How to beat Metyr, Mother of Fingers in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Metyr, Mother of Fingers is a real handful thanks for their arsenal of forceful attacks.

This many-fingered creature is found inside the Finger Ruins of Miyr, a hidden area in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

If you’d like to try your hand at this boss fight, here’s how to reach Metyr’s location and how to slay the finger-fiend.

Metyr location in the Elden Ring DLC

Metyr, Mother of Fingers is located below the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, on the northwestern part of the Realm of Shadow map.

If you travel from the Moorth Ruins to Bonny Village and then take the road to the northeast, it will eventually lead you to the Cathedral. However, you can’t enter the boss arena unless you’ve progressed far enough through Count Ymir’s questline.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

If you haven’t already begin Ymir’s quest, it involves meeting him at the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, before exploring a series of hallowed ruins from Ruins Maps you are given, taking you through areas such as the Cerulean Coast and the Shadow Keep.

Once done, return to Ymir and exhaust his dialogue, then ‘refresh’ the Cathedral of Manus Metyr location by fast-traveling to the Site of Grace, and you’ll find that Ymir has disappeared. Interact with the empty throne to reveal a ladder; if you go down the ladder and sound the bell on the other end of the path, you’ll be transported to the ‘Finger Ruins of Miyr’, Metyr’s boss arena.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

Beware that the ‘Sword hand of Night Anna’ will invade you after you go down the ladder; it’s best to defeat this elite enemy first, return to the Site of Grace in the Cathedral, and then fight Metyr.

Metyr weakness

Although the hand-shaped Metyr is a rather large boss, the Finger Ruins of Miyr offer plenty of space for a fight. Metyr deals physical and magical damage and is weak to Bleed (also known as blood loss or hemorrhage). Unfortunately, know that madness and sleep won’t work on this boss.

How to prepare for Metyr, Mother of Fingers

Here’s how to prepare against Metyr’s strengths and exploit the boss’s weaknesses:

• Defend yourself against magic damage, especially since it’s harder to dodge and block than Metyr’s physical damage. Obtainable through Sellen’s quest, Lusat’s armor set had amazing magic damage negation. Dane’s set, which is found near Bonny Village in the Realm of Shadow, is even better, but it requires a secret teleport coffin hidden in Shadow Keep. It’s highly recommended to equip a Talisman with damage negation as well, such as the Spelldrake Talisman +3, which is found in a storeroom in Castle Ensis.
• Use Bleed damage. Metyr is susceptible to Bleed, so weapons with innate Bleed damage are an excellent choice for this boss fight. The Rivers of Blood katana (dropped by Bloody Finger Okina), the Bloodhound’s Fang greatsword (dropped by Bloodhound Knight Darriwi), and Eleonora’s Poleblade (dropped by Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger as part of Yura’s questline) are some of the best weapons to bring with you. You may choose to dual-wield these Bleed weapons as many of Metyr’s attacks are slow and easy to dodge. Alternatively, you can use Bleed-inflicting spells or incantations, such as Briars Punishment (Mountaintops of the Giants), Bloodflame Blade (Liurnia), or Swarm of Flies (Mohgwyn Palace). Bloodborne arrows and bolts can help you inflict Bleed with a bow, while Blood Grease provides an easy way to apply Bleed to a non-Bleed weapon. All three crafting recipes are found in the Nomadic Warrior’s Cookbook [6]. Finally, you may throw some Swarm Pots at Metyr to inflict Bleed; the crafting recipe is found in the Nomadic Warrior’s Cookbook [24].
• Obtain Impenetrable Thorns. This Bleed-inflicting sorcery is a new Shadow of the Erdtree spell, and it seems particularly effective against Metyr. You can find it on a corpse in the Shadow Keep’s Storehouse, on an outside ledge on the seventh floor.
• Upgrade and equip some Spirit Ashes. Especially if your current build exploits Metyr’s weaknesses, one of the best Spirit Ashes for this boss fight is the Mimic Tear. You can find it behind a Stonesword Key seal in the Night’s Sacred Ground, on the Eternal City of Nokron map. As a tanky Spirit Ash who can inflict Bleed, the Dung Eater Puppet is also a great choice. You can buy this Spirit Ash from Seluvis, but you’ll have to do Seluvis’s quest and Ranni’s quest.
• Equip suitable Talismans. As mentioned before, the Spelldrake Talisman +3 is great against magic damage, while the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman +2 greatly reduces Metyr’s physical damage (found on a corpse in Crumbling Farum Azula). If you’re using a Bleed strategy, Lord of Blood’s Exultation is amazing as it improves your attack power whenever Metyr is bleeding. You can find this Talisman in the Leyndell Catacombs.

