Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Elden Ring Millicent quest, how to get Unalloyed Gold Needle and Miquella’s Needle

An epic quest that spans the whole game and its toughest challenges.

Millicent quest is one of the longest you’ll find in Elden Ring, which will cover pretty much the entire critical path to see through.

It also involves exploring a secret optional area that will involve the most challenging boss in the entire game, Malenia.

Not only has this redheaded woman got a fascinating and tragic arc, but seeing her quest through to the end will also give you Miquella’s Needle, a key item that can reverse the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending if you had met the Three Fingers.

This step-by-step quest explainer should ensure you know where to find Millicent locations at each step of her journey in the Lands Between.

Note that while you will be able to summon her in certain boss fights, it’s not required to progress her questline.

On this page:

Looking for some direction? Our what to do first in Elden Ring, Elden Ring walkthrough, Site of Grace locations and main bosses in order pages can help.

Elden Ring Side Quests For Dummies: Side Quests You Need to doWatch on YouTube

Where to find Gowry in Elden Ring

Before you find Millicent, you first need to speak to an NPC called Gowry. He can be found at Gowry’s Shack in a rather deserted part of Caelid, save for one large dog-beast near the entrance.

It’s quite easy to reach this location very early on if you use the trick chest beneath Dragon-Burnt Ruins in Lake Agheel, which teleports you inside Sellia Crystal Tunnel. There's a video showing how to do this here:

Watch on YouTube

From there, find your way out and you’ll be just a short walk from Sellia, Town of Sorcery and Aeonia Swamp to the south. Gowry’s Shack is just south of Sellia.

If you’re travelling into Caelid normally from Limgrave, then you’ll find the shack by following the road around Aeonia Swamp and approaching from the southwest.

You may prefer to level up considerably more before speaking to Gowry anyway, as the next step does require a tough boss fight.

Speak to Gowry and he’ll tell you about Millicent, a young woman located in a nearby church who he wants to help cure from scarlet rot. Agree to help him and he’ll ask you to head to Aeonia Swamp to find the Unalloyed Gold Needle.

How to get the Unalloyed Gold Needle

You’ll need to travel deep into Aeonia Swamp in the middle of Caelid, west of Gowry’s Shack, to find the Unalloyed Gold Needle.

Make sure you’re riding Torrent as you explore since the swamp is toxic and will inflict you with scarlet rot. Beware that while exploring the swamp, it’s also possible for you to be invaded by Millicent, at which point Torrent also disappears until the fight is over.

Fortunately, killing this version of Millicent will not affect the questline.

You’re looking for a spot northeast of the swamp that looks like a ring of thorns. There’s also a Site of Grace nearby for Inner Aeonia.

This location is also where you can farm pieces of the Cleanrot armour, which is our recommendation for the best early armor set in Elden Ring.

Get ready before you head into the ring though as you’ll need to fight Commander O’Neill, a fairly tough boss with high armour defence who also summons ranged minions at the start of the fight, and he also has some powerful AOE attacks that will inflict scarlet rot.

However, if you approach him from the south side, you’ll be able to get in some free hits before he’s even aware you’re there.

Once O’Neill is down, you’ll get the Unalloyed Gold Needle. Touch the new Site of Grace that appears and then make your way back to Gowry’s Shack.

Upon giving him the needle, he’ll reward you with a clue about treasure in the nearby town of Sellia, although to continue with the quest, you’ll need to wait until Gowry’s prepared the needle with his cure, so just fast travel to a nearby Site of Grace and then come back to speak to him again to get the needle back.

Millicent’s location at Church of Plague

Millicent can be found at Church of Plague, a church just east of Gowry’s Shack, although it’s located quite high up from where you are in Caelid.

One route is to follow a road from the northeast of Sellia, which will take you up to higher ground. You can then follow a road south to reach the church.

