How to beat Promised Consort Radahn in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

Promised Consort Radahn is the final boss of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Radahn is more swift and brutal than he was even in the base game, and the battle’s second phase demands nearly perfect timing and pattern memorization. Landing even one hit of your own is tough — but Radahn has one big weakness that gives you a fighting chance.

Our Elden Ring DLC guide explains how to beat Promised Consort Radahn, including his weaknesses and what to expect from each phase of the battle.

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Promised Consort Radahn location in Elden Ring DLC

Promised Consort Radahn waits for you at the top of Enir-Ilim, Shadow of the Erdtree’s final dungeon. The arena for this fight is at the top of the Divine Gatefront Staircase. Consort Radahn is a mandatory DLC boss if you want to complete Shadow of the Erdtree’s story.

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Promised Consort Radahn weakness and how to prepare

Consort Radahn has a couple of major weaknesses that you can exploit regardless of your build. Like most Shadow of the Erdtree bosses, Radahn is prone to Frostbite and Hemorrhage, so you’ll want to approach him with a build centered on one of those. Hemorrhage is ideal, which we’ll get to in a minute.

If you don’t want to respec for a completely different build, grab a standard weapon that suits your stat spread, one you can imprint an Ash of War on, and imbue it with cold or bleed effects. Heavy weapons are effective, but if you’re having trouble breaking Consort Radahn’s stance, you might end up taking more damage than you can heal. Lithe weapons let you land more strikes and build the status ailment meter more quickly. Milady from Castle Ensis or the Backhand Blade are solid choices that don’t require you to get too close.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

Adding the Rolling Sparks skill to the Chilling Perfume Bottles lets you deal several instances of ice damage with one attack, and since Radahn’s a big lad, the skill is likely to land without issue if you’re within range. That said, it seems like he loses his cold weakness in the second phase, so running a bleed build is probably your best choice.

If he’s giving you too much trouble, and you just want to finish the fight, you can make a bleed build that lets you take hefty portions of his HP out in a few hits. You’ll need:

• Impenetrable Thorns and enough faith to run the spell. Arcane over 30 is a good idea as well
• The Albinauric Staff or Staff of the Guilty — ideally the former, as it increases how quickly the blood loss meter builds
• A weapon that builds the blood loss meter. Rivers of Blood or Eleonora’s Poleblade are strong choices, though the Reduvia dagger is faster and lets you stack blood loss from a distance with its skill. You can also get by without a weapon, but this method gives your Mimic Tear the option to play more aggressively
• A maxed-out Mimic Tear Spirit Ash

Similar to the frost build we recommended for the Messmer boss fight, the goal here is to exploit Consort Radahn’s weaknesses with every attack. Avoid including other spells aside from Impenetrable Thorns, so your Mimic Tear won’t waste time on them, and make that spell your primary attack.

It builds blood loss more than any weapon that I tested, including those listed above, and the HP loss it results in for you is comparatively minimal, assuming you have a Vigor stat over 50. Keep casting Impenetrable Thorns when you can — when Radahn isn’t attacking you, in other words — and after every two hits or so, you’ll inflict Hemmorhage and reduce Radahn’s HP by roughly 2,000.

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Bloodfiend’s Arm infused with a blood Ash of War is a popular choice, but as it’s a colossal weapon, timing your hits isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Your Mimic Tear won’t stand much of a chance at Revered Spirit Ash levels lower than eight, so track more ash down if you need to. Ideally, you want to hit the max level of 10, though you can potentially swing it at level nine. Find enough Scadutree Fragments to attain Scadutree Blessing level 15 or higher — the higher the better. You’ll still receive a lot of damage even at the max Scadutree Blessing level of 20, but it’ll take more than just two hits to finish you off.

Make sure to fully max out how much HP and FP your Flask of Tears restores as well, and go in with more Crimson Tears charges than Cerulean Tears. (If you’re running a Thorns build, you really don’t need Cerulean Tears at all.) Finally, it’s a good idea to put Holyproof Pickled Liver in your item shortcut menu, along with a Marika’s Blessing charge, if you happen to have one.

