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How to get to Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree
After defeating Loretta, Knight of the Haligtreein Miquella's Haligtree, continue heading north past the Haligtree Promenade Site of Grace to reach a tower with a lift that will take you down to the bridge leading to the base of Elphael.
Navigating Elphael's Outer Wall
After you leave the building, head towards the bridge in front of you. There will be a corpse with three Holy Grease on it and guarding the building up ahead will be a Lesser Cleanrot Knight. Defeat him to access the Site of Grace further in. You'll find Millicent here if you're close to the end of her questline. Continuing forward, you can simply run past these enemies but to comfortably and safely loot items, it’d be a better idea to take them out. After you head down the stairs, take the first door to your left to find twoHaligtree Soldiers and a corpse with a Golden Rune (12) on it. Exit the room and continue moving forward.
Ignore the next room to the left, we'll be visiting here a little later. If you take a peek in though, you'll see a stairway with a Haligtree Soldier at the top and its base. Continue walking on the outer wall and head down the stairs a level. You'll find two Haligtree Soldiers and a corpsedangling over the broken banister with five Lightning Greatbolts on it. If you jump down to the support beam from this broken banister, you can jump down to the platform with the gazebo. Turn left into the room, fight past a Lesser Cleanrot Knight, and you'll find the Cleanrot Knight Finlay Ashes in a chest.Head back out the room and jump onto the next support beam in the north. Inside the small room is a chest with a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. If you continue north past this room, you'll also find a Seedbed Curse. Backtrack to the broken banister. Head down the next set of stairs and facing south, continue forward through a narrow passageway guarded by a Haligtree Soldier with a greatshield and spear. In the first small room to your right, you'll find a Smithing Stone (7), and if you continue walking down the path, you'll eventually reach an imp statue (requiring a stonesword key) with the Triple Rings of Light Incantations locked within.
Turn around, facing north, and then look to your right where there will be aPutrid Avatarstanding on the walkway below. If you're nervous you can fight it from range (though note it can attack you back from the distance), but you'll be able to fight it later up close.
Keep walking forward down the last flight of stairs towards a room with two Lesser Cleanrot Knights. Right before you get to the room, if you jump over the banister down to the lower platform, you'll find another Seedbed Curse by following the path. Head back to the room with the Lesser Cleanrot Knights. Running past these enemiesis not recommended as they have quick movement and powerful attacks. In the vicinity, you'll find an Immunizing White Cured Meat and a Smithing Stone (7). Head out the northeastern door to find a Golden Rune (10) on the balcony, then head back and exit through the northwestern doorway.
Through the first doorway on your left, you'll find another large twisting branch. Hop on to it and it'llgive you access to an upper ledge with five Old Fangs. Head back down the outer walkway, just outside the room you fought the two Lesser Cleanrot Knights, and head northwest down the stairs. You'll get to a platform with three Haligtree Soldiers. Don'thead down the stairs to the bridge, for now, we're just here to take a look at our surroundings. Up ahead on the other side of the bridge, you'll be able to spot two ballistae staring right down the bridge. While it is possible to dodge these two ballistae and cross the bridge, when you get to the other side, there is an Erdtree Avatar and another two ballistae on a higher level that you won't be able to reach from down here.
Instead, turn back around and go up the stairs. Enter the room with the branch again, hop on to it and climb up until you reach the upper ledge where the Old Fangs were. Walk down the structure and hop onto the top of the building. Kill the Teardrop Scarab and, optionally, the large flower and hop down the stairs to the West. Continue up the stairs and kill the soldiers and ballistae. Go back down the stairs and you'll end up in a room with another two Lesser Cleanrot Knights,two Warming Stones, and 15 Spiritflame Arrows. After dealing with that, head up the stairs to the west and you'll be able to take out the two ballistae up on this higher ledge that we mentioned earlier. On a corpse between them is a Smithing Stone (8), and in front of the large gobletbehind them is a corpse with the Haligtree Soldier Ashes.
