Elden Ring is full of bosses to kill. Some of them are pretty easy, and others not so much. At the same time, some of them act as the roadblock to progress in the story. Here are the top 10 hardest bosses you can find in the game.
Elden Ring, the newest game of From Software, had some big shoes to fill in terms of bosses, as the previous titles had some of the most memorable boss fights.
Even though it had some big shoes to fill, it did not disappoint. Elden Ring’s world is full of bosses to kill. They provide a good challenge to the players. Unlike the previous titles, this game embraces the open-world system and also drops bosses in the open world.
With it having close to Eighty bosses, you can find them in various difficulties. Some of the most challenging bosses are not even required for the main story. Here are the top 10 difficult bosses in Elden Ring.
10. Commander Niall
Commander Niall can be found in a castle situated on the Mountaintop of the Giants. This is the final boss and commander of the castle. It may look like a normal open-world boss, but you soon realize he has two knights with him.
The knights themselves put up a good fight, but you also have to deal with the boss. If you can defeat the knights, you realize they are not the only ones making this encounter difficult. Commander Niall uses frost and lighting, not to mention he is extremely fast and moves around a lot.
But his attacks are not too hard to dodge. With some proper timing, he can be defeated without too much sweat, that is, as long as you can safely deal with the knights.
9. Astel, Natural Born of the Void
Astel is found at the end of Ranni’s quest. This is the boss you have to defeat if you want to get the famous “Moonlight Dreamblade” or, as this game calls it, “Dark Moon Greatsword.”
Astel is huge with a massive arena for battle. He can use gravity magic and shoot lasers if you are too far away. This boss looks like it is straight from a nightmare. Looks aside, he can be tough to deal with.
You have to get close to even damage him, but he has aoe gravity magic attacks. If you don’t roll in the correct time, this attack can be devastating. And depending on your hp, it can easily one-shot you.
Also, he loves to teleport around a lot, making closing the distance a lot harder than you initially thought.
8. Godskin Duo
Yes, the classic From Software duo boss fight. The single Godskin fights were not tough enough, so they gave you both of them at once. Jokes aside, this boss fight reminds me of Orenstein and Smough from the original Dark Souls, except they share one health bar.
The Godskin Apostle’s fast attack and Godskin Noble’s big area closing attack makes them perfect for covering each other’s weaknesses. Both of them also have a second phase. This is an end-game boss fight, but you will still get defeated if you are not paying attention to both of them.
They have a shared health bar, meaning no matter which one you hit, you will damage the health bar that is on display at the bottom. But each of them also has a separate health bar. If you defeat one of the Godskin, the other one summons the defeated one again. So, as long as you don’t get the main health bar down to zero, you will have to fight both of them.
7. Margott, The Omen King
Margott, The Omen king is a main story-related boss that you need to defeat in order to complete the game. Some think he is the same person as “Margit, the Fell Omen,” who we fight at the start of the game, while others believe Margott and Margit are twins.
The first phase of this boss plays out almost the same as the “Margit, the Fell Omen” boss that you get to fight in the first major area of the game.
That doesn’t mean the first phase would be easy. Margott uses some of the same attacks as Margit. But Morgott’s attacks deal more damage since he is an end-game boss. Not to mention, just like Margit, Morgott’s long wind-up for each attack can really mess up your timings.
In 2nd phase, he becomes a different beast. He starts using newer attacks and also lightning. He also gets a few aoe attacks that can be devastating to you and your summons if you stay inside it too long.
But the omen duos share the same weakness. You can use Margit’s Shackles against Margott too. This is a lifesaver, especially when he tries to make his big aoe sword attack.
6. Godfrey, First Elden Lord
The fight with Godfrey doesn’t start as too difficult. By the time you reach the real Godfrey, you have already fought with the spirit of Godfrey. The first phase of this boss is the same as the spirit.
Though the first phase is challenging, it feels very balanced. You get a lot of window to dodge and fight back. But when he enters the 2nd phase, things get trickier.
Once he enters the 2nd phase, he ditches his weapons and becomes Horah Loux, Warrior. This bare-hand fighter can be a nightmare to encounter. He can close the gap with you very quickly and has a lot of damage.
If you are running a squishy build, chances are you will get one shot more often than not. The ridiculous damage paired up with his aggression makes Godfrey, First Elden Lord, a respectable candidate on this list.
5. Mohg, Lord of Blood
Mohg, Lord of Blood, can be found in his castle at the end of the lord of blood area. This is an optional area you can teleport to and explore. While he is an optional boss, he is also one of the shard bearers. So expecting an easy fight is not going to cut it here.
