Summary
Stuck on Margit or some otherElden Ringboss whose name starts with George R.R. Martin’s name initials? The good news is thatElden Ringalways offers alternatives or detours. Just leave those demigods to wallow in their superiority complex and come back stronger after seeking out some of the lesser bosses. The game has plenty of these and the most accessible of them are in Evergaols.
These are essentially prisons in theElden Ringoverworld that house some challenging yet manageable bosses. Evergaols are also scattered throughout the open-world map and are conspicuous enough. With that said, some players might want to be a bit cautious with the boss prisons they bust open since even some Evergaol bosses are pretty tough. So here’s a difficulty hierarchy so the Tarnished know which to prioritize or avoid.
Updated October 14th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter:The Evergaols were a very interesting mechanic in Elden Ring, as they appeared very mysterious at the start, but are basically just glorified gates that take the Tarnished to a separate arena for a boss fight. However, in terms of lore, every boss found in an Evergaol has a reason for being there or being trapped in there, and this even includes the bosses found at the bottom of the Gaols that are in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. It’s easy to forget just how many Evergaol bosses there are in Elden Ring, so let’s take the time to go through them all, one-by-one, and talk about what they drop, how to fight them, and where to find them.
1900 Runes & The Bloodhound’s Fang Curved Greatsword
Lightning & Stance Damage
The Forlorn Hound Evergaol is located just south of, well, Agheel Lake South on top of a small hill.
Bloodhound Knight Darriwil is the first of many pushover Evergaol bosses on here, but it makes sense since he’s meant to be fought pretty early in the game. He and his prison AKA his ‘Gaol’ are associated with Blaidd’s questline as Darriwil is being ‘hunted down’ by Blaidd all for the sake of Ranni’s aspirations.
If players proceed to this Evergaol through Blaidd’s quest, they can even summon him to help out in the fight. But, while he’s helpful, it’s not all that necessary as Darriwil doesn’t have too much HP and his moveset is pretty limited.
3800 Runes & The Flame of the Fell God Incantation
Lightning, Backstabs, & Attacking While He’s Casting
Malefactor’s Evergaol is just on the cliff overlooking Liurnia Lake Shore. Players can get there through a jump pad.
Adan, Thief of Fire is one of the earliest Evergaol bosses players will face and for one of the most uniquely designed Evergaol encounters he’s sadly pretty easy to beat.He’s slow and his weapon has a short range. As one would expect from the ‘thief of fire’,Adan uses fire Incantations, in particular Flame of the Fell God and Catch Flame, but even those are slow enough avoid with ease.
With how relaxed he is in the fight, players can also sneak in a good number of backstabs using the tried and true From Software method of circling around the enemy while locked on until you end up at their backside. This makes Adan one of the least imposing Evergaol bosses in the game. To offset this a bit, he has a singular healing Flask, but he’s also vulnerable while taking a swig, so you may typically offset what he heals in the same moment that the healing activates.
4600 Runes & Greatblade Phalanx Sorcery
Slashing Damage, Poison, Scarlet Rot, Bleed, & Stance Damage
The Cuckoo’s Evergaol is located on the western bank of the ‘lake’ in Liurnia of the Lakes.
Bols, Carian Knight can be more accurately described as a basic Troll enemy counter with some extra magic spells thrown in on top. Anyone who’s had their fair share of run-ins with Trolls in the overworld shouldn’t have any problem with Bols. For melee characters especially, it’s a cakewalk since all they have to do is dance around Bols' feet,hacking away at his HP.
He doesn’t stagger quite as easily as the standard Troll enemies, but he still staggers pretty quickly compared to a lot of the other enemies inElden Ringoverall. Just watch out for his Greatblade Phalanx Spell, as this can really take a chunk out of your HP bar if you’re not careful.
5400 Runes & Radagon’s Scarseal Talisman
Fire Damage, Lightning Damage, & Stance Damage
The Weeping Evergaol is found northeast of the Fourth Church of Marika in the western portion of the Weeping Peninsula.
It’s rare for Evergaol bosses to be truly unique encounters, as many of them are just cloned boss fights from later areas or basic NPC invaders using a specific spell, incantation, or weapon. The Ancient Hero of Zamor is no different, as the Zamor Knights appear as a common enemy later on in the Mountaintops of the Giants. Still, it is a bit special since this fight is the first to introduce the Frost ailment before mostElden Ringplayers would stumble across it naturally. And mechanically, this boss is very wiley and can be a real pain to actually pin down to get any real damage in.
The real danger with the Ancient Hero of Zamor lies in their ice breath ability as it has a surprisingly long range and can inflict Frostbite in an instant. But, as long as you take advantage of it’s weaknesses and learn the telegraphs for its different attacks, the Ancient Hero of Zamor really isn’t a difficult encounter in the grand scheme of things.
3600 Runes & Meteorite Sorcery
Physical Damage & Stance Damage
The Royal Grave Evergaol is to the east of Caria Manor. Players will have to go through the spectral Royal Knight Loretta, the boss of Caria Manor first to access the area surrounding the fortified mansion, so keep that in mind.
