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One of the great joys of FromSoftware’s games, other than piecing together the lore from scant item descriptions, is the glorious boss battles. WithElden Ringshifting to an open-world style, the discovery of optional bosses became a reward unto itself, and Shadow of the Erdtree continues this.
While the Lands Between were already large, the depth of the Realm of Shadow is almost insurmountable, with new bosses and areas hidden around every nook and cranny. One such boss is Ralva, the great red bear. It’s a pretty self-explanatory name, though bears have never been the easiest beast to slay in Elden Ring.
Where To Find Ralva The Great Red Bear
Ralva is nestled out of the way of any major location you’d have to visit, so a bit of exploration is required though reaching them is no major struggle.
They arelocated in a secluded corner of the Scadu Altus, itself entered throughCastle Ensisor by finding the back entrance toFort Reprimandthrough Gravesite Plains. Ralva themselves aredirectly north of the Moorth Ruins in a small pondin a lightly forested section. This is also directly east of the military camp before approaching the Shadow Keep.
While approaching Ralva, you will encounter a corpse with an item on it. Make sure to pick this up to acquire the Highlander outfit set.
Recommended Build For Ralva The Great Red Bear
Ralva is not exceptionally unlike fighting a Runebear with their ferocity, though they havea stronger focus on controlling their battle arenathan constantly swiping at you. As such, theyrequire some more precise positioningduring battle. Here are some extra recommendations:
What’s important to remember against Ralva is that they can cross the battlefield quickly, but tend to have slower, hard-hitting single attacks rather than multi-hit combos.
How To Beat Ralva The Great Red Bear
Ralva, despite being a boss, isroughly comparable in difficulty to your average Runebearwith some extra moves thrown in, especially during their second phase. That said, theyrely more on single heavy attacksso as long as you stay close, you can get a good number of attacks in between hits.
Due to Ralva’s size and area-of-effect moves, it’s actuallybest to stay behind them at all times. Their area-of-effect moves will still be clearly readable, while their swipes will have a much harder time hitting you.
Ralva The Great Red Bear Moveset
Ralva’s arena has other bears on the approach to it, so you may use those as a quick refresher on the general feel, though Ralva has plenty more moves than their smaller versions. In their second phase, entered once around half of their health is depleted, willadd shockwaves to most of their attacks.
Below we’ve listed their entire moveset and how best to manage each of their attacks.
Counter
Dual Paw Slam
Ralva will stand up on both legs and thenslam down with their paws.
When Ralva does this attack,they will remain stationary for a moment. Read them carefully as this could be followed up with an area-of-effect shockwave.
Dual Paw Slam And Shockwave
Ralva will stand up on both legs and then slam down with their paws. After a second, they willthrust their paws into the ground again and send out shockwavesin all directions around them.
When you see Ralva standing up, get ready to jump.Jumping avoids the shockwave with easeand lets you pull off a stance-breaking jump attack on the way back down.
Single paw Swipe
Ralva executes aquick swipe in frontof them
This is a simple move, one best avoided bynever standing in front of Ralva.
Single Paw Slam And Shockwave
Ralva will quickly slam the ground with a single paw,causing a cascading shockwave when they pull their paw back. This seems to hit even further behind than the Dual Paw Slam
Same as for the Dual Paw Slam,stay behind Ralva and jump to avoid the shockwave. This move is executed a bit faster so be wary of any ground attacks Ralva does.
Roar
Once Ralva is lowered enough in HP, they will enter their second phase by unleashing a thunderous roar. Thisdeals high damage, knocks you away, and continues to deal damageif you enter its radius again.
Ralva slowly pulls back and stands up before roaring, so get some distance if you see them doing this below half health. This attack hits all around them continuously, sodistance is the only solution.
Charging Swipe
While at a distance from Ralva, they willquickly dash at you and perform a swipe.
This move can be avoided by staying near Ralva at all times. If they manage to create distance,close the gap quickly by dodging towards them.
In Ralva’s second phase, while all of their swipe attacks gain an aftershock that increases their range and damage,they still only hit in front of them. The slam attacks with ground-shattering shockwaves remain the same as the first phase.
Ralva The Great Red Bear Strengths And Weaknesses
Ralva is sturdy like most bears in the game. Though they have no particular strengths,they have no exceptional weaknesses either. This means no build has an extreme advantage or disadvantage against them, so a little bit of skill goes a long way with them.
That said,Ralva can assuredly bleed, and they can bleed a lot. As well as this, though it’s next to impossible to interrupt their attacks,their stance can be broken, leaving them open to riposte. However, they only remain stance-broken for a few seconds so if you’re attacking from behind you may not reach their head for the riposte in time.
What Does Ralva The Great Red Bear Drop?
Upon defeat, Ralva will drop a single item - thePelt of Ralva. This might seem like a surprisingly lacking reward, though it’s intended to be used in conjunction with other bear-related items as the Pelt Of Ralva ‘jokingly’increases the power of bear communion. Take from that what you will.
With that, Ralva has been defeated and one less menacing bear exists in nature.
