Elden Ring Ranni questline walkthrough

We helped Ranni, but we’re still maidenless.

Update: We’ve streamlined the information on this page, embedded more links to our guides to help you out, and added a summary of all of Ranni’s quest steps, so you can easily figure out what you have left to do.

You’re probably well on your way with your adventure across The Lands Between, yet once you start Ranni’s quest in Elden Ring , you’ll soon realize just how much more there is to see.

If you’re looking to claim the Dark Moon Ring and Greatsword, defeat the Baleful Shadow, or make use of the Carian Inverted Statue, you’re going to need to do a lot of exploring.

Elden Ring Ranni questline walkthrough

Ranni’s questline is long, winding, and easy to get lost in. We’ve broken the entire quest up into multiple steps below so that you can easily navigate where you are in the quest, and can have no trouble coming back to this page if you decide to explore the wonderful areas you’ll be coming across during this questline.

• Elden Ring Ranni’s quest overview
• How to start Ranni’s quest in Elden Ring
• Where to get the Fingerslayer Blade
• How to get to Ainsel River and get the Miniature Ranni Doll
• Where to find the Baleful Shadow and get the Discarded Palace Key
• Where do you use the Discarded Palace Key?
• Where do you use the Dark Moon Ring?
• How to finish Ranni’s quest and get the Dark Moon Greatsword in Elden Ring

Elden Ring Ranni’s quest overview

While we delve into much more detail about each step of Ranni’s questline in Elden Ring below, her quest can be quite long and at times, confusing, so here’s a brief rundown of all the quest steps so you can easily figure out what you have and haven’t done yet.

This overview also includes optional quest steps, but we have marked these as such.

• [Optional] Meet Blaidd in Mistwood.
• Complete Caria Manor and meet Ranni in Ranni’s Rise. If she is not there, you may need to defeat Radahn and return.
• Speak to Ranni’s counsel in her Rise: Blaidd, Seluvis, and Iji.
• Speak to Ranni again, and she will go to sleep.
• Meet Blaidd in Siofra River.
• Meet Seluvis in Seluvis’ Rise, and collect Seluvis’ Introduction letter.
• Meet Sellen at Waypoint Ruins, and give her Seluvis’ Letter.
• Meet Blaidd again. The Redmane Festival will now begin.
• [Alternate ways to start Redmane Festival] Rather than meet Blaidd, Seluvis, and Sellen, you can start the Redmane Festival early by reaching Altus Plateau. Alternatively, you can speak to Jerren at Redmane Castle about Iji, then speak to Iji.
• Defeat Radahn at Redmane Castle.
• Visit Nokron and retrieve the Fingerslayer Blade.
• Give the Fingerslayer Blade to Ranni, and retrieve the Carian Inverted Statue from her.
• [Optional] Use the Carian Inverted Statue at the Divine Tower of Liurnia and retrieve the Cursemark of Death from the top. This item is used as part of Fia’s quest , and you do not need to visit this Divine Tower to complete Ranni’s quest.
• Visit Renna’s Rise, near Ranni’s Rise, and use the teleporter at the top to reach Ainsel River.
• Pick up the Miniature Ranni Doll in Ainsel River and speak to it repeatedly at a Site of Grace.
• Defeat the Baleful Shadow in Ainsel River, and retrieve the Discarded Palace Key.
• Use the Discarded Palace Key on the chest in Rennala’s boss arena to retrieve the Dark Moon Ring.
• Return to Ainsel River and advance into the Lake of Rot, where you’ll need to hop into a coffin that teleports you to the Grand Cloister.
• Defeat Astel, Naturalborn of the Void, in the Grand Cloister.
• Enter the Cathedral of Manus Celes, give Ranni the Dark Moon Ring, and collect the Dark Moon Greatsword. The quest is now complete.

How to start Ranni’s quest in Elden Ring

To start Ranni’s quest in Elden Ring, you need to visit Caria Manor, defeat Royal Knight Loretta, and climb up Ranni’s Rise in the secluded Three Sisters area behind the manor.

Image credit:VG247/FromSoftware

There are a couple of variations for how this scene may play out. Typically, you can talk to her without an issue. If you’ve started Rogier’s quest, however, he’ll send you to Ranni, who then sends you back, and then once you visit her again, she’ll accept you into her service.

Should you have made it to Altus Plateau or started the Radahn Festival, Ranni will disappear until you’ve defeated Radahn .

This is because Blaidd is a necessary part of Ranni’s quest, but he is also required during the Radahn Festival.

After agreeing to be in her service, you’ll need to speak with the three different characters on different levels of the tower: Half-Wolf Blaidd , Preceptor Seluvis , and War Counselor Iji. Exhaust their dialogue, and then speak with Ranni once more, who’ll explain that she’s going to sleep and won’t be able to speak to the player for some time.

After this, go and find Blaidd in Siofra River.

Use the Siofra River Well in Weeping Peninsula to access Siofra River underground.

Blaidd is found directly northeast of where you enter Siofra River, where the blue map marker is in this image.

