Elden Ring’sbase game was just one in a long line of FromSoftgames that raised the bar in terms of boss difficulty, and provided what many consider to be the toughest Souls boss of all time in the form ofMalenia, Blade of Miquella. Which put FromSoftin a precarious position with DLC on the way. How were they going to top what they had done to that point? Well, we should never have doubted them, as theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC is jam-packed with truly insane boss battles.
Elden Ring: How to Beat The Ghostflame Dragon in Shadow of the Erdtree
You’ll get a frosty reception from this dragon boss in Shadow of the Erdtree.
Right from the moment you set foot in Gravesite Plain, you’re a stone’s throw away from the Blackgaol Knight, a Furnace Golem, and the Ghostflame Dragon, and honestly, they are all child’s play compared to what lies ahead. So, I want to take some time to look back at the major boss fights I faced in this game and rank them from easiest to hardest.
Just for clarity, we will only be including bosses that we feel warrant a mention,as there are a total of 78 Bosses in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and quite frankly, we all have better things to do than decide if the Fallingstar Beast is harder than two Tree Sentinels. So we’ll be sticking to the standout bosses.
15Romina, Saint Of The Bud
Boss Location
Ancient Ruins of Rauh
Difficulty Rating
Boss Guide
How to beat Romina
We begin with a boss that I only include because I feel obligated to do so, considering that it’s a mandatory fight if you want to finish the DLC content. Romina looks very imposing due to its grotesque half-scorpion, half-centipede design. Not to mention, as a boss concept, having three independent limbs that can attack you independently sounds like a nightmare for players. But in reality, Romina is a very tame boss.
All you really need to do here is tuck into their side and land heavy attacks, with the occasional break to dodge their melee slash attacks. Then, even in their second stage, where she uses Scarlet Rot Butterflies to up the ante, these rarely come close to filling your Scarlet Rot status bar. Considering this may be your last fight before entering Enir Llim, this one is a huge letdown, and one of the easier fights you’ll face in the DLC.
14Rugalea The Great Red Bear
How to beat Rugalea
There are a few enemy types from the base game that never got the opportunity to step up to the plate and serve as bosses in The Lands Between, and bears were one of these enemies. They were hard-hitting beasts, don’t get me wrong, but they are nothing compared to Ralva and Rugalea, the two Red Bear bosses of the Shadow Realm.
These two powerful grizzlies are relentless, with charge attacks, roar attacks, ground-splitting ranged attacks, and a variety of melee combos, and prove that even the bosses that are two feet firmly placed in the realm of reality in terms of their design and makeup can still be a terrifying prospect. If you have an Ash of War that can get you in behind them and avoid attacks with ease like White Light Charge, this will make your life a lot easier, but nonetheless, Ralva and Rugalea are no pushovers.
13Golden Hippopotamus
Shadow Keep
How to beat the Golden Hippopotamus
You’ll encounter quite a few Hippopotamus enemies as you explore the Shadow Realm, especially if you are trying to find all the Scadutree Fragments dotted around the map, but I can assure you that none will put up as much of a fight as the Golden Hippopotamus located at the Shadow Keep Main Entrance.
In theory, this boss isn’t all that tricky as they mainly use the same moveset as the basic Hippo enemies. However, there are two factors that make this one particularly hard to navigate. One, the room is tiny, meaning that you’ll likely get pushed into the corner, be unable to see or dodge the Golden Hippo’s incoming attacks.
Then, secondly, the Hippo also has access to a deadly thorn attack that makes the second phase a real pain. The camera is more of a threat in this fight than the Hippo, honestly, but the situation is what it is, and what it is, is pretty hard.
12Blackgaol Knight
Eastern Nameless Masouleum
How to beat the Blackgaol Knight
I want to clarify right away that if you fight the Blackgaol Knight in an honorable and fair manner, then he probably warrants a slightly higher place on this list. However, if you’re like me and spotted their one clear weakness right from the off, you’ll understand why they don’t warrant as much praise as some might believe.
The Blackgaol Knight has some powerful attacks, like a Fire Bolt ranged attack, and a slash shockwave attack. However, despite being a melee master, his fight can be trivialized by stepping backward, allowing him to charge you, and then, just as he comes into range, landing a few attacks on him. Then, you can rinse and repeat to beat him with ease. If you don’t use this method and fight him early, the difficulty increases astronomically, but if you know what you’re doing, you’ll easily beat him.
11Divine Beast Dancing Lion
Belurat Tower Settlement
How to beat Divine Beast Dancing Lion
We move on to the second of the mandatory bosses on this list, theDivine Beast Dancing Lion. This will likely be the first boss that you encounter in the DLC as the game subtly ushers you towards the Belurat Tower Settlement, and it’s quite a steep challenge right off the bat. The Divine Lion is very hard to read due to the fact that they glide around the arena, and they also have a particularly tough lightning phase with powerful, wide-range AOE attacks.
