As soul-crushing as Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC can be, crossing the greatbridge to Castle Ensis means entering a whole new world of pain. And at the top of that world sits a tall drink of water named Rellana, a boss you have to beat to advance the DLC’s story.
Fun fact: Rellana is actually the twin sister of Rennala, a main campaign boss from all the way back in Raya Lucaria. Unfortunately, while Rennala just really needed to get some shit about Radagon off her chest, Rellana’s out here just trying to shove a massive set of blades into yours. Let’s stop her from doing that.
Rellana’s Abilities
Rellana keeps it simple in her first phase, mostly using her twin blades for basic combos, albeit with some very odd, staggered timing. The problem isn’t necessarily the combos themselves–which are mostly the same lunges, upward slices, and big dual-bladed swings as most knights–but the range. She’s like the Caitlin Clark of Elden Ring—those arms are long, and the swords are even longer, which means every combo will get you unless you’re halfway across the arena. And if the swords don’t get you, she’s got two magic attacks that will: a wide magical wave she fires from her swords, or a set of heat-seeking daggers like that one knight you met down near the castle’s front gate.
For phase two, Rellana will coat her blade in sun and moon magic, and just to show you she means business, she’ll show off the new and improved magical waves right away, firing five in a row. Her daggers are also improved, now firing in two groups. She’ll still do her basic combos, except faster, and now, the last swipe in any set may create a fiery explosion. She’s also got a few brand new things to show you: a massive, enchanted greatsword swing, a fiery inferno attack that engulfs the arena in flames, and a divebomb attack where she drops two moon-shaped bombs onto the arena before crashing down herself and causing an even bigger explosion. In case it wasn’t obvious: all of these things hurt. A lot.
Defeating Rellana
So, before you even meet Rellana, depending on how much exploring you did before you walked into Castle Ensis, you might actually have two options in terms of summon signs. Needle Knight Leda is there by default, but you could also have a separate sign for Dryleaf Dane. Now, the game does allow you to summon both, but I learned this fact the hard way after swag-marching with my posse into Rellana’s room: bosses scale their health up depending on how many summons you bring in with you. So, while having two helpers sounds like a great idea, in reality, bringing ‘em both cranks up Rellana’s HP to such a ridiculous amount it almost mitigates the advantage. Do yourself a favor, pick one, and only one, to bring in with you.
When the real fight begins, unlike a lot of the other bosses, Rellana actually does give you a hot second to get your bearings, so, go ahead, summon a Spirit Ash–Mimic Tear works wonders here–and you’ll have plenty of time to take a swig from a flask. Magic users are gonna have a bad time here with her range, and you’re gonna need to lean on Leda/Dane and your Spirit Ash to provide a distraction early so you can create some distance. Her knives and wave attacks are the main danger, so your dodge timing will need to be pristine. Ice and lightning attacks seem to fare best here, but so many of those abilities have a long charge time, and that is time you won’t necessarily have, though the Radagon Icon (a talisman that shortens the time it takes to cast spells) will help.
By comparison, melee builds will have it easy early on. While the range of her blades is a problem, in the first phase you’ll handle her much like any of the more hostile knights you’ve faced thus far: circling around her, looking for the moment where she gets so wrapped up in a combo she leaves her back wide open. If Spirit Ashes and Leda/Dane serve any purpose during this fight, it’s this. Her magic attacks can do some serious damage, but in this phase, they’re also pretty easy to dodge or block. Tanks can eat most of her strikes with the right shield, it’s just a matter of figuring out when her combo is over so you can counter.
A little bit of trial and error is involved, but in general, the last strike in a combo is the one where she uses both her blades. Time it right and you can punish her to the tune of two or three strikes. Time’s a factor here, so choose the right balance of speed and power for your weapon. If you picked up Milady not too long ago, it’s perfect for this after you’ve thrown a few upgrades at it, though the Bloodhound Fang is another solid choice.
The strategy doesn’t change as much for phase two, but there’s gonna be a lot more dodging instead of blocking since her attacks come so much faster. You are, however, gonna have a lot more magic to deal with. The giant magical sword is easy enough to dodge to the side of, just remember that a second clockwise swing is coming. Tanks can eat the damage from the barrage of daggers, but everyone else should create some distance, like running in one direction until you dodge the final, larger set of knives. For the twin moon attack, the best strategy is to run the hell out of range, but barring that, the explosions can actually be jumped over. Get used to the timing on the moons, as there’s a few bosses where that particular skill will be useful. The inferno is actually the big problem in just how unpredictable it is. You can dodge, you can roll, but the key here is getting far, far away from it.
Your reward for victory is 240,000 Runes, and the Remembrance of the Twin Moon Blade, which, sure, you could turn into a few thousand more runes, but Rellana’s Twin Blade and the Twin Moons spell are too damn cool to let go of. If you picked up Rellana’s Cameo talisman a while ago, the swords in particular are an elemental nightmare for enemies.
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