Elden Ring DLC: Rellana, Twin Moon Knight weakness and how to beat in Shadow of the Erdtree

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Within Castle Ensis in northeastern Gravesite Plain lies one of the earliest — and toughest — bosses you'll run into while playing through Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC: Rellana, Twin Moon Knight. A former Carian princess now serving as one of Messmer the Impaler's strongest allies, Rellana is a deadly foe with fast, lengthy attack combos and a lethal damage output.

Though her twin swords will undoubtedly remind many experienced Dark Souls players of their bouts with Pontiff Sulyvahn, Rellana is far more powerful — and far more difficult, too. Not only is she incredibly agile and capable of hitting like a truck, but she also has a wide variety of both melee and ranged moves that she'll use in her mix-ups to keep the pressure up. However, she does have a few noteworthy weaknesses to take advantage of, and once you understand how to properly dodge her attacks, you'll find that you have plenty of opportunities to get hits of your own in.

Though completely fair, this fight is hard, and it's one I suspect many Elden Ring DLC players have been stuck on for a while. To make your battle with her easier, I've created a boss guide below that covers everything you need to know about it, and also includes some general tips to consider as you prepare for and challenge this elite swordswoman.

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight weakness and tips

A large portion of Rellana's arena is shallow water, which makes Lightning very effective against her. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Here are some general tips that will help you prepare for the fight with Rellana in Elden Ring.

• Get any Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes you missed from the Gravesite Plain before going into this fight. You'll want all the damage and damage reduction against Rellana that you can get, as she's very difficult.
• The NPCs you can summon for Rellana aren't worth using, as they generally won't survive long and will leave you with a tankier version of the boss to beat. Either fight her yourself or play co-op with another player.
• Spirit Ashes fare better, but you'll want to use one that's highly evasive. Lhutel the Headless and Black Knife Tiche are great options.
• Avoid using weapons or spells that deal Magic damage, as Rellana is resistant to it. If you're a sorcerer, some good alternatives that still use or scale with Intelligence include Gravity Sorceries like Rock Sling as well as the Meteoric Ore Blade.
• Conversely, Rellana is weak to Lightning damage since her arena is in a pool of shallow water. Lightning weapons and Ashes of War generally require and/or scale well with Dexterity, though some are effective with Strength builds too. Dragon Cult Incantations also deal Lightning damage, and are some of the best Elden Ring spells to use on Rellana if you have an opening.
• Rellana also has a weakness to Pierce damage, and is particularly susceptible to being afflicted by Frostbite, too. Spears and Halberds often feature moves that deal Pierce damage with thrusting attacks, as do a wide variety of sword-type weapons. Frostbite, meanwhile, can be built up with Cold-infused weapons, Ashes of War like Ice Spear, a few different sorcery spells, and throwables.
• On top of Physical damage, Rellana also uses Magic, and will add Fire damage to her repertoire in Phase 2, too. Some of the best Elden Ring talismans to use against her if you're dying to her Magic or Fire damage are the Spelldrake Talisman and the Flamedrake Talisman, respectively, as they'll reduce the amount of damage you take. 
• Another great tool is the Silver Mirrorshield, which blocks an incredible 89% of incoming Magic damage when used for blocking (and 100% if you buff it with the Scholar's Shield spell). Consider using it if you're struggling to dodge some of Rellana's magic projectiles. It's found in the Apostate Derelict in northern Consecrated Snowfield.
• Alternatively, there's also the Erdtree Greatshield, which has a special Golden Retaliation Ash of War that can absorb Rellana's Magic projectiles and fire a powerful Holy one back. If you're using a build with lots of Strength and Faith, it's an amazing tool for dealing lots of extra damage to her while simultaneously protecting yourself. It drops after defeating the pair of Tree Sentinels located on the huge staircases leading up to Leyndell, Royal Capital. 
• Rellana can often be staggered if you're using a decently large weapon and you keep the pressure up, allowing you to score critical hits. Note that due to how aggressive Rellana is, this can sometimes be difficult to achieve if you're getting hit often. Certain Ashes of War, such as Cragblade, can also stagger well or speed the process of staggering with your weapon up, as can the Stonebarb Cracked Tear for your Flask of Wondrous Physick.
• Rellana can also be parried, with two parries resulting in opportunities for critical strikes. Parrying her is very risky due to her high damage, however.

