Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (2024)

Elden Ring

By Brendan Hanney

Published 4 days ago

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Shadow of the Erdtree has just been released for Elden Ring, and players are taking some of their best builds to face the new challenges that the Land of Shadow has to offer. While there has been some conversation around the difficulty scaling in the DLC, one thing is abundantly clear to those who have played Shadow of the Erdtree — this DLC has some of the hardest boss fights in any game that FromSoftware has made.

FromSoftware games, and Elden Ring in particular, are known for having incredibly grueling boss fights that can have players stuck for hours. Shadow of the Erdtree has dialed this difficulty up significantly with aggressive, fast, and hard-hitting boss fights at every turn. There are many bosses to face in the Land of Shadow, and while all of them are not complete roadblocks, some bosses stand out as seemingly insurmountable gods that will take all of a player’s skill to overcome.

10 One of the First Bosses Can be Painful

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (3)

This boss can be a nightmare for underprepared underprepared
Players will want to explore the map before deciding to fight the boss.

The Divine Beast Dancing Lion is one of the first bosses that players will likely encounter during their playthrough of Shadow of the Erdtree. A major roadblock for many Tarnished, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion sets the tone for the entire expansion. The boss itself has large slam and sweeping attacks that can catch players off guard. After enough damage has been dealt, the boss will transition into separate phases where it will siphon different elements to attack the player with. The boss can use lightning, giving its attacks a large AOE effect, cold damage which can inflict a player with frostbite, or wind attacks that send out large tornadoes to attack from afar.

The Divine Beast Dancing Lion can be found and fought early, but players should not feel like they have to commit to beating it once they find it. The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has a much different scaling system than that of the base game, and exploration can be the key to taking down its bosses. Scadutree Fragments are a new item that can be found in the DLC that gives players both a damage reduction for incoming damage, as well as increase outgoing damage to enemies. Exploring the map and finding these fragments are essential to taking on the bosses of the DLC. All the bosses in the DLC are tough challenges, and the Divine Beast Dancing Lion is not a pushover, but compared to how tough some of the later bosses can get, it ranks the lowest on the list.

9 Romina Is a Throwback to Classic Dark Souls Bosses

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (4)

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Carrying on a tradition from other FromSoftware games, Romina, Saint of the Bud, is a half-woman half-insect hybrid. More accurately, Romina is made up of many different insect parts, along with the upper body of a woman. This harkens back to bosses from the Dark Souls series, most famously Quelaag, a woman-spider hybrid who is a fan-favorite boss in the series. Both Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 featured bosses that combined insect or arachnid features with the upper half of a woman, which was absent from the base game of Elden Ring. With Shadow of the Erdtree, FromSoftware has given players a subtle nod to its older titles.

Romina is a remembrance boss that players must face in order to progress through the main story of the DLC. Found at the Church of the Bud above the Rauh Ruins, which players can reach by going west from the Shadow Keep area. Romina has large sweeping attacks that are not too hard to dodge, but she can become very difficult because of her ability to inflict scarlet rot on the player. Scarlet rot is a status effect that will drain health very fast over time. Players will want to make sure that they have high resistance to scarlet rot through talismans and armor, as well as items that can cure ailments in case they are afflicted.

8 The Scadutree Avatar Is a Very Unique Fight

This boss has 3 completely different health bars.
Players need to take down the boss 3 times before it is finally defeated.

The Scadutree Avatar is a boss that can be found under the Sunken Chapel of the Shadow Keep. When first entering the Church District of the Shadow Keep, players can catch a quick glimpse of the boss in the water that is flooding the district, foreshadowing the foe that they can eventually face. After draining the water in the area, players will be able to reach the area of the boss fight and take on the Scadutree Avatar.

The boss fight itself is a unique fight when compared to other boss fights in Elden Ring. The Scadutree Avatar will have 3 different phases, each with its own health bar. Once the health bar has been depleted, the boss will enter a stagger state, where players can get a critical hit that will send the boss into the next phases. If players do not land the critical hit on the boss, the boss will start the phase over again, regaining its lost health. By landing the critical hit, the boss will start the next phase with a chunk missing from its health bar, giving players a slight advantage when progressing through the fight. Each phase introduces new moves for players to learn, and once players deplete the third health bar, they will defeat the Scadutree Avatar.

