Highlights
- Elden Ring features a wide variety of bosses, some easy and some extremely difficult, that will test your skills to the max.
- Some standout bosses include Ulcerated Tree Spirit, Borealis, and Lichdragon Fortissax, each with unique challenges and mechanics.
- Be prepared for intense battles, unpredictable moves, and the need to strategically read and react to each boss's attacks in order to succeed.
Elden Ring is a game full of intrigue and mystery, exploration and discovery -- and hard-as-nails boss fights. The Lands Between are filled with varied battles, with the tarnished facing off against golems, giants, demigods, and everything in between.
The game itself offers a wide variety of bosses—some easy, some hard, and some tear-your-hair-out difficult. From your first steps in Limgrave all of the way to the throne of the Elden Lord, here’s a list of the most difficult bosses you’ll encounter in Elden Ring.
Updated on August 18, 2023 by Peter Hunt Szpytek: This list was updated to include a video (featured below.)
15 Ulcerated Tree Spirit
You’ll encounter this boss type several times throughout your journey through the Lands Between, and you’re unlikely to ever truly feel comfortable battling this wretched thing. Despite this boss’ massive size, it is often found in comparatively small arenas, making the camera fight you just as much as this creature.
Plus, in addition to its wild movements that can be difficult to read, it will inflict Scarlet Rot with several of its moves, which can bring a quick end to the fight if you’re not prepared. Its one saving grace is a small posture bar, making jumping attacks especially effective at stunning.
14 Borealis, The Freezing Fog
Some of the dragon fights in the game, while epic, tend to bleed together a bit. Borealis is one that stands out starkly against many others. You first encounter this icy monstrosity while riding through a snowstorm on the Mountaintops of the Giants region.
While Borealis mostly operates under the same move set as his draconic brethren, two major features make him stand out. The low visibility makes him extra difficult to ‘hunt down’ when he flies off, and his frost attacks inflict the freezing condition, able to whittle down your health without you noticing in time. The fight might become more tedious than epic, but the elemental difference makes this dangerous dragon stand out against many others.
13 Lichdragon Fortissax
Perhaps one of the more obscure and difficult-to-encounter bosses in the game (alongside another mighty dragon boss discussed later on in this List), Lichdragon Fortissax is easily one of the coolest fights in the game. Located deep underground in Deeproot Depths, players must navigate multiple hidden underground locations to discover this boss, and in order to encounter it, players must also progress Fia’s questline to its end.
The boss isn’t the hardest in the game, but its boss music might be. The soundtrack is unforgettable, and the spectacle of the fight itself is incredible. If you find yourself a bit over-leveled for the battle, however, you might finish it too quickly to fully enjoy the experience.
12 Godfrey, First Elden Lord / Horah Loux, Warrior
The penultimate boss of the game, Godfrey, is a fierce opponent and one worthy of inclusion on this list. Complete with a fantastic cinematic, integral backstory to the setting, and an ethereal lion clinging to his back, this boss is truly worthy of his title as First Elden Lord.
His second form is even more brutal, eschewing his weapon to fight bare-handed and covered in blood. These grab attacks come with varying delays in their timing, and many utilize powerful AOE bursts, making it especially difficult to avoid taking damage.
11 Morgott, The Omen King
While on its face, Morgott might feal like a retread of Margit from outside Stormveil Castle (being the same character and all). Despite the familiar rhythms of this fight, Morgott expands his moveset into a devastating whirlwind of violence.
Breaking his staff into a stylish shimmering blade, Morgott does a great job reminding you how much you struggled early on in this game before you fully got your bearings. He continues to utilize his unevenly delayed attacks to devastating effect, and he incorporates some massive and devastating AOE attacks to end your run if you aren’t careful.
10 Starscourge Radahn
In a fight, Radahn can be pretty punishing. His gravity arrows hit like a truck, and despite the comical way he rides around on his loyal steed, his giant swords can quickly lay waste to your foul ambitions. Mounting up yourself can somewhat lessen the intensity of the battle, shifting it into a sort of cat-and-mouse game of quick strikes and retreats, but overall, Radahn is an impressive foe on the battlefield. Being able to summon a total of 8 warriors to assist in defeating this boss might lessen the difficulty somewhat, but it creates a wild spectacle to behold.
9 Mohg, Lord of Blood
Most of Mohg’s attacks utilize fire or inflict Blood loss build-up, and many of his attacks come with a delay, throwing off when you truly need to dodge to avoid the blow. His powerful Bloodboon Ritual, which inflicts three big spikes of damage while also healing him, can end the fight quickly if you aren’t ready for it.
He does have some weaknesses, however. You can mix the Purifying Crystal Tear into a Flask of Wondrous Physick to negate the damage inflicted by the Bloodboon Ritual, and you can also utilize Mohg’s Shackle to briefly bind him during phase 1 to inflict extra damage against him. A difficult fight for the unprepared.
