Elden Ring: Bayle the Dread (Jagged Peak) Boss Fight (SOTE)

As you probably know, bosses in Elden Ring are divided into three tiers. From lowest to highest: Field Bosses, Greater Enemy Bosses and finally Demigods and Legends.

Bayle the Dread is in the highest tier, Legendary Bosses, and is found at the top of the Jagged Peak area in the Land of Shadow. It is an optional boss in the sense that it is not required to defeat it in order to progress the main story of the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

So, I finally made it to the top of the jagged peak after having obtained intelligence on the location of the big boss of dragons, whom I want to confront about the infestation of drakes and dragons who have nothing else on their mind than trying to eat me.

I suppose that this boss being called “Bayle the Dread” and just not “Bayle” is not a great sign. I mean, of all the dreadful things in this world, this is the one called “the Dread”. You’d have to be pretty dreadful to earn that title. Well, once I’m done with him, he’ll be known as “Bayle the Dead” and I’ll be known as “the one who points and laughs at a dead dragon”.

As I had previously encountered Drake Warrior Igon and obtained his furled finger, I could summon him for assistance in this fight, which I chose to do. Although I rarely summoned NPCs in the base game, I often felt like I missed part of their story by not including them, so in Shadow of the Erdtree I’m summoning them whenever they are available, even though they sometimes make bosses harder.

Regarding this particular NPC, Drake Warrior Igon has spent a lot of time in the Land of Shadow howling about his injuries and cursing Bayle’s existence, so I figured it would be a nice and noble gesture on my part to allow him to participate. Afterall, I’m nothing if not nice and noble. And just as one might expect, Igon seemed revitalized at the prospect of combat and certainly had a lot of curse words to say to Bayle face to face. It wasn’t pretty, but we all felt they needed to be said.

I also summoned my preferred spirit ash when tanking is required, Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff. I had tried using my usual sidekick, Black Knife Tiche, on previous attempts, but’s she’s just too squishy and dies too quickly from Bayle’s massive area of effect attacks. Also, it seems fitting that a dragon knight should help me fight a dragon.

Right, as far as dragons go, this particular specimen is definitely on the nastier end of the spectrum. He’s huge, hits unpleasantly hard, and has both long range and massive area of effect attacks to ruin one’s day. And he does try to ruin one’s day a lot; he actually has quite a bad attitude towards visitors to his peak.

One might have hoped to have a civil discussion with him about how unreasonable it is that all his minions are trying to come up with plans to have me as their next meal, but then one would be disappointed. In fact, it appears that my presence in Bayle’s lair only inspired him to have me as an appetizer himself, so once again talk was cheap and glorious battle was the only way forward. Which is fortunate, since all my battles are obviously glorious.

After a number of failed tactics (which were still glorious, just not glorious enough), I ended up once again relying on my favorite dragon attitude readjustment tool, the Bolt of Gransax. Considering how bad this particular dragon’s attitude was, it seemed like just the right thing. I suppose other forms of ranged damage dealing could work as well, but against dragons, Bolt of Gransax is the best I have.

When fighting Bayle ranged, the fight mostly becomes a matter of staying out of reach of his melee attacks and trying to avoid his breath attacks. The most dangerous parts are when he flies up into the air only to breathe more fire or come crashing down, at which point it’s highly recommended to be somewhere else unless you want to be flattened by a huge dragon’s behind.

Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff tanked him beautifully and kept himself alive very well. Just be careful not to get too far away from him, as he will then come running back towards you. And not alone, but with a huge and very grumpy dragon trailing him.

I’m not really sure if the Bolt of Gransax actually does bonus damage to this dragon, but at least I for once remembered to wear the Godfrey Icon and Shard of Alexander talismans to boost it some. In the end, it was sufficient as Bayle the Dread is now Bayle the Dead and I’m the one pointing and laughing out loud.

And now for the usual boring details about my character. I play as a mostly Dexterity build. My melee weapons are the Hand of Malenia and the Uchigatana with Keen affinity, but I mostly used the Bolt of Gransax in this fight. I was level 206 and Scadutree Blessing 11 when this video was recorded, which I think is reasonable for this boss. I’m always looking for the sweet spot where it’s not mind-numbing easy mode, but also not so difficult that I will be stuck on the same boss for hours ;-)

Fan art inspired by this boss fight

Anime-style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor confronting the colossal Bayle the Dread on the fiery slopes of Jagged Peak just before battle. Click or tap the image for more information.

Anime-style fan art showing the Tarnished from behind on the left, facing the colossal Bayle the Dread on a fiery volcanic battlefield just before combat. Click or tap the image for more information.

Wide anime-style scene of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind on the left, facing the colossal Bayle the Dread in a fiery volcanic valley at sunset. Click or tap the image for more information.

Realistic fantasy scene of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind, facing the massive Bayle the Dread in a volcanic valley at sunset. Click or tap the image for more information.

Dark fantasy scene of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind, dwarfed by the colossal Bayle the Dread in a volcanic valley at sunset. Click or tap the image for more information.

Elevated isometric view of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the colossal Bayle the Dread in a volcanic valley at sunset. Click or tap the image for more information.

Further Reading

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• Elden Ring: Godskin Apostle (Divine Tower of Caelid) Boss Fight
• Elden Ring: Stonedigger Troll (Limgrave Tunnels) Boss Fight
• Elden Ring: Fire Giant (Mountaintops of the Giants) Boss Fight