How to beat Promised Consort Radahn in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Miquella’s most devoted.
You’ve made it to the final battle of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree’s story, and it’s with Promised Consort Radahn! No, not quite the same Starscourge Radahn you had fought in the base game, though now it makes sense why defeating him was a prerequisite to starting this expansion. As it turns out, the warrior who had fought Malenia, the twin sister of Miquella, is in fact Miquella’s most devoted follower, and indeed his promised consort, as will become more apparent.
Whether or not that was who you’d be expecting at the end of your journey, we’ll leave the lore implications to one side. This guide will be about how to triumph over one of the toughest bosses of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree waiting for you at the top of Enir-Ilim.
As you will have most likely defeated Miquella’s other follows on your way up this Legacy Dungeon, don’t expect to find any help you can summon for the fight. Though once the battle begins, there’s nothing stopping you from summoning a Spirit Ash - as always, Mimic Tear is your friend.
So read on to learn how to beat Promised Consort Radahn in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree!
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How to prepare for Promised Consort Radahn in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Your fight against Promised Consort Radahn sees you facing some of the hardest hitting attacks in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, especially when you compare them to the other bosses. Due to this, we really advise respeccing with Rennala at Raya Lucaria to ensure you have high Vigor (60 is recommended) and enough health so that you don’t get one-shotted. Using a Rune Arc with Radahn’s Great Rune is also a good way to boost your HP as is equipping Crimson Amber Medallion +3, obtained in this expansion.
You shouldn’t ignore your Endurance stats either as you want high stamina to withstand any attacks with a shield as well as to equip heavier armour. While it’s better to have your equipment load be medium rather than heavy, this fight doesn’t require too much manouevrability. As with his Starscourge form, this Radahn is equally susceptible to bleed status, so a weapon like Bloodhound’s Fang is also highly recommended.
Besides equipping Talismans that boost physical and non-physical damage negation, you’ll also benefit greatly from boosting your resistance against holy damage. Golden Braid is the most effective talisman in this case, which can be found in the Shaman Village in the Hinterland area of the Shadow Realm.
How to defeat Promised Consort Radahn in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Promised Consort Radahn has two phases in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and the first part is actually quite short, though not a reason to get complacent. Unlike his Starscourge form where he was riding a comically small horse, he’s just fighting you by himself - to start with anyway. He still fights with his huge dual-wielded greatswords, but also has access to his purple lighting attacks.
When you first enter the boss arena, he’s most likely to charge up this lightning and then corkscrew across the room to land his attack on you, though this can be dodged if timed correctly. More rarely, he can also perform a charged attack that launches himself into the air and, while levitating, he’ll summon a few electro-charged rocks before hurling them all in your direction.
Otherwise, Promised Consort Radahn will largely fight with just his dual blades. He’s nonetheless prone to occasionally ending on an elemental flourish, such as when he swings a flaming arc in front of him that then explodes into fire damage, or when he slams both blades together that sends out a groundblast towards you.
For his normal attacks, however, you can block these with a shield with 100% physical block and take no damage - provided you’ve got the stamina. These include when he swings his blades, slams down on the ground or his foot stomps. The easiest way to withstand the pressure is to have a summon Spirit Ash with you so that you’re not targeted all the time, but you also have to be quick to get your hits in because one Radahn gets going. He can be relentless and just as easily able to vanquish your Spirit Ash in this phase before focusing on you.
Good points to know is that if you can keep up your attacks, he’s both susceptible to bleed damage and can be staggered. If you’re lucky enough to get the bleed damage to take effect just before he’s about to enter his second phase, then you’ll also have an advantage.
How to defeat Radahn, Consort of Miquella in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
At two-thirds of health, a cutscene occurs and the forever young Miquella finally shows himself, arms embracing the reinvigorated Radahn, sort of piggybacking on him while his long golden hair flows down. In a word - you’re basically fighting them both, but fortunately Miquella doesn’t have a separate health bar. Plus, if you were lucky enough to dish out bonus bleed damage on Radahn before the cutscene occurs, that extra damage to his health bar remains.
Nonetheless, Miquella’s presence means you have to deal with some incredibly devastating holy magic where he brings down a pillar of light that will almost certainly one-shot you if you have low max health. Your best bet is to guard with a shield - even if it will still take a good chunk of health off - but light will still continue to fall after the first huge blast, so you have to keep moving to avoid further damage. It’s actually possible to evade the spell altogether if you can get behind Radahn as the Light of Miquella seems to only attack from the front. The problem is that this second phase sometimes starts you closer to or further away from Radahn and it doesn’t seem to matter where you were positioned beforehand.
Your next problem is that most of Radahn’s attacks now follow up with a burst of Miquella’s light, a double whammy of pain in other words - even if you avoid the physical attack, the light is probably what will kill you. Having a Spirit Ash during this phase will greatly take the pressure off you, otherwise you're going to find it very difficult to find an opening.
Oddly enough, the only moment of refuge is if you happen to be grabbed by Radahn. When this happens, it will actually be kind Miquella who reaches out to you with his third(?) arm and softly speaks, 'I promise you. A thousand year voyage guided by compassion.' You won’t be harmed at all but during this state, another ally cannot deal any damage to Radahn either, nor can you if your Spirit Ash is grabbed like this. It’s a strange moment, but we’ll take any respite we can.
The best advice we have for this fight is not to let it get drawn out as an attritional battle isn’t in your favour. If you have a Spirit Ash, you ideally don’t want them vanquished halfway through the fight either. Indeed, getting consistent hits in is the guaranteed way to not only stagger Radahn but also get bleed damage off him if you’re using a bleed weapon. With a little luck, this otherwise nightmarish fight can be over much quicker than you think.
Promised Consort Radahn rewards in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
For defeating Radahn (and Miquella) you’ll receive a mighty sum of 500,000 Runes along with Remembrance of a God and a Lord that can either be consumed for more runes or exchanged with Finger Reader Enia at the Roundtable Hold for new boss items. If you search the area, you can also pick up some bonus items, Circlet of Light and a new emote called 'Let Us Go Together'.
Finally, you can also initiate a cutscene with Miquella to conclude this story. Congratulations on finishing Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree! But if you’ve only been following the critical path so far, don’t stop there just yet. There’s so much more of the Shadow Realm to discover, more exciting new weapons and spells to obtain and more challenging bosses to defeat!
Continue to next boss: Blackgaol Knight
Need more help? Jump back to our list of Shadow of The Erdtree bosses or our Shadow of The Erdtree tips and tricks.