Speedrun Your Way To The Credits Screen
Since Elden Ring is a FromSoftware title, we knew it would have a couple of sizzling boss fights, but 238 big baddies? That’s just insane. It’s easy to get lost figuring out which ones actually progress the main story, and without a great Elden Ring boss order guide, it’s tough to get back on track.
The bosses in Elden Ring are scattered throughout the Lands Between, so prepare to travel everywhere to finish the main overarching storyline. And that’s excluding the dozens of other bosses you’ll have to face in order to get the 5 optional endings.
Nevertheless, a Tarnished knows no bounds, and if you want to jump right into beating the game, here’s the complete Elden Ring boss order to help you do it.
All Elden Ring Main Bosses In Order
Elden Ring’s vast open-world was designed to provide every player with a unique experience. While this guide can give you a good idea of the main bosses you should tackle first, your journey will likely differ, as random encounters happen often.
For a general playthrough focused on achieving the default ending, it’s necessary to beat at least two Shardbearers and acquire their Great Ruins. Only then will you gain access to Leyndell, Royal Capital where you can find the remaining bosses and final boss of Elden Ring. Pick the two Shardbearers you think are the easiest in the Elden Ring boss order, and progress the story. Once you’re overpowered *as if*, then you can backtrack on the bosses you missed out on.
Here’s a rundown of the main bosses in Elden Ring and where to find them:
- Margit, the Fell Omen (Stormhill, Limgrave)
- Godrick the Grafted (Stormveil Castle, Limgrave) [Shardbearer]
- Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon (Academy of Raya Lucaria, Liurnia of the Lakes) [Shardbearer]
- Starscourge Radahn (Redmane Castle, Caelid) [Shardbearer]
- Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy (Mt. Gelmir) [Shardbearer]
- Malenia, Blade of Miquella (Miquella’s Haligtree) [Shardbearer]
- Mohg, Lord of Blood (Mohgwyn Palace) [Shardbearer]
- Godfrey, First Elden Lord (Royal Capital, Leyndell)
- Morgott, the Omen King (Leyndell, Ashen Capital) [Shardbearer]
- Fire Giant (Mountaintops of the Giants)
- Malekith, the Black Blade (Crumbling Farum Azula)
- Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing (Leyndell, Ashen Capital)
- Godfrey, First Elden Lord & Hoarah Loux, Warrior (Leyndell, Ashen Capital)
- Radagon of the Golden Order & Elden Beast (Leyndell, Ashen Capital)
Bear in mind that this is just an outline of the main bosses essentially and that you’ll run into many mini-bosses along the way. Following the above-mentioned path will simply unlock the default ending of Elden Ring, and if you’re looking to get the optional unique endings, you’ll have to do a lot more.
The Age of Stars – Ranni’s Ending
Getting Ranni’s Age of Stars ending is by far the most complicated out of the bunch. You’ll have to grind relentlessly, but the upside is that her questline is very fun and engaging. Here are the additional Elden Ring bosses you’ll need to face to unlock this ending:
- Starscourge Radahn
- the Baleful Shadow to
- Astel, Naturalborn of the Void
The Age of Order – Goldmask’s Ending
Fortunately, The Age of Order ending is fairly straightforward to unlock. It doesn’t have you do much except progress the main story to a certain point, and then run a few errands for an NPC in exchange for a special item.
The Age of Duskborn – Fia’s Ending
After Ranni, Fia’s questline is the most demanding. The boss fights aren’t that tricky, but it’s navigating the Deeproot Depths that’s a pain. Here are the extra bosses you need to be worried about:
- Valiant gargoyles
- Fia’s Champions
- Lichdragon Fortissax
Lord of the Frenzied Flame – Three Fingers Ending
The Lord of the Frenzied Flame ending is the craziest out of all the alternate endings. You’ll have to defeat one additional boss to unlock this ending, and that’s Mohg, the Omen. Manage to get past him, and you’ll have granted yourself the option to commit mass arson.
Blessing of Despair – The Dung Eater’s Ending
Similar to the Age of Order ending, the questline of Blessing of Despair also has you interacting with different NPCs. This questline isn’t that difficult, except for the fight with Dung Eater. Only masochists will opt for this version of events, but well, who isn’t one by the time you go through 238 bosses?
