Last updated: 13 August 2026

How to Beat Starscourge Radahn in Elden Ring

Starscourge Radahn is one of Elden Ring's most legendary bosses — a demigod so powerful he holds the stars in place through sheer gravitational will, fought on a vast battlefield in Caelid during an ongoing war festival. This guide covers how to trigger the Radahn Festival, survive his long-range gravity arrows on horseback, manage the NPC summon mechanic, and handle the explosive meteor transition into his aggressive second phase on foot.

01How to Reach Radahn — Triggering the Festival

Radahn does not wait behind a fog gate you can simply walk up to. His fight is locked behind the Radahn Festival, a special event that must be activated before the encounter becomes available at Redmane Castle in southeastern Caelid.

The festival triggers automatically under either of two conditions. The first — and most common for players following the natural story — is activating any Site of Grace in the Altus Plateau, the region beyond the Grand Lift of Dectus. The moment you reach Altus, the festival begins at Redmane Castle even if you have never visited Caelid before. The second trigger is progressing far enough into Ranni's questline, which naturally kicks off the event as a story beat.

Once the festival is active, travel to Redmane Castle in Caelid. Clear or bypass the enemies in the castle courtyard and speak with Jerren, the elderly warrior at the top of the ramparts. He delivers a brief speech and opens the portal to the arena below — a vast, blasted beach called Wailing Dunes.

• Location: Wailing Dunes, Caelid — reached through Redmane Castle via a teleporter
• Recommended level: 60–80 for a competitive attempt; 70+ is the comfortable range with a +15–18 weapon
• Key item to bring: Preserving Boluses or Neutralizing Boluses — the Scarlet Rot buildup from Caelid's environment can follow you into the fight area

02The Festival Mechanic — Why This Fight Is Different

Radahn's fight is built around a unique mechanic: the battlefield is littered with red summon signs that let you call in NPC allies during the fight. Unlike other bosses where you find a single golden summon sign outside the fog gate, here you can summon up to six NPC allies simultaneously, and they respawn if they die — you can ride back to their banners on Torrent and resummon them mid-fight.

This is not optional padding. The NPCs exist to split Radahn's attention and absorb his enormous arrow barrages, giving you windows to approach safely and deal damage. Using them is the intended strategy, not a crutch.

• Available summons include: Alexander the Iron Fist, Blaidd the Half-Wolf, Patches (yes, him), Castellan Jerren, Okina, and others depending on quest progress
• Torrent is available for the entire fight — one of the very few boss encounters where the mount is permitted
• Co-op caveat: summoning human players disables Torrent for the session; choose mount or co-op but not both

Opening the fight correctly: When the fog gate drops you on the beach, Radahn is at the far end. He immediately begins firing gravity arrows. Do not sprint straight at him — summon all available NPCs first by riding to each glowing banner, then approach under their cover.

03Phase 1 — Radahn on Horseback

For the first portion of the fight Radahn rides his beloved horse, Leonard, and fights primarily at long range with his enormous gravity-infused bow. Getting close transitions him to devastating sword combos. Understanding both modes is essential.

Gravity Arrow Barrage (long range): Radahn rears back and fires massive arrows that home on your position. Each arrow hits extremely hard and the tracking is aggressive. The counter is simple but must be executed correctly: keep Torrent sprinting in a wide arc, not in a straight line. The arrows adjust direction once but cannot continuously track — a consistent circular path causes them to miss. If you see him charge a volley, immediately shift direction.

• Radahn's Rain: He fires arrows into the sky that rain down as a dense spread. Keep moving sideways at full gallop — the projectiles land ahead of where you were, not where you are going.
• Gravity Pull: Radahn conjures floating debris and flings it in a spread. At long range these are slow enough to dodge around on Torrent; at mid range they hit quickly and require rolling.
• Melee slam combo: Once you close to melee range, Radahn swings both greatswords in overhead arcs and sweeping horizontal passes. Staying at his feet and slightly to his left (his right) reduces the arc of most swings — very large weapons are punishing from the front.
• Gravity Step: A quick backstep followed by a wide horizontal sweep — do not chase immediately when he retreats.

The safest damage rhythm in phase 1 is to approach under NPC cover, land two or three strikes at his flank, then retreat before a sword combo begins. Let the NPCs re-engage and repeat. Greedy extended combos from the player will be punished heavily.

04Phase 2 — The Meteor and Radahn on Foot

At roughly 40–50% health, Radahn launches himself vertically into the sky and vanishes from the arena entirely. A brief moment of eerie calm follows — then a blinding meteor streaks down from orbit and slams into the arena with a massive explosion. Radahn himself is the meteor.

How to survive the transition: The moment he leaves the ground, watch the sky for the incoming light trail and run in the opposite direction. Radahn cannot change course mid-flight, so he always lands where he aimed. Staying well back from the impact point avoids the blast entirely. Do not attempt to dodge roll toward the explosion — the radius is large enough to catch repositioning players.

After landing, Radahn fights on foot for the rest of the fight. His health resets to wherever it was before the dive, but his moveset expands significantly and he is noticeably faster:

• Collapsing Stars: Radahn raises his swords and detonates multiple gravity orbs that shoot outward then reverse, pulling you toward his position. Roll away from each orb rather than toward Radahn — the pull effect triggers on proximity.
• Spinning Dive (Spiraling Death): He leaps into the air and drills downward in a corkscrew motion. This is fast and covers distance — roll to the side at the last moment, not early.
• Empowered Sword Combos: His melee sequences are longer on foot and he follows up more aggressively. Two or three hits per opening is the safe cadence; five or six will get you clipped on the recovery.
• Phase 2 arrow fire: He still uses gravity arrows on foot, but they are easier to dodge without Torrent since roll i-frames are more precise than mount-galloping

The most reliable approach in phase 2 is the same discipline from phase 1: short punish windows, controlled aggression, no greed. If the NPC summons survived the meteor transition, they will re-engage automatically and help split his attention.

05Weaknesses, Best Builds, and Spirit Ashes

Radahn has a notable weakness to Scarlet Rot — arguably the most efficient way to end the fight. Two or three fully charged uses of the Rotten Breath dragon incantation can proc rot and eat through a very large portion of his health bar, especially effective in phase 2 when he is stationary for longer punish windows.

• Rotten Breath (Dragon Communion): The most efficient single tool in this fight. Two full charges often proc rot and deal massive damage. Requires Dragon Communion Seal and Faith investment, or the starting Dragon cult setup.
• Pierce damage: Radahn has near-zero negation to piercing attacks — thrusting swords, spears, and crossbow bolts deal higher effective damage than their AR suggests.
• Holy damage: Moderately effective, better than standard physical.
• Hemorrhage (bleed): Works well due to Radahn's large HP pool; each proc deals a percentage of max HP. Rivers of Blood or any bleed-infused weapon stacks quickly.
• Frost: Frostbite lowers his damage negation on proc, setting up higher damage for follow-up hits — pair with bleed for maximum effect.
• Spirit Ashes: The NPC festival summons fill the role of spirit ashes for this fight — summon all available NPCs rather than spending FP on a spirit. If co-opping without Torrent, Mimic Tear mirrors your weapon and doubles status proc speed.

What does not work well: Lightning is Radahn's strongest resistance. Avoid Bolt of Gransax and thunderbolt sorceries — they will underperform significantly compared to any other damage type.

06Two Radahns — Starscourge vs Promised Consort (DLC)

Elden Ring has two separate boss encounters featuring a character named Radahn, and they are very different fights requiring different preparation.

Starscourge Radahn (this guide) is the demigod of the base game encountered in Caelid. He is a mid-game optional boss, accessed via the Radahn Festival, and is widely considered a rite of passage for Tarnished. Defeating him is not required for the base game's ending, but is a prerequisite for accessing the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

Promised Consort Radahn is the final boss of the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion and a completely separate encounter. He is fought in the Land of Shadow after defeating Messmer and the other DLC bosses, and is dramatically more difficult than his Caelid counterpart — widely regarded as one of the hardest bosses FromSoftware has ever made. He features a two-phase fight with entirely different attacks including a gravity-light combo and a DLC-unique moveset.

• Search intent check: If you were looking for help with the final DLC boss, that is Promised Consort Radahn — not covered in this guide
• For the DLC Radahn: Scadutree Blessing level matters enormously; see the Scadutree Fragments guide for how to farm the DLC's power-up system
• Access requirement: You must defeat Starscourge Radahn (this guide's boss) before you can enter Shadow of the Erdtree at all

07Rewards — What You Get for Defeating Radahn

Defeating Starscourge Radahn rewards 70,000 Runes, which is a substantial leveling boost at the recommended fight level. Beyond the rune sum, defeating him yields two key items:

• Radahn's Great Rune: Activating this at the Divine Tower of Caelid raises all your attribute caps by five. Notably, it raises the soft cap on every stat simultaneously — unusual compared to most Great Runes that only affect one or two.
• Remembrance of the Starscourge: Taken to Enia at Roundtable Hold and exchanged for either the Starscourge Greatsword (dual-wielded gravity colossal swords, unique weapon art 'Starcaller Cry') or the Radahn's Spear Great Arrow.
• Nokron, Eternal City unlocked: Defeating Radahn causes a meteor shower that opens a crater in Limgrave, giving access to the underground Nokron area — essential for Ranni's questline.

Note: The Remembrance can be duplicated at a Walking Mausoleum if you want both rewards from a single playthrough. Walking Mausoleums are the large tortoise-like structures with bells — consult the interactive map to locate one that accepts a Remembrance duplication.