Travel to Mistwood, and go to the Siofra River Well to access the underground . Blaidd can be found in the location shown in the above image. Speak with him, and he’ll want help trying to reach Nokron.

Pay a visit to Seluvis’ Rise at the Three Sisters next.

Now, you need to return to Seluvis’ Rise , another tower in the Three Sisters just to the southeast of Ranni’s. Speak with Seluvis, take the unrelated potion for his quest - don’t give it to Nepheli , though - and then speak to him again to get the letter of introduction from him.

Up next, we’re going to Waypoint Ruins.

Next, find Sellen at the base of Waypoint Ruins in Limgrave . Go down the stairs and defeat the boss, Pumpkin Head, and Sellen will be in the next room. Agree to learn sorcery from them, and then give them the letter from Seluvis.

Head to Redmane Castle next.

Go back to Blaidd at Siofra River and speak with him to tell him what you’ve learned. Next up, you’re going to have to travel to the Impassible Greatbridge Site of Grace , shown above in the southeast of Caelid, and take the teleporter here to get into Redmane Castle.

If you already arrived at Redmane’s courtyard before or reached Altus Plateau, you’ll automatically skip this entire phase of Ranni’s quest. If this happened to you, it’s not a huge deal. You’ll miss a bit of lore and character backstory, but it’s nothing vital to Ranni’s mission and doesn’t involve missing any equipment.

You can also speak with Sellen and begin her quest without meeting Seluvis first, but you’ll ideally want to visit Seluvis’ first to complete the quest quicker.

Continue forward into the courtyard and speak with Blaidd, who is stood by a fire. Then go up the stairs in front of you and speak with Jerren, the shouting festival organiser on the left. Watch the cutscene before making your way through the chapel behind you to join the fight. We’ve defeated Starscourge Radahn now , but we’ve highlighted where each NPC will be standing prior to victory above.

Go into the entrance of the main building behind Jerren, and then right through the door to find the elevator that will take you down to the beach. On the beach, there is a teleporter that will take you directly to the boss fight against Radahn.

Where to get the Fingerslayer Blade in Elden Ring

Once your great foe is no more, a star will fall to earth and open a path to your next destination. This is how you finally get into Nokron .

You’ll find the star’s landing place by travelling to the Fort Haight West Site of Grace and heading west to where you’ll see floating rocks in the sky. Travel down to the bottom of this crater to access Nokron.

Welcome to one of the best areas in Elden Ring, but good luck with the mobs here.

In Nokron, you need to make your way to Night’s Sacred Ground.

There’s only one way forward in the city, and it leads you to the Mimic Tear boss. Make sure to pick up the Glovewort Bell Bearings while you’re here too.

Defeat the Mimic Tear - remove all your equipment before entering the arena, then re-equip it once the boss forms to make this fight easier - then head to the southwest corner of the area and grab the Ancestral Forest Site of Grace . From there, jump from the cliff edge to the rooftops below, and follow the path around until you reach a large church.

This area is called Night’s Sacred Ground , and you can acquire the infamous Mimic Tear Spirit Ashes here if you fancy.

Descend the ladder on the other side of the church and defeat the giant sentient boulder (or snipe it from the balcony), then make your way out onto the main street of Night’s Sacred Ground.

Either sprint past or defeat the silver tears and giant, then take the item from the altar in the mausoleum at the end of the street.

Here, you’ll find the Fingerslayer Blade and can also grab the Night’s Sacred Ground Site of Grace.

Return to Ranni’s Rise, give her the blade, and she will give you the Carian Inverted Statue. This grants you access to the Liurnia of the Lakes Divine Tower via the Carian Study Hall in the east. You don’t need to go here for Ranni’s quest, but it is an important part of Fia’s quest , which leads to the Age of Duskborn ending.

It’s also worth considering that giving the blade to Ranni will halt Seluvis’ quest. If you want to complete his quest, you should do so before giving the Fingerslayer Blade to Ranni.

How to get to Ainsel River and get the Miniature Ranni Doll in Elden Ring

Next, you’ll need to make your way to Ainsel River to continue the quest - but not via any method you have had access to so far.

It’s also worth speaking to Blacksmith Iji again, as the Carian Filigreed Crest talisman will be available for purchase from him now. This talisman is great for going up against enemies like Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy , as it lowers the FP cost of your Skills by 25%.

Last but not least of the Rises, head to Renna’s Rise next.

Go to Renna’s Rise in Three Sisters, which is the tower to the north of Ranni’s Rise that was previously sealed by a barrier. Climb the tower, grab the Snow Witch set from the chest half way up, then take the teleporter at the top to get to a new area deep in Ainsel River.

Retrieve the Miniature Ranni Doll from this coffin.

When you’re here, pick up the item ahead of you by the coffin, the Miniature Ranni Doll .

At the nearest Site of Grace, choose to ’talk to miniature Ranni’.

