How To Beat Needle Knight Leda in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

During your time playing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree you’re going to make friends and then eventually have to kill them yourself. Leda, the Needle Knight is one of the friends. Here’s the best way to beat her.

How to Beat Leda, the Needle Knight in Elden Ring

Fighting Leda, the Needle Knight and her allies can be tricky, however, with the right strategy this can be made into one of the easiest battles in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Before entering the battle notice that there is a gold summoning sign next to Leda’s red battle sign, this will provide you with an ally who will appear midway through the fight. We strongly recommend using this summon, as you’ll be fighting multiple enemies alone otherwise.

For your build, we would suggest taking something with heavy Bleed or Frost build-ups as all three of the enemies you’ll face do have access to health pots, and as such killing them as fast as possible is the optimal way to win.

Your first opponent will use two curved blades as their weapon and as such you simply need to roll out of the way and punish when combinations are over. If you can get behind them then a backstab is available which will do major damage. There’s nothing too important to note here other than the fact that if you take too long a second enemy, Dryleaf Dane will arrive.

Dryleaf Dane is tough to fight as he has incredible hand-to-hand skills, but also access to casting abilities that can cause you trouble from range. Your best bet is to finish off the first opponent before turning focus to Dane. Not long after he arrives, your own reinforcements will arrive if you use the summoning sign before entering the battle.

Use your ally to take agro from Dane allowing you to get behind and deal a backstab for critical damage. It’s in your best interests to try to eliminate Dane as fast as possible before Leda arrives, but if she gets there too soon then we’d suggest letting your summon battle one while you finish the other.

Leda uses a combination of close and long-range attacks. We’d suggest fighting her from in close if possible as you can typically roll her combinations fairly easily and be ready to counter. If your NPC helper is still alive then you can use the previous strategy of getting behind and using backstabs to quickly slay this warrior.

Last Resorts

If you’re still having trouble with this fight then we suggest using the Mimic Tear Ashes. With a third companion to help in the battle, these fights become a breeze and by the end, it will seem like cheating. All of the same strategies still apply, but it will just make staying safe a lot easier.

Now that you know how to take out Leda and her friends you can finally progress on to the final chapter of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.