Instead of jumping down to the lower platform, scale up the support beam to the right of the two ballistae and above the Erdtree Avatar, and facing west, jump into the room on the upper floor. The corpse here has a Haligtree Knight Helm. If you continue west and jump down, you'll find yourself behind the Erdtree Avatar and can interact with the Elphael Inner Wall Site of Grace, as well as pick up a Smithing Stone (6) from a corpse slumped by the wall.
From here, you can safely pick off the Erdtree Avatar for27090 Runes and a Lord's Rune, and clear out the courtyard. With all the ballistae down, you can safely loot the corpses on the bridge for a Golden Rune (11) and an Arteria Leaf.
Taking a detour for more loot
Backtrack back to the room we ignored earlier - the one with the stairway and a Haligtree Soldier at either end. It's not recommended toteleport back to the Prayer Room Site of Grace as the enemies will respawn, making looting more tedious.Up the stairs, take a right and jump onto the large branch you see rightin front ofyou.Following this tree branch up and across takes you to a bell tower where you'll find the Miquellan Knight's Sword. If you head down the ladder, you'll find a lever that doesn't seem to work. You'll be able to activate a shortcut here later on.
From this bell tower, you can jump down to the walkway in the east patrolled by a Putrid Avatar. If you're having a difficult time defeating this enemy, you can instead snipe it from the balcony where you previously found the Triple Rings of Light. Regardless of how you beat it, it'll drop 27090 Runes and the Rotten Staff and not respawn. In the room up the stairs to the north (where you may or may not have chosen to cheese the Erdtree Avatar) is a Putrid Lesser Crystalianguarding a Somber Smithing Stone (9). With the Erdtree Avatar's defeat,you are nowfree to collect the Numen's Rune and Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone from the corpses on the walkway.
At the end of the walkway, from the corpse with the Smithing Stone, you'll be able to hop down safely to the lowest level of the castle. Be extra vigilant down here as multiple Revenants willpop out of the ground while you traverse the area. Though risky, it is possible to sneak by the Revenants. Spirit Ashes can be summoned here, however, if you wish to comfortably get rid of these threats. Immediately to your south, is a room locked behind an imp statue. Inside, you'll find Marika's Soreseal. Follow the path north and on your way you can loot four Aeonian Butterflies and a Golden Rune (12). Through the next doorway to your left, you'll find three Beast Blood on a corpse guarded by a Revenant ambush.
Continue following the path north. Once you reach a wider area with a patrolling Revenant, look out for a door behind and to the left of you. This room houses three Lesser Crystalians(two ringblades and one spear), one of which is hidden behind the pillar right next to the entryway, and some loot including a Somber Smithing Stone (9)and 3x Pickled Turtle Neck. Exit again through the doorway and to your right, in a little alcove in the wall is a corpse with a Lord's Rune.
Continue your journey north. The ladder on your right leads to the room with the Lesser Cleanrot Knights that provides the alternate path behind the ballistae. The opening to the left is a clearing where a final Revenant will spawn. Loot the Smithing Stone (8) here and head up the ladder, where it will take you back to the courtyard you fought the Erdtree Avatar in. Head back to the Elphael Inner Wall Site of Grace and we can continue progressing the dungeon from here.
Elphael Inner Wall
As you head through the doorway down the stairs, you'll notice a giant tree root to your left. Climb it and fight the three Lesser Crystaliansto loot the Rotten Crystal Sword from the chest they were guarding. Head back and continue following the path southwest. Before climbing up the tree root on your left, continue down the path and you'll find a Hero's Rune (5) at the end of it.
Taking the tree root up leads you througha hole in the wall and downonto a cliffside. Here you'll find a bunch of flowers submerged in water that works the same as the waters ofLake of Rot - quickly building up Scarlet Rot each second you stand in them. Preserving Boluses will help you immensely in combating this section of Elphael. On top of this, be careful of any enemies lurking in the water. While there are no Basilisks in this area, Lesser Kindreds of Rot will still seek to ambush you while wading in these infested waters.
Turn hard left when you reach the water to find a Lesser Kindred of Rot guarding a corpse with a Rot Grease on it. From here, the path forward is rather linear. Make your way to the central island, then to the submerged pillar on the left if you want to collect some Aeonian Butterflies. After which, you should make your way to the fallen pillar found to the right of the cliff up ahead and follow the tree roots to get back up on land.
