Elden Ring boss guide: How to beat Maliketh, the Black Blade

Maliketh is a Legend Boss encounter in Elden Ring. He is a mandatory fight in the RPG and you will need to take him down to complete the game.

The boss fight is in two stages, with the first phase pitting you against the Beast Clergyman. Once you take the boss down to roughly half-health, there will be a cut scene and the Clergyman will turn into Maliketh, the Black Blade.

The second phase of the fight takes the difficulty up several notches. Some of Maliketh’s attacks cause max HP debuffs and will keep ticking down your HP pool. He is incredibly agile and can be difficult to pin down for most builds.

However, once defeated, Maliketh will drop 220,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Black Blade, and access to Leyndell, Ashen Capital.

Contents:

Maliketh boss overview Elden Ring
How to find Maliketh
Maliketh moves and counters
Maliketh resistance and weakness
How to beat Maliketh

Maliketh boss fight overview

Location:

Crumbling Farum Azula (Beside the Great Bridge Site of GRace))

Optional:

Summons:

Other Players
Spirit Ashes

Boss Drops:

220,000 Runes
Remembrance of the Black Blade
Access to Leyndell, Ashen Capital

Weakness:

Riposte

Resistance:

Magic (High)
Fire (High)
Lightning (High)
Holy (Very High)
Strike (High)
Slash (High)
Standard (High)
Pierce (High)
Madness (Immune)

Maliketh is a mandatory fight in FromSoftware’s RPG, and you will need to take him down in Crumbling Farum Azula if you wish to complete the narrative. Maliketh is Marika’s shadow-bound beast who failed to Guard the Rune of Death leading to the Night of the Black Knives.

So as to prevent this from happening again, he embedded the rune into himself. In phase one you will face a Beat Clergyman and only after taking his health down to 50% will Maliketh come out.

The Black Blade is not an optional encounter because after you beat him, you will gain access to the Rune of Death. Once you interact with it, the environment will change in the Lands Between, and Leyndell, Royal Capital will turn into Leyndell, Ashen Capital, where you conclude the story of the base game.

Where to find Maliket, the Black Blade in Elden Ring

To find Maliketh, you will first need to make your way to Crumbling Farum Azul. Now, you can either do this by talking to the Three Fingers and progressing through their questline, or you can commit “the cardinal sin” with Melina.

Once you reach the new region, you will need to complete the area and reach Beside the Great Bridge site of Grace. You will need to go through the Godskin Duo boss fight before you reach this Grace.

From the Grace, you will need to get on the bridge and head right, past a Draconic Tree Sentinel and you will reach the boss room.

Maliketh moves, phases, and counters in Elden Ring

As mentioned, the Maliketh boss fight in Elden Ring has two phases. The Black Blade’s movesets are completely different from the Beast Clergyman’s which is why you will have to adjust your strategy accordingly after taking the boss down to 50% HP.

Here are all the movesets you can expect from the encounter.

Beast Clergyman

Side To Side Swipe

Move: The Clergyman will sing his sword on either side of him and then directly infront.
Counter: To counter it you will need to either roll away or into him.

Forward Ground Stab

Move: The Clergyman will lunge at you stabbing th ground where you are standing.
Counter: Dodge to the sides as soon as you see the attack animation.

Beastial Sling

Move: Same move as the Incantation that you get. The Clergyman will collect rocks and then throw them at you.
Counter: The boss can weave in a boulder instead of throwing a rock so be aware of that. As these projectiles have a great speed, make sure to dodge them just before they hit you.

Beastial Sling v2

Move: A second variation of the Beastial Sling where the Clergyman will collect rocks while circling, and then throw them at you as he lands after a jump.
Counter: Roll right after he lands and throes the rocks.

Lunge Swipe

Move: The Clergyman will slash swiftly from left to right. Can follow it up with multiple slashes.
Counter: Keep your distance and then dodge into his belly.

Beastial Sling v3

Move: The boss will stab the ground and then use a Beastial Sling right after.
Counter: Dodge to your left to avoid the moe as soon as he goes to stab the ground.

Beast Claw

Move: The Clergyman slams the ground with his hand and when withdrawing, he will send out shockwaves that do a lot of damage.
Counter: You will need to dodge to the sides during the animation, and reach his back which si the blindside.

Ground Rupture

Move: He will grab portions of the grounds uprooting them and then bring down huge rock chunks on you. He can follow this attack up with a Beatial Sting.
Counter: Track the visual columns of dust on the ground. That is where the rocks will fall. So sprint to an area away from the columns.

Stone of Gurrang

Move: He will grab hold of a boulder and then hurl it at you.
Counter: You can dodge by rolling into him or to the side.

Quick Slash and Backflip

Move: He will slash forward and then backflip away.
Couner: You can roll away from it or into the attack animation.

Sword Drag

Move: The Clergyman will stab the ground and then drag the weapon from right to left.
Counter: Stick to his left and then dodge behind him to get some hits in.

Gurranq’s Beast Claw

Move: A close-range move similar to the Beast Claw. Here the projectiles will travel in a circle around the Clergyman.
Counter: You can either jump over the projectiles or roll behind him.

Slash and Stab

Move: The Clergyman will do a quick stab and then a forward stab.
Counter: You can either choose to dodge to the right or blick it with a shield.

Maliketh, the Black Blade

Flip And Slash

Move: He will leap towards you and then do a low sweep with his sword after landing. Can do a follow-up with an overhead attack or another sweep.
Counter: You will need to double-roll. As he usually opens up with this attack in Phase 2, do be aware of it.

