A humanoid centipede with a scorpion stinger attached to its back—this pretty much sums up how Romina Saint of the Bud looks in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. If you want to progress the story, Romina is someone you will have to deal with, as she is not an optional boss.
If you are easily crept by insects then muster up all the courage because in this guide we are going to help you learn about Romina, Saint of the Bud along with how you can easily drop her to the ground.
Fighting Romina, Saint of the Bud
Moveset
Being a story boss, Romina, Saint of the Bud has quite the arsenal of attacks. There is a lot to unpack so let’s get right into it:
- Triple Centipede Bite Swing: If you are somewhere between close and mid-range, Romina will use her centipede head and swing it left to right three times.
- Counter: There are multiple ways to evade this attack. If you want to play it safe, you can roll back each time she swings her head at you but due to the distance, you cannot follow it up with an attack. To have a chance at getting her back, roll in the opposite direction to the swing the first two times and roll under her head the third time. This will leave you close enough to her so you can land some hits.
- Double Spear Swing: Romina’s human part of the body wields a spear that she will swing at you multiple times if you are at a close distance from her.
- Counter: This attack is well-telegraphed. Romina gives off a glow before she starts to swing her spear. Rolling back twice will be enough to dodge this attack.
- Scorpion Stinger Swing: For this attack, the boss will utilize her stinger head and will try to sting you like a scorpion. The damage she puts out with this attack is lethal so don’t try to tank this one.
- Counter: This attack is really fast so you have to time your roll perfectly. Keep a close eye on her scorpion head and as soon as it starts to come down, roll to either side to dodge the attack. If you dodge too early, she just changes her direction and hits you anyway.
- Flying Sting: Romina will launch herself into the air, float there for a couple of seconds then will come down like a homing missile with her scorpion head pointed right at you.
- Counter: You can dodge this attack the same way you dodged the Scorpion Stinger, by timing your roll perfectly. The giveaway for this one is that as soon as she is about to start her descent, her stinger will start to glow. Roll to either side twice or thrice to dodge any damage perfectly.
- Cyclone Spear Slash: For this attack, Romina will spin her spear continuously while swinging it down towards you.
- Counter: Roll to either side to avoid the attack.
- Romina’s Grab: Romina will send her centipede head towards you to try and grab you. Before the head comes lunging at you, she will spin her pole blade and point it at you to guide the head that it’s time for the grab attack.
- Counter: You can roll forward at the exact moment the pole blade is pointed at you to dodge the attack.
- Double Spin 360 Combo: The boss will lift herself up in the air, then come down while her whole body spins around in a circle along with her pole blade.
- Counter: To dodge this attack, you have to time your rolls perfectly. You will need to roll left twice but with a slight pause between each roll to perfectly avoid any damage.
- Butterfly Bombs: Romina will spawn tens of butterflies around you that work like a time bomb and explore after a few seconds of spawning.
- Counter: The attack usually takes a bit to set up as Romina will leave a trail of butterflies while she is rolling away or flying upwards. You can take advantage of this time and roll back a couple of times to get out of the AoE.
- Rolling Attack: This giant monstrosity will curl herself into a ball and launch herself towards you. At the end of the attack, she will uncurl her body and do a slam attack with her weapon.
- Counter: You can dodge her rolling attack by getting out of the way at the right time but make sure you factor in the follow-up attack that she does with her weapon. Mostly rolling to the right will save you from taking any damage from the final part of this combo.
Weakness
Romina Saint of the Bud is extremely weak against Fire and Frostbite.
If you want to cheese your way through the battle, you can use the broken Blasphemous Blade to inflict fire damage. If you prefer a different weapon then Godslayer’s Greatsword, Elenora’s Poleblade, and Sword of Night and Flame are some of our top picks.
Similarly, Frostbite Dark Moon Greatsword, Death’s Poker, and Dragon Halberd and some of the most powerful weapons in this category.
If your build relies mostly on spells then try Magma Shot, Rolling Magma, and Rykard’s Rancor for fire damage. Agheel’s Flame is an incantation and not a spell but we found it extremely useful during our fight against Romina, Saint of the Bud in Shadow of the Erdtree.
There aren’t that many spells for Frostbite but Zamor’s Icestorm and Chilling Mist deal a decent amount of damage.
Strategy
This is the detail of how the fight against Romina Saint of the Bud in Shadow of the Erdtree will go down and how you can work your way around all of her attacks.
