Maliketh, the Black Blade is one of the major bosses in Elden Ring who you face in Crumbling Farum Azula. If you are struggling to defeat this boss, here is a guide on what you should do to make it easy.
Maliketh is quite possibly one of the most challenging bosses in the game. His aggression, hard-hitting attacks, and ability to drain your HP with his Destined Death move, which is something to be wary of. At the same time, his aggression is balanced by his relatively low HP, which means you always have a fair chance of taking down Marika’s sworn hound.
There are a few weapons, spirit summons, and items that will make this fight easier, provided you spend some time learning his movesets. Here is how you can defeat Maliketh in Elden Ring and continue your journey to become an Elden Lord.
Contents
- How to beat Maliketh, the Black Blade in Elden Ring
- How to get to Maliketh, the Black Blade in Elden Ring
- Maliketh, the Black Blade stats
- Useful tips to defeat Maliketh, the Black Blade
- All Maliketh, the Black Blade attacks
- Maliketh, the Black Blade drops
How to beat Maliketh, the Black Blade in Elden Ring
Maliketh has one HP bar, but his fight is divided into two phases. These phases are vastly different from each other in terms of how the boss looks, his attacks, and how you should tackle them.
Phase 1
In Phase one, Maliketh is in the form of Beast Clergyman. As soon as you enter the boss room, the Beast Clergyman will start rushing towards you. Those who’ve followed his quest will be treated to some unique dialogue when he recognizes you, lamenting your current situation as opponents. It is recommended you rush towards him, and as soon as he is ready to launch an attack, dodge and move to the center of the arena.
The reason is that the entrance of the arena is like a bridge with pitfalls on either side. If you try to fight him in this small space, chances are you will fall and die – it’s also worth pointing out that he can’t fall, so don’t try and coax him into the pit. Additionally, if you call forth your Spirit Summon here, there are instances where they fall into the pit as well, so try and stay a safe distance to encourage them to do the same.
From the center of the arena, you will notice there are multiple pillars around the arena. Rush to one of the pillars to get away from the boss’s gaze. You now have a small window to summon your Spirit Ash or heal. Let your summon take the aggro while you deal damage from behind. This boss has multiple attacks, but most are quite easy to dodge.
The first attack you should be wary of is the Beast Claw, where he will drag his hand on the ground and release a set of claw-like attacks that will move in the form of a cone. You can always dodge it sideways. He will also slam the ground from time to time and boulders will rise and crash back down. This attack hits hard so try to run away from it when he telegraphs.
Apart from these two, he also has an attack where Beast Clergyman will throw rocks, which you can roll to the side or hide behind a pillar to survive. One key thing to note here is that most of the boss’s attacks are blocked if you hide behind the pillars in the arena. However, once you get an opening, launch all your attacks on him, but don’t get greedy. Get in and get back out before he counters.
You need to make sure you have enough Flask of Crimson Tears before the second phase begins. Bleed works quite well against the Beast Clergyman. If you are using Rivers of Blood, a few slashes will cause Hemmorhage. Combine this with Black Knife Tiche and the Beast Clergyman will lose around 65%-70% HP even before phase 2 begins – making part two much easier.
You can also use Blasphemous Blade to a greater effect if you do not have Rivers of Blood. Finally, magic works wonders, though it is recommended you use Comet Azur in phase one since it becomes hard to land that spell in phase two when Maliketh becomes more mobile.
Phase 2
Once you deal around 50%-60% damage to the Beast Clergyman, the second phase begins. In this state, the boss will stab his blade into his hand and break a seal. From this seal, he will take out a massive sword and reveal his true self as Maliketh, the Black Blade.
In this stage, all hell breaks loose. Maliketh is extremely aggressive and much quicker. He will constantly dash around the room leaving few openings for you. The biggest one to consider here is the attack named Black Blade. Maliketh will flip in the air and swing his sword at you while releasing multiple fast-moving projectiles from his sword.