Alternatively, if you’ve been exploring the north of Caelid and reached Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow, this area is already on higher ground so you can actually drop down to the same area as where Church of Plague is. Specifically, if you’’ve already been to Fort Faroth to get the right half of the Dectus Medallion required for reaching Altus Plateau on the main story path, then just drop down south of there to reach the same area as the church.

At Church of Plague, you’ll find a Site of Grace, a Sacred Tear, while you’ll see Millicent slunk in the corner of the church ruins.

Talk to her and give her the needle. She’ll be hesitant but if you go rest at the Site of Grace and return you’ll next see her standing up, seemingly cured of her scarlet rot.

She’ll thank you by giving you the Prosthesis-Wearing Heirloom talisman, which raises your dexterity when equipped.

That’s not all though, as her journey has just barely begun. Once you’ve exhausted her dialogue at the church, return to Gowry’s Shack.

You’ll find Millicent here but Gowry has disappeared. Exhaust her dialogue here and continue with the campaign until you come to Altus Plateau.

Millicent’s locations in Altus Plateau and how to find Valkyrie's Prosthesis

To the north of the Grand Lift of Dectus when you first enter Altus Plateau, you’ll find the Site of Grace for Erdtree-Gazing Hill (a Golden Seed is also nearby).

Millicent will be standing just a little to the north looking out over the plateau. You can speak to her although you won’t be able to progress any further in the quest until you give her the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis.

You’ll find this in the Shaded Castle to the north. You can reach it by following the route north of the Erdtree-Gazing Hill Site of Grace through a ravine flanked by Mt. Gelmir on the west and a higher part of Altus Plateau on the east.

While there’s a boss you can fight inside the castle, this isn’t actually required to advance Millicent’s quest, as the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis is in a chest in the most northwest room in the castle.

The entrance to the castle is from the southeast where you’ll also find a Site of Grace. Drop down and follow the poisonous swampy route west and you should reach a ladder you can climb up.

Once at the top, if you look forward, you’ll see you can still go deeper into the castle. However, there’s also a path making up the castle’s inner ramparts.

Follow this path and it will lead you to a room in the most northwest of the castle. There’s a Cleanrot Knight guarding this entrance so take him out first and then go in then open the chest to grab the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis.

Return to Erdtree-Gazing Hill and give the prosthesis to Millicent. Exhaust her dialogue and next time you see her she will be wearing the prosthesis, which means you can even summon her in battle.

Millicent will head further north so to get her to appear again, head to Windmill Village in the north of Altus Plateau.

You can reach this area either the route from the northwest gate of the Outer Capital, or you can also use the portal by the Forest-Spanning Greatbridge Site of Grace if you continue north of Altus Highway Junction.

This teleports you to the north side of the region not far from Windmill Village, saving you the detour via the Outer Capital.

Once you’re in the village, head up until you get into a boss fight with Godskin Apostle. He shouldn’t be too difficult to take on.

In any case, you’re in one of the easiest areas to farm runes so the grind should be simple if you need it.

When Godskin Apostle has been taken care of, rest at the new Site of Grace that appears and Millicent will appear nearby. Speak with her until you’ve exhausted her dialogue then leave to continue with the main story campaign.

Millicent’s location in Mountaintops of the Giants

You won’t encounter Millicent again until you reach the Mountaintop of the Giants, which is accessible after you have defeated Morgott at Leyndell, Royal Capital. You’ll find her waiting at the Ancient Snow Valley Ruins Site of Grace.

Speak to her and she’ll mention how she’s looking for a fort in the north and Malenia’s whereabouts.

This alludes to the way to accessing secret path of the mountain on the west side.

If you haven’t already done so, now would be the time to complete the quest to find the two halves of the Haligtree Secret Medallion. In short, the steps are:

  1. Find Old Albus in the Village of the Albinaurics who gives you the right half of the medallion.
  2. The left half is in Castle Sol in the north of Mountaintop of the Giants, as mentioned by Millicent. Defeat Commander Niall to get the left half of the medallion.
  3. Use the secret medallion at the Grand Lift of Rold to access the Consecrated Snowfield.
  4. Solve the Ordina, Liturgical Town puzzle to open the way to Miquella’s Haligtree.