Phase 1
Fighting against Romina Saint of the Bud in the Elden Ring DLC is all about getting the hang of timing your dodges perfectly. As soon as the fight starts, she will rush towards you and usually, she starts off with her centipede head lunging towards you in a sweep attack kind of fashion.
The trick during the initial phase of this fight is to stay as close as possible to her human body. If you are at point black, there is a good chance that both of her heads, Centipede and Scorpion, won’t be able to hit you. Even if you feel like one might damage you, just roll into her body and you should be safe from any possible damage.
Similarly, all of her combos with the pole blade have a safe spot as well that lies right below her poleblade and her human body.
Romina will do a couple of different variations of her Spear Swing attack. Sometimes she will start with a simple swing but then quickly turn it into an overhead smash.
If Romina’s blade glows red, it means that she has laced it with Scralet Rot. When it does not glow, she deals only physical damage.
On other occasions, she will do a 3-hit combo with two swipes and an overhead smash. For the swipes, you recommend you roll towards her body only a moment before it is about to hit you.
Afterward, if it is followed up by an overhead swing, roll to the right to not only avoid the attack but put you in a spot where you are close enough to land a few hits.
You can’t stay really close to Romina for too long. There is a move where she will do a single swipe attack with her weapon then immediately jump backwards to get some breathing room.
This time, make sure you close the gap with caution because both sides of her head will be active and you can become a victim of her mindless stings and grab attacks.
Phase 2
Once her health drops down to 50%, things will shift gear as the fight enters its second phase. Romina will fly in the air and will send out a shockwave that can inflict Scarlet Rot. So as soon as you land your last hit before the second phase, run away as far as possible.
The latter phase isn’t that different from the first phase. Aside from the Butterfly Bombs and a few other variations of attacks, the majority of her attack pattern remains the same. She releases the butterfly bomb at the start of the first phase a couple of times more during the second phase.
Sprint out of the AoE before they explode to avoid taking any damage. If you notice the signs quickly, you have enough time to run away. Some of the combos will be a tad faster but it is nothing you can’t handle. Once again, stay close to her. Try to stagger her for a chance to do a critical hit. This will significantly shorten the fight.
How to Cheese Romina Saint of the Bud
The fight against Romina is no joke and there is no shame if you don’t want to spend an ungodly amount of time on this battle alone. Luckily, we have a way to take her down by exploiting the mechanics and the arena this fight is set up in.
Before the fight, you will need the following items:
- Unseen Form
- Assassin’s Gambit
- Sleep Pot
- Zamor Ice Storm
- Crimsonwhorl Bubble Tear
- Opaline Bubble Tear
If you have all these items, let’s get right into it. Before you get past the fog gate, use the Unseen Form and Assassin’s Gambit to make yourself invisible to Romina. Afterward, enter the arena and go left along the wall until you reach the corner (as shown in the photo).
You will need to apply both spells again once you enter the area because both of them have a timer of 30 seconds and it will take more than that to reach our desired spot.
Now stand in this corner and throw the Sleep Pot in the opposite direction to distract Romina. Once she moves to check out the pot you just threw, get ahead while hugging the wall until you find a giant rose spurting out of the ground.
Get on top of the rose and stand at the center. Now sprint and jump onto the other rose across from you. Once you have made it across, jump onto the ledges hanging out of the wall and parkour your way to the farthest one on the other side of the wall (as shown in the picture).
By this time, the spells must have worn off, and the Saint of the Bud will not try to attack you. Unfortunately for her, none of them will reach you. This is your time to start spamming Zamor Ice Storm. Romina is specifically weak against frostbite, so this spell will deal a significant amount of damage.
The only time you might face a problem or take damage is when she uses her rolling attack or when she applies Scarlet Rot at the start of her second phase. To battle that, you can use the Crimsonwhorl and Opaline Bubbletear.
Also, make sure to bring a few flasks to keep your FP topped up so you can spam the spell freely.
Rewards For Defeating Romina, Saint of the Bud
You will receive the following rewards if you come out as victor against Romian, Saint of the Bud in the Elden Ring DLC:
- 1x Remembrance of Saint of the Bud
- 380,000x Runes
Romina is surely one of the tougher bosses, which makes sense as she is a story boss. Regardless of her status, her fall is undeniable, and you will be the one to take her down. Grab your best weapons, pack some flasks, and put on your best armor, as things are about to get messy in the Shadow Realm.