How to Beat General Radahn
6 March 2024 at 13:35:56
Details:
Health: 9,600
Resists: Holy, Sleep
Weakness: Pierce, Rot, Poison, Frost, Bleed
Immune: Parry, Madness
Rewards:
70,000 Runes
Remebrance of the Starscourge
Radahn's Great Rune
Best Strategy
As with many bosses of FromSoft's titles, Radahn comes with a bit of a gimmick for putting him down. Without using it, the fight is incredibly difficult, and if you use it, it's almost trivial.
That gimmick is the summoning signs that you will see around the arena. Each of these only requires one press to summon an NPC to aid you in this fight, and you can summon as many of them as you like. If they die in combat, their summon sign will reappear in a random place around the arena.
When you enter the arena, head forward, keeping the first bit of debris you see in front of you. It is near some summon signs, which you can safely head over to and use. Radahn's first arrow will hit the debris, breaking it. Now you can head forward and to the left, where you will find more summon signs at the top of a small hill next to more debris. Be careful to dodge Radahn's arrows - the trick is to dodge them right before they hit you, NOT when he first fires them. Once you have used these summon signs, look to your right. On the other side, you will see more. Head over, dodging accordingly, and summon them.
By this point, the first lot have probably got quite close to Radahn, causing him to switch his attack from gravity arrows to Radahn's Rain. Get on Torrent and outpace the rain of arrows that will likely be tracking you. If you travel in a wide arc, you can ride around their trajectory and start heading to join the fight.
Now you have a few options. Radahn moves around a lot, so fighting him on foot isn't practical. Instead, you can cast magic quite reliably - even better if you use gravity sorceries with homing capabilities such as Rock Sling. Doing this will make this fight quite easy.
Alternatively, Radahn is very weak to scarlet rot, making the rot breath incantation very powerful here. A couple of casts of this and Radahn will be infected, which will rapidly deplete around half of his health in one proc. You can also use the Antspur Rapier or Rotbone Arrows to apply this effect.
There's no harm in applying poison as well, or instead if you don't have access to rot. Simply use Poison Arrows or Poison Mist at Radahn's location while he is distracted by the summons and it will activate, depleting his health slowly. For best results, apply both poison and scarlet rot.
Once you have done this, you can begin the watching game. Avoid Radahn's attacks and resummon your allies as needed, getting ready for phase 2. When Radahn leaps into the sky, watch carefully, and when you see him return, move far away from your position. He will crash to the ground, and the fight will continue. Make sure all spirit summons are reactivated during this gap so Radahn has plenty of distractions.
Once status effects have been applied, it is a great idea to use a weapon with bleed or frost to further burst Radahn's health down quickly. Dual wielding curved swords or twinblades can allow you to deal incredible damage with frost and bleed if you can get a hold of Radahn long enough to get those hits in.
The main thing to remember is that the summons for this fight are there for a reason. Fighting Radahn head on is difficult, as he has long combos with massive range and devastating damage. He is fast, mobile, and has a lot of health for a single person to deal with, so those distractions are important for the fight.
Movepool
Cleave Combo: Radahn will slam down with both of his weapons repeatedly in front of him. These attacks come out quickly, and if you get hit by one, you may be stunlocked until the end of the combo, likely killing you. Keep your distance until the attack is finished.
Jumping Slam: Radahn will jump into the air and slam his swords down in front of him. This is often followed up by one of his other combos.
Swinging Combo 1: If Radahn lets out a loud roar, he is about to close the distance with a jump and then begin swinging his swords in wide arcs in a combo of up to five hits.
Swinging Combo 2: Radahn may put his swords to his side, after which he will follow up with a prolonged combo of double slashes. Getting stuck in this attack combo will almost definitely kill a player, so be sure to make plenty of distance here.
Stalking Swipe: Radahn may travel in a circle around you, trailing one of his swords behind him. This long-winded wind-up will end with a wide, vicious slash.
Cragblade Buff: Radahn can slam his swords into the ground to imbue them with gravity rocks, increasing their overall damage output. All of his attacks will now do massively more damage for the duration of the buff.
Gravity Snipe: When at long range, and always at the beginning of the fight, Radahn will charge great arrows that fire incredibly quickly across the entire arena. These will always aim perfectly and cannot be out paced. You must dodge at the last minute, NOT when he first fires, to avoid this. Alternatively, use the environment to shield you.
Bombard: Radahn will fire a spray of arrows in front of him in an arc. It is best to dodge forwards through the arrows to avoid the damage here.
Radahn's Rain: Radahn will fire his arrows into the air which will summon hundreds of them to fall over a prolonged period of time. These will be clustered together, following their target.
Cross Slash: Radahn will place his swords across his chest and attempt to slash at you after jumping into the air. This is followed by a shockwave of gravity energy, and if his meteors are active, they will now fire at you.
Gravity Blasts: This can come either as a large gravity pull after a roar, or as a smaller version at the end of one of Radahn's combos. An area of effect will be displayed that will pull in all targets within, dealing damage and leaving them susceptible to a follow-up gravity explosion.
Orbs: Radahn can summon gravity orbs which will chase you after a short delay. They will deal significant damage, and if all of them hit, can kill you easily.
Meteors: Radahn can also summon several meteors above him that will follow him around. After a random amount of time, he will send them flying with high tracking at a target, likely you, for massive damage that will likely kill you. You can avoid these by running at a 90 degree angle to Radahn, causing them to fly past you.
Corkscrew: If you see Radahn hovering in the air, get ready. He is preparing to perform a very fast spiralling attack, leaping through the air for massive damage. This can be easily avoided by dodging forward through the attack, but getting caught by it may one-shot you.
Meteor Crash: As Radahn transitions into phase 2, he will disappear, leaping into the sky. After a lengthy gap, you will see him returning to earth as a meteor, crashing into the ground and travelling a long way across the ground for massive damage. This will likely kill you, but is easily avoided. As soon as you see him return in the sky and start travelling down, his landing site is locked on to where you are standing at the time. Simply move well away from that area and you will be fine.