Summary
Elden Ringhas an almost overwhelming expanse of regions you can explore, each with its own unique and intimidating bosses leading the helm. With an open narrative and an even more open world, how you want to progress through each encounter can vary. As such, there’s no true order that you should fight each boss.
That’s not to say you can go and fart your way into becoming the Elden Lord immediately. Some bosses are better tackled early on, while others are better left for later. And while some placements may surprise you, they all have a reason. Follow this list of the best boss order if you want the most enjoyable Soulsborne experience.
Updated on June 03, 2025, by Alfredo Robelo:Shadow of the Erdtree is finally here, and with it an army of new bosses for you to tackle. We’ve updated this article with the main bosses standing in your way and blocking your path, specifing at which point during your normal playthrough should you go and tackle the new content.
1Margit, The Fell Omen - Godrick, The Grafted
This is the first meaningful boss pairing that you will likely encounter. The game heavily encourages moving in their direction, leading to the Stormveil Castle. Compared to the grand scheme, bothMargit, the Fell Omenand Godrick are mere peanuts. They highly telegraph their attacks and are easily dodged with some practice and experience.It’s made even easier with the Shackle. Moreover, getting through the castle will grant you some reliable armor and weapons that can carry you throughout most of the game.
For most entries, we’re also running on the assumption that you’ll be fighting the minor bosses in the surrounding area as well. That’s not the case here. Between the Flying Dragon Agheel and the Tree Sentinel, there are a good handful of local minor bosses you should probably ignore until later.
2Leonine Misbegotten
WhileLeonine Misbegottenis an optional boss encounter, he’s the most ‘main boss’ optional boss you’ll find. The final enemy of the Castle Morne area of the Weeping Peninsula, this beastial individual acts as the leader of a Misbegotten army that invaded the castle.
He’s not the toughest fight, with average damage and speed, but heisthe perfect transitionary period for a young Tarnished ready to expand outside of Limgrave. It’s less trecherous than Lurnia of the Lakes, but provides more challenge (and runes) than Limgrave. Besides, there’san entire NPC plotlinethat involves taking him down.
If you really want, you could even tackle Leonine before going after Godrick, The Grafted. This could help provide some better armor, weapons, and extra runes needed to get past that fight.
3Rennala, Queen Of The Full Moon
Now it’s time for all you melee unga bunga builds to have a tough time. Ignore the wretched landscape called Caelid and make your way North to Lurnia of the Lakes. Except for those oddly large and powerful crayfish, most of the creatures in this land should be appropriately challenging for you by this point. Certain builds will struggle with the range of the spellcasters in theAcademy of Raya Lucaria.
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moonis a unique experience, with invulnerability phases that transition into an open-area fight. The latter phase sees her go hard on her magical power. Every move hits hard, and the longer you go, the more overwhelming it becomes. Regardless of your build, we recommend rushing her as safely as possible.
4Starscourge Radahn
It’s time to backtrack to the East side of Limgrave into Caelid. This red, rotten landscape is home to only two things: nightmare creatures and the Radahn Festival. Had you asked us to make this list on launch day,Starscourge Radahnwould be further down. But after a few balancing patches, he now sits more comfortably here, after Rennala. Since you can’t engage with him until after reaching a certain point in Ranni’s questline, it can’t be placed any sooner.
Once you get past the difficulty, this is one of the most fun boss fights. The unique mechanic of summoning a horde of cooperators to fight alongside you instills a real rallying effect. Don’t get cocky, though. He still hits like a literal meteor. So you won’t last longif you don’t play defensively.
5Morgott, The Omen King
After that, it’s time to take the elevator up to the Altas Plateau. Fight through Leyndell and take on the reigning king, Morgott. Don’t fuss with Mt Gelmir and the reptilian hassle known as Rykard. Leave that for later. Blocking the way to the Erdtree,Morgott, the Omen Kingis an essential encounter to continue the plot.
He’s actually the same guy you fought outside of Stormveil Castle, with the false name of “Margit” (clever, right?). But that time, it was just an illusion he was casting. This is him in his true form. This fight should feel familiar but more intense at this point. Fortunately, you’ve had time to level and refine your character build. So, assuming you didn’t rush too hard, you should be in the perfect place to fight him.
6The Fire Giant
The next natural step in the main plot line, theFire Giantis keeping the crucible flame, a punishment given to him by Marika. It almost makes killing him a service, really. Whether or not this is a tough fight mostly depends on your build, with ranged and magic users having an easier time.His massive sizeis an easy target. Even so, it’s not a tough fight and better dealt with sooner than later.
After the fight,do not light the fire. That will send you off to Farum Azula. Before you do that, it’s time to return and take care of the bosses we’ve skipped.
7Astel, Naturalborn Of The Void
This completely optional encounter is hidden away in a rather hard-to-reach location. Just getting there is half of the battle, really.Astel, Naturalborn of the Voidis at the end of the Grand Cloister, which is on the other side of the Lake of Rot, a place as awful as it sounds. Reaching the Lake of Rot requires going through the Ainsel River Main, accessed either by going through the Deeproot Depths or from a Waystone provided by Ranni.
If you can manage to get to this boss, you’re stong enough to defeat them. WIth a general weakness to physical attacks, and a variety of slow, easy to avoid attacks, getting close enough tolay down some heavy strikes shouldn’t be too hard. And by this point, you’ll be tough enough to survive if you end up taking a couple of hits back. Whether Astel is considered a ‘Main Boss’ is up for debate. But since it’s required for the Ranni ending (which we know isthe most popular ending), it deserves mention.
8Rykard, Lord Of Blasphemy
From the winter wonderland up north to the toxic landscape of the Lake of Rot, you’re probably tired of hazardous environments. Well too bad, it’s a perfect time to backtrack to the equally unpleasant landscape of Mt Gelmir. Deal with the chaos and nonsense that surrounds Volcano Manor and engage in the battle againstRykard, Lord of Blasphemy,a demigod that has since become a giant snake.
This encounter forces you, more or less, into using a specific weapon, which can cause some serious lack of flow with whatever build you’re rocking. This was the main reason to wait. Dealing with the other challenges first means you’re leveled up enough to make up for the lack of optimization.
9Mohg, Lord Of Blood
With the big snake taken care of, there’s one more loose end before heading to Farum Azula. The next bearer of a Great Rune,Mohg, the Omenis the secluded, demigod-kidnapping Lord of Blood. Looming over a terribly inhospitable landscape only accessible via teleportation, he’s been swooning over a slumbering Miquella and preparing to raise an army from blood magic.
Depending on which sidequests you do, this encounter could happen as soon as Lurnia of the Lakes. But given his powerful bleed-effects and hard-to-avoid attacks, it’s better to wait until now.
10Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
With Mohg (and Radahn) taken care of, you may finally enter Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. The bosses here will deal damage comparable to the final boss, but that’s because you need to find the Scadutree Fragments scattered throughout the Realm of Shadow, which will buff your character considerably while they stay in said Realm.
You can technically skip Rellana, going around her fort, but her fight is good practice for what is yet to come in the DLC.
This is why, while Rellana is the first boss blocking your way, you should explore around a bit before challenging her. That’s good practice for every single boss in the DLC, but before Rellana specifically, you have a whole legacy dungeon called Belurat that you can explore for levels and Scadutree Fragments.
