Dragonlord Placidusax is the granddaddy of all the dragons you have fought in Elden Ring. This is one of the hardest bosses in the game. Luckily, our guide is here to help you out in identifying its moves and the right strategy to use to defeat it. We will also cover its weaknesses and go over a cheese strategy that will take him out in mere seconds. Let us dive into the ultimate boss guide to beating Dragonlord Placidusax in Elden Ring.
Dragonlord Placidusax is resistant to most damage types in Elden Ring. Thus you will have to rely on learning its moveset and utilize the small windows to deal little damage and move away quickly. This won’t be an easy fight so get ready to die a lot. You need to get gud! The best Spirit Ashes for this fight are the Black Knife Tiche and Mimic Tear only (fully upgraded preferably).
Let’s look at the best strategies and builds in this boss guide that can help us easily defeat Dragonlord Placidusax in Elden Ring.
Is Dragonlord Placidusax Optional?
Dragonlord Placidusax is an optional boss in Elden Ring. It is a secret boss found in Crumbling Farum Azula. To reach this boss, you must follow a seemingly unassuming set of broken debris platforms near the Beside the Great Bridge Site of Grace.
Strategies for Defeating Dragonlord Placidusax
Below are some strategies for defeating Dragonlord Placidusax boss in Elden Ring. The build you selected will determine the approach you should go for. We will cover the basic melee/magic caster strategies here:
Melee Strategy
It is crucial to know before the strategy begins to take this fight slowly and methodically. Getting greedy and overplaying your hand will get you killed. The boss has tons of attacks that can one-shot you easily.
Throughout the fight against Dragonlord Placidusax, it will summon a lightning storm and as this is happening you just need to consistently run in a circle. Wait for three lightning strikes and after the third one, you can go in on the boss. The tell for the lightning storm is that the boss will raise up slightly and roar.
Lay a few hits in front of the boss and then move behind him but do not attack its tail yet since one of his heads will track you behind and breathe fire on you. Run away from him or move to its sides.
When the boss raises its left hand (your right), it’s going to use this lightning claw that’s going to swipe and then follow it up with fire breath right in front of him. Dodge into the claw attack and quickly move towards the boss’s tail and stick to the middle of it as it moves.
When the tail stops moving and the boss is breathing fire in front of him, that’s your window to get in four to five hits depending on your weapon.
The boss can also use the lightning claw attack with its right hand but it’s easier to roll into and there is no fire breathe afterward. It does get a follow-up rake back in the second phase so watch out for that.
These three lightning from the sky and claw-to-fire attacks will keep on occurring throughout the fight so keep following the same pattern. This is the best opening for melee builds especially. This will change when the boss enters phase two and even then this window will present itself from time to time.
Do not lock on to the boss while you are attacking the tail and place the camera in a way where the boss’s heads are visible.
This is because, if you linger near the tail for much longer, the boss will spew fire behind him at the tail. Unlike other bosses, this guy doesn’t have a devastating tail swipe. It is much more manageable.
The boss will sometimes quickly fly away from you and then it’ll breathe fire in front of itself. Do not chase it and stay back. Let the attack finish and then move in.
The boss will enter phase two at the 60% HP mark. Placidusax will lift up and disappear. Move your camera and watch for a lightning-smoke cloud to appear. The cloud will move around for a bit and then the boss will come hurtling down on you with a claw attack. Dodge forward and a bit to the left to completely ignore this attack.
As soon as it lands, he will disappear and try to use the claw attack on you. Listening for cues and locating the boss at the right time is the key to survival here. The attacks and windows to exploit stay relatively the same in this phase too.
Every now and then the boss will summon a giant lightning spear and thrust it into the ground. This is the time to start running away. Get away from the imminent circle and once you are out, the whole area will explode. Do not get caught in it or it will be your end.
In this phase, the boss will continuously use the disappearing and reappearing claw attack. The only thing to worry about is that all of his claw attacks will have a follow-up rake back attack. You need to be extra careful when running behind him, not to get clipped by this back attack.
When the boss breathes fire behind it, it’s going to start doing it with one head and then the second head is going to chime in too. The boss will also follow up on some claw attacks with a rock throw in front. These attacks can get you killed very quickly so get ready to block or dodge again.
At this point in the fight, whenever you are moving behind the boss after the claw attack bring up your shield to block the rock fling.
Around 20% health, the boss will summon the lightning storm and then disappear. It will start using its claw attacks while the storm is active so be extra vigilant in tracking those lightning strikes.
