Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree main boss order
Here's our recommended main boss order for the Elden Ring DLC
What is the best order to tackle all the main bosses in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree? It's a huge part of the lifeblood of the Elden Ring experience to hunt down and defeat the many bosses tucked away in the darkest and dingiest corners of the world. So it should come as no surprise that the new Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC adds 78 new boss encounters for you to bounce between, but as was the case with the base game, with so many bosses it's hard to know which ones to defeat first.
Read on for our recommended Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree main boss order, which will explain exactly which order you need to defeat the required bosses to finish the game. But since only a handful of bosses in the DLC are actually mandatory, we've also laid out recommended boss order lists for all the Remembrance bosses, and even one for all 78 bosses in Shadow Of The Erdtree.
In this guide:
- Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree main boss order
- Which bosses are required to defeat in Shadow Of The Erdtree?
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree main boss order
The Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC adds nearly 80 new boss fights to Elden Ring, but only 11 of them are considered "main bosses" which give you a Remembrance (or similar reward) at the end of the fight. And only a handful of them are actually required in order to beat the main story. Here is our recommended order for defeating the main bosses in Shadow Of The Erdtree:
- Divine Beast Dancing Lion (Belurat)
- Rellana, Twin Moon Knight (Castle Ensis)
- Putrescent Knight (Stone Coffin Fissure)
- Messmer The Impaler / Base Serpent Messmer (Shadow Keep)
- Commander Gaius (Scaduview)
- Scadutree Avatar (Scadutree Base)
- Metyr, Mother Of Fingers (Finger Birthing Grounds, Ymir's Quest)
- Romina, Saint Of The Bud (Church Of The Bud, Ancient Ruins Of Rauh)
- Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame (Midra's Manse, Abyssal Woods)
- Bayle The Dread (Jagged Peak)
- Promised Consort Radahn / Radahn, Consort Of Miquella (Enir-Ilim)
Each of these main bosses gives you a unique Remembrance, with the exception of Bayle The Dread, which gives you Bayle's Heart as a reward instead. Bayle is, however, one of the toughest bosses in the DLC and the whole point of ascending the Jagged Peak, so I've classified it as a main boss alongside the other 10 Remembrance bosses.
1. Divine Beast Dancing Lion
The Divine Beast Dancing Lion is the first main boss that most players will encounter in Shadow Of The Erdtree. The Divine Beast can be found in Belurat, and is the main boss of that legacy dungeon. Despite being the earliest main boss, it's definitely not the easiest, with its strange movements and relentless combos giving you little time to recover.
In its second phase, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion picks up an arsenal of elemental attacks which is switches between at will, dancing from frost to lightning to wind with increasing quickness as the fight goes on. Prepare to do lots of doding in this phase while you find the right moment to get up close and finish it off.
Pro tip for fighting Divine Beast Dancing Lion:
The Divine Beast Dancing Lion is weak to fire damage (which makes sense considering the hornsent lost their war against Messmer's forces). Stay very aggressive to shorten the fight, and burn it to ash any way you can.
2. Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
Rellana, Twin Moon Knight is found at the end of Castle Ensis, the legacy dungeon across the bridge to the north of the Gravesite Plain. She's a real piece of work, with endless attack combos and stunning reach that gives you very little time to heal. Particularly given her proclivity for firing off Sorceries the moment you get any distance away from her.
Rellana is a very challenging fight for most players in the Elden Ring DLC, and it's thanks mainly to her second phase, where she ignites her Twin Blades (one flame, one magic), and uses them to greatly increase her already impressive range and damage. And when those two twin moons appear: prepare to jump three times in a row, because otherwise that's pretty much an instant death no matter what.
Pro tip for fighting Rellana, Twin Moon Knight:
Utilise heavy attacks to make the most of that short window of time where you can hit her. It's not too hard to stagger her as long as you're patient. The rest is just a case of dodging deliberately, instead of panicking.
3. Putrescent Knight
The Putrescent Knight is the main boss of the Stone Coffin Fissure, an underground region at the bottom of the Cerulean Coast. You must defeat this Knight in order to progress Thiollier's questline, which is far easier said than done, because the Putrescent Knight's attacks are notoriously difficult to read.
A couple of key attacks define the Putrescent Knight's boss fight: the first is his giant boomerang weapon, which he likes to throw at you very quickly, and without much warning. The second is when he dives off his mount, and both Knight and horse spend the next few seconds charging at you repeatedly in a staggered manner. But once you get the timing down, you'll be able to punish the Knight each time he tries this move.
