fight and it was way too fast and chaotic to make the blasphemous claw any use to me, get the timing wrong and he will f**k your s**t right up. The less is more thing is working well for me still, I only had golden vow, Agheel's (sp?) flame and ancient dragon LTN strike in spell slots, its much easier than trying to navigate through ten incantations in the middle of all that. Godslayer's greatsword and bolt of gransax both +10 are gifts that keep on giving. It had killed dung eater puppet and I got him with two charged casts from the weapon art on bolt of gransax before he could get to me.
There is no comparison between the Maliketh fight and the cheap wildly OP c**t Malenia.
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Fromsoft's design team sure are extremely good at making really attractive beasts, or maybe I'm just a weirdo, proly both.
- Anonymous
This good boy deserved so much better, god i wish we could just murk Marika's stupid ass for how she threw everything/everyone under the bus for her own selfish goals and ambitions.
- Anonymous
Such a tough boss battle. Its the first time i had such a difficult time facing a boss. Rest of the bosses dont even come close to this besides Malenia probably haha
- Anonymous
As tested by Syrobe, Maliketh 2nd phase CAN be put to sleep. He has an absurd sleep resistance, and the animation only lasts for 2-3 seconds.
- Anonymous
maliketh is not sleep immune btw. just has a really high res against it
- Anonymous
Maliketh p2 ain’t immune to sleep,just extremely resilient to it
- Anonymous
Finally beat him! Parried him twice with Blasphemous Claw and used Double Slash paired with Shard of Alexander while he was stunned to power down most of his health. Alexander... even in death you have my back...
- Anonymous
So this guy is beast clergyman, but I killed mailketh and beast clergyman was still available to give deathroot to. Tho I messed up when he aggroed on me and killed him so idk if you can finish his quest line
- Anonymous
This question makes no sense but I'm confused: Is Maliketh immune to scarlet rot in the second phase? I kept hitting him with Rotbone arrows non-stop but it didn't have any effect on him like it does in the first phase
- Anonymous
Did I understand right that we needed this guy's rune to make the Erdtree mortal for the fire to have any effect and allow entry into the tree?
- Anonymous
every ****ing creature in this game is resistant to holy damage
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Ik plenty of people simp for Blaidd, but i think this smoking hot deathbeast deserves more love.
- Anonymous
This fight shows you the value of rolling towards enemies to get positioning instead of rolling away to "play it safe." Being aggressive seems to be most effective if you're melee. Just keep going at this guy, he drops fast just have to learn the awkward timing on some of his moves and keep an eye out for the occasional AOE he'll hit you with when you're close to him. Whenever I fight him though, win or lose, the whole fight lasts about 45 seconds.
- Anonymous
Ngl this death doggo makes me feel things. (I refuse to elaborate)
- Anonymous
I had way more trouble with the Knight on horseback guarding his arena. I don't know why, but that guy kept wrecking my **** up.
Then I finally kill him and walk into Maliketh's house like "I'm too tired for this ****" and just wallop him.
Which is funny, because back when he went beast mode that one time at his temple, he kicked the **** out of me several times before I could subdue him
- Anonymous
You absolutely should not be blocking his attacks in phase 2. Always dodge. The DOT is a killer.
- Anonymous
There are definetely harder fights in the game. However, this is the worst designed boss in the entire game along with the fire giant...
- Anonymous
Worst boss in the game. Even Godskin duo wasn’t this unbalanced. Downvote if you agree
- Anonymous
Any tips for dodging or at least anticipating Beast Clergyman's combo/lunge into Bestial Sling? I feel like there's no way to tell whether I can punish him or if I'm going to eat a faceful of rocks for thinking I can punish him.
- Anonymous
Night Maiden's Mist spell + keeping a column between you trivializes his first phase. Remember to keep your shield up just in case!
- Anonymous
Beat him with no summons, no other players, no dmg taken, no buffs and no blasphemous claw. Nothing but a +5 serpentbone blade. Way too easy
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I love this fight. Tough for melee, easy for sorceries and incantations; moves a lot, so ranged makes it easier to deliver damage. Without summons you need to be very skilled, it's hard to attack him if he's always targeting you... he's the bearer of destined death! i expected no less...
but, yeah, easy fight for casters
- Anonymous
Worst boss in the series. Bullshit judgement cut fron DMC that literally can't be dodged, blocked, or parried. Godskin Duo>Maliketh, the Black Blade. At least foreskin duo can be dodged or blocked.
- Anonymous
Took me more tries to kill this b*tch than all of the bosses combined. Not even joking
- Anonymous
Tries to hide behind a pilar to heal... - gets wrecked through the pillar
- Anonymous
Destined Death, aka how to ruin a fight in a single mechanic, the fact that it stacks and can melt you in an instant is just unfair, and it's FAR too easy for DoT debuffs to stack up. My opinion on this fight has gotten even worse the second time around due to 3 bullshit deaths due to the Destined Death DoT stacking.
