Just like with any other FromSoftware-type game, Elden Ring has a ton of difficult bosses. Some of them, like Radahn, feel purposely unfair in a way that players feel like they've "overcome" something in order to beat them.
While others, like the Fire Giant, are a bit more centered around being health sponges. In both examples, there are hundreds of ways to approach these bosses, including some exploits. Let's talk about some of the hardest bosses in Elden Ring that are sort of trivialized by a simple trick or item usage, as it's always interesting to see how easily these enemies can be "broken down."
7 Use Crystal Darts On The Duo Erdtree Burial Watchdogs
Let's start things off simple with one of the easier boss encounters on this list, the Duo Erdtree Burial Watchdog fight in the Minor Erdtree Catacombs of Caelid. That said, this is a duo encounter, so it's not "that" easy.
The Watchdogs constantly have attacks that are overlapping, can easily combo players from 100 to 0 percent uninterrupted, and do some pretty absurd damage for the area they're in. Thankfully, there's a simple way to make this fight at least half as difficult, and it involves bringing in some Crystal Darts.
As it turns out, the Crystal Darts, a throwing Consumable, "Frenzy" Golem-type enemies if they're hit with enough of them. When Frenzied, these Golems can now take damage from their allies and shift their aggro to whoever gets close to them. So, players can walk into the Duo Watchdog fight, chuck a couple of Darts at the Watchdog they enjoy fighting the least, and then watch the two bosses duke it out before finishing off the winner.
6 Trick Radahn, The Starscourge, Into Drowning Himself
The Radahn fight in Elden Ring is one of the most atmospheric of the franchise by far. It's not just that Radahn is this "god warrior" worshipped by those in Caelid, or that his arena takes up a significant portion of the Caelid map, or even how big he is. No, it's mostly due to the fact that Radahn's boss fight truly feels like a "campaign" to take down this unstoppable being. But, is there any way to "cheese" this unstoppable being? Yes, and it's hilarious.
To do this, simply fight Radahn legitimately until the part of his second phase where he jumps up into the sky and crashes back down like a meteor. If players just kite Radahn over to any of the edges of the arena that have a dropoff into the ocean, there's a high chance that Radahn will land back down right on the edge before falling into the sea and drowning.
5 Double Serpent-Slaying Spear Rykard With A Mimic Tear
Next up is a little trick that will make the Serpent King want to add both the player and their mimic to his "family." Let's be real, the Mimic Tear summon already breaks a lot of the boss fights in Elden Ring. It's absurdly tanky, copies the player's stats and equipment, and is relatively cheap to use too.
But, the fight against Rykard is one of the few fights in the game where the Mimic Tear shouldn't make it a cakewalk. This is meant to be a "gimmick weapon" fight like the Storm King from Demon's Souls or Yorn the Giant King in Dark Souls 3. All of its attacks toward the Demigod of Blasphemy have this "wind" aura around them that give the Spear absurd damage and range.
And, if the player equips the Spear before summoning their Mimic Tear, the Mimic will also be using the Serpent-Slaying Spear, making the fight even more of a cakewalk. Rykard gets interrupted in his animations pretty often with just a single Spear, but with two, he might as well not be able to attack at all.
4 Ruin Malenia's Waterfowl Dance With A Freezing Pot
Now, this next one doesn't exactly "trivialize" the Melania fight, as nothing really can (especially if certain glitches occur). Yes, a full Bleed build with Rivers of Blood can make it a lot easier, but players still have to survive to get those bleed procs off. And, the main culprit of most deaths against the Valkyrie of Scarlet Rot is her Waterfowl Dance attack. This absurd four-part combo of blade slashes is so incredibly difficult to dodge reliably and the time players have to react to it before she starts swinging is minimal.
But, how many people know there's actually a great way to cancel her Waterfowl Dance altogether in the form of Freezing Pots? To explain it as quickly as possible, both Freeze and Bleed stagger enemies when they fill up completely and "trigger," including Melania. And, when she's staggered, this cancels whatever attack she was about to use. Well, it only takes a single Freezing Pot hit to proc Frostbite on her (usually), meaning that if players just toss the instant they see her jump for her Waterfowl Dance, they'll knock Malenia out of this tedious attack and get a free damage reduction debuff against her in the form of Frostbite.
3 Poison The Draconic Tree Sentinel
Okay, this next one is just funny, as it requires just as much patience as a standard battle against the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Essentially, the first Draconic Tree Sentinel players will be up against in Elden Ring is the one blocking the way to the East Ramparts of the Leyndell Royal Capital. And, to be fair, the Draconic variation of this boss is no joke (not like the default Tree Sentinel is either), as its attacks hit harder and it imbues itself with Lightning halfway through the fight which increases its damage even further.
Thankfully, there's an easy way around this. Because the Draconic Tree Sentinel is a "field boss," meaning it has no enclosed arena, players can just be extra cautious and sneak around in the surrounding foliage to get behind it. Then, once behind it, they can use Poison Mist, an Incantation that deals no direct damage and therefore won't aggro enemies, to Poison the Tree Sentinel and its horse from behind. From here, all players have to do is wait, refreshing the Poison every now and again with another cast of Poison Mist. Though, be forewarned that this can take between twenty and thirty minutes to do.
2 Stagger-Lock Rennala Using Demi-Human Spirit Ashes
This next suggestion is likely one that a lot of players stumbled across accidentally, but it is one of the better tricks in Elden Ring. Throughout all of FromSoftware's titles, there are numerous difficult bosses that are human such as Lady Maria of the Clocktower in Bloodborne or Sister Friede in Dark Souls 3. In these examples, the boss itself is incredibly fast and powerful but in exchange, they're also easily staggerable.
Well, this is true for Rennala in Elden Ring as well. Her first phase obviously doesn't need any tips, as it's pretty simple, but her second phase is much more involved. But, if the player uses one of the numerous Spirit Ash summons that calls in a group of allies against Rennala's second phase (the Demi-Human Ashes in particular), Rennala is almost constantly staggered or Stance Broken out of all her casting animations, making it very easy to just overwhelm her with attacks, beat her, and claim her very fashionable armor set from Enia.
1 Tuck The Godskin Duo In With Sleep Items & Weapons
The Godskin Duo fight in Faram Azula has to be one of the more underwhelming fights in the game. By this point, players have already fought both versions of the Godskin Apostle in multiple areas across the Lands Between, and they'll have to fight them together as this battle is required to progress through the story. And, because of the whole "resurrection" mechanic of the fight, this can be a gigantic pain in the rear. Thankfully, there's a way for players to sideline one of the two Apostles so they can make the fight much easier.
The Godskin Apostles are weak to the Sleep status effect and have an incredibly long "waking up" animation at the end of it as well. So all players need to do is craft some Sleep Pots, Sleep Arrows, or even use St. Trina's Torch to put one of the Apostles out (preferably the Noble, as they don't dodge projectiles), and then they can entirely focus on the 1-on-1 with the remaining Apostle.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.