Fans are already touting Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree as an even bigger challenge than the base game, and that’s naturally due to its new boss roster.
While I don’t think any of the bosses in the new gallery of monstrosities reaches the heights of Malenia when it comes to sheer difficulty, I can still safely say that Shadow Of The Erdtree‘s hardest bosses feature some highly challenging and inventive foes.
10. Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame
As with with all things frenzied flame, Midra requires players to worry about the yellow madness meter that builds up when they get hit by his attacks. Though madness is his most perilous threat, he has a harder time charging up the meter than the guards that inhabit the woods section players must cross to reach Midra.
Midra isn’t a particularly daunting foe if you know what you’re up against, but getting too comfortable against his rather slow move-set might prove your downfall as he still has some faster lunges with his sword, and because you might forget the buildup of the aforementioned madness.
Though he is a respectable foe, the most difficult part about Midra is getting to him, as he hides inside a secret area that’s easily the least fun to traverse in the entire game.
9. Divine Beast Dancing Lion
The DLC’s first main boss isn’t as hard as Magrit, the first main boss in the main game, but he’s the perfect foil for players who dare to underestimate Shadow Of The Erdtree’s new trappings.
If you go head-first into the DLC’s main quest, the Dancing Lion might prove a challenge, due to how the DLC’s new level scaling mostly nullifies the advantages players would expect from entering it at a high level. The Dancing Lion is a big enemy who attacks with large swings and elemental AOE abilities, but he’s actually pretty accessible as a “first boss” for players engaging the DLC as FromSoft intended.
If he’s giving you a hard time, take a step back, do your reconaissance, grab some Scadutree fragments here and there, and then give it another shot. You’ll see that his threat will be greatly diminished.
8. Bayle, The Dread
One of the very first lessons you learn when playing the first game in the Souls series is that all enemies can kill you, but Dragon-type enemies even more so.
FromSoft seems to love putting Dragons in their DLCs that are even stronger than the Dragons seen in the base games, and Bayle might just be their masterpiece. While not as strong and resilient as Darkeater Midir from the Dark Souls 3 Ringed City DLC, Bayle is still very resilient and a much more well-rounded enemy, courtesy of its smaller frame and vaster moveset. Bayle is likely the most fun Dragon-type boss to fight in the whole series.
7. Scadutree Avatar
Not all bosses need to rush players with an incessant barrage of crazy moves to provide a challenge. Scadutree avatar picks his battles, and splits his most devastating abilities into three phases — yes, this thing is almost a Final Fantasy boss.
On top of having the unwavering discipline necessary to navigate the Scadutree Avatar’s three forms, players can’t just reduce its health to 0, as they’ll also have to seal the deal at the end of each form by performing a Sekiro-like critical hit animation. Sleeping on that will just cause the beast to get back up and deny you the fruits of your hard labor.
6. Messmer
Going into the DLC, many likely expected Messmer, the most publicized new enemy in the DLC, to become its most challenging foe. That fear grew even stronger when we started hearing rumors that he could be Malenia’s third sibling.
Though Messmer possesses two different forms and various powerful AOE attacks, he never poses as much as a challenge as his sister.
Messmer even has one continuous attack that seems to emulate the Waterfowl Dance, Malenia’s most dangerous move, but it’s still not as difficult to avoid as his sister’s nightmarish game-ender. Messmer can deal a lot of damage if left unchecked, but he doesn’t prime for his resilience. I nearly did him in my first attempt, and that was before I started searching the map to stock up on Scadutree Fragments.
5. Putrescent Knight
One of the cool things about Elden Ring is how it allows players to pick between going on foot or on horseback against most enemies. That’s advantageous to us, but it would totally suck to have to face a boss who can also switch between the two modes on the fly. The Putrescent Knight does that, and then takes it a step further by commanding his ride to attack you while he’s also striking you on foot. Expect a barrage of attacks that will only stop once either you or this thing is looking at his equivalent of the “You Died” screen.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I just made him look like a nightmare, but the the Putrescent Knight is also one of the most fun challenges in the game.
4. Blackgaol Knight
Do not let the lack of lore or altogether presentation throw you off. This guy is not to be trifled with. He resides in a crypt near the start of the game, which might lead you to believe he’s a training dummy that Miyazaki nicely put there to ease you into the game. But he’s a whole different thing.
The Blackgaol Knight is very dangerous from afar, as he can make use of his automatic crossbow to fill players with burning arrows. Things don’t get much better up close, where he’ll absolutely obliterate most players courtesy of his high poise-granting armor and massive sword. He’s as fast as the player, can self-heal once, and is completely relentless. His moveset is rather simple, but he leaves absolutely no room for failure.
Bringing a high level from the base game with no new upgrades counts for very little once you enter his arena. One mistake or one instance of getting too cocky is all that it takes for your life to immediately reach zero. I’m pretty sure FromSoft put it there just to let players know that even a straightforward enemy is all that it takes to destroy players who won’t adhere by the DLC’s rules.
3. Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
Rellana is the sister of Rennala from the base game, but the two boss fights are nothing alike. Rennala is a mage that will try to keep her distance from players to try to snipe them with ranged spells. Rellana is a knight who’ll use her two swords to cut players from up close via an incredibly aggressive moveset — but is also somehow capable of inflicting immense damage from afar. In fact, Rellana’s most deadly spell is more powerful and harder to avoid than any of Rennala’s spells.
Rellana’s swords heavily resemble Pontiff Sulyvahn’s weapons from Dark Souls 3, but this spiritual disciple of Sulyvahn’s is a much, much more formidable opponent than the old man.
2. Commander Gaius
As soon as I gathered the courage to admit that I was getting my ass handed to me by a rando on literal piggyback, I was immediately assured by the Destructoid team that Commander Gaius was no joke.
Though he’s not one of the most famed bosses, I’d argue that he’s the boss that can kill you the fastest. I’m not saying FromSoft messed up when coding this one, but something about the hit detection of his ramming attacks just didn’t feel right in any of the (over) ten attempts I needed to beat him — and he rams a lot. It feels like he hits you before his character model comes in contact with your character, then there seems to be a second hit detection for the boar that he’s riding. He hits fast, hard, and also moves very quickly. This is one of the very few enemies in the entire series that’s hard to outrun — even when riding Torrent.
As for his moveset, well, he feels like a mix between that Tree Sentinel known for stomping on all Elden Ring newcomers, and the special moves of General Radahn. He’s an absolute menace.
1. Promised Consort Radahn
Ever looked at Radahn in his Elden Ring form and wondered how much of a beast he’d have been in his prime? Well, you probably shouldn’t have done that.
Radahn’s new fight is poised to be difficult simply because he’ll revive the memories of the frustrations you had when going up against him in the original game, but this time he’s even worse. This is not old decrepit Radahn. This is the Radahn that Malenia had to nearly sacrifice herself to beat. And, if just being so much stronger weren’t enough, instead of a horse, he now has the help of a literal god on his shoulders.
Much like the original iteration, the new Radahn has a wide range of flashy moves, many of which are capable of bringing your HP bar to 0 with ease. Unlike the original iteration, however, which didn’t prime for its toughness, new Radahn has a lot of HP — even if you have your character up to date with the new Ashes and Scadutree upgrades.
This Radahn is one for the ages, and not just because he might take ages for you to beat.
