If the Japanese developer studio „From Software“ has become known for one thing, it’s definitely for releasing computer games that have a significantly higher difficulty level than most other titles that are released in stores nowadays. The latest game from the Japanese developer studio called „Elden Ring“ is no exception in this regard. The high difficulty level is primarily due to the many bosses in the game, whose conquest usually turns out to be anything but easy. However, as in any other so-called „Soulslike game“, there are some bosses in Elden Ring that are even more difficult to defeat than most of the others in the game.
One of these particularly difficult bosses in Elden Ring is „Malenia, the Blade of Miquella“. Quite a few players have to make several dozen attempts before they can take down this boss opponent for the first time. Just one tiny mistake during the fight can result in instant death (and thus failure of the attempt) for the player. Therefore, it is highly recommended to prepare as much as possible before the fight with Malenia. How the fight against Malenia works in detail, and what makes it so difficult, can be found out in this article. Together with this information (and some practice in the boss fight), any player can emerge victorious from this fight in the end.
Find Melania: Elden Ring, Location
To even reach this boss enemy, the player must be in possession of both halves of the „Haligtree Secret Medallion“. After that, one must use these two halves to find Rold’s big elevator, where the completed medallion can then be used to use this elevator. Afterwards, one reaches the „consecrated snowfield“, where now the „liturgical city Ordina“ must be found. Once there, the player must then solve a puzzle to reach „Miquella’s Haligtree“. In the main building of this dungeon is then the arena, where Malenia, the blade of Miquella is waiting for one. Before that, of course, the rest of the dungeon can be explored at leisure.
Fight against Melanie: preparation – the right ash
In any case, it is highly recommended to rely on the support of a spirit summon for the fight. In the duel with Melania, numerous players have found two ghost summons to be especially useful:
- Ashes of the Tower Shield Soldier
- Ashes of the Mimic TearThe former summons a large tower shield soldier
that can corner the boss opponent, Malenia, if the fight goes well, while also being able to inflict regular stunning blows on her. Ashes of Mimic Tear involves summoning a ghostly copy of your character. The effectiveness of this copy depends on the player character’s own stats.
The first phase
One of the big problems with Malenia is the fact that this boss enemy heals herself with every single hit she lands. She also heals herself when she hits a player’s spirit summon with area attacks, so not every spirit summon is suitable for the fight by a long shot. Some players even approach the fight completely alone (without summons) for this reason, as Melania has fewer attack targets to heal from with hits this way.
Her maneuvers include a charged thrust attack that can kill the player with just one hit in some circumstances. She also does a kind of „blade dance“, in which she stays in the air for a few seconds and then delivers several blows, even switching back and forth between different targets. Therefore, you should move away from her as soon as possible once she starts hovering.
Throughout the fight, you’ll have to constantly pay attention to execute parries and dodge rolls at the right moments, to find suitable time slots in which you can deal damage to Malenia without taking damage yourself. It can also be very advantageous in combat to stun Malenia regularly – whether with your own character, or by summoning her. Her weakness is her armor, which has a relatively low resistance to charged attacks and jump attacks. Therefore, at some point in the fight, you should be able to cause the boss opponent to stumble, which allows you to land a particularly effective hit (critical hit) directly afterwards. If you have both the celestial and the purple assassin pendant equipped, you’ll get additional life and spell points back for these critical hits.
The second phase
Anyone who got Malenia’s life bar drained for the first time might have been surprised to learn that this extremely difficult fight was only the first phase of it up to that point. At the beginning of the second phase, her life bar is replenished, and the boss opponent transforms into „Malenia, the Goddess of Rot“. The player should pay special attention during the phase change, as Malenia’s first maneuver in the second phase has the potential to kill the player character in just one swipe.
In general, the range of Malenia’s attacks and movement patterns doesn’t really differ from her maneuvers from the first phase. However, the big (and extremely annoying) difference from the first phase is that all of her attacks now also trigger Scarlet Rot. Therefore, as a preparation step, it is highly recommended to have already equipped the necessary consumables to fight against this scarlet rot.
At this stage, however, a few more attacks are added. As soon as the boss enemy establishes distance from the player while hovering, it doesn’t take long for her to fire several projectiles at the player with her weapon, which definitely need to be dodged. However, right after firing these projectiles, Malenia herself tries another attack, which is why you have to dodge her herself right after these projectiles. Another (and particularly powerful) ability of hers is that she takes to the air flying, whereupon appendages of blazing fire shoot out of her back. As a result, the player must immediately run and roll away from it as best they can, especially since Malenia also fires a shockwave towards the ground in a set target area. In addition to a large amount of damage, this shockwave also causes additional scarlet rot.