Being the culmination of FromSoftware's past six titles, Elden Ring possesses some of the most challenging boss encounters in their catalog, with Starscourge Radahn being amongst the top of the list. Aside from a handful of end-game bosses, Starscourge Radahn may very well be the most demanding boss in the entire game.
While Starscourge Radahn is an optional boss, taking him down is required for a specific ending and will give you access to Nokron, Eternal City. However, you only need to eliminate two Shardbearers to gain access to Leyndell Castle, so choose wisely if you wish to keep your sanity.
Updated June 10, 2022: We've updated this article to include a handy video guide that shows you how to get the beset of Starscourge Radahn in Elden Ring.
Starscourge Radahn Overview
| Starscourge Radahn Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Caelid |
| Optional | Yes |
| Summons | Players and Spirit Ashes |
| Drops |
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| Weak To |
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Starscourge Radahn is a Demi-God, and an optional boss found in Caelid. However, this is a mandatory battle if you want the ending associated with Ranni, the Witch. This encounter is one of Elden Ring's more challenging ones, so be prepared before even thinking about coming here. We recommend you be at least Level 65 or 70 for this boss fight.
Putting an end to Starscourge Radahn's tyrannical deeds will reward you with 70,000 Runes and the Remembrance of the Starscourge, which can get exchanged for unique items via Enia at the Roundtable Hold. You will also get Radahn's Great Rune, which raises your maximum HP, FP, and Stamina when using the Rune Arc consumable item.
Starscourge Radahn Attacks
Starscourge Radahn has a metric ton of attacks that can be extremely hard to keep up with, and that's just when speaking about his first phase. As with most grueling FromSoftware encounters, Radahn has two phases, with his second one making him much more aggressive, stronger, and almost impossible to approach.
Luckily for you, this fight is a tad gimmicky but a significantly challenging gimmick fight as opposed to the history of the more set-piece, easy-peasy ones in FromSoftware's past titles. Though incredibly unforgiving, complex, and brutal, it isn't impossible and is quite manageable once you see what's going on and what you're expected to do. So, don't lose hope, Tarnished!
| Phase 1 |
|---|
Magic Arrow
This will be Radahn's opening attack every time you enter the arena. He will pull his mighty arrows back, charge it up with magic/gravity, then launch it towards you. He only performs this attack in the first phase and whenever you're extremely far away from him.
Counter: A perfectly timed roll will negate all damage while keeping you moving forward. Additionally, you can hide behind several objects placed throughout the battlefield to absorb the impact. You can dodge this while riding Torrent, but it is much harder to perform, so we recommend doing it via foot and by rolling!
Arrow Barrage
As you get closer to Radahn, he will switch his ranged attacks up by launching a volley of arrows at you. You will have arrows falling out of the sky in a strategical path towards you, as well as sporadically placed shots to keep you on your toes.
Counter: Similarly to the first step, you can roll past the more sporadically shot arrows but might struggle to get away from the ever-encroaching path of arrows forming on the ground towards you. For this, we recommend mounting Torrent and boosting away from the ground arrows and through the more randomly shot ones. It may take some practice learning when Radahn stops shooting the Magic Arrows, but once you get the timing down, you should get to summon Torrent without any issues.
Spinning Slashes
Starscourge Radahn will typically perform a series of Spinning Slashes the moment you finally get in close to him. He starts this move with a large wind-up, giving you ample time to prepare for it. He will launch himself into four big Spinning Slashes, attacking seven times total, dealing mass amounts of damage he catches you.
Counter: As you see Radahn start to wind up, roll towards him, then gradually adjust your next rolls to adapt to the subsequent Spinning Slashes. This will be tricky to pull off at first, but it is the best method for foot-based players. Additionally, if you're on Torrent, you can ride away from him, then time your reentrance with his final spin to land a few hits on him.
Galloping Slashes
At some point during the encounter, Radahn will ride away from you then circle back with a series of three violent slashes from the side of his horse. While clearly telegraphed, they are still very hard to dodge, so be prepared for them. Additionally, if one slash hits you, the subsequent ones will as well, which will likely kill you.
Counter: If you're on the ground, you must time your rolls perfectly to evade getting combo-ed by Radahn. This is rather tricky to dodge on foot, and we certainly don't recommend it over using Torrent. For those on Torrent, however, we recommend using the same strategy here as you did for his Spinning Slashes. Ride away from Radahn, and then charge back in when you see him perform his last swing to land a few uncontested shots.
Jumping Slam
Occasionally, after performing his slashing attacks, Radahn will end the attack chain with a Jumping Slam attack, which has him propel himself into the air before slamming his massive swords into the ground and dealing mass damage.
Counter: When Radahn performs this attack, the camera can become a bit wonky, making it much more challenging to dodge. Our recommendation is to create distance whenever you see him about to jump. If you think you can roll through the damage, take the chance. Otherwise, proceed to get as far away as possible. The same rules apply to Torrent users here as well.
Gravity Surge
Radahn will submerge his giant blades into the sand before swiftly pulling them back out, creating a massive surge of gravity to emit out from them, imbuing them with the very same element in the process. The Gravity Surge is a wide AoE that covers a pretty big zone.
