Elden Ring Boss Guide: How To Beat Starscourge Radahn

Elden Ring has some of the coolest, as well as the hardest bosses in recent video game history. Players new to the Souls genre will be tearing their hair out here, but some of the bosses can be nerve-wracking even for seasoned Souls fans. One of these bosses is Radahn, who was recently buffed again after an accidental nerf, and he will slap you away as if you were you're nothing but a little fly to him.

To make sure you don't throw your controller through your window in pure rage, we'll explain everything you need to know about the Radahn boss fight in this guide. How do you start the fight, what are Radahn's strengths and weaknesses, and how can you defeat him?

If you want to start with an easier boss, check out the fight against Rennala, Radahn's mother:

• Elden Ring Guide: How To Beat Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon

Where is Radahn in Elden Ring?

Radahn is located in Redmane Castle in the south of Caelid. However, to start the boss fight, you must first start the Radahn Festival.To do this, you have to follow Ranni's quest and activate the Great Lift of Dectus. After that, you can head to Redmane Castle. We have already described Ranni's quest in detail here. Fight your way through the castle until you come to a large square, where several NPCs are already waiting for you. Some of them you have probably met before.Talk to Witch-Hunter Jerren, who is standing on a platform above the square, and start the festival. Now you can go through the door behind Jerren and take the elevator down to the water. Interact with the teleporter, and you will be transported to a large open area where the boss fight will take place.

What are Radahn's Strengths & Weaknesses?

Radahn is immune to the status effects Death and Madness and has a high resistance to sleep. For normal damage types, he will absorb holy damage, but is especially vulnerable to physical pierce damage. So go for physical damage and rot mainly, as he has a relatively low resistance for them. Here we have listed all resistances and absorption rates for you:

Absorption shows the percentage of damage that Radahn will absorb, the resistance number indicates the amount of buildup you need to inflict on him to trigger the effect. So like we said, you should focus on rot and physical pierce damage.

Before you start the fight, however, you should make sure that you also have enough healing potions with you and that they have been sufficiently strengthened with tears.

• Elden Ring Guide: All Golden Seed Locations
• Elden Ring Guide: All Sacred Tear Locations

How to beat Radahn: Phase 1

The most important piece of advice for Radahn: Use the NPC summons and Torrent! As soon as you teleport into the arena, Radahn will shoot at you from a distance with his bow. Dodge the shots and activate all the golden signs you see on your way to Radahn. A total of 8 NPCs can be summoned, (almost) all of which will help you in battle.

• Blaidd, the Half-Wolf
• Finger Maiden Therolina
• Great Horned Tragoth
• Witch-Hunter Jerren
• Iron Fist Alexander
• Lionel the Lionhearted
• Bloody Finger Okina
• Patches

Patches is the only NPC who will immediately leave when he sees Radahn, all the others will support you in battle. If they die, their summoning sign will reappear in the arena after a short time, and you can summon them again.

Should you be a ranged fighter, then let the NPCs pull aggro and attack Radahn from a safe distance. But if you're a melee fighter, you're pretty much screwed and have to be prepared for a lot of bad vibes... Radahn hits hard AF, one of his combos can take you out in an instant.

Our advice is to use Torrent and keep landing single hits as you ride by. Just don't be too greedy and don't forget to summon the NPCs again and again. Keep doing this until Radahn has lost about half of his life and starts the second phase.

Tips for Phase 1:

1. Radahn is particularly vulnerable to the dragon incantation Rotten Breath. So we also recommend a Faith build to deal with Radahn more easily.
2. Don't call a summon for help, but use the NPCs instead. First, you'll have several helpers in the fight who can take a good beating, and second, you'll still be able to use Torrent.

How to beat Radahn: Phase 2

Radahn will briefly disappear and crash back onto the battlefield as a burning meteorite. So look up and dodge the meteorite – if it hits you, you're usually dead instantly.

The only new but nasty attack are the meteorites seen in the image above. Radahn summons several boulders, which he then hurls at you one after the other. Either dodge them skillfully with a roll or ride Torrent in a circle around him, so he can't hit you.

Always keep the NPCs alive or summon them again. Keep placing single targeted hits between his attacks, and Radahn's HP will run out sooner or later. Patience is key here and apart from the meteors, there is nothing new to consider compared to phase 1.

Tip for Phase 2:

1. With a good setup and a bit of luck, you can skip phase two completely. Make sure you walk to the edge of the arena by the water just before Radahn disappears after the first phase. Then run as close as you can to the edge before you fall into the deep water. Now when Radahn crashes onto the battlefield as a comet, dodge backwards at the last moment and Radahn will fall into the water and die.

What do you get from beating Radahn?

As a reward for defeating Radahn, you get 75,000 runes, Radahn's Great Rune and the Remembrance of the Starscourge. You can activate the rune at the Divine Tower in Caelid, and it will increase your HP, FP and Stamina. The Remembrance of the Starscourge can be exchanged for either Radahn's Sword or his Bow in the Roundtable Hold.That's all you need to know about Starscourge Radahn. If you still have problems with the boss, you should consider changing your weapons. Check out our guides on the Moonveil Katana and the Rivers of Blood here.