How to beat the Lamenter in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

The Lamenter is a dungeon boss that has been giving some Elden Ring players quite the headache in Shadow of the Erdtree. Though simple at first, the Lamenter’s gimmick soon kicks off and wrecks your entire health bar in a split second. But worry not, we’re here to help.

The Lamenter location in Shadow of the Erdtree

The Lamenter boss in Elden Ring is located in the Lamenter’s Gaol. The nearest Site of Grace is the Charo’s Hidden Grave Grace. From there, head west over the cliffs and hug the right-side wall until you reach a cave that leads to the Lamenter’s Gaol. For the sake of easier navigation, you can use the Gravesite Plain Grace as a reference point since the Lamenter’s Gaol is located directly beneath it.

How to defeat the Lamenter in Shadow of the Erdtree

The Lamenter has a strange gimmick akin to the Crystal Sage from Dark Souls 3. He’ll split into several illusions of himself that can attack you just like he would regularly, but the illusions die in two hits. Attacking the illusions does not count toward the Lamenter’s health bar, but it’s nonetheless an important part of the fight. Each illusion that survives is added to a counter. Once this counter reaches six, you’ll instantly die.

The Lamenter can use this illusion-spawning trick several times during the battle. The best way to counter this is to use an agile weapon with a fast move set to bring down the illusions quickly. Raw damage numbers do not mean anything here as the illusions die from two hits no matter the weapon. Thus, speed is key to get through this fight. I used Eleonora’s Poleblade to decimate the illusions and its AoE Ash of War to kill several at once. Using AoE and being aggressive with the illusions will also help you find the real Lamenter easier.

Bleed weapons are also advised as the blood splatters will stay on the Lamenter’s model even after he splits into illusions. He’ll be the only bloodied one of the bunch, thus allowing you to easily spot him and ignore the rest. He has a small health bar and very low poise, so stun-locking him with attacks or Ashes of War is a completely viable strategy and likely the one that works best since it prevents him from casting illusions in the first place.