In Elden Ring, you may have had the opportunity to face the fearsome Placidusax, the dragon lord. In Shadow of the Erdtree, you will finally have the opportunity to kill the person responsible for the latter’s missing heads, with a dragon who betrayed his own. Bayle is undoubtedly one of the most intense fights in the DLC, and only the last boss is objectively more difficult in our eyes. It is advisable to keep him for the end of your adventure.
Bayle’s position
This dragon can be found in the middle of the crater in the Dragonblight. Take the only route to the East, using the Spirit Springs to reach the top. Many dragons will stand in your way.
Preparations
- You can reach level 15 and above in Shadow Realm Blessings by searching the Shadow Realm well. Bayle is difficult, the higher your blessing level the better your chances.
- The Draconic Warrior Igon can be summoned on this fight, it is a valuable aid since it will distract the boss. This will also allow you to complete his quest. Its duration mark being located in the boss arena, it will have to be activated between dodges. Unlike the summons carried out outside the boss room, it will not increase Bayle’s life.
- As always, a spirit summon will help you greatly. The Mimic Tear will significantly reduce the difficulty of the fight for example.
- This boss’s damage is mostly physical, fire, and lightning. Talismans and buffs that can reduce this damage will significantly help you survive. The Fire Dragon Talisman +3, and the Pearl Dragon Talisman +3 combined can help you take on this boss’ massive elemental damage much more easily.
- Unsurprisingly, Bayle resists Fire damage extremely well. It is better to use other damage types.
Phase 1
Bayle is an intimidating foe, with brutal and fast attacks, but they are not that difficult to avoid. The real problem is how hard it is to hit him with his melee attacks. In addition to his sudden movements, with a large range of motion, Bayle takes almost no damage when hit on most of his body. We do not have an exhaustive list of his vulnerable parts, but the damaged sections of his body, such as his severed leg are much more sensitive. As with other dragons, the best target remains far away his head. You will be able to deal much more damage to her by aiming at her.
Bayle’s wing strike is relatively easy to see coming and then dodge during this phase. Roll at the right time to avoid it, then immediately counterattack, preferably aiming for his head, it should be low.
Bayle has several breaths, the first one targets a long-range target. He can snipe you when you just enter the room, so you have to be careful. On the other hand, if he uses it when you are close, you can easily attack his head after a diagonal dodge.
The second blast is a wide range of flames. A quick roll will pass through it.
He loves to use and abuse the third breath. He usually performs two hits (wing and head) before leaning forward, and blowing under his position. The flames will then be emitted all around him. Fortunately, these flames are not well distributed, and there are safe areas, for example by performing a diagonal backward roll, when he is facing you. This makes it easy to attack his head afterwards.
When Bayle jumps, he will crash into you. A well-timed roll allows you to both dodge and attack him, since his head is vulnerable for a few moments.
When Bayle has lightning in his mouth, he will charge and perform 3 attacks in a row.
One attack he likes to use is his long-range charge, which is really fast. Be careful, because if he comes up behind you, he will do a big tail swipe to turn around.
Phase 2
Like almost all bosses in the DLC, Bayle will get seriously pissed off around 50-66% health, although breaking his posture and a well-placed critical hit can get him below that threshold, as seen in the video. The difficulty will increase exponentially, and surviving will become very difficult. You should try to end the fight as quickly as possible.
Bayle will unleash a huge explosion of lightning and fire nearby, move away if you can, otherwise try to dodge.
He will then fly in an arc around the area, which will unleash a hail of fireballs on your position. Run sideways to dodge them, while preparing to roll to dodge his main fire breath. He will then crash to the ground, which will unleash another explosion.
Ground claw swipes will now trigger lightning attacks in front of him. This will also leave flames on the ground. There is also a supercharged version of this attack, which causes an earthquake to occur across the entire area after a while, much like Haorah Loux’s kicks. You have to jump at the right time to avoid them.
When Bayle’s wings of fire emerge, he will take a step back, before crashing into you. This is an improved version of the jump from the first phase, with different timing. Lava areas will also appear on the ground before exploding shortly after. You can avoid these by jumping at the right time.
When Bayle flies away, but turns sideways relative to your position, it means he’s going to sweep the area with his super breath. A dodge with the right timing is required once again. But be careful, he passes twice, once in each direction. The damage is also immense.
Awards
No Memory on this boss, but the Heart of Bayle. You can return to the South Coast Dragon Temple to exchange it for one of the two available abilities. This means that you will have to kill him in NG+ if you want to unlock everything, good luck! You can also take the opportunity to pick up the equipment of the Priestess of the Dragon Communion, and that of Igon, on their respective positions.
