For most players, Divine Beast Dancing Lion will be the first major boss you encounter in the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. While you can technically fight Rellana first, Divine Beast Dancing Lion is a more natural first major boss encounter and easier than Rellana. Here is how to beat Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
Where to find Divine Beast Dancing Lion
You can find the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC’s first Legacy Dungeon, Belurat, Tower Settlement. You can find Belurat in the northwestern side of the Gravesite Plain zone that you start in.
After progressing through Belurat, you will eventually reach the Stagefront Site of Grace. From here, enter the double doors to the right of the Site of Grace and you will encounter Divine Beast Dancing Lion.
How to kill Divine Beast Dancing Lion
Divine Beast Dancing Lion is a very agile encounter with attacks from three different elements: lightning, wind, and ice. The encounter has two phases, with a final low HP enrage mechanic that gives Dancing Lion an additional ability.
Here is how to kill Divine Beast Dancing Lion:
Divine Beast Dancing Lion Phase 1 Strategy
In Phase 1 of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss fight, you don’t have to worry about the three elements mentioned above. For this phase, Dancing Lion will primarily attack by jumping around swiping at you while spewing debris from its mouth.
For most of the Phase 1 attacks, you want to dodge roll into them to avoid damage while staying close enough to counterattack Divine Beast Dancing Lion.
Alongside his melee attacks, you need to keep an eye out for Divine Beast Dancing Lion spewing debris. The beast has two variations of this attack. The first is a tight line in which debris will spew from its mouth, usually from a distance. The range is long, but narrow, so you can just easily run to the right or left of the debris to avoid it.
The other variation is when Dancing Lion stands up on its hind legs, looks down, and then begins spewing debris in an area while spinning around the arena toward you. It will spin a total of three times, and you can jump over or roll through each wave of debris as it comes toward you.
Finally, Divine Beast Dancing Lion has an attack where it makes a loud clicking noise and lunges toward you. It’s very easy to dodge this lunge attack, however, failure to do so will result in the beast grabbing you in its mouth had chomping down, dealing massive damage before hurling you to the ground.
Divine Beast Dancing Lion Phase 2 Strategy
Once you enter Phase 2 of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss fight, the beast will begin transitioning between its three elemental forms: Lightning, Wind, and Ice. Dancing Lion will cycle between these three forms every 15-30 seconds, floating into the air and shrieking each time it changes forms. You can tell which form Dancing Lion is in based on the element featured in each forms aura.
In Phase 2, Divine Beast Dancing Lion will commence with the same attacks as Phase 1, however, the attacks will be amplified based on which elemental form he is in.
When in Lightning form, lightning bolts will strike the ground around Dancing Lion with each attack, making it difficult to stay close to him when you know he’s doing a combo.
In Wind form, Wind element projectiles and Wind Gusts will radiate out from where Dancing Lion performs its melee attacks, which you will have to dodge.
While in Ice form, Dancing Lion’s attacks will cause Frostbite buildup as well as create icy spikes along the ground that also inflict Frostbite when touched.
Continue with the same strategy as Phase 1, and eventually Divine Beast Dancing Lion will get low enough HP where he will enrage and trigger his final ability, Triple Element Attack. When Divine Beast Dancing Lion is in this enraged mode he will quickly cycle through all three forms repeatedly, instead of every 15-30 seconds. At this point you want to go all out and try to finish of Divine Beast Dancing Lion before you become overwhelmed with the icy spikes, lightning bolts, and Wind Gusts all over the arena.
Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss fight tips
Here are some extra tips to assist you with the Divine Beast Dancing Lionboss fight in Shadow of the Erdtree:
- Throw on some Lightning defense and Frostbite resistance gear. Phase 2 is for sure the toughest part of this encounter, and defenses in both of those aspects can really help you get through Phase 2.
- Summon Redmane Freyja to assist with this encounter. While some NPCs in certain mechanics (like Rellana) seem to do more harm than good, Freyja is actually a lot of help when fighting Divine Beast Dancing Lion. She does decent damage and more importantly has some survivability, allowing you to focus on damage while she tanks the boss for you.
- Play defensively. Divine Beast Dancing Lion has some decent attack windows between his flurry of attacks, and his health pool is low compared to some other major bosses. Slow and steady can make this a much easier encounter.
