Rakshasa Location and How to Beat

Rakshasa is an optional boss in the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree. See Rakshasa's location, weakness, stats and drops, and how to beat Rakshasa here.

Rakshasa Location

Found inside the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum

World View	Map Location

Rakshasa can found in the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum . From the Recluses' River site of grace, descend using the tomb platforms and enter the waterfall cave. The Mausoleum is found at the end of the cave where the knight can be fought.

How to Get to Rakshasa

1	Progress through the Shadow Keep until you reach the area with the burning boats, Vulgar Militamen, and a Fire Knight. If you've already opened the door that leads back to the Golden Hippopotamus room, you can fast travel to the Main Gate Plaza site of grace to get here. Walk southeast and find a corpse on your left next to a ladder.
2	Climb down the ladder and walk along the edge. Be careful not to fall into the water.
3	Pass through the waterfall to find a hidden room with a long ladder. Climb down and enter the room to your left.
4	The wall on your right is actually an illusory wall that you can attack or roll into to reveal a hidden path.
5	Follow the path and interact with the coffin at the end to let it take you to a hidden section of the Shadow Keep. Go outside to find the Castle Watering Hole site of grace.
6	The next step is to ride south and reach the Recluses' River Upstream site of grace. Take note that you will awaken a Furnace Golem halfway through, so be sure to not get caught in its flame spiral attack.
7	Keep heading south, minding the gaps along the cliff, and jump over to the other side when you reach a dead end.
8	Before the Recluses' River Downstream site of grace, turn left past the group of bug enemies.
9	Circle around the area until you reach a graveyard with the bird enemies. There should be several rock platforms below that you can jump onto to reach the river at the bottom safely.
10	Once you're at the river, follow the path southeast.
11	You should soon see the entrance to the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum where Rakshasa is next to the waterfall.

Rakshasa Weakness

Weak to Lightning

Rakshasa is weak to attacks that deal Lightning damage. This element dealt the most damage per hit when we used different elemental grease on the same weapon against Rakshasa.

Rakshasa is a humanoid enemy that only uses melee attacks so you can use guard counters, parries, or stagger him with a strong lightning weapon like Dragon Greatclaw or Death Knight's Longhaft Axe.

For ranged builds, you can go with Knight's Lightning Spear spam, be sure to use talismans that speed up your casts (Radagon Icon) or only do the uncharged casts to avoid taking damage (since Rakshasa is aggressive).

List of Lightning Weapons

Best Build Against Rakshasa

Use a Parry Shield to Counter Most of Rakshasa's Attacks

Carian Retaliation

Golden Parry

A lot of Rakshasa's attacks can be parried (even Weed Cutter can be parried if you parry the start of the first swing). Take advantage of this by equipping a shield with the Parry ash of war, and using it to set up critical strikes.

If you're having a tough time getting the parry timing right, you can get more parry frames (for easier parries) by infusing your chosen shield with Carian Retaliation or Golden Parry over the regular Parry ash of war.

How to Parry and Perform Critical Strikes

Weapons Infused with Lightning are Recommended

Backhand Blade

Greatsword

Death Knight's Longhaft Axe

Since Rakshasa is weak to Lightning, make sure to use weapons that can deal Lightning damage or are infused with the Lightning affinity via the Sanctified Whetblade.

DEX builds can opt to use the new Backhand Blade with either Blind Spot or Swift Slash (since these allow you to bypass most of Rakshasa's attacks). STR builds can opt for colossals that have a lot of reach like the Greatsword since these can stagger the boss with each hit.

Faith users get the best of both worlds with the Death Knight's Longhaft Axe since it can inflict lightning damage and its ash of war, Blinkbolt: Long-hafted Axe, acts as a sort of i-frame dodge allowing you to go aggressive against the boss's Weed Cutter.

