Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring throws players into a Land of Shadow teeming with formidable foes, and early in your journey, you’re likely to encounter the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. This boss, residing at the peak of Belurat, Tower Settlement in Gravesite Plain, serves as a significant challenge, setting the tone for the expansion’s intense combat. Many players find themselves tested by the Dancing Lion’s aggressive nature and complex attack patterns. However, understanding the Dancing Lion Weakness is key to overcoming this hurdle. This guide will delve into the weaknesses of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion and provide you with a comprehensive strategy to claim victory.
General Preparation Tips for Fighting the Dancing Lion
Elden Ring
Before diving into the heat of the battle, some preparation can significantly improve your chances against the Dancing Lion. Recognizing the dancing lion weakness is only part of the equation; proper preparation maximizes your ability to exploit those vulnerabilities.
- Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes: If you are finding the fight exceptionally challenging, consider exploring more of the Land of Shadow to gather Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes. These upgrades will enhance your damage output and reduce incoming damage, making the encounter more manageable.
- Utilize the NPC Summon: An NPC summon is conveniently located right outside the boss fog gate. This ally can be invaluable, drawing aggro and contributing meaningfully to the fight. While summoning increases the boss’s health pool, the benefits of having a capable partner often outweigh this drawback.
- Employ Spirit Ashes Strategically: Spirit Ashes remain a powerful tool in Elden Ring, and they are highly effective against the Dancing Lion. Summons like Mimic Tear or Black Knife Tiche can consistently draw the boss’s attention, allowing you to safely exploit the dancing lion weakness from a safer distance or create openings for attacks.
- Elemental Defense with Talismans: The Dancing Lion utilizes both Lightning and Magic (Frost) damage in its second phase. Equipping a Pearldrake Talisman, especially the +2 variant found in Miquella’s Haligtree, can mitigate the incoming elemental damage, increasing your survivability. Alternatives like Dragoncrest Shield, Boltdrake, or Spelldrake Talismans can also be used to bolster specific elemental defenses depending on which attacks are causing you the most trouble.
- Exploit Elemental and Status Weaknesses: Crucially, the dancing lion weakness includes vulnerabilities to Fire damage, Bleed, and Scarlet Rot. Incorporating these damage types into your strategy can drastically shorten the fight. Weapon buffs, infusions, spells, and consumables that inflict Fire, Bleed, or Scarlet Rot are highly recommended.
- Shields for Learning and Defense: A sturdy shield, particularly a greatshield, can be incredibly helpful for learning the Dancing Lion’s attack patterns. Blocking attacks allows you to observe its moveset without immediately risking death. While elemental attacks will chip through shields, they still offer significant protection against the boss’s physical onslaught, making it easier to identify openings to exploit the dancing lion weakness.
Divine Beast Dancing Lion Boss Fight Strategy: Phase 1
Elden Ring
In the first phase, the Dancing Lion primarily relies on physical attacks. Understanding these moves and how to counter them is crucial before the fight intensifies in Phase 2. Even in this phase, recognizing subtle openings is key to capitalizing on the dancing lion weakness later on.
- Physical Combos: The Dancing Lion uses combinations of bites and slams. Dodge these by rolling to the side or through the attacks. Successful dodges will position you well for counter-attacks and help you avoid subsequent attacks in the combo.
- Overhead Crush: If the Dancing Lion prepares to pounce directly from above, dodge to the side. Rolling forward or backward may still result in damage due to the boss’s lingering hitbox. This attack leaves the boss vulnerable for a significant period, providing an excellent opportunity for a charged heavy attack, a powerful spell, or a strong Ash of War to exploit a dancing lion weakness window.
- Lunging Grab: Watch for the boss rearing up and smacking its lips. This telegraphs a lunging grab attack. The dodge timing is forgiving, but a successful grab deals massive damage. Roll to the side or through the grab to avoid it.
- Smoke Spew Attacks:
- Spinning Smoke Spew: The Dancing Lion may rear up, angle its head down, and fill its mouth with smoke. It will then spin towards you while spewing smoke. Sprint away, jump, or roll through the smoke to avoid damage.
- Linear Smoke Spew: From a distance, the boss may also spew smoke in a straight line. Sprinting perpendicularly to the smoke line is the best way to evade this attack.
- Wind Empowerment Combo: Occasionally, the Dancing Lion will empower itself with wind. This signals a combo consisting of two slams followed by a circular smoke spew. Dodge through the two slams, then roll or jump the final smoke attack. This sequence, when dodged correctly, provides a substantial opening to inflict damage and exploit the dancing lion weakness.
Divine Beast Dancing Lion Boss Fight Strategy: Phase 2
Elden Ring
Upon reaching approximately 50% health, the Dancing Lion leaps into the air and imbues itself with Lightning, transitioning into Phase 2. This phase introduces elemental attacks and new patterns, requiring adaptation to continue exploiting the dancing lion weakness amidst new threats.
- Elemental Infusion and Rotation: In Phase 2, the Dancing Lion enhances its Phase 1 attacks with elemental power and cycles through Lightning, Frost, and Wind elements, each adding unique effects and attacks.
- Lightning Phase: Attacks leave behind lingering lightning zones. Roll away from these areas to avoid subsequent strikes. The boss may also throw a lightning bolt that creates a horizontal line of lightning strikes. The smoke attack in this phase is also imbued with lightning.
- Frost Phase: Attacks now inflict Frost damage. A new attack involves the boss lifting its right foot and stomping, sending a wave of ice crystals. Jump over the ice wave to avoid damage and potentially land a jumping attack, turning defense into offense to exploit the dancing lion weakness. The smoke attack also uses frost.
- Wind Phase: Attacks leave gusts of damaging wind that spread outwards. Roll through these gusts towards the boss. The Dancing Lion also sends windstorms from afar, requiring careful rolling or strafing to evade.
- Desperate Elemental Flurry: At very low health, the boss may rapidly switch between elemental forms and unleash flurries of attacks, combining their mechanics. Remain composed, quickly identify the active element, and apply the appropriate defensive strategy – roll away from lightning, jump ice spikes, and roll through wind gusts to consistently look for opportunities to punish the dancing lion weakness.
By maintaining pressure and adapting to each phase, victory against the Divine Beast Dancing Lion is within reach. Defeating this formidable foe rewards you with the Divine Beast Dancing Lion’s Remembrance and the Divine Beast Head helmet, paving the way for further challenges in the Land of Shadow. Understanding and exploiting the dancing lion weakness is the key to triumph in this demanding encounter and progressing deeper into the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC enriches the already exceptional base game, solidifying its place among the [best Xbox games](https://www.windowscentral.com/best-xbox-games) and [best PC games](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/best-pc-games-of-all-time-our-top-picks-you-should-play-in-year). This expansive DLC offers a compelling 40-hour experience, making it an essential addition for any Soulsborne enthusiast.
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$34.89 at CDKeys (Xbox)
Shadow of the Erdtree refines the Elden Ring experience, eliminating formulaic elements and delivering some of FromSoftware’s most exceptional boss encounters. It’s a 40-hour masterpiece DLC, a must-play for Soulsborne fans.
Also see: Shadow of the Erdtree (PC, $37.09) | Deluxe Edition (PC, $90.89)
Collector’s Edition: Bandai Namco Store (€249.99)
