Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon is one of the primary Shardbearers in Elden Ring. She is the Carian queen and the end boss of Raya Lucaria Academy. How to defeat the boss? What is the boss weak to? What strategies can you use to beat it? Are there ways to cheese the boss? All will be answered in this ultimate boss guide to beating Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon in Elden Ring.
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon’s first phase is gimmicky. She will only leave her protective bubble once you have taken out the golden child scholars in the arena. Defeat her in this phase to progress to the next one. The second phase is where she goes magic casting crazy. Magic attacks won’t be of much use during this fight since she is extremely strong against them.
Let’s take a look at the best strategies and builds that can help us easily defeat Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon in Elden Ring.
Is Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon Optional?
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon is a Shardbearer in Elden Ring. Therefore, she is an optional boss since you have to defeat only two out of the four Shardbearers to progress the main quest.
However, defeating her transforms her into an NPC which gives you access to reassigning character stats mechanic i.e. respec using Larval Tears. Additionally, she has to be beaten if you are going for the Age of the Stars i.e. Ranni’s questline ending.
Strategies for Defeating Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon
Below are some strategies for defeating Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon boss in Elden Ring. The build you selected will determine the approach you should go for. We will cover the basic melee/magic caster strategies here:
Melee Strategy
Before you enter the fight, make sure you have the best magic defense armor and items on. This boss will deal tons of magic damage, and you should be able to absorb it as much as possible.
Rennala’s phase one is simple. You want to find the Juvenile Scholar with a golden aura and hit them one time and then move to the next one.
You will have to hit only three before Rennala will come crashing down on the ground for you to punish her. Do not start killing the children as it is a waste of effort.
Watch out for the flying books and fire breath attacks from the juveniles. One of the best methods of locating the golden child is to listen to the singing. It will always lead you to the target.
When Rennala falls, go crazy with your attacks. You should lower her health to around half. She will then start glowing to perform an AOE so move out quickly.
Repeat the golden juvenile step and bring her down again and you should be able to finish the first phase in the second drop. She will start hurling damaging spells at you by this point so be careful.
In the second phase, things get a bit dicey. She lets out a beam (Comet Azur) as soon as the second phase begins, so start running to the side immediately. The best thing you can do after this attack if you are starting out in Elden Ring is to summon the Wolf Spirit Ashes.
These summons will relentlessly hound the boss, and she will constantly be staggered. If you have better summons then use them like Mimic Tear. Keep in mind to only summon in the second phase.
Keep attacking and keep chasing her down and dodging her spells. Being really aggressive is the best strategy here, and it might take you a few tries to perfect it. Gang up on her and she will continuously flail about.
She will fire multiple spells at you confusing you in the process. While dodging one spell you can easily get hit by the other so be extra vigilant about who she is targeting, you or the summons.
When she summons her minions, try to ignore them altogether. They will disappear after she summons others and there is little point in exhausting yourself on them.
Stock up on health flasks and leave the FP flasks to the side. Only carry a couple if you have a weapon art that you want to use. Stamina management will be crucial too as you will be chasing her regularly and many of her spells will need to be outrun.
Magic/Faith Strategy
Magic builds will be in trouble in this fight. Magic does little damage to her so putting aside your favorite spells is a must.
You can use the Rock Sling spell since it deals physical damage. Sorcerers should instead opt for an INT scaling weapon like Moonveil and apply the melee strategy above. Upgrade the weapon to the highest possible level for maximum damage output.
Magic is no good here. Sorcerers will have to move out of their ranged comfort zone and face her head-on.
And although Faith/Incantations builds will have better odds at dealing damage, she still has quite a lot of negation for this damage type. Bestial Incantations will work better for their physical damage capability.
Staying close to her and dealing melee damage is the right selection here. Regardless of your magic of choice, go for a weapon that scales with your stats, i.e. INT or FAI, and pummel her to death.
If you insist on casting then use the spells mentioned above from a distance. Most of her spells can be dodged easily if you are far away. Finding openings in her attacks and only then fire your spells. Utilize the summons’ attention-grabbing potential and fire away.
What is Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon Weak To?
Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon is weak to the following damage types:
- Standard Damage
- Slash Damage
- Pierce Damage
- Holy (first phase)
- Lightning (first phase)
- Fire (first phase)
What is Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon Strong Against?
Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon is strong or resistant to the following damage types:
- Strong
- Magic
- All Status Effects
- Immune
- Sleep
- Madness
- Critical Strike
Can You Parry Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon?
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon can not be parried. You can critical-strike her either after stance breaking her.
Can You Cheese Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon?
Rennalla can not be particularly cheesed. The only way to do so (and discussed earlier) is to bring in a summons to the fight. Faster-moving summons like the Wolves and Mimic Tears will work better. The boss staggers from every attack so a barrage of melee attacks will keep her on her toes and would go down relatively easily.
Rennalla, Queen of the Full Moon’s second phase does remind me of Rom from Bloodborne. Sadly, she is not as mild-mannered as he was. It might take you a few turns to figure out her attacks but keeping the close combat pressure on her is the only way to approach this fight.