All new bosses shown in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer

A new Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is on its way. And if one thing is obvious from the new gameplay trailer, we’re going to get a massive number of additions to the game’s boss lineup. 

We could’ve told you that the new Elden Ring DLC would have a bunch of intriguing bosses probably without even watching the trailer, but what fans saw revealed to us earlier today confirmed the obvious. We got our first look at several new high-class enemies, some of which appear to be mandatory main story-related bosses, as well as some off-the-beaten path enemies. 

Below, you’ll find a list of all of the bosses we spotted in the Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer, as well as some speculation on each of them. 

All bosses revealed in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer

Burning Cauldron giant

We’re fairly certain everyone saw this enormous monster with a burning cauldron for a body and got wicked Fire Giant flashbacks. This guy had one move displayed in the trailer, which was a massive, burning AoE stomp that’s likely going to be a tough one to dodge. And frankly, I can’t wait to bash my head against the wall with this dude for hours. The fight with this boss also teased horseback combat, which was a viable strategy back in the Fire Giant encounter from the base game. 

Lion Gatekeeper

Everytime we see lion imagery in Elden Ring, we can’t help but think back to Godfrey, the First Elden Lord. It’s unclear if there’s any relation between him and this enemy (although we’d guess that there is), but what we can confidently say is this guy had the most details of its boss encounter shown off of any enemy in the trailer. Between a long, diving jump, a close-range stone breath spell, and a room-wide lightning strike, this boss looks like he’s going to be a real pain to deal with. And, from what we can tell, it appears as though this massive lion is a gatekeeper of some kind, so he’s probably going to be mandatory. 

Bladedancer in Red

One of the prettiest boss fights shown off in the trailer, this character with two swords in a red dress battled the Tarnished in an open field full of flowers. Not a whole lot was revealed about the intricate mechanics of this fight, but we’re going to imagine a lot of dodge-rolling is going to be involved. 

Massive hippo-like monster 

We didn’t get much on this guy, but a big hippo with endless rows of teeth and a porcupine-like move that exudes lightning from its back was enough to grab our attention. We’ll probably encounter this dude in the open-world when we least expect him to jump out of murky waters. 

A ribcage riding a horse 

Only a brief shot of this boss was shown in the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer, but what we saw was gnarly. This walking, enormous ribcage was riding a white horse (the oldest metaphor for death in the book, btw), and if that wasn’t on the nose enough, it threw a scythe-like crescent directly at the screen. It’s up in the air how directly tied-into the main story of the DLC this boss will be, but regardless of its prominence, it passes the bar when it comes to first impressions.  

Messmer the Impaler

Judging by the fact that Messmer had the most screentime out of any other character in the gameplay trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree—and the fact that there’s a huge statue of the guy attached to the collector’s edition of the game—we’re making an educated guess that Messmer the Impaler is the final boss of this expansion. If he’s not, there’s a good chance that he’s at least going to be a looming presence throughout its entirety. Knowing FromSoftware, there’s likely going to be some kind of twist at the back-end of this expansion, but it’s probably a safe bet that Messmer and the red viper that coils around his entire model will give us a boss fight to remember.