Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree – Most Powerful Bosses, According To The Lore (2024)

Elden Ring’s stunning DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, has given players new challenges to overcome and new lore to discover. While the expansion has answered many questions from the base game, it has also unveiled world-changing revelations. From elite warriors to strange cosmic entities, the characters found in the Land of Shadow are powerful, dangerous, and aggressive foes.

However, the difficulty of the game sometimes does not reflect the lore. Characters with near god-like power can pose the same threat as a mortal warrior. While this makes sense in terms of game progression and balance, the true power of some enemies far exceeds their in-game depictions.

10 Scadutree Avatar

The Living Embodiment Of The Scadutree

• Location: Scadutree Base
• Drops: 260,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Shadow Sunflower, Miquella’s Great Rune

The Scadutree Avatar is a hidden boss in Shadow of the Erdtree. It can be found once players have lowered the water in the church district of the Shadow Keep and made their way to the Scadutree Base. This dangerous boss takes the form of a monstrous withered sunflower and largely reflects the in-game lore, which states, "The Scadutree is the shadow of the Erdtree. Born of dark notions that bear no sense of Order, that twist and bend its stock, rendering it brittle.”

This three-phase boss fight can be challenging, as the Avatar is fast and causes bleed build-up on the player. However, as stated in the lore, its brittleness allows the player to inflict a lot of damage, meaning this imposing enemy is not as tough as it may initially seem.

9 Commander Gaius

The Loyal General And Friend Of Demi-Gods

• Location: Scaduview
• Drops: 230,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Wild Boar Rider

Commander Gaius is undoubtedly one of the most frustrating bosses in the new DLC. His overly aggressive attacks can leave the player with barely any room to breathe. His charge attack is one of the toughest to dodge in the game, and he hits fast and hard. While many players may struggle with this boss, the lore tells players that he is simply a powerful warrior.

He is the leader of Messmer’s army and one of his closest friends. He was also a close friend and rival of Radahn. Both warriors studied under the same Alabaster Lord, learning gravitational magic. While Gaius was a friend to the demi-gods, he was not one himself and possessed little of their power.

8 Rellana Twin Moon Knight

A Skilled Warrior Of Carian Royalty

• Location: Castle Ensis
• Drops: 240,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Twin Moon Knight

Rellana is the sister of Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, and is a Princess of Carian Royalty. However, this would not be her path, after she chose to follow Messmer into the Land of Shadow. A skilled and loyal warrior, she wields both the power of the Twin Moons and Messmer’s fire.

Rellana can be a tough opponent in the game, with fast attacks and devastating magic. While she is a powerful warrior, she is also a mortal, like her sister, with no god-like power behind her.

7 Putrescent Knight

The Rotting Flesh Of A Warrior

• Location: Stone Coffin Fissure
• Drops: 220,000 Runes, Remembrance of Putrescence

This secret boss is the protector of St. Trina and was formed from decaying flesh. The in-game lore states “All tainted flesh eventually becomes putrescence, and this clump of it imbibed St. Trina's nectar, which granted it eternal rest. And so it was that putrescence became her knight.”

This reveals that the Putrescent Knight is made from the remains of a long-dead warrior who has rotted away and formed into a distorted undead guardian of St. Trina. While the boss is challenging in the game, it poses as much challenge as some mortal enemies, which does not reflect its powerful living-dead state.

6 Romina, Saint Of The Bud

A Dedicated Follower Of Rot

• Location: Church of the Bud
• Drops: 380,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Saint of the Bud

Not much is known about Romina’s past before becoming the creature that appears in Shadow of the Erdtree. The in-game lore states, “After the church was burned to the ground, Romina discovered a twisted divine element, which she weaved into the baleful scarlet rot.”

This entry alludes to Messmer’s war and a time of change for Romina. In the ashes of her church, she would be influenced by the Scarlet Rot, an Outer God, who would grant her power. She would become the Scarlet Rot’s Saint and change into the monster players fight in the game. Romina is a challenging boss, but one easily overcome. Her in-lore power, however, would far exceed many characters that pose tougher challenges in the DLC, as few can stand against scarlet rot.

5 Bayle The Dread

One Of The Oldest And Vilest Dragons To Ever Live

• Location: Jagged Peak
• Drops: 490,000, Runes, Heart of Bayle

Bayle The Dread is a tough boss fight found at the very top of Jagged Peak in Shadow of the Erdtree. The build-up to the fight is epic in scale, with the slow ascent up the mountain, complete with lightning strikes and dragon battles. Bayle himself is one of the most memorable boss encounters in the DLC and one of the best Dragon fights in FromSoftware history.