7 The Putrescent Knight Is a Deceptively Strong Boss

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (7)

The Putrescent Knight can trick players by using his horse to attack for him.
Summoned flames can quickly kill players unless they know how to properly evade them.

The Putrescent Knight can be found at the very bottom of the Fissure area. After making a leap of faith from a great height, players will fall into the boss arena to face the Putrescent Knight. The boss has some very unconventional ways of attacking, flailing wildly and even using its horse to charge and attack the player while it hangs back. One of its deadliest attacks is its ability to summon flames on the ground to travel and hit players from afar.

The Putrescent Knight is a tough boss but can be made much easier with some adjustments to a player’s approach in fighting it. As an undead enemy, it is weak to holy damage. If players can fit it into their build, using a holy weapon or coating their weapon with a holy buff can increase damage output on the Putrescent Knight. This is not required for players who cannot do holy damage but can help in a pinch if a player wants to squeeze out every bit of extra damage that they can. The fire attacks that it does can have tricky timing to dodge properly but are much easier to avoid if players simply jump over them. The flames are low enough to the ground that while a jump may not make players invincible like a roll, being in the air gives players a longer window to evade the attack.

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (8)

Midra Lord of Frenzied Flame is in a secret area within a secret area.
Players will need high madness resistance to stay alive.

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Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame is one of the most well-hidden bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree, found in a completely optional area of the game. After finding a hidden path behind a waterfall in the Shadow Keep, players can keep progressing over various waterfalls until they come across the Darklight Catacombs. This cave will take players down until they face Jori, the Elder Inquisitor. Defeating this boss gives players access to the Abyssal Woods, a hidden area of the DLC. This area is extremely dangerous, full of enemies that can inflict the madness condition on players, and even having enemies that cannot be killed where players have to sneak by them. This will lead players to Midra’s Manse, where Midra himself resides.

5 Messmer Makes for an Adrenaline Pumping Fight

Messmer earns his place as the most promoted character for the DLC.
Both of his phases have an unrelenting attack pattern.

The character who has been featured on all of the promotional material for Shadow of the Erdtree, Messmer the Impaler is simultaneously as tough as he is awesome. The character that was most shown off before the release of the DLC, Messmer even has a statue that comes with the collector’s edition of the DLC. Messmer the Impaler is a secret child of Queen Marika, hidden away in the Land of Shadow due to being born with a blasphemous serpent inside of him.

Messmer has two phases in total, and each is hard in its own right. In his first phase, Messmer utilizes a combination of spear and fire attacks. If a player stays too far away, Messmer will use fire to attack from a distance, while saving his spear for close battles. He also uses a flurry attack where he stabs many times with his spear before plunging it into the ground, releasing tons of spears from the ground in an area. In his second phase, Messmer will embrace the serpent within him, allowing him to transform into a giant snake. This results in different lunge attacks that the snake can do, and even a huge ultimate-like attack, sending out multiple snakeheads at the same time. Messmer is a very tough fight, but ultimately not the hardest, which is why he lands at the middle of the list.

4 Bayle Becomes One of the Best Dragon Fights

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (10)

Bayle is one of the most satisfying bosses to fight in the game.
He wields fire-lightning hybrid attacks.

Bayle the Dread might not be the hardest boss of the DLC, but he may just be the coolest and most fun to fight. Fights against dragon bosses have always been some of the best fights in the FromSoftware catalog. Darkeater Midir from Dark Souls 3 is a fan-favorite in particular, which fans have praised for years as one of the best bosses from any Souls-like game. Bayle the Dread firmly fits in this category as both a fun and difficult boss fight.

Bayle is an ancient dragon who fled to the Land of Shadow after betraying the Elden Lord Placidusax. Both dragons were left visibly wounded from their battle, as both can be seen as injured during their boss fights. Like other dragons, Bayle can fly during his boss fight and will use this opportunity to dash toward the player with slam or swiping attacks. Bayle will also make use of what looks like fire-lightning to attack the player with bolts from the sky. Bayle also has a slam attack that charges up an enormous blast, followed by a screeching sound. Bayle can be tough to take down, but the music, aesthetic, and adrenaline from the fight will drive players to push through for a very satisfying defeat.

