Best Boss Battles: Bayle the Dread

Bayle! Vile Bayle! O terror incarnate! There is life in me yet! I will soon feast upon your heart! Mark my words! You too shall know fear!

You know what? I’m tired of demigods. Radahn, Malenia, Messmer, Radahn again, I’m over ’em! ‘Elden Ring‘ is a fantasy game, god damn it, and you know what every fantasy adventure needs? Dragons!

In that regard, ‘Elden Ring‘ has never left its players wanting. If anything, there are too many dragons. Finding that first one while exploring lake of Limgrave for the first time was an experience I’ll never forget. What I will forget is the dozen or so copy-pasted dragons just like it scattered all across the world.

“Oh, but this one breaths ice, and this one breaths magic, and this one breaths Scarlet Rot.” It’s the same damn dragon, you can’t fool me.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still some really cool dragon fights in the base game. Placidusax was one of the best optional bosses in the game! But the former Elden Lord was but one drake among many, and the many got really stale really quickly.

Imagine my disappointment, then, when I entered ‘Shadow of the Erdtree‘ and came across not one, not two, but three of the same god damn dragon I’ve fought a hundred times in the base game. They all even had the same name and attack type. It didn’t ruin the experience for me by any means, but it was a bummer. For the first time in my fantasy nerd career, I was burnt out on dragons.

Little did I know that Miyazaki had a card up his sleeve. For hidden high in the Jagged Peaks, surrounded by the corpses of his kin, stood the dragon that devoured dragons: Bayle the Dread.

Now, I’m not particularly versed in the lore of dragons in Elden Ring. But from what I’ve gathered: when Placidusax reigned as Elden Lord, Bayle challenged him for rule. Their duel was savage, with Bayle tearing off three of the dragon lord’s five heads and Placidusax severing the dread dragon’s limbs. The rest, I do not know, but in the end, Bayle found himself in the Jagged Peaks within the Land of Shadow.

Bayle’s design is easily one of the coolest in the game! The scars of his ancient duel still mar his body, the severed heads of Placidusax still gnawing his flesh. Missing an arm and a leg, the dragon leans upon his tail for support. With his wings in tatters, the fell demon is forever bound to the earth. Truly, no other dragon could so rightly deserve the title of Dread!

So, why do we, the Tarnished, want to kill him? A couple reasons. One: if we offer his heart to the Dragon Communion Priestess, we can gain considerable power (in lore if not in gameplay). Two: on our way up the mountain, Igon, a crippled and agonized drake hunter, enlists our aid to claim his vengeance on the beast.

Three: it’s a boss fight. Do we need any other reason?

Warrior true. Picture yourself. Feasting upon a dragon’s essence. On the throbbing heart of the oldest, vilest dragon of them all. It would be the purest form of Communion. The fullest sating of your hunger, and your consummation, as a dragon whole.

Regardless of the reason, slaying Bayle will be no easy feat. Despite his injuries, the fell dragon is still every bit as mighty an enemy as he ever was. Indeed, he’s one of the toughest challenges you’ll face in the DLC.

When you first enter the arena, you’ll find a wide open field of flowers beneath the red sky. Wander too far in, and the dread dragon will drop from the sky to attack. His move set is simple; when he’s not breathing fire and lightning, he’s lashing out with claw and tail. Stay too close to the business end of his maw, and he’ll snap you up and thrash you about like a wolf breaking the neck of its prey.

Don’t mistake simple for easy. Bayle the Dread has as much speed as he does power. Thankfully, it’s not nearly as unmanageable as Radahn. You’ll have more difficulty managing the camera than you will recovering or dodging. Even so, if you haven’t been keeping up with your Scadutree Fragments, the dragon can make quick work of you. But you can just as easily make work of him.

Until he goes Super Saiyan.

Conjuring wings of power to replace his own, Bayle leaps into the air and unleashes a barrage of hellfire from above. Once he’s satisfied with his barrage, he’ll take to the land once again in a fiery explosion. From there, he’ll begin his onslaught anew. Only now, he’ll ignite the ground around him with every strike.

Phase two doesn’t mess around. Even getting close to Bayle is a challenge, with his speed and the eruptions going on around him. If you’re really unlucky, he’ll take flight again and breath a devastating laser attack that is as hard to avoid as it is punishing to take.

But if you’ve come this far, you’ve already slain plenty of dragons. If even Placidusax fell before your Tarnished, than so too shall Bayle. Once the dragon lays slain, you can take his heart for yourself and stand triumphant as the ultimate drake warrior.

Awesome as this boss fight is, there’s one factor that raises it up to legendary status. One you might have missed out on if you strictly play solo. A certain extra bit of help you might have if you’ve done his questline.

You already know who I’m talking about.

Curse you, Bayle! I hereby vow! You will rue this day! Behold, a true drake warrior! And I, Igon! Your fears made flesh!

Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon… But I will riddle with holes your rotten hide! With a hail of harpoons! With every last drop of my being!

Igon isn’t an especially helpful summon. His harpoons can distract Bayle, but they don’t do a whole lot of damage. If you’re summoning this guy, you’re doing it for one reason: hype. And when it comes to that, no one outclasses Igon. You’re fighting a giant dragon with Captain Ahab; what’s not to love?!

As Bayle is an optional boss, you won’t see any main story progression for beating him. Nor will you receive an exceptionally substantial reward. With his heart in hand, you can gain two powerful new Dragon Communion spells themed after the dread dragon. Returning to the where the Priestess used to be, you can gain an item that transforms your Tarnished into a dragon, making such spells even stronger.

Oh, and you can get Igon’s set if you return to where he recruited you. Thanks to your efforts, the old drake hunter passed away in peace, his vengeance at last fulfilled. Personally, that’s all the reward I need.

Though he’s far from the hardest or most rewarding boss fight of ‘Shadow of the Erdtree‘, Bayle the Dread is a fight I won’t ever forget! From Software has done a ton of dragon boss fights across their games up to this point, and if you ask me, Bayle is the best one by far!

Remember the Dragon God all the way back in ‘Demon’s Souls‘? AKA one of the worst From Software bosses in history? We’ve come a long way since then…