The second most annoying attack is Destined Death, where he will swipe his sword on the ground and then slam it for a large AoE attack. Both these attacks have a special effect when if it hits you, the HP bar will be shortened, your HP will drain, causing you to take lots of damage.
If you get hit by either of the two while Maliketh is performing a combo, you will likely die even from full health. If you want to defeat him and not get one shotted, rather than panic-rolling, look at the attacks and wait for them to approach you before you dodge.
Each of his attacks has a long and obvious wind-up which means you will be able to predict what he is about to throw at you. The Blasphemous Claw comes in handy to deflect the attacks from the Black Blade, though the timing window is very short.
You can always use the pillars to your advantage and let your summon take the aggro. Black Knife Tiche can drain his HP here similar to how it was in phase one. Use your Rivers or Blood, Bloodhound Fang, or Blasphemous Blade to deal damage the moment Maliketh sits on the ground.
If you are a magic user, spam Ranni’s Dark Moon here for damage. You can use Comet Azur, but the window will be very thin since Maliketh moves around too much. However, if you can time it with when he lands on the ground in between his combos you can land some hits.
In the ideal scenario, with the correct build and using some of the aforementioned weapons, Maliketh should have barely 30%-40% HP left at most in phase two. Therefore, it is a matter of taking your time, instead of being greedy and losing your life.
How to use Blasphemous Claw
The Blasphemous Claw is an item that you can use against Maliketh, the Black Blade. This item comes in handy in phase two when Maliketh starts using his death attacks. The window is short, so you need to time this item properly.
Whenever Maliketh is about to use his special attacks, namely the Black Blade, or Destined Death, you can trigger this item to counter that move. This item can be equipped in the same slot as your Flask of Crimson Tears, and Torrent. Therefore, it can be triggered using the action button.
Keep a note of Maliketh and check for glowy signs on his blade. If the blade is glowing and approaching you directly, you can parry it. However, you cannot parry the long-range projectiles that Maliketh throws at you.
How to get to Maliketh, the Black Blade boss fight
Maliketh is located in Crumbling Farum Azula. You first need to go through the Godskin Duo boss fight and reach Beside the Great Bridge site of Grace. From here, take the stairs up, and you will notice two roads, one on the left, and the other on the right.
The road to the right leads to Maliketh’s boss fight. The road to the boss is guarded by a Draconic Tree Sentinel. You can defeat it or skip it, depending on what you feel like. However, considering you have to run all the way to the boss every time you die, it is better to defeat this Draconic Tree Sentinel to keep the road clear of enemies.
It is unlikely you will miss this area since Maliketh is a compulsory boss, and you need to defeat him to progress the story. Even if you skip most of the content in the area and keep moving forward, you are bound to reach this location sooner or later.
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If you are rushing the story, you will reach here after defeating Margit, Godrick, Red Wolf of Radagon, Rennala, Godfrey, the First Elden Lord (Golden Shade), Morgott, Fire Giant, and Godskin Duo. However, we recommend that before you reach here, complete your build with all the necessary talismans, armor, and weapons. Maliketh will prove to be a challenge if you reach this location at lower levels.
Maliketh, the Blade Blade stats
These are Maliketh’s stats in Elden Ring:
- Health: 10,620 (changes to phase 2 at roughly 50% HP)
- Defense: 120
- Stance: 80
- Parryable: No (first phase), Yes (second phase, with Blasphemous Blade)
- Deals: Standard and Pierce Damage (Phase 1), Magic and Holy Damage (Phase 2)
Maliketh, the Black Blade weaknesses
If you are searching for general weaknesses, then Beast Clergyman is weak to Fire, Lightning, and Magic, while Maliketh is weak against Slash, Strike, and Pierce damage. However, the general rule here is to use Rivers of Blood or Blasphemous Blade.
