Between fighting Margit in Limgrave and felling the final boss in the Erdtree, the Tarnished will come across many challenges as they journey through Elden Ring’s regions. The Lands Between features a wide variety of enemy types, dungeon designs, and boss battles to put players to the test. However, not all of the map’s regions are as much of a struggle as others.
Elden Ring often fluctuates between being moderately difficult to nearly impossible depending on where players are in the Lands Between. This has to do with the design philosophy of Elden Ring’s director, Hidetaka Miyazaki. Famous for creating the uniquely challenging Soulsborne series, Miyazaki likes pitting players against tricky bosses and enemy-filled dungeons to push them beyond their limits. However, with Elden Ring being an exploratory open-world, Miyazaki had to spread the game’s challenges across a huge map in such a way that players could gradually rise in level while exploring the Lands Between. Consequently, some areas in Elden Ring became much easier than others.
Ranking Elden Ring Regions In Terms Of Difficulty
Each of the Lands Between’s major regions comes with its own set of challenges. Some have stronger common enemies, others trickier dungeons, and a few offer very little difficulty at all. Considering the factors of enemy strength, legacy dungeon design, and boss battles, it's possible to rank Elden Ring’s regions from hardest to easiest, so new players can know which to avoid until they're truly ready.
Caelid & Dragonbarrow Have Elden Ring's Hardest Dungeon
In true FromSoftware fashion, Caelid is both one of the earliest regions in Elden Ringand the hardest. Part of its difficulty level comes from being accessible to low-leveled players: an inexperienced Tarnished can stumble into Caelid’s dunes and struggle against its Giant Dogs and Monstrous Crows.
That said, the Scarlet Rot-infested region does also feature legitimately challenging enemies. Commander O’Niell and his Cleanrot Knights can be hard to manage, and Starscourge Radahn has pushed players into relying on cheese in order to beat him, as shown in Tyrannicon's video. But what really makes Caelid Elden Ring’s most difficult region is its northernmost sub-region: Dragonbarrow.
The Dragonbarrow harbors Blackblade Kindred, Vulgar Militiamen, and dragon bosses, all of whom can one-shot even high-leveled Tarnished. And just off of its coast, hovering in the air, is Elden Ring’s hardest dungeon, the Crumbling Farum Azula. Being the ancient home of dragons, Farum Azula poses the most difficult challenges for players in their journey to attain the Elden Throne, with Maliketh and Dragonlord Placidusax both being found here.
The Mountaintops Of The Giants Are A Huge Challenge
The Mountaintops of the Giants are Elden Ring’s second-hardest area. They represent a huge jump in difficulty for players after defeating Morgott; enemies suddenly strike much harder, take more damage, and attack less predictably. Add to this, environmental difficulties like fighting Borealis the Freezing Fog in a literal blizzard, and the Mountaintops of the Giants can feel like an impossible area to conquer.
The Mountaintops are also home to Elden Ring’s most difficult boss. In the Haligtree dungeon - which requires its own difficult challenges to get to - Malenia awaits players at the tree’s roots. Her presence alone would make a region one of Elden Ring’s most difficult, but because the Mountaintops have many other bosses and dungeons to offer, it finds itself as the second most difficult in the entire game.
Elden Ring's Underground Region Is As Hard As It Is Annoying
The Underground region of the Lands Between features some of the most beautiful spots in the game; but it also features some of its most annoyingly difficult. The archers of Siofra River can seemingly shoot from any distance; Nokstella’s Silver Spheres can knock Tarnished down like bowling pins; the Deeproot Depths constantly pose the risk of Death build-up, and the Lake of Rot can kill players by them simply being there. These challenges can be hard to deal with, but only really because they’re frustrating. If Elden Ring players practice patience over pride, they will find the Underground region difficult, but not on the level of Caelid or the Haligtree.
The Altus Plateau Is In The Goldilocks Zone Of Difficulty
The Altus Plateau falls into the Goldilocks zone of difficulty: it’s more difficult than most other regions, but without ever becoming too difficult to require level-grinding. This is fitting considering the Altus Plateau is the home of the Golden Order, Leyndell Royal Capital. Leyndell is one of Elden Ring’s most popular areas, as bosses like Morgott the Omen King and Godfrey the First Elden Lord are simultaneously hard to beat and fun to duel.
The rest of the Altus Plateau offers a variety of difficulty levels. The Woodfolk Ruins and Capital Outskirts are fairly easy for Elden Ring locations; other spots like the Shaded Castle, the Subterranean Shunning Grounds, and Auriza Hero’s Grave are very challenging. This spread of difficulty levels across the Altus Plateau lands it in the middle of Elden Ring’s regions.
Limgrave & Weeping Peninsula Are Difficult Opening Areas
Although it serves as players’ introduction to Elden Ring, Limgrave is not the game’s easiest region. With a Tree Sentinel guarding its entrance (and Margit guarding Stormveil Castle), Limgrave poses a high degree of difficulty for the low-leveled Tarnished it is meant for. Indeed, the region is designed to force players to stop trying to progress through the story and level-grind, so FromSoftware has been sure to put some truly challenging bouts in Limgrave
The sub-region to Limgrave’s south, the Weeping Peninsula, similarly offers high levels of difficulty for low-leveled Tarnished. The dungeon Castle Morne is one of the few in Elden Ring to spread its Sites of Grace out, making it genuinely hard for players to complete. Though its boss is ultimately easy, its bountiful Misbegotten enemies and tricky platforming help make Limgrave a challenging region.
Mt. Gelmir Is More Cinematic Than Challenging
Mt. Gelmir and its popular dungeon Volcano Manor fail to offer the difficulty the promise of their appearance provides. The region’s most important fight with Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, is more cinematic than anything: if the Tarnished play their cards right, they can even keep the boss in nearly perpetual stun, making the battle a cakewalk. Indeed, the hitman missions in other Elden Ring regions that unlock the Rykard battle are harder than Rykard himself. Mt. Gelmir’s Fallingstar Beast at least adds a level of difficulty to the region, but for the most part, the Tarnished will have an easy time here.
Liurnia Of The Lakes Has Charms But No Challenges
What Liurnia of the Lakes has in Elden Ring secrets it lacks in difficulty. The region’s most standard enemy, the Albinaurics, are more cute and whimsical than they are threatening, with their doe eyes and cartwheeling. Similarly lacking any threat are the sorcerers, whose lack of bulk and power makes them cannon fodder for Tarnished willing to rush them down.
But what really makes Liurnia the easiest region in Elden Ring is its major dungeon, the Raya Lucaria Academy. With tons of Sites of Grace and sorcerers, players constantly reach checkpoints they don’t even need because there are rarely any true threats there. In fact, the dungeon ends in a duel with Rennala, whose boss fight is more of a somber character introduction than anything else. The Raya Lucaria Academy’s lack of difficulty doesn’t take away from the fun it provides, but it does make Liurnia of the Lakes Elden Ring’s easiest region.
Sources: Tyrannicon / YouTube
