The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring looms on the horizon, promising a wealth of new unforgettable boss battles that will surely challenge even the most seasoned players. Now is the perfect moment to reflect and revisit some of its most challenging boss encounters by ranking them in terms of the top 10 most difficult Elden Ring bosses prior to the DLC.

10. Fire Giant

Ranked at number 10, the Fire Giant narrowly surpasses Astel, Natural Born of the Void. Its inclusion on the list is justified by several factors. Found among the later bosses in Elden Ring, the Fire Giant poses a considerable challenge primarily because of its ability to deliver devastating blows capable of incapacitating players with inadequate Vigor levels.

Furthermore, the unique aspect of this boss fight involves Riding Torrent, limiting players' maneuverability and agility. Patience becomes a key virtue, particularly during the final phase, where precise timing and strategic positioning are paramount to avoid succumbing to the giant's crushing attacks.

9. Godfrey

Ranked at number 9 is Godfrey, First Elden Lord, emerges as a personal favorite boss battle in Elden Ring. This 2-phase encounter presents distinct challenges in each stage. Initially, players must contend with Godfrey's sweeping axe strikes and ground-shaking stomps, requiring precise evasion techniques such as jumping instead of rolling.

Upon sustaining sufficient damage, Godfrey transforms into the Hoarah Loux, introducing a new set of formidable attacks. Hoarah Loux' s deceptive tactics, including baiting players into premature dodges, add a layer of complexity to the battle.

Mastery of both bosses' move sets is essential for success, making this fight demanding and intense. Fortunately, players do not face both adversaries simultaneously, providing a slight reprieve in the midst of the grueling confrontation.

8. Godskin Duo

Ranked at number 8, is the Godskin Duo presents a formidable challenge in Elden Ring. Comprising the Godskin Noble and the Godskin Apostle, the Godskin Duo poses a significant threat, particularly when faced together with the same boss encounter. While individually manageable, their combined strength creates a nightmarish scenario, exacerbated by the necessity to defeat them multiple times within the battle.

Players may find relief by utilizing powerful Spirit Ashes or summons to divert aggro, yet maintaining the summon's survival proves challenging throughout the prolonged fight. Eventually, players may find themselves confronting both bosses simultaneously. Fortunately, the arena layout offers strategic advantages, allowing players to utilize pillars for cover against the devastating black fireballs unleashed by the bosses.

7. Radagon Of The Golden Order

Surprisingly, the penultimate boss fight, Radagon of the Golden Order, secures the seventh position. Bearing striking similarities to final boss encounters like Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, Radagon presents formidable difficulty akin to these renowned battles.

Unlike many bosses, Radagon's fight lacks gimmicks or unconventional mechanics - it's a straightforward showdown. Players must either adeptly evade and counter all his attacks or rely on a robust build to overpower him relentlessly. Of course, this will become easier if you have a sufficient amount of Elden Ring Runes.

6. Starscourge Radahn

Ranked at number 6 is Starscourge Radahn. Should you enter this battle under-leveled, every strike from Radahn threatens to swiftly incapacitate you. Throughout the skirmish, summoning assistance becomes imperative. Radahn's sweeping attacks cover vast areas, demanding constant vigilance to evade.

While drawing his attention away is beneficial, navigating the battlefield grows increasingly perilous as Radahn nears defeat. His summoning of colossal rocks presents a daunting challenge, requiring adept maneuvering or swift elimination to emerge victorious.

5. Mohg

The next one is Mohg, the Lord of Blood. This optional boss lurks within the Mohgwyn Palace and serves as the gateway to accessing the Shadow of the Eldtree DLC. Mohg's curse is the primary challenge of this encounter. Once he ensnares you with 3 rings, he initiates a chant that inflicts severe bleed damage thrice in rapid succession, while also replenishing his own health. Additionally, Mohg unleashes devastating attacks with considerable range and potency throughout the fight.

4. Dragonlord Placidusax

Located in the perilous region of Crumbling Farum Azula, 2 formidable bosses await the brave in Elden Ring's late-game challenges. The optional boss, Dragonlord Placidusax, stands as a daunting adversary. While players may have faced dragons before, none compare to the sheer might of this 2-headed Lord of all dragons.

Even attempts to divert his attention with a spirit summon prove futile, as he can swiftly pivot one head to unleash devastating attacks on him. Despite his colossal size, Dragonlord Placidusax exhibits surprising agility, taking to the skies to execute lightning-fast Dive Bombs and teleporting maneuvers, catching players off guard with electrifying claw strikes.

3. Elden Beast

Ranking at number 3 is the Elden Beast. While not universally beloved among players, the Elden Beast's formidable strength secures its spot in the top 3. Its devastating attacks pack a punch, amplified by the added challenge of having to defeat Radahn again upon death to face the Elden Beast once more. The daunting task of closing the distance to engage in combat adds another layer of difficulty to this formidable encounter.

2. Maliketh

Ranking at number 2 is Maliketh, the Black Blade, a boss renowned for its formidable prowess. Maliketh's combat style is relentless, characterized by agile movements across the arena, relentless onslaughts of attacks, and unpredictable windows for counterattacks. With Swift projectiles that demand constant vigilance, even from a distance, players must remain on high alert throughout the battle.

However, the arena itself offers strategic advantages, with pillars providing cover against projectiles and opportunities to maneuver. Successfully navigating Maliketh's relentless assault requires precise timing and careful observation, as any misstep is swiftly met with severe repercussions. Thus, Maliketh rightfully earns its place as the penultimate challenge at number 2.

1. Melenia

Claiming the title of the hardest boss is Melenia, Blade of Miquella, undefeated and reigning at number one. Melenia's formidable move set alone presents a daunting challenge, but what truly sets her apart is her ability to heal a significant amount of health with each successful strike.

