How to Acquire The Dark Moon Greatsword in Elden Ring on Steam Deck

Elden Ring’s Dark Moon Greatsword is a fresh take on a classic item that has appeared in nearly every FromSoft game in one form or another. Requiring a whopping 38 intelligence, this sword is more of a caster weapon than a traditional melee weapon, but its unique and flashy weapon skill makes it stand out even amongst the game’s legendary armaments. This begs the question: How do you actually go about getting the Dark Moon Greatsword?

Starting the Quest for the Dark Moon Greatsword

Long story short, the only way to get the Dark Moon Greatsword is to complete Ranni the Witch’s questline. If you haven’t started the questline yet, you’ll want to head to Ranni’s Rise in Liurnia of the Lakes.

This is a fairly long and arduous quest that will take you across nearly the entire span of the game, but here’s a list of the key steps that you’ll need to complete:

1. Meet Ranni at the top of her tower after you defeat Royal Knight Loretta and let her recruit you.
2. Speak to War Counselor Iji, Blaidd and Seluvis, her other retainers. All of them can be found nearby.
3. Defeat Starscourge Radahn near Redmane Castle. This will cause a meteor to open a path to Nokron at the southern end of Mistwood.
4. Traverse Nokron until you reach Night’s Sacred Ground. Here, you can find the Fingerslayer Blade. Retrieve it and deliver it to Ranni.
5. Ranni will then give you the Carian Inverted Statue. Use this to reach the top of Liurnia’s Divine Tower via the Carian Study Hall. Inspecting the body here will give you a bit more insight into Ranni’s lore.
6. At this point, you can head to the top of Renna’s Rise, which is located near Ranni’s Rise. This will give you access to an underground area where you can find a miniature doll containing Ranni’s soul.
7. Speaking to the doll at a Site of Grace will give you a small quest to defeat a Baleful Shadow deeper underground in Nokstella. Completing this will reward you with a key.
8. Use the key to unlock a chest next to Rennala in Raya Lucaria. This rewards you with the Dark Moon Ring.
9. Return to the underground Ainsel River area and traverse deeper until you reach the Grand Cloister. Here you can use a coffin to move to the arena of Astel, Naturalborn of the Void.
10. Defeating Astel lets you return to the surface where you reach a plateau upon which you can find the Cathedral of Manus Celes.
11. Enter a small cave and find Ranni. At last, she’ll reward you with the Dark Moon Greatsword and unlock a different ending for the game!

So How Do I Get the Dark Moon Greatsword?

The Dark Moon Greatsword is the reward for completing Ranni the Witch’s questline, which starts in Liurnia of the Lakes. This requires you to defeat a number of bosses found relatively late in the game, so don’t expect to find it early on. That’s all there is to know about getting the Dark Moon Greatsword in Elden Ring!