How to beat Metyr, Mother of Fingers

To beat Metyr in Elden Ring, it’s important to recognize incoming attacks and avoid them. Here’s what to expect:

• Slap and slam attacks: Whenever you’re close enough, Metyr will swing her front arms at you. Alternatively, she may slam one or both arms onto the ground in an attempt to smash you. This includes a fast arm-slamming sequence that requires multiple dodges. That said, the arm attacks often provide an excellent opportunity to dodge towards Metyr’s chest or side and land a few hits from there (preferably on the finger growth on her chest, which is her weak spot). Beware that Metyr may still hit you with her fingers (the ones growing from her side) while you’re attacking her flank.
• Body slam: Metyr raises her head and lifts her front body. It’ll take her a second to slam down, which should give you plenty of time to dodge away.
• Triple body slam: A fast sequence of three body slams, including a head slam. Be ready to dodge three times right at the moment of impact to avoid all damage.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

• Finger spray: Metyr rips at her chest and sprays tiny fingers towards you before dashing in your direction. Be prepared to dodge the dash!
• Finger summoning: Metyr rips her chest open to unleash a spray of tiny fingers, then drops some finger minions on the field. The minions are annoying but not particularly dangerous; slay them whenever you get the opportunity as you don’t want to end up with a field full of minions.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

• Laser attacks: If there’s some distance between you and Metyr, she’ll charge her laser attack (her head will start to glow) and unleash a purple laser beam at you. This can either be a short beam or a prolonged beam that moves from right to left (from your point of view). This attack has a lot of range and you’re unlikely to outrun it, so it’s better to dodge through it towards the right.
• Glowing ground explosion: Metyr raises her head and smashes it into the ground, causing the ground in front of her to glow and detonate shortly after. You may not be able to dodge away in time, but there’s a special trick to avoid damage; if you look closely, you can see that five lines have formed on the ground (from Metyr toward you). If you stay between those lines, the explosion won’t harm you.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

• Levitating shockwave attack: Once Metyr has lost roughly 50% of her HP, she’ll start to levitate before dealing magical damage in a large radius around her. You can dodge away to avoid the initial damage, but beware of the final shockwave from her tail; you must dodge shortly before impact, when Metyr lifts her arms.
• Levitating laser attack: in the second phase of the battle, Metyr may start to levitate again, dealing magical damage in an area around her and moving a laser beam across the battlefield. You must move away from Metyr to avoid the initial damage, then stay in the area between the whirlwind and the laser beams - it seems nearly impossible to dodge this attack completely, so make sure you’re near full HP when it starts, and be ready to heal immediately after.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

• Airborne spinning attack: When she’s low on HP, Metyr may lift upwards, spin around while airborne, and crash down on you. The crashing part comes rather suddenly, so you may want to outrun or block this attack rather than attempt to dodge it.
• Magical orbs: When she’s low on HP, Metyr may levitate upwards, raise her arms, and summon glowing orbs to the battlefield. The orbs will appear in your current location, where they’ll explode after a few seconds. Luckily, you can easily avoid damage by running away and leaving the trail of orbs behind you.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

The reddish cluster of fingers on Metyr’s chest is her weak spot, so if you’re using a melee build, try to hit that whenever you can - preferably with jump attacks. It’s a bit easier to dodge her attacks to the side and hit her in the flank instead, but keep in mind that it’ll take much longer to deplete her HP.

A ranged build won’t allow you to spam hits against Metyr’s weak spot like a melee fighter, but it’s still a viable option if you use Spirit Ashes to distract Metyr. It’s not too hard to find enough charging time as Metyr’s attacks are quite slow. If you’re still having trouble against Metyr, remember the Impenetrable Thorns sorcery mentioned in the ‘prepare’ section above.

Defeating Metyr, Mother of Fingers is rewarded with 420,000 Runes and the Metyr, Mother of Fingers Remembrance. From here, you’re now free to continue and complete Count Ymir’s questline.

Looking for more Shadow of the Erdtree guides? Check out our guides on new Elden Ring DLC weapons, armor, bosses, map fragments, sites of grace, and talismans. We’ve also got location guides on where to find Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes, and an interactive Elden Ring DLC map.