Bayle the Dread rules his domain from the summit of Jagged Peak in the Shadow of the Erdtree. This is one of the most challenging bosses in all of the Elden Ring DLC. The challenge is fitting for one who defied Dragonlord Placidusax and still survived.
Do not be fooled by Bayle’s wounded state, he is still the master of the skies. He will rain hell on you even in his tattered condition. Thoroughly review this boss guide and prepare for one nightmare of a ride.
Fighting Bayle the Dread
As you enter the arena, it will be empty. The sheer size of the arena foreshadows that something big is coming. When moving towards the center, a giant battered dragon, Bayle the Dread, drops into the arena, signaling the commencement of the most flashy fight in all of Shadow of the Erdtree. Bayle’s design tells a story of an earth-shattering conflict between two titans of the Lands Between.
He has a surprising amount of mobility for a mangled old dragon with a missing leg and torn-apart wings. He probably has the most attacks out of all the bosses in the game and blends them together quite effectively. This makes this guy incredibly unpredictable.
His physical attacks hit like a truck. He will spray fire and lightning constantly. And he can’t seem to stand still, unlike his chonky Dragonlord.
At around 50% HP, he will conjure up energy wings and take flight to begin the second phase of the fight.
During this phase, everything gets dialed up to eleven. He begins using flying attacks with fire breaths, and many of the attacks end with the ground exploding around him.
Bayle becomes super-saiyan at this point, and only the most skilled tarnished who knows what’s coming next will stand a chance at downing this behemoth.
Here is some helpful information when going up against Bayle:
- You can summon Igon during the fight if you follow his questline and have Igon’s Furled Finger. Since he is summoned inside the arena, the boss’s HP won’t scale up.
- This boss has two weak points: his head and his busted leg (left leg). These points receive 50% extra damage.
- Coat your weapon with Dragonwound Grease/Dragon Communion Grease or craft some Igon’s Harpoon to deal 30% more damage to the boss.
- There are special dragon-slaying weapons that deal extra damage to this boss. Check the list of all the weapons below.
- Other than the physical ones, his attacks have both lightning and fire properties. Opaline Hardtear in Wondrous Physick and Pearldrake Talisman will help mitigate this unique damage mix.
- We recommend upgrading your Scadutree Blessing to 13 before facing this boss.
- Do not lock on the boss. Only target him when he is flying or when he retreats/repositions to center your camera on him.
Moveset
Bayle the Dread has a wide array of attacks at his disposal, all hitting harder than a train. You better memorize each phase and every one of his attacks mentioned below or else you won’t survive long in the arena. We will also note the appropriate reaction for each attack too.
Phase 1
| Attack | Description | Reaction |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Fire Breath | Leans his head backwards while fire in his mouth. Goes onto spew fire straight in front. Usually the starting attack of the fight. | Start running in any side direction as soon as you see him charge up; even a slight delay and it will hit you. Keep running until he stops. |
| Sweeping Fire Breath | He breathes fire from your left to right horizontally. | Dodge towards the fire, and it will miss you. |
| Jumping Slam | He jumps in the air and tries to land on you. | Roll forward when he begins his descent. Attack as soon as he lands. |
| Downward Fire Spew | He will breathe fire underneath him when you stay under him for too long. Has a large AOE. | Avoid standing beneath him for more than two attacks. Run away when you see him stand up to begin spewing, but don’t go too far. When he is done, run back quickly and land a hit. |
| Grab | He rears his head with lightning in his mouth, and his wings straightened. He will then thrust his head forward while biting. If he catches you, he will lift you in his mouth and slam you thrice. | Roll towards him as he extends his head. This will place you near his neck, giving you a window to attack. |
| Roar Lightning | He will roar (which will throw you down and deal damage), followed by multiple lightning strikes that will land on you after some delay. | The roar is hard to avoid as it comes out fast. For the lightning, just spam roll or run until it stops. |
| Dual Headbutts | A short-range head thrust followed by a bigger upward head swing. | A double dodge into the swings will ignore the attack. |
| Tail Whip | He leaps forward and whips his tail 360 degrees. He can also whip it without the leap. There is also a vertical tail slam version of this attack. | Roll into the incoming tail and towards the boss. Attack if you land near him. |
| Triple Hit Lightning Slam Combo | Bayle raises his broken right wing while roaring. He then proceeds to stab his right wing forward, swings the left wing, pauses, and ends with a lightning slam. | Run toward and under him to avoid the entire combo when you see him charging this attack. It will give you ample time to land some hits while he is attacking. |
