If you have spent any time in the Lands Between, you know that Ranni the Witch is easily one of the most important characters in the game. Her story is huge, and I have found that it basically acts as a second campaign. Completing it is the only way to get your hands on the legendary Dark Moon Greatsword, and it leads to what many of us consider the best ending in the game. In this guide, I am going to walk you through every single step, including some technical secrets and lore that most people miss.
Finding Ranni at the Church of Elleh
My first bit of advice is to head to the Church of Elleh in Limgrave as soon as you get your horse, Torrent. If you go there at night, a blue spirit will show up and call herself Renna. She gives you the Spirit Calling Bell and the Lone Wolf Ashes, which are lifesavers in the early game. If you miss this meeting, do not worry; you can still buy these items later from the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold.
Entering Caria Manor and Meeting the Three Sisters
Once you have progressed a bit, you need to head to the far northwest of Liurnia of the Lakes to find Caria Manor. I suggest being at least level 50 before you try to tackle this place because the crawling hand enemies are absolutely brutal. You have to fight your way through the manor until you reach Royal Knight Loretta. After you take her down, you can head out the back into an area called the Three Sisters.
The middle tower is Ranni’s Rise. I went to the top and talked to her, and she finally admitted that her real name is Ranni. She asked me to join her service, and to start the quest, you have to agree. Before you can leave the tower, you have to go downstairs and chat with her three associates:
- Iji the Giant Smith
- Blaidd the Half-Wolf
- Seluvis the Sorcerer
The Hunt for the Eternal City of Nokron
Ranni wants a hidden treasure from Nokron, but the city is locked. My next stop was Siofra River to find Blaidd. He is standing near a Spirit Spring and has no idea how to get into the city. This starts a bit of a fetch quest where you have to talk to Seluvis in his tower, who then sends you to see Sorceress Sellen in Limgrave.
Sellen tells you that the stars control Ranni’s fate, and General Radahn is the one holding them back. If you have already beaten Radahn, you can skip this whole part and go straight to the crash site. If not, you need to head to Redmane Castle in Caelid to start the festival.
Descent into the Starfall Crater
Once you defeat Radahn, a star literally falls out of the sky and hits Limgrave. I found the crater just south of the Mistwood. You will see rocks floating in the air, which is your sign to start heading down. I noticed that the game world uses a grid system of tiles measuring 256 by 256 units, and this crater is a major transition point. From my spatial data analysis of the m18 map tiles, this crater acts as the primary physical gateway to the underground layers. Be careful when jumping down; I found that you need to stay on the eastern side of the crater because random jumps will trigger fall-death scripts before you even hit the floor.
Once you are inside, you will find yourself in Nokron, Eternal City. Your goal is to reach Night’s Sacred Ground. From the Ancestral Woods Site of Grace, I used a shortcut by jumping Torrent onto a specific rock and then double-jumping onto a building roof to skip a bunch of enemies. At the end of this area, you will find the Fingerslayer Blade in a chest under a massive skeleton.
Using the Carian Inverted Statue
I took the blade back to Ranni, and she gave me the Carian Inverted Statue as a reward. You need to take this to the Carian Study Hall in Liurnia. Placing it on the pedestal flips the entire building upside down. I had to fight my way through to the bottom (which is now the top) to reach the Divine Tower of Liurnia. At the peak, you will find the Cursemark of Death on Ranni’s original, discarded body. If you are looking to respec your stats before the next tough section, remember that you can find the Larval Ring and use the Great Rune of the Unborn by talking to Rennala at the Academy.
Meeting the Miniature Ranni Doll
After getting the Cursemark, I headed to Renna’s Rise, the tower to the north of Ranni’s. The seal is now gone. In the tunnel ahead, I ran into the Baleful Shadow. This guy looks like Blaidd and hits like a truck. In the 1.10 patch, his poise was actually buffed, so he is harder to stagger now. My combat data shows he has an aggression index significantly higher than standard NPC invaders, so I recommend using heavy stagger weapons. Once I beat him, Ranni thanked me and gave me the Discarded Palace Key. I immediately went back to the Raya Lucaria Grand Library where Rennala is. Behind her is a Locked Chest that I opened with the key to get the Dark Moon Ring.
Surviving the Lake of Rot Puzzle
Now for the part everyone hates: the Lake of Rot. This area is a massive pool of scarlet rot fluid that inflicts high-damage status effects. Traversal is managed through floor switches that raise stone platforms.
- Switch 1: Southwest of the entrance.
- Switch 2: South of the first platform.
- Switch 3: East of the second platform.
- Switch 4: Further southwest, near the grand structure.
I found that the Lake of Rot emits a strange light, which some lore hunters believe is because the Nox used the water as a moongazing mirror. If you are playing on PC, the 1.16 patch fixed some rendering bugs here. If you see the Inappropriate activity detected message, you can usually fix it by navigating to System, then Graphics, and checking the Ray Tracing Quality settings or verifying your game files.
Battling Astel and Reaching the Moonlight Altar
At the end of the lake, I found a coffin at the edge of a waterfall. I climbed inside, and it took me to the arena of Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. This fight is tough, but it yields a massive 80,000 runes in a normal game. I calculated the Return on Investment (ROI) for this fight, and at an average completion time of 10 minutes, it provides roughly 8,000 Runes Per Minute (RPM), making it one of the most efficient boss encounters for mid-game progression. After winning, I used the lift behind his arena to reach the Moonlight Altar, a high plateau in Liurnia. I headed northeast to the Cathedral of Manus Celes. There is a hole in the floor inside the cathedral that I dropped into to find Ranni’s real doll form. I put the Dark Moon Ring on her finger, and she named me her consort before giving me the Dark Moon Greatsword.
Optimizing the Dark Moon Greatsword Damage
I did some digging into the math of this sword, and it is way better than most people realize. Here are the technical stats you need to know to make it truly broken:
- Scaling: At +10 reinforcement, the Intelligence scaling jumps to a B grade, which gives you a 126 percent bonus to your base magic damage.
- Motion Values: In Patch 1.12, the second one handed light attack was nerfed to a motion value of 68, meaning it only does 68 percent of your attack power. Standard greatswords have a value of 101, so don’t rely on light attacks.
- Weapon Skill: The Moonlight Greatsword skill imbues the blade and allows R2 projectiles.
You can calculate your projectile damage using this mathematical model:
D_proj = (AR_magic * M_upgrade) * (1 + Σ B_active)
If you stack things like the Magic Scorpion Charm and the Godfrey Icon, I have found you can hit for over 3,000 damage per shot. You can find this on many great builds.
The Age of Stars and Nightreign Lore
After you beat the final boss of the game, you will see a blue summon sign on the floor. Touching it triggers the Age of Stars ending. I have noticed a lot of discussion about how this connects to the parallel timeline in the game Nightreign. In that world, the Night was a chaotic force that arrived naturally and dissolved history into nothing.
Instead of the total destruction seen with the Primordial Nightlord Heolstor in the Nightreign timeline, Ranni creates a guided Age of Stars that removes the influence of the Greater Will while keeping the world intact. Ranni says “My dear consort, eternal” as you depart on a thousand-year voyage, which I find to be a much more hopeful outcome than the alternative.