Elden Ring geniuses discover how to beat Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss without fighting him at all, just by making him get bored and leave

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn stares into the camera, holding a sword in each hand. — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss is a tough one, to say the least, but it turns out there's an incredibly easy way to defeat him without fighting him at all, because he can just get bored and leave the battle, killing him instantly.

Consort Radahn usually brings with him two whole phases of pain, but as demonstrated in a video by Elden Ring player Sheng Qian on YouTube (but seemingly first discovered by a player on BiliBili), if he can't see you in the arena, he'll just give up. This strategy requires you to use the Assassin's Gambit Ash of War skill and the Unseen Form sorcery – both of which individually grant near-invisibility.

Stacking both before you enter the boss arena is seemingly enough to completely obscure you from Radahn's view because he doesn't start off the battle with his usual 'go flying straight into the fog gate so anyone who attempts to summon their Mimic Tear gets instantly squashed' move – he instead starts walking away.

At this point, the player begins making their way around the side of the arena – reapplying their invisibility when needed – and meeting Radahn near the top, where they chuck two Hefty Poison Pots and one Hefty Rot Pot at him. He's surprisingly fine with this, even though the status conditions are rapidly depleting his health, and at this point, the player uses the Mimic Veil item to transform themselves into an inconspicuous statue.

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It takes a while, but once Radahn loses enough health to trigger his second phase, things get even weirder. The player – still disguised as a statue – casually sits right in the center of the arena as Radahn walks in their general direction in a rather confused manner before quickly deciding that there's nothing suspicious about the statue in the middle of the room that wasn't there before, and turning around. As he walks away, he begins phasing in and out of existence before eventually disappearing for good, causing his health bar to instantly deplete and handing the player the victory.

Is it cheesy? Absolutely. But is it funny as hell? Without a doubt. Whether you deem this a viable strategy is completely up to you, but the concept of Radahn getting so bored without a fight that he straight-up dies is hilariously in-character when it comes to the action RPG's lore, so this really is the perfect cheese.

You can also check out our guide to Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn if you want some tips to help fight him more 'traditionally.'

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I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.