How to beat Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in Elden Ring

Update: Elden Ring has undergone quite a few patches since its launch, so we've update this Elden Ring Rennala boss fight guide to reflect that. We've streamlined information and added some additional tips to help you beat the Queen of the Full Moon.

The Rennala boss fight in Elden Ring should be the second Shardbearer battle on your godly hit list after taking down Godrick the Grafted. Rennala is the head of the Raya Lucaria Academy of sorcery, and you will face her after spending some time exploring the academy, overcoming smaller challenges, and beating one other boss, the Red Wolf of Radagon.

If you haven’t already, make sure to acquire the Glintstone Key necessary for entering the academy, and eventually squaring off with Rennala. She’s one of the more interesting bosses in Elden Ring, and each of her fight’s two phases is fairly unique in its mechanics, and in the skills it requires from you. Without further ado, here's some guidance on how to beat Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in Elden Ring.

When should you fight Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in Elden Ring?

Outside of your own personal skill, fighting Elden Ring bosses mainly takes into account your weapon upgrade level. Your character’s overall level matters, but it’s ultimately not going to be a deciding factor.

For the Rennala fight, we recommend upgrading your weapon to +7/+8, and level up your character to 40-45. That said, weapon power doesn’t ultimately have a major effect in this particular fight, as we’re about to explain.

How to make Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon boss fight easier in Elden Ring

Rennala is a mage, so don’t waste your time enchanting your weapon with any particular status effect - she'll be immune to it. That said, like Godrick, she also does take Bleed damage, but it won’t be the deciding factor.

Being a mage, however, means her Poise and super armour are very low, thanks to the armour she’s wearing. Solid physical damage will win the day here. As for your own armour, wear something with magic resistance – but be aware that your overall Poise and physical defence will drop.

For the second phase of the fight, we recommend bringing in a Spirit Summon. Once again, anything works here, so long as they can last long enough and keep the boss engaged for you to land damage. That said, a summon with multiple smaller units will work better here because of the nature of the fight.

How to beat Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon in Elden Ring

Rennala is what you might think of as a puzzle boss fight. The goal, in the first phase at least, is to figure out the gimmick and execute it enough times to consistently get into the second phase – which is effectively the real fight.

With that in mind, the first phase is easy enough that it might get you to drop your guard, only for you to be overwhelmed in the second phase. Don’t do this, and focus on spending as few healing items as you can in this phase in preparation for the next one.

Rennala boss fight phase one

The first phase of the Rennala fight is straightforward. Your objective is to simply destroy her protective barrier, which sends her tumbling down, allowing you to deal significant damage.

Depending on how powerful your weapon is, you may need to do this two or three times. Rennala stays on the ground for several seconds after each crack, but she eventually levitates again and creates a new barrier.

To break her barrier, you need to kill the children trying to sustain it. The arena is full of her children, but most of them are decoys. The children you’re looking for have a golden aura around them – similar to the colour of Rennala’s barrier. As you get closer, they will sling books at you with decent tracking. These golden aura children won’t always be in view, so you’ll need to scour the arena looking for them. You’ll hear their song get louder the closer you get, which can be a useful way of locating them if you don’t have line of sight.

You need to kill three children for the barrier to break each time. The place is dark and full nooks and crannies, so it might take you a while to find the last child you need for the barrier to break. This process gets harder the deeper into the phase you get, as children will better hide themselves from you.

You don’t actually need to kill the other children in the arena, though you will need to watch out for their attacks – particularly the few of them hiding around corners ready to jab you.

The only big attack you have to be ready for in this phase is Rennala’s projectile barrage. You’ll see her suck up her children, turn them into projectiles and hurl them at you. If you take the entire barrage, you’ll most likely die.

The trick is to anticipate this attack and put as much cover between you and her as possible until it’s over. This becomes harder the longer you stay in phase one, because the bookcases and other objects you might rely on for cover are all destructible. Once she starts muttering about her children being born anew, she’s getting started on formulating this attack – so prepare yourself!

