How to beat Romina, Saint of the Bud strategy in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Seeing scarlet.
Romina, Saint of the Bud is a boss in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree that you need to defeat in order to progress in the DLC’s storyline. In fact, you could say she’s your last obstacle to unlocking the final area of the Shadow Realm. Which is also to say that you should expect a difficult fight on your hands.
She can be found in the Church of the Bud to the west of the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, an area in the northwest part of the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree map that you can reach via the Shadow Keep. You won’t need to defeat that Legacy Dungeon’s boss, Messmer the Impaler, beforehand, even though we recommend that you do so since it all ties in to the story progression.
This guide will provide you with all the information you need to put Romina in the ground for good so that you can get on with your quest to find Miquella by showing you how to beat Romina, Saint of the Bud in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
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How to prepare for Romina, Saint of the Bud in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
As one of the late-game bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you’ll want to be as strong as you can against Romina, so it’s best to have upgraded your blessings with the Scadutree Fragments by a decent level for increased attack and defence. While there are no NPCs to summon, you can of course summon Mimic Tear into this fight so it’s very worth obtaining and fully upgrading this unique Spirit Ash if you haven’t already done so.
The one thing to be wary of is that Romina uses attacks that build up Scarlet Rot, a terrible status effect that is basically like being poisoned but where you lose health at a more rapid pace. With that in mind, it’s best to be fully armoured up with rot-resistance gear or otherwise either carry some Preserving Boluses or have the Flame, Cleanse Me incantation.
How to defeat Romina, Saint of the Bud in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Romina doesn’t really announce herself when you step into the Church of the Bud, so you just get straight into the fight. You’ll still have time to take a chug of your Flask of Wondrous Physick or summon a Spirit Ash before she reaches you though. She’s quite mobile as her body is like a large scorpion split into a pair of legs, with deadly pincers on the end that can be used to attack you.
Her main weapon is her poleblade, which usually charges up and glows bright pink before she swings it. Note that both the blade and pincers can inflict Scarlet Rot build-up even if you block the attack, but given how telegraphed the poleblade attack is, you might prefer to dodge roll it instead.
The end of these attack animations is a good opening for you to land your own attacks, and while her scorpion legs are still capable of knocking you around if she swings around, they don’t do so much damage. Keeping up the pressure, she can also be staggered for a punishing riposte.
Of course, this can be easier said than done as she can be quite annoyingly agile, using those legs to spin around or even roll along the ground to disorient you. The worst thing that can happen early in the fight is that she’ll grab you with one of her pincers while the other buries itself into your head and, if this doesn’t instantly kill you, then you’ll almost certainly be inflicted with Scarlet Rot that will finish you off.
While Romina can also leap high up in the air before bringing down an attack, she’s even more prone to becoming airborne when you’ve taken off a third of her health bar. Suddenly, those small wings on her back transform into large butterfly wings. She’ll frequently take off when this happens, sometimes flying over to the other side of the arena before propelling back down towards you with a charged up spinning blade attack.
Her vulnerable moments should be when she’s taking flight or just finished her attack, however, she also conjures up a myriad of pink butterflies at these points. You want to keep away from these things because when they explode it leaves behind a mist that, you guessed it, also builds up Scarlet Rot. Though you may opt to just take the risk and get in your free hits if you have an incantation or item to instantly cure yourself of Scarlet Rot afterwards.
Fortunately, Romina doesn’t use these butterflies constantly, so the more cautious approach is to just evade these and bide your time for when she’s back to her normal attack phases. It’s also going to be easier for you to have a Spirit Ash take the aggro off you, so that you can approach the boss from the side or behind to land in some more hits. As long as you get clear of her rot-inducing effects and don’t get grabbed, you should be able to defeat her without too much problem.
Romina, Saint of the Bud rewards in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Defeating Romina will earn you a tidy sum of 380,000 Runes as well as Remembrance of the Saint of the Bud, an item that can either be consumed for more Runes or exchanged with Finger Reader Enia at the Roundtable Hold for one of two of Romina’s weapons - the rot-inducing Poleblade of the Bud or the Rotten Butterflies incantation.
More importantly, the path is now clear for you to reach Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree’s final Legacy Dungeon in the story. That is, assuming you have obtained Messmer’s Kindling? If not, then make you’ve defeated Messmer the Impaler beforehand.
Continue to next boss: Promised Consort Radahn
Need more help? Jump back to our list of Shadow of The Erdtree bosses or our Shadow of The Erdtree tips and tricks.