Wake up, Tarnished, a new DLC for Elden Ring: Nightreign has just been released. Bringing new playable characters, a new map, enemies, and bosses, The Forsaken Hollows adds a nice amount of content for those looking to slay in The Lands Between.
Unsurprisingly, not every enemy is going to be a pushover, and there are some classic Dark Souls bosses returning for a bit of vengeance. One of these is the Demon Prince, a Night 2 boss that only appears if you get the Demon In Pain and Demon From Below bosses during Night 1. Despite not being a headliner, the Demon Prince is absolutely not a pushover and can easily wipe your entire party if you're not careful.
Here's everything you need to know about battling this troublesome foe.
How To Beat The Demon Prince
The Demon Prince will spawn in the northern portion of the map in a large citadel once the ring starts to finally close in on Day 2. If possible, you want to try to be between Levels 13–14; otherwise, you may struggle with survivability if you're on one of the squishier classes like Revenant or Recluse.
When the Demon Prince does finally rear his ugly head, he will actually fly into the arena overhead instead of just spawning in the centre like every previous boss. This boss is fire-based, meaning he has a natural affinity towards that element and infuses all his attacks directly with it. While I haven't been able to test every weapon's affinity against him, I think it's safe to assume he is like all the other fire bosses in this game and has a natural resistance to anything that uses fire.
The Demon Prince's Attacks
Perhaps the most important aspect of the Demon Prince fight is understanding there are two versions of him. Which one you get (the lighter or the darker one) appears to depend on who is the last to be killed during the Night 1 boss fight. While both bosses share some moves, each version has its own unique moves you'll want to watch out for.
To make things easier, we will list all the attacks below and designate which version can use the attacks. The Demon from Below will look a lighter and slightly softer orange, while the Demon in Pain is jet black and has a brighter, with a neon orange color bursting through the armor. Shared simply means that either variant of the Demon Prince can use those moves.
|
Attack |
Which Demon Prince |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Basic Claw Swipes |
Shared |
The Demon Prince will lash out with his claws either in front of him or to his side to strike someone behind him. |
|
Flying Slam |
Shared |
He will launch himself into the air, raise his hands above his head, and then crash back down into a single place. This will cause a small explosion in the impact zone and does a lot of damage. |
|
Claw Rake |
Shared |
The Demon Prince will swipe upwards from the ground, spawning a pool of lava under where his claw rakes. This lava will damage anyone who stands in it. |
|
Overhead Slam |
Shared |
Similar to the flying slam, the Demon Prince will quickly raise his arms over his head while on the ground and slam them down onto the ground in front of him. |
|
Flame Line |
Shared |
His right hand becomes engulfed in fire, causing him to spawn a line of fire in front of him when he strikes the ground. |
|
Successive Strikes |
Shared |
In a fit of rage, the Demon Prince will quickly move forward and successively slam his claws into the ground in front of him. He will often use this to chase down a single person he is aggroed at. |
|
Take-Off Explosion |
Shared |
While on the ground, the Demon Prince will appear to absorb all the fire around him and then take off into the air. When he launches up, a fast wave of smoke and fire will release around him. |
|
Delayed Bombs |
Shared |
His left hand becomes engulfed in fire, throwing a fireball that splits into four burning rocks. These embed themself into the ground and explode in a large radius after a few seconds. |
|
Beam Attack |
Demon from Below |
The Demon Prince quickly charges up and fires an energy beam that zigzags back and forth across the arena. It will move horizontally along the arena three times before it fires a single, bigger beam directly in front of him. |
|
Flying Fireball |
Demon from Below |
The Demon Prince will fly into the air, ignite his right hand, and throw a large fireball quickly at the ground, which will cause a small explosion at the point of impact. |
|
Flying Claw Rake |
Demon from Below |
While in the air, the Demon Prince will fly forward and rake the ground with his claws, causing a pool of lava to be left behind where he made contact. |
|
Fireball Turrets |
Demon in Pain |
The Demon Prince raises his arms into the air and summons two large fireballs overhead. These will hover in place and launch bursts of smaller fireballs at you. |
|
Raining Fire |
Demon in Pain |
The Demon Prince raises his head and spews a large amount of fire above him. After several seconds, it will explode and rain fiery meteors around him. |
Defeating the Demon Prince
When it comes to actually killing the Demon Prince, I strongly advise you to try to get the Demon in Pain version whenever possible. The Demon from Below has way more aerial-based moves and just feels way more aggressive in fights. Inversely, the Demon in Pain has quite a few slower, easier-to-dodge moves. The trade-off is that these do way more damage, but it also leaves the Demon Prince exposed to some easy attacks.
Specifically, when he attempts to do his Raining Fire move is the moment you really want to punish him. The Demon Prince will just sit there for several seconds as he spits fire into the air. This leaves him wide open to attacks, and you can even stun him out of this move before it completes with an Ultimate Art.
Additionally, you want to always try and keep either to the side or, ideally, behind the demon prince if you're a melee character. He actually doesn't have many counterattacks against people striking him from the rear, aside from slashing his claw or flying away. Another good move to counterattack is his Successive Strikes, as he will only attack whoever is in front of him. This means your teammates behind the Demon Prince can get some free hits!
If you end up with the Demon from Below variant, the big move you want to punish is the Beam Attack. I know it seems scary, but the range isn't that bad, and if you stick to running at him on either the left or right side, you will almost certainly dodge it. The Demon Prince is completely stationary during this move, meaning you can do a ton of damage while he does this attack. Even if you don't damage him during the zigzag portion of this move, try to attack when he fires the big beam right in front of him. It's a huge window to hurt him, so don't miss it unless you absolutely have to.
The Demon from Below is a little easier on ranged characters like Iron Eye or Recluse, if only because this version spends a lot more time in the air, or at least, it sure seems like it in all my testing. Having the ability to punish him while he charges up his attacks in the air, as you can really help speed the fight along.
Regardless of which variant you face, I cannot stress enough that you want to dodge his Flying Slam. It does a silly amount of damage and can absolutely one-shot someone not at full health. If the Demon Prince goes into the air, watch his arms. If they raise above his head, it means he is about to slam down, so get ready to dodge before he strikes! This move comes at you fast, so you really need to keep an eye out for this tell, or you're likely to get smushed.
However, with some patience and punishing during the correct windows, you can easily kill the Demon Prince and earn those sweet, sweet Runes.