From the moment you take your first step into the Lands Between, you’ll be pulled into conquering the Great Rune bearers, remaking the Elden Ring, and helping everyone you can along the way. As a result, it’s easy to miss some optional bosses with great battles and appropriately amazing loot.
To make sure you have all of your bases covered, we’ve made a list of the optional bosses you should find.
Want to know what bosses are like in Farcry? Check out our list of All Far Cry Bosses RANKED.
1. Blackblade Assassins
Closest Site of Grace: Deathtouched Catacombs, Black Knife Catacombs, Sage’s Cave.
There are four Blackblade Assassin bosses scattered across the world, and each one drops amazing loot for any build. But the two that stand out are the assassins in the Deathtouched Catacombs and Blacknife Catacombs.
The Deathtouched Catacombs assassin drops a talisman that heals you whenever you get a critical hit, while the Blackknife Catacombs assassin drops a talisman that recovers FP whenever you get a crit. Both of these talismans are great ways to save yourself from using flasks.
The Sage’s Cave Assassin is a fight that gets mixed reactions. Some people dislike it because it feels unfair while others love it for its uniqueness. The Assassin is invisible and the only way you can tell where they are is through ripples in the water. Once you’ve slain it, the assassin will drop a Concealing Veil, allowing you to turn invisible when you crouch.
2. Necromancer Garris
Closest Site of Grace: Sage’s Cave
While you’re in the Sage’s Cave, don’t miss Necromancer Garris who is in the hallway just across from the Blackblade Assassin behind a fake wall.
The fight itself is pretty simple. Garris will chase you around with his flail and periodically shoot a homing spell. At the same time, skeletal snails will try to run you over.
Once you’ve slain Garris, you’ll receive the Family Heads – a flail with copper skulls fashioned to look like Garris’ wife and two children. If you’re in need of a weapon that scales primarily with Dex but also uses Strength and Intelligence, then this will be perfect for your build. Its skill – Familial Rancor – fires homing skulls that scale off Dexterity and Intelligence, deal a solid chunk of damage, and require no stamina to cast – just FP.
3. Fullgrown Fallingstar Beast
Closest Site of Grace: Ninth Mt. Gelmir Campsite
The Fullgrown Fallingstar Beast is found in a crater at the top of Mt. Gelmir. Once you reach the crater, the Beast will switch between charging at you like a bull and using its gravitational powers to throw chunks of the arena around, and even lift your character off their feet before slamming them onto the floor.
Slaying this creature gives you the Fallingstar Beast Jaw. As a colossal weapon, it does a large amount of stance damage and flinches almost everything it touches. It scales with Dex, Strength, and Intelligence, making the jaw scale well later in the game. But the star of the show is its weapon skill – Gravity Bolt. This skill summons a bolt of lightning from the sky that also raises the earth when it strikes and can be cast in quick succession. It’s a solid ranged option for both PvP and PvE.
4. Godskin Apostle in Divine Tower of Caelid
Closest Site of Grace: Basement Site of Grace
There are four Godskin Apostle bosses in Elden Ring but the one I want to mention lives in the basement of the Divine Tower of Caelid. This is a boss that’s fun to get to and has some great rewards.
Well, it’s fun to get to if you like jumping puzzles, which are here in abundance as you descend the Tower of Caelid. It has enough twists and surprises to keep anyone on their toes. The message at the end of it saying “didn’t expect life” is an apt summary of it.
Godskin Apostles are terrifying opponents. They wield a Twinblade staff like a medieval Darth Maul and in their second phase they turn into a stretchy monster that leaves no area safe from its blades. Once you’ve defeated this particular apostle, you’ll be rewarded with a full set of Godskin Apostle armor, and a chest with the Godslayer’s Greatsword – one of the better greatswords in the game.
5. Crucible Knight Siluria
Closest Site of Grace: The Nameless Eternal City
Once you touch the Nameless Eternal City grace in the Deeproot Depths, you’ll find Siluria on the other side of an air vent. Hailed as one of the two best Crucible Knights in their order, Siluria wields the Great Spear known as Siluria’s Tree. During the fight, Siluria charges up their spear, turning it into an impressive drill, then launching a high-powered energy attack at the player. Thankfully, while the attack travels extremely quickly and looks intimidating, it’s also predictable and easy to dodge.
Once you defeat Siluria, you’ll get Siluria’s Tree and, in a separate chest, the Crucible Tree armor set. The drill attack you saw during the fight is known as Siluria’s Woe, and you’ll fire it in the same way when you perform a fully charged heavy attack. While it’s devastating to non-player enemies, it’s not as effective against other players since the attack is very telegraphed.
6. Lichdragon Fortissax
Closest Site of Grace: Prince of Death’s Throne
While you’re in the Deeproot Depths, if you’ve been helping Fia with her quest then you’ll be fighting this massive Dragon.
Lichdragon Fortisssax is mandatory if you want Fia’s ending, but the entire quest is still optional. Finishing this quest and defeating Lichdragon Fortissax will also unlock an alternate ending for the game and give you a Remembrance drop that can be traded for some awesome lightning spells.
But more than anything, besides the loot and the alternate ending, this fight just looks epic. Without too many spoilers, Fortissax’s arena and move set all look gorgeous. As a fan of the Monster Hunter series, I have a soft spot for fighting crazy powerful black dragons, and fighting Fortissax feels like you are clashing against the unbridled power of an ancient force of nature.
7. Abductor Virgins
Closest Site of Grace: Subterranean Inquisition Chamber
If you want an optional boss that will haunt your nightmares the pendulum-swinging, Iron Maidenesque Abductor Virgins is definitely the one to go for. You’ll find the Abductor Virgins in Volcano Manor. To face this particular terror, you’ll need to willingly allow an Abductor Virgin from Raya Lucaria Academy’s lowest levels to abduct you and spirit you away to the boss arena.
The boss duo will spin around you, one wielding a wheeled blade, the other a pair of swinging sickles. Expect the latter to launch those sickles in your direction! While you needed to be captured to make it this far, you obviously want to avoid it at this point!
If you’re ready to embark on this battle, make your way to Raya Lucaria Academy. Once there, allow them to grab you and pull you inside. You’ll need to find your way to a site of grace known as the Subterranean Inquisition Chamber. Face east and jump, running across fallen pillars that float ominously in lava. You’ll find yourself at a dead end, but as you press forward, the floor beneath you will collapse, and you’ll find the Abductor Virgins at a mist wall.
If you have trouble with that route, you can also reach the Abductor Virgins from within the Manor. Begin at the Temple of Eiglay Grace, head west, down the front stairs, then pass the Fire Monk and turn southeast (left). There’s a curved section to the broken edge there. Follow it and you’ll come to a hanging corpse. If you look down there’s a platform below, which you can carefully drop down onto if you head north away from the corpse; falling will cost you health!
You will then need to drop down several ledges until you come to a tunnel and some bats. Keep going east (don’t cross the lava), and you’ll come to a half-buried cage in front of a cage. The two platforms here are connected by a set of stairs that lead to the Subterranean Inquisition Chamber Grace.
Craving more games to conquer? Try the Best Survival Horror Games You Won’t Want to Play Alone or the Best Short Games You Can Finish in One Sitting.