They need to nerf it so it can't stack, the maybe the fight would be more bearable. Before you say get gud or just dodge it, it's not that simple with how quickly he can emulate Sonic's spin-dash that builds up the DoT debuff into the judgement cut with very little warning.
- Anonymous
To solo him just get the parry. Dodge him and try to get some distance, more sooner than later he will do the Black Blade attack, almost sure that will be the "three shots" followed by a slam down. Dodge the three shots and parry just after the third dodge. The timing is that. Then hit him with your best. Probably with two parries he is dead.
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I was rolling through NG+ until I got to this guy. He gave me the reality check that I wasn't as good as I thought I was.
- Anonymous
It's one of these bosses that's simply insufferable the first time, but becomes the best once you know his moveset. He's got a very good flow and tbh it's one of the only boss with that "dance" feeling in ER, along with Godfrey and Radagon
- Anonymous
From really decided to condense the best and worst bosses in the game into a single fight huh?
- Anonymous
During my first playthrough i abslutely hated this guy, he was one of two bosses that i used player summons on. But after beating the game it just didn't sit right ith me that i couldn't defeat one of the main bosses, so i decided to help players again and again until i learned his moves, and on NG+ i actuallly defeated him all by myself.
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Malekith playing Devil May Cry while we playing Demon Souls
- Anonymous
Spent almost 3 hours trying to solo this fight, got to the point where I could do phase 1 without getting hit, would always get 1 shot in phase 2 by an attack from above you can barely see coming if you're close to him because camera issues (60vig/65%phys/45%elemental dmg negation btw), ended up giving in, beat him first try in less than 2 minutes with Mimic, and they say this game isn't balanced around using summons, lmao
- Anonymous
If you're Faith build and have trouble with the 2nd form, here's how I beat him :
- Forget about Incantations, anything with a casting time will put you at great risk. In fact, you might also want to forget about Skills/Ashes of War. This will allow you to concentrate on healing, without having to manage your FP. One less thing to worry about.
- Fire isn't listed as a weakness, but in my experience of this fight, it worked incredibly well and melted through his HP. Carry a fast weapon dealing fire damage. I used Magma Blade +10, Fire Scorpion Charm, and Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear in my wondrous physick.
- Hug his feet at all times. Never try to keep a safe distance, play as aggressively as you can. Just standing close to the boss will make many of his attacks go over your head and miss. As I said above, don't use FP, just spam R1. If he takes a step back to hit you, keep up with him and roll in his direction (using a fast weapon will help you react quicker). He can still damage you with AoE moves, so either dodge when he's about to do this or just take the hit.
- Heal at his feet. You're safer there than any other place in this fight. Stay as aggressive, but use the window of time when he's hitting over your head to take a flask.
- Learn the timing to dodge roll through his projectiles and swooping attack when he goes into the air. Easier said than done, but if you can manage this you'll have a much better fighting chance, so don't bother with his other moves and focus on the aerial attacks. As soon as he lands, run to his feet and heal there if necessary. Then try to land as many R1 hits as you can. Rinse and repeat.
This isn't a foolproof strategy, but I was having so much trouble with Maliketh it seemed an impossible fight, until I switched to this method and steamrolled him. Might just have been luck, but might be worth trying.
- Anonymous
Try stars of ruin, the spell destroys almost everything in the game. Kicked Malikeths butt easily with it.
- Anonymous
Loved this fight. I completed his questline before I fought him. So having to fight him reminded me of Sif from Dark Souls 1
- Anonymous
I loveeee getting one hit by the same combo every time at 40 vigor. I love when the boss uses the sammeee combo back to back to back to back
- Anonymous
Bro who tf designed the tree sentinel outside this room? I died more to him then melania and maliketh combined.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Flame of the Redmanes trivializes the Maliketh portion of the fight. One hit will break his stance, do a critical attack, then repeat until he's dead. You just have to be very aggressive in the beginning and hit him before he gets a chance to do his first attack. Even in Beast Clergyman form it only takes two hits to break his stance.
- Anonymous
Ranged Attacks ✓
Safe Spots ✓
Burning Damage ✓
Spams ✓
Melts Stamina ✓
Spawns You In The Worst Spot In Phase 2 ✓
Honestly this is the worst Boss in the game. Not only terms of it being the hardest, but in terms of it's move set and it's whole design. Like did a 10yr old feed the dev the ideas for this boss? "I want a boss that just spams attacks non stop. Oh also the players hp should be depleting the whole time." This boss gets so stupid around the 4th playthrough. Just 2 hits you and sometimes you burn to death before you can even use a pot. But I'm sure the Souls cultists will be here to defend their gods since they are incapable of seeing any fault in FS games.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel at the boss door should unlock a Stake of Marika or a Site of Grace. I get why it doesn't have BEFORE defeating the mini boss, but after would be fair, that sob destroyed crushed me more times than Rykard or Godfrey spirit.