While Bayle the Dread is a challenging boss fight, his legendary duel with Dragonlord Placidusax has left him battered and broken. He may still have tremendous power, but he is a shadow of his former self. Many god-like characters in the game are at the peak of their power and far exceed Bayle, who is at the end of his.

4 Messmer, The Impaler

Loyal Son Of Marika

• Location: Shadow Keep
• Drops: 400,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Impaler, Messmer’s Kindling

Like many of Marika’s children, Messmer was cursed at birth. A mysterious abyssal serpent was found to live within Messmer and threatened to consume the young demi-god. To save her son, Marika sealed the snake inside the boy by plucking out Messmer’s eye and replacing it with a seal of grace.

Messmer would grow to become one of Marika’s most loyal generals, who waged wars in her name. Eventually, though, Messmer’s power would pose too much danger, and she sent him and his forces to the Land of Shadow. Exiled far from home, Messmer remained the loyal son. In the game, Messmer’s defeat at the hands of the Tarnished makes him accept his abandonment and embrace the Serpent within. As a demi-god at the peak of his power, Messmer is one of the most powerful characters in the game, which is reflected in the lore and his difficulty.

3 Promised Consort Radahn

The Greatest Of Radagon’s Children

• Location: Enir-Ilim
• Drops: 500,000 Runes, Remembrance of a God and a Lord

Radahn was a renowned warrior who mastered gravitational magic and famously held back the stars. As a child, he greatly admired Godfrey and adorned his armor with the iconography of the First Elden Lord. Radahn would grow in strength and become a powerful warlord in his own right. However, his skills would be tested when Malenia, the sister of Miquella, marched on Caelid.

Their legendary battle would end in stalemate after Malenia unleashed her scarlet rot. Left broken and mad, Radahn became nothing more than a wild beast. Once finally defeated, though, Radahn’s true destiny is unveiled in Shadow of the Erdtree. Radahn is not the man players face in the Caelid wastes. His strength, speed, and power are all returned and buffed by Miquella’s influence. This form of Radahn is the most powerful and is depicted in-game as an extremely challenging boss fight.

2 Metyr, Mother Of Fingers

The Daughter Of The Greater Will

• Location: Finger Ruins of Miyr
• Drops: Remembrance of the Mother of Fingers

One of the biggest revelations in Shadow of the Erdtree is through Count Ymir’s questline. Concluding the quest, players come face to face with Metyr, Mother of Fingers. This strange cosmic entity is revealed to be the first envoy of the Greater Will to arrive in the Lands Between, before even the Elden Beast. It was the source of all Two Fingers and Finger Creepers in the game and was once the messenger of the Greater Will.

However, long ago, Metyr, Mother of Fingers, was abandoned by its Outer God, thus severing the connection to the Greater Will. This reveals that the Golden Order and Marika’s connection to the divine god was all a lie. The Two Fingers are not speaking to the Greater Will at all. Metyr is a tough boss fight, with the second phase becoming a true spectacle. However, this strange monster holds deep cosmic power and is the direct child of an Outer God. Its true strength should far exceed anyone in the Land of Shadow, even disconnected from the Greater Will as it is.

1 Midra, Lord Of Frenzied Flame

The Walking Manifestation Of An Outer God

• Location: Midra’s Manse
• Drops: 410,000 Runes, Remembrance of the Lord of Frenzied Flame

Midra’s story in Shadow of the Erdtree is a tragic tale of a man seeking power. Much of Midra’s story is unknown, but at some point, he seeks to become the Lord of Frenzied Flame. The lore tells players that he was too weak for this, and was impaled by the Greatsword of Damnation, which held back the Frenzied Flame.

The in-game lore states, “As the golden barbs inflicted eternal agony upon him, Midra held fast to Nanaya's entreaty: "Endure." The word was a curse.” Once the player defeats Midra, he has endured enough and removes the sword, becoming a Lord of Frenzied Flame. This entity is a living embodiment of an Outer God and holds supreme power. In the base game, one of the endings allows the player to become the Lord of Frenzied Flame, who proceeds to burn the Erdtree and bring destruction to the world. This alludes to the fact that Midra is potentially the most powerful being to exist at that moment.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

June 21, 2024

Developer(s)

FromSoftware

Genre

Soulslike , RPG