After playing Elden Ring for over 120 hours, I would implore you to use this list of main bosses solely as a guideline, and not as the actual order of beating the bosses as you’ll be under-leveled. Instead, you should follow this recommended Elden Ring boss order for the best experience.
Recommended Elden Ring Boss Order
Most of you will realize how hard Elden Ring truly is after stepping into Limgrave and dying 70 times — at the minimum — to the Tree Sentinel, and he’s not even a major boss. At that point, it’ll be clear you can’t toddle around aimlessly hoping that you’ll luck out in every boss fight. So to save you a thousand trips to the “You Died” screen, here’s a solid game plan of how you should go on about with the Elden Ring boss order:
- Margit, the Fell Omen
- Godrick the Grafted [Shardbearer]
- Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon [Shardbearer]
- Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy [Shardbearer]
- Starscourge Radahn [Shardbearer]
- Godfrey, First Elden Lord
- Morgott, the Omen King [Shardbearer]
- Fire Giant
- Malekith, the Black Blade
- Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing
- Godfrey, First Elden Lord & Hoarah Loux, Warrior
- Radagon of the Golden Order & Elden Beast
- Mohg, Lord of Blood [Shardbearer]
- Malenia, Blade of Miquella [Shardbearer]
Just like Yhorm the Giant in Dark Souls 3, Lord Rykard’s boss fight is a gimmick too, so taking him out is a breeze. It’s getting to him that’s the hard part. Instead, set your sights on Godrick, and Rennala as they aren’t as difficult to defeat as the other Shardbearers.
General Radhan and Mohg on the other hand are tough nuts to crack, better avoid them until you’ve got some real skills. Vanquishing Radagon and the Elden Beast will prompt the game’s ending, but if we’re talking about the true undisputed final boss of Elden Ring, then that’s hands down Malenia, the Goddess of Rot.
Malenia’s the hardest video game boss of all time, no questions asked. She makes Isshin from Sekiro, and The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3 look like clowns. If you think I’m overselling it, Bandai Namco recently published statistics of worldwide player deaths in Elden Ring, and right on top of the list with the most kills was Malenia, having a kill count of over 330 million. She’s definitely the one who’ll make you rage the most in Elden Ring. I died at her hands 103 times before I finally gave up and let my Mimic Tear do the dirty work.
In any case, without besting Malenia in a duel, your journey as a Tarnished will always remain incomplete, so grab a spare controller, keep your fingers crossed, and pray to the Elden Lords you’ll make it out of the Haligtree with your sanity intact.
Does The Elden Ring Boss Order Really Matter?
Unlike previous FromSoftware Souls games, Elden Ring doesn’t follow the traditional scripted and linear design. It incentivizes freedom of exploration, and that’s the beauty of it. And if it wasn’t clear already, that also means the Elden Ring boss order isn’t a steadfast rule or something set in stone that you simply must follow.
The only place where FromSoftware games go wrong for most people is because of their haphazard storytelling, and no quest system, both of which often leave first-time players disoriented hours into the game. Veteran Souls fans might enjoy that extreme sense of immersion, but for those of us who aren’t built different, that’s where this Elden Ring boss order guide comes in.
True freedom, that is the concept of no hand-holding and allowing access to all areas of the game from the beginning are things the developers kept close to heart while creating Elden Ring. Almost every Elden Ring boss is reachable at level 1, and if you’re skilled enough, you can beat them despite being severely underpowered. It’s been done before by innumerable folks, so there’s nothing stopping you from pursuing the same goal. But the “Git Gud” playstyle isn’t easy to pick, so this boss guide helps you to face foes in ascending difficulty. They’re still incredibly hard to defeat, but the order described in this list will preserve some peace of mind if nothing else.
Be that as it may, I’ll suggest booting up the game and not worrying too much about what to do, and instead focusing on getting a sense of adventure. Elden Ring’s all about letting your curiosity get the best of you, and if it ever happens that you can’t discern the important stuff from the filler, just drop by this guide and jog your memory.
Game Name: Elden Ring
Available on: PS5, PS4, XBox Series, XBOX One, PC.
Developers: FromSoftware
Release Date: 25 February 2022
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