For your Flask of Wondrous Physik, I recommend the Opaline Hardtear and either a Crimsonspill Crystal Tear or Opaline Bubbletear. Use it in the battle’s second phase when Radahn, Consort of Miquella rises into the air to summon blasts of holy light, and it’ll negate almost all the attack’s damage.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

On the talisman front, equipping these is a good idea:

• Dragoncrest Greatshield
• Two-Headed Turtle Talisman
• Haligdrake Talisman +2
• Lord of Blood’s Exultation (if using a bleed build) or Pearldrake Talisman +2 (if not)

The holy light Miquella summons in phase two really eats away at your health over time, so negating it with the drake Talisman’s makes that part of the battle a little less of a nightmare.

Finally are the NPC summons. Depending on what happened in the Leda fight, you may be able to summon Thiollier, Ansbach, Hornsent, or a combination of whichever among them is still alive. Don’t summon all of them. More than one NPC makes the fight nearly impossible with how much extra HP Radahn has. Even one gives him a sizeable health boost, but I do recommend bringing one NPC ally along, if only for the chance to distract Radahn.

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How to beat Radahn, Elden Ring DLC final boss

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The fight’s first phase opens with Radahn flying through the air in a whirl of gravity magic. He crashes down and raises a few little stone blades around him, but you can dodge right before he lands to avoid both hits. If you summoned an NPC, it’s a good idea to stay near the arena’s entrance instead of running away from Radahn. It makes it easier for your NPC ally to start attacking quickly, which draws Radahn’s attention away from you and creates a moment where you can summon your Mimic Tear.

Consort Radahn’s sword combos are close to what they were in the second part of his original fight in the base game. He’ll swing one sword, then swing the other twice, and sometimes end with a final downward thrust. He also swings both swords in one direction, then the other, before bringing them both crashing into the ground, though he’ll frequently add more slashes in the mix before ending the combo.

Sideways dodges are likely to get you caught with the back edge of his slash attacks. Backwards dodging works, though forward dodging forces Radahn to change direction and gives you a slightly larger window of evasion. The downside is the camera movements make it easy to lose track of yourself and Radahn, so you may want to stick to backwards dodging.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

There’s really no time to attack during these combos, as he strings each together seamlessly. However, there is a brief moment at the end of a heavy combo — where he slams into the ground, for example — where you can cast a spell or land some weapon attacks. If he’s targeting someone else, approach from behind, and unleash a few attacks of your own. Just make sure you’re within range, so you actually deal damage before attracting his attention.

If you’re close to Radahn and in front of him, he’ll slash at the ground in an X-shape. The attack knocks you down, like most of his attacks, but you can dodge backward to avoid it. He sometimes launches stomps on the ground or thrusts his swords in the ground, and both attacks summon a cone of rocks that damage you.

He’ll also hurl himself into the air with his swords and crashes down where you’re standing, and there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll follow with an upward strike. If that upward attack catches you, he’ll launch you into the air and slam you back into the ground. Dodge backwards and away after the first attack to make sure the second one doesn’t happen.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

Like during the Caelid fight, Radahn has some gravity tricks up his stolen Mohg-shaped sleeves as well. He’ll imbue his swords with gravity magic and plunge them into the ground, then jerk them upward and create several meteors. The upward strike can damage you if you’re close, so make sure you dodge back or sideways to avoid it in time. The meteors crash down after two seconds, and the dodge timing here is tricky. Dodge sideways right as the first meteor is about to hit you, and you’ll manage to evade the whole lot.

He’ll pull you in and damage you with gravity as well, and he likes to follow this attack with one that raises a circle of rotating stone blades from the ground. I never found an effective way to dodge up close. Your best bet is to back away after the gravity pull, then dodge backward as the blades emerge. If you stay near Radahn during this, you’ll take multiple hits.

