Summary

• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree features challenging bosses with unique abilities, attack patterns, and weaknesses.
• Putrescent Knight is vulnerable to bleed and physical damage but is challenging due to ice attacks and spinning moves, as well as unpredictable horse spawns.
• Scadutree Avatar: A 3-phase boss with staggered periods for critical hits, repetitive if not attacked, weak to physical damage, and bleeds.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree doesn't hold back when it comes to difficulty, and that's even led to it receiving mixed reviews from the Tarnished struggling to fight enemies. Although a few of the required bosses also take spots on the list of the most difficult bosses, they aren't the only enemies that might challenge the Tarnished. Even when every boss in the Realm of Shadow can be a tough fight, certain ones are particularly brutal.

Although a patch made Elden Ring's DLC easier, that doesn't mean it's necessarily easy now. However, at this point, it should be expected that FromSoftware creates battles that are both frustrating and complex. While the Scadutree Fragment can be used to empower the Tarnished, that blessing alone isn't enough to carry the Tarnished through the Realm of Shadow.

10 Divine Beast Dancing Lion Sets The Tone

Divine Beast Dancing Lion is generally the first boss that the Tarnished will encounter in Shadow of the Erdtree. As the first boss encounter, Divine Beast Dancing Lion proves difficult because he more-or-less introduces how tough the bosses in the Realm of Shadow can be. The Tarnished finds this boss at the end of the Belurat, Tower Settlement Legacy Dungeon.

One aspect that makes Divine Beast Dancing Lion a rough fight is that he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses for the Tarnished to rely on in their fight. Luckily, he takes a lot of damage from fire attacks, and when he's inflicted with bleed effects, it opens up some options to help the Tarnished against him. Additionally, fighting the Divine Beast Dancing Lion first means that the Tarnished might not have come across or used Scadutree Fragments yet, which can give them the power boost they need to win.

9 The Putrescent Knight Brings His Horse To The Fight

Although the Putrescent Knight is an optional boss, the Tarnished might be interested in fighting him for his loot or just for the sake of defeating every boss. The Tarnished can find the Putrescent Knight in Stone Coffin Fissure. Like with any boss, it's helpful to know what their weaknesses are and how to avoid taking too much damage during the fight. When it comes to the Putrescent Knight, he's vulnerable to both bleed effects and physical damage.

The hard part is that landing hits on the Putrescent Knight isn't an easy task. He has a tendency to use ice-based attacks, and he'll throw his blades at the Tarnished or do a spinning attack toward them. However, the most dangerous part of this fight might be the horse. It'll spawn at random spawn points and ram the Tarnished, and the only way to handle it is to pay attention and get out of the way to avoid being rammed.

8 The Scadutree Avatar Requires Persistence

The Tarnished will find the Scadutree Avatar under the Sunken Chapel of the Shadow Keep. Although it can be seen when entering this area, the Tarnished can't fight it until after the water is drained from the area. However, after draining the water, the Tarnished should prepare for a long fight, especially since they might be forced to repeat phases of the boss fight if they can't properly end it.

The way the Scadutree Avatar fight works is rather unique compared to other bosses in the Realm of Shadow. There are a total of three phases, and each phase has its own health bar, which means the Tarnished has to essentially defeat the boss three times. But that's not all. At the end of each phase, the boss has a staggered period. If the Tarnished doesn't attack the boss during this period and land a critical hit, then the phase starts over.

7 Romina, Saint Of The Bud, Brings Scarlet Rot

Romina, Saint of the Bud is one of the few bosses that has to be defeated to complete the Shadow of the Erdtree main questline. Visiting the Church of the Bud lets the Tarnished track her to her location hidden in ruins by a waterfall. Like previous entries on this list, she's weak to physical damage and bleeds, but she's also weak to magic, which is useful for any Tarnished focusing on Intelligence for their build.

The aspect that makes Romina a particularly difficult and annoying boss fight is how much Scarlet Rot build-up the Tarnished has to deal with. The build-up happens fast, so having items to help slow its build-up or negate some damage becomes crucial. Her Butterfly Blast is also an ability that can be tough to deal with because if the Tarnished doesn't avoid it in time, then they'll need to deal with even more Scarlet Rot damage. Having help from a Spirit Ash and Scadutree Fragments spares the Tarnished from some of the frustration.

6 Reaching Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame, Is Its Own Challenge

Midra is found in the Midra Manse, which is in the Abyssal Woods. Unfortunately, the Abyssal Woods have Aged Ones roaming around, which are unforgiving enemies in their own right. Since these enemies do a lot of damage, the Tarnished should avoid them while heading toward Midra, especially if they want to conserve resources for the boss fight rather than risk dying to mobs on the way.