Trying to master and overcome Clergyman's/Maliketh's moveset while I have to wait the XOne load times and going up these long stairs isn't that fun...
- Anonymous
Looking at the salty comments I’d say fromsoft did a good job with this boss.
- Anonymous
"Witless Tarnished... Why covet Destined Death? To kill what?" is so much cooler than the Deathroot finisher. Totally my favourite quote from this game.
- Anonymous
THIS BOSS SUCCCCCCC EVEN MOGH DEALS LESS DAMAGE THAN HIM.VERY DISBALANCE FIGHT. THE ONLY TIME I PASSED IT WITHOUT 10+ ATTEMPTS IS ON GUTS BUILD RUN . HATE HIM SO MUCH
- Anonymous
To anyone on PC who cheated or anyone who cheesed this boss, I beat this guy with only a longsword, and let me tell you, you are an absolute king (or queen). Go ahead and pick up your crown. Because you should be proud of yourself for not putting up with Miyazaki's deranged bullshit, unlike me. Cheesing Elden Ring bosses is always morally correct.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Beat him on my first try. Yea I used Mimic Tear. Takers Flame just destroys him. Trick is to get him to stand still for a moment though.
- Anonymous
If you ever feel stupid, remember someone thought a boss like this was a good idea.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Unfortunately I didn't get to experience much of phase 2 because I staggered him as soon as he phase transitioned, and then a parry took off all but a slither of his health.
I wish he transformed closer to 75% so I could have experienced more of the "real boss".
- Anonymous
Maliketh is a massive vigor check of a boss, reached him with only 35 or so once and hhas a bad time but put like, 5-10 more levels in and it was great.
Faith builds I recommend Godslayers Greatsword. Focus on R2s and Jumping attacks and use Weapon Art combo instead of riposte if you stagger him, deals insane damage.
- Anonymous
the only thing i know about maliketh is he doesn't like snow
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Does he actually deal magic damage? When bestial spells are used by the player, they deal physical damage. So it would only make sense for maliketh to deal physical damage too.
- Anonymous
Are you sure he deals magic damage in phase 1? Because bestial spells deal physical damage when used by player. So it would only make sense for them to deal physical damage when used by maliketh. Maybe its worth testing.
- Anonymous
I finally beat this annoying boss. A big thanks to Black Knife Tiche (spirit ashes) who did most of the job. I loved the first 3/4 of the game, but these final bosses with Godskin Duo, Maliketh etc. is just a chore.
- Anonymous
As great/"great" as this fight can be with the right equipment (especially if you just mimic cheese it), it feels like fromsoft made a bloodborne boss but forgot you're in ****ing dark souls combat and can't quickstep or do ranged parries
- Anonymous
I finally beat this annoying boss. A big thanks to Black Knife Tiche (spirit ashes) who did the majority of the job.
- Anonymous
Just saw a video that had Maliketh without armor and I am afraid.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Wow this dude is agile, lets just wait for an opening the will cone for sure...
Rotten breath works great against him, procing the scarlet rot in the first phase is easy since he already comes at you at the start, then you can hit him once or twice with your main weapon to trigger the second phase since the scarlet rot by itself isn’t enough to do it by itself.
He is much more aggressive and faster in the second phase, so I recommend starting by drinking the physick with bubble tear and infinite fp tear, dodging his sweep attack that he always does at the start, getting behind a nearby pillar, summoning a tanky spirit summon like Oleg, and using rotten breath while Maliketh is distracted by the summon. Since summon will do damage you most likely won’t need to attack him again after procing the rot. Though since he is a total c*nt, Maliketh might randomly stop targeting the summon and start attacking you instead. Be sure to keep a good shield or a weapon with BHS on your hand to avoid damage until the summon attracts aggro again.
- Anonymous
I would have enjoyed the fight a lot more if phase 2 was just its own fight, and phase 1 didn’t exist. It was a slog going through phase 1 over and over again, only to die seconds after transitioning to phase 2. Learning his attacks isn’t fun when it takes like a minute just to even begin the “real” fight.
- Anonymous
input read in phase 2 suuuuuck
btw i wonder how easy he was on my guts tank run
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
FTH build blackflame fireball works like a charm, godfrey icon talisman + flock canvas + fire scorpion charm + flame shrouding cracked tear. I suggest use spirit ash instead summon for aggroing, Maliketh hit hard but have sponge hp even at ng10+.
Melee build stay close under his belly, i suggest use faster weapon be wary his gurranq claw attack, as melee i prever soloing him, make him more focus on you, phase 2 kindda bull*t but still stay close at him wait window for attack, try blashpemous claw use when his blade glow yellow.
pretty cool boss ruined by horrendous 1st phase, ah yes, getting splinters into my eye the moment i dare breath
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