Elden Ring: Radagon of the Golden Order / Elden Beast (Fractured Marika) Boss Fight
Published: November 21, 2025 at 11:18:54 PM UTC
The Elden Beast is actually one tier higher than all other bosses, as it’s classified as a God, not a Demigod. It’s the only boss in the base game that has this classification, so I guess it’s in a league of its own. It’s a mandatory boss that must be defeated in order to conclude the main story of the game and choose an ending.
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.
Well, the Elden Beast is actually one tier higher, as it’s classified as a God, not a Demigod. It’s the only boss in the base game that has this classification, so I guess it’s in a league of its own. It’s a mandatory boss that must be defeated in order to conclude the main story of the game and choose an ending.
According to the somewhat convoluted lore of the game, Radagon is actually Marika’s masculine half, as they are a literal dual god-entity embodying both masculine and feminine aspects of the same divine being. This duality is one of the central enigmas of the game’s theology.
Also according to the lore, the Elden Ring was sent by an outer god, known as the Greater Will, and chose Marika as its representative to carry out its divine law. When she rebelled by shattering the Elden Ring, only the lawful, rational half of the duality (Radagon) remained and attempted to mend the Elden Ring, but failed. He remained in the Erdtree until he is encountered as part of the final boss fight.
He is a humanoid melee warrior who fights with a mace and also uses a lot of holy-based area of effect attacks. In fact, almost all of Radagon’s special attacks deal Holy damage, not physical or elemental. His golden explosions, radiant slams, and light-based projectiles are pure manifestations of the Golden Order’s divine energy. This aligns perfectly with his role as the literal embodiment of the Golden Order’s law and faith, which channels Holy energy.
His hammer strikes also include a physical component — blunt damage from the weapon’s impact — but the radiant bursts and shockwaves that follow are Holy-based. The startup hit (the moment the hammer connects) is usually physical, while the explosion or light pulse is Holy.
The reason Radagon uses Holy damage isn’t just mechanical — it’s symbolic.
He’s literally channeling the power of the Golden Order and the Greater Will, whose essence manifests as golden light (the same energy you see in the Erdtree and Holy incantations).
When Radagon is defeated, the Elden Beast emerges, not as his ally, but as a representation of the god he served. What we witness here is that the origin of the Golden Order is not a benevolent deity, but a celestial being enforcing a cold concept of order upon the world.
The Elden Beast is the more interesting part of the fight in my opinion. It resembles a huge dragon-like creature, apparently made of light and energy. It’s transparent and its insides look like constellations of stars or maybe a galaxy, which further points to its status as an over-worldly or celestial being.
Once again, it was quickly clear to me that going melee against such a huge enemy was just annoying. I couldn’t see what was going on most of the time and had a hard time avoiding the boss’s area of effect attacks, so I quickly decided to go ranged.
I defeated the Elden Beast on the first attempt I got to it (I died to Radagon once) and I actually had no idea what kind of boss it would be. If I had known, I would probably have switched some talismans around a bit to have more ranged damage and higher Holy resistance.
I used the Black Bow with Barrage Ash of War to send a lot of Arrows in the general direction of the boss. I attempted to use Serpent Arrows to get a poison damage over time effect ticking on it, but I’m not sure if I succeeded – a lot was going on and it being a godly creature and all, it may be immune to silly mortal ailments like poisoning. It’s definitely not immune to arrows to the face though.
Staying at range to have a better overview of what’s going on probably requires a spirit summon to keep the Elden Beast somewhat occupied in melee. I used Black Knife Tiche once again. I’m actually not sure how focused the boss would be on getting to melee range, as it has several ranged and area of effect attacks that it spams at every opportunity. Considering that I managed to kill the Elden Beast on the first attempt, in hindsight I think that I should probably have chosen a less formidable and perhaps more tanky spirit ash than Black Knife Tiche to get a more epic battle, but oh well. The boss is dead and that was the objective.
While fighting the Elden Beast from range, I especially found those vertical rays of holy light it summons to be dangerous, but keeping running or rolling until it’s done with that seems to do the trick and avoid embarrassing situations like the main character being killed by some random god blocking the way to destiny. When it swoops down and does high area of effect damage, it also seems to help to keep moving to avoid the worst of it.
After defeating the boss, it’s time to choose an ending for the main story of the game. Which endings are available to you depends on which questlines you have completed, but the default ending known as the “Age of Fracture” is always available. This ending occurs when you mend the Elden Ring after defeating the Elden Beast and become the Elden Lord. To achieve this, simply interact with the Fractured Marika, selecting the option to mend the ring. This is probably the most straightforward ending and the one that has been hinted to be your purpose throughout the game.
I chose not to become Elden Lord, but instead to become Ranni’s eternal consort by summoning her and thus beginning the “Age of Stars”. Doing so requires Ranni’s questline to be completed. This ending establishes a new order where the Greater Will and the Golden Order are replaced, allowing for a future without the control of outside gods and where individuals can forge their own destinies. That sounds pretty good to me.
And now for the usual boring details about my character. I play as a mostly Dexterity build. My melee weapons are the Nagakiba with Keen affinity and Thunderbolt Ash of War, and the Uchigatana also with Keen affinity. I also used the Black Bow with Serpent Arrows as well as regular Arrows in this fight. I was level 176 when this video was recorded, which I think is a bit high for this content, but it was still a reasonably fun and challenging fight. 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
Further Reading
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