As for the fight, two specific features help make Midra more manageable. These would be his tendency to focus on a summon when one is present instead of the Tarnished, and his weakness towards physical damage. However, the hardest part of this fight is how unpredictable Midra's attacks are, and how quickly his attacks when performing a combo, combined with powerful abilities. Altogether, this forces the Tarnished to pay attention to his attacks and focus on dodging until the combo ends, which opens up an opportunity to attack.

5 Messmer The Impaler Doesn't Hold Back With His Aggression

As the boss who received the most attention in trailers and promos for Shadow of the Erdtree, it's no surprise that Messmer the Impaler puts up a fight with a battle that feels as epic as it does difficult. Messmer is located in the Shadow Keep, and he's a required boss, since Messmer's Flame is needed for the Tarnished to keep moving forward.

Messmer is weak against cold damage and bleeds.

The reason why Messmer is so difficult is simple: his attacks are fast and powerful. He's a hyper-aggressive boss, and it feels like he doesn't let the Tarnished have a breather in the middle of his constant strikes. Then, he adds more lunging attacks to the mix in his second phase, and it doesn't take many hits for him to empty a health bar. The fight is brutal, and the timing for dodges has to be precise.

4 Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, Is Her Sister's Opposite

Rellana might feel familiar, and that's because she's Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon's sister. Where Rennala focuses on magic, Rellana focuses mainly on physical attacks in her first phase. However, this doesn't stop her from using magic, especially during the second phase of her fight. Rellana is found in the Castle Ensis Legay Dungeon, which means that the Tarnished is likely to find her fairly early in the Realm of Shadow.

Part of what makes Rellana tough is the same thing that makes the Divine Beast Dancing Lion tough: her early placement in the DLC. Any Tarnished using a magic-reliant build will have an even worse time against Rellana, because magic isn't a good way to deal damage to her. She's most vulnerable to physical attacks and bleeds, like many DLC bosses. If the Tarnished want to survive, their best strategy is dodging and waiting for an opening to attack with physical attacks.

3 Bayle The Dread Is A Vicious Dragon

Bayle is a dragon boss that the Tarnished can find in Jagged Peaks. Almost all of his attacks deal high amounts of damage, and he has a very aggressive attack pattern, similar to Messmer. If they have it, the Tarnished will want to use the Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana because it deals extra damage against Bayle, who is difficult to damage overall. Additionally, Bayle takes double the damage when his head is hit instead of his body.

What makes Bayle frustrating is his aggression, combined with the fact that he doesn't take as much damage when his body is hit, which makes it feel like he has an enormous health pool. During this fight, the Tarnished has to balance dodging attacks that can likely kill them in one hit while dealing damage against Bayle. However, getting too focused on hitting Bayle's head can make the Tarnish lose out on damage, even small amounts, that could've been dealt to his body.

2 Commander Gaius Can Chase The Tarnished

Commander Gaius is found behind the Shadow Keep in a secret area that requires quite a bit of navigation to find. As he's riding a boar, his mount plays a role in his fight and is part of the reason that it's a tough battle. Luckily, he's vulnerable to physical attacks and bleeds, like most bosses in the Realm of Shadow. However, his boar allows him to do combo attacks that might make it difficult for the Tarnished to land blows.

With his boar, Commander Gaius performs combo attacks with the use of his weapon, and these attacks are incredibly tough to dodge. However, the Tarnished will also have a tough time putting distance between themselves and Gaius for a moment to heal because he'll use his boar to chase them down. Adding in the fact that attacks from Gaius and his boar can deal a lot of damage, the end result is a fight that brings unlimited frustration.

1 Promised Consort Radahn Is The Hardest Boss

Radahn returns in Shadow of the Erdtree, but this time, he's the promised consort of Miquella and the final boss of the DLC. He's found at the end of Enir-Ilim after the Tarnished fights against Needle Knight Leda and other followers of Miquella. Unfortunately, Radahn doesn't have a lot of weaknesses that the Tarnished can exploit, not even the standard physical attacks and bleeds that can be a solid strategy against other bosses. However, bleed is still useful; it just has a slower build-up.

There are multiple reasons that Radahn is the most difficult and frustrating boss in Shadow of the Erdtree, and perhaps in Elden Ring as a whole. His attacks have a large range and deal a lot of damage, plus he's aggressive in attacking. If that's wasn't enough, his second phase adds holy damage to all his attacks, thanks to help given to him by Miquella. It doesn't help that he uses variations of the same attack patterns, so it's hard to predict which attack he'll do next. Overall, it's a nightmare of a fight.

FromSoftware isn't known for making easy boss fights, and the development team took the difficulty to the next level with Shadow of the Erdtree. This expansion includes fights that feel reminiscent of other bosses in Elden Ring and other Soulsborne games but with new twists added to make them exciting and extra tough to defeat. But among all those bosses, a few rise above the others to become the most difficult bosses in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.