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At the very end of Elden Ring, players head back to the foot of the Erdtree and pass through the barrier previously barred by thorns. The final boss of Elden Ring is split into two separate fights: one where players face Radagon of the Golden Order, and the follow-up battle with the Elden Beast.

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There's a lot of complex lore behind the Elden Beast, but essentially it is the manifestation of the Elden Ring after being sent to the Lands Between by the Greater Will. After beating Radagon, the Elden Beast is the game's true final boss, and it can be rough if players don't know what they're doing - its attacks hit hard, but they're far from undodgeable.

Updated May 1, 2023 by Erik Petrovich: When figuring out how to beat the Elden Beast, players must be ready to try some non-traditional methods. There isn't really an Elden Beast weakness so to say, but that doesn't mean that some strategies and maneuvers aren't better against it than others. The best build for Elden Beast dominance is ultimately anything ranged and anything non-Holy. Melee players may have a harder time finding out how to beat the Elden Beast, but with updated avoidance advice below for each of the Boss's attacks, even the most stubborn Warrior can find their way around its wide-sweeping attacks. In the end, players have a choice to make, but with DLC on the way, that choice may not be so easy to make.

The Elden Beast Moveset (And How To Counter It)

Elden Ring Beast Final Boss Guide Moves Rune Attack

The Elden Beast is a single-phase fight, when not counting the lead-in fight with Radagon. This doesn't mean it's easy, though, as the Elden Beast has a massive HP pool, can move around the battlefield with ease, and has an unparalleled number of attacks and abilities at its disposal.

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The number one thing to do to counter the Elden Beast's moveset, especially abilities that track the player, is to practice Stamina management to maintain a balance of attacking and dodging. Players will only be able to get a hit or two on the Elden Beast before it retaliates, so it's vital to keep enough Stamina for evasive maneuvers like dodging and sprinting.

  • Sword Swings: The Elden Beast will wind back and swing its sword horizontally or swim around the player to strike from a different position.
    • Watch for the sword to come striking down and dodge towards it to best avoid this attack
  • Teleport Abilities: The Elden Beast can teleport either by diving underwater or by disappearing into a black hole. It's important to conserve Stamina through the fight to be able to get hits in after chasing down the boss as it regularly moves out of range.
    • Avoid being close to the boss when it dives underwater, or move backward away from the black hole to avoid the follow-up explosion.
  • Exploding Dust Attacks: The Elden Beast launches sparkling dust toward the player in one of two ways; at close range, the dust is swiped in a horizontal arc, and at longer range it is launched in a direct line toward the player.
    • The explosions can do a good bit of damage, but they don't affect a big area so simply sprint the opposite direction from the glittering clouds that appear
  • Firebreath: The Elden Beast rears back and spews a wave of golden fire across the arena, much like Phase 2 Godrick or any of the game's Dragons.
    • One can theoretically get behind the Elden Beast as it rears back to get a few seconds of free hits, but that's not as reliable as just running directly away to avoid the massive repeating damage.
  • Golden Spears of Light: The Elden Beast summons a barrage of golden spears that near-perfectly track the player's location from above.
    • Sprinting in a single direction and not slowing down is the best way to avoid being hit by this, much like avoiding Radahn's barrage of spears.
    • This can also be performed as part of a grab attack, which can be avoided like most grab attacks by dodging toward the boss as its hand connects.
  • Homing Orb Barrage: The Elden Beast conjures dozens of large orbs that quickly home towards the player.
    • Sprint away from this attack to group the orbs together, then dodge toward the incoming group at the last possible second. This ensures the player's hitbox and the projectiles don't overlap, but depending on the timing of the dodge, one or two may yet connect.
  • Flying Sword Attacks: The Elden Beast can do a few attacks while airborne, including casting Chasing Stars, summoning Golden Spears, crashing down with an engulfed sword, or belly-flopping onto the player.
    • To avoid Chasing Stars, sprint away and dodge toward the mass of projectiles at the last second.
    • Golden Spears can be avoided by sprinting directly away (or in a circle)
    • The flaming sword smash and belly-flop are telegraphed very obviously, which makes the attacks easy to anticipate and time a backward roll.
  • Holy Sword Arcs: The Elden Beast will swing its sword several times toward the player, launching a golden arc their way that can be difficult to avoid. The Elden Beast can cast this either from a standing or flying position, so these arcs can come from multiple directions.
    • Try dodging toward each arc to give the hitboxes as little overlap as possible during invincibility frames. Also, consider a shield with high Holy resistance to almost totally negate this ability (and a lot of the fight).
  • Wave of Gold: The Wave of Gold ability is one of two abilities that define the Elden Beast. When performed, a wave of golden light will radiate out from the Elden Beast, continuing to deal damage as it ripples to the very distant edges of the arena. This is also available as a Weapon Skill after downing the Beast.
    • Don't sprint away from this one, just wait for the wave to come close and dodge through it. This attack has a huge AoE, so be prepared to dodge it anywhere.
  • The Elden Ring Attack: The Elden Beast flies up into the air, creates the symbol of the Elden Ring in the air and on the ground, and creates a golden explosion between the two that deals a massive amount of damage. Players only take damage when touching these pulses or if they are still within the symbol at the end, but it takes up a massive area.
    • It takes a while for this attack to be fully prepared, so look for the very edge of the Elden Ring symbol when it flies into the air and sprint toward it. Jump over the pulsing waves of energy while exiting the ring.

