Astel, Naturalborn of the Void is a many-legged monstrosity in Elden Ring that is possibly older than the Erdtree itself. Its massive size and celestial nature suggest a relationship to one of the Outer Gods that have forced their will onto The Lands Between.
Defeating Astel is essential for any Tarnished that wants to complete Ranni's questline and unlock the 'Age of Stars' ending. He can be found after the Tarnished has made their way through the Lake of Rot. While Astel is certainly intimidating, he can be brought down if the player is familiar with his move set.
Astel, Naturalborn Of The Void's Move Set
- Cosmic Laser -This attack is most dangerous and likely to occur when first starting the boss battle. When the Tarnished is a long distance away from Astel he will fire a bolt of energy at them. This bolt is fast-moving and will require quick timing to dodge through the laser. This attack is very similar to Starscourge Radahn's arrows and once the player has experienced this attack a couple of times, they will be able to dodge the attack with ease.
- Tail Attack - Astel will whip his tail over his head to vertically strike the Tarnished when they are at close-mid range. This attack may appear slightly delayed because it takes a while to maneuver his entire tail around. The player will need to dodge to the side to avoid the tail just as it's about to hit them.
- Hand Swipe - One of Astel's most common attacks is when the Tarnished is in close range to him. He will swipe out in front of him leaving a celestial fog trail after his movements, that fog will explode after a delay. The Tarnished need to dodge the first strike and then run away from the celestial fog that will explode. Ideally, the player will run underneath Astel while avoiding the fog to damage him while the delayed explosion occurs.
- Waves of Darkness - This attack is telegraphed with glowing orbs on one of his arms. Astel will create two to three shock waves that grow larger sequentially. These shock waves will come too quickly for the medium builds to dodge through. Therefore, their only options are to run away out of range or to use a shield to minimize the damage.
- Astel will also utilize a larger version of this attack where he slams both of his hands down. The radius of these shock waves will be even larger and will happen four times.
- Pincer Grab -One of many types of grab attacks Astel can do to cause massive damage. In his Pincer Grab attack, Astel's massive jaws will flash purple and will attempt to bite down on the player. If the player does not avoid this, they will be thrown into the air and crushed by the pincers. Thankfully, the pincer attack is well telegraphed and can be dodged by using invincibility frames.
- Teleport and Teleport Grab-Most of Astel's mobility comes from his ability to teleport around the arena. The normal Teleport isn't dangerous to the player, but it can be annoying because it gives the opportunity for Astel to use the Cosmic Laser attack if he teleports to the other side of the arena. The Teleport Grab attack on the other hand is an extremely powerful attack that occurs when Astel decides to teleport on top of the player. If he does this and successfully grabs the Tarnished he will almost certainly kill the player instantly by crushing them to death in his jaws. Similar to the Pincer Grab, the player can dodge just before Astel's well-telegraphed arms go to grab the player.
- Gravity Wave -A bright ring of light will form around Astel similar to the shock waves created by the Waves of Darkness. After a delay, any player or summon standing in this area will be launched into the air suspended in zero gravity before being slammed back down to the ground for massive damage.
- Meteorite of Astel - This attack will always occur when Astel reaches 50% health. After teleporting away from the player, Astel will summon several meteors that will hurl themselves all over the arena. While this attack may look intimidating, due to the randomness of where the meteorites land it should be fairly easy to tell which of the projectiles will hit the Tarnished. They can be avoided mostly by sprinting away or dodging at the right moment.
Strategies
When first starting the fight Astel will use his Cosmic Laser to punish players that immediately go to use buffs or Summons, they will need to dodge through this attack before doing any of these. The player will want to use a Summon that can survive any of Astel's grab attacks, therefore the Mimic Tear would be a safe bet for this fight.
This boss battle will favor magic users working at mid-range because it will reduce the effectiveness of many of the close-range attacks (making them easier to dodge) while rendering the Cosmic Laser inert. Using Azur Comet is a great way to quickly deal with him. Once he is defeated the player will be rewarded with 80000 Runes and Remembrance of the Naturalborn.
Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.