Before heading up the hill, go through the doorway to your right to find a Golden Rune (10) and head down the ladder. You'll emerge in a small room with the Drainage Channel Site of Grace. With this Site of Grace accessible, you can now go back and head up the hill in the scarlet rot area. At the top will be a Lesser Kindred of Rot, and by following the branches southwest, you will end up at a large lake.
Get ready to fight because as soon as you approach the Great Grave Glovewort in the middle, a Lesser Ulcerated Tree Spiritwill pop out from under you. Defeating it nets you 26460 Runes and a Golden Seed. The end of Millicent's questline happens here as well. You'll have a choice between assisting her or betraying her depending on the summon sign you choose.After you're done with that,make your way back to the Drainage Channel Site of Grace.
Taking the door to the east will bring you back outside. On your left is a thick tree root you can climb. From here, you'll want to jump down tothenext support beam you see on your right. Descend down the beam to the next tree root you can access, then go up the next support beam and root that will lead you onto the roof of a building. There are two holes in this roof; the hole you want to go down is one that overlooks wooden support beams instead of leading straight to the lower floor of the church. On your left is a balcony with the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman in a chest guarded by Lesser Kindreds of Rot.
Head down to the lowest floor of this building. Out the northern balcony, there's a corpse with an Aeonian Butterfly hanging off the banister. Out the eastern door, you'll emerge into a large courtyard. Turn left and you'll find a graveyard infested with Lesser Kindreds of Rot. Explore the area to loottwo Ghost Glovewort (7), a Ghost Glovewort (8), a Ghost Glovewort (9), a Numen's Rune, and the Ghost-Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing (3). Turning right from the eastern door takes you instead to a graveyard filled with Haligtree Soldiers and Haligtree Knights. This area houses a lot of Miquella's Lilies and corpses with three Arteria Leaves and a Hero's Rune (5).
After you're done exploring the courtyard, head back inside the building and through the southwestern doorway is a lift going down. This lift will take you down to the Haligtree Roots Site of Grace. Before going through that fog door right ahead,the doorway to the southeast opens up to a room with a large scarlet flower. Under it isTraveler's Set and heading up the stairs takes you to a lift going up, making the shortcut at the bell tower earlier accessible - make your way back to the Haligtree Roots Site of Grace and prepare yourself for a difficult boss battle.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella
As soon as you emerge through the fog door, a cutscene will play. After a self-introduction and some exposition from Malenia, Blade of Miquella,she charges at you immediately and the boss battle begins.Malenia has quick attacks and thoughshe mainly fights in melee range, herattacks allow her to travel great distances, making it difficult to keep your distance if you're a range or magic-user. On top of this, she heals a portion of her health each time she manages to land a hit on you or your Spirit Ashes. This, along with her quick multi-attacks make for a difficult fight.
Bleed is your best friend here.It is easy to apply on Malenia and thedamage it deals somewhat offsets her healing. She can be staggered, allowing you to perform a critical hit on her, but due to how quickly she recovers unless you're right next to her when it happens, it's unlikely that you will be able to perform the critical hit. If you're having difficulties with this boss fight, consider bringing Black Knife Tiche with you. They're a top-tier Spirit Ash who has access to a long-range Bleed and whose quick unpredictable movements prevent Malenia from healing off of them. DepleteMalenia'shealth bar completely and another cutscene will play, marking the beginning of the second phase.
The second phase starts with her regaining about 80% of her health and crashing down on you like a meteor.In this phase, her attacks become more deadly and she gains access to two extra moves, both of which start with her flying up in the air. One move is what she performs at the start of this phase. When she crashes down and the scarlet flower blooms (explodes), she is immobile for a few seconds, creating the perfect opportunity for you to spam attacks on her. If you're a melee user, make sure to have Preserving Boluses on your hotbar as the scarlet bloom will inflict Scarlet Rot on you.
