Switch 2 Boss Order
& Difficulty Guide for Beginners
Last updated: August 11, 2026
One of the most common beginner questions: "Which boss should I fight next?" Elden Ring is open-world — you can go almost anywhere. But some bosses are designed for early game and others will destroy you until you're overleveled. This guide gives you a recommended progression path with zero story spoilers.
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The Lands Between doesn't lock doors. It just puts stronger things behind some of them.
Reading the badges: Warm-up teaches you something and won't ruin your evening. Fair is a real fight you'll win in a few tries. Hard means expect a session. Brutal means come back stronger.
Why Boss Order Matters
Elden Ring never tells you where to go. That freedom is the best thing about it, and the reason newcomers bounce off in the first three hours. Mechanically, sequence helps for four reasons:
- Bosses are your biggest rune payouts, so clearing them roughly in order keeps your level matched to enemy damage.
- Weapon upgrades beat levels early. A +6 weapon at level 30 kills faster than a +2 at level 50, and Smithing Stones are region-gated.
- Flask upgrades hide in the overworld. Rush a boss and you fight it with a starter belt.
- Bosses gate the map. Godrick opens the north, Rennala the road to Altus, Morgott the endgame.
The honest caveat: this is a sandbox. You can walk past anything and return at level 90 to flatten what humiliated you at 25. This is simply the smoothest path.
The Golden Rules
- If it one-shots you consistently, you're in the wrong place. Go explore, come back later.
- Explore before you commit. Every stone you find shortens the fight.
- Spirit Ashes are not shameful. Get the Spirit Calling Bell from the witch at the Church of Elleh at night, then use your summons.
- Vigor is the beginner stat. Not Strength, not Intelligence. Aim for 25-30 by Stormveil, 40 before Leyndell.
- Some zones are meant to hurt. Caelid, the red rot region, is not a level 10 destination.
- Two-hand your weapon when stuck. It multiplies Strength by 1.5 and staggers enemies faster.
The Full Recommended Order
The whole run in one view. Optional fights are marked — worth doing, but nothing breaks if you skip them.
| Boss | Area | Difficulty | Beginner tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier of Godrick | Cave of Knowledge (tutorial) | Warm-up | You're meant to die here. Roll behind him, hit twice, repeat. |
| Beastman of Farum Azula | Groveside Cave, Limgrave | Warm-up | Learn to roll through him, not away. |
| Erdtree Burial Watchdog | Stormfoot Catacombs, Limgrave | Warm-up | Slow and telegraphed. Catacombs like this hide Spirit Ashes. |
| Flying Dragon Agheel (optional) | Agheel Lake, Limgrave | Fair | Fight from Torrent's saddle. Hit the legs, ride out when it inhales. |
| Bloodhound Knight Darriwil (optional) | Forlorn Hound Evergaol, Limgrave | Fair | Touch Blaidd's summon sign outside. Drops Bloodhound's Fang. |
| Tree Sentinel (optional) | Outside The First Step, Limgrave | Hard | Skip him. At level 30+ he's a clean kill and a great confidence check. |
| Leonine Misbegotten (optional) | Castle Morne, Weeping Peninsula | Fair | Aggressive but readable. Drops the Grafted Blade Greatsword. |
| Margit, the Fell Omen | Stormhill, outside Stormveil | Hard | Level 25-30, weapon +3. Summon Rogier at the door; use Margit's Shackle. |
| Godrick the Grafted | Stormveil Castle | Hard | Level 30-40. Summon Nepheli Loux. His grab deletes low-Vigor builds. |
| Red Wolf of Radagon | Raya Lucaria Academy, Liurnia | Fair | Low HP, very fast. Don't trade — punish the end of a combo. |
| Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon | Raya Lucaria Academy | Fair | Phase one is a puzzle: hit the glowing scholar. Winning unlocks respeccing. |
| Royal Knight Loretta (optional) | Caria Manor, Liurnia | Fair | An honest duel with no gimmicks. Best dodging practice in the region. |