Boss guide: How to beat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight

Rellana often casts Glintblade Phalanxes whenever she's not close to you. (Image credit: Windows Central)

• Up close, Rellana rapidly attacks you with long combos using her twin swords; it's best to roll through these and past her, rather than away from her, to avoid these. By rolling towards her, you can follow up with your own hits faster, and can even potentially make some strikes from her combos miss entirely.
• Don't go for more than a few hits when you have an opening. Rellana generally recovers from her attack chains quickly, so it's imperative that you don't get greedy.
• One of Rellana's deadliest attacks is a two-hit combo from a massive Carian Greatsword, in which she first performs a vertical slam and then quickly follows up with a horizontal arena-wide slash. The first hit is pretty easy to dodge, but the second comes out very quickly, so be ready to roll again.
  • If you successfully avoid this attack, Rellana will take several seconds to recover from it. This is a great opportunity to get in a fully charged heavy attack or a powerful Ash of War move.
• Whenever Rellana is a good distance away from you, she may opt to perform one of two attacks with a Glintblade Phalanx spell. Here's how each variation of it works:
  • If she waves her sword over her head, the Glintblade Phalanx she creates will hover over her, then fly towards you when you're in range. Roll through the blades to avoid taking damage, and try to get them to shoot at you before she starts a melee attack so you don't have to deal with both at the same time.
  • If she angles her sword downwards, waves it across her legs, and points it at you, the blades of the Glintblade Phalanx will fly at you immediately. She'll then instantly follow up with a leaping slash. Two quick rolls will allow you to dodge taking damage from both attacks.
• From a distance, she can also send deadly Glintstone Arcs towards you with sword swings; roll through them. She'll either send one large arc or three smaller ones in quick succession, which require multiple dodges to avoid.

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight Phase 2

Rellana's moon slam attack is extremely powerful, and will likely kill you if you don't dodge it properly. (Image credit: Windows Central)

At half HP, Rellana will perform a quick outward swipe with her swords to permanently imbue them with Magic and Fire damage, kicking off Phase 2. Here's how to handle this stage of the battle and eventually defeat her.

• Rellana's attack chains do more damage in Phase 2 thanks to her buffed swords, and whenever her Fire sword flares up, small delayed explosions will occur where she swings in her next attack. As long as you're rolling towards Rellana, though, you won't get caught by these.
• As long as you avoid the small swipe she does to buff her swords, you can land a free charged heavy attack or spell during the phase transition. It takes a few seconds for her to start coming after you again, so take advantage of that.
• Rellana will start Phase 2 with a new attack she telegraphs by sliding the flat of her Magic sword over her left arm. After she does this, she'll proceed with one of two attack chains:
  • If you see her Fire sword start flaring up, run away from her, as she'll start using it to perform spinning slashes towards you while surrounding herself with a deadly area-of-effect fire tornado. The attack ends after her third slash, at which point fire will jet from the ground all around her.
  • If you see her lift her Magic sword over her head, get ready to roll multiple times to the side, as she'll launch a flurry of five Glintstone Arcs at you. Note that you can run up to her as she takes a few seconds to charge and launch the final projectile, which will put you in range for follow-up attacks once she does. 
• The other new attack Rellana gains is one where she floats into the air inside of two magical moons, which then slam into the ground and cause arena-wide blasts before Rellana herself does. You can avoid damage here by jumping the explosions from the moons, then rolling right when Rellana slams down. Note that you'll likely die if you get hit by one of the moons, as they prevent you from being able to avoid the second moon or the final slam.

Be patient and take advantage of openings when you get them while carefully avoiding Rellana's assaults, and you'll eventually beat her. She's arguably one of the hardest bosses in a DLC full of difficult boss battles, so if you take her out, be proud of your accomplishment — you've got what it takes to conquer the rest of the Land of Shadow.

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The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is finally here, and it makes one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of all time even better. It's out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.