Elden Ring: How to beat Mad Tongue Alberich in Roundtable Hold

Throughout Elden Ring, hostile NPCs will occasionally invade your game, and you’ll have to defeat them before moving on to another area. One of these NPCs is Mad Tongue Alberich, found in Roundtable Hold. He can be a pretty tricky opponent, but if you beat him, you’ll unlock a multiplayer item, the Taunter’s Tongue.

You can access this fight immediately after arriving in Roundtable Hold for the first time, but we highly advise that you hold off on fighting Alberich until you’re at a much higher level. We defeated him around level 40, and he still put up a pretty good fight.

Mad Tongue Alberich’s location

To find Mad Tongue Alberich, first fast-travel to Roundtable Hold. Through one of the doorways is a balcony overlooking a chamber. Jump off of the balcony, make your way to the far door, and Alberich will spawn. You’ll receive a notification letting you know that he is invading.

The Fight

When Alberich first appears, you’ll have a chance to get behind him as he spawns in. With the right timing and positioning, you can pull off a backstab here, but we recommend going for a fully-charged heavy attack, especially if you have a powerful weapon like the Greatsword. This won’t kill him, but it’s a good way to get a free, powerful shot in before the real fight begins.

Alberich is incredibly deadly at close-range, and most of his attacks deal Frost damage. If you get caught in one of his combos, there’s a pretty good chance that you will die. Regardless of what type of build you’re running, you’ll want to keep your distance from him. If you’re running a melee-focused build, you can close this distance quite easily with a leaping heavy attack. These moves tend to break his attack animations, affording you enough time to roll away.

His deadliest melee attack — a multi-hit combo that starts with an upward swing of his scythe — comes out rather quickly. It has little telegraphing, as well as pretty decent range, which is yet another reason you’ll want to keep your distance. However, after he finishes this attack, his guard will be down for a second or two, making this the perfect time to strike with a leaping attack. Another punishable move is his easy-to-read leaping attack. As long as you roll away, he won’t get you with this.

Alberich also makes frequent use of magic throughout the fight. He has three main magic moves. Below is a list of his magic attacks, and how to counter them:

• Frost Spikes: Alberich sends ice projectiles towards you one at a time. The total number he’ll send out will vary, but you can avoid them all by just strafing while locked on to him.
• Frost Cloud: Alberich will spawn a cloud that will deal Frost buildup. In our experience, he tended to spawn two clouds at once. These clouds disappear after a few seconds, so just don’t walk into them.
• Ring of Thorns: Alberich will sometimes summon a ring of thorns around him that will hurt you if you’re caught in the area of effect. This attack is easily telegraphed, as he’ll raise his staff up for a second before summoning the thorns. The AOE on this attack is pretty small, so it won’t hurt you if keep your distance.

For melee builds, the key to Alberich is to keep your distance, find an opening to get in one good strike, roll away, and continue that cycle until he’s dead. Ranged builds should fire away at him with their projectile of choice, while being sure to avoid his projectiles.

It’s also worth noting that Alberich has one HP flask that he’ll use after you rough him up a little bit. Don’t fret too much if he does this. Just be patient, punish him when an opportunity presents itself, and remember to keep your distance.

For defeating him, you’ll get the Taunter’s Tongue. If you use this item, you’ll allow other players to invade your world even if you’re playing solo.