The 10 Easiest Bosses in Elden Ring Ranked

Easiest bosses in Elden Ring

FromSoftware’s daunting new open world adventure is one of its hardest yet. The Lands Between is home to some incredibly terrifying, intimidating, and destructive beings hell-bent on killing the lowly Tarnished protagonist over and over again, but there are also some much less challenging foes on the journey to becoming Elden Lord. From non-threatening side dungeon bosses to open-world encounters that trusty horse companion Torrent can trivialize, here are some of the most straightforward and easiest bosses in Elden Ring!

Honorable Mention — Soldier of Godrick

Without a doubt the easiest boss fight in Elden Ring, Soldier of Godrick stands waiting at the end of the Cave of Knowledge tutorial area as a final test of skill before entering the open world. With almost no threatening attacks and a health bar that can be depleted within seconds, Soldier of Godrick is so trivial that it’s hardly worth the title of boss fight in the first place. For this reason, this pathetic soldier’s attempt at ending the protagonist’s journey early doesn’t make the full list, but the attempt should be honored nonetheless. Nice try, Soldier of Godrick. There’s always New Game Plus.

10. Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy

By far the most intimidating boss on this list, Praetor Rykard’s true form is a colossal serpentine monstrosity steeped in the blasphemous arts. Initially, it seems impossible to overcome given the pool of lava that follows the boss around the arena, making it difficult for melee builds to get too close without baiting out attacks, but thankfully there is a much easier solution. As the player first steps through the fog wall, there’s a Serpent-Hunter weapon waiting to be collected that imbues all its regular attacks with enormous sweeping arcs of powerful wind that can damage the snake from afar.

This weapon is designed specifically for the boss fight ahead, and it is intended to be used to this effect. It makes the fight considerably easier so long as players can sufficiently dodge Rykard’s multitude of sword sweeps and magic attacks. Things take a chaotic turn when Rykard begins raining down dozens of apocalyptic skull monsters with homing capabilities, but if the Tarnished can keep a cool head under pressure then the boss can be whittled down in a matter of minutes. To make things even easier, the Serpent-Hunter can be upgraded at the blacksmith to deal considerably more damage, making this fight a tricky but surprisingly straightforward way to earn a sweet 120,000 Runes.

9. Tree Sentinel

While Margit, the Fell Omen is the first major boss that players usually come across, Tree Sentinel is almost always the very first boss enemy encountered in the game. Located only a stone’s throw away from the First Step site of grace, Tree Sentinel is an intimidating foe patrolling near the Church of Elleh and it’s incredibly easy to get stuck trying to kill him as early as possible before proceeding forward. This is not the intended way to fight the Tree Sentinel, instead teaching players the importance of coming back later with better gear and more experience with the game.

The reason why it’s so vital to come back later is that once Melina grants players the spirit steed Torrent, it can be used with great success to make Tree Sentinel a considerably more manageable boss. Evening the playing field by also being on horseback, Torrent allows a hit-and-run strategy not unlike what the mounted foe is already capable of. Tree Sentinel is a tough battle on foot, especially early in the game since his attacks can deal a devastating amount of health, but the use of some early-game tools can make the boss a memorable and remarkably simple fight.

8. Leonine Misbegotten

It would seem that, following the conclusion of Dark Souls 3’s epic story in The Ringed City DLC expansion, FromSoftware thought it would be entertaining to make one of the early-game bosses in Elden Ring share much of the same moveset as the final boss of the Dark Souls trilogy. Don’t fret, however, because while Leonine Misbegotten jumps around and launches into terrifying slams and slashes with his greatsword, his health bar isn’t that large and the moveset doesn’t pull any surprises out of thin air unlike other bosses in The Lands Between. This makes things refreshingly uncomplicated. Barring a few delayed attacks, rolling always works to create distance from attacks, and there are numerous windows to counterattack so long as the Misbegotten doesn’t leap away to safety. He even returns as a regular enemy much later in the game, truly cementing his status as one of the easiest bosses in Elden Ring.

7. Erdtree Avatar

See a Minor Erdtree in the distance? Chances are one of these wooden Asylum Demon lookalikes is sitting around at the base of the tree waiting to pick a fight. Thankfully, this is precisely the Erdtree Avatar’s downfall — there are plenty of them around the world, allowing players to practice against them on numerous occasions. The Erdtree Avatar deals high damage with each slow swing of its staff, but after a few attempts these can be dodged very consistently and there are few surprises in store unless you count the Putrid Avatar’s slam attack that spews Scarlet Rot all over the floor in front of it. These bosses can be fought on horseback to avoid some of the long-range staff attacks, but if Erdtree Avatar lands a hit on Torrent it can stagger him and lead the Tarnished to an early grave. A risky strategy, but still easy to pull off when there’s plenty of open space nearby.

