Honestly, ranking the hardest bosses in Elden Ring is a bit like trying to pick the hottest pepper at a spice festival. It depends entirely on how much of a masochist you are and, more importantly, whether you’re using a Greatshield. Now that we’ve had plenty of time to digest the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, the dust has finally settled on who actually sits at the top of the mountain.
It’s not just about who has the biggest health bar. It’s about those delayed attacks that mess with your muscle memory and those second phases that feel like a literal flashbang to the eyes.
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The Absolute S-Tier: Gods, Monsters, and Nightmares
If you haven’t thrown your controller at least once during these fights, you might be a Buddhist monk. These are the bosses that define the "difficulty" conversation.
Promised Consort Radahn (DLC)
Look, we have to talk about him first. Before the patches started rolling in to tweak his visibility, this guy was a walking migraine. Even now, he is widely considered the peak of FromSoftware’s "aggressive" design. He doesn't just attack; he puts you in a blender. His second phase is a chaotic mess of holy light beams and afterimage clones that make it nearly impossible to see what he’s doing.
You basically have to hug his left leg and pray your stamina holds up. Without a high-stability shield or a very specific "bleed-poke" build, this fight is a brutal test of endurance. Most people find him significantly harder than anything in the base game simply because there are so few windows to actually heal.
Malenia, Blade of Miquella
She’s the legend. The scarlet-haired nightmare. For years, she was the undisputed queen of the Elden Ring boss difficulty tier list. What makes her so "fun" (read: infuriating) is her lifesteal. Every time she touches you—even if you block—she gets health back. It’s a mechanic that punishes the very foundation of how many people play Souls games.
And then there’s Waterfowl Dance. You know the one. That flurry of slashes that looks like a beautiful, deadly ribbon. Unless you’ve mastered the "run away then dodge toward" maneuver, or you’re carrying a Frost Pot to knock her out of the air, it’s usually an instant trip back to the Site of Grace.
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Bayle the Dread (DLC)
If Malenia is a dance, Bayle is a plane crash. He’s arguably the best dragon fight FromSoft has ever made, but he’s also a chaotic mess of fire and lightning. His aggression is dialed up to eleven. You aren't just fighting a dragon; you’re fighting the camera. The sheer scale of his attacks means you’re often dodging things you can’t even see on the screen. Plus, his second phase transformation is a visual spectacle that doubles as a high-damage area-of-effect (AoE) nightmare.
The A-Tier: "I Can Do This, I Just Need One More Try"
These bosses are tough, but they feel "fairer" once you learn the rhythm. They don’t usually have a single move that feels like a middle finger from the developers.
- Messmer the Impaler: He’s fast, he has incredible reach, and his snake transformations are terrifying. But his hitboxes are actually quite clean. It’s a dance. A very sweaty, high-stakes dance.
- Maliketh, the Black Blade: He has very little health, but he hits like a freight train. The real difficulty here is his mobility. He spends half the fight clinging to pillars like a caffeinated cat. If he touches you, your max HP shrinks, which is just rude.
- Rellana, Twin Moon Knight: She is the "skill check" of the DLC. She never stops attacking. If you’re coming from the base game expecting slow, telegraphic moves, she will absolutely wreck you. She’s basically a version of Pontiff Sulyvahn on steroids.
Why Some "Easy" Bosses Are Actually Hard
Context matters. A lot. Take Margit, the Fell Omen. If you fight him at Level 10 right after starting the game, he is a god. He has those annoying delayed swings that wait for you to panic-roll before crushing your skull. He’s designed to teach you how Elden Ring works, and for many, he’s the hardest hurdle because they aren't "souls-literate" yet.
Then you have the Godskin Duo. On paper, they’re just two guys you’ve fought before. In practice, having them both in one room is a recipe for disaster. One throws black flame fireballs while the other rolls around like a giant, murderous tire. It’s a fight that encourages "cheese" strategies—like Sleep Pots—because fighting them "honestly" feels like a chore.
The "Build Matters" Limitation
We have to acknowledge the elephant in the room: your build determines your difficulty.
If you’re running a Comet Azur sorcery build with the Mimic Tear, you can melt half the bosses on this list before they finish their opening monologue. But if you’re a "Guts" enthusiast using a slow Colossal Sword with no summons, Malenia might take you three days.
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The community often debates whether using spirit ashes "counts" as beating the game. Honestly? The devs put them there for a reason. Bosses like the Divine Beast Dancing Lion or Commander Gaius have such relentless combos that having a spirit to take the heat for five seconds is often the difference between victory and a broken TV.
Actionable Next Steps for the Tarnished
If you’re stuck on a high-tier boss, don't just bash your head against the wall. Here is how to actually progress:
- Check your Vigor. If it's below 60 in the late game or DLC, you’re basically asking to be one-shotted.
- Scadutree Fragments. In the DLC, your level almost doesn't matter. These fragments are your real power source. If Messmer is killing you in two hits, go find more trees.
- Damage Mitigation. Use the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman. It’s basically the "don't die" button of Elden Ring.
- Status Effects. Most of the hardest bosses are susceptible to Bleed or Frost. If your raw damage isn't cutting it, let percentage-based damage do the heavy lifting for you.