Elden Ring Boss Guide: Which Order Should You Kill Bosses In?

Elden Ring presents an expansive open-world adventure through the mystical Lands Between, where exploration and discovery form the core experience. This freedom comes with significant challenges in the form of numerous powerful adversaries that block progression through key areas. With an overwhelming number of boss encounters available, establishing a logical progression path becomes essential for both newcomers and veteran players seeking to optimize their journey.

This guide received comprehensive updates on June 24, 2024, incorporating the Mohg boss encounter specifically for Shadow of the Erdtree expansion content.

FromSoftware has dramatically expanded the boss roster in Elden Ring compared to previous Souls titles, featuring an astonishing 238 unique boss encounters throughout the game world. While players maintain freedom to approach these challenges in nearly any sequence, following a structured progression order significantly enhances success rates and character development efficiency. Understanding the recommended boss sequence provides crucial advantages for navigating the game’s escalating difficulty curve.

To complete Elden Ring’s main storyline chronologically, players must conquer 14 essential boss encounters in a specific sequence. The journey begins in Limgrave, where initial challenges establish fundamental combat skills and character foundations. Progressing naturally leads to Liurnia of the Lakes, though strategic detours to Caelid can provide valuable early-game resources and experience.

The critical path continues through the Altus Plateau into the royal capital of Leyndell, where major story developments unfold. Subsequent advancement requires traversing the Mountaintop of the Giants before culminating in the floating ruins of Farum Azula for the final confrontations. This structured approach ensures appropriate character level progression and equipment acquisition at each stage.

Pro Tip: While the game permits sequence breaking, following this geographical progression aligns enemy difficulty with expected character power levels, preventing frustrating difficulty spikes. Deviating from this order often requires advanced game knowledge and specialized builds to overcome statistical disadvantages.

The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion introduces its own self-contained narrative with seven particularly deadly boss encounters that must be conquered in a specific sequence. Accessing this content requires completion of specific main game prerequisites, including defeating particular bosses to unlock the expansion area.

These DLC bosses present unique mechanical challenges beyond the main game’s difficulty curve, demanding refined combat skills and specialized strategies. Proper preparation through character optimization and equipment upgrades becomes essential before attempting this additional content.

Common Mistake: Many players attempt the DLC immediately upon access without adequate character development, resulting in overwhelming challenges. Ensure your build is fully optimized and you’ve mastered core combat mechanics before engaging these elite encounters.

Margit, the Fell Omen represents a formidable early-game barrier, wielding an enormous staff with devastating combo attacks designed to punish player mistakes. While technically optional through alternative routes, this encounter serves as a critical skill check guarding the entrance to Stormveil Castle. Victory rewards players with the essential Talisman Pouch, enabling talisman equipment crucial for character customization throughout the entire game.

Reaching levels 20-25 provides the necessary health, stamina, and damage output to comfortably engage Margit as the first major Elden Ring boss. The encounter permits Spirit Ashes summons and cooperative multiplayer, allowing players to summon assistance against this challenging foe. An NPC named Sorcerer Rogier remains available for summoning directly outside the boss arena, providing valuable magical support during the battle.

Advanced Tactics: Margit exhibits particular vulnerability to bleed damage and jumping attacks. Maintaining medium distance baites his leaping attacks, creating punish windows. His golden dagger throw can be consistently dodged by rolling toward him rather than away.

Rykard presents as a two-phase encounter beginning with The Lord-Devouring Serpent, a massive snake creature that dominates the battlefield. Before engaging this formidable foe, adventurers should secure the specialized Serpent-Hunter weapon located within the boss arena. This great spear features a unique skill that projects destructive wind blades, dealing significant damage to the serpentine form while maintaining safe distance.

Successfully defeating the initial serpent form triggers a dramatic transformation where Rykard emerges wielding the legendary Blasphemous Blade. This transition marks a critical combat shift requiring close-quarters engagement tactics. Victory rewards champions with both Rykard’s Great Rune and his Remembrance, valuable resources for character advancement.

Upon acquiring two mandatory Great Runes, the narrative progression directs travelers toward the Altus Plateau region. This geographical advancement signals the game’s middle chapter and introduces increasingly challenging encounters.

While navigating toward the Elden Throne through West Capital Ramparts and ascending the massive tree roots, combatants face Godfrey, First Elden Lord in his spectral golden form. This encounter serves as both a narrative milestone and practical preview of the boss’s full capabilities encountered later. Godfrey employs classic soulsborne combat patterns with his massive axe, featuring sweeping attacks and ground-shaking abilities.

Eliminating this golden shade enables progression to the Elden Throne, a pivotal location in the quest for lordship. To effectively withstand Godfrey’s assault while dealing meaningful damage, maintain character level between 72-75 with appropriately upgraded weapons and armor. This engagement permits summoning assistance through both spirit ashes and cooperative multiplayer, providing strategic flexibility for different playstyles.

Strategic positioning proves crucial against Godfrey’s wide-arcing attacks. Maintaining medium distance allows reaction time for his charging maneuvers while creating openings for counterattacks. Spirit summons like Mimic Tear or Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff can effectively draw aggression, creating safe damage windows.

