Elden Ring, the action RPG from Dark Souls developers Fromsoftware, gives us an incredible number of bosses to contend with. Some of these are mini-bosses, who annoyingly re-appear numerous times throughout the game in different skins (I’m looking at YOU, Godskin Duo!).
The main ones, though, the Demi-God bosses, are easily distinguishable. These Demi-Gods are the Children of Queen Marika and Radagon. Each one has a short intro cutscene, 2 distinct phases, and most importantly, they are all hard as nails. There are 6 of these Demi-Gods bosses for you to discover and some of them aren’t easy to find. But how difficult are they? Without further ado then, counting down from easiest to hardest, let’s look at how tough they are when compared to each other.
Elden Ring Demi-God Fights Spoiler Warning
For those of you who haven’t fought some of these yet, we haven’t included any footage of the fights themselves. So you don’t need to worry about getting spoiled. However, if you’d prefer to keep their identities shrouded in mystery until you find them, you may want to return to this article later.
6. Morgott, The Omen King
The fact that this guy is bottom of the list, probably says more about how tough the rest are than anything else.
For the record, Morgott is an incredibly tough fight. He is also one of the few Elden Ring Demi-God boss fights that are not optional. Found high up in Leyndell, the capital, The Omen King is blocking your path to the Mountaintops of the Giants area, so there is no way to bypass this fight.
Morgott is incredibly limber for someone so advanced in years. He glides around the arena effortlessly and uses his long cane sword to great effect during phase one. Phase two sees him cover the sword in blood, increase his speed and aggressiveness, and add a couple of AOE (area of effect) attacks for good measure. This means there are few safe spots, and you’ll need to be constantly on the move.
He will also conjure a phantom golden hammer/ dagger in his offhand periodically, which will deal additional magic damage that can penetrate even the strongest shield.
Any of this sound familiar? It should. The issue with poor old Morgott, is that this is very nearly a carbon copy of the first main fight of the game, Margit the Fell Omen. Whether these guys are actually related or even if one is a clone is never really explained.
Most players likely hit a wall when they came up against Margit. Beating him meant memorizing his moves, getting dodge timings perfect, and learning how best to fight him. This knowledge and muscle memory won’t have been quickly forgotten.
By the time you meet this boss, the memory of dying a million times to Margit will still be fresh in your brain, and you’ll know exactly how to beat him. Sure, he has a few new tricks up his sleeve, but the main attack patterns are the same. Once you’ve beaten him you’ll realize how much easier he was than his counterpart.
5. Mohg, Lord of Blood
An entirely optional Elden Ring boss who is very difficult to track down. Mohg can be found deep in his Mohgwyn Palace, in the Siofra river.
He is another hard-hitting boss who is heavily reliant on the Bleed skill and blood magics. He will use a combination of fast melee attacks and AOE attacks in order to try and make his bleed damage pile up as quickly as possible.
Staying in the same place for too long will make you an easy target for Mohg’s blood magic. So you will need to be constantly moving around the arena.
Just how tough you find this encounter will probably depend on which stage of Elden Ring you find him. If you run into him relatively early on, you can expect to be punished heavily and you’ll have a tough time.
This may well turn out to be a late-game encounter for you, by which time you’ve built up a decent resistance to bleed as well as a hefty damage output. If that is the case, Mohg should prove to be one of the easier Demi-God fights you come across.
There’s also a good chance you’ve unlocked the mimic tear spirit summon by the time you fight him. This allows you to spawn a copy of yourself, essentially making it a 2-on-1 fight, which will drastically tip the odds in your favour.
4. Godrick, The Grafted
Very likely to be the first Shardbearer you will encounter in Elden Ring. Godrick serves as an important checkpoint for players. Beating him will make you feel ready for the challenges to come. You must earn this victory though.
As his name suggests, Godrick has several arms grafted onto his body. He moves with incredible speed for someone who looks like an old fat guy. He can cover distance in a split second. And his huge Golden Axe has insane amounts of reach. You might THINK you’ve rolled out of its reach, but chances are you’d be wrong. Staying up close and personal is probably the safest way to fight him.
Phase two sees him ‘graft’ a Dragon’s head onto his arm. During this phase, he promptly uses the Dragon’s head to shoot fire at you for the remainder of the Demi-God fight. That head perfectly compliments his huge Axe swings.
This is a bruising encounter. You’ll likely need to raise your game to come out on top. Or, instead, you could quit, trade the game in for a non-Fromsoftware title. And remind yourself you ARE good at video games.
One last thing to note, if you’re really struggling, there is an NPC available to summon for this fight. That said, could you look yourself in the mirror once you cross that line?
3. Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
Locating Rykard in Elden Ring is, arguably, just as difficult as fighting him. Battling your way through the volcanic area of Mt. Gelmir in the North West will eventually see you arrive at Volcano Manor. All signs point to Rykard being here, and yet, he’s not.