Counter: You can roll through the Gravity Surge or jump over it with Torrent, but the timing is tight and must be perfect. If you aren't confident in evading it this way, we recommend creating significant distance between you and Radahn until he pulls his blades from the sand.
Gravitational Pull
Radahn raises his hands high into the air while creating a gravitational orb that pulls you in towards him. This attack is quick but doesn't deal much damage. However, since the attack is meant to set up other attacks, Radahn will start slashing away the moment this attack is over.
Counter: If caught in the Gravitational Pull, immediately begin rolling whenever you are close to Radahn to avoid his slashes. Though, for the most part, we recommend creating distance and letting him do his thing while you watch from a safe distance. This attack isn't worth risking getting caught up in.
| Phase 2 |
|---|
Crash Landing
After whittling Radahn's health down to 50 percent, he will propel himself into the stars, disappearing momentarily. Then, just as quickly as he took off, he will come hurtling back to earth like a meteor, Crash Landing into the world with great force.
Counter: Run. Far away. If you get caught in the blast radius, you will assuredly die. Just mount Torrent and ride away until you see him crash into the ground.
Orbs of Gravity
In phase two, Radahn will heavily rely on his gravity abilities. Here, he will summon eight Orbs of Gravity around himself and periodically hurl them at you.
Counter: Dodge to the right or left of the launched Gravity Orb. Getting hit by one won't be the end of you, but it will temporarily stun you. However, if you get smacked by a few of them, you will definitely die, so we suggest dodging like no tomorrow when you see them coming your way!
Planetary Devastation
When things start going in your favor, Radahn will activate his Rinnegan and use Planetary Devastation, calling four large orbs of the earth to his side via Gravity Orbs. Just one of these orbs will almost assuredly kill you on contact, so proceed with caution when you see them around him.
Counter: Be sure not to bump into them or make any contact with them whatsoever. Additionally, Radahn will wave his sword out in front of him whenever he's about to fire one off at you, which is your queue to get ready to dodge. Generally, we recommend keeping your distance and summoning in the NPCs to keep him occupied until they go away. Due to these being an instant kill, you do not want to risk it when he's this close to death.
Battle Strategy
Whether you love playing a ground-based melee character, want to use Torrent, or even take him down using magic from a safe distance, Radahn doesn't discriminate when it comes to making your life miserable. No matter your playstyle, Radahn will test your limits, which is why he's such a challenging boss.
Torrent Strategy
Using Torrent is arguably the best method of taking Radahn down, as you can ride around the arena and summon in many NPCs to fight alongside you. This strategy allows you to have the NPCs distract Radahn, opening up a lot of uncontested hits in the early goings. Furthermore, summoning in NPCs will enable you to create separation to heal or call back in fallen NPCs to keep the fight going.
The most challenging aspect of Torrent is the second phase of the battle, where you will have to juggle summoning allies while also picking the best opportunities to strike and run, then repeat the process over and over again. We recommend always having NPCs up for the second phase, especially whenever he uses his "Planetary Devastation" attack. This will allow you to watch from a safe distance as he fights the NPCs. This is because just making contact with one of those boulders will kill you instantly. And this is late into the fight, so you want to play it safe here. But not too safe. As soon as the boulders are down, charge back in, deal damage, then bounce and summon more NPCs. Repeat all of this until he is dead!
Ranged Strategy
Ranged users may have an easier time with Radahn than others due to the Rock Sling Sorcery being highly effective in this fight. If you possess the Meteorite Staff and this spell, use them both to your advantage. In just three to four Rock Sling hits, you will have Radahn staggered, allowing you to breeze right through the first phase.
Furthermore, you will want to find the "sweet spot" in this fight, which is somewhere in the mid-range area. Though, be mindful of Radahn's speed. He's pretty fast for his size and will close in on you extraordinarily fast, which will be the end for most ranged-focused players. In general, we also recommend using Torrent here and summoning in the NPCs for support and to draw Radahn's attention, allowing you to cast your spells carefree.
Melee Strategy
If you insist on not using Torrent, we strongly urge you to bring a melee weapon capable of causing the Bleed or Rot ailments, as Radahn is weak to those. Then, we also suggest using the NPC summons to draw his attention, allowing you to get in several uncontested attacks to build up your status effects.
However, when it comes to the second phase, be prepared to dodge a lot and sprint around the battlefield to bring back fallen NPCs. NPCs are crucial to this encounter, especially for ground-based melee users. Just be sure to be patient, take it one attack at a time, and try inflicting ailments on him to take large chunks of his health away periodically.
General Tips
- Be Level 65-70 or Higher
- Use Torrent and summon in the NPCs whenever they become available.
- You cannot use Torrent when summoning other players, so stick with the many NPCs you have at your disposal.
- Avoid using player summons if possible. Torrent + NPCs is the way to go this encounter.
- Be patient, and don't get greedy with your attacks. One or two attacks are OK, don't go overboard.
- Ranged users should focus on using Rock Sling with the Meteorite Staff for maximum damage output.
