How to get the Hand of Malenia in Elden Ring

The Hand of Malenia is one of the most powerful katanas in Elden Ring, acquired by trading the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess at the Finger Reader. That, of course, is the easy part.

To get the Remembrance, and thus the Hand of Malenia, players must first defeat Morgott, the Omen King in Leyndell, Royal Capital. This opens up the Path to the Grand Lift of Rold. They then need to find the left and right halves of the Haligtree Secret Medallion and use a hidden prompt at the Grand Lift to reach the Path to the Haligtree.

Far to the north of the Grand Lift and Path, beyond Ordina, Liturgical Town is the Haligtree itself. Malenia rests at the base of the tree in a fortress called Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. She’s one of, if not the, most difficult fights in all of Elden Ring, with two distinct phases, unpredictable and powerful attacks, and the ability to heal with every hit she lands.

Defeating Malenia rewards 480,000 runes and the Remembrance of the Rot Goddess, both worthy prizes for overcoming her. The Hand of Malenia itself requires 16 Strength and a whopping 48 Dexterity to use, but it continues gaining three or four additional attack rating until 60 Dexterity. Fully upgraded and at base requirements, the Hand has an AR of more than 500.

The Hand’s sheer attack strength combined with its Ash of War Waterfowl Dance will make short work of any enemy foolish enough to be caught in the tornado of blades.

Best of all, the Hand’s damage is purely physical, meaning it doesn’t hit multiple enemy resistances. So while weapons like Moonveil can reach higher attack values, some of their raw damage can be cut by the right armor or stats.

Waterfowl Dance is especially powerful in PvP, as it only takes a few hits of the combo to down any cooperator or host who hasn’t invested significantly into Vigor and thus has enough HP to tank some damage.