Equip Talismans that Increase Your Damage

Dagger Talisman	Claw Talisman
Blade of Mercy	Shard of Alexander

Combining Dagger Talisman with Blade of Mercy will help increase the damage of your critical hits whenever you parry her, while the Claw Talisman enhances your jump attacks which is a great way to stagger Rakshasa after her attacks. You can also take Shard of Alexander if you tend to use your Ash of Wars like Lion's Claw or Blind Spot.

Use Lightning Incantations to Deal More Damage

Lightning Spear

Knight's Lightning Spear

Vyke's Dragonbolt

Since Rakshasa only uses melee attacks, the Lightning Spear incantation is a great way to interrupt her from afar and deal lightning damage. If you are using non-imbued weapons, Vyke's Dragonbolt or Electrify Armament is perfect for adding lightning damage to your weapon.

Use Talismans for Defensive Stats

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman

Two-Headed Turtle Talisman

Crimson Amber Medallion +3

The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman is perfect against Rakshasa since she only deals physical damage, while the Two-Headed Turtle Talisman will help manage your stamina easier. If you are looking for more health, the Crimson Amber Medallion +3 or Erdtree Favor +2 can help you with that.

Rakshasa General Tips

Tips for Beating Rakshasa
Use Stagger Moves to Cancel Weed Cutter Susceptible to Guard Counters Parry Weed Cutter

Use Stagger Moves to Cancel Weed Cutter

Weed Cutter is the Ash of War of Rakshasa's Great Katana. Rakshasa can use this move multiple times so staying away or interrupting it with a staggering move is recommended. Using a heavy weapon attack or a jump attack can stagger Rakshasa easily which will interrupt this move.

Thrusting Swords, Heavy Thrusting Swords, or Thrusting Shields will also be good for staggering Rakshasa while they recover from the Weed Cutter animation.

Susceptible to Guard Counters

Rakshasa's attacks are very easy to predict which makes them easy to dodge. However, we highly recommend utilizing guard counters to deal high amounts of damage as well as inflict stagger to Rakshasa. Pair this with the Deflecting Hardtear to take minimal damage when guard countering.

Parry Weed Cutter for Easy Critical Strikes

You can stop Rakshasa's Weed Cutter move by parrying the start of the very first swing. Doing this will make her vulnerable to a critical hit and effectively deal large amounts of damage especially when you have the Dagger Talisman equipped.

Rakshasa Cheese Strategies

Spam Giant Hunt to Infinitely Juggle Rakshasa

It's possible to cheese Rakshasa by repeatedly juggling him and knocking him down with the Giant Hunt Ash of War. Even if Rakshasa is already lying on the ground, you can still hit him with the skill to launch him into the air again.

To boost your skill damage, reduce FP per cast, and help with stamina regen, equip the Shard of Alexander, Carian Filigreed Crest, and Two-Headed Turtle Talisman respectively.

You can also drink Wondrous Physick mixed with Cerulean Hidden Tear and Greenburst Crystal Tear for temporary 0 FP consumption and additional stamina recovery speed.

Spam Knockdowns Using Sacred Relic Sword

A similar, but safer, cheese method that you can do from range is to spam Sacred Relic Sword's Ash of War, Wave of Gold. The Wave's span will completely engulf the mausoleum, repeatedly knocking Rakshasa down and leaving him no chance to dodge for as long as you spam the weapon skill.

The talismans and Wondrous Physick tears for this setup will be the same as with the Giant Hunt strat to maximize skill damage, FP per cast, and stamina efficiency.

Rakshasa Rewards and Info

Rakshasa Details
Runes	90000
Drops	・Rakshasa's Great Katana ・Rakshasa Armor ・Rakshasa Gauntlets ・Rakshasa Greaves ・Rakshasa Helm
Spirit Summons?	Cannot Use Spirit Ashes
Gold Summons?	None

Elden Ring Related Guides

List of All Bosses

DLC Bosses

Main Bosses

Optional Bosses

Mini-Bosses

Hostile NPCs and Invaders