Players who manage to find and defeat the secret Scadutree Avatar boss in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will notice that in addition to its Remembrance of the Shadow Sunflower, it also drops an item with quite a bit of significance: Miquella’s Great Rune. You may recall that “Somewhere, a great rune has broken” message that popped up while exploring Scadu Altus; that rune was Miquella’s, and you’ve just found what remains of it.
At first, it’s natural to assume Miquella’s Great Rune is like all the others you acquired from major bosses in the Lands Between, and that it’s a Key Item you can equip and activate with a Rune Arc for a special bonus. It’s likely you then realized this isn’t the case, though, and saw that it’s actually listed as a Tool in your inventory you can slot into your quick menu and use at any time. However, what it actually does isn’t immediately clear, nor is where and when you’re supposed to use it.
If you’re confused like I was when I first got Miquella’s Great Rune, don’t worry — I’ll go over what you need to know about its use and effects in the Elden Ring DLC in the quick guide below. Note that spoilers will eventually follow.
Miquella’s Great Rune use and effect
So, what does Miquella’s Great Rune do in Elden Ring? Using it to see doesn’t yield any clues, but you’ll find a big hint in the item’s description. It reads:
Broken and bereft of its bounty, it retains naught but the power to resist charms.
This means Miquella’s Great Rune is only used for resisting charms, so keep that in mind as you play. Note that I can’t get more specific about where and when you’re supposed to use it without sharing spoilers; if you care about avoiding spoilers, you should stop reading here.
The disclaimer below includes one final spoiler warning before my full explanation of what the rune does.
This is my last spoiler warning for the final boss of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree follow. If you don’t want to know who or what that boss is before you reach it yourself, just know that Miquella’s Great Rune will come in handy during that fight. You’ll probably understand why when a specific thing happens to you.
What to do with Miquella’s Great Rune
The purpose of Miquella’s Great Rune is to save you from a special grab attack that the final boss Promised Consort Radahn can perform. Specifically, this attack can occur in Phase 2 after Miquella climbs onto Radahn’s back.
The attack in question is one where Radahn lunges forward to pick you up while glowing with light particles, allowing Miquella to charm you. Though this move deals no damage, Miquella will steal your heart if it lands twice during the fight, causing a game over.
However, using Miquella’s Great Rune after being grabbed once will reset that counter, allowing you to be grabbed again without being charmed. Basically, just use the rune any time Radahn successfully grabs you so Miquella can never steal your heart.
The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is finally here, and it makes one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of all time even better. It’s out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.