This mechanic elevates the difficulty of the fight, requiring players not only to deal damage but also to flawlessly evade her attacks. Mastery of Parrying or the aid of a skilled summon becomes crucial strategies for overcoming her relentless assault.

Elden Ring DLC will be released on June 21st, 2024, which is less than a month away. Hard to believe I know it really is almost here, but what that means for us as fans is that the marketing cycle is now beginning. 

Up to this point, we’ve had seen trailers and interviews from Miyazaki revealing information about DLC promotional tweets by the official account sharing little bits of lore alongside new images and a community contest.

In the time we now have left leading up to Elden Ring DLC release. 

We have reason to believe another trailer is on the way likely some more gameplay as well, and part of the reason for that is that some people are getting to play the DLC early. 

They will recharge a lot of Elden Ring Runes in the game to ensure that they can defeat the boss easily.

And that is confirmed. We’re going to break down what we know about that and what that means for the rest of us. 

But we have just seen a new image of a new boss for DLC. And of course we have to discuss what this is because these DLC designs are looking crazy. 

Now let’s get into it. 

New DLC Boss

Let’s start off today by talking about this new boss that has just been revealed in an Elden Ring post . The official account posted fearsome foes of unfathomable power await you in the realm of Shadow. With an image of what can only be described as a crazy-looking enemy design. And there’s so much going on here.

First of all, this enemy is extremely hunched over. We see two big Chalk Rums in their hands, a crazy amount of Omen Horns on their head, long white hair which we’ll get into and this very ornate Goldmask that appears to be broken on one side. And if you look closely at the top, it seems like they’re crawling out of some sort of Shadow. So there’s a lot to break down here.

First of all this is the second time we’ve seen these sorts of Chums. So based on the fact that we are getting a new weapon type that are throwables. I think it’s safe to say that these are going to be new weapon type for the player that we can wield as well. 

Now, based on the appearance of the boss itself, at least I’m assuming this is a boss. We can see on the head there are a lot of Omen Horns which is also something we’ve seen fairly commonly in DLC trailer.

Now the presence of Omen's horns can mean a lot of things. It can be because of Curse and the spread of the Omen horns from America’s unwanted children, such as Mohg and Morgott, stemming from the powers of The Crucible and the mixing of all these aspects of life.

And The Crucible does seem to be the primary theme we’re seeing consistently throughout all DLC material. So, if there was any doubt, that’s going to be a major part of it. 

Here’s even more evidence and another sign that points to that is the fact that this creature has white hair which is also indicative of ancient things such as those emerging from Crucible or very old cultures in Elden Ring. We see white hair on Mohg and Morgott and Omens. We see it on the dragons. We see it on the prehistoric Zamor Knights and Godfrey himself. 

All of which have ties to one of those aspects, and the black shadow that we see this creature emerging from is also a product of Omens. We see this in Fell Twins fight and Mohg. Omen emerge this way. So definitely more connections there and about that Goldmask on his face.

I think that’s very similar to what the ancient cultures used to do, such as Zamor Knights and the houses of Hoslow and Morray, which are from outside the Lands Between. But the most striking part of this image to me is actually the posture in which he’s standing. It’s almost exactly like what we see Godwyn do after he’s killed by Black Knives.

Now, even though I think we are going to see lots of stuff associated with Godwyn. In DLC, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is him. Godwyn doesn’t really have any association with anything with Omen or Crucible. 

For that matter, and he wears a blue robe instead of the orange one we see here. And we see lots of aquatic features on him after his transformation. So I think if they were to depict his boss fight. It would be more along the lines of some kind of sea monster or giant Basilisks. This has me so excited. I love this kind of stuff and the design here is just so cool. I can’t wait to fight this guy .

Early DLC Play Session

So with Elden Ring DLC drawing near. BANDAI NAMCO is upping their marketing efforts, resulting in kind of perfect storm for this DLC. 

But part of the question was is that since Shadow Of The Erdtree is just a DLC and not a full game. Are they going to be treating it the same way? A lot of us were hoping everything was going to be kept quiet about this until release. That way, we could all jump in blind.

And while I think this was supposed to be, for the most part, kept quiet. But I do know quite a bit about how these events work and here’s what I think we can expect. They’re probably going to be in a limited section of it. My guess would be the first open field, take on a little Dungeon or two like the Caves or Catacombs and then fight likely one main boss. If I had to put money on it, my personal guess would probably be the lion dance.

Given that we’ve already seen a lot of this fight in the trailer, Miyazaki has given us a bit of lore behind it and it wouldn’t really be much of a spoiler. Now I highly doubt that they’ll be able to fight Messmer himself. Even though he is a kind of the focus of the trailer, I’m sure he’s got a second phase.

Now all of that is just pure speculation on my part and an educated guess based on what they’ve done in the past. Now will we get to see that game play. That’s an educated guess, but when it comes to pre-release stuff like this, where they’re in an open environment if somebody veers off the intended path. 

Possible New Trailer

The official will release a new trailer next. It’s possible we could get something like a story trailer or a cinematic trailer, which I really hope we do, but given the timing of this event. I think some curated gameplay is much more likely now a counter argument that somebody’s likely to make is based on the contest they’re running with all the fan-made videos. Could that be the reason why they’re updating Elden Ring playlist?

So based on that, it’s probably something official that’s on the way. Now this isn’t 100% confirmation that we’re getting another trailer for the DLC or even more gameplay but these playlist updates were a Telltale sign of DLC trailer being on the way. 

So you’re free to make your own conclusions. Now my question to you is, do you even want to see more of DLC? Personally, I think we’ve seen enough already. I just want to go in blind.

Those are some thoughts on the new Elden Ring DLC. I’m looking forward to its final release.