| Magma Wyrm Makar (optional route) | Ruin-Strewn Precipice, Liurnia | Fair | One of two roads up to Altus. Stay under its chest. |
| Starscourge Radahn (optional timing) | Wailing Dunes, Caelid | Brutal | Touch every NPC sign in the arena and ride Torrent. Most first-timers return at 60+. |
| Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy | Volcano Manor, Mt. Gelmir | Fair | Grab the Serpent-Hunter greatspear on the way in. It turns this fight around completely. |
| Draconic Tree Sentinel (optional) | Capital Outskirts | Hard | You can ride straight past him. If you fight, hug the mount and watch the lightning wind-up. |
| Godfrey, the First Elden Lord (shade) | Leyndell, Royal Capital | Hard | One phase, big damage, generous openings. Good rhythm practice. |
| Morgott, the Omen King | Leyndell, Royal Capital | Hard | The real wall. 40 Vigor and a +15 (or +7 somber) weapon before you knock. |
| Fire Giant | Mountaintops of the Giants | Hard | Torrent works here. Kill the ankle in phase one, keep circling in phase two. |
| Maliketh, the Black Blade | Crumbling Farum Azula | Brutal | His blade cuts your max HP. Spacing saves you, healing won't. |
| Godfrey / Hoarah Loux | Leyndell, Ashen Capital | Hard | Phase two grapples. Stay mid-range, punish the stomp, don't panic-roll inward. |
| Radagon & the Elden Beast | Erdtree | Brutal | Two bosses back to back. Bring holy resistance and a ranged option. |
| Mohg, Lord of Blood (optional) | Mohgwyn Palace | Brutal | His ritual phase nearly one-shots you. Drink a Purifying Crystal Tear first. |
| Commander Niall (optional) | Castle Sol, Mountaintops | Brutal | Kill his two spirit knights immediately or it's three-on-one forever. |
| Malenia, Blade of Miquella (optional) | Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree | Brutal | She heals off every hit she lands, even blocked ones. Level 100+. |
Limgrave & Weeping Peninsula (Levels 1-25)
Spend real time here. Everything you do in Limgrave is cheap; everything later is expensive.
Ride to the Church of Elleh, buy from Kalé, and return at night for the Spirit Calling Bell — that one item changes the whole difficulty curve. Then clear a couple of caves. The Beastman of Farum Azula and the Erdtree Burial Watchdog are slow, fair fights that teach the two skills you actually need: rolling through attacks rather than away, and resisting one more swing.
The Tree Sentinel parked outside the first Site of Grace is bait. Walk around him. When Limgrave feels manageable, cross the Bridge of Sacrifice south — the Weeping Peninsula is the gentlest region in the game and Castle Morne sits at the bottom of it.
Margit and Godrick (Levels 25-40)
Margit is where Elden Ring stops being polite. His attacks are deliberately delayed to punish players who learned to dodge on rhythm, and he adds a dagger flurry the moment you get comfortable.
What works: level 25-30, weapon at +3 or better, Vigor around 25. Touch Sorcerer Rogier's summon sign left of the arena entrance, and stack a Spirit Ash on top. If you've dealt with Patches in Murkwater Cave, buy Margit's Shackle — using it staggers Margit twice and hands you two free damage windows.
Inside Stormveil, explore before the throne room — the castle is dense with Smithing Stones and Golden Seeds. At Godrick's door, look for Nepheli Loux's summon sign; she's aggressive and soaks attention. Phase one is axe swings you'll learn in three attempts. Phase two adds fire, reach, and a grab that deletes low-Vigor characters. If that grab is what keeps killing you, that's not skill — put five levels into Vigor.
Liurnia and the Academy (Levels 35-50)
The lift down from Stormveil drops you into Liurnia and the curve briefly relaxes. Use it.
The Red Wolf of Radagon is a small, twitchy, magic-slinging dog with little health. Stop trying to trade hits — watch a full combo, punish the recovery, disengage. Rennala behind him is the friendliest major boss in the game and the most misunderstood: her students shield her while one glows, so hit the glowing one and she drops for free hits.