At this stage when he flies away, he will appear as a smoke cloud behind you and perform a claw attack which should be blocked as it comes out quickly. However, when it lands, it will perform a long laser beam attack. The pattern of the beam is quite erratic and difficult to track so keep your distance and start blocking. Only move in when it is over.
His disappearing act will be much more frequent during this phase so keep that in mind. Although, the previously mentioned tail opening will keep surfacing so exploit it.
Magic/Faith Strategy
Learning the pattern is the key for INT and FAI builds too so refer to the previous section for in-depth movesets. Sticking close to the boss is recommended compared to the usual maintaining distance and using your spells.
The best sorceries for INT builds is the Spiral Shard coupled with Godfrey Icon. This spell moves slowly through the boss’s body, dealing continuous damage as it travels. The boss’s body is huge thus the spell will deal massive damage. And if you build your character right it can end the fight very quickly.
Night Maiden’s Mist is another sorcery that works great for this boss fight, especially in the first phase. The lingering effect of the spell and the boss’s general stationary behavior in the first phase will deal an insane accumulating damage from this spell.
Although the spell does lose its charm when the boss will begin disappearing and moving around in the second phase.
As for FAI builds, the incantations to rely on are the Swarm of Flies to proc Hemorrhage. Again, this spell will work wonders in the first phase while the boss’s fast movements in the second phase will render it inefficient. You will have to use it more often in this phase, so stock up on FP flasks.
The best incantations would be the Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike and Pest Threads. Pest Threads is FP more efficient. Both these spells should only be fired near the boss for the best damage output.
The Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike can annihilate the boss if used properly. To get the best out of this spell, check out the cheese section below.
What is Dragonlord Placidusax Weak To?
Dragonlord Placidusax is weak to the following damage types:
- Pierce Damage
- Both Heads – Weak Spots
What is Dragonlord Placidusax Strong Against?
Dragonlord Placidusax is strong or resistant to the following damage types:
- Strong
- Standard Damage
- Slash Damage
- Strike Damage
- Magic
- Fire
- Lightning
- Holy
- Poison
- Scarlet Rot
- Hemorrhage
- Frostbite
- Immune
- Sleep
- Madness
Can You Parry Dragonlord Placidusax?
You can not parry Dragonlord Placidusax. The boss can be stance broken and is then vulnerable to a critical strike.
Can You Cheese Dragonlord Placidusax?
To cheese Dragonlord Placidusax, you must have the following items to rip him to shreds in just a few seconds. You read that right, SECONDS! The items are:
- Gravel Stone Seal – Boosts Dragon Cult Incantations by 15%
- Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Stikes – Incantation
- Golden Vow – Incantation – To increase attack power
- Endure – Ash of War – Equipped to any weapon of your choosing. This will stop you from flinching or staggering from the boss’s attacks while you cast your spells.
- Talismans
- Flock’s Canvas Talisman – Raises incantation’s damage.
- Lightning Scorpion Charm – Increases lightning damage.
- Godfrey Icon – Boosts the damage of charged-up spells.
- Ritual Sword Talisman – Further boosts damage output when your HP is full. So keep your health topped up during this cheese.
- Flask of Wondrous Physick
- Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear – Buff lightning damage.
- Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear – Transforms damage received into healing. This will help keep the effect of the Ritual Sword Talisman active.
- Bloodboil Aromatic – Perfume Bottle – To temporarily buff yourself with all kinds of damage and defensive effects.
Before you activate the boss, use the Golden Vow and Bloodboil Aromatic. Then quickly move right up to the boss and drink the Flash of Wondrous Physick with the tears mentioned above. After that quickly use Endure Ash of War so that you won’t be blasted away by the boss’s attacks.
Once you are fully buffed from the steps above and near the boss, start spamming the Ancient Dragon’s Lightning Strikes incantations. With a good investment in Faith and all the buffs at your disposal, you will be dealing an insane amount of damage from each cast of the spell.
You won’t have to worry about the boss’s attacks as the damage will be converted to HP. Keep him close and spam away. The boss might fall to the ground after being stance broken by the spell but do not critical strike him, instead keep using the incantation and the fight will be over before you know it.
The fight against Dragonlord Placidusax will take everything you got. You need to be patient and avoid any sort of dumb heroic actions. This is the culmination of everything you have learned so far and you need to understand the boss’s attacks to stand any chance against him. Learn from your deaths and Rise stronger Tarnished!