The legacy dungeons in Elden Ring not only hold the most tightly designed maps, but also hide some of the best secrets behind every twist and turn where From Software has placed powerful items and challenging bosses. This continues all the way to the final legacy dungeon, Elden Ring's Crumbling Farum Azula, where the developer has hidden one of the most impressive bosses in the form of Dragonlord Placidusax.
While many players may have missed Dragonlord Placidusax on a casual playthrough of Elden Ring, the boss is still something that perceptive fans might find when first visiting or likely returning to Crumbling Farum Azula. As for rewards for finding Dragonlord Placidusax, there are obviously the items gained from the boss' remembrance, but the thrill of the fight itself is well worth the exploring required to find the arena.
Dragonlord Placidusax's Arena and Design are Monumental for Elden Ring
Developer FromSoftware has spent a lot of time across its ongoing catalog of games refining and reworking dragon fights to make going up against these insurmountable creatures into something worth diving into. From bosses like Demon's Souls' Dragon God to Dark Souls 3's Midir, the design of these fights has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years. With one of the most beautiful arenas in Elden Ring and some heavy lore attached to Dragonlord Placidusax, this easily stands as one of the best dragon bosses in the FromSoftware catalog.
The design of Crumbling Farum Azula itself already sets up for the boss arena of Dragonlord Placidusax, with some of the best architecture and lighting in Elden Ring. Then, looking at the design of Dragonlord Placidusax himself, the boss is an impressive figure that is reminiscent of other legendary dragons, like Godzilla's long-time rival King Ghidorah after aging and falling into ruin alongside his kingdom. This is all combined with the way that the player will transport into the arena, with a cutscene that turns back the clock on Crumbling Farum Azula to an era of Elden Ring's history where this floating castle wasn't crumbling.
On the topic of design, however, there are unfortunately a few blemishes when it comes to the approach to Dragonlord Placidusax, most importantly being a lack of a nearby site of grace or stake of Marika. This is likely for lore reasons, considering that the boss wouldn't want a nearby stake of Marika similar to Elden Ring's Rennala in Raya Lucaria, although these explanations do still make for frustrating future attempts after an incredibly likely handful of deaths. Then there is the tornado that teleports the player into Dragonlord Placidusax's arena, which is one of the strangest effects in all of Elden Ring and sets up the beautiful landscape by wrapping the player in a flapping cloth texture with a blurry "wind" texture.
Dragonlord Placidusax is Itself the Reward for Exploring Crumbling Farum Azula
When a game like Elden Ring has been in the hands of players for a certain amount of time, gear, upgrade materials, and items quickly get cataloged as the "rewards" for getting through a dungeon or defeating a boss. However, fighting bosses in any game from the FromSoftware catalog is generally the draw for fans of the studio because they are fun and challenging. This is very much the case for Dragonlord Placidusax, with his giant spectacle of a fight tasking the player with running to the blind spots around the giant dragon and hacking away at its stony, ruined hide.
That being said, defeating Dragonlord Placidusax also rewards players with the Dragon King's Cragblade, an incredibly powerful heavy thrusting sword, and Placidusax's Ruin, an excellent incantation for Faith builds in Elden Ring. So, even for the most utilitarian players, there is at least a useful reward for going through the trouble of finding and defeating this boss. Still, the fight against Dragonlord Placidusax itself, with a giant dragon king teleporting around the arena and blasting red lightning onto players is a thrilling encounter to cap off the final legacy dungeon.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
