Thanks to the open-ended nature of Elden Ring, players are likely to encounter extremely powerful bosses very early on in their journey. One such boss is Radahn, considered to be among the strongest characters throughout the entire Lands Between. The power of Radahn and his place in the lore of Elden Ring is certainly noteworthy, but there surprisingly isn’t much to him outside of that. Though he bears a title as grand as “conqueror of the stars,” Radahn’s backstory is quite easy to understand. Predictably, it’s his boss fight that’s more likely to cause players a great deal of confusion and frustration.
Elden Ring Lore: Who is Starscourge Radahn?
Radahn is the child of Rennala and Radagon, much like his sister Ranni. Unlike Ranni, he stayed alongside Radagon up until the Shattering, finding himself enamored with the visage of Godfrey and even designing his armor to reflect the first Elden Lord. He also kept around a scrawny steed, but he eventually grew to such a massive size that the steed couldn’t support his weight. Still, Radahn loved his frail horse, studying gravitational magic under the teachings of an Alabaster Lord simply to ensure he wouldn’t crush the poor thing. Knowledge of this magic also gave Radahn the ability to “challenge the stars,” though the exact nature of this isn’t entirely clear.
According to a sword monument found in Caelid, Radahn held back the stars to save Sellia — possibly from a meteor shower. After defeating Radahn, the stars move once more, but they crash into Limgrave rather than Sellia. Why Radahn held back the stars or how he even accomplished such a feat is unknown. Nonetheless, the ordeal led to him gaining the title of Starscourge and becoming established as one of the most powerful demigods in the Lands Between.
During the Shattering, Radahn and his forces took part in numerous battles, facing off against his siblings until eventually battling Malenia. The two of them would fight to a stalemate, though Malenia was the one to land the final blow. Her attack caused the affliction of Scarlet Rot to bloom from her body, covering the region of Caelid in the disease and infecting Radahn directly. The infection would go on to eat away at his mind and body, turning him into nothing more than a mindless beast eating the bodies of fallen soldiers when the player finds his arena. To honor his legacy, the Radahn Festival was created, gathering warriors from the Lands Between to come together in an effort to slay the demigod in battle and end his misery. Interestingly, despite being infected by Scarlet Rot, Radahn still uses his gravity magic to keep himself on his horse, showing how unbreakable their bond truly is.
The battle against Radahn can be extremely difficult, especially for players fighting him to achieve their second or third Great Rune. Luckily, due to the nature of his festival, players can constantly summon groups of NPCs to help them battle the demigod with practically zero downsides. With the summons on your side, it’s a good idea to use Torrent to occasionally move in and hit Radahn a couple of times. If you decide to fight him solo, only use your own steed to close the gap. It’ll take a lot of time to survive his onslaught of arrows at the start, otherwise — and you might not survive his phase transition without it!
As the fight progresses, Radahn will use his powers of gravity to use more dangerous moves. Oftentimes, he will create waves of purple energy in front of himself, forcing players to either jump using Torrent or to simply roll through them. As bad of an idea as it might seem, it’s generally wise to get as close to Radahn as possible. Getting close will help you take advantage of his lore-accurate weakness to Scarlet Rot if you have any weapons or moves that can inflict it. Additionally, many of his attacks are quite telegraphed, and circling around to his rear will cause most of his gravity-based moves — and many of his slashes and forward slams — to completely miss. Use his size to your advantage, and eventually you’ll conquer the Starscourge himself!
Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
