The dancing lion Shadow of the Erdtree Elden Ring
Screenshot via The Escapist

How to Beat the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

The first major challenge in this DLC.

Shadow of the Erdtree brings new bosses to Elden Ring and one of the first you will encounter is the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. Here’s how to beat the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Elden Ring.

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Beating the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Lion Dancer Rememberance after killing boss
Screenshot via The Escapist

Before facing the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, you’ll need to be prepared. This foe uses physical attacks mostly during its first phase, with more powerful lightning playing a factor as things progress. During phase two, however, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion will start to use Frost attacks so be sure you’re equipped with armor that can reduce the effects of these attacks.

When beginning the battle, the first thing that the Dancing Lion will do is hurl chunks of debris at your location. Given the range, these can be easily avoided by running to the side or rolling out of the way. From here, it’s likely the enemy will attempt to crush you with dashing close-range attacks. Once you have the timing, these can easily be rolled into to avoid damage.

There is one physical attack that can do significant damage and that’s the Dancing Lion’s grab. You can see this coming when the creature stands up on two legs smacking its lips together to make a clicking noise. You must roll out of danger here as this move can kill many builds in one shot.

It can be easy to confuse the fatal grab with the less punishing circular storm of debris as they both start with the creature standing on two feet, however, if the head is facing down then you know a debris storm is coming. All you must do here is run out of the effective range, or if you want to stay close you can jump over each wave of dust.

The last attacks that you’ll encounter during phase one are lightning style. You’ll first see the Dancing Lion jump up into the air and start floating before the lighting starts crashing down. As you would be familiar with from the base game, you can see lightning attacks before they impact the ground so simply roll away from these areas and the incoming attacks to stay safe.

Best Strategy for Divine Beast Dancing Lion Phase 2 in Elden Ring

During phase two of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion fight the creature will begin to use frost attacks alongside its physical, lighting, and wind abilities. These adopt a similar pattern to the lightning attacks, however, you’ll want to dodge them by instead rolling towards the beast. Ice spikes are one of the biggest dangers when in the second phase of this fight, however, most of the time you can just jump over these as they are used and deal strikes of your own.

Later in the fight, the Dancing Lion will start to rapidly cycle through its elemental attacks, but don’t fret! You can use the same strategy for avoiding the moves as they come and you should be able to get the fight done.

Last Resort Tips for the Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Elden Ring

If you’re really having trouble beating the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, then you do have a few options. The least egregious of these is to use Spirit Summon Ashes to help you in combat by taking away agro and dealing damage to the beast. As usual, the best of these is the Mimic Tear which creates an identical version of your character to help you in combat.

There is also an NPC available to summon outside of the boss room if you have spoken to them previously by the Three-Path Bross as you entered Belurat, Tower Settlement. This NPC is perfect for the fight and can not only do substantial damage but also provide opportunities for you to heal.

Of course, the last one to get this boss beaten quickly is to summon another player using a Small Golden Effigy to activate a summoning sign. Having another player who has already beaten the boss to help you out can easily get the Divine Beast Dancing Lion beat, but we’d suggest trying the other methods before resorting to this.

Now that you know the fight and how to prepare you should have no trouble defeating the Divine Beast Dancing Lion and continuing your quest through Belurat, Tower Settlement. 

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is available now.


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Author
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Ryan Galloway
Ryan is a Senior Staff Writer for The Escapist who has been working at GAMURS since 2020. He covers a wide variety of topics between anime and gaming and boasts a degree in Journalism from Murdoch University. Email: [email protected]