Monthly Boss Checklists Actually Help You Track Progress Without Burning Out
I've been running a monthly Elden Ring boss checklist for about six months now, and it started as something casual I made to see how many major bosses I could clear before the month ended. It turned into something useful enough that people keep asking me for the template. Here's how it works, what I learned the hard way, and where the system breaks down. The basic idea is straightforward: you get a list of all the major and semi-major bosses in the game, and each month you track which ones you've defeated. The goal isn't necessarily to beat everything — it's to pick targets, practice them, and move through your list without treating the whole thing like a second job. Some people use it to prep for multiplayer seasons. Others just want a reason to return to the Lands Between after a long gap. What most beginners miss is that the checklist only works if you actually size up the boss pool correctly. There are roughly 160 named boss encounters in the base game if you count everything from Margit to Malenia, but counting every single one is a mistake. You end up overwhelmed within two weeks and quit. I learned that the hard way in my first month, when I tried to include every minor shadow demon and demihuman lord. I cleared about nine bosses and then stopped playing for a month because the list felt impossible.
The fix was simpler than I expected. I split the bosses into three tiers: must-do for storyline and core mechanics, optional for builds and practice, and bonus-only for people who want a full clear. That reduced my monthly target from a scary number to something like eight to twelve bosses, depending on how much time I had. You adjust the tiers each month. If you're trying a new build, you prioritize bosses that challenge that specific approach. If you're just trying to stay consistent, you pick bosses you haven't tackled recently. Here's one practical edge case that nobody talks about: legendary ashes of war. They drop from specific bosses, and if your monthly goal includes collecting a particular set of ashes, you need to account for RNG. I spent one full month running the same dragonlord plot arrow fight because I needed the legendary spirit call. I cleared three other bosses that month and then just kept dying to the dragonlord for the rest. What I should have done was mark that boss as a repeat attempt entry on the checklist instead of treating it as a one-and-done. The workaround is simple — write "repeatable" next to any boss tied to a collectible, and cap your attempts at maybe four or five per session so you don't spiral into hours of frustration. The download link I use is hosted on a shared Google Sheet. I'll paste the direct link at the bottom of this post. It's free, editable, and has pre-built sheets for both New Game Plus and first-playthrough runs. The sheet tracks boss name, location, recommended level range, whether you've defeated it, and notes for what weapon or spirit ash worked. There's also a monthly rollup tab that auto-calculates how many bosses you cleared that month versus your target.
A few things you should know before committing to a monthly run. First, the game doesn't penalize you for skipping bosses. The checklist is entirely self-imposed, so there's no shame in leaving Mohgwyn Palace for a later month if your character isn't built for it yet. Second, NG+ scaling changes difficulty significantly after the fifth cycle. I usually pause the checklist between NG+4 and NG+5 because the enemy damage spikes past the point where my build feels viable, and it's more fun to just play through casually instead of grinding bosses I already beat. Third, and this one matters more than people admit: co-op changes how the checklist works. If you're tracking solo runs only, then bosses like Maliketh or Rykard require actual skill prep. If you allow co-op, the numbers look impressive but they don't reflect individual growth. I recommend keeping two separate lists — one for solo and one for co-op — so you can track both honestly. You'll see patterns in your solo runs that co-op hides, like which bosses you consistently struggle with regardless of help. The biggest downside to this system is that it can turn exploration into a chore. Elden Ring is already a game that rewards going off the beaten path, and a strict monthly checklist can make you skip areas just to reach the next boss on your list. I fell into that trap in month three when I rushed past several side dungeons because I wanted to hit ten bosses before the month ended. The bosses I skipped from didn't matter mechanically, but I missed on building connections between regions and story beats. I stopped rushing and went back to treating the checklist as a guideline rather than a quota.
Get the Full Details
If you find the monthly format too rigid, try the weekly variant. It breaks the same bosses into smaller chunks and works better for people with inconsistent schedules. There's no official version, but the same sheet structure works fine if you just change the date headers. Some people on the forums have also made spreadsheet trackers that reset automatically at the start of each month, which removes the manual entry step. Anyway, here's the sheet: [LINK]. It's not polished. The formulas are basic. But it does what it needs to do without any setup cost. Use it however makes sense for your schedule.
