The Elden Ring Millicent questline and locations explained

Elden Ring millicent questline miquella's needle — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

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Quest walkthrough
Miquella's Needle
Using the Needle

The Elden Ring Millicent questline is one of the biggest and most elaborate quests in Elden Ring, a giant story with locations all over the Lands Between, with the fabled Miquella's Needle as a reward, needed to cancel out the Three Fingers and their fiery ending. Even though this one of the most obscure and complex questlines in Elden Ring, we've put together a clear and simple walkthrough guide to help you get to grips with Millicent's questline, with locations and points of interest laid out for you to use, all so you can get the special rewards - including Miquella's Needle.

Millicent questline walkthrough for Elden Ring

Millicent's quest will take you all throughout the Elden Ring, including going into late-game optional areas and even encountering Malenia, the hardest boss fight in the game (at least if you want to get the valuable Miquella's Needle). We've laid out a step-by-step guide on where to go below, with all of Millicent's locations on the map above and what you can do to complete her incredibly long questline. We've also put together some closer details on the areas of Caelid and the Haligtree below, as the key locations are pretty close to each other and we don't want anybody getting confused. Best of luck, Tarnished!

Before going to find Millicent, meet Gowry in the little shack just South of Sellia, Town of Sorcery (in central Caelid). He'll ask you to bring him an Unalloyed Gold Needle.
Head into the Swamp of Aeonia, specifically the area in the Southeast side. There'll be a boss fight with Commander O'Neil - kill him and get the Unalloyed Gold Needle as a reward.
Once you're done, head back to Gowry and give him the Needle, then fast travel/pass time at a nearby Site of Grace. When you come back, he'll have repaired it.
Take it to Millicent, who's at the Church of the Plague to the East, guarded by a couple of those horrible prawn people enemies. Give her the needle, then rest/fast travel again and exhaust her dialogue.
Rest/fast travel once more and head back to Gowry's Shack. Talk to Millicent and exhaust her dialogue again.
Head to the Altus Plateau, just North of the Erdtree-Gazing Hill Site of Grace and South of the Wyndham Ruins. Millicent is looking out over the cliffedge - exhaust her dialogue again.
Head to the Shaded Castle and get the Valkyrie's Prosthesis, which is in a treasure chest guarded by a Cleanrot Knight on the Northwest side. Bring it back to Millicent and talk with her further. It should go without saying at this point that if you're ever going to talk with her, make sure you get her to say everything she has.
Go to Dominula Village and beat the Godskin Apostle boss fight. After reloading the area, she'll be in the arena. Talk to completion as usual.
Millicent then makes a significant jump to the Ancient Snow Valley Ruins Site of Grace in Mountaintops of the Giants, so you'll have to have beaten Morgott the Omen King to reach this area. Talk to her as usual - you're nearly there (sort of).
Millicent is then found in the optional late-game Haligtree area in the North Consecrated Snowgrounds. Specifically she's in the Prayer Room Site of Grace, about halfway through the area. If you don't know how to get there, check out guide on how to get to the Consecrated Snowfield in Elden Ring.
Head down below until you find the Drainage Channel Site of Grace, then head back up the ladder into the cavernous area and head left until you find the Ulcerated Tree Spirit - not technically a boss fight, but brutal all the same. Kill the Tree Spirit, then reload the area. There'll now be two summon signs on the ground, one inviting you to Help Millicent, one to fight her.
If you choose to help Millicent, you'll work with her to kill four NPCs with a variety of weapons, with a Rotten Winged Sword Insignia Talisman as a reward (which boosts damage on successive attacks). Otherwise you'll fight her directly for Millicent's Prosthesis Talisman, which does the same thing while also boosting Dexterity by five. If you want Miquella's Needle, you HAVE to choose to help her. Once you're done, Millicent will be dying close by. Talk to her one last time to get the Unalloyed Gold Needle again and end her questline.

This takes you through the sum total of Millicent's questline, but it's not technically the end. There's still a boss fight and a potential prize to be gained from the fallout of this larger quest.

How to get Miquella's Needle

Once you get the Unalloyed Gold Needle back from Millicent at the end of your quest, you're one step away from turning it into Miquella's Needle - the problem is, it's a very difficult step. From the Drainage Channel Site of Grace, keep heading downwards through the Haligtree and you'll eventually reach the arena of Malenia, one of the game's hardest bosses. Considering the challenge, we've laid out how to beat Malenia in Elden Ring in our guide here, including easy cheese methods.

You need to kill Malenia. Once you do, she'll leave behind a vast red flower that, when interacted with, turns your Unalloyed Gold Needle into Miquella's Needle (and you'll get a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, which ain't bad). Bear in mind that this is a once-off, a unique act for a unique item.

Where and how to use Miquella's Needle explained

All Elden Ring endings

If you're breaking the hold of the Three Fingers, check what other Elden Ring endings are available to you!

Miquella's Needle is a consumable that is designed to have one function - if a player has locked themselves into the Frenzied Flame Ending by making a pact with the Three Fingers below Leyndell, Miquella's Needle can be used to cancel this act forever, and open up the regular endings again. However, there's only one place it can be used, the arena of Dragonlord Placidusax, a boss fight in Crumbling Farum Azula. If you need to know how to get there, we've got it laid out nice and clearly in our page on the Elden Ring Dragonlord Placidusax boss fight guide and location.

Use the Miquella's Needle anywhere within this arena, either before or after killing Dragonlord Placidusax. It will effectively "cure" you of the Frenzied Flame Ending, destroying the Needle afterwards, and you'll know its worked because while you're still burnt, your eyes will no longer have the fiery red colour. You cannot make a pact again with the Three Fingers after this, so make sure you don't want this particular finale. Melina also won't come back even after curing yourself - after all, how's she to know you went through all this chaos?

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.