Befitting a game from FromSoftware, Elden Ring provides the players exciting boss fights even if some of them are frustratingly difficult to fight.
- The first dragon battle you're likely to encounter is Flying Algheel in Limgrave, who pops out of nowhere and abruptly ambushes you in the middle of a lake. While he is restrained compared to the main story bosses and the duplication of his move set makes most later dragon fights underwhelming, Algheel himself is a great early game punch to introduce giant field bosses and mounted combat. Selectively calling in Torrent to close the distance and avoid his attacks makes a good challenge, and riding towards a fire-spewing dragon on your trusty steed before jumping off at just the right moment to land a heavy strike on the beast's head is the stuff fantasy action scenes are made of.
- Godrick the Grafted is where the game takes the kid gloves off, and does he make an impression. Surprisingly acrobatic for someone of his size and deformity, his aggressive moveset delivers the game's first major challenge. And then he cuts off his own arm to graft a dragon's head onto the stump, and all bets are off – not only does he remain agile, but he can target the player from range now, and while his newfound wide-reaching fire moves are damaging, they nevertheless provide ample opportunity for retaliation. All in all, a very solid boss battle that is very likely to be the player's first Shardbearer boss.
- Starscourge Radahn has been immensely praised for its design and sheer insanity, being almost like the Tarnished took a wrong turn and ended up in Dragon Ball Z. To begin with, you have an immense buildup with the Radahn festival (which features its own music) in which a gathering of the greatest warriors around the land converge to fight the fallen Demigod. And then the sky darkens, and the player is given an exposition filled cutscene explaining Radahn's state and the reason for the festival. And then the fight happens; in which the player is transported to a dune that contains the remains of a massive battlefield to face down Radahn himself. He uses a terrifying mixture of arrows, blades, and magic, and he also combines nightmarish speed as he expertly prowls the desert with his warhorse, looking for every opportunity to kill the player. The gimmick of the fight involves the player being able to summon an entire army of phantoms (the first time in the series), which turns the duel into a frantic all-out war against the Shattering's strongest Demigod. His second phase, which begins with Radahn throwing himself into the sky and re-entering the atmosphere like a comet, enhances his spellcasting, and it's all topped off by an amazing cutscene depicting the fallen stars arriving in the Lands Between. All in all, an amazing spectacle that's equally fun and rewarding to play as it is to watch.
- Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy is the game's resident Storm King-type boss, and he's by far the best iteration of the formula so far. Starting as a pretty straightforward gimmick boss as the God-Devouring Serpent, he introduces himself properly in one of the game's most memorable cutscenes. And then a frenetic duel against him ensues, involving magma, a sword covered in human remains and exploding skeletons, and while he may be something of a Breather Boss, his moveset is still challenging and fun enough to counter. Rykard is, in essence, a gimmick boss done right, and he gets extra points for being metal as hell.
- Morgott, the Omen King. His introduction is one of the game's best cutscenes, where he delivers a fantastic verbal beat-down to his family and announces his intention to fight you with a chilling Badass Boast. He then delivers with a boss fight characterised by a moveset whose variety and unpredictability is only matched by how fun it is to fight against, with every souped-up combo and jump calling back to when he fought you as the Fell Omen. You can even summon Melina, meaning that for the first time, one of the level-up ladies can fight by your side. When he gets halfway down and loses control of his curse, his self-loathing comes through as he intersperses Bloodflame and Omen blood into his blows and uses even longer-lasting flurries of attacks. While he may have low health by endgame boss standards, he nevertheless makes it up for it with speed and skill, and he serves as a fantastic Climax Boss before the game's scope and intensity kick up for the last act. And his death serves as one of the somberest moments of the game, as you're left looking at his broken body, listening to his final Despair Speech before he passes on...but most players will more happily remember the last words he spoke before he fought you:Morgott: Have it writ upon thy meagre grave: "Felled by King Morgott! Last of all kings!"
- Mohg, Lord of Blood, delivers one of the best fights in From Software's history with high stats and a challenging, visually spectacular move set that is also completely fair. This is paired with stellar presentation including the unsettling battle ground of a crumbling blood-soaked cathedral, an appropriately sinister soundtrack that just oozes calm malevolence, Mohg himself looking and acting like what Satan would want to be when he grows up, and the boss counting down his second phase in Latin before hitting you with his super-move. He's generally considered the least divisive of the late game bosses. The unusually large amount of build-up to this fight also really enhances it, as does the surrounding lore.
- The Superboss battle with Dragonlord Placidusax is a more than worthy successor to Darkeater Midir's. You're fighting a 40-meter kaiju who can not only fly but teleport into ashes, launch explosive mouth beams from both heads, generate huge claws made of red lightning, and spawn giant explosions by spiking lightning spears into the ground, all amid a breathtaking vista literally frozen in time.
