Rellana, Twin Moon Knight is the first real wall of Shadow of the Erdtree — the Legend Boss standing at the end of Castle Ensis, early enough that most players meet her under-leveled and with too few Scadutree fragments to trade blows. She is fast, relentlessly aggressive, and her second phase drops two colliding moons on your head. This guide gives you her verified weaknesses, where to find her, how to read both phases, and the summons and gear that actually carry the fight.
Quick answer: Beat Rellana by exploiting Pierce damage and Frostbite — spears, halberds and thrusting swords poke through her guard, and frost stacks quickly against her. Her boss room is floored with a shallow pool of water, so Lightning damage is amplified across the whole arena; she is, conversely, resistant to Magic, so pure sorcery is a poor pick. Summon a Spirit Ash (Mimic Tear or Black Knife Tiche) to split her aggro, stay close to bait her sword combos, and when she chants "Rise, Twin Moons!" below half health, run out from under the plunge rather than rolling into it. She drops 216,000 Runes and the Remembrance of the Twin Moon Knight. On the current version — base game 1.17, Shadow of the Erdtree live — the fight is unchanged.
Where do you find Rellana in Shadow of the Erdtree?
Rellana is fought in the East Wing of Castle Ensis, on Gravesite Plain — the opening region of the Realm of Shadow, the first major area you reach after entering the DLC. The nearest Site of Grace is Castle-Lord's Chamber, directly outside her fog wall, so your runback after a death is mercifully short (Fextralife, verified 2026-10-02).
She blocks progression deeper into the Realm of Shadow, which is why she functions as the DLC's first skill check: FromSoftware put her early specifically to teach you that Shadow of the Erdtree expects you to invest in Scadutree Blessing levels, not just your character's base stats.
Rellana drops, runes and Remembrance
Here are the verified rewards, cross-checked across two independent sources that agree:
- Rune reward: 216,000 Runes (GamesRadar and Fextralife, both verified 2026-10-02)
- Remembrance of the Twin Moon Knight — take it to Enia at the Roundtable Hold and exchange it for one of:
- Rellana's Twinblade — a paired straight-sword weapon that scales with nearly every stat except Arcane, with a skill that conjures her twin-moon slashes
- Rellana's Twin Moons — the explosive three-moon sorcery she casts in phase two (requires 72 Intelligence to use)
- Damage she deals: Physical, Magic and Fire — she infuses her blades with both Glintstone (magic) and Flame during the fight
Because Shadow of the Erdtree HP values are scaled by Scadutree Blessing rather than published as a single fixed figure, we are not quoting an exact HP number here — community-tabulated values disagree and depend on your blessing level. What matters in practice is her damage profile and phase timing, not a health bar you can't influence directly.
What is Rellana weak to?
This is the section that decides the fight, and it is the one most players skip.
Pierce damage. Rellana has a clear weakness to Pierce-type attacks (Windows Central, verified 2026-10-02). Spears, halberds and the thrusting attacks on a wide range of sword types land harder than slashes. If you have a thrusting weapon already upgraded, this is the fight to bring it to.
Frostbite. She is particularly susceptible to Frostbite as a status — a Cold-affinity weapon or frost-dealing Ash of War builds the proc quickly and chunks her health each time it triggers while also softening her defenses.
Lightning — because of the arena. The center of her boss room is a large, shallow pool of water, and standing water amplifies Lightning damage across the whole fight (Game8, verified 2026-10-02). A Lightning-infused weapon or the Lightning Spear incantation performs far above its normal rate here. Weapons like the Dragon King's Cragblade — which deal Pierce and Lightning — are a near-perfect fit.
What does not work: pure Magic. Rellana is resistant to Magic damage, which is the twist that catches sorcerers off guard — her own kit is magic-flavored, but that same affinity makes her tanky against your Glintstone sorceries. If you're a pure INT build, lean on your physical weapon's base damage and Frostbite rather than raw spell damage ([androidexperto / GamesRadar aggregation], verified 2026-10-02).
The short version: thrust, freeze, and shock her in the water — don't try to out-sorcery a sorcerer.
How do you beat Rellana's first phase?
Phase one is a melee duel. Rellana opens with twin-blade sword combos — most commonly a three-hit string and a longer six-hit string — that she can chain into without an obvious reset. The mistake under pressure is to roll early and eat the back half of the combo; instead, stay close and roll late into the final swings, then take one or two pokes before she recovers.
She also mixes in Glintblade Slicer, a telegraphed overhead where she raises a magic blade before the slash — dodge forward or into her on that one rather than backward, because the follow-up covers the ground behind you.
