Elden Ring: How To Interrupt Malenia's Strongest Attack
"Elden Ring" is the latest title from developer FromSoftware and creator Hidetaka Miyazaki. It's a ground-breaking game from Miyazaki because it's his first with an open world, but in many ways it's a familiar experience for anyone who's played a FromSoftware game. Like "Demon Souls," the "Dark Souls" trilogy, and "Bloodborne" before it, "Elden Ring" features challenging gameplay, a stress-inducing level-up system, and brutally difficult bosses.
One of the most difficult bosses in the game is Malenia Blade Of Miquella, a Demi-God who can be found in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. Malenia wields a long sword with an excellent reach, and she attacks with blinding-fast speed. Her most devastating move is the Waterfowl Dance, which she deploys after dropping below 75% health.
Waterfowl Dance starts when Malenia leaps into the air and hangs there, poised to strike. Then, she carries out three spinning area-of-effect attacks in quick succession, followed by one more slashing AoE attack. Waterfowl Dance causes high damage, often enough to fell even the tankiest players. While it's possible to dodge Waterfowl Dance, doing so requires precise timing, which can take a while to learn.
Instead, here's a way to stop her Waterfowl Dance in its tracks. It requires a couple steps of prep work, but it's definitely worth it.
You're going to need some Freezing Pots
Redditor u/toxicBird7 shared this tip, which has racked up over 11,000 upvotes and counting. Essentially, the player can interrupt the Waterfowl Dance by hitting her with a Freezing Pot. Throw the Freezing Pot when she's floating in midair, just before she strikes. Hitting her will disrupt Waterfowl Dance and return her to the ground, where she'll take freezing damage.
One wrinkle to note: as u/toxicBird7 points out, bosses develop tolerances to status effects. Malenia can be hit with Freezing Pots just twice before she develops enough immunity. At that point, this technique will no longer disrupt Waterfowl Dance. So, make those first two throws count and maximize the damage.
The easiest way to obtain Freezing Pots is by crafting them. You'll need the Glintstone Craftsman's Cookbook [6], as well as Ritual Pots and Rimed Crystal Buds.
The Cookbook can be found on the ground level of Caria Manor in Liurnia, where it can be looted from a corpse. Ritual Pots can be looted from several locations around the Lands Between, and can also be purchased at two merchants: the Isolated Merchant in Dragonbarrow, or Pidia the Carian Servant in Caria Manor. Finally, Rimed Crystal Buds grow in various areas around the game world. One common location where they spawn is near the Inner Consecrated Snowfield Site of Grace, which is in the lower Mountaintop of the Giants region. Head directly to the West, toward the forest. Several Rimed Crystal Buds grow at the bases of the trees.
Make sure to bring at least two Freezing Pots to the Malenia fight. Even with this technique, she'll still put up a tough battle, which means you'll still die plenty of times. As always, factor that into your budget when deciding how many Freezing Pots to bring. Good luck.