One final thing you need to be mindful of is her big energy blast attack, which she does on the floor just as her barrier is being reformed, allowing her to ascend again. Stay as far away as possible when you see that thing recharging and don’t get greedy.

Rennala boss fight phase two

Phase two is, unsurprisingly, a lot harder, because it’s more of a traditional boss fight, and because it’s essentially made up of two smaller phases itself. Phase two takes place in a new arena, with no cover.

It starts with Rennala firing off a beam at you. You can simply sprint to either side to avoid it. Other, slower spells can be dodged through instead, preferably towards her. Rennala can be interrupted out of these casting animations, and some of them even have very long, obvious tells that afford you enough time to either get closer, or be ready to dodge them.

Dealing damage in this part of the fight is simple, in large part because Rennala is very easily staggered. The trick is, of course, to get closer and not spend the entire fight trying to avoid her spells – which she will use to keep you at a distance.

Occasionally, Rennala will spawn a moon that will track you and explode after a time. It’s slow, however, and easy to dodge. Just keep track of it as it hurtles towards you.

When her health drops down to 50%, that’s when the hardest stretch of the fight will begin. Not only will her ranged attacks continue, Rennala will now also summon Spirit Ashes to aid her against you.

She’ll start off with weaker ones, like the Lone Wolves summon, and gradually upgrade to larger and tougher summons the lower her health gets. When she’s summoning, she will be protected by a white aura on the ground that will deal damage to you (and knock you back) if you stand in it or get touched by it.

The good news is that the spirits she summons won’t stay on the field for long. Every summon will simply perform two or three attacks and vanish, so don’t bother going after them. Your goal is to dodge their attacks, and get to Rennala herself to land a hit or two before backing out.

This is why your own summons are crucial in this phase, because they will take the heat off you. Just be careful not to get confused whose summon it is out there, because they all look the same, not to mention you both might be summoning the same Spirit Ash.

As always, don’t hesitate to throw some darts at her from a distance while she’s pulling off an elaborate move. Even if they won’t interrupt her casting, they will keep her super armour from recharging, making it more likely for her to be staggered.

If you have some leftover FP, now is also the time to spam any special moves your weapon might have. Attacks that close distance like Bloodhound's Finesse are particularly effective.

What to do with Rennala’s Great Rune

Though she is a Shardbearer, Rennala’s Great Rune doesn’t work like the one you earned from defeating Godrick, meaning you won’t be able to equip it and get a boost. Great Rune of the Unborn is instead used to reset your stats to zero, allowing you to reallocate them however you choose.

This re-spec option opens up after you finish both phases of the fight. Rennala will turn into an NPC at that point, one you can return to if you want to re-spec over the course of the game.

You can still use her Remembrance for extra Runes or give it to Enia at Roundtable Hold to obtain either Rennala's full moon spell or a special staff. If you want both, you'll have to duplicate it at one of the Wandering Mausoleums.

What to do after beating Rennala in Elden Ring

After defeating Rennala, The Lands Between really become limitless. If you beat Godrick before coming here, you'll now have two Great Runes, meaning you can go ahead and complete some final fights before finishing the game, if you wish.

That said, that would be a real waste of all Elden Ring has to offer unless you're trying to speedrun the game. We recommend exploring Liurnia of the Lakes, Caelid, and attempting to venture underground... To do that, you'll need to go about beating Radahn, though.

Don't neglect any questlines you may have started before this point, too. There's always more to be done, and when you're ready, you can venture up north to Volcano Manor, Mountaintops of the Giants, and Leyndell. Things get significantly tougher here, so explore early-game areas as much as you can before heading here.

More helpful articles can be found in our all-encompassing Elden Ring guide. If you're getting closer to the end of the game, check the different endings you're in for. If that seems like a distant dream, why not see how many hidden mechanics Elden Ring doesn't tell you?