Elden Beast is the final-final boss of Elden Ring right after Radagon of the Golden Order boss fight. This is one of the most mesmerizing boss fights in all of soulslike genre. Hopefully, you won’t be hypnotized by this boss and take up arms to rid the Lands Between of this accursed monstrosity.
We will help you in this guide on how to take it out effectively. There will be strategies and weaknesses in this article that you can employ to defeat the Elden Beast.
The Elden Beast fight comes right after Radagon’s fight so needless to say you must conserve your Crimson and Cerulean Flasks and other resources for this fight. This boss has tons of unique and deadly attacks that can make quick work of you. Put on holy damage-resistant armor and only summon your Spirit Ash once the Elden Beast fight begins.
Let’s look at the best strategies and builds in this boss guide that can help us easily defeat Elden Beast in Elden Ring.
Is Elden Beast Optional?
Elden Beast is not an optional boss in Elden Ring. It is the game’s final boss, and everyone will have to face it regardless of which ending they are going for.
Strategies for Defeating Elden Beast
Below are some strategies for defeating Elden Beast 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
Starting off, you can just run to the Elden Beast and get a bunch of damage right before it starts to react. Most likely he will use a holy fire breath attack which you can sidestep by running to the back of the boss. You can use this time to hit its back/tail.
When the boss swims away, he will come back with a few regular sword swipes that you can avoid by rolling into the swing. If you see the boss stick its sword into the ground and it starts glowing gold you want to try to get near its tail. This way you can avoid the shock wave and get in a couple of hits.
From time to time, the boss flies up into the air, and you’ll notice a golden ring around him. At this moment, turn around and start running to the opposite side.
There will be a ring that you need to jump over and get out of the radius of the second ring otherwise you will be struck by a huge explosion. Be careful, the boss will start to perform another attack while you are running so focus on him as soon as you are out of the ring.
He sends out a purple starry mist which explodes after a delay. Try to spot this and run away. When you notice the boss’s sword glowing gold as you’re close to it, just get ready to roll out of the way of big slashes and then a slam afterward.
Elden Beast will sometimes swim away, and his sword will start to glow, be prepared as he is about to send four projectiles toward you. You need to roll through these arcs. It is hard to discern their speed and distance so learn from your mistakes if you get hit.
Occasionally, the boss will dive in and fly out of the water quickly with his wings spread wide open. He will send out a bunch of homing golden projectiles at you. In this case, you need to lock off from the boss and start running in a single direction. The camera can screw up your sprint if you are locked on so be sure to lock off.
You do want to watch out for any big body slams. They are telegraphed by the sword if you are further away or if you are close you will see it coming from the body. The boss can rake its sword in a backswing followed up by a regular swing and then a slam. These are easy enough to avoid. Take this time to roll into him and get a few hits in.
When you notice that the boss’s left hand is glowing purple and it’s close to you it’s going to slam it down. This is followed up by stars that will explode. You should roll straight into and biot left of the boss to get away from the explosion.
If you deal enough damage to the boss and it gets stance broken, the critical strike point is on his chest not his head. Be sure to move into the chest otherwise, you will miss a great opportunity to take a huge chunk of its health.
When the boss gets low on HP, it will fly and perform a different kind of ring attack than before. You can distinguish by the visible Elden Ring sign in the air.
This time around he will send three rings that you need to jump over and then get out of the fourth radial ring to escape the explosion. Pretty much the same as before but with added rings to jump over.
When you see the boss cast the Elden Star incantation. This will be a huge orb that will slowly pepper you with tons of little projectiles. They are hard to avoid, and they aren’t that deadly, you just need them to run their course and vanish.
However, you need to be careful not to get fixated on the incantation since the boss can come up with another attack from the side while you are unaware of it.
Magic/Faith Strategy
Faith builds should stick to Pest Threads incantation at close range. This spell when fired at the right distance will shred the boss’s health. And since the boss is resistant to most elemental damage types, this spell’s physical damage properties will be quite advantageous.
Incantations with any kind of Holy damage should be avoided because the boss will absorb most of this particular damage type. You can bring lightning spells like Lightning Spear to the fight however, anything that inflicts a status effect of sorts will be worthless.
As for sorcerers, the same logic applied. Any spell with physical damage would work wonders. The trusty Rock Sling is the best option throughout the fight. The spell’s physical damage and homing ability are extremely useful when the boss starts moving around a bunch.
You can even use the Meteorite of Astel or the Meteorite spell at the start only. As soon as the battle begins, move behind the boss while he is busy spewing fire and let loose a barrage of meteorites.
Of course, having the Cerulean Hidden Tear and Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tears in the Physick Flask will allow you to continuously cast the spell without worrying about running out of FP.
These physical damage spells also have the chance of stance-breaking the boss giving you the opportunity to riposte.
On a side note, if you have enough stats invested in Intelligence, you can bring your normal magic spells like Comet, etc. The boss is resistant to this damage type but it will deal a amount of damage.
What is Elden Beast Weak To?
Elden Beast is weak to the following damage types:
- Standard Damage
- Strike Damage
- Slash Damage
- Pierce Damage
What is Elden Beast Strong Against?
Elden Beast is strong or resistant to the following damage types:
- Strong
- Holy
- Fire
- Magic
- Lightning
- Immune
- Poison
- Scarlet Rot
- Hemorrhage
- Frostbite
- Sleep
- Madness
Can You Parry Elden Beast?
The Elden Beast can not be parried. You can break his stance, allowing you to perform a critical strike.
Can You Cheese Elden Beast?
There are no cheese strategies for this boss sadly. Some Youtubers have found a way to completely skip fighting this boss with an out-of-limit game-breaking glitch. This method seems to be patched out but some are still reporting that it works. We will link a Youtube video below if you really want to try it out.
The Elden Beast is an annoying boss. Much of your success will depend upon how cleanly you fought Radagon. Try to preserve your flasks during Radagon so that you have enough during Elden Beast. This boss has some of the most unique and devastating attacks in all of Elden Ring.