How many bosses are in Elden Ring? Main, world & sub-bosses explained

❘ Updated: 2024-02-21T08:00:00

FromSoftware

Malenia, one of the hardest bosses of Elden Ring

Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s most expansive game yet with more tough bosses to take down than previous games. However, some of these bosses a repeated or considered sub-bosses, while others are madatory and connected to the overall story. Below we’ll take a look at this in more detail.

Elden Ring has established itself as FromSoftware’s crowning achivement, often considered to be one of the best Soulsborne games released to date. The game took the Dark Souls formula and gave it some Breath of the Wild for good measure.

As with previous Souls games, every nook and cranny of Elden Ring has complex lore associated with it and this includes all of the bosses, no matter how important or trivial. Each boss in the game has a well-thought-out story to tell, most involving some tragedy as to why they have become what they are.

Below, we’ll reveal how many bosses there are in Elden Ring, including listing all the main bosses and separating them from the repeated, lesser, or sub-bosses. Some main bosses are repeated later with their assets reused, so we’ll count them as sub-bosses the second, third, and even fourth time around.

Godric the Grafted, one of the earliest bosses in Elden Ring

List of all bosses in Elden Ring

Elden Ring has a total of 238 bosses. However, most of these mini-dungeon bosses, or bosses patrolling the open world, or repeats of major bosses. So, you’ll likely find yourself fighting many of the same bosses more than once, just under different circumstances.

While this may sound repetitive, the nature of these boss fights often changes, with some being fought in dungeons, out in the world, or some involving usage of (or not using) your horse the second time around, which changes the dynamic greatly.

For example, you’ll fight the Red Wolf of Radagon the first time around in a mandatory Legacy Dungeon – where you’re not allowed to use your horse. But you’ll fight variants of that boss again later where he’s surrounded by a wolf pack, but as it’s out in the open world, you’ll have access to your horse, making the fight much more fast-paced and very different from the first encounter.

Here’s a list of every mainline story boss you need to fight to progress in the story. If a boss is repeated later in some form we’ll make that clear next to the boss:

Margit the Fell Omen (Repeated)
Godrick the Grafted (Repeated)
Red Wolf of Radagon (Repeated)
Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon
Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
Starscourge Radahn
Godfrey, First Elden Lord
Morgot, the Omen King
Fire Giant
Godskin Duo (Repeated)
Maliketh, the Black Blade
Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing
Hoarah Loux / Godfrey, First Elden Lord
Radagon of the Golden Order
Elden Beast

There are also other important story bosses, these aren’t mandatory but will become so if you take a certain path. These are:

Leonine Misbegotten
Ancestor Spirit
Magma Wyrm Makar
Mimic Tear
Royal Knight Loretta
Regal Ancestor Spirit
Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella
Valiant Gargoyles
Astel, Naturalborn of the Void
Godskin Noble
Blaidd
Dung Eater
Baleful Shadow
Elemer of the Briar
Ensha
Mohg, the Omen
Commander O’Neal
Commander Niall
Dragonlord Placidusax
Lichdragon Fortissax
Mohg, Lord of Blood
Millicent’s Sisters
Tree Sentinel
Draconic Tree Sentinel
Patches, The Untethered
Beast Clergyman
Fia’s Champions

Sub bosses by location

While none of the below bosses are considered ‘main bosses’ none should be underestimated as some are just as difficult as the bosses on the two above lists – many even more so. However, each of these can be considered a sub or mini boss, located out in the world, at the end of a dungeon or side quest.

