Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is finally out, and with it comes plenty of new bosses to terrorize you. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki himself says that some of the bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree were meant to push players to their very limits, and after completing the DLC we tend to agree.
So, of course, we decided to rank all the new bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree, from least difficult to most. One important caveat is that there are many more bosses than we have listed here in the DLC. However, we decided to simply rank the main bosses – the ones that drop Memories, which you can then pick up to exchange for legendary gear and weapons.
And of course, this is one of the most spoiler-filled lists we have for Shadow of the Erdtree, so don’t read if you haven’t finished the DLC.
So, with all that in mind, here are the toughest bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree!
10. Romina, saint of buds
Although Romina is a bit of a late boss, she’s ultimately not too difficult. Sort of a play on Melania’s Scarlet Rot boss, Romina is a flower caster whose primary attacks inflict Scarlet Rot if you stay too long in her poisonous fumes. By dodging them, she can also send exploding butterflies at you.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to dodge these damaging AoEs to get your hits in until she’s defeated. Whether you’re a melee player or a spellcaster, Romina is a tough fight considering how late in the game you’ll be facing her.
9. Avatar of Skadatri
One of the many large bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree, Scadutree’s avatar may be large, but it’s also, funnily enough, easy to miss. Hidden in a hidden part of the Shadow Keep, the Scadutree Avatar is a large sunflower monster that takes big hits and can deal massive bleed damage from a distance. You also have to fight him three times in a row.
Fortunately, like other big FromSoftware bosses, the Scadutree Avatar’s attacks are easy to avoid, and the main difficulty of the boss comes from having to defeat him three times more than any of his actual attacks.
8. Metir, Mother of Fingers
Despite being near the bottom of the list, Methir is still a very difficult boss thanks to his combination of big, physical AoE attacks and the ability to fire lasers and other long range abilities. Get too close and Metyr can squish you like a bug, while attacking from afar risks getting shot with a pretty powerful beam attack.
She also has a nasty ability to summon some finger thugs to help her out, which can get pretty tiresome fast. However, Metyr is pretty weak to magic, so depending on your build you can quickly melt her health bar.
7. Divine beast, dancing lion
Depending on how carefully you follow the critical path, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion is likely the first boss you’ll encounter in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and FromSoftware is certainly happy to set the bar high.
The Divine Beast hits hard, moves fast, and can switch between shooting with lighting, blasting with frost, or blasting with wind. This is true FromSoftware combat, so get ready to dodge, duck, dive, dive, and take one, maybe two hits before you repeat. The only reason Divine Beast is so low on the list is because the other bosses are just harder.
6. Relana, Twin Moon Knight
Rellana follows a rich tradition of dueling-style bosses, where players feel like they’re going head-to-head with another character, much like Artorias and Lady Maria. Renala’s sister, Relana is a magical knight who combines brutal swordplay with a magic-focused second phase where she will use both fire and ice magic against you.
A mix of melee hits, ranged AoEs, and a one-hit magic attack that took this writer a few hours to figure out how to counter, Relana was the first boss I got stuck on, meaning I literally spent days trying to defeat her, even with the help of an NPC summon.
5. Midra, Lord of the Raging Flame
In some ways, Midra and Relana are quite similar bosses, using the same attack style, combining close range sword attacks and ranged abilities. Only in Midra’s case, these ranged attacks are fury instead of magical. The main differences between the two bosses is that Midra is a bit faster, Frenzy is a bit more annoying to deal with, and he has more AoE range than Rellana.
Also, true to Frenzied Flame’s name, Midra’s attack patterns are decidedly more chaotic, meaning that finding patterns to avoid his attacks is a bit more difficult.
4. Rotting Knight
The Rotten Knight gave me strong Bloodborne vibes, not only from his design as a crazed, skeletal knight riding a slime horse, but also from his merciless attacks. Rotten Knight tends to always hit a few more times than you expect, meaning that just when you think you’re in the clear and ready to take a swig from your flask, oops! He hit you again and now you’re dead.
What’s more, the Rotting Knight’s nasty habit of being able to detach from his horse and temporarily become two enemies is also a headache to deal with.
3. Commander Guy
When I talked to my fellow Shadow of the Erdtree Early Access lovers, Guy repeatedly came up in the “Toughest Bosses” conversation. Sort of like a remixed version of Radahn from the base game, Commander Gaius rushes onto the battlefield on a mighty boar to stomp on players. Survive this? Well, he’s armed to the teeth with gravity magic, which he can then use in the second phase to crush you.
The biggest problem with Commander Guy is that you have to be perfect with your timing. If you fail to dodge him once, there’s a good chance he’ll stomp on you in one fell swoop. But like Radahn, if you take it head on and perfect your timing, you should be in a good place for an epic duel.
2. Mesmer the Tepes
FromSoftware has been heavily promoting Messmer the Impaler leading up to the DLC’s release, and for good reason. The Messmer boss fight is one of the hardest in the entire DLC, and maybe in the game. A two-part battle, Mesmer begins his attack with his mighty spear, which has a huge reach. Not only is Messmer fast, but his fire damage and counter attacks make his first phase hard to deal with on its own.
The second phase is where, unfortunately, the real battle begins, as he can add a giant snake to his arsenal. You’ll need to avoid both the Messmer and the snake, because if one catches you, it’s probably game over. Whether you’re caught in the snake’s jaws as it slams you into the ground, or dealing with Messmer’s fiery grip that can practically kill you in one shot, Messmer is a boss that’s hard to read and even harder to avoidance.
1. Promised husband Radahn
Effectively the “Final Boss” of the DLC, I feel like Promised Consort Radahn is the person director Hidetaka Miyazaki might be talking about when he talks about pushing the boundaries of boss difficulty for DLC.
Simply put, Promised Consort Radahn is ruthless. In his first phase, Radahn’s size belies his sheer speed. A punchy, fast-moving one, you’ll be lucky to get through his first phase unscathed between his massive sword swings, gravity attacks, and massive health bar.
However, the second phase seems downright impossible. Adding Miquella’s holy attacks to Radahn’s moveset doesn’t make anywhere in the arena safe for the player. With holy beams constantly raining down around the duo, Promised Consort Radahn can now move at the speed of light as well, charging down on the player insanely fast and almost never letting up even then. What it does is effectively take away the players greatest skill: dodging.
It will take frame-perfect movement, cunning, and maybe more than a little luck to get through this two-part boss fight. But I promise the feeling afterwards will be worth it.
Here’s how we rank the toughest boss fights in Elden Ring’s new DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. Let us know in the comments which bosses give you the most trouble, and be sure to check out our Shadow of the Erdtree walkthrough if you haven’t already.
Matt TM Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach it @lawoftd.
