How to find and defeat the Ancestor Spirit in Elden Ring

While exploring Elden Ring’s underground area, you’ll come across the Siofra River Bank — a beautiful area featuring a starry sky as well as a healthy variety of enemies. You’ll also notice some unlit lanterns scattered throughout the area. You’ll need to light these in order to find and defeat one of this area’s bosses, the Ancestor Spirit. Here’s how to activate the boss fight, and also how to defeat this undead enemy.

Lighting the lanterns

There are eight lanterns found in the Siofra River Bank that you’ll need to light to access the boss. You can light them by walking up to them and hitting the “interact” button. We’ve marked the locations of each lantern on the map below; each lantern is marked with an icon of a person walking.

Once you light all eight lanterns, you’ll receive a notification that reads, “Power gathers somewhere in horned remains.” Head to Hallowhorn Grounds, located in the southern portion of the map, and you’ll see the glowing skeletal remains of a large deer. Interact with it, and you’ll be transported to a small cave. In front of you will be a Mist Gate; walk through it to start the fight.

The fight

Ancestor Spirit may look intimidating, but compared to Elden Ring’s other bosses, like Godrick and Radahn, it’s a lot less to handle. We’ve listed each of the boss’ moves below, and how you should react to them:

• Midair hop: The spirit will jump into the air, perform two midair jumps, pause for a moment, and then try to come down on top of you. Roll towards it as it starts coming down to avoid damage.
• Antler strikes: The boss will perform various two-to-three-hit melee combos using its antlers. It may also attempt to hit you with a single heavy blow. Each hit can be avoided with ease by rolling towards the boss as it’s about to strike.
• Stomp/Horse kick: If you’re in front of the spirit, the boss may bring its front legs up before trying to stomp you with them. Like other attacks, simply roll as it’s about to hit you. You can either roll towards or away from the boss to avoid damage. If you’re behind the boss, it will try kicking you with its hind legs like a horse instead of stomping you. Roll backwards to avoid the kick.
• Magic breathe: The boss will routinely spray the ground with magic throughout the fight. The magic will remain on the ground for a few seconds. If you come into contact with it, you’ll take damage, but thankfully, it’s pretty easy to roll or jump over. The boss can perform this move both while grounded, and in the air.

Melee builds should focus on rolling through the Ancestor Spirit’s melee attacks, and then getting a hit or two off before gearing up to roll again. All of the boss’ moves have pretty high ending lag as well, so you can heal quite easily if you end up taking a hit or two. If you have any Spirit Ashes to summon, you can use them to distract the boss so you can get a few extra hits in. After enough damage, the boss will become staggered, and you’ll be able to deal a critical hit by attacking its left eye. If you’re playing as a ranged build, shoot your preferred projectile towards the boss immediately after it finishes a move; the boss should stand still long enough for you to get a good shot in.

Once you defeat the Ancestor Spirit, you’ll get 10,000 Runes, along with the Ancestral Follower Ashes. In another part of Elden Ring’s underground area, you can encounter a more powerful version of this boss, the Regal Ancestor Spirit, which also requires you to solve a small puzzle prior to facing it.