Rest at the nearby Site of Grace and speak with the doll; it’ll appear as one of the options while resting, reading ‘Talk to miniature Ranni’ . You might be met with silence at first, but persevere, and the doll will speak with you on the third attempt.

This opens up the next section of the quest, where you have to scour the underground caverns for another lost city, Nokstella, and the Baleful Shadow, an enforcer of the Two Finger’s hegemony.

Where to find the Baleful Shadow and get the Discarded Palace Key in Elden Ring

After speaking with the Miniature Ranni Doll, continue through Ainsel River Main and Uhl Palace Ruins and take the right-hand fork into Nokstella.

You will likely want to run past this fella.

Go straight through this cave with ants.

Continue past the large centipede enemy of Uhl Palace Ruins and go through the grand gate, and then through a cave of ants to eventually get to Nokstella.

Grab this Site of Grace before continuing.

Hop down the ladder or platforms and grab the Nokstella, Eternal City Site of Grace ahead of you.

Stay on ground level and follow along the river, ignoring the first set of stairs. Instead, go up the second set.

Run along the river and go up the second set of stairs you encounter.

Be wary of enemies here and advance ahead, jumping off the right of the bridge before entering the building at the end.

At the end of this bridge, jump off to the right.

Now, continue running along the river and past the ant enemies and electric black blobs that’ll fire arrows at you. You’ll reach a grand entrance that has an elevator in it, which takes you to Nokstella Waterfall Basin .

Run ahead through the cave, but be very careful not to get caught up in the black fog spewed out by the basilisk enemies. It quickly fills your death meter, which leads to… well, death.

In the next clearing, you fight with the Baleful Shadow boss, who is Blaidd as an Invader. He’s pretty easy to take on at range or with magic, but requires a little more management at melee range. When felled, he’ll drop the Discarded Palace Key .

Where do you use the Discarded Palace Key in Elden Ring?

Now, with the Discarded Palace Key in your possession, you can finally open the mysterious chest in Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon’s boss room.

Return to Raya Lucaria Academy and use the Discarded Palace Key on the locked chest there.

Travel to the Raya Lucaria Academy Grand Library Site of Grace , where Rennala resides.

Head over to the chest, and the Discarded Palace Key can be used to open it. Here, you’ll loot the Dark Moon Ring .

Where do you use the Dark Moon Ring in Elden Ring?

Make your way to the Lake of Rot via Nokstella Waterfall Basin.

Ranni’s questline now makes you return to the Nokstella Waterfall Basin and continue past the location where the Baleful Shadow was, take an elevator, and then navigate the Lake of Rot . Grab the Lake of Rot Shoreside Site of Grace here, right after exiting the elevator.

You must now reach the Grand Cloister ahead. You can run around stepping on platforms to gain more flooring across the Lake of Rot, and use a spell like ‘Flame, Cleanse Me’ to cleanse the Scarlet Rot here, but I found this painfully slow.

If you have enough Crimson Flasks, you can actually dash straight towards the Grand Cloister (shown above) while repeatedly using Crimson Flasks. If you need to reduce the rot meter, though, put some Cleansing Boluses on your quick items menu.

Jump in the coffin at the end of the Lake of Rot to reach the next area.

When you reach the Grand Cloister, navigate the ledges ahead to reach the floor, then go left along the river to find the top of the waterfall. Hop in the coffin here. This will trigger a cutscene, and then you’ll end up in the next area.

Prepare for a tough boss fight.

Now you’re in the next area, you can traverse the mist to face Astel, Naturalborn of the Void .

With a melee summon to distract their attention and a powerful weapon in hand, they shouldn’t be too hard. They do have some devastating attacks that can easily one hit those who are low on Vigor, but he’s quite slow and they’re easy enough to dodge after some practice.

How do you finish Ranni’s quest and get the Dark Moon Greatsword in Elden Ring?

Once Astel is defeated, this is where the Dark Moon Ring becomes vital. Go through the door on the other side of the boss arena to reach an area known as the Moonlight Altar.

Without the Dark Moon Ring, you’ll not be able to traverse forward through the Moonlight Altar to the Cathedral of Manus Celes , where Ranni resides. When you do advance ahead, be wary of Glintstone Dragon Adula appearing in your way, though; you can run past them.

After grabbing the Grace, jump down the hole on your right.

Grab the Cathedral of Manus Celes Site of Grace, and jump down the hole to the right of it.

With the ring, head forward and further down into the cave until you see the bloody Ranni doll. Interact with her to put the Dark Moon Ring onto her, and a small cutscene will be triggered.

Ranni will speak with you, and then vanish. In return for your work, she’ll drop the the Dark Moon Greatsword a moment after she leaves. This also marks the end of Ranni’s questline!

Now that the preparations have been made, when you finally reach the climax of the game you can summon Ranni to experience her Elden Ring ending : the Age of the Stars ending.

For more help with taking on The Lands Between and becoming Elden Lord, check out our comprehensive Elden Ring guide .

Elden Ring

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Think you know Elden Ring?

Take our quiz and prove it!