How to Beat the Dragonkin Soldier in Elden Ring

This one’s weird, since it seems to have some closely related variants. As you’re traveling through the Ainsel River area, you’ll probably encounter a boss called “Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella.” But in locations such as Nokron or the Lake of Rot you’ll find a field boss simply called Dragonkin Soldier. They’re all big and nasty, but the more official boss version has a few extra tricks.

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Generally speaking, these guys are huge but deceptively quick. But the best part of big enemies is how easy they are to hit! A lot of what you’ll be doing is either getting behind Dragonkin Soldier, or trying to maintain a moderate distance without being too far away. This thing’s long-range and close range attacks are pretty gnarly, but if you can bait it to use mostly its mid range attacks, those are much easier to deal with.

If you’re fighting the Nokstella boss version, there’s a second phase to the fight in which Dragonskin Soldier will start using… ice lightning? It’s lightning, but it freezes you somehow. These attacks include some pretty huge AoE properties, so it’s better to drop everything and run instead of trying to roll away. Beyond that, the fight’s mostly a war of attrition and ankle stabbing. Also, try not to get stuck under them, because it seems like he can just kill you with his belt:

One cool factor with the Nokron version is that it spawns in an area allowing Torrent. So if you find yourself struggling, you can always call in your boy for some extra speed and such. In the Lake of Rot, you obviously can’t use Torrent. But there is a nearby switch that’ll raise a platform for the fight. Don’t try to fight Dragonkin Soldier in the muck. Like, come on y’all know better! As an aside, Bleed is pretty handy here, and so are Spirits such as the Imps. Anything quick is great, but those Imps have bleed.

Or, you know, Hoarfrost Stomp and Mimic Tear work too.