6. Ancestor Spirit

By far one of the most beautiful encounters in Elden Ring, Ancestor Spirit is a fight with a mystical other-worldly setting against a majestic beast with a variety of magical attacks. This battle is generally more focused on delivering an engaging spectacle than being a boss that will kick the player’s teeth in, so naturally, it does not end up being massively challenging. It does require concentration to not fall victim to the variety of magic attacks that Ancestor Spirit conjures up, but frankly, the area that precedes this encounter is more difficult than that boss itself thanks to the endless sniper bulls that fire at you from a hundred meters away. Overall, Ancestor Spirit is the culmination of one of the game’s most beautiful regions, Siofra River, and delivers a compelling fight without requiring a huge amount of effort or many attempts to succeed.

5. Grave Warden Duelist

Another melee-only boss fight found very early in the game who can also crop up later on in more dangerous forms, Grave Warden Duelist is an intimidating-looking foe but not a terribly difficult one because of his simplistic moveset. In a game that features many highly erratic bosses with frighteningly diverse attack patterns, it’s somewhat nice to get to the end of a side dungeon and come across what is essentially a large man with a helmet and a hammer. In true Dark Souls fashion, this boss swings away at the player and can do a couple of charging attacks that are dodged with relative ease, and isn’t intense enough to warrant the necessity of spirit summons to even the battlefield. For such an early-game encounter it’s balanced very well, and shouldn’t be much of an obstacle for even the lowliest of Tarnished. Plus he drops his hammer, which is great for Strength builds going forwards.

4. Stonedigger Troll

Elden Ring features a huge variety of giant enemies, some of which can be encountered in the first hour of the game as players explore the opening area of Limgrave. These foes feel powerful initially, but upon the realization that standing behind them and swinging away at their legs will make them topple over for a critical hit, they suddenly become much less daunting. The Stonedigger Troll fight at the end of the Limgrave Tunnels plays exactly like this. He’s dangerous if the protagonist is standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, but rolling under him to deliver a swift punishment with a generous window of opportunity is the key to almost immediate success. Part of the difficulty comes from fighting in an enclosed space, but as long as players don’t find themselves backed against a wall this boss should go down in only a few attempts.

3. Mad Pumpkin Head

Anyone wishing for an audience with the great sorceress Sellen in Limgrave’s Waypoint Ruins will have to first face the mighty and terrifying Mad Pumpkin Head, a deadly foe that can also be found roaming the open world as regular enemies fairly close by and are not that threatening. As the name suggests, Mad Pumpkin Head fights by slamming its large head into the ground repeatedly while also sporting a flail that can catch the Tarnished off-guard and deal Bleed build-up.

If these mechanics were on a more powerful enemy this would be a recipe for disaster, but Mad Pumpkin Head’s boss fight presents very little danger. With only a small health bar and a limited attack range, the fight should be over in mere minutes or even seconds regardless of player build. Hitting the pumpkin head directly won’t deal much damage, but otherwise the boss is fairly weak and rewards players for getting behind it to strike deadly blows while dodging the flail attacks. The reward for overcoming this fairly minor adversary is the ability to learn some excellent sorceries from Sellen, making Mad Pumpkin Head both an easy and satisfying encounter.

2. Tibia Mariner

The Tibia Mariner is a little ghost man in a little ghost boat that has the ability to surf around very slowly and occasionally summon weak skeleton enemies as backup. This is excellent. It is also, however, quite trivially easy since the Mariner barely does anything threatening throughout the duration of the fight. Instead, players get to enjoy the easy spectacle of beating up a slow-moving ghost who appears to be generally having a really nice time sailing around the small lakes of the overworld.

There are multiple Tibia Mariners in the world, but the first one that is usually encountered is in Summonwater Village in eastern Limgrave. Featuring a wide range of very slow attacks with huge telegraphs that let you walk away or dodge at ease, the Mariner is nothing but a minor inconvenience that can be quite fun to watch. His skeleton allies are dispatched quickly, and ensuring to hit the skeletons again when they’ve fallen down will make certain that they don’t rise again to cause greater mischief. This fight is both entertaining and satisfying while being a refreshingly relaxing experience in a world seemingly always focused on killing players with great efficiency.

1. Mimic Tear

There is something either highly philosophical or downright hilarious about the fact that the easiest boss in Elden Ring is arguably against yourself. Mimic Tear is a small blob of an enemy that can transform at will, taking the form of the player character with the ability to use all currently equipped weapons at its disposal. What makes this an incredibly easy boss is the knowledge that the boss quite literally cannot do anything that you also cannot do, while having an imperfect AI brain that will make more mistakes than the player at this point in the game.

Every single attack that Mimic Tear does is a direct reflection of attacks that players have seen countless hundreds of times throughout their journey in the Lands Between. There are no surprises here because it would be impossible to surprise. It is the only fight in the game that the Tarnished has already learned inside-out before even reaching the encounter in the first place. The reward for killing your doppelganger isn’t much by itself, but shortly afterward the Mimic Tear ashes can be found which allows access to summoning the most powerful spirit in the game: a direct copy of the player character. Enjoy your new godlike powers, you’ve earned them.

READ MORE: The Ten Hardest Bosses in Elden Ring