When you have a world as big asElden Ring’s, you’re going to need enemies to fill it. And while the Lands Between contain the usual suspects, ranging from human-like enemies to traditional fantasy creatures – albeit with From Software’s usual flare–Elden Ring is also populated with what would be relatively normal creatures in the real world.
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In the Lands Between, however, they are instead monstrous beasts that will kill you in the game and then haunt your nightmares for weeks. Here are ten animals you’ll be glad you can’t meet in your own backyard.
10Octopi
Octopi in the real world are already kind of freaky looking, but Elden Ring ramps that up to a new level. The mini versions are some of the least-threatening enemies in the game, but the Giant Land Octopus is basically just a writhing mass of eggs and tentacles.
They take significantly reduced damage when hit anywhere except their beak, making them extremely frustrating to fight. However, they are relatively easy to stagger with a sufficiently powerful attack. As a result,Strength-based charactersshould have no trouble with these oversized mollusks.
9Ants
Giant ants are a somewhat unusual choice for a fantasy world, but Elden Ring isn’t your average game. It contains many variants of these insectoid horrors, including the Bloated Ants, which don’t attack but drop rare items when killed, and the Shield-Headed Ants, which are almost impossible to damage from the front. you may actually find one of those ant’s heads as a shield in Nokstella, Eternal City, if you want it for yourself.
Ants are also ridden by the Nox, although, judging by the purple glow in their eyes, it seems they might be using mind control to control them, so it might not be the best idea to try it yourself.
8Bats
Bats have a rather negative reputation in real life, but in reality, they aren’t all that dangerous. Some of them are even kind of cute – they are notorious carriers of diseases, though, so don’t go around petting them.
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Elden Ring’s bats, on the other hand, are perfectly crafted to give those with chiroptophobia a nightmare. They attack in swarms, trying to grab you and drain your blood. And instead of echolocation, they just scream damage at you.
7Crabs
Most of the Monstrous Crabs in the Lands Between just really big crabs. And while they can be intimidating, they are less dangerous than they look. But some specific variants are significantly more dangerous.
The Blighted Crabs have a spit attack that will cause Death Blight buildup, which will instantly kill you when it triggers. Meanwhile, the Sliver Crab’s spit causes Sleep buildup. Players will encounter Death Blight occasionally in the Lands Between; although it’s far from common, the Silver Crabs are actually the only enemy in the entire game that can cause Sleep (other than copies of player characters, like Mimic Tears).
6Crows
Elden Ring’s crows exist to remind you that birds used to be dinosaurs, although these particular dinosaurs don’t seem to be feeling particularly well. That is especially true of the version in Mohgwyn Palace, which is covered in blisters.
Real-world crows are notoriously smart animals, and these monsters haven’t lost their intelligence; they will sometimes fake a stagger, complete with the sound effect, then use the distraction to grab you.
However, they can’t be that smart since they are also involved in one of Elden Ring’s most effective farming techniques. If you shoot one with an arrow from the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace in Mohgwyn Palace, it will kill itself for you by running into a pit, netting you more than 11,000 Runes. And any creature will become significantly less intimidating after you’ve watched one wander aimlessly off a cliff a few hundred times.
5Snails
The Lands Between have a suspicious number of giant, mutated snails. It’s enough to make you think they have some sort of thematic significance, although who can say what that would be? You have your basic Serpent Snails, the Crystal Snails that shoot magic, and the Spirit-Caller Snails, which can turn invisible and summon spirits to defend them.
The most unusual (and disturbing) of them, though, are easily the Skeletal Snails. They have a full skeleton, which is a little strange, since real snails are invertebrates, suggesting that these aren’t really snails at all. They also use a giant skull as their shell, and it’s not at all clear where they got that from. It’s probably better not to think about it too hard.
4Dogs
Like many of From Software’s projects, Elden Ring has its fair share of badly malnourished canines. But while you will certainly find the usual diseased, irritatingly fast dogs common in the company’s other games, the Lands Between is also cursed with the Monstrous Dogs, with their giant heads and tiny, tyrannosaurus-like front arms.
It’s difficult to say what could possibly have happened to these dogs that would have caused these deformities, but it can’t have been pleasant. These creatures can apparently be tamed, as evidenced by the Scarlet Rot-spewing one sitting collaredoutside Gowry’s Shack. Gowry is secretly a horrific rot monster, though, so maybe don’t try replicating his success.
3Hawks
Unlike several of the other creatures on this list, the Warhawks of Elden Ring are more like cyborgs than mutants. These abnormally large birds have had their talons removed and replaced with literal swords.
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That can present a real problem for Tarnished, who don’t have some sort of ranged attack, as the Warhawk’s flight and erratic movements make them hard to hit with a melee weapon. To make matters worse, one variant even has some sort of flamethrower attached to their heads. How exactly the weapon works isn’t made clear, but you definitely don’t want to be standing in its way.
2Crayfish
When players first encounter a Giant Crayfish, they are likely to panic, hop on Torrent, and book it out of there as quickly as they can. Then, to their great surprise, 60 percent of their health will disappear when they’re hit by a stream of spit from halfway across the map.
It turns out these giant crustaceans have a sniper rifle attached to their heads for some reason. As a result, unless you want to fight them straight up – and they often come in groups– your best bet is to dodge, weave, and hope for the best.
1Bears
There are regular bears in Elden Ring, but given the other terrifying enemies you may find, they seem less threatening than a bear would be in real life. Fortunately, the game more than makes up for this with Runebears. Whether it’sthe boss variantor the ones you stumble across in the wild, these beasts are more than just bigger bears.
As anyone who has encountered a Runebear knows, they are extremely aggressive and much faster than an animal that size has any right to be. Elden Ring presents you with many dangerous foes, but few things in the Lands Between are more terrifying than a house-sized bear charging toward you at Mach 10.