Undertaking assassination tasks for his servants and searching for hidden rooms in the Manor will eventually see you on the path to reach him, deep inside the Volcano itself.
The encounter takes place in an underground arena. You will immediately be given access to the Serpent Hunter Great Spear weapon. You should equip and use this straight away for this fight. It allows for ranged melee attacks which will be very useful. Considering the sheer size of the snake.
This huge Serpent will tower over you while spitting fire, poison, and trying to bite you with his huge teeth. His head moves extremely quickly, so you will need to be mobile for this whole fight. Standing still will spell certain death.
Depleting his health bar will see him respawn with a brand new one for phase two. This time, Rykard will continue his assault while also firing flaming skulls at you from literally all angles. You need to keep chipping away at his health while spamming the heck out of your roll button to dodge projectiles.
If you’re struggling here there are a couple of things to note:
Firstly, you can upgrade the Serpent Hunter weapon at the Roundtable Hold for increased damage output. Secondly, be sure to use the Ash of War ability on the spear for huge damage. In fact, if you time it JUST right, it’s possible to stunlock Rykard (basically freeze him on the spot). During phase two, with precise timing you can spam the Ash of War attack for a cheesy victory.
2. Starscourge Radahn
From the opening cutscene, one thing is apparent, Radahn very much looks like the one who is going to give you the biggest headache. This is one of the most epic Demi-God fights in Elden Ring. A hulking warrior with huge twin greatswords. A barren wasteland for a battlefield.
On paper, it has all the makings of a Fromsoftware classic. Yet it takes a very different turn than expected.
Starting off a ways away from you at the other side of the field, Radahn will immediately begin hurling powerful projectiles at you. As you get closer and realise the size of him, it becomes apparent that this is not like any other boss fight Fromsoftware has created.
You’ll notice multiple summon signs on the floor, between 6-9 of them. Summoning these NPC’s will quickly make you realize that this was never intended to be a 1-v-1 fight. This Elden RIng battle was meant to be Radahn vs an army. Once summoned, these NPC’s will charge towards him, and together you will begin to chip away at his hulking health bar. Torrent, your horse, is also fully useable in this fight, ensuring you can get out of danger quickly if need be.
Radahn’s attacks are incredibly powerful, and his sword swings cover a huge area. Your NPC companions will do their best but expect them to be picked off regularly. Luckily you can re-summon them, just look for their signs on the floor.
At approx. 50% health, Radahn seemingly vanishes from the field. Heal up, then look to the skies. You will see Radahn hurtling back towards the ground as a huge fireball. It’s an incredible spectacle. Once back, he hits harder and is more aggressive. So you and your army will still have your work cut out.
Opinion seems to be split on whether the NPC army mechanic, or the use of Torrent, make this boss battle ingeniously memorable, or a painful missed opportunity.
Either way though, this fight isn’t one you’ll forget in a hurry.
1. Malenia, Blade of Miquella
Malenia was one of the very first characters Fromsoftware introduced us to before Elden Ring was released. This fierce-looking warrior with red hair and a prosthetic arm had many fans wondering- is she friend or foe?
When you finally discover her, deep inside the Haligtree, which is north of the Mountaintops of the Giants, she answers this question for you in about 2 seconds flat.
With lightning-fast attacks, a long-reaching katana blade, and the ability to heal herself with every hit she lands (even if you block it!), Malenia is a true force to be reckoned with.
How to Defeat Malenia
Despite a couple of her attacks being telegraphed, you will do well not to get caught by any of them. One attack sees her momentarily jumping up in the air before flying towards you spinning her blade in multiple directions at lightning speed. This attack repeats 3 times over. If you don’t get out of the way before she does this, you’re dead. There is no way to survive it, other than running far away the second she jumps into the air.
The monumental task on your hands is made even more desperate when you finally get through phase one.
Phase two sees Malenia sprout wings and begin to spit Scarlet Rot poison at you in all directions. She manages to keep all her phase one attacks, as well as gain several new ones.
The pick of the phase two bunch is a dive-bombing attack where she emits a huge wave of Scarlet Rot when she hits the ground. This is very likely to kill you if you get caught in it. Oh, and she still heals herself with every hit landed, shield or no shield.
Using the mimic tear spirit summon here is more of a necessity than a choice. But even then, this far from guarantees victory.
Whatever course of action you choose to take against her, beating Malenia is undoubtedly the toughest challenge Elden Ring has to offer.
You’ll need incredible skill and timing, as well as a slice of good old-fashioned luck, to come out victorious.
Mercifully, Malenia is purely optional and is actually classed as a ‘secret’ boss due to her obscure location. So you could just choose to save yourself the pain.
It’s worth noting that you only actually need to beat 2 of these 6 bosses to complete the game. You could simply ignore the rest, and never even encounter them.
But where’s the fun in that?
Have you fought these 6 Elden Ring Demi-God bosses? Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know in the comments!