Pro tip for fighting Putrescent Knight:
The Putrescent Knight often looks like it's attacking, even when it's not. Learn the moments when you're actually safe, and use them to heal or buff yourself.
4. Messmer The Impaler / Base Serpent Messmer
Messmer The Impaler is waiting for you at the top of the Shadow Keep legacy dungeon north of Scadu Altus. A strong contender for one of the hardest (and most fun) bosses in Shadow Of The Erdtree, Messmer is a huge fan of long and complicated attack strings filled with flame and destruction. Seriously, pretty much every single attack is augmented by long-reaching flames.
The first phase is tricky, for sure, but far from impossible. What ramps Messmer's difficulty right up is the second phase, where Messmer becomes his Base Serpent form, and the remainder of the fight involves desperately dodging the fast and devastating attacks of a gigantic snake. It's quite an experience.
Pro tip for fighting Messmer The Impaler:
Bleed, don't greed. Messmer is a great boss to use bleed builds against, but don't get greedy, because he likes to very quickly respond to your attacks with his own. Also, Flamedrake Talisman +3 can be picked up from the Fort Of Reprimand.
5. Commander Gaius
Commander Gaius is there to remind you that even after you've defeated Messmer, there are plenty of bosses in the DLC that can still wipe the floor with you. Head outside the Back Gate of the Shadow Keep and you'll see Commander Gaius atop his gigantic boar mount, charging towards you like a deranged, coked up Tree Sentinel gone wrong.
This fight is very tough, almost as tough as Messmer himself. While it's a welcome break from all the flame, Gaius leans more towards gravitational magic (he was a rival of Radahn's in this regard), and will fling himself and his mount into the air in order to crash down upon you in his second phase. Expect a fair few deaths before you finally defeat this dangerous main boss.
Pro tip for fighting Commander Gaius:
Play aggressive! It's very easy to stagger Gaius with repeated attacks, particularly jumping attacks. A little bleed goes a long way, too.
6. Scadutree Avatar
The Scadutree Avatar is an unusual main boss that can only be reached via the Tree-Worship Passage leading on from the Church District in Shadow Keep. The Scadutree Avatar is utterly unlike the (fairly easy) Erdtree Avatars from the base game. This Avatar is much more powerful, utilising great swipes, arena-spanning charge attacks, and bleed-inducing ranged root attacks to make life at the Scadutree Base frankly quite miserable.
The most interesting aspect of this fight is that the Scadutree Avatar has three "lives". Its health bar is quite small each time, but first time you kill it, it simply comes back a few seconds later, with a more advanced moveset. And then again. But kill it a third time, and you've dealt with it for good.
Pro tip for fighting Scadutree Avatar:
The Scadutree Avatar is pretty weak to fire, so bring a big ol' flaming sword and stay close so it doesn't use its most dangerous ranged attacks.
7. Metyr, Mother Of Fingers
Metyr, Mother Of Fingers is apparently the creature that spawned the Two Fingers themselves, which makes her very, very old indeed. She is found in the Finger Birthing Grounds beneath Scaduview, but you can only get there via teleporting from the Finger Ruins Of Miyr beneath the Cathedral Of Manus Metyr. And to do that, you need to complete almost all of Count Ymir's questline. So this is a fairly easy main boss to miss on your first playthrough.
Metyr herself is fairly dangerous, with the ability to spawn Fingercreepers to distract you, and a wealth of area-of-effect attacks that can wipe you out pretty quickly, especially in her wacky second phase where she spawns a singularity on her back. It's also difficult to roll around and attack her from the side, because her sides are well-protected by fingers.
Pro tip for fighting Metyr, Mother Of Fingers:
Bleed makes Metyr a far easier boss than she might have been. Aim for her stomach and slash away whenever she lets you. She'll go down pretty quick.
8. Romina, Saint Of The Bud
Romina, Saint Of The Bud is one of the very few actually required bosses in Shadow Of The Erdtree, which is a bit strange seeing as she's not a character that's talked about anywhere except in her own item descriptions. She is found at the Church Of The Bud at the end of the Rauh Ancient Ruins, and it's by defeating her that you can get to the Sealing Tree behind the Church and burn it (using Messmer's flame) in order to access the final area, Enir-Ilim.
