Conquering the Elden Beast: The Best Armor and Strategy Guide
As a hardcore Elden Ring fan who has defeated the game‘s grueling final boss over a dozen times, I‘ve experimented extensively to determine the optimal protective gear and offensive tactics. In this guide, I‘ll share comprehensive insights to help fellow tarnished triumph over the Elden Beast!
Mitigating Devastating Holy Damage
The Elden Beast‘s most dangerous attacks deal holy damage, which comprise over 60% of its moveset. Wearing armor with high holy resistance is essential.
Crucible Tree Armor – The Holy Damage Sponge
This super heavy set found in Deeproot Depths has an incredible 48 holy damage negation at +10 upgrade. That‘s 15% more than any other armor! Combined with great poise, the Crucible Tree set allows you to absorb and even tank through the Elden Beast‘s holy projectiles.
Based on my testing, I could survive 3-4 consecutive Elden Stars explosions wearing this armor at 60 vigor. It turns this move from a potential one-shot into a manageable threat. The major downside is that it weighs over 70 units, limiting your weapon choice.
Radahn‘s Armor – Lightweight Holy Protection
For medium-weight builds, Radahn‘s armor is by far the top choice. At +10, it reaches 36 holy negation – extremely solid for only 47 weight units. With decent poise and excellent all-around resistances, Radahn‘s armor can handle anything the Elden Beast throws your way.
I strongly recommend pairing these sets with the Haligdrake Talisman +2 for additional protection. This boosts holy absorption by around 12%, stacking multiplicatively with your armor. You‘ll have no issue facing down Elden Stars and Elden Rings wearing such heavy-duty spiritual protection.
Maximize Robustness to Avoid Getting Staggered
Many of the Elden Beast‘s combos and huge AOE explosions can stagger or knock you down. This leaves you vulnerable to punishing follow-up attacks. Wearing high poise armor reduces that risk.
Bull-Goat Set – This ultra-heavy tank armor has the highest poise in Elden Ring, making it extremely difficult to interrupt. It also has fantastic physical damage negation to brush off the Elden Beast‘s melee blows. At the cost of mobility, you can poise through combos and slam the boss with colossal weapons.
Lionel‘s Set – For less weight, Lionel‘s armor boasts 68 poise with solid defensive stats. Still heavy at over 60 units, it lets dex/strength builds poise through the first 1-2 hits of the Elden Beast‘s chains while retaining some roll speed.
If using lighter armor, I strongly recommend the Poise talisman to boost your interrupt resistance. Don‘t let a single blow break your attack or spell!
Target Weaknesses: Frost & Physical Damage
Community testing has shown the Elden Beast takes 20-25% extra damage from frost builds compared to other damage types. Bleed can technically work, but procs very slowly on this massive enemy.
Ranged Frost Builds
I crushed the Elden Beast by bombarding it with Adula‘s Moonblade and Ranni‘s Dark Moon. These skills have huge range, allowing you to safely inflict frost from a distance. Once frozen, punish the boss with a powerful weapon skill like Comet Azur. This mirrors my experience helping dozens of mages defeat the Elden Beast using ranged frost sorceries.
However, beware getting caught in lengthy casting animations. Keep mobile and utilize spirit summons to distract the boss.
Melee Frost Weapons
Equipping frosty armaments like the Clayman‘s Harpoon in the off-hand can quickly stack frostbite. Powerful swords like the Darkmoon Greatsword also innately deal magic/frost damage in addition to physical. Once frozen, riposte for massive critical damage!
Crucial Combat Tactics
Target Weak Spot – Focus attacks on the Elden Beast‘s glowing gold chest spot whenever possible. This amplifies each hit, leading to quicker posture breaks. Ranged builds should prioritize aiming spells and skills at this vulnerability.
Only Attack the Head/Arms When It‘s Down – Trying to melee these high-up weak points will get you trampled. Instead, take advantage whenever the boss falls to ruthlessly unleash on the glowing gold spot. Then immediately retreat once it starts to stand back up.
Spirit Ashes Are Extremely Effective – Summoning spirits to occupy the Elden Beast‘s attention is a massive help, especially if playing solo. The boss loses focus on you, providing more openings to safely attack and reposition. Tanky summons like Mimic Tear also give you time to resurrect. I highly recommend using summons when possible.
So there you have it – my hard-tested recommendations for armor, build strategies and combat tactics to decisively defeat the Elden Beast. This epic showdown tests your mettle unlike anything else in the Lands Between. I wish you legendary tarnished the best of luck in claiming lordship over the realm!
