There are a total of 11 main bosses that you will encounter in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree whom you can tackle in any order that you want. However, if you are struggling to progress in the DLC it might be best to face them in the order that is recommended.
The boss list below goes over the order in which you should be facing the bosses in the Land of Shadow. They will ramp up in difficulty the further you go into the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree expansion and many of them will have multiple phases to the fight. This list will also take narrative progression in mind.
In which order should you tackle the main bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree?
Here is the order in which you should be tackling the Elden Ring DLC bosses:
- Divine Beast Dancing Lion
- Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
- Putrescent Knight
- Messmer The Impaler / Base Serpent Messmer
- Commander Gaius
- Scadutree Avatar
- Metyr, Mother Of Fingers
- Romina, Saint Of The Bud
- Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame
- Bayle The Dread
- Promised Consort Radahn / Radahn, Consort Of Miquella
1) Divine Beast Dancing Lion
You are likely to automatically face off against the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Shadow of the Erdtree. You will find it in Belurat itself, and it is the main boss of the legacy dungeon.
While you face it early on, it’s still a very hard encounter as the Lion can switch between all the elements. You will need to use a hit-and-run strategy where you keep dodging between hits and bait out its most powerful attacks that have a long recovery.
2) Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
Rellana is the final boss of Castle Ensis legacy dungeon. She is relentless and does a ton of damage with all of her combos and can one-shot you with her Twin Moons spell.
The spell is one of the best sorceries in the game that you will be able to acquire for yourself by trading in Rellana’s remembrance. If you haven’t picked up enough Scadutree Fragments along the way before reaching her, she can be an insurmountable hurdle.
Make sure to keep dodging her Twin Blades and use a summon if you are getting overwhelmed.
3) Putrescent Knight
The Putrescent Knight can be found in the Stone Coffin Fissure and you will need to beat the boss in order to progress through Thiollier and St. Trina’s questline. The Knight might be one of the slower bosses that you will go up against in the DLC, however, it hits like a truck and can stagger-chain you to death.
You will have to be on point with your dodges and go into punishing his hardest-hitting moves. Getting greedy in the fight will get you killed, so pick your moments.
4) Messmer The Impaler / Base Serpent Messmer
You will find Messmer at the very top of the Shadow Keep legacy dungeon which is located to the north go Scadu Altus. He is considered to be one of the hardest bosses in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
Messmer in his base form is pretty challenging, however, the difficulty ramps up considerably once he goes into his second form. He becomes relentless in his base serpent form, and you might be forced to rely on a summon during the encounter.
5) Commander Gaius
You will fight Commander Gaius right after Messmer. He is located outside the Black Gate of the Shadow Keep where you can see him mounted on a gigantic armored boar.
The boss is like a Tree Sentinel dialed up to eleven and he will have a variety of one-shot moves in his arsenal that can completely destroy you. So it’s recommended that you farm enough Scadutree fragments before going to take him on.
6) Scadutree Avatar
The only way to reach the Scadutree Avatar is through the Tree-Worship Passage which unlocks in the Church District in Shadow Keep. The boss has a variety of hard-hitting moves including swipes, charge attacks, and AoE spells.
Additionally, you will have to kill it three times before you are able to complete the encounter. The avatar will have new movesets every time it comes back from the dead, however, it will be missing a third of its HP.
7) Metyr, Mother of Fingers
The Mother of Fingers fight is a part of Ymir and Manus Metyr’s questline. It’s one of the longest side missions in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and there are a lot of steps that go into completing it.
Metyr can be difficult based on the type of build that you are going for. She also spawns a lot of finger-like enemies during the fight who will distract you and make it difficult for you to concentrate on the boss.
Attacking her from the sides can also prove difficult, and Metyr will conjure a singularity on her back during the second phase which ramps up the difficulty of the encounter.
8) Romina, Saint of the Bud
Romina is one of the mandatory bosses who can be found at the Church of the Bud which is located towards the end of Rauh Ancient Ruins. You will need to beat her in order to gain access to Enir-Ilim. There is a sealing tree in the church behind the boss arena, and you will need to burn it with Messmer’s fire to gain access to the new area.
Apart from the Scarlet Rot, there isn’t much to look out for during the fight. Her movesets are pretty predictable, and by this time in the expansion, you should not be struggling to defeat her.
9) Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame
You will find Midra in the Abyssal Woods which is a secret location that is tucked away beyond the Ruins of Unte. There are two stages to the fight with Midra coming off as incredibly weak and powerless in the first phase.
However, it’s when he goes to phase 2 and drags the sword out of his skull, does he go full berserk mode with Madness spells. His attacks will significantly build up your Madness meter on you and chunking you for a massive chunk of your health when it procs.
The encounter can be incredibly hard to conquer without a summon to distract him.
10) Bayle the Dread
Bayle the Dread is a part of Igon’s questline and you will meet this boss in the Jagged Peak. He is one of the coolest bosses in the game and incredibly challenging. He has a wide range of AoE and one-shot moves which will take you by surprise.
Your aim in the fight should be to bait his slams and hardest-hitting attacks to get some time to punish him during the recovery period. It’s best to use a Spirit Ashe and Summon Igon to tank for you an make the encounter considerably easier.
11) Promised Consort Radahn / Radahn, Consort Of Miquella
Promised Consort Radahn (Phase 1) and Radahn, Consort of Miquella (Phase 2) is by far the hardest boss in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. You will unlock him in Enir-Ilim, and the game will give you the option to summon multiple NPCs for the fight.
Additionally, if phase 1 wasn’t hard enough, in phase two Miquella joins in, and together they start blasting AoE spells all over the arena. You will probably need to pull every trick in the book to finally take out Radahn in his prime.
All the bosses on the list will provide you with a Remembrance except Bayle. The dragons will provide you with the Heart of Bayle which you can use at the Altar of the Grand Dragon Communion and exchange it for either Bayle’s Flame Lightning or Bayle’s Tyranny in FromSoftware’s latest expansion.
