Elden Ring: Cemetery Shade (Tombsward Catacombs) Boss Fight

Published: March 3, 2025 at 9:07:23 PM UTC
Last updated: February 2, 2026 at 3:11:03 PM UTC

Cemetery Shade is some sort of pitch black and very evil spirit that lurks inside the Tombsward Catacombs, just waiting for unwary Tarnished to come close. It has very high damage output if you get caught in one of its combos, but on the plus side it appears to be highly vulnerable to holy damage.



I apologize for the picture quality of this video – the recording settings had somehow gotten reset, and I didn't realize this until I was about to edit the video. I hope it's tolerable, nonetheless.

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

Cemetery Shade is in the lowest tier, Field Bosses, and is the end boss of the short dungeon Tombsward Catacombs.

Cemetery Shade is some sort of pitch black and very evil spirit that lurks inside the catacombs, just waiting for unwary Tarnished to come close. It has very high damage output if you get caught in one of its combos, but on the plus side it appears to be highly vulnerable to holy damage, as the use of the Sacred Blade Ash of War on my spear made short work of it, hence this very short video.

Apart from the huge amounts of damage it dishes out, what makes this fight somewhat difficult is that the shade often disappears and reappears, teleporting around and breaking your lock-on. If you've watched my video on the Twin Princes in Dark Souls III, you know how I feel about teleportation, although this shade isn't nearly as annoying with it.

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Fan art inspired by this boss fight

Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the Cemetery Shade boss in a dark stone catacomb just before battle begins.
Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the Cemetery Shade boss in a dark stone catacomb just before battle begins.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind confronting the Cemetery Shade in a dark catacomb corridor.
Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind confronting the Cemetery Shade in a dark catacomb corridor.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime style fan art showing the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind confronting the Cemetery Shade in a wide catacomb chamber.
Anime style fan art showing the Tarnished in Black Knife armor seen from behind confronting the Cemetery Shade in a wide catacomb chamber.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the Cemetery Shade at close distance inside a torchlit stone catacomb.
Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the Cemetery Shade at close distance inside a torchlit stone catacomb.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the Cemetery Shade at close range in a wide torchlit catacomb corridor.
Anime style fan art of the Tarnished in Black Knife armor facing the Cemetery Shade at close range in a wide torchlit catacomb corridor.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

Anime style fan art in an isometric view showing the Tarnished in Black Knife armor confronting the Cemetery Shade in a torchlit stone catacomb.
Anime style fan art in an isometric view showing the Tarnished in Black Knife armor confronting the Cemetery Shade in a torchlit stone catacomb.
Click or tap the image for more information and higher resolutions.

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Mikkel Christensen

About the Author

Mikkel Christensen
Mikkel is the creator and owner of miklix.com. He has over 20 years experience as a professional computer programmer/software developer and is currently employed full-time for a large European IT corporation. When not blogging, he spends his spare time on a vast array of interests, hobbies, and activities, which may to some extent be reflected in the variety of topics covered on this website.