Once Consort Radahn’s HP drops to about a third of its max value, a new phase begins.

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How To Beat Radahn, final boss phase 2

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Miquella descends and gives Radahn a helping hand or six for the remainder of the fight. This is where it seems like Radahn’s frost weakness vanishes, so if you’re wanting to take advantage of vulnerabilities, now’s the time to focus on bleed.

During this phase, Radahn has all the same attacks as in the first phase, with a few important differences. When he plunges his swords into the ground to raise stone blades, he raises holy blades of light instead. Dodging back and away is still the best method of dodging. He’ll also add blasts of holy light at the end of each sword slash. These are usually single pillars of light you can dodge in any direction, though the final attack in a combo typically summons a horizontal line of pillars. Dodge forward or backward to evade.

He’ll also still create meteors in the sky, pull you in with gravity, and fling himself across the field in a whirling jump.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

More challenging to deal with are his new moves. Radahn usually begins this phase by rising into the air and summoning Miquella’s Light, a rain of holy pillars of light that scours the battlefield in a large circle. If you’re far enough away when he starts the casting process, you can run out of the area of effect. If not, you can try dodging just as the light reaches its brightest. There are multiple pillars, though, so you’re almost guaranteed to take damage. Drink your Mixed Physik during the casting to negate most of the damage, and you can also use that time to attack Radahn while he casts, if your weapon can reach him.

One of his most dangerous new attacks sees Radahn teleport away from you, then approach quickly with a slash, and he’ll sometimes follow it with a third slash. It’s tough to tell whether he’s targeting you or an ally, but if you see him facing you when he teleports the first time, you’ll know it’s you he’s after. Sometimes he’ll target an ally first and then hit you with his third attack.

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Radahn might leap into the air and rush you with five quick attacks. These are very difficult to dodge. Sometimes, you can dodge sideways to evade the whole thing, but Radahn often starts at an angle that still catches you after evading. Dodging forward is more likely to let you escape. He’ll sometimes imbue both swords with holy and then half a second later unleash a massive blast of light. The timing is tough to get here, but try to dodge as he draws his swords up toward his shoulders.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

Finally, Radahn brings his comet crash attack back, but it’s holy-aligned this time. You can try dodging right as he lands or running to the edge of the arena, but you’re almost guaranteed to take damage. If you’re lucky (or unlucky?) enough to be near him when he lands, you can take advantage of a few seconds where he’s still and prone to attack.

There’s also one moment near the start of the phase where Miquella grabs you or the nearest ally and tries charming you. The affected character has Miquella’s sigil over their head for the rest of the fight, but I have absolutely no idea what affect this has. Radahn is immune to damage until the character is released, so take this opportunity to heal, assuming Miquella didn’t grab you.

Radahn, Consort of Miquella is a bit like Base Serpent Messmer. He’s faster and far more dangerous than in his first phase, but he also has a few more openings during which you can land some attacks. He stops for a second or two after his most devastating holy attacks, which include when he summons Miquella’s light, when he attacks you five times in a row, and when he does his teleportation trick that ends in a heavy slash. He also pauses for a second after firing off discs of holy light, but since he usually does this when you’re at a distance, there’s less chance to sweep in and attack before he’s back on the move.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

Bleed is just as effective in this phase as in the first, and it’s the fastest and safest way to bring Miquella’s dreams of a better world to an end. Once Miquella and his consort vanish, you receive Miquella’s crown and the duo’s Remembrance. There’s also one last cutscene, floating in a golden bubble next to where you picked up the crown — but don’t expect answers from it.

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And that’s a wrap on Shadow of the Erdtree’s main story. There’s plenty more to do in the Land of Shadow, so make sure to explore optional areas such as Cerulean Coast and take on remaining NPC quests, including Igon’s quest, which leads to yet another challenging boss fight — against Bayle the Dread.