The Academy of Raya Lucaria in Elden Ring is among the game's most beautiful zones. The gently twinkling music in the background accents the eyecatching visuals throughout the Legacy Dungeon, but not all is peaceful in this center of Glintstone studies in the Lands Between.
Just before entering the Grand Library and facing off against Rennala, players are faced with an NPC guardian: 
Moongrum Carian Knight . In Elden Ring most NPCs are invaders, but this one stands idly outside the lift, waiting for players to fall victim to one of his many surprising moves. As one of the few enemies in the game who can parry and riposte, Moongrum is not an easy foe.
Moongrum Carian Knight's Moveset And Weaknesses
Moongrum, Carian Knight dons the armor of the Enchanted Knight from Elden Ring's network test (a class that was later replaced with the Prisoner). He doesn't have any particularly challenging movement-based moves, but his moveset is nonetheless intimidating. In addition to being able to parry a player's attacks seemingly on a whim, he has several punishing Sorceries that are hard to avoid.
Moongrum, Carian Knight acts just like a player in a lot of regards. He has his own healing flask, which can be used once, and his movements seem to be directly inspired by PvP tactics in the game. He appears to be weak to Poison damage, and is resistant to Magic damage (though only slightly). In a lot of ways, this fight is almost exactly like going up against a skilled player.
Moongrum's Moveset
- Parry/Riposte: His most frustrating move, Moongrum can parry almost any attack made against him and follow up with a critical hit that almost certainly will kill you without high Vigor. No way to really avoid this except by using moves that can't be parried, like Colossal Weapon Heavy attacks, Flails, Jumping Attacks, and Ranged.
- Sword Stab: Moongrum has two weapon loadouts, one with a sword and shield and one with a staff. He attacks with the sword normally, but has a dashing pierce attack that can punish you for taking time to heal. Medium damage, but quick and hard to dodge.
- Jumping Attack: Moongrum will sometimes leap upwards in an attempt to get a Jumping Attack on you. Easy to dodge, but can also be punished by landing an attack before he lands.
- Carian Piercer: Moongrum casts the Carian Piercer spell, which summons a gigantic greatsword that thrusts forward, breaking through a block. High damage, can be dodged, but hard to block.
- Glintblade Phalanx: Moongrum will sometimes cast Glintblade Phalanx, creating three swords that home towards the player after a few seconds. Low damage but if one hits you Moongrum will surely rush in to take advantage of your staggered state.
Moongrum's Weaknesses
Moongrum is notably weak to Poison and Scarlet Rot damage, which can trivialize the fight if he gets the status affliction early on. Pile on both Poison and Scarlet Rot damage to see his HP tick down rapidly from a distance. He can be staggered, though it's hard to reliably get hits in when he can parry so efficiently.
Moongrum is a little resistant to Magic damage as a Sorcerer himself, though he doesn't have any other resistances of note and the damage reduction is not that extreme. Sorcerers can cheese this fight by staying at a range and casting spells over and over again, even if the damage output is less than on other NPC enemies.
Strategies For Beating Moongrum Carian Knight
As one of the most frustrating enemies to take on head-to-head in Elden Ring, players have figured out several strategies for cheesing this miniboss. Right outside the entrance to Moongrum's fight area there's a large ramp that a boulder rolls down in regular intervals. Moongrum can be baited out here so the boulder smashes down on him. This doesn't deal a ton of damage, but it's a reliable way to slowly tick down his HP without having to get up close.
Additionally, players have figured out that Jumping Attacks can't be parried, so if you're a Melee player be sure to equip the Claw Talisman and go to town. Behind Moongrum is the lift that takes players to Rennala – if you raise the lift and bait Moongrum into the room, there's an extremely high chance he will fall into the pit below on accident. This can be hard to pull off as Moongrum stands between you and the lift, but it's arguably the easiest way to kill the Carian Knight if you can get past him.
Spellcasting/Ranged
Spellcasters will find Moongrum a bit more challenging than Incantation users or Ranged players, but the difference is marginal and hardly worth noting. No matter your Ranged focus, you can stay just in front of the spot where the boulder comes down and get a good amount of ranged hits in. You can also go to his left down a short set of stairs and cast spells or fire arrows from there, as he appears to have trouble getting past an invisible wall at the top of these stairs when aggroed. Just be careful not to get hit by his gap-closing abilities like Carian Piercer.
Melee Strategies
Melee players will find Moongrum to be one of the most difficult bosses in Elden Ring up to this point; some have even said he's harder than Rennala's second phase thanks to his ability to parry. Moongrum is incredibly good at parrying attacks, to the point that it's practically guaranteed to happen at some point in a melee fight. Avoid this by using Jumping Attacks and weapons that can't be parried, like the Flail (which requires some Dex). His attacks can be parried, too, but he gets up after a Critical Hit quickly and will likely parry you instantly, so it's not the best strategy.
Rewards For Beating Moongrum Carian Knight
Upon defeating Moongrum, Carian Knight, you gain access to the lift to the Grand Library as well as some items. The lift can be accessed at any time, but it's a much easier trip to make if you get rid of Moongrum first. In addition to unlocking the Rennala fight he drops a decent 3000 Runes and the Carian Knight's Shield.
The Carian Knight's Shield scales with Str and Int, one of the few 100% physical damage reduction shields that scales with Int. It comes with the No Skill Ash of War, which can be altered. With a Weight of 4.5 it's a good shield for Sorcerers with low Equip Load, but it is outclassed by several other Elden Ring shields that weigh as little as 3.5 with similar defensive stats.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.