| Broken Wing Stab | He pulls back his right broken wing, lunges toward you, and thrusts the bone into the ground where you stood. | Roll forward as he lunges at you. This will position you under him so you can easily attack him. |
| Three Hit Body Slam Combo | He plunges his broken wing towards you, then performs a body slam, ending with a Downward Fire Spew. | Dodge forward for the wing plunge, dodge left for the body slam, and run out of range of the fire spew. Quickly return once it’s over to attack. |
| Lightning Broken Wing Slam | He pulls back his broken wing and charges it with lightning, then thrusts it with all his might forward into the ground. | Roll forward as the wing is about to land. Make sure to attack as he recovers. |
| Left Wing Double Slashes | He pulls back his left wing and performs two forward slashes. | Roll right when each of the slashes reaches you. |
| Double Chomp | He pulls back his entire body and then extends his head twice while biting. There is a slight delay between the two bites. He might end this combo with a Downward Fire Spew. | Roll right when each of the bites reaches you. Run out of range for the fire attack. |
| Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Spear | Much like the incantation, he charges his broken wing with lightning and slams it into the ground in front, causing an explosion. In the second phase, lightning will fall in a straight line after the explosion. | Start running back and out of range of the explosion when you see him charge the attack. For the second phase follow-up, dodge to the side when the lightning strikes approach you. |
Phase 2
| Attack | Description | Reaction |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 2 Transition | At 50% HP, he bends his body to charge up while spots on the ground surrounding him will start to glow. When he sprouts his wings, fire/magma will erupt from these spots. It is a giant AOE zone. | Turn around and start running out of this zone. |
| Flying Mega Combo | Bayle flies up and circles around the arena. While strafing airborne, he shoots multiple lightning bolts at you. He then descends while scraping his feet on the ground to the other end of the arena. When he stops, a few spots will erupt fire from the ground near him. The follow-up attack after the transition. He can also use it anytime afterward. | As he begins his flight, start running diagonally backward and to the right while locked on to avoid the bolts. As he hits the ground and hurtles towards you, roll into him, and he will bypass you. Stay away to ignore the eruption. |
| Enhanced Triple Hit Lightning Slam Combo | It’s the same as before, but the ending slam will send a moving lightning explosion in a straight line. | Run into him as he charges up, and there is nothing to worry about. |
| Bayle’s Tyranny | He charges himself up to cause a vast AOE explosion, with pillars of fire bursting from the ground, similar to the incantation. | Backoff out of range of the detonation. |
| Enhanced Lightning Broken Wing Slam | He quickly sprouts his wings, flies up, then tries to land on you. After a slight delay, eruptions will occur around him. | Roll forward as he lands on you after the flight, and roll again to avoid the explosions. |
| Double Fire Strafe | He flies in the air and hovers while collecting fire in his mouth. He then fires a beam across the arena while hovering. He holds there for a second, then flies straight toward you while spewing another beam of fire/lightning. The beam will cause the ground to explode after some delay. | Back off as he charges this attack. If you are further away, the initial beam will miss you, but the lingering fire must be dodged into to avoid. When he begins his strafing beam follow-up, dodge twice to the side quickly to sidestep both the beam and the explosion. |
| Enhanced Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Spear | The attack will start as before, where he charges his wing with lightning, but this time, his wings will burst out, and he will charge the broken wing even further. The following slam will cause a bigger explosion that will form fissures on the surrounding ground, and then they will also explode after some delay. | Both explosions can be dodged if your timing is just perfect. You can jump over the second explosion. Or you could just run away and avoid this lethal attack. |
Weaknesses and Resistances
Bayle is resistant to the following damage types, so try to avoid using them:
- All elemental and physical (minus Pierce) damage types.
The boss is weak to:
- Pierce physical damage
- Special Dragon-slaying weapons will cause more harm to him:
- Dragon King’s Cragblade
- Dragonscale Blade
- Icerind Hatchet
- Bolt of Gransax
- Dragon Halberd
- Grafted Dragon
- Dragon Greatclaw
- Dragonclaw Shield
- Dragon-Hunter’s Great Katana
Bayle is immune to both Madness and Sleep. You cannot parry any of his attacks. However, he can be stance-broken with enough poise damage, which opens him up for a critical strike.
