Radagon of the Golden Order is one of the final bosses in Elden Ring. You must defeat this boss while conserving as many Crimson Flasks so that you have enough for the fight against Elden Beast after this one. Luckily, we are here to guide you through this boss fight. We have strategies for different builds and playstyles amongst other things that will aid you in this boss fight.
Radagon of the Golden Order is a bit of a squishy boss compared to other bosses in the game. He does take a lot of damage from most sources. However, this shattered dude hits hard as hell. You need to quickly exploit the small windows he provides to deal damage otherwise there are no particular attacks that will leave him vulnerable.
Let’s look at the best strategies and builds in this boss guide that can help us easily defeat Radagon of the Golden Order in Elden Ring.
Is Radagon of the Golden Order Optional?
Radagon of the Golden Order is not an optional boss in Elden Ring. He is one of the last two bosses in the game and must be defeated regardless of which ending you opted for.
Strategies for Defeating Radagon of the Golden Order
Below are some strategies for defeating Radagon of the Golden Order 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
Radagon has a lot of hammer swings that can do different things. There are a few you want to watch out for though. When he charges up to do a back swing he’s always going to follow up the same thing with the forehand.
However, when the hammer glows that is going to result in him shooting gold onto the ground, and then he waits for it to explode. He’s vulnerable during that waiting period so get some damage in.
He will do an up scoop into a two-handed hammer crash. You can roll through that without much problem. As a melee character, you would want to attack once in between his combos. His windows are short, and you need to be on your feet while attacking to dodge instantly.
Phase two always starts off with a glowing foot stomp. You can jump over that shock wave. It is hard to pull off, but with enough practice, you will negate the damage by jumping.
All of his moves in this phase kind of remain the same however they will deal more damage, and now he can teleport around. He also starts using all sorts of incantations.
The most annoying of which is the one where he shoots five golden orbs at you. It is difficult to predict since he can fire it coming out of a teleport and also do it while in midair. Best to keep an eye on him when he teleports and watch his hands.
He has a three-hammer-slam move where he sends out shockwaves in front of him. You can roll through these shockwaves.
If you get the idea to close in on him and start pummeling him while he is stuck in the attack animation then leave that thought. He has a defensive ring around him that will stop you from approaching him. You will have to keep some distance and dodge this attack.
When the boss is teleporting he can sometimes teleport right into your face. It’s very important that you roll backward from that teleport as the next attack will lead to an explosion and it will hurt.
The boss’s grab attack is a guaranteed insta-kill. It is easier to deal with if you are feeling a bit ballsy. All you want to do is stay very close to him and keep moving to the right eventually the boss will stop tracking you and just grab and then once he stops tracking you and you notice that he kind of falling behind you in his turning animation just roll and you’ll be okay.
The lightning bolt slam you can roll through and then just get away because he has a tendency to do a big follow-up attack after that. If you move out of the lightning bolt slam, you will definitely be safe from the follow-up.
You need to manage your health during this fight and keep it as clean as possible since you will be needing those for the next boss fight immediately after this one.
Stick close to the boss in most cases and only swing your weapons once and get ready to defend from his next attack.
Magic/Faith Strategy
As a ranged magic caster, there are a few attacks that can make your life miserable. His big ground pound, where he pauses in the air for a bit and then plummets down.
The aforementioned three-hammer-slam which sends out massive and deadly shockwaves, And the lightning bolts that he hurls at you. Other than that, most of his moves are very close range.
The unfortunate part is, the openings to cast your spells are few and short. Try to equip the best quick-firing spells you have at your disposal. You don’t want to be stuck in casting animation during this fight. Just like in the melee strategy, you want to lob your spells in between his attacks or when he is recovering from his attacks. These aren’t that long so a single cast would suffice each time.
He also has a magic shield that can absorb many of your spells so get ready for some spells to go to waste.
INT builds should stay true to the Glinstone Cometshard, Glinstone Icecrag, Stars of Ruin, and Comet-type spells. These fire quickly and deal good damage. You can even weaken the boss to magic damage at the start of the fight by casting Ranni’s Dark Moon spell.
This spell can be used in the middle of the fight when the boss loses some aggro. If the magic shield is getting annoying try using night sorceries.
As for FAI builds, any of the Godskin incantations like the Black Flame are designed to take out gods. Lightning Spear is another quick-firing spell in this case. And although he is immune to madness, frenzy does deal quite a lot of damage to the boss, Frenzied Burst being the best long-range one.
What is Radagon of the Golden Order Weak To?
Radagon of the Golden Order is weak to the following damage types:
- Fire
- Strike Damage
What is Radagon of the Golden Order Strong Against?
Radagon of the Golden Order is strong or resistant to the following damage types:
- Strong
- Frostbite
- Scarlet Rot
- Poison
- Standard Damage
- Slash Damage
- Pierce Damage
- Holy
- Immune
- Hemorrhage
- Sleep
- Madness
Can You Parry Radagon of the Golden Order?
You can parry Radagon of the Golden Order but only the non-charged-up attacks. Although he does not become vulnerable to riposte after the parry, you must parry him thrice before you can perform a critical strike. He can be stance broken with enough poise damage.
Can You Cheese Radagon of the Golden Order?
There is no way of cheesing Radagon of the Golden Order. Every cheese has been patched out by From Software so you just have to fight him mano e mano. You can take help from some builds that are overpowered for this encounter, but they can’t be categorized in cheese strategies.
Here is a recently posted video by a Youtuber – T King who with the right build, kills this boss in mere seconds. Replicate his setup if you like.
What makes the fight against Radagon extra frustrating is the fact that this fight is followed up by the final boss fight of the game i.e. Elden Beast. Ending up dying to the latter boss will force you to face Radagon again and again.
You need to be prepared for both bosses. Conserving your resources like flasks will ensure you are adequately ready for the second and much harder round of this finale.