Dragonlord Placidusax Boss Guide: How to Beat Dragonlord Placidusax

Killing Dragonlord Placidusax may not be necessary for completing Elden Ring, but making a boss optional has never stopped the bloodthirsty Souls community from hunting it down and plundering it for all it's worth. For bosses like Placidusax, the challenge is part of the appeal — and he is certainly challenging. Here are some tips for taking him out (and how to reach him in the first place).

Where to Find Dragonlord Placidusax

Dragonlord Placidusax is the presiding boss of Crumbling Farum Azula, a chaotic, tornado-ravaged region that players will likely first discover by traveling through one of the waygates at the Four Belfries. But this means of access only leads to a single, small portion of the region.

To get to the meat of Crumbling Farum Azula, you'll need to reach the Mountaintops of the Giants — one of the last regions you'll explore over the course of the game. You'll need to take the Grand Lift of Rold to get there, which requires killing Morgott, The Omen King and speaking to Melina.

Once you've reached the Forge of the Giants Site of Grace, speak to Melina or listen to the fire (which you have to do will have been determined by your previous in-game decisions).

Make your way through the region until you reach the Beside the Great Bridge Site of Grace. Turn around the take the elevator down to the church. Pass the Gnolls, turn right and then left, and exit the church. Head straight ahead to the edge of the platform, looking for another to drop onto. Follow it until you see a space on the stone floor without bones. You should see a prompt telling you to "Lay Down."

Use the corresponding gesture and you'll be whisked away to the Dragonlord Placidusax boss fight.

How to Beat Dragonlord Placidusax

When the fight starts, Placidusax will rain down lightning bolts. Dodge these as you close the distance from him, and you should be able to get at least one hit in between each strike.

As with most dragon enemies, Placidusax's weak point is his head. However, as a melee fighter it's much safer to concentrate your attacks on the base of is tail and his hind legs. This will let you avoid most of his worst attacks, but stay close to the base of his tail or you'll trigger his tail swipe. His claw swipes, which are telegraphed by his hands growing red lightning claws, can be avoided with rolls toward him, regardless of whether they're horizontal or vertical swipes.

One of Placidusax's fire attacks begins with him jumping back a short distance then spray flames onto the ground in front of him. This move doesn't have much range, so just keep your distance until the fire dissipates.

His other fire move (in phase one) has him breathe fire on whichever side of him you're attacking. This should be easy to dodge by rolling under his tail to his other side, giving you plenty of time to punish.

Placidusax will enter phase two once you get deplete half of his health. Much like in the Radahn fight, you'll need to watch the skies when he disappears into the clouds. When you see him diving toward you, try to roll into his attack. He'll then do a few more similar attacks, but if you lock onto him after the first of these keeping track of him will be much easier.

For the rest of the fight, you'll need to be on your toes in case he tries this sequence again — made all the trickier to dodge because he can cast the lightning bolts from the start of the fight while he's dive bombing you. You'll need to sprint to avoid the bolts while keeping your camera watching for his dives.

In phase two, his claw attacks will now have a second, follow-up swipe you can roll through as usual. The more dangerous change is to his fire attacks, which can now appear as beams that cover the entire arena. To dodge this, your best bet is to get close enough to him that the beams pass over your head — just be sure to dodge at the end when they come in toward his body. If you're too far away when the attack starts, try to move far enough to one side of him that you only need to dodge one of the beams.

If at any point your audio cuts out, run away from Placidusax. That's the cue for a massive area of effect attack that can be easily dodged.

All this becomes much easier if you're ranged fighter. It's possible to stand outside of Placidusax's aggro range at the start of the fight and spam him with ranged attacks until he's dead.