How to Defeat Brenna: Hildir's Burning Miniboss Guide

Who Is Brenna?

Brenna is the first of three minibosses from Hildir's Request and the most approachable for players in the early-to-mid game. She is a burning Skeleton with charcoal-black bones, wielding a fiery version of Krom. Her name echoes the Swedish branna, "to burn", and the theme runs through her whole moveset.

Why fight her

She guards the Smouldering Tombs of the Black Forest as part of an optional side quest for the trader Hildir. Every kill drops:

• Hildir's Brass Chest: return it to Hildir to unlock the first tier of her expanded shop.
• Brenna Trophy: a decorative light source for your base.

Do not let "miniboss" fool you. With fire on every attack and a room of 1-star Skeletons backing her up, she punishes overconfidence. Bring the right weapon and learn her two attacks, and the fight becomes very manageable.

Finding the Smouldering Tomb

Smouldering Tombs are dungeon variants in the Black Forest. There are exactly three per world, and from outside they look almost identical to Burial Chambers. The only way to tell is to enter: the location name reads "Smouldering Tomb".

Use Hildir's map table

1. Find Hildir in the Meadows. Like Haldor, she has 10 possible locations but only one is active per world.
2. Walk up to the map table in front of her and press E to "register chest locations".
3. Every Smouldering Tomb, Howling Cavern and Sealed Tower is now marked on your map.

It is an easy detail to miss, and it saves a huge amount of blind exploring.

Heed Hugin's warning

Stumble into a tomb before meeting Hildir and Hugin warns that it is tougher than you are used to. Take it seriously: every Skeleton inside is 1-star, and coffins keep spawning more as you move through the corridors.

Best Weapons for Brenna

Weapon choice matters more here than most players realize. She takes 50% extra from Blunt and Frost, half damage from Pierce, and nothing at all from Fire or Poison. That rules out your Flint Spear, Fire Arrow and Poison Arrow. Lean into Blunt as hard as you can.

Frostner: best in slot

Frostner hits both of her weaknesses at once and adds Spirit damage on top. If you have Silver and have reached the Mountain, crafting it first is the single best preparation you can make.

Iron Mace: best before the Mountain

Available as soon as you process Swamp iron, it exploits her Blunt weakness cleanly. At quality 3 or 4 it hits for 67-73 Blunt per swing, which is more than enough.

Other options

• Bronze Mace: works in a pinch for an early attempt, but the fight takes noticeably longer.
• Stagbreaker: pure Blunt AoE, but its slow wind-up leaves you exposed in tight corridors.
• Silver Sword: its Spirit damage is only neutral against her, so any Blunt weapon outperforms it.

Rewards: What Does Defeating Brenna Unlock?

Returning Hildir's Brass Chest unlocks the first tier of her shop. Most of it is cosmetic clothing:

• Plain Brown Dress, Plain Blue Dress and Plain Yellow Dress
• Plain Blue Tunic, Plain Red Tunic and Plain Yellow Tunic
• Blue Tied Headscarf, Brown Fur Cap and Straw Hat
• Harvest Tunic and Harvest Dress

The "She's hot on your tail!" raid

Turning in the chest also unlocks a raid where Brenna invades your base with Skeletons. Since she drops a trophy every time, the raid doubles as a way to farm extra Brenna Trophies.

The trophy glows with fire when mounted on an item stand. Decorators often farm several through the raid, because of a known bug where only the first Smouldering Tomb reliably spawns Brenna after her first defeat.

When Should You Fight Brenna?

Brenna is the easiest of Hildir's three minibosses, scaled roughly to the Black Forest and Swamp. You can take her on with Iron gear, and she becomes straightforward with Silver. The real danger is the 1-star Skeletons catching you in the corridors, not Brenna herself.

The sweet spot

The ideal time is right after your first few Sunken Crypts. You will have Iron armor, an Iron Mace and enough combat practice to handle the tomb. Mountain gear makes her trivial, but you miss enjoying the cosmetics during the mid-game, when they feel most rewarding.

No boss gate

Her quest line runs parallel to the main bosses. You do not need to defeat Eikthyr, The Elder or anyone else to enter the tombs. With decent Bronze gear you could try her before the Swamp, though the 1-star Skeletons will hit hard.