The second confrontation with Margit occurs within the Elden Throne against his true identity as Morgott, The Omen King. This self-proclaimed final monarch shares fundamental move sets with his Margit manifestation but introduces dangerous new mechanics. Most notably, his second phase incorporates blood loss buildup attacks that can rapidly deplete health bars if not properly managed.

Strategic item usage significantly impacts this encounter’s difficulty. If players obtained Margit’s Shackles through earlier interaction with Patches, this tool can be deployed twice during the battle’s initial phase to temporarily immobilize Morgott, creating precious damage opportunities. Character level 72 represents the minimum viable threshold for this challenging bout, with higher levels providing crucial survivability margins.

Like most major encounters, Morgott permits cooperative assistance through spirit ashes or player summons. However, multiplayer coordination requires specific prerequisites: assisting players must activate their Small Golden Effigies and interact with the Queen’s Bedside Chamber Site of Grace in their own game world before becoming available for summoning. This mechanic ensures participants have progressed sufficiently to provide meaningful assistance.

Advanced combat techniques include perfecting dodge timing for his delayed staff slams and recognizing the visual cues for his holy damage attacks. Equipping boluses to counteract blood loss buildup can prevent unexpected fatalities during prolonged engagements.

Success against these mid-game challenges requires more than mere level compliance. Weapon upgrade level should match character progression, with +15 to +18 standard weapons or +6 to +7 unique weapons providing appropriate damage output. Understanding stamina management becomes critical as these bosses feature extended combo chains that punish reckless aggression.

Environmental awareness provides tactical advantages in each encounter. The Rykard arena offers pillars for temporary cover during his lava attacks, while Godfrey’s battlefield has elevation changes that can affect attack trajectories. Morgott’s throne room lacks obstructions but provides clear sightlines for spellcasting strategies.

For players struggling with specific phases, respeccing character attributes at Rennala may provide the edge needed. Increasing vigor to 40-45 dramatically improves survivability, while matching damage stats to weapon requirements optimizes offensive capabilities. Talisman selection should complement individual playstyles, with options like Erdtree’s Favor, Green Turtle Talisman, and specific defense-boosting talismans proving particularly valuable.

Veteran Tarnished will instantly identify Godfrey, First Elden Lord from their previous confrontation at the West Capital Ramparts location. This climactic rematch occurs at the Elden Throne, where he awaits as one of the game’s penultimate challenges. The initial combat phase mirrors his golden spectral form’s attack patterns, allowing experienced players to leverage their existing knowledge effectively.

The true test emerges during the dramatic phase shift to Hoarah Loux, where Godfrey abandons weapon-based combat entirely. This aggressive transformation introduces relentless grappling maneuvers and devastating power bomb techniques that can instantly eliminate unprepared warriors. His close-quarters wrestling style demands constant spatial awareness and rapid evasion responses. Given this encounter’s significance in the narrative climax, achieving character levels between 132-135 provides the necessary statistical foundation for survival.

As one of Elden Ring’s dual final antagonists required for game completion, Radagon of the Golden Order represents both narrative and mechanical climax. According to the game’s deep lore, this formidable being personally triggered the Shattering event using the very hammer he now employs against players. His combat style combines widespread area-of-effect assaults with deliberately timed charged hammer strikes that punish impulsive reactions.

Radagon intentionally varies his attack sequences to prevent pattern memorization, though observant players can identify subtle tells before each move. The genuine challenge materializes after overcoming Radagon, when the colossal Elden Beast emerges as the true final obstacle. This transition occurs seamlessly, leaving no opportunity for healing or preparation between encounters.

Therefore, attaining at least level 140 becomes essential for confronting Radagon of the Golden Order and the subsequent Elden Beast confrontation. Both adversaries permit cooperative multiplayer assistance and Spirit Ash summons, providing strategic options for different playstyles. Overcoming these monumental challenges grants access to the narrative conclusion aligned with player choices throughout their journey.

The Elden Beast employs its massive sword held in the left appendage to execute sweeping slashes covering enormous areas. Additionally, this cosmic entity generates magical concentric circles on the battlefield and devastating area-denial attacks, compelling players to utilize every movement option available. The boss’s enormous size and teleportation abilities make close-range combat particularly challenging.

Success demands mastery of sprinting, jumping, and rolling mechanics simultaneously while managing stamina consumption efficiently. The Beast’s most dangerous attack involves homing golden projectiles that require precise directional dodging rather than panic rolling. Players should prioritize upgrading their Sacred Flasks and acquiring damage negation talismans specifically for holy damage reduction.

Beyond the exceptional Elden Ring bosses previously discussed, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion introduces unprecedented challenges. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (review) has finally launched, delivering the extreme difficulty escalation that series veterans anticipated. The DLC features entirely new boss mechanics that demand advanced combat proficiency and optimized character builds.

Preparation should include acquiring maximum Sacred Tears and Golden Seeds for enhanced healing capabilities, alongside weapons upgraded to the highest reinforcement level. The expansion’s difficulty curve assumes players have completed the base game’s primary challenges, making thorough preparation non-negotiable for success.

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