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

Many difficult bosses await you in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, with the first one you've come across likely being the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. Positioned at the apex of the Belurat, Tower Settlement Legacy Dungeon in Gravesite Plain, it stands out as one of the toughest encounters in the expansion's early stages, and is something of an introduction for Shadow of the Erdtree's overall combat intensity.

Players will likely struggle quite a bit with the Dancing Lion, as it's a highly aggressive boss with some tricky moves and a few interesting mechanics you'll have to adapt to on the fly. To help you take it down, I've put together this in-depth guide that goes over the fight in its entirety and includes some general preparation tips as well as a detailed overview of each of the battle's phases.

Divine Beast Dancing Lion general tips

Here are some general tips to help you prepare for the fight with the Divine Beast Dancing Lion.

• Consider coming back to this fight later after you've found several Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes. The former can be used to improve your damage and reduce the amount of damage you take in the DLC, while the latter grants those benefits to your Spirit Ashes.
• The NPC summon located outside of the boss door is quite good in this fight, so consider using them. While summoning them will increase the boss' health, they're quite capable, will survive a very long time, and can contribute a significant amount of damage.
• Spirit Ashes are also great for holding the Dancing Lion's aggro. As usual, the Mimic Tear, Black Knife Tiche, Lhutel the Headless, and other S-tier summons will perform very well.
• Any variation of the Pearldrake Talisman can help you survive the Dancing Lion's elemental attacks in Phase 2. It will fight with both Lightning and Magic frost damage, both of which are reduced by this talisman. The strongest +2 variant is found in Miquella's Haligtree, just after the Haligtree Town Site of Grace; climb the ladder outside of the northwestern door, turn around, and jump over the gap to the platform where the talisman is located.
  • You could also use the Dragoncrest Shield Talisman, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, Boltdrake Talisman, or the Spelldrake Talisman if you're having trouble staying alive against a specific type of damage the boss uses.
• Having one of the best Elden Ring shields can help you learn and get used to the boss' moveset, or block attacks you're struggling to dodge. Just be aware that the Dancing Lion's elemental attacks will still deal chip damage through your shield, as the only damage type (some) shields fully protect against is Physical.

Boss guide: How to beat Divine Beast Dancing Lion

• In the Divine Beast Dancing Lion's first phase, it will primarily attack you with combos of physical bites and slams; roll through or to the side of these. This will put you in an optimal position to retaliate with strikes of your own, and can help you avoid the next attacks the Dancing Lion does if it's in a combo.
• If the Dancing Lion prepares to crush you directly from above, dodge to the side. If you roll forwards or backwards, you'll likely still take damage since you'll still be in contact with the boss' hitbox when it comes down.
  • The boss takes several seconds to recover from this move, giving you time to land a charged heavy attack, spell, or a strong Ash of War.
• If the Dancing Lion rears up and starts smacking its lips, prepare to roll through or to the side of a follow-up lunging grab attack. The dodge timing here is pretty forgiving, but the damage the grab inflicts if it connects is extreme.
• Occasionally, the Dancing Lion will rear up and angle its head downwards while smoke fills its mouth; shortly after, it will start spinning towards you while spewing this deadly smoke. You can dodge the smoke by sprinting away from the boss, jumping over it, or rolling through it.
  • Occasionally, the boss will also spew smoke at you in a straight line from afar. This is best avoided by sprinting left or right.
• The boss will sometimes empower itself with wind, signaling that it's about to launch a combo that consists of two slams and a circular smoke spew. Roll through the first two attacks and then roll or jump the final one, and you'll be rewarded with an opportunity to get several hits in.

Divine Beast Dancing Lion Phase 2

When you get the Dancing Lion to around 50% HP, it will leap into the air and imbue itself with the Lightning element, signaling the start of Phase 2. Here's how to get through the second half of the fight.

• In Phase 2, the Dancing Lion buffs its attacks from Phase 1 with elemental power, and also uses a variety of new attacks as it rotates between using lightning, frost, and wind. Here's what happens while each of these are in play.
  • Lightning: Attacks leave behind small zones where lightning strikes shortly after, so roll away from them. The boss may also sometimes leap into the air and hold a lightning bolt in its hand before quickly throwing it at you. This bolt then leaves behind a horizontal line of lightning strikes. The boss' smoke attack uses lightning as well. 
  • Frost: Attacks deal additional Frost damage. Also, the boss has a new attack where it lifts its right foot into the air before stomping it down, sending a wave of ice crystals at you; jump over these and you can land a jumping attack against the Dancing Lion. The boss' smoke attack uses frost as well.
  • Wind: Attacks leave behind gusts of damaging wind that move outwards from where they landed, so try and roll through them and towards the boss. Additionally, the Dancing Lion will send windstorms at you from afar that have to be carefully rolled or strafed with horizontal sprinting.
• At low HP, the boss may resort to desperately switching between its elemental forms rapidly and using flurries of attacks with their added mechanics. The key here is remaining calm and quickly adapting your defensive strategy to what the boss is doing. Remember, roll away from lightning, jump over ice spikes, and roll through wind gusts.

Keep up the pressure as much as you can, and you'll eventually emerge from this bout victorious. Once you do, you'll be rewarded with the Divine Beast Dancing Lion's Remembrance, the Divine Beast Head helmet, and will be ready to tackle the next challenges that await you in the Land of Shadow.

The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is finally here, and it makes one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of all time even better. It's out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | $34.89 at CDKeys (Xbox)

Shadow of the Erdtree is Elden Ring at its most refined, with the base game's overly formulaic elements cut away and some of FromSoftware's best boss fights. The result is a 40-hour-long masterpiece of a DLC that's an absolute must-play for any Soulsborne fan.

Also see: Shadow of the Erdtree (PC, $37.09) | Deluxe Edition (PC, $90.89)

Collector's Edition: Bandai Namco Store (€249.99)

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