Quick Links
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How To Unlock The Locked Rennala Chest
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How To Beat The Baleful Shadow
After defeating 
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon , within the Raya Lucaria Grand Library in Elden Ring, Tarnished adventurers might notice a locked chest sitting near the Queen. Unlike other containers throughout the Lands Between, this chest is locked, preventing you from accessing its contents. There is no key nearby, as the solution does not lie within the world but in a particular NPC’s questline in Elden Ring.
The solution to this locked chest lies with the NPC Ranni, the Lunar Princess Demigod who you can encounter as you travel throughout the open world. The first time you meet Ranni, she will be near the Church of Elleh after you obtain your horse Torrent. You may stumble across her randomly during this portion of your travels, but this is the first step to unlocking Rennala’s Chest.
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How To Unlock The Locked Rennala Chest
Follow The Path Of The Dark Moon
The only way to open the chest near Rennala in Elden Ring is by following Ranni’s storyline and entering into the Demigod’s service. Her main storyline begins once Tarnished has defeated 
Starscourge Radahn of Caelid, thereby gaining access to the underground Eternal City of Nokron. The stars released from the sky open a massive crater in Limgrave that you can enter once the boss has been taken down.
After speaking with Ranni and her subordinates within 
Ranni’s Rise , the protagonist must retrieve the 
Fingerslayer Blade from Nokron, hidden within a building in the Night’s Sacred Ground. Afterward, Ranni will leave the tower, never to return. Your next step is to use the portal in Renna’s Rise to teleport to the northern half of Ainsel River and follow the Demigod’s path.
During this time, you can also pursue the questline of Blaidd, one of the
best characters in
Elden Ring
. His story is tied heavily to Ranni’s mission but is unnecessary for acquiring the key to the locked chest near Rennala.
Near the Site of Grace in Ainsel River Main, adventurers will reencounter Ranni; however, her appearance will be quite different from her previous form. In Ranni’s Rise, the Witch’s spirit resided within a human-sized, quadruple-armed doll. Now, her soul is housed in a small pocket-sized figurine called 
Miniature Ranni . After speaking to her several times, she reveals to the protagonist the next steps on the path to unlocking Rennala’s chest.
Ranni will task the protagonist with slaying an assassin of the Two Fingers called the Baleful Shadow. This mini-boss can be found within the cave south of the Nokstella, Eternal City, near the Nokstella Waterfall Basin. The humanoid enemy will be somewhat challenging, but defeating it will cause Ranni’s spirit to leave and give you the 
Discarded Palace Key , which is the item used to open the mysterious box in the Grand Library.
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How To Beat The Baleful Shadow
Use Magic Or Frost Based Attacks
The Baleful Shadow is considered a humanoid enemy and mini-boss, although it lacks a larger health bar seen by other dangerous foes in the game. As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator Hacx7, the Shadow can be backstabbed and parried, giving you more options to stagger the enemy for a visceral attack. The attacks from the Shadow deal Holy and Physical damage, so make sure you’re ready for these attacks.
Certain Talismans or consumables you can collect may give your character damage negation against Physical or Holy. Don’t forget to equip these items before challenging the Baleful Shadow during Ranni’s questline.
The greatest weaknesses of the Baleful Shadow are vulnerabilities to Magic and Frost-based attacks in Elden Ring. The creature is also impacted by Lightning damage slightly more, so try to bring weapons or spells capable of inflicting these damage types. The Shadow has great resistance to most status conditions, including Scarlet Rot, Bleeding, and immunity to other conditions like Madness and Death Blight.
The Baleful Shadow is weak to Frostbite though, making it easy to take off huge chunks of its health when you build up this frosty status effect. Certain Sorceries in Elden Ring can inflict Frostbite, as well as several weapons you can pick up throughout your adventures. Since the Shadow can heal five times while you fight it, you’ll want to find ways to take out larger amounts of health quickly to prevent the battle from prolonging.
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Baleful Shadow Move List |
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Attack |
Description |
How To Counter |
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Spinning Slash |
The Baleful Shadow spins its large sword around itself, trying to hit your character when you’re too close. |
Roll forward to the boss’ left side to get around it and backstab the Shadow as it recovers from this attack’s animation. |
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Sword Swings |
The Baleful Shadow swings its massive sword horizontally in a wide-sweeping attack meant to catch your character dodging at the wrong time. |
Dodge to the opposite side of where the sword from this attack is going. |
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Leaping Strike |
Jumping into the air, the Baleful Shadow strikes downward with a lunging slam, causing a small AoE of damage. |
Roll to the right side just as the boss is about to land. |
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Deadly Grab |
The Baleful Shadow pauses for a moment before charging at your character, trying to catch you in a grab that deals a lot of damage. |
Recognize the start-up of this attack and roll to the opposite side of the hand that would grab you at the last possible moment. |
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Charging Stab |
After a small wind-up, the Baleful Shadow charges forward, trying to skewer your character on its thrusting blade. |
Simply dodge to one side or forward as your character is about to be hit. |
Once you take down the Baleful Shadow, return to Raya Lucaria Grand Library and approach the chest to unlock it with the Discarded Palace Key. Inside, Tarnished will discover the 
Dark Moon Ring key item. From here, you must return to Ainsel River and cross the dangerous Lake of Rot before challenging another difficult boss, Astel, Naturalborn of the Void.
Travel past the boss arena when the unnatural creature is defeated to move onto the last stages of your journey with the Demigod of the Dark Moon. Adventurers can continue onward to the Cathedral of Manus Sellus, where they will experience the conclusion of Ranni’s questline. The Dark Moon Ring is integral here, but only after you have found a way to open the locked chest near Rennala in Elden Ring.
Source: Hacx7/YouTube
Elden Ring
- Platform(s)
- PS5 , Xbox One , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC
- Released
- February 25, 2022
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment , From Software
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op , Online Multiplayer
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
