You’ve spent eighty hours, maybe a hundred, rotting in the swamps of Caelid and getting your teeth kicked in by Malenia. Now you’re finally at the base of the Erdtree. The music swells. You step through the gold fog. You’re ready to find out who is the final boss in Elden Ring, thinking it’s going to be a straightforward duel for the throne.
It isn't. Not even close.
FromSoftware loves a good curveball, and the finale of the 2022 Game of the Year is basically a two-act play that shifts from a gritty, emotional duel to a cosmic, psychedelic fever dream. You aren't just fighting a person; you're fighting the physical manifestation of a god's will.
Radagon of the Golden Order: The Hammer Drops
The fight begins with Radagon. He’s the guy you’ve heard about in every item description since Limgrave. Seeing him standing there, silent, with that missing chunk of his torso glowing like a furnace, is honestly one of the most chilling reveals in modern gaming.
Radagon is the first half of the answer to who is the final boss in Elden Ring, but he’s also a lore bomb. If you did Goldmask’s questline, you already know the big "Radagon is Marika" twist. Seeing it happen—the transition from the slumped Marika to the battle-ready Radagon—is a different beast entirely. He fights with a rhythmic, heavy style. It’s all about delayed hammer strikes and holy shockwaves. If you dodge too early, you're dead.
✨ Don't miss: Finding Every Bubbul Gem: Why the Map of Caves TOTK Actually Matters
His moveset is designed to punish panic rolling. He has this one grab attack where he pins you down and just starts hammering. It's brutal. It feels personal. He isn't some monster; he’s a broken man trying to fix a broken world by stopping you from becoming Elden Lord. But he’s just the warm-up act.
The Elden Beast: When Things Get Weird
Once you drain Radagon’s health bar, you might think you’re done. You aren't. A cutscene triggers, a pool of black liquid forms, and out climbs a massive, translucent, space-dinosaur-looking entity. This is the Elden Beast.
The Elden Beast is the true final boss, the living incarnation of the Elden Ring and the vassal of the Greater Will. If Radagon was the physical shell, the Beast is the soul. It’s huge. It’s beautiful. And honestly, it’s kind of a pain to fight because it loves to swim away to the other side of the arena.
Most players find this shift jarring. You go from a tight, mechanical duel with Radagon to a marathon where you’re constantly chasing a glowing blob across a literal infinite ocean. It’s a test of patience more than anything. The Beast uses "Elden Stars," a move that creates a persistent, tracking projectile that pelts you with tiny gold beams while the boss is simultaneously swinging a giant sword at your head. It’s chaotic.
🔗 Read more: Playing A Link to the Past Switch: Why It Still Hits Different Today
Why the Elden Beast Divides the Fanbase
Some people love the spectacle. Others hate the "running simulator" aspect of the fight. Hidetaka Miyazaki and the team at FromSoftware clearly wanted a "cosmic horror" vibe for the finish, rather than just another guy in armor. It drives home the idea that the Golden Order isn't just a kingdom—it's an extraterrestrial force that has been puppeteering the Lands Between for eons.
Gearing Up for the Finale
If you’re stuck, you need to look at your Holy Damage negation. Seriously. Both Radagon and the Elden Beast deal almost exclusively Holy Damage. Most players go in with high physical armor and get absolutely vaporized by the gold explosions.
- Use the Haligdrake Talisman +2. It’s located in the Mohgwyn Palace area and makes a massive difference.
- Lord’s Divine Aid is a miracle (incantation) that grants huge Holy resistance. If you have the Faith for it, use it.
- Stop using Holy weapons. The final bosses heal from it or take negligible damage. Switch to Fire for Radagon; he’s weirdly weak to it despite being a smith.
The Narrative Weight of the Choice
Who you fight at the end defines what the world becomes. Whether you summoned Ranni for the Age of Stars or went full "burn it all down" with the Frenzied Flame, the final hurdle remains the same. The Greater Will doesn't care about your philosophy. It just wants to stay in control. By slaying the Elden Beast, you are effectively killing the "Operating System" of the world so you can install your own.
It’s a lonely fight. Unlike many other bosses, you can’t summon NPCs like Blaidd or Alexander here. It’s just you, your Spirit Ash (usually a +10 Mimic Tear, let's be real), and the god of the universe.
💡 You might also like: Plants vs Zombies Xbox One: Why Garden Warfare Still Slaps Years Later
Practical Steps for Your Final Run
If you are standing before that golden fog gate right now, do these things first:
Check your flask allocation. You won't have time to sit down between Radagon and the Beast. It is one continuous fight. If you use all your healing on Radagon, you are doomed for the second phase. Practice Radagon until you can beat him using only one or two flasks. It's possible. His moves are very telegraphed once you stop fearing the hammer.
Equip the Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear in your Flask of Wondrous Physick. It converts incoming non-physical damage into HP for a short time. Save this for the Elden Beast’s "Elden Stars" attack. Instead of dying to the chip damage, you’ll actually heal through it.
Finally, don't get greedy. The Elden Beast has massive windows of vulnerability after its big fire-breathing attacks, but it can also fly into the air and trigger a ring attack that requires you to jump over the expanding gold circles. Stay calm, keep your stamina high, and remember that you've already beaten literal demigods to get this far. The final boss is just the last obstacle between you and the throne.