This is because, even though stat-wise Beast Clergyman is strong against Hemmorhage, Rivers of Blood will still proc bleed. The fast-moving attacks from that weapon can stack the bleed status effect very fast. Maliketh does not have any Bleed resistance, making the fight easy with that weapon.
If you are using Blasphemous Blade, you are pretty good as neither Beast Clergyman, nor Maliketh has resistance against Fire. Therefore, you will be able to blast through them in no time.
Useful tips to defeat Maliketh, the Blade Blade
Spirit Summons
The best summon to use against Maliketh is Black Knife Tiche. Consider this more of a payback where you take Maliketh down with his own medicine. Tiche’s ability to drain the enemy’s HP comes in very handy as it destroys Malikth’s health bar even before he gets to turn on phase two.
You can unlock to Black Knife Tiche after defeating Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader in an evergaol in Moonlight Alter. You can reach Moonlight Altar as part of Ranni’s questline. All you need to do here is from the Moonlight Altar site of Grace, take a left, and travel West to reach this evergaol.
However, you’ll need to defeat Tiche first and she’s no pushover.
Items
There is one item you can use to counter Maliketh’s Black Blade. It is the Blasphemous Claw. A guide on how to use it has already been mentioned earlier. Here is how you can get it:
- Defeat Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy in Volcano Manor (mandatory)
- Talk to Recusant Bernahl at Volcano Manor after defeating Rykard (mandatory)
- Bernahl can be found in the Drawing Room of Volcano Manor
- The key to the Drawing Room can be acquired as part of Tanith’s questline
- Travel to Near the Great Bridge site of Grace
- Take the stairs to reach the top
- From the bridge, take the road to the left (road to the right leads to Maliketh) and walk straight.
- Keep moving until you reach the end, and take a right from there
- Then take a right again and walk down the stairs
- From here, walk straight and Bernahl will spawn as an invader
Defeating Bernahl will drop the Blasphemous Claw item.
Magic
If you are a magic user, Comet Azur and Ranni’s Dark Moon are your best friends. In the first phase, use Comet Azur to deal as much damage as possible to the Beast Clergyman. If you are using Tiche, you must be able to deal 60% damage before phase 2 begins.
In Phase 2, use Ranni’s Dark Moon to deal damage. You must remember that Ranni’s Dark Moon reduces magic damage negation by 10%. Therefore, the second Dark Moon you shoot at Maliketh will deal a lot of damage. You should consider wearing the Snow Witch Hat, for an additional 10% damage.
The Snow Witch Hat can be collected from a chest in Renna’s Rise that becomes available as part of Ranni’s questline.
Great Runes
When it comes to Great Runes, there are two very good options to choose from. One is Godrick’s Great Rune as it offers a general stat boost with resistance against all kinds of status effects. However, the Great Rune that will come in handy in almost all scenarios is Radahn’s Great Rune.
The biggest problem you face against Maliketh is the HP drain. Radahn’s Great Rune provides a huge HP boost. This will help you tank a few hits from Maliketh and ensure that you do not get killed in one combo. The FP boost from Radahn’s Rune is also valuable for magic users.
If you want nothing but an HP boost, Morgott’s Great Rune is a great option for that.
All Maliketh, the Black Blade attacks
These are attacks of both Beast Clergyman and Maliketh, the Black Blade:
Beast Clergyman
- Rock Spray
- Rock Throw
- Beast Claw
- Swipe Attacks
- Fist Smash
Maliketh, the Blade Blade
- Flip and Slash
- Pilediver
- Black Blade
- Roar
- Destined Death
- Double Spin
- Blind Swings
Maliketh, the Black Blade drops
if you successfully defeat Maliketh, the Black Blade, you will receive 220,000 runes and Remembrance of the Black Blade as a reward. You can exchange Remembrance of the Black Blade at the Roundtable Hold for either of 30000 runes, Maliketh’s Black Blade, or Black Blade Incantation.
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