Like other medium to large-sized Evergaol encounters, the Alabaster Lord is very slow. In fact, it’s accurate to say he mostly just wanders the arena menacingly, patiently waiting for players to get too close. He’s tanky, but not ‘that’ tanky, and with a decently upgraded weapon you’re able to tear through his HP pretty quickly.
The biggest thing to be careful of, however, is his Gravity Magic. His only other ace-in-the-hole is a sword plunge that deals area damage around him. After this, he’ll open up a portal and launch some gravity balls at the player, but dodging these is pretty simple. As long as you’re cautious of this attack, the Alabaster Lord is a lot more bark than bite.
7800 Runes & Battlemage Hugues Spirit Ashes
Everything but Magic Damage
Getting to Sellia Evergaol is a little complicated. First, players will have to access the Dragonbarrow area in Caelid. From the Dragonbarrow West Site of Grace, they’ll need to head east and then down south once they’ve reached the pillar that originally had the area’s map sitting underneath it.
Battlemage Hugues is also another straightforward battle that doesn’t require too much prep work or studying in advance. This caster has a large club that can easily flatten you if you’re not careful but the good part about fighting him in melee range is that this means he won’t cast his ranged spells much at all, and those are what can be really troublesome.
However, you’ll still have to watch out for his melee-range sorcery, the Gavel of Haima, as it easily does enough damage to kill the Tarnished if they’re in the lower-level range. Luckily, Hugues is easy to Stagger, and Staggering him will typically interrupt his casting as a result, which can create a chain of interruptions ending with his demise.
26000 Runes & Godfrey Icon Talisman
All Physical Damage Types (Standard, Slash, Strike, & Pierce)
The Golden Lineage Evergaol is just past the bridge tunnel east of the Erdtree-Gazing Hill.
Godefroy the Grafted, as his name implies, is related to Godrick the Grafted,who’s one of the Shardbearersand the main boss of Stormveil Castle. Related is a generous word, as this boss is nothing more than a cheap clone of the Godrick boss fight except without the phase two triggering at 50 percent HP. In fact, while part of the golden lineage, nobody really remembers Godefroy much at all.
So anyone who already had a lot of practice whittling down Godrick’s first phase shouldn’t have an issue with this fight at all. Still, it can be tricky for some players since Godefroy still hits hard when his attacks do manage to connect.
100,000 Runes & Curseblade Meera Spirit Ash
Slash Damage & Sleep Ailment
At the bottom of the Bonny Goal in the Lands of Shadow (Exclusive to theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC)
Moving on to the Goal bosses found in theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC, first up is Curseblade Labirith. This is essentially just a boss variant of the Curseblade enemies found throughout the Lands of Shadow, with the most iconic ones being found in the Belurat Tower and by extension Enir-Ilim. These enemies are some of the most frustrating ones to encounter while exploring the DLC, as they’re absurdly aggressive, have very long attack chains, are difficult to stagger, and do quite a bit of damage.
Labirith functions very similar to the standard Curseblade, but this variant can also cover the arena in shadow and hide within said shadow, which can be frustrating to deal with. Essentially, just wait out its long attack strings, punish with jumping Heavy Attacks or standard Heavy Attacks when there’s a window, and dealing with Labirith shouldn’t take that long.
160,000 Runes & Lamenter’s Mask
Lightning & Physical Damage
At the bottom of the Lamenter’s Gaol in the northwestern area of Charo’s Hidden Grave (Exclusive to theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC).
The Lamenter is such an odd boss, there’s no other way to say it. This is the boss the Tarnished will encounter at the bottom of the Gaol named after him, and he’s not too difficult to deal with. In general, the Lamenter really doesn’t deal a whole lot of damage with his attacks. He can enlarge his head to knock you back, summon slow-moving projectiles, throw some punches, or summon clones that’ll inflict his Curse. Essentially, after summoning his clones, if you leave any of them alive for too long, they’ll trigger a floating Lamenter head to appear in a circle around the Tarnished. Once this counter reaches seven, it’ll instantly kill the player and there’s no way to avoid it. So, as long as the Tarnished stays focused on DPS and pays attention enough to find the real one once he summons clones, the Lamenter shouldn’t put much of a fight up at all.
Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze
80,000 Runes & Demi-Human Swordsman Yosh
Staggering, Slash Damage, Fire Damage, Poison Ailment, & Scarlet Rot Ailment
At the bottom of the Belurat Gaol to the east of Belurat Tower Settlement (Exclusive to theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC).
Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze is the boss hiding at the bottom of Belurat Gaol, and he’s pretty incredible. As far as enemy variant bosses go, Demi-Human Swordmaster Onze is one of the more memorable examples due to the weapon he uses. Onze is essentially what it would be like if From Software through a Yoda knockoff, complete with a lightsaber, intoElden Ringas a boss. Onze uses a Star-Line Sword, a weapon that uses glintstone to extend the blade and deal magic damage, and he’s very proficient with it.
However, despite how overwhelming it might seem to have Onze flipping all around the Tarnished trying to tear them apart, this boss is actually pretty easy purely because he’s so easy to stagger. With enough stamina and with proper timing, you can keep Onze staggered for basically the full length of his health bar, which is honestly a bit of a shame.
