Starscourge Radahn is one of the most interesting boss fights in all of the soulslike genre let alone Elden Ring. There is a unique mechanic in this fight that makes it stand out which we will discuss in this ultimate guide to beating Radahn. Additionally, there are ways of cheesing this boss that will come in handy to many of you struggling in this fight.
You can summon a whole army of NPCs during the fight with Starscourge Radahn. The fight is designed to be played this way so you shouldn’t ignore this. You can keep summoning them after they have died so do keep this in mind. Let your summons do most of the work while you come in with a few attacks here and there. Be a general in this fight and not a foot soldier.
Let’s look at the best strategies and builds in this boss guide that can help us easily defeat Starscourge Radahn in Elden Ring.
Is Starscourge Radahn Optional?
Starscourge Radahn is an optional boss in Elden Ring. He is a Shardbearer, and you need to defeat at least two in order to progress the main questline. Also, fighting this boss is a must if you want to gain access to Nokron, Eternal City, or you want to achieve the Age of the Stars ending.
Strategies for Defeating Starscourge Radahn
Below are some strategies for defeating Starscourge Radahn 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’ll notice a bunch of gold summon signs on the ground. You want to summon everyone you see here all the while dodging Radahn’s arrow attacks. This is a unique fight where you are required to fight the boss as a team.
You can face him alone, but it’s better to utilize the baked-in summoning mechanic. If and when the summons die, you can re-summon them simply by locating their signs in the arena.
While summoning initially, you want to stay on the back side of the starting dune because once you go past it Radahn will start firing a volley of arrows that are more difficult to avoid. Once you have summoned all the NPCs, it is time to make your way to the boss.
With the summon by your side, the boss will be distracted by them for the most part while you lay into him from the back or front.
Most of the boss’s attacks can one-shot you with ease so you have to be aware whether the boss has you in its crosshairs.
You want to watch out for mostly his gravity (purple) attacks. They’re all delayed hits, and you can roll through just about all of them, and it’s not that big of a deal.
When he starts moving around on his horse that’s when things get extremely chaotic. After a quarter of his health is gone, try to move away from the fight and try to re-summon all the dead NPCs.
Once the boss goes below 50% health, he will jump out, and then you will notice an orange glow in the sky indicating he is going to meteor slam in you. This can insta kill you so get on Torrent and start running away. This is where the second phase begins.
In this phase, he moves a lot faster and primarily uses gravity attacks. Make sure to bring back the dead NPCs asap cause things are about to go crazy, and you will need all the hell you can get. Use Torrent to run around and find all the summoning signs. Ignore Radahn while you are re-summoning.
The main attack that you should watch out for in phase two is the meteors that hover above him. Eventually, Radahn will back away, and when he does that the meteors will detach from him and start flying towards whoever he had aggro on.
These meteors move a lot faster than you might suspect so you have to be very careful when dodging them, and you need to dodge twice. You can roll to the side both times, and that should do it.
The other devastating ability is a series of gravity orbs he’ll fire at you. If one of these orbs hit you it is certain the others will land too. Blocking this attack will ruin your stamina, and you will likely get killed by the follow-up attack.
He also flies up and spins in a spiral and flies toward you. You can dodge it but be sure to dodge the follow-up attack. It’s the same spiral attack that comes immediately after.
While fighting him, you want to do your best to stay behind him and let your friends take charge and grab the aggro. It’s easier said than done, but that’s the main strategy that you want to employ.
Don’t attack him until your army has aggro and ultimately he will go down. You just need to overwhelm him with your army that’s the main idea here.
Magic/Faith Strategy
Ranged Magic and Faith builds will have a much more comfortable experience during this fight. You can let your summons distract the boss while you stand back and lob your spells of choice at him. Make it your purpose during the fight to keep summoning the NPCs over and over again.
Staying on top of Torrent while you cast will be extra helpful in scenarios where Radahn suddenly gets a hankering for your head. You can get out of dodge easily on horseback. Let the NPCs catch the boss’s attention again and you can continue firing off your spells from the distance.
INT builds can use Rock Sling to try to stance-break the boss. Three to four successful hits will give you the opening to perform a critical strike. Do keep in mind the spell is slow to cast. Other than that, you can definitely rely on the Glinstone Pebble or its upgraded variants like Comestshard and Comet.
Loretta’s Greatbow and its weaker version are great on horseback and their impressive range will allow you to essentially snipe the boss. However, the spell’s long casting time leaves you quite vulnerable hence it is essential the boss is flooded by NPCs at all times.
Faith builds should avoid holy incantations and opt for lightning spells. The best incantation to bring during this fight is the Rotten Breath. His extreme weakness to this status effect will bring him down quicker than a giant tree.
Two Breaths will be enough to apply the Scarlet Rot and will eat away his health. Landing the spell will be a difficult task since the boss moves around a lot and you wouldn’t want him to attack you while you are stuck in the casting animation.
The best time to cast this incantation is when he is recovering from his attack, and an NPC has the aggro.
What is Starscourge Radahn Weak To?
Starscourge Radahn is weak to the following damage types:
- Pierce Damage
- Scarlet Rot (extremely weak)
- Magic
- Fire
- Lightning
What is Starscourge Radahn Strong Against?
Starscourge Radahn is strong or resistant to the following damage types:
- Strong
- Holy
- Sleep
- Immune
- Madness
Can You Parry Starscourge Radahn?
Starscourge Radahn can not be parried. However, he can be stance broken and then you can perform a critical strike on him.
Can You Cheese Starscourge Radahn?
One of the easier and most time-consuming cheese strategies for Radahn is to simply let your summons do all the work while you stay behind doing nothing. Go around the arena and re-summon any of the dead NPCs.
As mentioned before, the Rotten Breath spell is another nice way of cheesing this boss. You need to apply it twice during the entire battle, and he will literally rot away.
For a more active cheese, you must have the following necessary items for a particular build that will take the boss out in mere seconds:
- Marais Executioner’s Sword
- White Mask – Head Armor
- Finger Seal – Incantation Seal
- Preferred Talismans
- Lord of Blood’s Exultation
- Rotten Wing Sword Insignia
- Millicent’s Prosthesis
- Red-Feathered Branchsword
- Godfrey Icon
- Shard of Alexander
- Flask of Wondorous Physick
- Thorny Cracked Tear
- Spiked Cracked Tear
- Buffs from:
- Comannder’s Standard – Rallying Standard Buff only
- Howl of Shabiri – Buffing Incantation
- Seppuku – Ash of War Buff
As soon as you enter the arena, run to the right side and head for the shore/beach. This will make sure the boss stops using his ranged attacks and move toward you. Take this time to start buffing yourself.
Use Howl of Shabiri, Commander’s Standard’s weapon skill, Seppuku Ash of War using any weapon of your choice, and then bring out your primary Executioner Sword and two-hand it. Let the boss come to you, and start spamming the weapon skill.
With the right setup and stat allocation, the boss will go down in a single use of the weapon skill and a few hits after it.
Starscourge Radahn is like a raid battle in Elden Ring where a whole team of players face the boss together. This is quite uncommon, especially in games from FromSoftware. Make use of this mechanic otherwise this fight will be a huge ordeal for most players.