Here they all are, and bear in mind, that some of these may be repeated per region:

Limgrave / Weeping Peninsula	Liurnia of the Lakes	Caelid / Dragon Barrow	Altus Plateau / Leyndell / Captial Outskirts	Mt. Gelmir / Underground	Mountaintops of the Giants / Consecrated Snowfield / Forbidden Lands
Beastman of Farum Azula Bell Bearing Hunter Black Knife Assassin Bloodhound Knight Darriwil Crucible Knight Deathbird Demi-Human Chief Erdtree Burial Watchdog Flying Dragon Agheel Scion Grave Warden Duelist Guardian Golem Mad Pumpkin Head Night’s Cavalry Soldier of Godrick Stonedigger Troll Tibia Mariner Ulcerated Tree Spirit Ancient Hero of Zamor Cemetery Shade Deathbird Erdtree Avatar Erdtree Burial Watchdog (Impaler’s Catacombs) Leonine Misbegotten Miranda the Blighted Bloom Night’s Cavalry Runebear Scaly Misbegotten	Adan, Thief of Fire Alabaster Lord Alecto Black Knife Ringleader Bell Bearing Hunter Black Knife Assassin Bloodhound Knight Bols, Carian Knight Cemetery Shade Cleanrot Knight Crystalian Spear & Crystalian Staff (Duo) Death Rite Bird Deathbird Erdtree Avatar (Liurnia Northeast) Erdtree Avatar (Liurnia Southwest) Erdtree Burial Watchdog Glintstone Dragon Adula Glintstone Dragon Smarag Night’s Cavalry (Liurnia North) Night’s Cavalry (Liurnia South) Omenkiller Onyx Lord Royal Revenant Spirit-Caller Snail Tibia Mariner	Cemetery Shade Crucible Knight & Misbegotten Warrior Death Rite Bird Decaying Ekzykes Erdtree Avatar Erdtree Burial Watchdog (Duo) Fallingstar Beast Frenzied Duelist Mad Pumpkin Heads Magma Wyrm Night’s Cavalry Nox Swordstress & Nox Priest Battlemage Hugues Beastman of Farum Azula (Duo) Bell Bearing Hunter Black Blade Kindred Cleanrot Knight (Duo) Elder Dragon Greyoll Flying Dragon Greyll Godskin Apostle Night’s Cavalry (Dragonbarrow) Putrid Avatar Putrid Crystalian Trio Putrid Tree Spirit	Ancient Hero of Zamor Black Knife Assassin (Sage’s Cave) Black Knife Assassin (Sainted Hero’s Grave) Crystalian Spear & Crystalian Ringblade Demi-Human Queen Gilika Erdtree Burial Watchdog Fallingstar Beast Godefroy Godskin Apostle Necromancer Garris Night’s Cavalry Omenkiller & Miranda the Blighted Bloom Perfumer Tricia & Misbegotten Warrior Sanguine Noble Stonedigger Troll Tibia Mariner Tree Sentinel (Duo) Wormface Esgar, Priest of Blood Bell Bearing Hunter Crucible Knight & Crucible Knight Ordovis Deathbird Grave Warden Duelist Onyx Lord	Bell Bearing Hunter Crucible Knight & Crucible Knight Ordovis Deathbird Grave Warden Duelist Onyx Lord Virgins (Duo) Demi-Human Queen Maggie Demi-Human Queen Margot Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast Kindred of Rot (Duo) Magma Wyrm Red Wolf of the Champion Ulcerated Tree Spirit Ancestor Spirit Dragonkin Soldier x3 Crucible Knight Siluria	Ancient Hero of Zamor Borealis the Freezing Fog Death Rite Bird Erdtree Avatar Godskin Apostle and Godskin Noble (Spiritcaller Snail) Tibia Mariner Ulcerated Tree Spirit Vyke, Knight of the Roundtable Black Blade Kindred Night’s Cavalry Stray Mimic Tear Death Rite Bird Great Wyrm Theodorix Misbegotten Crusader Night’s Cavalry (Duo) Putrid Avatar Putrid Grave Warden Duelist

Some of these bosses are reskins are others, but don’t take any lightly, some are endgame versions of bosses you may have defeated earlier. Also, some are separate characters who share the same animations, and character models as other characters.

For example, Godefroy shares Godrick the Grafted’s moves and models but is technically one of his ancestors – and just as despicable. The good news is he doesn’t have a second stage, unlike Godrick.

Hopefully, this list of bosses in Elden Ring helps you on your journey as you unlock various weapons and experiment with different builds.

So, that’s all there is to know about how many bosses there are in Elden Ring. Be sure to check our Elden Ring page and brush up on all the latest guides below: