How to find the Dragonlord Placidusax arena location in Elden Ring
Before you can fight Dragonlord Placidusax, you will need to find his secret arena hidden under Crumbling Farum Azula. Head to the Beside the Great Bridge Site of Grace and ride the elevator down. Turn right and follow the hall out into the open. Head straight out to the cliff edge in front of you and look down. You will see a platform floating under the edge, a little to the left. Jump down, then follow the floating rocks to the larger platform floating ahead. On this platform, you will see several open graves with beast skeletons inside. One of these is empty. Walk up to it, and you will be prompted to “lie down.” Press your interact button and you’ll be greeted with a cutscene that shows time winding back towards Placidusax before you awaken in his arena.
Elden Ring Dragonlord Placidusax boss fight walkthrough
The Dragonlord Placidusax fight is surprisingly straightforward. There are no second health bars or phase-transition cutscenes here. Just you and a dragon fighting to the death. Placidusax does gain some new attacks as his health drops though, two of which can really catch you off guard. The first is his series of teleport swipes. At around two-thirds to half health, Dragonlord Placidusax will disappear, before re-materializing on the other side of the arena to swoop past you with massive lighting claws. The second is the Placidusax’s Ruin beams, which sweep back and forth across the arena several times. This attack isn’t too difficult to dodge if you’re ready but it is easy to get caught off guard by its reach the first time you see it. We’ll cover the best strategies to dodge both of these below.
How to beat Dragonlord Placidusax top tips for success
Here are our top tips for victory in the Placidusax boss fight.
1. Listen for audio cues to dodge Placidusax’s teleport attack
Once you get through about a third of Dragonlord Placidusax’s health bar, he will start to use a series of teleportation attacks. The mighty dragon will turn to dust, then rematerialize elsewhere in the arena before swooping down with massive lighting claws. If you don’t notice Placidusax re-emerging, you might get run over. Thankfully, there are audio cues to help you out. There is a rustling wind when Placidusax materializes, followed by a roar as he swoops in. Odds are, you will hear Placidusax before you see him. Use those audio cues to avoid this series of teleport swipes.
2. Hug the back legs
Like other Dragon enemies, Dragonlord Placidusax takes more damage to the head than other parts of his body. However, sticking near Placidusax’s head is a dangerous prospect. You leave yourself exposed to claw swipes, and are more likely to get caught in the center of the fire-breath cone. Placidusax’s back legs are a far, far safer place to be. He can and will rotate towards you, or use his tail swipe attack to push you away. Still, it is better to avoid the more dangerous breath attacks by staying behind him whenever possible.
3. Roll towards Placidusax to dodge Placidusax’s Ruin
Placidusax’s Ruin is a beam-breath attack that Placidusax will break out in the second half of the fight. His two heads will each fire a huge golden beam, sweeping back and forth across the arena and leaving trails of fire behind them. Your first instinct might be to run away, but unless you are already on the far side of the arena, this only makes dodging the attack harder. Because the beams sweep the arena several times, further from Placidusax each time, running or rolling away might force you to dodge them more than once. If you run towards Placidusax and then roll at him as the beams pass, you can get inside the attack’s range. Do this to avoid the rest of the attack, and even get an easy window to damage the boss.
4. Watch the ground for lightning attacks
This one may sound obvious by this point in Elden Ring, but it bears repeating. Watch out for red flashes on the ground to avoid Placidusax’s lightning attacks. You will have seen these effects used by Draconic Tree Sentinels and the Beast Priests around Farum Azula, but Placidusax’s lightning blats are far larger and more dangerous. Getting too caught up in mashing light attack to notice the giant red circle beneath you is an easy way to earn a long walk back from the nearest Site of Grace. That’s everything you need to take down Placidusax! This is a deeply hidden, extremely lategame fight, so make sure you knock it out before heading to New Game Plus. If you’re looking to track down more secret bosses, our complete list of boss locations will help. Prepare your build for these challenges with our guide to the best weapons and best talismans in Elden Ring.
