How to beat the Regal Ancestor Spirit boss in Elden Ring

While there are plenty of fearsome bosses to face as part of Elden Ring’s main story, there are quite a few that are optional; some of these foes will require you to fulfill certain criteria prior to facing them. One of these bosses is the Regal Ancestor Spirit, which is located in Nokron, Eternal City. However, you won’t be able to battle it right away. Here’s how to find and defeat the Regal Ancestor Spirit.

Finding the boss

Before you can take on this boss, you first need to have defeated Starscourge Radahn, which will allow you to access Nokron, Eternal City. As you progress through the city, you’ll fight Mimic Tear before arriving at a bridge. At the end of this bridge is a field with six lanterns scattered throughout that you’ll have to light in order to fight the boss. We’ve marked the location of each lantern on the map below using a marker depicting a person walking.

Once you light all six flames, head over to Hallowhorn Grounds, shown above in the northeast area of the map. You’ll see a large skeleton of a deer glowing. Interact with it, and you’ll be taken to a cave. You’ll spawn next to a Stake of Marika, and ahead will be a Mist Gate leading to the boss.

The fight

The Regal Ancestor Spirit is a pretty straightforward fight. It has a fairly varied moveset, but most are easy to avoid. We’ve listed the boss’ moves below, and how you should react to them:

• Midair hop: The spirit will hop into the air, perform two midair jumps, and then briefly pause before trying to land on you. If you roll forward right as the spirit starts to come down on you, this attack shouldn’t hit you thanks to your roll’s invincibility frames.
• Magic breathe: The spirit will spit magic on the battlefield. The boss tends to perform this attack on the ground, but may also do it while floating in midair. Either way, you can simply outrun this attack. However, be advised that the magic sticks around for a few seconds once it hits the ground; you will take damage if you touch it, so be sure to roll through or jump over it if approaching the spirit.
• Charge: If you’re a fair distance away, the spirit might charge you. If you roll forward as the boss gets close, you’ll roll right through this attack without a scratch on you.
• Three-hit combo: The spirit typically performs one of two three-hit combos. It may try to hit you three times in a row with its antlers, or it might try two strikes with its antlers followed up by a stomp. All of these moves can be avoided by rolling toward the boss.
• Stomp/Horse kick: The boss may sometimes perform the stomp without any moves preceding it. When this happens, simply roll to avoid damage. If you’re behind the boss, instead of performing a stomp, it will try to kick you like a horse, which can be avoided by rolling away from it.
• Powered-up antler strike: Occasionally, the spirit will glow white while attacking. This means it’s going to deliver a powered-up attack. Luckily, like most of its other attacks, you can avoid its powered-up antler strike by rolling.
• Three stomps: The spirit will glow white, stand solely on its hind legs, and then jump up before trying to stomp down on you. It will do this three times in a row. Simply roll away as the spirit starts to come down on you.
• Goat roll: The spirit is not a goat, but it will occasionally roll in a similar way to the goats found throughout The Lands Between. It will glow white, curl up, and then start rolling toward you. Do not roll to the sides or backward when it approaches. Instead, roll forward and slightly to the left or right, and you’ll avoid damage courtesy of your invincibility frames.
• Teleport: If the spirit looks like it’s shriveling up and about to die, that’s because it’s about to teleport. It will fall to the ground, disappear, and then reappear elsewhere in the arena.
• Heal: The spirit will generate an AOE energy field around itself and heal itself very rapidly. This move is capable of healing up to half of the boss’ total HP. This is the spirit’s most annoying ability, and the worst part is that there is no way to prevent the boss from healing. Don’t try to outdamage its heal; it heals far too fast, and the AOE field will also hurt you. The best counter to this move is to kill the boss before it has a chance to heal.

Given how annoying the healing ability can be, you will need to be able to do some serious damage in order to win this fight. We recommend holding off on this boss until you’re about level 70 or so. We defeated the boss at level 70 using a Strength-based character equipped with a +8 Greatsword.

Melee builds should focus on rolling through all of the Regal Ancestor Spirit’s melee moves, and trying to get a hit or two off following each of them. Don’t be afraid to be a little aggressive during this fight, as the boss doesn’t appear to have any one-hit-kill moves, meaning you can afford to take a hit here and there. Don’t get discouraged if it heals; just keep dodging and retaliating, and within about five minutes, it should go down. Ranged attackers can fire away with their preferred projectile but be advised that the quick speed of the boss might make it a hard target to hit.

Once it goes down, you’ll receive the Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor, which you can give to Enia to get some valuable gear.