Caria Manor to the northwest is optional and worth it. Royal Knight Loretta is a straight duel with no adds and no gimmicks. Beat her without summons and you're ready for Leyndell's difficulty band.
Caelid and Volcano Manor
Caelid is the red rot zone east of Limgrave, and the game will happily teleport you there in hour two via a trap chest. If that happens, run for a Site of Grace and fast-travel out.
Starscourge Radahn is the most flexible fight in this guide. He's available surprisingly early and his arena is scattered with NPC summon signs — but he's also a giant on horseback firing gravity arrows across the battlefield. Fight him at 40 and you'll suffer. Come back at 60-70, mounted, with every sign touched, and he goes down in a few attempts.
Volcano Manor holds the best example of exploration beating grinding. Rykard looks unbeatable at your level, but the Serpent-Hunter greatspear lies on a corpse on the path to his arena. It's built to hurt him, it works regardless of build, and it turns a spectacle boss into a comfortable win.
Leyndell and the Endgame (Levels 50-80)
The Capital Outskirts introduce the Draconic Tree Sentinel — the upgraded cousin of the knight who bullied you in hour one. Torrent is faster than he is and the gate is right there, so he's optional in practice.
Inside Leyndell you'll face a golden shade of Godfrey, then Morgott. Morgott is the last hard gate before the endgame, and he separates players who invested in Vigor from players who didn't. Target 40 Vigor, weapon at +15 (or +7 somber), and a Spirit Ash you trust. One extra greedy swing is how most attempts end.
After that the game opens up: Fire Giant, Crumbling Farum Azula, Maliketh, Hoarah Loux, then Radagon and the Elden Beast. You'll have your own instincts by then, so the short version — Vigor to 60, max one weapon instead of half-upgrading four.
Three optional bosses exist mainly to humble people. Commander Niall summons two spirit knights, so burn them down fast. Mohg's scripted blood ritual is negated by a Purifying Crystal Tear. Malenia heals from every hit she lands, including blocked ones, and her Waterfowl Dance has killed more Tarnished than anything else in the game. Finish the game first, then visit her.
Where Shadow of the Erdtree Fits
Two practical points. Entry is gated through Mohg's arena, so you need both Mohg and Radahn dead, and neither is a beginner fight. And the expansion runs on its own power curve: Scadutree Blessings and Revered Spirit Ash fragments found inside the Land of Shadow, not your character level. A level 150 character with no blessings gets flattened; a level 100 character with a healthy count does fine.
Messmer the Impaler and the rest of that roster are tuned for players who already speak the base game's language. Finish the Lands Between, then cross over.
Areas to Avoid Early
- Caelid — enemies hit like trucks, and Scarlet Rot drains you while you run.
- Mountaintops of the Giants — assumes level 70+.
- Consecrated Snowfield / Haligtree — endgame. Not before 80.
- Deeproot Depths / Lake of Rot — mid-late game with nasty hazards.
- Land of Shadow — post-Mohg content with its own upgrade currency.
Are You Ready for This Boss?
Died to the same boss ten times with no progress? Two options: keep practising, or go somewhere else, level up, upgrade, and return. Option two isn't quitting — it's how the game is built, and it's why so many first-timers actually finish this one.
Four Checks Before Any Gate Boss
- Weapon at the region's upgrade cap? Stones matter more than levels.
- Vigor on target? 25 for Stormveil, 40 for Leyndell, 60 for the endgame.
- Flasks split correctly? Melee wants most charges in health — rebalance at any grace.
- Summons ready? Ash equipped, and check both sides of the fog for NPC signs.
Switch 2-Specific Boss Tips
- Handheld: the 7.9-inch 1080p screen is sharp, but a distant boss is physically small. Fight closer so you can read wind-ups.
- Docked: up to 4K on a TV means more warning. If a boss keeps killing you with an attack you "never see," dock it.
- Pro Controller over Joy-Con: the sticks and triggers are simply more precise for dodge timing.
- Pick the smoother mode. Frame consistency helps dodge timing more than resolution — see our performance guide.
- Grind handheld, fight gates docked. Clear caves on the couch; save the wall bosses for the big screen.