Romina herself is actually not too hard at all. She has a decent reach with her two centiped-esque body parts which can swing around and clobber you, and her poleblade also has quite a good reach as you might imagine. She also likes to infuse most of her attacks with Scarlet Rot. But if you stay fairly aggressive and close, time your dodges well, and increase your Immunity stat, you shouldn't have a terribly tough time with Romina.
Pro tip for fighting Romina, Saint Of The Bud:
Make sure you have a quick Scarlet Rot cure handy before facing Romina. Once you're in, bleed and holy damage will make short work of her.
9. Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame
Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame, is the main boss of the Abyssal Woods - which itself is a very hard to reach area. Found at the top of Midra's Manse, Midra himself starts off as a pitiful, weak, crawling humanoid, and after you "kill" him, he quickly turns into one of the most spectacular and intimidating bosses in the DLC.
Everything Midra does builds up your madness meter, and his strangely graceful movements and halting attacks make it difficult to pin down what exactly he's planning. He also deals very high damage with just about every attack, so your margin for error is pretty slim in this boss fight.
Pro tip for fighting Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame:
When you see Midra begin to hover purposefully, prepare to roll back several times immediately to avoid a potential one-shot explosion attack.
10. Bayle The Dread
Bayle The Dread is the only boss in this list which doesn't drop a Remembrance when he dies. He does however drop Bayle's Heart, which works in a very similar way to a Remembrance - and he's tough as nails, so I think he deserves a spot as a main DLC boss. He certainly makes the trip up to the top of the Jagged Peak well worth the effort.
Bayle is intended to be a super late-game fight. You can find him quite early on, but I wouldn't feel comfortable facing this ancient draconic behemoth until I've hoovered up nearly all the Scadutree Fragments on offer. He deals huge damage with all his attacks, and his red lightning is remarkably difficult to avoid. You need to time everything very well indeed in order to survive Bayle's never-ending onslaught.
Pro tip for fighting Bayle The Dread:
Secrete yourself near the base of Bayle's tail. You can deal decent damage here, and you are relatively safe from a good deal of his attacks. If you see the fire area-of-effect attack, quickly roll away twice before returning to the tail.
11. Promised Consort Radahn / Radahn, Consort Of Miquella
Promised Consort Radahn is the hardest boss in Shadow Of The Erdtree, and probably the hardest boss in Elden Ring, full stop. The final boss of the DLC located at the Divine Gate in Enir-Ilim, this Radahn is a far cry from the (still terrifying) Radahn we fought back in Caelid. This is Prime Radahn, a masterful warrior with a frightening grasp of Gravitational magic which he abuses regularly alongside his - let's face it - bullshit greatsword combos.
And then, if you're strong enough to reach the second phase, Miquella arrives and all hell breaks loose. The entire arena is filled with holy damage that's nearly impossible to avoid, and Radahn's attack combos become about 200% more insane. It's a wild boss fight, but one of the most satisfying in From Software's history once you finally defeat him.
Pro tip for fighting Promised Consort Radahn:
Maximise your holy damage negation (pick up the Golden Braid from the Shaman Village in the Hinterland), and immediately run away at the start of the second phase to avoid the colossal area-of-effect attack.
Which bosses are required to defeat in Shadow Of The Erdtree?
It is possible to skip some of these bosses and still complete the Shadow Of The Erdtree story. The only absolutely required boss fights in Shadow Of The Erdtree are:
- Messmer The Impaler / Base Serpent Messmer (Shadow Keep)
- Romina, Saint Of The Bud (Church Of The Bud, Ancient Ruins Of Rauh)
- Needle Knight Leda and Allies (Enir-Ilim)
- Promised Consort Radahn / Radahn, Consort Of Miquella (Enir-Ilim)
These are the only bosses you need to defeat to beat the DLC, but there are of course a great many other bosses waiting for you in the Land Of Shadow. As long as you're increasing your strength by collecting Scadutree Fragments during your journey, you should find that following this boss order will give you a decent but not overwhelming challenge throughout the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC.
That wraps up our guide on the recommended main boss order for Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree. To ensure you're prepared for the battles ahead, check out our guides on the best weapons, best armor sets, best builds, best spells, best Talismans, best Ashes Of War, and best Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring. If you're raring to get started in the Land Of Shadow, you can also consult our guide on the fastest way to start Shadow Of The Erdtree.