If you’re into RPGs then you’ve probably heard of Elden Ring. This new RPG has been taking the world by storm thanks to its extensive mechanics and fleshed-out characters. Elden Ring has tons of bosses that can make your life a living nightmare and Astel is one such boss. If you’re facing difficulty defeating Astel then here’s a comprehensive guide to help you along with the process.
How to defeat Astel in Elden Ring?
Astel is a winged dragon-fly like creature with magical powers and a human skull for a face. This foreboding foe can be pretty hard to put down depending on your difficulty settings. Let’s take a quick look at its stats and the recommended strategy to defeat Astel in Elden Ring.
Things you should know
Here are a few basic facts about Astel that should help you plan your strategy accordingly.
- Location: Yelough Anix Tunnel in Consecrated Snowfield
- Mandatory: No, this boss is optional.
- Remembrance: Remembrance of the Natural Born
- Site of Grace nearby: Yelough Anix Tunnel Site of Grace
- Multiplayer: Yes
- Defense Changes: No, Phase 1 and Phase 2 feature the same attacks.
- Parry compatible: Yes
- Critical Attacks: Yes, you can land critical attacks after breaking its poise.
Weaknesses
Similar to other bosses in Elden Ring, Astel’s Weakness lies within its ability to defend against different types of attacks. This is where Absorptions and Resistances come in where you can calculate the best route for attack based on your current equipment and abilities. Let’s take a quick look at them.
Absorptions
Absorptions are % values that help you determine the amount of damage you can deal to any foe in Elden Ring. Here are the Absorption stats of Astel in Elden Ring.
- Stamina: 10%
- Slash: 10%
- Strength: 10%
- Pierce: 10%
- Magic: 40%
- Fire: 40%
- Lightning: 40%
- Holy: 40%
Resistances
Similar to Absorptions, each enemy in Elden Ring is resistant to different types of damage attacks. Here’s the resistance power of Astel in Elden Ring to each one of them.
- Poison: 252
- Scarlet Rot: 252
- Hemorrhage: 252
- Frostbite: Immune
- Death: Immune
Notable weapons
Enemies also tend to have explosive and special weapons in Elden Ring. Thankfully, Astel is equipped with only one, a magical ray emitting weapon in the crack in its skull. This weapon fires Rail Gun like projectiles that take some time to power up but deal devastating damage if you fail to avoid it.
Understanding Absorptions and Resistances
As discussed above Absorptions denote the % values for the amount of damage that will be absorbed by the boss. This means if a boss has an absorption value of 10% for Strike Damage then 10% of your damage value will fail to land on the boss and only 90% of your damage value will be inflicted on the boss.
Similarly, Resistances denote the amount of damage you will have to inflict on an enemy to inflict that particular effect. For example, the Poison Resistance of Astel above is 252, this means that you will have to deal 252 poison damage to Astel for the poisoning effect to take place on the boss.
Defeating Astel
Let’s get to the main part now, defeating Astel in Elden Ring. We recommend you take a look at the recommended way to approach Astel and then follow the subsequent guide to craft your battle strategy accordingly.
Recommended
- Strategy: It is recommended that you approach Astel with melee damage and attacks in mind. Ranged attacks won’t do much unless you have an exceptionally strong bow.
- Weapon: Melee weapons are recommended for Astel. Your weapon needs to be fast to keep up with reaction times which means no Great Swords. You can stick to Rapiers or Long Swords that have been upgraded for additional speed.
- Approach: It is recommended that you approach Astel with a sufficient inventory and a few weapons at your disposal. It is also recommended that you carry a shield when approaching the boss.
- Level: It is recommended that you be Level 50+ at least before approaching Astel in battle.
Guide
While battling Astel is like any other foe in Elden Ring, the boss has unique attacks and teleporting abilities that might require additional pointers. Here’s a list of our complete guide and pointers to help you defeat Astel in Elden Ring easily.
- Astel has a Rail Gun like a projectile emitting weapon in its skull. This will be one of the first attacks the boss sends your way. Keep an eye on Astel’s head, once it nods its head, you can be pretty sure that a projectile beam is coming your way. Avoid the same by dodging/rolling out of the way.
- Now that you can avoid the first major attack, it’s time to attack. You want to aim for Astel’s face. Due to its spindly structure, it’s hard to aim for the limbs and even harder to land hits on them. Thus we recommend you stay in and around Astel’s face while focusing all your attacks the same.
- A few strikes later, Astel will introduce its second move. The Pincer grab. Astel will grab you with its face pincers in this move and slam you around dealing massive damage. Look out for Astel’s eyes and pincers glowing blue. This indicates that the boss is about to do a grab attack. You can avoid the same by rolling out of the way.
Note: This attack requires patience. Do not dodge until Astel’s head moves towards you to ensure that you avoid the attack each time.
- The next attack in Astel’s arsenal is the purple ball. If you manage to look underneath Astel you will notice glowing orbs that will look much like eggs. The boss will drop a purple orb on the ground to attack you when running out of moves or when you are dealing too much damage. This orb will emit two shockwaves and thus you need to be on a special lookout for them. You can avoid these shockwaves by rolling out of the way with exceptional precision. But this is harder and the easiest way to avoid this attack is to run to the back of Astel. You need to be behind his wings, this will save you from damage each time as the orb placement and attack are focused in front of Astel.
- Now comes the hard part, Teleporting. You might think that wings are enough to help Astel zip around the battlefield, making your life a living nightmare. But this foe goes a step further as it has teleporting abilities. This allows Astel to teleport mid attacks and appear anywhere around the battlefield. Once Astel vanishes, it has a 50-50 chance of appearing either on top of you mid-air or somewhere else on the ground on the battlefield. If you can see a portal at your eye level then Astel is appearing on the battlefield and you can fight him normally. However, if you can’t find a re-appearing portal as soon as Astel disappears, then you need to look above ASAP! Astel will appear in the air and drop on top of you to deal devastating damage. This attack can kill you off in a single shot unless you are at an exceptionally higher level with massive defenses. We recommend you always keep an eye out for Astel teleporting as this has the potential to end the fight for you immediately.
- Additionally, stay away from the portal once Astel teleports from the current area. Teleport portals deal AoE damage and you need to avoid the same to have a better chance at defeating Astel.
- Another attack by Astel is the swipe attack using its pincers. Be on the lookout for Astel clicking its pincers. Once the pincers click, you can be sure that Astel is about to strike with a swipe attack. You can avoid the same by dodging out of the way, preferably by retreating.
- Once Astel’s health nears 60% or drops below 50%, the boss will trigger its Phase 2 of attacks. You now need to be ready for some crazy and devastating attacks.
- While most new attacks can be easily avoided by dodging, you need to watch out for Telekinetic rocks. Astel will start glowing blue, summon huge rocks and hurl them at you. These can also easily take you down in a hit or two and the best way to avoid them is by running in a single direction left or right. This makes it fairly easy to spot oncoming rocks. Once a rock nears you, simply roll out of the way to avoid getting hit by the same.
Note: You need to time dodging when avoiding Telekinetic rocks from Astel. Spamming the dodge button will trigger additional throws making it almost impossible to avoid the rocks.
- And that’s it! These are all the major attacks and strategies used by Astel in battle. Use these to your advantage and you should soon have his health down to 0 in no time.
Astel will now keep losing health as you manage to land your blows each time. Once the boss is defeated you will be awarded the Remembrance of Naturalborn as well as 80,000 runes (debated).
We hope you were able to defeat Astel using this guide. If you face any issues or have any more questions for us, feel free to reach out using the comments section below.
