Elden Ring's Dishonorable Players Bypass Shadow of the Erdtree's Biggest Duel Without Even Entering the Boss Room

Much like the Dark Souls boss that can be defeated by throwing hundreds of dung pies at a wall, the dual-wielding magic knight in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree can be killed without setting foot in his boss room.

Several players have discovered that Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, has no answer to a Tarnished that stands in front of her arena and hurls magic at her until she dies. X-user Ziostorm posted a video demonstrating this dishonorable act, which simply involves casting long-range magic at her through a wall of fog. But not just any wall of fog, this must be the kind you can only reach by passing behind her home, Ensis Castle.

Many spells work: Ziostorm recommends Flame of the Fell God, but other methods on YouTube use Moonveil’s ranged attack, the DLC’s Impenetrable Thorns sorcery, and even Rellana’s Carian Sovereignty spell. As long as it’s powerful enough to hit her in the middle of the room, it’ll do the trick.

I’m not usually one to talk anyone out of making fun of a boss they’re having trouble with, but Rellana is one of the best fights in the DLC and is worth at least a few normal attempts, if only to hear her amazing theme. She’s a two-handed Carian knight who throws magical moons into the ground, which Mario has to jump over; it’s the most exhilarating duel in the game. But she can also slice you into pieces so fast that you don’t have time to react, so I understand the urge to ignore her entirely.

Turns out you can trick Rellana by going to the back fog wall near Highroad Cross and using Flame of the Fell God. It will move into her arena and explode. – But fight her first, she’s one of the best bosses in the Elden Ring DLC. pic.twitter.com/TvI7FzLfjdAugust 1, 2024

If you need to do this, you’ll first need to travel southeast of Ensis Castle through a ravine and fly up to some sealed spirit springs in Rebuke Hold. Once you’ve fought your way out of there, you’ll be in Scadu Altus and can safely follow the road north to the back gate of Ensis Castle where Rellana’s fog gate is located. Ziostorm’s clip doesn’t show Rellana trying to fight back, but she did wake up and kill that player through the gate, so be careful.

I suspect this trick won’t last very long. FromSoft is pretty diligent about patching methods for killing bosses that don’t even require you to enter the room. If this is patched, though, you can use the route around Ensis Castle to gorge yourself on a bunch of extra Scadutree Fragments before fighting her, which should make her considerably easier. Or you can leave the poor woman alone to mourn the total collapse of the order she once served.