Keep a Spirit Ash out the entire fight. Mimic Tear copies your loadout and holds aggro for long stretches; Black Knife Tiche deals percentage-based damage that helps against her scaled health; Greatshield Soldiers or Black Knight Commander Andreas buy space if you need breathing room to heal (Fextralife, verified 2026-10-02). Every second she's hitting your summon is a second you're hitting her for free.
How do you survive phase two and the Twin Moons?
Below roughly 50% health, Rellana transitions: she chants her single voice line — "Rise, Twin Moons!" (PC Gamer, verified 2026-10-02) — and summons two overlapping moons above the arena before plunging the area in a massive AoE.
The instinct is to roll through it. Don't. The plunge covers a wide zone, so the safer read is to sprint laterally out from under the moons as they form, then return once the explosion clears. After the transition she layers her sword combos with Glintstone (magic) and Flame (fire) infusions and a recurring Magical Greatsword projectile — the tells are the same as phase one, just faster and with longer reach, so keep rolling late into the combos and punish the recovery.
Defensively, Spelldrake Talisman +3 cuts her magic damage, a Pearldrake Talisman blunts the fire, and Spellproof Dried Livers stacked before the fight give extra magic negation for the burst windows (Fextralife, verified 2026-10-02).
Best Ashes of War and build approach for Rellana
If you can slot an Ash of War onto your weapon, three stand out for this fight (Fextralife, verified 2026-10-02):
- Flame of the Redmanes — a short, fast flame burst that builds stance damage quickly and staggers her out of a combo, opening a critical riposte window
- Giant Hunt — a lunging thrust that counts as Pierce, lining up directly with her Pierce weakness while covering distance when she teleports around the arena
- Wing Stance — gives you a parry-adjacent defensive option against her relentless sword strings, useful if you're struggling to time rolls against the six-hit combo
For raw build identity, a Dexterity or Quality setup with a thrusting weapon is the cleanest fit — it pairs the Pierce weakness with the mobility you need to kite her moons. Strength players should favor a heavy weapon with a Cold infusion to lean on Frostbite, and poise-break her rather than trade. Whatever you bring, prioritise a weapon that is already at a high upgrade level over a "perfect" damage type that's five upgrades behind — in Shadow of the Erdtree, upgrade level and Scadutree Blessing beat theoretical affinity every time.
Why most players lose to Rellana (and the quick fixes)
Three mistakes account for the majority of Rellana deaths. First, rolling her combos too early — she chains three- and six-hit strings, and panic-rolling the opening swing leaves you recovering as the back half lands. Roll late, into the final hits. Second, rolling toward the Twin Moons plunge in phase two instead of sprinting laterally out of the AoE — the plunge zone is wide, so distance beats i-frames here. Third, under-investing in Scadutree Blessing: players who bounce off her almost always need more blessing fragments, not more character levels. Fix those three and the fight shortens dramatically.
What level and Scadutree Blessing should you be for Rellana?
There's no official requirement, but the community consensus is that Rellana is tuned for roughly Scadutree Blessing level 3–5 and a character around level 120–150 on a first clear — the exact figures vary by build and are player-reported, not published by FromSoftware. The DLC's blessing system matters far more than your base level: a few extra Scadutree fragments do more for your survivability here than ten character levels. If she is deleting you in two hits, the fix is almost always more blessings, not more vigor.
Rellana FAQ
Is Rellana in the base game or the DLC? She is a boss in Shadow of the Erdtree, the paid expansion for Elden Ring — not the base game, and not Elden Ring Nightreign (a separate standalone game). You must own and enter the DLC to fight her.
Is Rellana mandatory? Yes. She guards the path deeper into the Realm of Shadow from Gravesite Plain, so clearing Castle Ensis means beating her.
What's the best weapon against Rellana? A well-upgraded Pierce weapon (spear, halberd or a thrusting sword), ideally with Cold or Lightning infusion so you also benefit from Frostbite and the water-floored arena. Avoid pure sorcery — she resists Magic.
Can you summon help for Rellana? Yes — Spirit Ashes like Mimic Tear and Black Knife Tiche work well, and you can use co-op summons if you're online. Splitting her aggro is one of the biggest difficulty reducers in the fight.
Who is Rellana? A Carian princess, the younger sister of Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, who left the Lands Between to serve Messmer and became known as the Sword of Messmer. Her twin blades carry her moon magic from that Carian heritage.
Related Elden Ring boss guides
Once Rellana falls, these guides cover the fights you'll meet next and the demigods behind you:
