How to Beat Royal Knight Loretta - Elden Ring

Rewards: Loretta’s Greatbow, Ash of War: Loretta’s Slash, 10 000
Summons Available: Yes

While this boss has a few attacks that are similar to the Tree Sentinel, instead of deadly shield attacks Royal Knight Loretta has access to several sorceries.

General Tips

Keep your distance from the boss when they’re using sorceries.
Don’t commit to long attack chains.

Melee Strategy

The main strategy here is to wait for the boss to use an attack before dodging it and punishing them with one of your own. Most of the swings are easy to dodge and predict, and the timings of Loretta’s attacks make it one of the most straightforward bosses in the game. Whenever the boss finishes an attack or an attack chain, go in for a hit or two depending on your weapon’s speed. Doing so will ensure that you don’t find yourself locked in an animation, and you’ll be able to quickly react to any incoming attacks.

There are only a few attacks that are somewhat trickier to dodge: the Hoof Stomp, the Horse Shove, the High Jump Into Glintblades, and the Double Slash. All of those can also be dodged, but they are either slightly delayed, faster than the rest, or require two rolls instead of one. The rest of this boss’s attacks are fairly straightforward, and not committing to long attack chains will leave you plenty of time to dodge them.

One thing to look out for throughout the fight are the different sorceries that the boss has at their disposal. However, while there are a few different ones, all of them are dealt with in the same manner. When the boss starts using a sorcery, move away from them to give yourself enough time to dodge the projectiles by either running or rolling. In the case of Glintblades, run close enough to the boss to bait them into flying towards you, which will make them really easy to dodge.

Ranged Strategy

While the boss will be able to fairly quickly close the distance, whenever they use Glintblade sorceries you will have time to throw a spell or two of your own. These sorceries have a small delay before flying towards you, which is enough time to safely use spells or ranged attacks. Alternatively, if being cautious and patient sounds boring to you, you can use the melee strategy and replace the quick attacks by quick spells.

Finally, as with any boss where summons are available, use your sturdiest Spirit Ashes to distract the boss while you’re emptying your FP reserves.

Moveset

With most of this boss’s attacks being very straightforward, we’ll only be listing the ones that can be trickier to avoid.

Glintblades – The boss summons several flying swords that fly towards you after a small delay. Easy to dodge through and outrun if you keep your distance.
Hoof Stomp – Loretta’s horse rears before bringing it’s front hooves down after a small delay. Dodge towards the horse’s back, or simply sprint around the boss to avoid it.
Horse Shove – Both the boss and its horse start leaning to one side before trying to shove you, all while Loretta attacks horizontally using the halberd. Pay attention to the horse’s movements to dodge at the right time. If this attack proves to be troublesome, it can be avoided by never standing on the boss’s flank.
Double Slash – The boss’s halberd starts glowing before the boss hops forward while swinging its weapon twice, horizontally. Make sure to have enough stamina for two dodge rolls to safely dodge these.
High Jump Into Glintblades – The boss jumps high into the air before coming down with a horizontal slash and summoning several Glintblades. This jump takes longer than you would expect, so be aware of this attack’s slight delay and dodge away from the boss to give yourself enough distance to safely dodge the incoming flying swords.