The right boss order for Shadow of the Erdtree
The short answer
- Go Dancing Lion → Rellana → Messmer → Romina → Radahn. Those five unlock each other in that order.
- Aim for Scadutree Blessing 8–10 before Messmer and 15+ before the final fight.
- Everything else on the map is optional — but three of them give fragments you will want.
The DLC does not tell you where to go. You walk into Belurat under-levelled, get flattened by a dancing lion, and spend the next four hours wandering a map that is somehow bigger than Limgrave. This page is the shortest path through it, plus the detours that are actually worth taking.
Before you start
Two numbers decide whether a boss fight is hard or impossible, and neither of them is your character level:
- Scadutree Blessing — the DLC's own scaling. Fragments are scattered across the map and in every legacy dungeon. If a boss is deleting you in two hits, you are probably two blessing levels behind, not bad at the game.
- Revered Spirit Ash — same idea, but for summons. These are worth hunting down even if you never summon, because the fragments often sit next to Scadutree fragments.
Practical tip: a character level of 150 with blessing 5 will lose to a level 120 character with blessing 12. Level your blessing first — it takes an afternoon of riding around and it trivialises the early bosses.
The required order
These five gate each other. You cannot reach the next area without beating the one before it.
| # | Boss | Where | Blessing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Divine Beast Dancing Lion | Belurat, Tower Settlement | 0–2 |
| 2 | Rellana, Twin Moon Knight | Castle Ensis | 3–5 |
| 3 | Messmer the Impaler | Shadow Keep, Specimen Storehouse | 8–10 |
| 4 | Romina, Saint of the Bud | Ancient Ruins of Rauh | 10–12 |
| 5 | Promised Consort Radahn | Enir-Ilim | 15+ |
1. Divine Beast Dancing Lion
The first real wall, and the fight that teaches you the DLC's rhythm: long, readable wind-ups followed by three-hit chains. Stay close to its front legs and punish after the second chain, not the first. The lightning phase is the one that kills people — when the arena darkens, get out from under it and stop attacking.
2. Rellana, Twin Moon Knight
Fast, aggressive, and she punishes healing more than anything else. Two things help: fight her in the open half of the room so you are not pinned, and jump over the double-slash that ends her combos. Her fire-and-moon phase is a damage race — heal during the gap after the moon slam, never mid-combo.
3. Messmer the Impaler
The DLC's midpoint and its difficulty spike. Messmer's snake phase adds a second hitbox that arrives after the animation you are watching, which is why he feels unfair the first ten attempts. Hug his left side, dodge into him rather than away, and treat every snake follow-up as a separate attack.
Do not skip the Shadow Keep. Messmer unlocks the sealing tree, and the sealing tree is the only way into Rauh. Players who run to the Ancient Ruins early will find the door closed.
Optional bosses worth doing
You can finish the DLC without these. You probably should not.
| Boss | Location | Why bother |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Hippopotamus | Shadow Keep main gate | Gates the keep; drops fragments |
| Bayle the Dread | Jagged Peak | Best dragon fight in the game, huge fragment reward |
| Metyr, Mother of Fingers | Finger Ruins of Rhia | Unlocks a shortcut and a remembrance weapon |
| Putrescent Knight | Stone Coffin Fissure | Leads to a Scadutree fragment cluster |
| Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame | Midra's Manse | Optional area, strong reward, no story gate |
What you can safely leave for last
Three fights are commonly attempted too early because the map funnels you toward them: Bayle, Midra, and the Putrescent Knight. All three sit in side areas with their own blessing expectations. If any of them is a two-hit kill, leave, collect fragments, come back — the DLC is generous with them once you stop following the main road.
Before the final fight
Promised Consort Radahn is the hardest thing FromSoftware has shipped, and the blessing gap matters more here than anywhere else. Two checks before you commit:
- Blessing at 15 or higher. Below that, his phase-two combo will out-damage any build. Fragment hunting in Rauh and the Shadow Keep will get you there.
- One reliable ranged answer. Even a throwing knife. The fight has windows where melee cannot reach him, and standing still during them is how runs end.
- Decide on summons before you enter. Changing your mind at 20% is worse than committing at the start.
Last thing: patches have adjusted several of these fights since launch. If a specific attack pattern in this guide no longer matches what you see, trust the game — and check the patch number in the page footer before assuming the guide is wrong.