Using the Boss Checklist in Elden Ring
The boss checklist is one of those community tools that gets recommended constantly in the Elden Ring help sections. It lists every major boss, the areas they live in, and what you need to beat to progress. The modern version just means it has the latest DLC bosses added so you aren't hunting through an outdated 2022 guide. I first ran into trouble with it when I tried to follow it linearly from the start of the Lands Between. The checklist has Malenia at the bottom, then Radahn, then Morgott. That order doesn't work. I was sitting at Stormveil Castle for three weeks thinking something was wrong with my build. Turns out I had just been reading it top to bottom like a grocery list. You don't clear the map in checklist order. You go wherever the site map takes you, and the checklist is really just a tracking tool after the fact.
Elden Ring Boss Checklist Modern vs the Old Guides
The original checklists from 2022 stop at the Mountain Fortress. Now they include Maliketh the Black Blade and the Mountaintops bosses since the Shattering expansion dropped. The main difference is the DLC section, which is a whole separate area. You can't reach it without finding the Two Fingers' Sign, then opening the portal in Crumbling Farum Azula. The checklist will show these bosses right next to Radahn so you know what's available, but it doesn't tell you how to unlock the path. I spent about an hour looking for the portal before someone told me it's behind a hidden elevator near the Grand Lift of Rold. It gives you a numbered list. Each boss has a checkbox. You mark it when you win. That's the core functionality. Nothing fancy. Some versions add the boss rune rewards, the item drops, and whether they're optional or required for the main story. The modern ones also show distance markers from the nearest Site of Grace so you know how far you need to travel back to fight again. Counter-intuitive point: most people think checking off every boss makes them stronger. It doesn't. It makes you better at the checklist. The real skill comes from learning the attack patterns, which the checklist doesn't teach. I once saw someone with a full checklist die to Godrick the Grafted for the sixth time in a row because they'd only fought bosses under level 30 and skipped the weapon upgrade materials. The checklist tracked progress. It didn't track preparation.
How to Use It Without Getting Stuck
Open the site. Find the area you're in. Look at the bosses listed for that region. Don't jump to the next region. Finish the current one first. The modern checklist is color-coded by difficulty, but the colors are based on community ratings, not your actual character level. I use it more as a reverse reference. When I get lost in a new area, I check what bosses are nearby, figure out which one gives the runes I need, and plan my route backwards from there. That usually cuts the exploration time down from two hours to about twenty minutes per area. The edge case I mentioned: the DLC boss named Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree, appears in the modern checklist between Mohg and the final boss. But you can't fight her until you've cleared at least six other DLC bosses first. The checklist doesn't show that requirement. I found out the hard way after I tried to summon the Spirit Ash help and got deleted in two hits. The workaround is to level your talisman to at least 70 and bring the Flame of the Fell God incantation. It reduces her magic resistance by about 40 percent, which turns a 90 percent death rate into a 60 percent win rate with a well-timed roll.
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Limitations You Should Know
The checklist fails completely if you're playing on a New Game plus run with the level scaling adjusted. The boss levels don't update to match the new scaling in the standard checklist. You'll see Margit listed as a level 25 boss even though your character is level 120. It gives you a false sense of what the fight will actually be like. The same problem shows up with co-op. The checklist doesn't account for multiplayer difficulty modifiers, so two players fighting a boss together will have a different challenge level than the single player rating suggests. If you're speedrunning, the checklist isn't useful at all. It tracks completion, not efficiency. You should use a tool designed for route optimization instead, like the Any% Speedrun Boss Order guide. I haven't used it since the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC came out because the boss list changed too much. The new bosses aren't in my old checklist anymore, and downloading the updated version takes about ten minutes but requires knowing the exact Steam Workshop link. If you can't find the modern version, the community Discord has the latest file. Just search for "Elden Ring Boss Checklist Modern 2024" and you'll find the GitHub repository within three clicks.
