How to beat Bayle the Dread in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is packed with challenging boss encounters, and Bayle the Dread is one of the hardest in the game. You can use a few clever tricks to overcome the dreadful dragon, so if you’re struggling, keep reading.

How to beat Bayle in Elden Ring DLC

Preparation

You encounter Bayle the Dread at the summit of the Jagged Peak in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. During your ascent, when you kill the Jagged Peak Drakes a short distance after the Foot of the Jagged Peak Site of Grace, Drake Warrior Igon appears to congratulate you on your victory. You may previously have met Igon wailing in despair by Pillar Path Waypoint.

When you speak to Igon, he calls you a true Drake Warrior and asks that you summon him during your fight against Bayle. He gives you an item—Igon’s Furled Finger—that makes his summon sign visible in Bayle’s boss arena. Igon isn’t the strongest summon, but one ally is better than none, and he can help distract the boss while you can get a few hits in. Make sure to kill a dragon and speak to Igon during your ascent up Jagged Peak so you can summon Igon against Bayle.

Like most bosses in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Bayle is fast and unpredictable, with a ton of health and attacks that deal absurd amounts of damage. Bayle uses lots of area-of-effect-based Lightning and Fire attacks that are tough to dodge, so the more health you have, the better.

Make sure you have 60 Vigor and Morgott’s Great Rune for an extra 25 percent health. With the Crimson Amber Medallion+3, I went into the fight with over 2,500 health. Pair this with the Flamedrake Talisman and Boltdrake Talisman for extra Fire and Lightning resistance, and you’ll be tanky enough to withstand a few of Bayle’s attacks. Check out my comprehensive best builds for the Elden Ring DLC guide for more information.

Phase one

if Bayle starts walking toward you instead of immediately launching an attack when the battle starts, you have a moment to summon Igon using his summon sign and a Spirit Summons, like the Mimic Tear. You don’t have long, though—Bayle will use a long-range fire breath attack or a gap-closing leap. If he uses his fire breath, dodge back and to the right or left. If he leaps at you, dodge at the last possible second to avoid damage.

The best strategy is to get a few attacks between Bayle’s combos. You can either get your Spirit Summons to tank Bayle for you and pelt him with ranged attacks or get up-close and personal and tank the boss yourself—but avoid making the boss repeatedly switch targets, or it’ll be harder to avoid his attacks. In any case, aim for the head.

Bayle has a few attacks you need to watch out for. Firstly, he uses a ranged dragonbreath that sweeps the arena in front of him. You’ll probably see this at the start of the fight, and it’s easy to dodge—just dodge backward diagonally when the fire is about to hit you. You can see it in the video above around five seconds in. He also has a close-range dragonbreath that he aims at the ground, spewing fire in all directions around him. You should run away when you see him using this ability.

Above all, watch out for Bayle’s bite attack—it’s incredibly fast, and he can reach you from what feels like miles away. You can see it at 00:38 in the video above, and it gets me good. As soon as you see Bayle open his jaws and prepare to lunge, immediately roll away. Bayle’s lunge is so quick that you need to hit the roll button as soon as he starts winding it up. If you’re using ranged attacks and you notice Bayle switching targets, be prepared to dodge his bite attack.

Dodge these attacks, keep the pressure on, and you’ll make it to phase two in no time.

Phase two

Phase two begins around 60 percent. You can see the phase change at 1:25 in the video above—it’s an epic transition where Bayle grows wings and gains the ability to fly around the arena. He also gets new Lightning and Fire-based attacks with massive range.

When he flies into the air, keep running in one direction and don’t stop, and his projectiles will always miss you. Manage your stamina well and make sure you have enough left to get a couple of hits on Bayle after he lands. Just make sure you aren’t directly underneath him when he hits the ground, as he releases a massive explosion of lava and lightning.

For the rest of the fight, most of Bayle’s attacks deal splash damage and leave lava or lightning on the ground that explodes after a second or two. His exploding attacks are all very telegraphed, though, so stay away from everything nasty and you’ll be fine. As soon as you find yourself in lava or lightning, roll out of it immediately and you’ll avoid the explosion.

Bayle’s attacks from phase one get a few upgrades in phase two. Most of them leave exploding lightning on the ground and get extra range. His breaths are even more deadly. Most notably, the attack where Bayle breathes fire on the ground also releases a shockwave, so when you run away from the erupting flames, also make sure to jump over the shockwave. You can see it at 1:40 in the video—I use Ancient Lightning Spear to avoid the damage, but jumping is more reliable.

Throw everything you’ve got at Bayle and try to make it through phase two as quickly as possible because Bayle is so fast, and there’s so much AoE damage, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and die at the last moment. Keep avoiding Bayle’s attacks, roll out of the lightning, aim or the head to deal as much damage as possible (and perhaps even stagger Bayle), and you’ll put the beast down in no time.