Boss Strategy
As for most dragon fights in other FromSoft games, the strategy here is to stay near Bayle the Dread’s tail. We do this for two reasons: first, it tends to make his AI unable to keep up, and he will be forced to move in circles, trying to keep you in his reticules. He won’t remain this stupid in the second phase, though.
Secondly, it will place you near his leg weak point. Not only will you deal extra damage, but this leg stump is quite large and has a huge hitbox. For the most part, you don’t have to be so accurate with your weapon swings, and it will still smack his bum leg. When you get the chance to attack while under him, always prioritize his busted leg.
Additionally, his head tends to hang low often during the fight. Practice hitting his head, especially with a long-reaching weapon, for that sweet extra damage. Cycling between these weak points will ensure the fight ends much quicker.
Allow Igon to distract the boss, and you can punish his weak point while he is busy.
The best times to attack Bayle are after dodging his ground fire, lightning claw, charging bite, and jumping attacks. Keep hitting the boss after each attack so his stance damage doesn’t reset. With consistent poking thought-out the battle, you are likely to stance-break him multiple times and perform critical strikes.
As he recovers from a critical strike, you have a long enough opening to land a weapon skill or a charged heavy attack to his face.
Dragon-Hunter’s Great Katana is the ideal weapon for this fight. Its Dragonwound Slash weapon skill seems like it was purpose-made for this fight.
You will have to learn his attacks at the end of the day. There is no two ways to this boss fight.
Intelligence builds will benefit greatly from Shard Spiral. This spell moves slowly through flesh, which is great for big-body bosses like Bayle. Chances are, every projectile will deal multiple hits to the boss.
Not to mention, it has great stance damage, too. A few successful spirals going through Bayle will poise break him, opening him up for a critical strike.
The Pest Threads and Pest-Thread Spears incantations work the same way as the spell above but for Faith builds. They go through big bosses and deal a chunk of stance damage. If you get a lengthy opening, the Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike incantation near Bayle’s body will hit him multiple times.
Rewards For Defeating Bayle the Dread
Bringing down Bayle will unlock the following items:
- 490,000 Runes
- Heart of Bayle – Take this heart to the Grand Altar of Dragon Communion to exchange for one of the incantations below:
- Bayle’s Tyranny
- Bayle’s Flame Lightning
How to Cheese Bayle the Dread?
For this stinky cheese to work, you need the Unseen Form sorcery, the Assassin’s Gambit weapon skill, and the Poison Mist incantation. Needless to say, you’ll need a Staff for the sorcery, a Sacred Seal for the incantation, and a weapon with the weapon skill equipped.
Before you enter the arena, cast Unseen Form, followed by Assassin’s Gambit, then enter the arena. You’ll see Bayle will not notice your presence in the arena. Make your way around the perimeter from here, sticking as close to the wall as possible. Stay locked on to the boss to witness his movements.
You’ll have only 30 seconds before Unseen Form and Assassin’s Gambit run out. Make sure to recast them both before the timer runs out; otherwise, the boss will see you and send you packing.
I’d say recast them around the 24-second mark so that you have enough time to move freely before either of them runs out. Once they are recast, keep circling Bayle until you are directly behind him.
Once behind him, all you have to do is crouch and walk (crouch-walk) up to him. It doesn’t matter if the spells run out at this point because if you’re behind him, he can’t sense you.
When you are crouching near him, it’s time to unleash the Poison Mist. Ensure you have brought enough FP flasks with you as this cheesing process will take a while. Bayle has a lot of health, so patience is required.
Cast it until the poison is applied, then watch patiently as his HP is slowly eaten away. When it wears off, cast the spell again and continue the waiting game. It is an excellent time to do something else, like watching an episode.
Just keep an eye on the poison and reapply it. Subsequent reapplication will take multiple spell casts since his resistance will strengthen.
If you do this right, Bayle won’t transition to his second phase or know what hit him. He will slowly dwindle away while you safely sit behind him with a nasty grin.
In my opinion, Bayle the Dread screams of FromSoftware’s peak design prowess. Everything about this boss took my breath away from the battle-damaged look to the spectacular yet ferocious attacks. CURSE YOU, BAYLE, for ruining other bosses for me.