Withthe other move, she stays up in the air and sends multiple clones after you, after which she does a charge attack towards you herself. These clones home into you, so having unpredictable dodge patterns help to avoid getting hit. For more specific tips and information on her moveset, visit Malenia's boss page.
Defeating Malenia nets you 480000 Runes, the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess and Malenia's Great Rune. The Malenia, Goddess of Rot Site of Grace also spawns in the boss room and with that, Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree is complete.
You can get to Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree by beating Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree at Miquella's Haligtree, and taking the lift down. While there is a quicker way to finish this dungeon than what is about to be recommended, it misses some key items, including a Talisman for an achievement. Here we'lloutline the quickest way of grabbing the essential goodies and getting to the boss.
Cross the bridge to get to the Prayer Room Site of Grace. From here continue forward and keep descending the staircases in front of you. Note the second door to your left with a stairway in it, we'll backtrack here later. After going down the third staircase, instead of continuing down the fourth one, keep going straight. At the end of the path is an imp statue with the Triple Rings of Light incantation behind it.
Now up backtrack to the room, we asked you to keep a note of. Head up the stairs and scale the big tree branch/root to get to a bell tower. Under the bell is the Miquellan Knight's Sword. Head down the ladder and jump down onto the eastern walkway.Up north is a room with a Smithing Stone (9) guarded by a Lesser Crystalian. Head back south and if you fancy yourself the Rotten Staff, defeat the Erdtree Avatar. Otherwise, run past it to the end of the walkway, picking up the Numen's Rune and Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone on the way.
(Alternate route: You can jump down the elevator shaft. It is a lethal drop, but if you position yourself correctly, your corpse can land on the elevator button on the bottom. This will activate the lift and serve as a shortcut directly to the Haligtree Roots Site of Grace, skipping the rest of the loot on the way.)
Turn right and jump down to the nearby building. From here, you can jump down again to get to the lowest section of the castle. Summon any tanky Spirit Ash here - you'll need it to run past the Revenants in the area. Looking south, you'll find the Marika's Soreseal locked behind an imp statue. After picking it up, turn around and keep running, following the path.
Near the end of the path, there will be a ladder to your right. Climb up it and in the room, turn left to go up the stairs. In front of the large goblet to your right is the Haligtree Soldier Ashes and to your left, in between the two ballistae, is a Smithing Stone (8). Connected to a pillar next to these two ballistae, you'll find a buttress you can climb up. When you get high enough, face west and jump into the room on the upper level. The corpse here has a Haligtree Knight Helm. Continue west and jump down to the lower level. To your right is a Smithing Stone (6) and to your left, is the Elphael Inner Wall Site of Grace.
Head forwards from the Site of Grace. After going through the doorway, you'll find the Rotten Crystal Sword guarded by three Lesser Crystaliansbehind a giant tree rooton your left. The path forward is to your right, with a Hero's Rune (5) at the very end. After looting, climb the large tree root you passed by earlier and it'll take you through a hole in the wall to a new section.
The water here inflicts scarlet rot, so bring some Preserving Boluses. Keep running forward, getting to a small island in the middle of the waterfall, then down onto a branch to the right of the cliff ahead. Follow it and when you get back on land, head through the doorway on your right. Down the ladder and in the little room is the Drainage Channel Site of Grace.
Head through the doorway taking you back outside, and follow the tree roots and castle support beams until you get to a roof with a hole in the wall. Jump down to the building's wooden beams and your left, you'll see a balcony with the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman surrounded by Lesser Kindreds of Rot. After you grab the talisman, jump down to the lowest floor of the building and head through the southwestern doorwayto get to a lift going down.
When you get off the lift, turn left into the room with a large scarlet flower to grab the Traveler's Set and activate the shortcut to the bell tower at the top of the stairs. Head back out of this room and interact with the Haligtree Roots Site of Grace.
Through the fog door ahead is Malenia, Blade of Miquella. This is a tough boss fight so feel free to visit her boss page for strategies on how to beat her and more info on her moveset. Upon defeat, she drops the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess and Malenia's Great Rune. The Malenia, Goddess of Rot Site of Grace also spawns and with that, this dungeon is complete.
