Facing the ferocious Leonine Misbegotten in Elden Ring’s Castle Morne is no ordinary boss fight – this lion-like warrior’s relentless aggression and sweeping sword strikes demand precision, patience, and strategy. Whether you prefer to dodge and stagger him with well-timed attacks, summon spirits to distract him, or unleash powerful magic from a distance, mastering his deadly combos will unlock the coveted Grafted Blade Greatsword and advance a key quest in the Weeping Peninsula. Ready your stamina and sharpen your reflexes – beating the Leonine Misbegotten is a true test of skill and wit.
Although this is an optional boss fight, you’ll have to beat Leonine Misbegotten to progress Irina’s questline and gain access to Edgar the Revenger. If you need advice on how to deal with this nimble lion, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered.
Leonine Misbegotten location
Leonine Misbegotten is located at the southernmost point of Castle Morne, a fortress situated at the bottom of the Weeping Peninsula in Elden Ring. To reach this optional boss, players should start from the Beside the Rampart Gaol Site of Grace, then head southwest across a wooden bridge toward a tower. From there, descend a ladder on the side of the tower to the shores below and continue south to find the boss arena marked by a mist gate. The area features some non-hostile Spirit Jellyfish, and the boss fight takes place along the southwestern coast of Castle Morne.
To get to Leonine Misbegotten’s location, you’ll first need to make your way through Castle Morne. This is a fortress located right at the bottom of the Weeping Peninsula, and Leonine Misbegotten’s arena is at the southernmost point of this.
You’ll need to get to Castle Morne’s ramparts by running through the courtyard, getting past a Mad Pumpkinhead, then ascending a ladder at the back. Navigate your way across the walkway and past the flying Misbegotten, then look for a way to drop down at the southern end of the castle. You should find a series of ledges and buildings here that you can use to descend towards the beach.
Make sure to activate the Beside the Rampart Gaol site of grace before attempting this boss fight, as this will allow you to respawn close to the arena. You can find this site of grace tucked around the side of the gaol building, before you cross the wooden bridge towards the beach.
How to prepare for Leonine Misbegotten
To prepare for the Leonine Misbegotten fight in Elden Ring, focus on boosting your physical defense by equipping the toughest armor available, as the boss deals heavy melee damage with a greatsword. Collect Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears in Limgrave to upgrade your Flask’s healing power, which will help sustain you during the aggressive battle. Summoning spirit ashes like the Lone Wolf Ashes or an AI companion can be very beneficial to distract the boss and create openings for attacks. Additionally, consider using ranged magic attacks to chip away at its health while it is occupied with your summons. Bringing Fire Grease to buff your weapon can also increase your damage output. Mastering dodge timing is crucial since blocking is ineffective against the Leonine Misbegotten’s rapid and powerful attacks.
As one of the Misbegotten – a humanoid creature with animalistic aspects – it’s no surprise that Leonine Misbegotten has a ferocious fighting style. This enemy gets up close and personal, so it helps to use tools that can knock it back, or spirit ashes that can attract its attention.
Thankfully, it’s also very vulnerable to being staggered and having its stance broken, leaving it open to critical attacks. Read on to learn about the items in Limgrave that can help with this fight.
Gearing up in Limgrave
You’ll probably take some hits when battling Leonine Misbegotten, so one way to prepare is by improving the power of your Flasks, so we recommend gathering as many Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears in Limgrave as possible.
In terms of talismans, the Crimson Amber Medallion – which boosts your HP – is a good place to start. If you didn’t select this talisman with your starting class, you can buy it from a Nomadic Merchant on the Eastern side of the Weeping Peninsula.
As Leonine Misbegotten’s stance can be broken relatively easily, jump attacks are a good tactic for this fight. A talisman to boost the power of your jump attacks called the Claw Talisman can be found in Stormveil Castle, near the Rampart Tower site of grace.
