A messenger of the heavens, the Divine Beast, Dancing Lion, is the guardian of the Belrut Tower in Elden Ring and shows no mercy towards the intruders. Two-horned warriors mimicking a divine beast, this boss is not only the scariest but the first major check of your skills in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
In this guide, we will tell you how to prepare for this boss and what strategies you can use to take it down easily. Despite all the help, be prepared to be whopped by the Divine Beast, Dancing Lion.
Divine Beast, Dancing Lion Location
Divine Beast, Dancing Lion, is the final and compulsory boss of Belurat Tower. This is the first legacy dungeon of the Shadow of the Erdtree that you must go through. This means you can’t skip this fight if you want to progress the story.
This boss can be found beyond the Stagefront site of grace. To reach this grace, go past the stairs in a big courtyard and turn left. You will come across a massive gate with markings on it. As soon as you step through the door, a cutscene will trigger, and the fight will start.
Divine Beast, Dancing Lion Stats and Resistances
Divine Beast, Dancing Lion has 22571 HP with 122 Defense and 120 Stance. You can’t parry any of its attacks. However, you can perform a critical hit by breaking its stance.
This boss is immune to Sleep and Madness. It has great resistance against Frostbite, Hemorrhage, Scarlet Rot, and Poison.
Divine Beast, Dancing Lion is only vulnerable to fire and piercing attacks, as it has zero damage absorption for both.
Best Stats for Divine Beast, Dancing Lion
As this is a DLC boss where stats don’t matter unless you are at a very good scadutree level, we recommend that you be at least 5 scadutree level before facing this boss.
Weapons that inflict fire damage, like Blasphemous Blade and Rivers of Blood, should be your first choice for melee builds. For mage builds, use Fire Monks or Dragon Communion Incantations and Spells to take this boss down.
The recommended level for this boss is at least 160. Recommended spells are Flame, Grant Me Strength, and Golden Vow. If you are using a Faith build, you can use Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike to deal a massive amount of damage.
Phase 1 – The Physical Brutality
Tip: Before starting the fight, summon the Redmane Freyja with her summon sign near the entrance. She is a very powerful NPC with a lot of HP. You can use her during the first phase to absorb most of the damage while you attack the boss from behind.
However, she won’t survive the second phase as she is extremely weak to elemental attacks.
As the fight starts, Divine Beast Dancing Lion uses physical attacks against the players. These attacks are much easier to dodge and block as compared to what would come next.
One of its attacks is a leap attack where the boss jumps in the air and lunges at you. Dodge to the side to avoid this attack. If you are in its close vicinity, the boss will use Beast’s Breath that emits waves of debris on the ground.
Move back and dodge to the opposite side of the boss’s rotation. Don’t attempt to block this attack. This boss has some generic attacks, like Bite Attack on its sides. Sometimes the Bite Attack is followed by a delayed Tail Swipe.
This attack can be dodged easily and gives you ample time to do some damage to the boss. Look out for the stomp attack as it can deal massive physical damage.
The worst attack of the Divine Beast, Dancing Lion, is the grab attack. The boss jumps into the air and lunges at players. It grabs them in its jaws and slams them on the ground.
The worst part comes after it when you get debuffed. If you try to restore your health, it will also restore the boss’s health in return.
Most of the attacks in the first phase can either be dodged or simply blocked with a good shield. The real trouble starts with the next phase.
Second Phase – The Elemental Chaos
At 65% of its health, Divine Beast, Dancing Lion, enters its second phase. During this phase, the boss uses three types of elemental attacks. Lightning, Ice, and Wind.
Each phase lasts for 15-30 seconds. The worst of the three is the Lightning Phase, where the boss starts throwing Lightning Bolts at you. This bolt blasts on impact and summons small ones at the point of impact.
You can round to avoid this attack, but don’t attempt to hit the boss. As you get close, it will summon random lightning strikes all around it. These lightning strikes are impossible to dodge and can kill unsuspecting players.
Once the boss starts swirling, it will throw waves of currents on the floor instead of sand this time. We recommend that you just avoid the boss during this phase.
The next one is the Ice phase. Divine Beast, Dancing Lion uses Ice Breath around it to deal Frostbite damage to the players. It also double stomps on the ground that summons ice on the floor in vertical patterns.
Run in circles and land as many hits as possible on the boss during this attack. The boss will use all his physical attacks during the second phase too. It will also summon an ice storm to reduce the visibility while doing the plunge attack on enemies from above.
If you survive these two phases, the last one is the easiest. The wind phase has a lot of openings to attack the boss. During this phase, it will summon a Tornado and throw it towards the players. This is your best chance to get in close and deal the killing blows.
Once down to 20%, Divine Beast, Dancing Lion will do a massive attack where it switches between all three phases non-stop. It will do all the most powerful elemental attacks that can kill players instantly.
Take your time as this attack will last for a few seconds. Don’t get in close. The boss will ultimately goes back to previous phases, which will give you enough time to kill it.
This is a very difficult boss fight as it doesn’t resemble any other fight in the Base game of Elden Ring. Take your time. Learn the boss’s pattern. Die a couple of times. Follow our guide to help you through one of the most difficult challenges Elden Ring has to offer.
Divine Beast, Dancing Lion Drops and Rewards
Upon defeat, Divine Beast, Dancing Lion drops 120,000 Runes in addition to the Remembrance of the Dancing Lion and Divine Beast Helm.
You can use the Divine Beast Head. Wear this helm and talk to the old woman in the locked Storeroom to obtain the Watchful Spirit spell.
