Glintstone Dragon Adula is one of the toughest enemies in Elden Ring. Apart from being tough, you can’t kill this Dragon in one encounter. Why you ask? We will explain it further in this guide. Since there will be two encounters for Dragon Adula, there will be two locations to find him. We will also discuss in detail how you can take this beast down and ofocurse, the rewards your will receive by defeating this formidable foe.
Elden Ring Glintstone Dragon Adula Locations
Since Glintstone Dragon Adula is an optional boss, you don’t actually need to defeat it to progress the story. However, to defeat it, you will have to complete Ranni’s questline to access the Cathedral of Manus Celes.
You will first face off against Glintstone Dragon Adula at the Three Sisters, and it will teleport away once you get it to half HP. Then after completing the questline, the dragon can be found outside the Cathedral of Manus Celes, South West of Liurnia. Both the locations of of Glintstone Dragon Adula are shown in the images below:
Glintstone Dragon Adula Recommended Level and Weakness
You will need at least Level 130 to 150 to fight Glintstone Dragon Adula. It is an aggressive boss, so it will mow you down if you are not extremely careful or underequipped
Glintstone Dragon Adula is particularly weak to bleed damage. It takes loads of bleed damage which can even make it stagger and create openings for a finisher attack. So, we recommend using a Bloodloss Build against Glintstone Dragon Adula.
Glintstone Dragon Adula Attacks and Counters
Before we dive into the strategy you need to use to defeat the dragon, let’s go over the moveset of Glintstone Dragon Adula and how you can counter each move.
Seeking Glintstone Shards
Glintstone Dragon Adula takes a big breath and then breathes out Seeking Glintstone Shards that track the player’s movements.
The best way to dodge this attack is to get yourself behind cover. If you’re unable to find any form of cover, you’ll need to track the shards’ movement and dodge or block right when they’re about to hit you.
Foot Stomp
The dragon stomps its foot on the ground, dealing massive AoE damage in a large radius. As soon as you see the dragon raising its foot, run far away from the foot to easily dodge the attack.
Sweeping Dragon Breath
This attack comes in two variations; one grounded and one airborne. Glintstone Dragon Adula’s mouth begins to glow and then it either flies up into the air or stays grounded. Either way, it then lets out a fire breath which moves from the left to the right.
If the dragon does this attack while grounded, you need to immediately position yourself underneath the right side of the dragon. If it does it while up in the air, you need to run underneath the dragon to get outside the range of the attack.
Head Lunge
Glintstone Dragon Adula raises its head and then lunges toward the player. It can lunge both forward and backward. To dodge the attack, simply run far away from the head of the dragon to avoid getting hit.
Flying Stomp
The dragon goes up in the air, hovers for a while before stomping the player. To dodge the attack, you need to run towards the dragon and get behind it. This will make the dragon stomp far away from you.
Tail Swipe
Glintstone Dragon Adula lifts its tail up and then sweeps from left to right, turning around while doing so. This attack is usually triggered when you are behind the dragon.
To dodge the attack, you need to immediately go between the legs of the dragon and move towards its head.
Adula’s Moonblade
The dragon flies into the air and summons a cold magic Greatsword between its teeth. It then flies down towards you, slashing at you with the sword and releasing several projectiles that apply frostbite.
To dodge this attack, you need to first run away from the dragon, then run to its left. This will allow you to dodge both the sword and the subsequent projectiles..
How to Defeat Glintstone Dragon Adula in Elden Ring
Now that you’re up to speed with the moveset of the dragon and how you can dodge each move, let’s dive into the strategies you can use to defeat the Glintstone Dragon Adula boss in Elden Ring.
There are three different ways to approach this boss fight. Let’s start from the easiest to the hardest.
Mounted Strategy
By far, the easiest way to defeat the Glintstone Dragon Adula in Elden Ring is by using a mount.
Since the dragon is very large, meaning it has slow animations, your movement is your biggest strength in this fight. And having a mount to ride on will allow you to use this strength to its highest potential.
All you need to do is get on your mount and run circles around the dragon, attacking his legs and wings as you’re moving around.
Another reason why this strategy works flawlessly is due to the fact that weight does not matter when you’re on a mount. This means that you can wear the heaviest armor you have in this fight, which will help keep you alive. You can also use HP flasks since you don’t need to worry about keeping up FP.
Ranged Strategy
The next best way to approach this boss fight is to use Magic and Ranged attacks. Bring a sorcerer build to the boss fight and go inside the cathedral.
From inside the cathedral, use the Night Maiden’s mist spell. You can then use Glintstone Stars or Glintstone Pebbles to deal ranged damage to the dragon while the mist spell works its magic.
Make sure that you’re not too close to the wall of the cathedral so you don’t accidentally get hit by the dragon. Having a shield in your off-hand will help keep you protected while you cast.
Since this strategy is all about casting spells, you’ll need to have as much FP as possible. This means that you won’t be able to heal much, so you’ll need to be very careful during the fight.
The only attack of the dragon that you need to watch out for is the Seeking Glintstone Shards attack. The shards will enter the cathedral, so you’ll need to find cover inside.
Melee Strategy
The most difficult way to approach this fight would be to bring melee weapons. To damage the dragon with melee weapons, you’ll need to get up close to it and attack its legs, wings, and, most importantly, its head.
Now to deal massive damage, you will need to dual-wield Blood Twinblade or dual-wield Blood Uchigatanas. Your goal here will be to deal with the maximum amount of blood loss damage as you can. This will ensure your victory against the dragon if you play it correctly.
The other way is to use warhammers to stagger the boss and deal damage. The finisher attack will provide a huge chunk of damage at a limited time, but it will be harder for you to land proper hits to stagger the boss.
Glintstone Dragon Adula Rewards
Since you don’t actually kill Glintstone Dragon Adula during the first fight, the encounter at Three Sisters doesn’t reward players with anything. Defeating Glintstone Dragon Adula outside the Cathedral of Manus Celes however, gives good loot. Upon defeat, Glintstone Dragon Adula drops 120000 Runes, 3x Dragon Heart, and Adula’s Moonblade Sorcery.
How to Cheese the Glintstone Dragon Adula
To cheese the Glintstone Dragon Adula, you can exploit the dragon’s reset position mechanic. You have to land a couple of hits and run away until the boss resets back to its position. Keep repeating the process to slowly chip away at its health until you defeat it.
You can use the Church nearby to hide and wait for the dragon’s aggro to wear out before returning and repeating the process.
Is Glintstone Dragon Adula Supposed to Disappear?
As mentioned before, when you fight the dragon outside Ranni’s Rise, he will fly away after taking some damage and not spawn there again.
If you wonder where the dragon has disappeared off to or whether it is a bug or not, then you need not worry because you’ll be facing him later on, at the very end of Ranni’s quest. The dragon will then spawn outside the Cathedral of Manus Celes.