Not to mention, this was the only boss with whom I witnessed huge performance issues, and that really affected my rhythm throughout. But, due to Redmane Freyja’s summon, a very manageable first phase, and their weakness to fire attacks, you’ll find that this one will go down relatively quickly, allowing you to move on to bigger, more brutal bosses.
10Jori, Elder Inquisitor
Darklight Catacombs
How to beat Jori
Next, we have a boss that you’ll need to beat if you want access to the Abyssal Woods. What you’ll immediately learn about this fight during your first attempt is that it isn’t necessarily tough; it’s just irritating and cheap, which, in turn, makes it artificially difficult.
Elden Ring: Best Order To See New Areas In Shadow Of The Erdtree
Let us be your tour guide to the Shadow Realm
What makes this fight a pain is that Jori is a mage who relies on ranged attacks, which means you’ll spend a lot of your time hiding behind gravestones and environmental assets in the arena. And even when you get to them, after a few hits, they will teleport away and begin this process again.
This is fine initially, but when Jori starts summoning Crucible minions to help him in battle, the script flips and turns this fight into a rather chaotic one where you need to exercise crowd control while also avoiding their powerful crescent arc magic. In short, it’s a very busy fight that you’ll probably need to try a few times just to understand what the game wants you to do, and it’s easily one of the least enjoyable fights in the game, but credit where it’s due, it’s a pretty tricky one.
9Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
Ensis Castle
How to beat Rellana
This is where we take a sizable jump forward in terms of difficulty, as the bosses from here on out represent the hardest tests that the Shadow Realm has to offer. Of those, Rellana is probably the most manageable. But that being said, that doesn’t mean she isn’t going to send you packing to the nearest Site of Grace time and time again. This boss feels like the Blackgaol Knight without the ability to cheese the fight, and has a wide variety of fast-paced melee combos that’ll keep you on the backfoot.
However, you would rather they perform those melee attacks than their blend of magic and fire attacks courtesy of their twin moon blades. Their second phase is particularly tough with insane magic attacks that cover the entire arena and force you to dodge with precision, and fire attacks that explode to elongate melee attacks and shorten the window to attack.
This boss is essentially FromSoft’s attempt to provide the hardest humanoid Knight boss fight in the game, and you would argue that they managed that with Rellana.
8Scadutree Avatar
Scadutree Base
How to beat Scadutree Avatar
This mad little flower was the absolute bane of my existence and, equally, my favorite boss of the entire DLC. The Scadutree Avatar is a giant-withered sunflower that uses a range of powerful ranged, mobile, and AOE burst attacks to knock you for six. All of these attacks are hard to handle, but the main reason why this boss is such a hard one to deal with is that they have three phases to their fight, meaning they’ll really drag things out.
Their head serves as a weak spot, and focusing on this area will help take them down faster. But because of their ability to zoom around the environment, perform wide-ranged attacks that cause blood loss build-up, and their final phase, which has an extremely powerful and hard to avoid holy burst attack, this boss serves as one of the toughest fights in the game, and if you’re like me and stumbled upon them rather early on in your journey, this will only make things much worse.
7Commander Gaius
The Hinterlands
How to beat Commander Gaius
The base game will have taught you that if you encounter a boss who rides on horseback, you may expect a tough and very mobile opponent. This is true of Commander Gaius as well, who uses a mix of hard-hitting physical attacks and gravity attacks to cut you down to size. This boss has some incredible attacks that will cause you pain, like his Stone Shards AOE attack and his gravity balls that will pull you toward him and pulse to deal damage.
However, despite these interesting moves, he flatters to deceive a little bit, as you can get through the entire first phase of this fight by hugging the side of his Boar Steed, while dodging the occasional melee attack. Then, for the second phase, as long as you can keep away from his gravity balls and avoid his airborne slam attacks, you’ll be golden. It’s a tough fight, and many may argue that he deserves a much higher ranking, as he can stun you and kill you in two quickfire strikes if you’re not careful. But if you run a holy build and keep tight to his side, you’ll be fine, trust me.
6Putrescent Knight
Deep Garden of Purple
How to beat Putrescent Knight
There are some bosses that are extremely well hidden in the Elden Ring DLC, and the Putrescent Knight is one of them, as it’s hard enough to find your way to the Cerulean Coast. When you do, you’ll need to navigate the intimidating legacy dungeon Stone Coffin Fissure to find this putrid beast. The Putrescent Knight is, in my opinion, a nod to the Orphan of Kos inBloodborne, with a huge cleaver at their disposal. Only this boss rides on horseback, making them much more mobile.
The main concern in this fight is that the Putrescent Knight can hop off their horse and allow them to work independently, giving you two enemies to worry about. Plus, they have access to a number of powerful and hard-to-avoid ghost flame attacks, which take some practice to dodge consistently. If you run a Holy or Scarlet Rot build, this is a little more manageable, but even if you do, the Putrescent Knight won’t let you through to St. Trina without a fight.