3 Rellana Has Stopped Players in Their Tracks

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (11)

Rellana is related to another Elden Ring boss.
Players will encounter her early, and she can be tough if unprepared.
Patience is key to learning her attack patterns.

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight is another boss that can be found very early on in Shadow of the Erdtree, however, this boss is a required boss to progress through the story of the DLC. Fans will notice similarities between Rellana with another Elden Ring boss, Rennala. The two are actually sisters from the same Carian Royal family, with Rellana giving up her title to follow Messmer in his conquest of the Land of Shadow.

Unlike her sister who mainly uses spells against the player, Rellana uses twin light-greatswords as a melee attacker. She is not without some magic, however, as she will cast magic wave attacks at players who are far away. In the second phase of her fight, Rellana will ignite her swords with magic and fire, able to use both as more ranged attacks. She even gets her own moon sorcery, which will slam into the ground twice before she herself slams again. This creates shockwaves that players will have to jump over, as the dodge timing can be incredibly thin. It will likely take players many attempts to learn her attack patterns, but with perseverance and patience, Rellana can be defeated.

2 Commander Gaius Can Sometimes Feel Unfair

Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, Ranked (12)

Commander Gaius has lore that shows he has risen above the odds.
His attacks are very hard to dodge.
His boar will allow him to rush down fleeing players.

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Commander Gaius is an incredibly hard boss fight that is optional to Shadow of the Erdtree. Riding on the back of a giant boar, Gaius is reminiscent of the Tree Sentinel enemies from the base game of Elden Ring. Gaius himself is actually an Albinauric, a type of creature in the Lands Between that loses the ability to use their legs, hence why he rides a boar. Typically low-level enemies in the base game, Gaius represents an Albinauric that has risen to become a fearsome warrior, as he is one of the hardest fights in the game.

Gaius has three main ways of attacking the player, using his spear, his boar, and gravity magic. Up close, Gaius will use both his spear and his boar to swipe at the player with combo attacks. When a player is far away, he will either use his boar to charge them down or use gravity magic to throw rocks from range. All of the attacks that Gaius does are very hard to dodge, even for very skilled Elden Ring players. It is highly recommended to use something like the Bloodhound Step ash of war to gain a dodge with more invincibility than the default roll. The fight also allows players to summon Torrent during the fight, so if players need to retreat to heal, they can call upon their trusty steed to put some distance between themselves and the boss.

1 The Final Boss Is Legendarily Difficult

The final boss might be the hardest fight in any FromSoftware game ever.
Players will need to truly learn the fight to overcome the hardest challenge in the game.

Possibly the hardest boss fight that FromSoftware has ever designed, Promised Consort Radahn is the hardest boss in Shadow of the Erdtree, and it is not even close. After being revived, Miquella is using Radahn to become his consort to ultimately have Miquella ascend to godhood. Prior to the events of the base game of Elden Ring, Malenia and Radahn had a battle that left Radahn permanently infected with scarlet rot, becoming a shell of his former self. Having been revived, Radahn is now back to the form that he was in prior to the game’s timeline, showing players his true strength as Shadow of the Erdtree’s final boss.

Promised Consort Radahn fights very similarly to his base game counterpart, with a few key differences. He still uses his iconic dual greatswords, along with gravity magic, but now is able to use his legs as they are not afflicted with rot. This makes him much more agile, able to quickly rush down players and use his quick swipes. His second phase transforms him into Radahn, Consort of Miquella, where Miquella will provide support to Radahn by adding magic to all of his attacks. With large explosions of magic, teleports, flurries of attacks, and the ability to rush down players, Radahn is by far the hardest boss in the DLC and might be one of the hardest bosses in all of gaming history. There is not one foolproof way to beat Radahn, and he will be a tough battle no matter what, so it seems like the best strategy to take him down is to simply “get good.”