Guard counters are another great way to punish Leonine Misbegotten, and you can further strengthen these with the Curved Sword Talisman, which can also be found in Stormveil. For help finding these talismans, head over to our Stormveil Castle walkthrough.
A handy way to avoid being thumped by Leonine Misbegotten is to distract it with spirit ashes. One of the most useful ashes in the early game is the Lone Wolf Ashes, which summons three ghostly wolves. This spirit ash (along with Torrent) is given to the player by Renna at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave – try fast travelling to this location at night to get her to appear.
If you missed Renna, don’t fret, as this spirit ash can later be bought at the Roundtable Hold from the Twin Maiden Husks. When used in the Leonine Misbegotten battle, the wolves should aggro the boss and distract its attention from you, giving you a chance to heal or use ranged attacks.
Meanwhile, if you’re struggling to avoid Leonine Misbegotten’s sweeping greatsword, there’s a weapon that can help solve this problem. The Whip can be used to stagger Leonine Misbegotten and disrupt his attacks. Rather handily, you can also find this weapon close to the boss arena: it can be found on a body in the building near the Beside the Rampart Gaol Site of Grace. It’s worth noting that whips cannot perform critical blows, however, so you’ll need to switch to a sword or dagger to land a crit.
Leonine Misbegotten’s attacks require a huge amount of stamina to block, so a solution for shield users is to find the Barricade Shield Ash of War. This is dropped by the Night’s Cavalry found patrolling the Weeping Peninsula, who you can find by visiting the Castle Morne Rampart site of grace after dark. This Ash of War allows you to temporarily harden your shield to deflect heavy blows, making it more difficult for Leonine Misbegotten to break your stance.
How to get Leonine Misbegotten’s summon sign
To get Leonine Misbegotten’s summon sign in Elden Ring, you need to progress the questline involving Edgar and Irina. After beginning Irina’s quest and delivering her letter to Edgar, his summon sign will appear to the left of the Leonine Misbegotten boss door, placed in shallow water near the arena entrance. Look carefully in this area to find the gold summon sign and call Edgar to assist you in the fight.
If you’ve progressed through Irina’s questline to the point where you’ve delivered Edgar a letter, then you should be able to summon CastellanEdgar to assist you in this fight. It can be a little tricky to spot his summon sign, however, as it’s located in shallow water to the left of the boss door.
Once summoned, Edgar will use his halberd to jab and slice Leonine Misbegotten, and he can serve as another useful distraction to prevent the boss targeting you.
Leonine Misbegotten strategy
To defeat the Leonine Misbegotten in Elden Ring, focus on aggressive but careful melee combat. Roll towards the boss to land hits while dodging its sweeping sword combos, and roll forward to avoid its heavy stomp attack. Interrupt its combos early with parries or shield bashes to create openings. Using a shield with 100% physical damage negation and the Parry or Shield Bash skill can help manage its fast attacks. Spirit summons like the Lone Wolf Ashes can distract the boss, giving you chances to strike and stagger it, which is relatively easy with jumping attacks and guard counters. Avoid blocking heavy attacks to conserve stamina, and time your dodges precisely, especially during its jump slam, where rolling through the attack is key. Magic users can support by casting spells while the boss is distracted. Patience and attrition are vital, as the Leonine Misbegotten is aggressive but telegraphs its moves well, allowing you to whittle down its health safely.
The fight typically begins with Leonine Misbegotten rushing towards you, ready to land a strike. Thanks to the large size of the arena, this gives you a bit of time to launch a ranged attack or use spirit ashes.
From then on, Leonine Misbegotten will remain aggressive and repeatedly lunge towards you, giving you few windows in which to heal or launch attacks. This can be particularly tricky for mages and ranged characters to deal with. For these builds, we would recommend using summons or spirit ashes to pull the boss away from you. Alternatively, you can consider infusing a basic weapon with a magic Ash of War, and using this to quickly deal damage when the boss comes close.
