Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree - 10 Best New Bosses (2024)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is one of the biggest DLC FromSoftware has ever cooked up. In fact, it’s probably the biggest DLC in gaming right now. Miyazaki cooked and gave us a masterpiece, with new bosses, weapons, and all sorts of new content that completely blew us away.

The new bosses, particularly the remembrance bosses, are some of the most well-designed bosses in video games, and though some bosses have the fandom polarized, they’re still fun to die against. The difficulty has been cranked up to eleven, and some of them are more cinematic and beautiful than any in the base game.

10 Promised Consort Radahn

The Man Returns With A Bang

The final boss of the series is, ironically, ranked at the bottom of the list, but not because the fight is any less amazing than the rest. With this new version of Radahn, the fandom of Elden Ring is split and is of the opinion that the final boss should’ve been someone or something else instead of Radahn again.

Regardless, he’s ranked at the bottom because of how notoriously difficult he is. Malenia has nothing on the DLC’s Radahn and, honestly, he’s one of the bosses that you have to take a couple of days to defeat. The second phase is even more difficult and is a throwback to Dark Souls 3’s Twin Princes in more ways than one.

9 Commander Gaius

A Mounted Boss With All The Great Qualities Of The Ones In The Base Game

Commander Gaius is another remembrance boss and is a fun combination of the Draconic Tree Sentinel and Gyoubu Oniwa from Sekiro. Just like any mounted boss, they’re super challenging, and the attacks that Gaius unleashes on you are extremely difficult to dodge effectively.

Just like any boss in Elden Ring, Gaius is either fun or unfun, depending on your build. Strength users like me find him more difficult than he’s supposed to be, even with an appropriate amount of Scadutree Fragment upgrades. There’s no doubt that he’s perhaps one of the best mounted bosses in Elden Ring.

8 Scadutree Avatar

That Was Eas- Oh, There Are Two More Phases

The Scadutree Avatar is perhaps one of the easier remembrance bosses in the Elden Ring DLC, which is what you would initially think, but as soon as you beat it once, it respawns again, and then a third time, culminating in an explosion in its third phase.

Though it might feel like a field boss, the Scadutree Avatar has a wide variety of moves and might have a completely different moveset as you go from phase to phase. It’s a fun boss fight and isn’t as unforgiving as other bosses on this list, with some great music in the background that puts you right there in the game.

7 Romina Saint Of The Bud

A Reasonable Drop In Difficulty That Restores Your Confidence

Romina Saint of the Bud is perhaps the easiest remembrance boss in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and is one of the more nostalgic ones since its design is similar to that of Quellag in Dark Souls.

In a DLC where most of the bosses take ten plus attempts to get good at, Romina was a breath of fresh air, and it helps that the boss fight is artistic and beautifully smooth. Though the scarlet rot buildup is annoying, it’s easily avoidable with predictable attacks that will most definitely give you a confidence boost moving forward in the DLC.

6 Metyr Mother Of Fingers

The Two Fingers Or The Three Fingers Have Nothing On Metyr

See Also

Best weapons in Shadow of the Erdtree for all builds

A secret boss that you can only access by completing Count Ymir’s questline, Metyr slumbers below the Land of Shadow itself, and its remembrance is one of the most fascinating pieces of lore relating to the Greater Will since the Elden Beast.

The boss fight is extremely fun and cinematic, but the boss itself is grotesque and triggers something primal in you that forces you to sort of look away. If you do look away you’re dead, since fighting Metyr is no walk in the park.

5 Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame

A Hidden Optional Boss Fight Well Worth The Hunt

Another optional and secret boss that you can fight is Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame. You can find him by exploring the Abyssal Woods and reaching Midra’s Manse. Not only is this fight a spectacle, it was teased in the gameplay trailer and has some fascinating lore about the Frenzied Flame.

The fight itself is not as difficult as some other bosses ranked below, but the beauty and the stunning transition to its second phase eclipse a lot of bosses in the base game and is one of the more memorable encounters of the DLC.

4 Divine Beast Dancing Lion

The Best Introductory Boss Fight You Could Ask For In A DLC

Divine Beast Dancing Lion is one of the two starting bosses of the game, and boy is it an amazing introduction to what to expect from this DLC. This creature is truly Divine with many variations of attacks, and he can be found at the end of the Belarut legacy dungeon.

The cherry on top with this boss is the starting cutscene and the epic music that elevates the fight from good to amazing. Though you fight another boss like this one later in the DLC, your first Divine Beast Dancing Lion is going to be unforgettable and a lot of fun.

3 Rellana, Twin Moon Knight

Renalla's Sister, Who Renounced Her Birthright To Serve Messmer

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight is Rennala’s sister who traveled to the Land of Shadow to find Messmer, becoming his sworn sword in the process and residing in Castle Ensis. She’s the end boss of the location, and boy does her fight remind you of Pontiff Sulyvahn’s in Dark Souls 3.

The fight against her is extremely fun and feels more than fair, but it will most definitely take you multiple attempts still. It’s all worth it though, since the weapon you get from her remembrance has one of the best movesets in the DLC.

2 Messmer The Impaler

The Posterboy Demigod For The DLC

Messmer the Impaler is the poster boy for the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and he’s built up to be this villain who shows no mercy for the people he massacred in the name of Marika.

He has no mercy for you either and absolutely crushes you, especially in his second phase, where he transitions into something truly terrifying. Not only is the fight cinematic, a recurring theme in this DLC, but it also checks all the boxes for a difficult but fair fight that makes you feel like you’re playing Elden Ring again for the first time.

1 Bayle The Dread

The Reason For Dragonlord Placidusax's Missing Heads

The undisputed new king of Dragon boss fights in terms of difficulty is your battle against Bayle the Dread, a beast residing at the top of the Jagged Peak. His arena is already straight out of a painting with an orange hue and orange lighting, and he’s said to have been the one that crippled Dragonlord Placidusax and lost a leg himself.

You’ll feel glorious fighting Bayle the Dread and frustration each time you die, and just like the fight against Darkeater Midir from Dark Souls 3, you’re not about to beat him easily. He isn’t the most difficult boss in the DLC, but he is most definitely the best in every other regard.