The second major dungeon of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree isCastle Ensis, a massive fortress that stands between you and the next region of the Land of Shadow.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Castle Ensis guide
While Castle Ensis doesn’t have as many nooks and crannies to explore as something likeBelurat, Tower Settlement, it contains a gauntlet of powerful foes that you must defeat in order to reach the final boss. Things don’t get any easier once you get there, either, sinceRellana, Twin Moon Knightis a highly aggressive skill check of a boss that is sure to frustrate many players.
Table of Contents
How to get in Castle Ensis and past the troll
While it’s not quite a boss fight, your journey through Castle Ensis begins with a big battle. There’s a gianttrollwaiting for you at the end of the bridge leading into the castle. Armed with a hugegreatsword, it can deplete your entire HP bar with only a few strikes.
Thankfully, it uses mostly the same moveset as the countless other trolls that you’ve slain after dozens of hours in the Lands Between. You can use ashieldto block its sword swings if you have enough stamina, but we recommenddodge rolling into every attackand sticking as close to the troll’s feet as possible. If you’re close enough to its feet, you can bait out its stomp attack which is much easier to dodge than the rest of its moves.
You only need to defeat the bridge troll once.It won’t respawnafter you rest at a Site of Grace. If you’re really struggling, you canjust run past itand try to make your way to the next Site of Grace. You can easily outrun it and focus on making it to the Castle Ensis Checkpoint at the top of the hill.
Whether you’ve defeated the troll or not, you’ll still need to continue upward to reach the next part of the dungeon. Head up the stairs and follow the path forward and you’ll see aMessmer soldiersitting near a fire with a dog. These Messmer soldiers are the main threats of Castle Ensis. They’re equipped with ashouting abilitythat will greatly enhance their speed and power, so attempt to take them out before they can use it.
Where to find Milady Light Greatsword
Before continuing through the cave to reach the next challenge, turn around and climb the stairs to reach the roof of the nearby building. There’s a ladder that’ll bring you to the top of a tower where you’ll findMilady. This is aLight Greatsword, anall-new weapon archetypeintroduced in Shadow of the Erdtree. It’s one of my personal favorite weapons from the DLC, and it’s a nice middle ground between a Strength and Dexterity weapon.
How to get Messmer soldier armor, Loyal Knight’s Cookbook, Royal Magic Grease, and more
After grabbing Milady, head through the cave and proceed further into the fortress. On the other side of the cave is the nextSite of Grace, but there are a few noteworthy things just before it. If you turn right immediately after exiting the cave, you’ll find some Messmer soldiers sitting by a campfire. Remember that they have a chance to drop theMessmer soldier armor set, so pop a Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot to boost item discovery if you want it. Past the soldiers, you can drop off a ledge to grab the Scriptstone that you couldn’t reach earlier.
To the left of the cave is a room with a chest containing theLoyal Knight’s Cookbook, which will unlock some of the new Shadow of the Erdtree crafting recipes for you. This one in particular lets you craft magic infusion items likeRoyal Magic Grease, which coats your weapon and adds magic damage to it.
How to get past the black knight and get the Castle Ensis Scadutree Fragment
The big threat in this area is a patrollingblack knightarmed with a greatshield and a mace. He’s surprisingly fast for his size, and he’ll perform a swiftguard counterif you smack his shield. Be careful and wait for a safe opening. The main thing to watch out for is the glow of his mace. If he strikes the ground with aglowing mace, it will launch a follow-up magic attack that can easily catch you off guard.
If you may’t beat the knight, just run past him and you’ll find theCastle Ensis Checkpoint Site of Grace. There’s also aMiquella Crosswaiting for you, so grab thatScadutree Fragmentand upgrade your stats before you forget.
How to unlock the shortcut to Castle Ensis Checkpoint and continue toward the boss
The Castle Ensis Checkpoint is the last Site of Grace you’ll encounter before you make it to the final boss room, but there’s a handyshortcutthat you can unlock later on to make your route shorter. The main gate is locked for now, so the only route forward is to the right of it.
