How to Beat The Elden Beast
14 April 2024 at 12:30:40
Best Strategy
The Elden Beast is the final and one of the most challenging bosses in Elden Ring. This is the second part to a double fight, the first part being Radagon the Golden. There is no guaranteed way to cheese the Elden Beast, but there are some strategies that make the fight a lot easier.
The first thing that is highly recommended is making use of Lord's Divine Fortification and the Haligdrake Talisman. If you choose the right armour, you can achieve upwards of 70% holy resistance, which will make this fight a hell of a lot easier and avoid many one-shots.
Strategy 1: Sorcerers
Sorcerers should try to avoid using magic damage against the Elden Beast. Some exceptions apply - Shard Spiral is an excellent skill that, due to the Elden Beast's excessive size, will actually deal respectable damage. However, your best bet is Rock Sling, which deals physical damage and pretty nice poise damage as well, opening the Elden Beast up to critical strikes. Sorcerers can also make good use of Thops's Barrier to avoid damage from the homing orb projectiles the Elden Beast casts.
If you manage to poise break the Elden Beast, it will be subdued for a while. You can use this opportunity to pop a Cerulean Hidden Tear flask and hit with Comet Azur or, even better, Meteorite of Astel for a massive damage spike.
Strategy 2: Faith
Faith builds have some great options in this fight. Getting underneath the Elden Beast and spamming Pest Threads will absolutely decimate its health, making short work of this fight as long as you can get into position fast enough and know how to avoid the Elden Beast's attacks. The same goes for Ancient Dragon's Lightning Strike, which will deal massive damage if cast from underneath the Elden Beast.
Do not rely on previously useful methods such as Rotten Breath or Swarm of Flies. These will do no good against the Elden Beast since it is immune to all status effects.
The absolute best option for Faith builds, however, is black flame incantations. These deal a percentage of damage against the Elden Beast's high health pool, draining it over time, making the fight much faster.
Strategy 3: Melee
Your best bet here is to hit the Elden Beast's weak spot with everything you have got. You will find this weak spot at the crack on its belly, where it takes bonus health and poise damage. Use the biggest weapons you have got and slot the hardest hitting Ash of War you can find and, at every opportunity, pummel that weak spot.
It is useful to have a small backup weapon you can switch to with Bloodhound's Step on it. That will trivialise many of the Elden Beast's more awkward attacks, such as the homing orbs and sky arrows that deal continuous chip damage and follow you. Spam Bloodhound's Step at these points to avoid nearly all the damage.
Jump attacks against the Elden Beast's weak point with fully upgraded, dual-wielded curved swords or twinblades will absolutely shred the Elden Beast's health and is a highly recommended strategy.
Notes:
It is strongly recommended to bring Black Knife Tiche to this fight. The ash of war on Tiche's knife has the same effect as Maliketh's sword, cutting a percentage of the maximum health from the Elden Beast and continuing to drain a percentage over time as well. This is excellent for this fight, and you should consider using a Black Knife of your own for the same reason.
Movepool
Fire Breath: The Elden Beast can breath a golden variant of dragon fire breath in a wide area in front of it, similar to Placidusax. Avoid this by running to the back of the Elden Beast and getting some easy damage in.
Homing Orbs: The Elden Beast will send forth orbs of light that will follow you and deal continuous chip damage. These are quite fast and difficult to outpace, so running in a small circle or repeatedly dodging in a triangle shape will avoid most of the damage. Alternatively, use Thops's Barrier.
Sky Arrows: This can be treated similarly to Homing Orbs. The Elden Beast will cast light into the air that will continuously rain arrows down on you, dealing high consistent damage. Outpacing these in a circle or dodging in a triangle works, but blocking it with high holy resistance or a spell works best.
Arcs: The Elden Beast will set its sword aflame before firing four crescents of holy damage at you from a long range. These travel fast, and the last two are delayed to catch you off guard. Dodge forward to avoid the damage each time.
Dive: The Elden Beast can raise into the air before falling with a crash or a swipe to catch you off guard. Dodge towards the Elden Beast to avoid the damage each time.
Order: The Elden Beast will perform an impressive flight into the air before summoning a circle around you that will start closing in before exploding in a very wide area. Sprint to the edge of the circle and hop over the edge to get to safety.
Submerge: The Elden Beast may submerge itself in the water to either reposition far away or emerge with a vicious sword swing. Dodge into the Elden Beast to avoid the swing.
Sword Combo: The Elden Beast may swing its sword a couple of times before slamming it into the ground. Dodge backwards and create some distance until the Elden Beast is done with this attack. This combo can be extended and end with a wide spin if the sword is set on fire first.
Nebula: Similar to Astel, the Elden Beast can wave its arm to create a cloud of stars either from side to side or in a long row forward. These will explode after a short duration, so make sure you are well out of the blast zone.
Grab Attack: The Elden Beast will cause its hand to glow for a moment before attempting to capture you. You will then have to endure a devastating attack that will likely kill you unless you have exceptionally high health.