Piledriver

Move: Jumps and lands, performing an AoE explosion. He will often link this with a flurry of sword slashes.
Counter: Just roll away. Dodge two times to be completely out of the AoE. Then roll into him once the sword swings start.

Black Blade

Move: Maliketh will backflip into the air and then slash his sword to shoot out black blade projectiles at you. It can be 2-3 hits. If there are only 2 blades, might follow it up with a Piledriver. For 3 blades he will charge at you and do a Double Spin.
Counter: If there are two blades, then roll through the first 2 and then follow the strategy for the Piledriver. If there are 3, then dodge through the projectiles, and then roll into Maliketh’s Double Spin. Whatever you do, do not panic roll these variations or he will one-shot you based on your missing HP.

Black Blade v2

Move: Another version of this move is a quick backflip followed by a single projectile.
Counter: Just roll through the incoming Black Blade.

Roar

Move: Maliketh will roar and knock you back creating some distance.
Counter: You can either shield it, or take the hit. This move does not do damage.

Destined Death

Move: One of Maliketh’s most damaging moves. He will slash the floor and then follow it with an overhead slam. He can follow this up with a blade circle, where he will drag the sword two times and then stab the ground at where you are standing. He will then keep slashing rapidly and deal an incredible amount of damage.
Counter: You can dodge the sweep by rolling to your right and then sticking to his backside for the follow-up slam. If he starts to circle with the blade, stand close to him, and either block or roll behind him to completely dodge the move.

Double Spin

Move: Maliketh will spin in place two times and swing his blade.
Counter: You will need to roll two times. Dodging the second swing can be tricky, so make sure you are timing it right.

Blind Swings

Move: If you successfully parry Maliketh, he will then cover his eyes and slash at you. He will, however, do multiple slashes if you are able to parry a Piledriver attack.
Counter: Just stay under him and keep getting some hits in. He has a long recovery period when parried.

Maliketh Resistance and Weakness in Elden Ring

Resistance

Maliketh has high resistance to all elements as well as attack types. He is particularly more resistant to Holy, so if your build depends on it, you will be struggling quite a bit.

Additionally, he has standard resistance numbers to all status effects. So when it comes to Frostbite, Scarlet Rot, Poison, and Hemorrhage, you will only be able to proc. it a few times during the fight.

Weakness

Maliketh takes a lot of damage from a critical striker during a Riposte. He can be easily stance broken and you can also parry certain attacks like the Piledriver and Double Spin with the use of Blasphemous claw.

How to beat Maliketh in Elden Ring

Maliketh is one of the harder Legend Bosses in Elden Ring’s endgame. Much of the difficulty comes from his agility and aggression during the second phase. However, you will be able to lock him down and punish some of his hardest-hitting moves by just familiarizing yourself with some of his movesets.

Below are awesome tips and tricks that can help make the fight much more manageable for you.

General tips for beating Maliketh

As soon as the encounter begins, run to the center of the arena. Don’t fight the Clergyman near the narrow bridge at the entrance, as you will not have much room to dodge.
Break the Clergyman’s stance often. Both his and Maliketh’s posture can be broken with the use of either heavy attacks from Strength weapons or with the use of Glintblade Phalanx. You can also make it so that the Clergyman is close to a posture break when Phase 2 starts. You can then easily open up Maliketh to a Riposte when he arrives.
Use the pillars around the arena to block all the Beastial Sling and Black Blade projectiles. They will even give you room to heal up.
The Crimson Burst Crystal Tear will help you negate the HP debuff and overtime HP drain effect that Black Blade causes.
Parrying Maliketh might either open him up to a Riposte or stun him lowering his resistance to all attack types for some time. Maliketh can be parried with the Blasphemous Claw during the following instances:
- The ending part of the Black Blade move can either be a Piledriver or a Double spin. Parrying the former will give a longer stun period.
- You will be able to parry his vertical double-spins. However, the window is smaller.
- However, do keep in mind that Maliketh’s parry window will vary based on how far he is from you. Being able to parry him takes a fair bit of practice and moveset know-how.

Ranged build tips for Maliketh

Because of the fast-paced nature of the encounter, it’s best to rely on Spells and Incantations that have low recovery. Hence, something like Night Comet and Lightning Spear will make things much easier.

If you are looking to spam heavy hitters like Comet Azure, then it’s best to call up a summon. They will be able to distract the bosses during both phases giving you enough time to channel the spells.

You can even use Ekzykes’s Decay to inflict Scarlet Rot and make the encounter a bit easier. Just make sure you aren’t too reliant on Holy Incantations, as Maliketh has very high resistance towards it.

Melee build tips for Maliketh

Weapons with status effects like Frostbite and Hemorrhage can make it easier in the initial phase. You will be able to proc. them a couple of times in the fight, however, Maliketh’s resistance towards it will grow the more times you inflict it.

Phase 2 is going to be very problematic for melee users. Maliketh is extremely agile, and locking him down can be annoying. So just make sure that you are dodging properly into his blind spots every time he is using his attacks.

Most of his abilities have a sizeable recovery period which you can exploit. So just roll in and get some hits in.

Heavy weapons will be able to break his posture more often. So if your primary armament is a giant hammer or a greatsword, go for charged attacks and jump attacks.

If you are feeling confident you can also choose to go for the stun strategy with the Blasphemous Claw.

When you take him out, Maliketh will drop 220,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Black Blade, and give you access to Leyndell, Ashen Capital.