How to find the Baleful Shadow in Elden Ring
The most Baleful of shadows.
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If you’ve been trying to complete Ranni’s questline, then you’ve probably found yourself wondering how to find the baleful shadow in Elden Ring. This particular step in the quest requires you to go searching for the aforementioned boss in one of the toughest areas of the game, so actually finding it can be a pain. Our guide will help you to reach the boss fight that you need to complete to continue Ranni’s questline.
How to Find the Baleful Shadow
This guide assumes that you have already reached the point in Ranni’s quest where you have entered the Ainsel River from the gate in Renna’s Rise. From here, go and pick up the Mini Ranni Doll, then rest at the nearby point of grace and choose the ‘Talk to Ranni’ option 3 times. She will admit that she’s alive, and then ask you to go and kill the Baleful Shadow for her. Once she’s done, head south and follow the river, ignoring the enemies you see on the way. Go between the two big statues into the tunnel ahead, and watch out for the ants.
The best bet here is to wait for the ants to drop down to the ground before you start running. Your aim is to follow the flow of water down through several caves filled with ants, then out through another door into an open area. Go through the doors on the left of the area and drop down the other side to reach the Nokstella, Eternal City site of grace. From here, ignore the big stairs on the left, and go behind them. You can be sneaky if you want to avoid the enemies riding ants, and move towards another set of stairs ahead.
Electro slimes
Climb up the stairs a bit. You can kill the enemy up here for a Grave Glowwart [9] if you want, but the slimes across the way will pepper you with arrows as you do so. Drop down from the ledge and starts running past the slimes into the next area. Ahead on the left around the corner you should be able to see a building. Run past the ant-rider and into the building to activate the lift. At the bottom of the lift is the Nokstella Waterfall Basin point of grace we’ll use for the boss fight.
The tunnel ahead houses three Basilisks who’ll constantly get in the way as you keep trying to fight the boss. You can pick them off from a distance but it’ll cost you a decent amount of arrows unless you’re already specced to do high damage with a bow. Once they’re gone you can carry on into the tunnel to find the Baleful Shadow waiting for you. It’s a tough fight, but he has an aggro limit in the tunnel, so you can abuse that if you’re getting stuck. Just bait him to slowly walk towards you in the tunnel and then start attacking while he’s backing up.
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