Besides Stormcaller Church, the Second Church of Marika is the second Sacred Tear in the Altus Plateau, and it’s an easy stop if you already know where to look. But everything else makes you go crazy, like learning how to trigger Eleonora’s invasion. Here’s the accurate version: region, route, the fight, and the fixes for the three most common ways this location goes wrong. So stick around.
What You’ll Read:
Where to Find the Second Church of Marika Sacred Tear
Start at the Altus Highway Junction Site of Grace and head north up the road. Keep going until the ground drops away on your left, then leap down. The Second Church of Marika sits right there below the cliff.
Don’t search for a Site of Grace inside. There isn’t one. Altus Highway Junction is your closest grace, so plan your rests around that trip.
The Sacred Tear is a glowing pickup at the foot of the statue in the center of the church.
Pro-Tip: Boc the Seamster sits right at the Highway Junction grace, and Brother Corhyn is a bit further up the same road. Both are easy detours before you drop down to the church.
How to Trigger the Eleonora Invasion
Eleonora doesn’t need Yura’s questline finished to invade, which confuses a lot of players. Two separate things trigger her:
Talk to the dying Yura on the church floor, and she invades right after. Or skip his questline completely and just push past the Grand Lift of Rold. You don’t even need to beat the Black Blade Kindred guarding it; just get past it. Either one works on its own.
Show up before Yura makes it to the church, though, and you’ll fight a Sanguine Noble instead. She’s just holding the spot until his story catches up.
Warning: You should know that if you take the Grand Lift route, it kills Yura off-screen and cuts his questline short early, which is also what lets Shabriri take over near Zamor Ruins later.
How to Beat Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger
She hits fast and hard, and she’ll build Bleed on you faster than you’d expect from a humanoid demi-boss. Bring Stanching Boluses, and slot the Mottled Necklace if you’ve got it.
Her loadout is the Poleblade in one hand and a Dragon Communion Seal in the other. So watch out for Agheel’s Flame and Greyoll’s Roar on top of her melee combos. The church pillars actually help here; duck behind one and most of her ranged stuff whiffs.
She’s weak to Bleed and Frost, and honestly folds to status effects across the board, so don’t forget Frostbite or Poison builds either. Around half health, she chugs a flask to heal. Hit her through the animation and the heal barely matters.
Eleonora Item Drops
Beating Eleonora drops the Poleblade, the Purifying Crystal Tear, and a Furlcalling Finger Remedy. So this fight is totally worth it. Why, you ask? For one thing, that Poleblade is the coolest Kill Bill thing in this unholy game. But there is more.
The Purifying Crystal Tear is the actual reason most people make this trip. Mix it into your Flask of Wondrous Physick, and it completely nullifies Mohg’s three-hit sky-piercing attack in his second phase, the one that otherwise deals massive Blood Loss.
Yura or Eleonora Not Showing Up Fix
Three problems come up again and again with this fight, and all three have a fix.
Yura never showing up at the church usually means you skipped an earlier step. You need to have helped him against Bloody Finger Nerijus near Murkwater Cave first; he’s stationed outside the cave near the overpass. Miss that and his questline stalls before it reaches the church.
If Yura is stuck at the east bridge in Raya Lucaria after helping with the Ravenmount Assassin, check your inventory for a Smithing Stone. That’s confirmation the step registered. No stone means it didn’t count, so redo it.
If Eleonora won’t invade after Yura’s already dead or gone, find wherever the map still marks his last position, grab the Nagakiba if it’s there, and head back to the church. That resets the trigger.
