RADAGON OF THE GOLDEN ORDER / ELDEN BEAST

Phase Strategy

The final encounter is a gauntlet of two consecutive fights with no checkpoint. Radagon tests your duel discipline; Elden Beast tests your endurance and patience. You cannot separate them. You must defeat both in sequence or start over.

This is not the hardest fight in the game, but it is the longest. Budget your resources accordingly.

Phase I — Radagon of the Golden Order

Radagon is Marika's other half, a perfectly balanced melee fighter who punishes hesitation and greed equally. The arena is medium-sized with pillars that can block his projectiles but not his teleports.

Critical: Radagon can be staggered. At 40% poise damage threshold, he will drop to one knee for a riposte — roughly 15% of his health bar in a single critical hit. Colossal weapons, jump attacks, and stance-breaking Ashes of War make this fight dramatically shorter.

His attack patterns are deliberate and readable:

• Hammer slams — three-hit combos with wide arcs. Roll into him on the second hit, not away.
• Golden projectiles — three tracking bolts fired after a hand-raise. Roll forward through them sequentially.
• Teleport grab — He vanishes, reappears behind you, and grabs. Listen for the audio cue, then roll backward immediately.
• AOE ground slam — Both hands drive the hammer down. The shockwave extends 360 degrees. Jump over it or roll at the precise moment of impact.

Radagon's delays are shorter than Margit's or Morgott's. His tells are honest — he does not fake windups. If you learned to roll into bosses earlier in the game, Radagon rewards that habit.

Below 50% HP, Radagon adds lightning-infused attacks to his moveset. The hammer gains golden trails and his slams leave lingering AOE zones. Do not stand in the aftershock — they tick for 20% HP per second.

Phase II — Elden Beast

When Radagon falls, the Elden Beast emerges from his corpse. The arena expands into an endless astral plane. This is not a duel. This is a marathon.

The Elden Beast has three problems that define the fight:

1. Mobility disparity — It swims across the arena constantly. You will spend 40% of the fight sprinting toward it.
2. Holy damage — Every attack inflicts pure Holy damage. Physical resistances are irrelevant.
3. Camera lock-on — The Beast is enormous. Locking on often obscures incoming attacks. Learn to fight unlocked.

Critical: Equip the Haligdrake Talisman +2 and consume a Holy-Proof Dried Liver before the fog gate. These two items reduce Holy damage by ~45% combined — the difference between surviving and dying to any single mistake.

The Beast's most dangerous attacks:

• Elden Stars — A golden orb spawns above you and tracks for 15 seconds, firing homing projectiles. Sprint perpendicular to it in wide arcs. Do not try to damage the Beast while this is active.
• Golden Wave — Four consecutive horizontal slashes. Roll into the Beast on slashes 2 and 4.
• Rings of Light — Three expanding golden rings. Jump over the first, roll through the second, jump the third.
• Grab attack — The Beast lunges forward with its right arm. This attack is slow but covers 15 meters. Roll to its left side (your right).

The best damage windows are after sword plunge (when it stabs the ground) and after breath attack (golden flame cone). Both leave the Beast stationary for 3-4 seconds.

Attacks & Counters

| Attack | Counter | |--------|---------| | Radagon triple hammer slam | Roll into him on hit 2. Punish after the 3rd slam lands. | | Radagon golden bolts (3x) | Roll forward sequentially as each bolt approaches. Never dodge backward. | | Radagon teleport grab | Audio cue is distinct. Roll backward the instant you hear the teleport sound. | | Radagon AOE ground slam | Jump over the shockwave or roll at exact impact frame. | | Elden Beast Elden Stars | Sprint in wide circles. Do not attack until the orb despawns. | | Elden Beast golden wave (4 slashes) | Roll into the Beast on slashes 2 and 4. Stay close to its body. | | Elden Beast rings of light | Jump ring 1, roll ring 2, jump ring 3. Timing is rhythm-based. | | Elden Beast sword plunge | Sprint toward the sword as it descends. Free 5-second punish window. |

Recommended Loadout

The dual-boss structure requires hybrid optimization. You cannot respec between phases.

• Weapon: Blasphemous Blade is ideal — it heals on kill (restores Flask uses after Radagon) and deals Fire damage (neutral vs Holy resistance). Black Knife or any weapon with Destined Death Ash of War ignores the Beast's HP scaling.
• Spirit Ash: Mimic Tear +10. Summon it during Radagon phase. If it survives, it carries into Elden Beast. If not, you still had help through the harder half.
• Talismans:
  • Haligdrake Talisman +2 (Holy damage negation — mandatory)
  • Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman (physical defense for Radagon)
  • Green Turtle Talisman (stamina regen for Elden Beast sprinting)
  • Crimson Amber Medallion +2 (HP buffer)
• Flask allocation: 10 Crimson, 4 Cerulean. Radagon is FP-efficient; Elden Beast is attrition.
• Items: Holy-Proof Dried Liver ×3 (lasts 3 minutes, reapply during Elden Beast if needed), Preserving Boluses ×5 (Radagon's lightning inflicts status buildup).

Critical gear check: If you do not have Haligdrake Talisman +2, go get it from Mohgwyn Palace (near the blood-filled lake, guarded by a Putrid Avatar). The damage reduction is not optional for this fight.

Strategy Notes

For Radagon: Play aggressive. His poise breaks reliably — jump attacks with heavy weapons will stagger him in 4-5 hits. Riposte windows are massive damage spikes. Use them.

For Elden Beast: Play patient. The Beast's mobility forces downtime. Accept that 30% of this phase is sprinting. Do not panic-roll — Holy damage chips through rolls if you are hit mid-animation. Walk and observe until you have a clean opening.

The Elden Beast's Elden Stars attack is a run-killer for most players. If you see the golden orb spawn, commit to evasion. Stop attacking, stop healing, just sprint. The orb despawns after ~15 seconds. Wait it out.

Radagon is the test. Elden Beast is the victory lap. If you can beat Radagon consistently, the Beast is just endurance. Stay calm, stay mobile, and do not greed.

A Final Word

This fight is a thesis statement on everything Elden Ring taught you. Radagon demands you fight at close range with confidence. Elden Beast demands you respect spacing and manage resources across a drawn-out encounter. If you lose, the loss is almost always in Radagon phase — not because he is harder, but because players burn Flasks trying to blitz him.

Slow down in phase 1. Save 6-7 Flasks for the Beast. You will thank yourself when Elden Stars spawns for the third time and you still have healing left.

When the Beast falls, the achievement pops, and the throne cutscene plays, you will have earned it. The Elden Ring is yours.

Related Bosses

Defeating the Elden Beast completes the main story and locks your save into New Game+ unless you choose to refuse the ending. Before committing, finish any side content: Malenia, Mohg, Placidusax, and the optional underground zones. You cannot return to this save state after the ending triggers.