How to beat the Sanguine Noble in Elden Ring

Servants of Mohg, the Lord of Blood, Sanguine Nobles guard the grounds of the Rose Church (pictured), the portal to Mohgwyn Palace in the Consecrated Snowfield, and act as the boss before acquiring the Bloody Helice weapon. They’re also one of the more complicated non-boss enemies in the game, and their damage output is off the charts.

Sanguine Nobles have three attack types: standard melee combos, ranged attacks, and AoE effects. Most of the time, they’ll be in your face using either a three, four, or five-hit combo. Each variation has a unique startup appearance, but if you run far enough away from the Noble as they’re attacking, they will stop any combo use, no matter how early or late in the string they are. Every time the Noble hits you with its weapon, your bleed gauge will fill by about one-third, and despite the minor nerf to bleed in patch 1.04, you’ll still lose almost half your health from a single proc.

At range, the Sanguine Noble throws two Reduvia daggers at a time. The daggers don’t do much damage if they hit but will fill your bleed gauge by about a quarter. Sometimes the Noble will throw daggers at close range, making them nearly impossible to avoid. At mid-range and farther, taking a few steps to the left or right is enough to dodge a dagger throw.

The Sanguine Noble’s last attack is to throw down a large pool of blood in front of them, which deals with minor DoT damage and constantly fills your bleed gauge. It also over-encumbers you, so you’ll start fat-rolling until you leave the pool if you are near heavy load equipment burden. The Noble is unaffected by any of this and will continue attacking as you try to get away.

Sanguine Nobles have one defensive option: if they cross their blade and dagger out in front of them, don’t attack. If the attack you use can be parried, they’ll parry it and immediately riposte.

The riposte doesn’t deal too much damage, but it still causes bleed build-up and leaves you vulnerable as you get back on your feet. Better to wait until he resumes attacking than risk losing health for nothing.