Mohg being the lord of blood, can dish out a lot of bleed damage in a short time. Almost all of his attacks build up the bleed meter. If you are running a bleed build, this boss is going to be a brick wall for you since each bleed increases his attack power.
But this is just the first phase. When Mohg enters his 2nd phase, he hits you with an unavoidable attack which also heals him. Then he grows a pair of wings which helps him fly around and shoot bleed spells around the arena.
Fortunately for us, you can get a certain item for your physick flask that you can use to negate the damage of this unavoidable attack. That way, he won’t get to heal when he changes his phase. This makes the fight at least a bit easier.
4. Starscourge Radahn
They weren’t joking when they said Radahn was one of the strongest of the shardbearers. This fight is pretty unique in any of the souls-brone series. The fight starts with Radahn shooting arrows at you across the arena.
While the arrows do a lot of damage, they are pretty easy to dodge. But the fight starts when you get close to him. This boss was so tough he got nerf in the first patch of Elden Ring. Nonetheless, he is still pretty hard to defeat.
The problem with this boss is that he is pretty big with a lot of mobility. His big swords are hard to deal with, but on top of that, his movement makes it even harder to track what he is doing. Also, he is a shard bearer, so he hits like a truck when he lands a hit.
His 2nd phase is even harder to deal with. After his first phase, he leaps into the air and leaves the battle. After some time, he crashes down like a meteor and instantly kills anything that is in his path. So as soon as he leaves, use torrent and leg it out of his way.
After that, the fight only gets more challenging. He uses gravity magic a lot in his 2nd phase. He throws rocks at you, which can instantly kill you. He also launches himself as a torpedo and can use purple shock waves to hit you.
3. Maliketh The Black Blade
The boss fight starts as the Beast Clergyman, and in the second phase, he becomes Maliketh, The Black Blade. While the first phase, Beast Clergyman, is not too hard to deal with, Maliketh is another story.
Maliketh uses the black sword imbued with the rune of death. This makes his attack do a chunk of damage when it lands, then a lot more damage over time, reducing your health.
He is also very agile and jumps around the arena a lot. If you are a defensive player, you will have a terrible time with him.
Even though it sounds very absurd, the fight is actually quite balanced. With a bit of practice, you can easily dodge his attacks. On top of that, he doesn’t have as much health as some other bosses making it a hard yet balanced fight.
2. Radagon of the Golden Order & Elden Beast
The final encounter of the Elden Ring is very tough. This is a double/back-to-back boss fight. That means you have to defeat two bosses one after another without any grace point to refill your flasks. And if you die at any point of the fight, you have to fight both of them from the start.
The fight is divided into two bosses. So none of them have a 2nd phase. It starts with Radagon, and after defeating him, the Elden Beast shows up.
Starting with Radagon, he has his hammer and lighting in his arsenal. The hammer can do some big aoe attacks in addition to the single attacks. One of his aoe attacks even covers almost the whole arena, and the only way to avoid them is to dodge at the right time.
Some of the attacks also leave a wave of golden lights that shoots out in front of the hammer and can do severe damage if you are caught in it. He also has grab attacks that can easily one-shot you. If you are able to defeat him, your reward is the Elden Beast, the final boss of the game.
The Elden Beast has a lot of high damaging moves. He also uses some spells that can one or two-shot you depending on your build. He can attack with his sword, use fire, use spells, and move around the arena a lot. Also, not to mention, he is immune to bleed, making him one of the hardest bosses to deal with in the whole game.
1. Malenia, Blade of Miquella
It is not an overstatement to assume Malenia, Blade of Miquella is the hardest boss in the game. Some may consider her the hardest boss in all souls-brone series as she has one of the worst mechanics in a boss fight: lifesteal.
No matter how much you damage her, she can get back to full health in what seems like an instant if you are not careful to avoid her attacks. She is not as aggressive as the other bosses, but she doesn’t need to be.
Malenia has a lot of combo attacks that, if connected, can heal almost half of her health. But most of her attacks are parryable. So if you are good at parrying, she becomes a lot easier. She also gets staggered quite easily.
She, like many other bosses, has two-phase. In her second phase, she becomes more aggressive and causes scarlet rot. She gets a few new attacks. Among them, the most devastating one is the aoe attack that can inflict you with scarlet rot if you get close. Also, she retains her lifesteal in her 2nd phase too.
