This page offers a guide on how to beat Radagon of the Golden Order, who is the first phase of the final battle of Elden Ring, found at the Elden Throne.

How to Find Radagon of the Golden Order in Leyndell, Ashen Capital¶

Radagon of the Golden Order is found at the Elden Throne, which is up the steps from Godfrey, the First Elden Lord’s arena. To be able to get to the Elden Throne, you will need to defeat Godfrey / Hoarah Loux beforehand.

Although Radagon is a separate boss fight from the Elden Beast, you will need to fight him again if you die to the Elden Beast. They should be treated as two phases of the final boss fight. This also means that Radagon doesn’t have any phases himself.

Head over to our guide on how to beat the Elden Beast for a breakdown of his attacks and a separate strategy for beating him.

Radagon Attacks¶

Radagon wields a cudgel/hammer type weapon and will predominantly use this to do damage. The cudgel will often appear charged with yellow energy, and when this occurs you’ll know that the following attacks will be even more powerful than usual.

Multi-Hit Combo¶

Radagon can wield his cudgel with ease, and sometimes he’ll swing it multiple times in quick succession. Even though they seem like light attacks they’ll do a fair bit of damage and may even stagger you a little bit. And because he throws these attacks out pretty quickly, being hit by one means you risk being hit by multiple cudgel attacks. You should generally assume that should he swipe in an upwards motion, he’ll follow it pretty instantaneously with a downwards swipe and if he swings his cudgel to the left he’ll bring it back to the right soon after. Knowing that his movements are pretty circular will help you predict where to dodge to.

Jump and slam down attack¶

Radagon will perform a big jump and slam down using his cudgel to smash into you, your summon or the ground (if he misses). The force of this attack will create a small area of impact on the ground that’ll knock you a bit even if you avoid the hit.

Heavy Cudgel Earthquake Attack¶

When the cudgel is embued with the magical yellow energy he will slam it down onto the ground, causing a mini earthquake that spreads out towards you. If you’re caught in it, you’ll fall over. And the annoying part of this attack is that he’ll perform it a few times in relatively quick succession. So, if you are knocked over you’ll find it hard to get up before his next earthquake attack and you might find yourself being unable to avoid being killed.

Teleport¶

Radagon is able to quickly disappear and reappear. It is sort of a teleporting move but he won’t always teleport across the arena. Sometimes he’ll just reappear right in front of you, perhaps as a scare tactic and to get a surprise attack in on you! Just be prepared for anything when he disappears.

If you’re right next to him when he reappears, the area around him will actually damage you as well - much like a lot of his attacks.

Magical Hand¶

Radagon will occasionally conjure up a magical hand from the yellow energy and use it to pummel his opponent (you or your summon). It does a lot of damage and has an area of impact so watch out!

Stomp¶

Occasionally, Radagon will stomp, which will cause an area of impact around him. The stomp attack will do a fair bit of damage if you’re caught in the stomp and/or the area of impact. The area of impact can be defined by the yellow energy surging in the ground. If caught in the area of impact you may also be knocked back by the force and fall over. Falling over might also lead to you being stomped on again and leading to a possible death if you aren’t quick enough getting back up.

Lightning Blade Attacks¶

During this attack, Radagon will conjure up three lightning blade and throw them out at you quickly. Ranged players and spellcasters will find this attack more frequent than those who play melee characters.

Lightning Spear Attack¶

Similar to the Lightning Blade attacks, the lightning spear is a ranged attack where Radagon will throw a huge lightning bolt spear at you (or your summon). If the lightning attack doesn’t hit a target it’ll land on the ground and do a mini explosion that you’ll also want to avoid. Sometimes he will jump up into the air before throwing the lightning spear, so you’ll have a small window of opportunity to dodge out of the way if you spot him jumping.

This attack will mostly be reserved for those who play at a range since he won’t have much use for this kind of attack at close range when he has his hard-hitting cudgel. He will also perform this attack relatively frequently after teleporting.

Strategy to Defeat Radagon¶

Radagon may not be as big and scary as the Elden Beast but he shouldn’t be underestimated! His cudgel, especially when embued by the yellow energy, is a very damaging weapon. And unfortunately, if you die to the Elden Beast, you will need to fight Radagon all over again.

Radagon does strike damage and holy damage. Both the Elden Beast and Radagon do holy damage so you might want to consider utilising some holy damage resistances to help you in the fight. The Crucible Tree Armor Set offers holy damage resistance, as do divine fortification incantations. If you’re having some real problems with the final fight, you might want to head out and beef yourself up against this particular damage type.

The best advice to take into the Radagon fight is to remember that straight after defeating him you’ll have to fight the Elden Beast. It can be tempting to give Radagon your all but the final boss fight is all about endurance. You won’t get a chance to replenish your flasks or rest before Elden Beast comes up. This also includes being unable to resummon your spirit ash. If you use your summon in the Radagon fight then you won’t be able to use it against Elden Beast (unless the summon survives the first fight). If you find Radagon a lot easier than Elden Beast, consider just taking a little extra time to fight Radagon with less resources – take it slower and make more calculated attacks to avoid being hit and having to use your flasks up. It’s all about balancing and using your resources wisely.

Melee Strategy¶

Radagon’s cudgel might not be the most intimidating looking weapon but you should definitely not underestimate the power in which he can wield it. A single hit might chunk you for a third of your health and the frustrating part is that Radagon can deal out heavy attacks pretty quickly and without much force on his part.

His poise can be broken relatively easily with heavy attacks and jump attacks. Some of his attacks allow you to dodge or roll towards/around him and if you can do this you’ll be able to get in a sneaky heavy attack or two. You should be careful not to try this if he’s performing a circular area of impact attack, such as the stomp attack.

You can also only parry his cudgel attacks when they are not charged by the yellow energy! Luckily, he does still perform frequent “normal” attacks so you can still parry those if you like.

You won’t really see many of his ranged attacks but occasionally if he teleports away from you or if you disengage from the fight to use a flask you might encounter some of them. For example, the lightning spear and throwing blades are going to be a much more frequent nuisance to ranged players, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t be on high alerts for them if you’re a melee character!

In addition, make sure to watch out for his jump and slam down attacks - they’re super devastating if you’re caught in it but they are easy to avoid if you know to look out for it. He jumps pretty high and it’ll probably be a natural reaction for you to just roll or run out of the way of his landing. Just be sure to steer real clear of his landing as it does have a reasonably big area of impact on the ground as well.

Radagon Rewards¶

Since Radagon is technically just the first phase of the final battle, you won’t actually get anything for defeating him - not even a single rune! Unfortunately, you’ll have to beat both Radagon and Elden Beast to earn any rewards.

Your reward is being able to fight the Elden Beast - yay?!