How To Beat Elden Beast: Strategies

Elden Ring Guide  Elden Beast Remembrance

The Elden Beast is the game's final boss, but that doesn't make it the hardest boss. It has a plethora of attacks at its disposal but the majority of them are moves players have likely already seen in their pursuit of the Elden Ring. It's a fight that can take a long time, though, thanks to the Elden Beast's high HP pool and maneuverability. If the Tarnished gets hit more than once without healing, chances are its high-damage abilities will kill even the most well-armored character.

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The best Spirit Ash to take into this fight is theoretically the Mimic Tear, but that depends on the strength of one's build. For those who would prefer to avoid the Mimic Tear, choose a Spirit Ash with high mobility and evasiveness, like Black Knife Tiche or Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff. They will more often than not avoid the Elden Beast's rapid attacks, and their own retaliations can draw its attention for a relieving few seconds. Use that time for a heal or to re-apply anti-holy items, then go back and take its attention back from the spirit.

When it comes to the Elden Beast weakness, it really doesn't have one. However, its enormous size is both to its benefit and detriment. Because it takes up a lot of space, AoE attacks – like Black Flame Ritual – absolutely dominate it.

Best Strategy: Pillar Attacks, Black Flame, and Anti-Holy

Because the Elden Beast has such a high HP pool and takes up such a massive area, there are a few tricks players can use to cheese the boss. Pillar-type spells, like Black Flame Ritual, deal damage in focused points over a spread area. Because of the Elden Beast's size, these focused areas all hit at once and stack, taking out chunks of its HP bar.

In general, the Black Flame is powerful against the Elden Beast because the lingering damage is percentage-based. The damage-over-time unique to Black Flame spells doesn't last long, but against a high-HP enemy like the Elden Beast this small amount adds up quickly, to the point that it deals as much damage as the attack itself.

Using gear and spells that reduce incoming Holy damage is key to surviving the Elden Beast's strongest special attacks. The majority of the Elden Beast's attacks deal majority Holy damage, so going into the fight with the Haligdrake Medallion Talisman, the Holyproof Dried Liver consumable, and spells like Lord's Divine Fortification can go a long way in negating the boss' deadly moveset.

Melee Strategies

Melee players will be surprised to learn that the Elden Beast is actually staggerable. It's difficult to pull off because of how often it moves around, though. Instead, try to stay as close to the Elden Beast at all times to be able to get hits in when openings appear. Because sprinting back and forth and dodging takes up so much Stamina, it's not a bad idea to equip the Green Turtle Talisman to make it easier to catch up to this mobile boss.

The boss' attacks are all pretty well telegraphed, but avoid locking on. The camera will go haywire when the Elden Beast moves. A few moves are much harder to avoid in melee range, especially because it can cast a spell, move in for melee attacks, and have the spell activate later on while players are trying to dodge its sword. Be patient and focus on dodging rather than attacking and even melee-only players can come out of the Erdtree with nary a scratch.

Spellcaster and Ranged Strategies

Being a spellcaster makes the fight against the Elden Beast a bit more cinematic, but it isn't without its challenges. Incantation users should use the Black Flame against the Elden Beast as it deals percentage-based damage that wrecks the boss' enormous HP bar. Sorcery users should opt for high-poise-damage spells like Rock Sling to regularly stun the Elden Beast, and long-range spells like Loretta's Greatbow can keep players safe while a Spirit Ash keeps its attention. Ranged-focused players should avoid using Arrows that cause Status Effects, as the Elden Beast is completely immune to all of them. Instead, opt for heavier Arrows, or consider upgrading to a more impactful class of Bow.

What Happens After Defeating the Elden Beast?

Elden Ring Guide  Elden Beast Remembrance Inventory

After beating the Elden Beast, first, give yourself a pat on the back. The final boss of Elden Ring is downed, and the game is over – kind of. The Tarnished is given the choice to end the game with one of their unlocked endings. There are six endings in Elden Ring, each of which (except the Elden Lord ending) is unlocked after completing an associated questline.

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The Elden Beast drops the Elden Remembrance item, which like all Remembrances can either be consumed for Runes (50,000 in this case) or traded with Enia for unique boss weapons. The Elden Remembrance gives two options: the Sacred Relic Sword, or Marika's Hammer. The Sacred Relic Sword comes with an Ash of War that lets players blast a holy Wave of Gold, just like the Elden Beast, as an attack that reaches further than just about any other in the game. Marika's Hammer is the very thing that broke the Elden Ring in the first place, and its Ash of War – Gold Breaker – sees players imitate Radagon as they leap into the air, raise the hammer, and come crashing down in a holy burst.

After all this, and after choosing an ending, players are given the option to start New Game+. With the first "Elden Ring" DLC "Shadows of the Erdtree," finally announced, progressing into Journey 2 isn't necessarily the default choice anymore. Instead, it's not a bad idea to keep this high-level character ready to jump straight into the DLC on normal difficulty when it's released, instead of the heightened stakes of NG+. The DLCs for Souls games typically house the hardest enemies, so a character with some gear is going to fare a lot better than a freshly-made one.

Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.

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