Kill the enemy standing over the nearby ledge and thendrop down into the pitwhere you’ll find a group of dogs. Take them out and continue outside. There’s awaterfall, but you can turn right and make your way onto the roof of a building to grab an item from earlier. Once you have it, hop across the rocks and get on top of the waterfall.
Continue forward past thedogsturtles and you’ll see yet another waterfall. Yes, there’s a cave behind it. Head inside and grab the item before climbing the nearbyladderand entering the room with more Messmer soldiers.
One of them is waiting toambushyou on the left side, so be prepared. After you kill them, continue outside and you’ll find yourself on theother side of the locked gatefrom earlier. The room across the way lets you open it permanently.Shortcut unlocked!
On the other side of the gate is a bridge with a ton of soldiers waiting for you. Take them out and watch out for thecrossbow-wielding onein the back. Continue forward and you’ll find some pesky casters thatteleport awayafter every attack.
Wait for them to disappear and track the direction they teleport in to catch them when they reappear.Make sure to kill all of thembefore continuing forward, because there’s a tough fight ahead and you don’t want them harassing you.
How to defeat Moonrithyll, Carian Knight
Once all the casters are down, it’s time for a duel withMoonrithyll, Carian Knight. Moonrithyll is a standard greatsword-wielder who mixes in some minor magic with her attacks. She has a healing flask that she’ll use when her HP gets low, so keep the pressure on. She’s easy to stagger with enough melee strikes, and ranged builds should have a very easy time keeping her away.
Just like the troll from earlier,you only need to defeat Moonrithyll onceand then the area will remain permanently clear. You’ll getMoonrithyll’s Knight Swordas a reward. Head inside the building that Moonrithyll was guarding and grab theRellana’s Cameo Talisman from the table in the back of the room. It enhances attacks executed after remaining in the same stance.
How to get Somber Smithing Stone, Imbued Sword Key, and more
Continue through the hallwayof the building — watching out for the Carian scholars inside — and you’ll find yourself outside of a church. There’s a gate, but it’s not locked.Open the gateand proceed forward along the rampart. If you drop down to your left immediately after opening the gate, you’ll find a route that’ll get you onto the church rooftop where you may snag some helpful items like aSomber Smithing Stone.
There’s a large group of soldiers and dogs halfway across the wall, but you cankeep the high groundand avoid them. You’ll eventually run into a tower (watch out for the soldier waiting to ambush you along the circular stairs). Atthe top of the stairs, look to your left to find a small room inside the tower containing a chest with anImbued Sword Key, a key item that you can use back in The Lands Between.
There’san elevatorwaiting for you just ahead, but another black knight is standing between you and safety. Use the same strategies from earlier or just run past it and activate the elevator. He has a chance to drop theblack knight armor setthough, and this is a good farming spot. After dealing with him, you’ll arrive at the final safe zone of Ensis Castle: theCastle Lord’s Chamber.
Castle Lord’s Chamber: How to prepare for Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
There’s nothing to do in the Castle Lord’s Chamber besides preparing for the fight ahead. There is aSomber Smithing Stoneon the balcony outside, though.
It’s now time to take onRellana, Twin Moon Knight. You can make use of two summons for this fight —Needle Knight LedaandDryleaf Dane— so make sure you’ve spoken to them at the various Miquella Crosses leading up to Ensis Castle to unlock them. We also recommend searching for extraScadutree Fragmentsif you’re having trouble with this fight, so take some time to explore if you feel like you are weaker than usual when fighting your way through the castle.
How to Beat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
Rellana is an incredibly aggressive boss who wieldstwin bladesand can make use offire magic, making her basically the exact opposite ofRenalla from the base game. Despite her oppressive moveset, however, she’s very predictable. Just learn her patterns and you’ll be fine.
We highly recommend summoning one other ally for this battle, butno more. Do not summon both Leda and Dane plus a co-op partner or a Mimic Tear. More summons might sound like they’ll make the fight easier, but in reality, they justbuff Rellana’s health barso much that the fight becomes incredibly frustrating once your phantom supporters inevitably fall in battle.