Millicent’s locations in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree and choices of ending questline

Miquella’s Haligtree has very high-level enemies, but despite its spiralling structure, is also fairly linear. You’ll essentially be making your way down the Haligtree until you reach a location deep down called Elphael.

You’ll also have to fight Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree, a tougher non-spirit version of the Loretta you might have already fought in Caria Manor. The fight won’t be too dissimilar though.

When you finally reach Elphael, the first Site of Grace you’ll find is Prayer Room, where you’ll find Millicent. Speak to her until her dialogue has been exhausted and then proceed further down.

The next Site of Grace you should come across is Drainage Channel after passing through an awfully swampy area that you not only can’t wade through quickly but will also inflict you with scarlet rot (and the bug enemies there hit pretty hard too).

Once you’ve got that checkpoint, you want to head back to the swamp, but look out southwest and you’ll see a path from some large roots that lead to another isolated swamp.

Take a few steps into the swamp and an Ulcerated Tree Spirit will appear.

You may have fought a few of these already (which also drop Golden Seeds) but this is arguably the toughest of the lot in terms of health and damage output. And of course, you’re fighting primarily in a swamp that can inflict scarlet rot.

Magic users may have an easier time since you can cast your spells without stepping into the swamp.

Once you’ve defeated this tough enemy go back to the Site of Grace and return to this swamp location once again.

To the right you’ll find two summoning signs on the ground, and two choices of where this quest can go next.

If you touch the red sign you will invade Millicent and fight her one-on-one.

Kill her, and she will drop Millicent’s Prosthesis, a talisman which raises your dexterity and also increases the power of each successive attack. However, this path will also end her questline prematurely.

Touch the yellow sign and you will be summoned to help Millicent in a fight against four NPC invaders, Millicent’s Sisters.

Just concentrate on taking them out one at a time, while also focusing on the one fighting Millicent and you should get through this no problem. If Millicent dies during the encounter, then you can interact with the summoning sign to attempt it again.

Defeating the four sisters will reward you with the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, a talisman that greatly raises attack power with subsequent hits.

You’ll find Millicent lying nearby where you can talk to her for the last time. Then reload or rest at the Site of Grace and return and you’ll find her body where you can retrieve the Gold Unalloyed Needle you previously gave her.

Elden Ring

How to complete Millicent’s quest and what to do with Miquella’s Needle

Millicent’s death may imply her questline is over, except it isn’t. To properly complete her quest, you need to journey to the very bottom of the Haligtree and fight Malenia.

Be sure you’re prepared for this as she is arguably the hardest boss in Elden Ring (or any Souls game for that matter!).

In fact, it’s heavily recommended that you summon either other players or a summoning spirit to stand a chance. The latter upgraded to their max level will definitely be most helpful as they have tons of health that means they can survive Malenia’s attacks that would otherwise one-shot a human player.

When you have defeated Malenia, if you have the Gold Unalloyed Needle, interact with her remains and you will receive Miquella’s Needle, as well as a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. This concludes Millicent’s questline.

So what do you do with Miquella’s Needle? If you had ventured down into Subterranean Shunning-Grounds beneath Leyndell and interacted with the Frenzied Flame Proscription door, then you will be marked by the Flame of Frenzy.

While this will allow you to save Melina from sacrificing herself, it also locks you into the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending. Using Miquella’s Needle however will undo this.

Using this item however requires travelling to a secret location in Crumbling Farum Azula, the same area where you fight Dragonlord Placidusax.

You’re not required to fight the boss first in order to use the item, you just need to be in that space.

If you have already defeated him then you can just fast-travel to the Site of Grace there and use Miquella’s Needle that way too.

Hope you enjoyed Millicent’s quest!