Melee users will find this fight a little easier, as if you successfully dodge Leonine Misbegotten’s attacks, you can then typically land a hit or two. The good news is this boss’s stance can be broken easily – meaning it won’t require too many blows before you can land a critical hit. Parrying and Guard Counters are a good option here, as both will block Leonine Misbegotten’s attacks and bring it closer to a stance break. The only catch is: you’ll need to get your timing right.
Most of Leonine Misbegotten’s attacks can be dodged by rolling backwards, but to land hits you’ll want to roll towards this boss – just watch out for any sweeping blows that can hit you on the side. Similarly, to avoid Leonine Misbegotten’s large stomp attack, you’ll want to roll forwards. One of Leonine Misbegotten’s easiest attacks to predict is its roar, which means that it will soon do a large sweeping move with its sword. This gives you a little time to get out of the way, or prepare for a well-timed parry.
Something to bear in mind is that it’s very easy to deplete your stamina reserves in this fight: all this dodge-rolling, blocking and parrying comes at a cost. On some occasions, you may need to be patient and wait for your stamina to recover before going all-in on an attack, or else you could find yourself in trouble.
Remember that you can also use the Furlcalling Finger Remedies found in your multiplayer menu to summon other players who can assist you in co-op mode. You can also place down the Tarnished’s Furled Finger to assist other players, which is a great way to practice this fight without losing any runes. When fought in co-op mode, the boss will have a larger health pool – but we’d say it’s a worthy trade-off in order to have some assistance from friends.
Once defeated, Leonine Misbegotten will drop 3800 Runes, and the Grafted Blade Greatsword – a legendary blade that will help you progress Irina’s questline. And, well, it looks pretty cool too. After all, what could be better than one sword? That’s right: twenty of them stuck together.
What secret tactics can help me stagger Leonine Misbegotten more easily
To stagger Leonine Misbegotten more easily in Elden Ring, several secret tactics stand out:
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Use a whip: The whip is particularly effective at staggering him and disrupting his attacks, allowing you to chain hits and keep him off balance. You can find a whip near the boss arena, making it a handy tool for this fight.
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Employ jumping attacks: Leonine Misbegotten has relatively low poise and is vulnerable to jump attacks, which can quickly break his stance. Equipping the Claw Talisman boosts jump attack damage, making this tactic even more effective.
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Guard counters and shield bashes: Using a shield with 100% physical damage negation and skills like Parry or Shield Bash can interrupt his combos early, preventing him from completing devastating attack sequences.
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Spam uncharged heavy attacks: His poor stagger resistance means repeatedly hitting him with uncharged heavy attacks can stop almost any of his moves, making the fight significantly easier, especially with friends wielding heavy weapons.
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Summon allies and spirit ashes: Summoning Castellan Edgar or spirit summons like the Spirit Jellyfish can distract and stagger him, giving you openings to attack safely from a distance or with spells.
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Wait for attack recovery: Instead of attacking during his combos, wait until he finishes a move set and is recovering, then strike during these brief windows when he is vulnerable.
Combining these tactics-especially using a whip to stagger, jumping attacks to break his posture, and timely guard counters-will greatly increase your chances of staggering and defeating Leonine Misbegotten efficiently.
How does summoning Edgar or skeletons help distract Leonine Misbegotten effectively
Summoning Edgar or skeleton spirit ashes helps distract Leonine Misbegotten effectively by drawing his aggressive attention away from the player, creating valuable openings for attacks. Edgar, wielding a halberd, continuously jabs and slices at the boss, forcing Leonine to split focus and reducing the pressure on the player. Similarly, skeleton summons engage the boss by attacking and absorbing his strikes, allowing the player to hit Leonine while he is preoccupied; if the summons fall, the player can dodge until they respawn, maintaining the distraction. This tactic exploits Leonine’s aggressive AI, which prioritizes nearby threats, thus lowering the risk of direct hits on the player and making the fight more manageable.
