Tired of hearing only about Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree? Well today is not your lucky day, as the acclaimed expansion to the open world soulslike FromSoftware is still very hot. At least a lot of people have already finished the DLC, so it seemed like a good time to talk about its bosses, since their number is far from underestimated and many of these battles are even better than those found in the base game.
Of course, not all the fights in this expansion are perfect, in all souls there are more or less successful bosses… we therefore thought of putting together a handy ranking of the five best, trying to explain why we chose them in this order. Obviously, they are all main bosses, since, despite there being no shortage of valid secondary bosses, none really come close to the quality of the more important and well-crafted ones.
Oh, and of course, a ranking like this is bound to include some big boss spoilers, but we’ve avoided revealing the final battle. Many haven’t gotten to it yet, and we think it’s best to keep things vague for a bit longer. Let’s get started!
5 – Rellana, Knight of the Twin Moon
What many will consider the second legacy dungeon of Shadow of the Erdtree also hides one of its best bosses. The one with Rellana is a rather simple fight: she is a warrior who attacks with two swords and a fair amount of frequency, aesthetically not dissimilar from other Carian knights encountered (even if her armor is probably the most aesthetically beautiful in the entire game for a female character).
Once you reach the second phase, however, things get really exciting: Rellana charges her swords with two different elements, and alternates between powerful area-of-effect fire attacks and magic projectiles in rapid succession. She is, in some ways, a sort of evolution of Pontiff Sulyvhan from Dark Souls 3.
Once her powers are unleashed, Rellana’s power and speed become such that they double the pace of the fight, yet everything the knight does is counterable and worthily balanced, not to mention that it is even possible to stop her by parrying her without too many problems if you have good timing. A well-calculated boss and perfectly capable of making anyone immediately understand what the difficulty of the DLC will be, which does not earn a higher position just because artistically and narratively it does not reach the other fights on the list.
4 – Midra, Lord of the Flame of Frenzy
Midra is a boss that deserves a top five spot just for its introduction. Despite being rather empty, the area that precedes its battle is among the most evocative in all of Elden Ring, and exploring the small Legacy Dungeon that serves as its home only makes its encounter even more disturbing.
His is an incredibly scenic (and well hidden) battle, which if faced honestly is also among the most entertaining, since his attacks are indeed deceptive and excessive, but they actually have rather precise timing and areas, and it is possible to attack him safely by understanding them properly. It does not rise above only because it has no real climax during the fight, plausibly because the peak of this boss lies precisely in the way in which it is presented.
3 – The final boss
Now, we will avoid spoiling the final boss, but, for those who already know it, we know very well that it is already among the most divisive and discussed in the souls. As far as we are concerned, however, the choice is excellent both from a scenic and narrative point of view, and the battle is much better structured than it might seem at first glance.
The core of the Internet discussion has mostly focused on the difficulty of the second phase of this boss, which is actually quite brutal, yet we believe that it was designed with care, because the inclusion of such a nasty fight at the end of this DLC is not at all casual. The entire main questline of Shadow of the Erdtree is in fact designed (if completed in the best possible way) precisely to give the player some facilities against this boss, allowing him to fight with two helpers guided by artificial intelligence. Furthermore, his difficulty can be further limited by exploring properly, since in some completely optional areas you can find objects clearly designed to eliminate one of his most powerful attacks and limit the sacred damage he inflicts.
For anyone looking for a challenge, this boss is even more terrifying than Malenia: her second phase has some attacks that can only be dodged with poorly intuitive movements (similar to the Waterfowl Dance) and, if you face her without blessings, it takes very little for her to erase you from existence. A real wall of difficulty, designed to test even the most seasoned veterans. This should make it the best boss in the game, and yet… we also actually think that the second phase is a bit exaggerated compared to the other bosses in the expansion, so much so that it was able to block some of the most renowned players in the world for hours. Perhaps it could have been made more human, while still keeping the barrier high; in any case, it remains a battle of the highest quality and deserves a place in the top three in our opinion.
2 – Bayle the Terrible
“Curse youuuu Bayle!” This fight is, for our money, both the most spectacular of the entire DLC, and the most memorable character-related. Whether you face him alone or in the company of the hapless Igon, Bayle offers an aesthetically unrivaled battle, an epic tale of revenge with one of the most impressive and unique dragons ever seen in an action RPG at its center.
True, he has some camera issues, as often happens when facing huge bosses in FromSoftware games, but it’s not a dishonest fight: Bayle has electric attacks that fill the screen, so much so, in fact, that they’re quite readable. He is, in short, a balanced boss, as his patterns are predictable and his monstrous number of health points can be ground out by exploiting his weaknesses (including the always-fabulous bleeding) or the aforementioned Igon.
And if the artistic impact of the fight itself wasn’t enough, Bayle has an introductory phase not dissimilar to that of Midra, in practice an entire area dedicated only to underlining his immense danger. Undoubtedly a boss that will remain etched in the memory of fans of From titles for a long time.
1 – Messmer the Impaler
We honestly expected that Messmer would not be the final boss of the DLC. What we did not expect is that he would earn, by the end, the crown of the best boss ever. The Impaler is one of the most successful characters From has ever created: an antagonist far more multifaceted than one might think, enormously important in the game universe and revealed in an absolutely impeccable way.
He has all the makings of a perfect boss: he is wonderfully balanced and always dangerous when facing him, despite the fact that you can intuitively dodge almost every move he makes (even his multiple attacks, since they are linear). His second phase, however, is in some ways even easier and more readable than the first, but he is incredible to watch in action, and the size and speed of his new attacks can be surprising when you don’t yet know the bigger picture of the battle.
Honestly, we find it to be the best boss of this DLC, beautifully integrated into the narrative, iconic, fun to face and at the center of one of the best maps ever created by FromSoftware. Really impeccable.