- Maliketh, the Black Blade is generally considered one of the hardest bosses in the game but is also one of the most exhilarating and cinematic. After a brutal first phase in which he fights in his disguise as the Beast Clergyman and attacks using what is essentially a giant shiv and rock spells, the bestial warrior gets pushed to his limit and reveals his true identity. Thereafter the fight becomes an absolutely merciless duel against a gigantic acrobatic werewolf who is essentially the setting's equivalent of The Grim Reaper. It's a fast, adrenaline-pumping affair where you must race to bust down his health pool before he obliterates you with the Destined Death sealed in his sword, which both inflicts damage over time comparable to Scarlet Rot and temporarily reduces your max HP upon hit. However, to balance his agility and massive damage output, he has relatively low health and poise, leading to an almost dance-like fight as you and him trade blows, with every hit you land being hard earned but rewarding. With his brutal but rewarding moveset, epic presentation, and excellent OST, he's one of the more fondly remembered fights from the late game.
- The second and proper fight with Godfrey, First Elden Lord pits the tarnished against the game's equivalent of Heracles, with the latter's moveset befitting his strength. At the first phase, he attacks with quick and powerful yet fairly telegraphed axe combos, and some of his attacks involve stomps which can cover the entire arena, requiring you to optimize use of your invincibility frames. Inflicting enough damage will cause Godfrey to transform to Hoarah Loux by killing Serosh who was there to hold him back. After that, his moves involve either wrestling grabs, shockwaves that can cover the entire arena, or long string of combos, all of which are done with bare hands and feet. Unique among all other bosses in the game (except for Malekith/Gurranq), his second phase shares zero moves with his first, giving you two bosses for the price of one. This combination results in a fight where the Tarnished must fight for their right as the Elden Lord using all their might."A crown is warranted with strength!"
- The game's finale provides an excellent, climactic fight to cap off your journey. Radagon of the Golden Order is the first half of the game's Final Boss fight, and one of the most aggressive, hard-hitting foes you can face. He is introduced with a legitimately awe-inspiring cutscene which shows the broken, crucified Queen Marika drop from the Elden Ring itself and transform into him, a Wham Shot that shakes up your understanding of the lore. As he raises his hammer up in the air and wordlessly faces you, the Elden Ring lights up in the void of his torso, a Triumphant Reprise of the game's main theme kicks in, and the battle commences without another word. Radagon is a Lightning Bruiser who fights with a mixture of hard hitting hammer blows, massive AOE slams, and lightning bolts from a distance, mixing them up unpredictably to punish you for playing sloppily. While his moveset is tough to learn, it's also very fair, and mastering his fight is an extremely rewarding experience. Between the OST, visual design, and moveset, he's one of the most beloved of the game's major bosses.
- The fight with Malenia, the game's mascot and supreme Super Boss, lives up to the hype.
- Her first phase is highly formidable yet is also the most straightforward major boss fight in the game. No back-up or summons, no environmental hazards in her arena, no area of effect or ranged attacks, or anything of the sort - it's simply a fair showdown between you and a very fast, very strong, very skilled warrior in an open field. This is still more than enough to grind even a seasoned and over-leveled player into dust several dozen times over. Her challenge comes entirely from her strength and speed combined with a complex, dynamic, purely physical move set that you have to thoroughly learn to properly counter, and which requires you have mastered all the game's dodge mechanics to survive as opposed to simply hitting the roll button and banking on invincibility frames. In particular, her Waterfowl Dance combos seem nigh-impossible to avoid at first, but gradually become manageable as you learn their timings and how certain features interact with them (from strong Ashes of War like the Bloodhound's Step to the humble jump key you've had since the beginning). After you master them, dodging Waterfowl Dances with little to no damage never ceases to be satisfying when you pull it off.
- Her second phase, where she ascends into the Goddess of Rot, proceeds to throw the same combos she threw in her first phase with much greater frequency and aggressiveness, and complements them with a plethora of devastating Rot attacks. By the time you've triumphed over both phases and earned Malenia's respect, you can be assured that nothing in the Lands Between, nay the Souls series as a whole, can surmount you. The amazing visuals, tragic lore, and impactful soundtrack enhance the spectacle. The context added by Millicent's quest and Mohg's boss battle - where you restore Malenia's "sense of self" by inserting the dew-soaked needle into the flower that she is to be reborn from and slay Miquella's captor after locating him, respectively - further enhance the fight. Malenia responds by gifting you Miquella's Needle, allowing you to defeat two Outer Gods in one stroke by using that needle to purge the Frenzied Flame from yourself, solidifying your character's status.