8 Godrick the Grafted
A twisted descendant of Godfrey, Godrick is the boss of Stormveil Castle, the first legacy dungeon in Elden Ring. While Margit, the Fell Omen might be the first main story boss players encounter, Godrick the Grafted is the first major difficulty spike in the game. Godrick’s attacks are wild and unpredictable, and each sweeping blow or high-flying leap can end a fight in the blink of an eye.
While Godrick can feel insurmountable at first brush, it’s equally his placement in the early game that makes him such a challenge. No boss is quite as complex (or grotesque) before this point, earning him a place on this list.
7 Crucible Knight Ordovis
In one of the rarer double-boss fights, Crucible Knight Ordovis is accompanied by a Lesser Crucible Knight. This is also the only minor dungeon boss to make it on the list, awaiting the Tarnished at the end of Auriza Hero’s Grave. You will have likely encountered a small handful of Crucible Knights throughout the game up until this point, but Crucible Knight Ordovis and his companion prove to be the toughest by far and the most difficult of the minor dungeon bosses.
They hit extremely hard, and both enemies share a trigger to attack as soon as you try to heal or use an item, making spacing in this small arena particularly frustrating. Once you’re able to eliminate one of them, the fight becomes much simpler, but they’re excellent at keeping up the pressure until you’re able to accomplish that.
6 Godskin Duo
Perhaps the most frustrating double boss in the game, Godskin Duo is made up of the Godskin Apostle and Godskin Noble bosses, each of which you fight solo at separate points during the game. But it isn’t until Crumble Farum Azula that you must face them both at once.
They’re fairly dangerous on their own, each with an array of melee and ranged magic abilities, but the aspect of this fight that makes them so uniquely frustrating is the fact that they share a single large health bar. Each boss will continue to respawn until the health bar is fully depleted. Combine this feature with a fairly small combat arena littered with columns that are too easy to get stuck on, and you’re in for a really tough fight.
5 Dragonlord Placidusax
Perhaps the most hidden boss on this list, Dragonlord Placidusax can be found toward the ‘end’ of Crumble Farum Azula after dropping down a series of crumbling platforms that wind down toward the heart of the maelstrom. This two-headed dragon breaths fire, calls down red crackling lightning from the sky, and even transforms into a mist and teleports about the battlefield, often with an attack already underway when he reappears.
While every other dragon fight in the game allows for mounted combat, Placidusax does not. Because of this, you really have to learn the delayed timing of some of his attacks.
4 Fire Giant
Despite his fairly mundane name, this boss can be an extremely dangerous -- if sometimes uneven -- fight. Fire Giant towers over the player, smashing down his massive shield, stomping, and rolling over you—not to mention the various fire-based attacks he hurls your way.
The boss’s size is by far his greatest asset. While you’re attacking, it’s next to impossible to actually see any of his attacks because they’re happening off-screen. It becomes extra important to unlock from the boss’s ankle and watch for his next attacks above you. Due to his sometimes-wonky hitboxes, this boss can feel insurmountably frustrating, but perseverance will always pay off in the end.
3 Beast Clergyman / Malekith, The Black Blade
Beast Clergyman is deceptively quick, and several of his attacks come with a built-in delay that can catch and punish you if you dodge too early. but the real trouble comes in phase 2. After transforming, Malekith becomes an acrobatic monstrosity, leaping all over the arena and launching devastating red energy from his sword.
This wild leaping can quickly disorient you, leaving you in a bad position for when he uses his Destined Death ability, which continues to reduce your health even after the attack finishes. Depending on how aggressive this boss chooses to be, it’s incredibly easy to die within just a few seconds of phase 2's beginning.
2 Radagon of the Golden Order / Elden Beast
These are technically two separate bosses, but they must be beaten back-to-back as a phase 1/phase 2 combo. Radagon is the ultimate wall here at the end of the game. This boss comes with a wide array of both flashy and simple moves, and each attack comes with its own unique rhythm. You can’t afford to use up all of your healing flasks heading into phase 2, where you battle the Elden Beast.
Because Elden Beast regularly retreats across the massive battlefield and peppers you with ranged attacks, it can feel like the fight is mostly spent in pursuit rather than actually fighting it. With several devastating attacks that genuinely feel like they have few or no counters, this boss can whittle away your sanity.
1 Malenia, Blade of Miquella / Malenia, Goddess of Rot
Rounding out the list with perhaps an obvious choice, but still an inevitable one—Malenia, Blade of Miquella. Malenia is perhaps the hardest boss across the storied history of the Soulsborne genre. Not only do her attacks hit so incredibly hard; not only does she have a wide range of deceptively timed combos; not only does she heal after landing every blow; but her Waterfowl Dance attack is perhaps the most devastating attack across any of the FromSoftware games.
The rest of the fight has a beautiful and deadly rhythm to it, one worthy of the hardest boss in Elden Ring. The satisfaction that comes from finally defeating this seemingly impossible (and optional) boss is perhaps unmatched throughout all FromSoftware titles.