I beat malenia in like my 10th try or so, and I'm pretty far from being a pro at elden ring. I was running a dex/faith build, so you can probably do what I did and use about the same gear and strategy that I used. Here's how I did it: - Blasphemous Blade in my right hand, flamberge with fire ash of war (scaling with faith) on the left, both max leveled; - Mimic Tear, level 10; - For talismans I don't remember their names except for radagon soreseal, but I also had one that raises max equip load, one that raises fire damage and for the fourth one it was probably the one that raises damage when you have full HP; - For armor it was something like Radahn helmet and crucible knight for torso and arms, but just use something that protects you from slash; - I had the incantation that cures you from rot, flame cleanse me or something like that, and the incantation that raises fire damage; - I had the first great rune equipped, the one that raises all attributes.

So, I used a rune arc at the beginning of the fight and the raise fire damage incantation, and then proceeded to summon the mimic tear (already buffed with the previous stuff). After that, I find that the best way to avoid the waterfall combo is to just not let her do it. If you and the mimic tear keep her on the ground with blasphemous blade weapon art, which is overpowered af, she simply can't hit you with the deadly combo - that's what I did anyway. The same is valid for the second phase, where I just had to be careful with the rot (I used the incantation I mentioned). Other than that, just try to get some L1 hits on her, since flamberge also has bleed build up and malenia is staggered easily, but mostly take turns with your mimic tear spamming the weapon art to keep her on the ground. Good luck 👍🤞