Elden Ring Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree Walkthrough to Malenia

Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree is the fortress at the base of Miquella's Haligtree and the second half of that legacy dungeon. The elevator after Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree drops you into it, and from the Prayer Room down to the roots it is walls, walkways and Scarlet Rot, patrolled by Cleanrot Knights, Haligtree Knights and Crystalians, with Malenia, Blade of Miquella at the bottom. Our dungeons guide calls it the hardest legacy dungeon in the game, and the boss pages put the level for it at 120 to 130.

It is also where two of the longest questlines end. Millicent waits in the Prayer Room and makes her last stand at the roots, and killing Malenia turns the Unalloyed Gold Needle into Miquella's Needle, the only thing that reverses the Frenzied Flame ending.

How to reach Elphael

There is no separate entrance. Complete the upper Haligtree, kill Loretta on the promenade, and head north from the Haligtree Promenade grace to the stairs that lead down to an elevator. It arrives beside the Prayer Room Site of Grace. Defeat Loretta before you come down, because the fight can otherwise put Millicent in danger. Elphael needs no map fragment; like Crumbling Farum Azula it is not drawn on the map at all.

Prayer Room to the Inner Wall

The Prayer Room is the dungeon's farming spot. Its guaranteed pickups and the soldiers around it drop Smithing Stone 7 and 8 in quantity, which the Smithing Stones guide rates alongside the Yelough Anix Tunnel. Talk to Millicent here first; she is looking for Malenia. Then take the path down toward the city and run to its end. A pavilion on the right holds soldiers, and behind them a support beam runs up at a diagonal to a small alcove with a chest containing a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, one of two in Elphael. Northeast of the grace, down the staircase, lie the fifth and sixth Seedbed Curses for the Dung Eater. A corpse hanging from a balcony carries five Lightning Greatbolts.

Every path down converges on an Erdtree Avatar; kill it and the Elphael Inner Wall Site of Grace is yours. The area around it is dense with things worth having. At the top of a ladder by the grace sits the Haligtree Knight helmet, the only piece of that set that is not a drop; the rest comes one piece at a time from the Haligtree Knights, two of whom stand outside the big door near the grace and also carry Miquella's Lily. The room next to the grace holds two Crystalians that can drop the Rotten Crystal Spear, at roughly 8 percent per 100 Discovery. Past the grace, a corpse behind the giant chalice at the end of the hallway has a Golden Rune. The Marika's Soreseal talisman is in a hidden room behind an imp statue that takes one Stonesword Key, and the Miquellan Knight's Sword lies at the top of the bell tower. Cleanrot Knight Finlay's Spirit Ashes are found in this half too.

Inner Wall to the Drainage Channel

From the Inner Wall grace, go past the corridor and drop to the lowest floor. The enemies here are many and slow to kill, and running past them is the better choice. Head down the stairs through the Scarlet Rot, run right and take the first left up onto a branch of the tree, drop into the rot and cross to the door on the far side, and climb down the ladder to the Drainage Channel Site of Grace. That page includes a cheese for the Ulcerated Tree Spirit that waits at the Haligtree Roots, reached by leaving the channel on its west side, climbing the ladder and following the branches.

The Drainage Channel is also the start of the Haligtree Crest Greatshield farm. Turn back and go outside, take the tree trunk down and left, jump onto the arch and follow the next trunk down to the church, then drop again to find a Haligtree Knight sitting in the corner. A Silver Pickled Fowl Foot before each attempt raises the odds, and the other knights nearby can kill you in one hit. Around the roots themselves: a Ghost Glovewort 7 in the middle of the graveyard north of the Haligtree Roots grace, a Ghost Glovewort 8 and the Ghost-Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing 3 on the land north of the grace, which you reach by taking the elevator first, a Smithing Stone 7 in the room west of the grace, and a Smithing Stone 8 northwest of Malenia's arena. The last Putrid Avatar in the game stands near Elphael and drops the Rotten Crystal Staff.

Millicent's last choice

Once the Ulcerated Tree Spirit is dead, two summoning signs appear at the end of the Haligtree Roots area. The gold sign puts you at Millicent's side against her four sisters and pays the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia. The red sign has you invade and kill her, for Millicent's Prosthesis. The Gowry page covers what he says about her sisters afterward, and what killing him at the end yields.

Malenia, Blade of Miquella

Rest at the Haligtree Roots Site of Grace and go through the fog. Every blow Malenia lands restores her health, which turns the first phase into a contest of who touches whom, and she has a grab that can kill from full health at low Vigor. Her poise is low, which favors heavy Strength weapons that stagger, and she is weak to frost and blood loss, with fire useful as well. Waterfowl Dance is the attack that ends runs: she leaps, then slashes her way toward you in growing numbers; block the first slashes, roll twice, step in while she hangs above you and back away for the rest. Dodge her two dashes to the side, never backward. When her health empties she rises again with most of it restored, opens the second phase with a Scarlet Rot explosion you avoid by rolling, and from then on inflicts rot with every hit and adds a slam and four phantom copies of herself. The Malenia page also has a high-ground cheese with the Fallingstar Beast Jaw.

She drops Malenia's Great Rune, which restores HP after taking damage and is activated at the Isolated Divine Tower, reached through the Tower of Return's chest and the Divine Bridge teleporter, and the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess, which Enia trades for the Hand of Malenia or Scarlet Aeonia. Enia also sells Malenia's armor afterward for 56,000 Runes across four pieces. Reload the area and the scarlet flower in her room takes the Unalloyed Gold Needle and returns Miquella's Needle plus the second Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, as the Unalloyed Gold Needle page describes. Used at Dragonlord Placidusax's arena, the needle frees you from the Frenzied Flame. The Malenia, Goddess of Rot Site of Grace marks the end of the dungeon.

Elphael loot checklist

Elphael FAQ

Is Malenia optional?

Yes. She is a shardbearer, but her Great Rune is not needed for any ending. Skip her and you also skip Miquella's Needle, so a character who has embraced the Three Fingers has no way back without her.

Can I fast travel out of Elphael?

Yes, from any of its graces: Prayer Room, Elphael Inner Wall, Drainage Channel, Haligtree Roots and, after the fight, Malenia, Goddess of Rot. The dungeons guide lists the Drainage Channel as its own entry for that reason.