Elden Ring: How to Beat Baleful Shadow – Boss Guide

If you intend to complete Ranni’s quest in Elden Ring, you must first face the Baleful Shadows!

Like all other FromSoftware games, Elden Ring is famous for its obscure quests. Although, this time around, quests can be more elaborate than usual.

Souls games are notorious for having complex quests that make you talk several times to NPCs until some event triggers or they grant you an item you need.

Elden Ring takes this formula to the next level, with quests that are intricate, cryptic, and considerably longer than in previous Soulslikes.

You can even skip complete areas of the game like Stormveil to continue your path in solving all these quests.

One of these long explorations is Ranni’s quest, which eventually sends you in the direction of the Baleful Shadow, one of Elden Ring’s bosses.

Best Strategy to Beat Baleful Shadow

If you have not spoken to the Miniature Ranni Doll at the Ainsel River Site of Grace, this boss will not show up!

For more information on this quest and how to find the miniature doll, follow this Ranni Quest guide.

This is the best strategy you can follow to beat Baleful Shadow in Elden Ring to complete Ranni’s quest.

• If you can, bring co-op help! Baleful Shadow can heal similar to an invader, and having extra help for this fight is always a good idea.
• This boss is extremely aggressive and can chain a sequence of sword attacks that can easily drain your HP bar. For this reason, distracting Baleful Shadow with Spirits or the help of summoned help is key for this encounter. Elden Ring’s co-op system can be a bit cumbersome, so, here is how you can summon a friend to help you.
• Keep your distance in this fight as much as you can. Baleful Shadow sword attacks in Elden Ring have a very long range.
• This boss is susceptible to poison, using poison knives will deal considerable damage over time.
• If you are using a Strenght build, this boss is backstabbalable. You can keep medium distance from it to trigger its jumping attack, once it hits the ground there is an opening for you to land some hits.
• To increase your chance of survival, make sure you upgrade your flasks as much as you can before this fight. Taking time to upgrade your items is also a good idea.

Read More: Easy Way to Get 74,000 Runes in Elden Ring

Baleful Shadow Loot & Rewards

Defeating Baleful Shadow in Elden Ring will reward you with the Discarded Palace Key and 8561 Runes. You can now continue Ranni Quest with this newly acquired item.

Starting the Blaidd the Wolfman’s quest at Mist Woods might be a good idea if you are looking for another exciting side quest. This side quest rewards you with one of the best weapons in the game.

In detail, this quest eventually makes you face Bloodhound Knight Darriwil, a tough boss in the game. To make matters worse, you can not summon help from friends or Spirits for this one.

Although, beating Bloodhound Knight Darriwil is completely doable with the right strategy and some patience.