Thefirst phaseof this fight sees Rellana only using her dual swords, so it’s a great time to learn her kit.Ranged buildswill have a very easy time with this fight since they can just stay away from Rellana, but her highmagic resistancemakes the battle much longer for spellcasters. We recommenddodging into Rellana’s attacksto get behind her. The wide, sweeping strikes of her twin blades tend to only hit in front of her in a cone.
Rellana will summon floating blueGlintbladesperiodically throughout the fight, so be ready to dodge those in addition to her sword strikes. Try tostick close to Rellanaso she won’t use her magic as often. If she jumps away from you to create space, she’s preparing to cast a spell. Be ready.
In thesecond phaseof the fight, Rellana will imbue her swords withred and blue flames. She’ll open with anarena-wide fire attackthat spawnspillars of flamethroughout the area. Watch the floor to see where they’re going to be and reposition yourself accordingly. This attack usually melts any summoned phantoms orSpirit Ashes, so the rest of the fight is going to be a one-on-one affair unless you get lucky.
There aretwo incredibly deadly attacksto watch out for during this phase. First, Rellana can castCarian Greatswordand swing a massive spectral blade that covers the entire arena. You have to dodge through this or you’ll probably die. She’ll perform a mix of vertical and horizontal strikes during this attack.
The second major attack to watch out for is hertwin moon strike. This summons two full moons — similar to the Renalla fight from the base game — that she’ll slam into the ground. This createsarena-wide AOEsthat you have to dodge through. After the initial two slams, Rellana will strike downward and unleash a final blow. If you don’t dodge these attacks,you will die.
Rellana’s attack patterns are easy to memorize, but she’s so fast and aggressive that timing your dodges can be frustratingly difficult. Thankfully, shestaggerseasily after a few melee strikes so you can get acritical attackin once or twice during the fight. Rellana is alsoweak to lightning damage, so imbue your weapon with it or cast lighting spells to take her down faster.
Should you pick Rellana’s Twinblade, Rellana’s Twin Moons, or use the runes?
Once you defeat Rellana, you’ll receive theRemembrance of the Twin Moon Knight. Take this to the Roundtable Hold and you can exchange it for eitherRellana’s TwinbladeorRellana’s Twin Moons. Rellana’s Twinblade is a Light Greatsword that has a unique Moon-and-Fire Stance ability matching Rellana’s abilities. Rellana’s Twin Moons is a Sorcery that lets you perform her full moon attack.
Both of these items are incredibly powerful and very fun to use. We personally recommend taking Rellana’s Twinblade since its unique ability gives you access to Rellana’s magical attacks, but you’ll need to dual-wield the swords to get the most out of them. If you’re dead set on using a shield, you should skip this one. Casters should absolutely take Rellana’s Twin Moons, though, as it’s one of the strongest spells in the game.
How to cheese Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
There’s no easy way to cheese Rellana, but there are ways to make the fight a bit easier. Firstly, use a Spirit Ash summon that spawns a group of allies so Rellana’s attention will be divided. Crowding her with a horde of summons will also result in her being frequently staggered. You can not only capitalize on the critical attack, but also spam Rellana with normal attacks while she’s in the recovery animation.
You can also bring a shield equipped with Carian Retaliation to make the fight a bit easier. This allows you to repel Rellana’s magical projectiles. As long as you keep your distance and have enough patience to do so, you can slowly chip away at her health from afar.
Defeating Rellana grants you access toScadu Atlus, the second major zone in Shadow of the Erdtree. There are more Miquella Crosses to find, new dungeons to explore, and new gear to find. You’ll also find a mysteriousMonk’s Missivethat leads you down the path tounlocking new Hand-to-Hand combat styles.
Diego Perez
Currently serving as a Senior Staff Writer at PC Invasion, Diego Perez has been writing about video games since 2018, specializing in live service games like Destiny and Final Fantasy XIV. His work is featured at publications like Game Rant and Attack of the Fanboy (where he served as Associate Editor), but PC Invasion is home to his best work. When he’s planning content or writing guides, he’s yelling about Ape Escape or grinding Lost Sectors in Destiny. Plus, he has a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunication Media Studies for Texas A&M University.
