How to Beat Borealis the Freezing Fog: Boss Fight Guide

This is a guide on how to beat Borealis the Freezing Fog, an optional boss in Elden Ring. Read on to learn more about Borealis the Freezing Fog's drops, weaknesses, and recommended level!

Borealis the Freezing Fog General Info

Stats and Rewards

Borealis the Freezing Fog
Weakness	Resistance	Immune
Strike	Standard Slash Magic Fire Holy Lightning Bleed Scarlet Rot Poison Thrust	Frost Sleep Madness Instant Death
Affected By	Bleed, Poison, Scarlet Rot
Spirit Ashes Available?	Yes
Rune Rewards	100000 (NG)
Summonable NPCs	None
Location	・Mountaintops of the Giants
Item Drops	・Dragon Heart

Borealis the Freezing Fog Location

Where to Find Borealis the Freezing Fog

Borealis the Freezing Fog can be found at the center of the large ice lake in East Mountaintops of the Giants. You will arrive at this location by heading north from the Grand Lift of Rold, then heading east once you've reached the frozen river.

Borealis the Freezing Fog will appear to you in the middle of an ice storm with close to zero visibility. Do not fret, as the ice storm will disappear once you've come into contact with Borealis.

How to Beat Borealis the Freezing Fog

Tips for Beating Borealis the Freezing Fog
Ride on Torrent
Use Bleed, Poison, and Scarlet Rot
Summon a Long-Range Spirit Ash
Use Striking Weapons for Greater Damage
Don't Stick too Close: Aim for the Hind Legs and Wings

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Ranged Strategy

Borealis the Freezing Fog Boss Tips
Ride on Torrent
Summon a Long-Range Spirit Ash
Use Bleed, Poison, and Scarlet Rot
Unload Your Most Powerful Spells

Ride on Torrent

Using Torrent will make it significantly easier to make a quick escape from Borealis' deadly ice attacks. Note that Borealis' attacks do a lot of damage to Torrent, so try to stay away from Borealis' ice AoE attacks in particular. Bringing a few extra flasks to revive Torrent just in case Torrent is knocked out would be a good idea.

Summon a Long-Range Spirit Ash

Spirit Ashes with melee attacks will have a tougher time trying to aggro Borealis, as it flies up and moves around the area a lot. Summon a spirit ash with good long-range attacks like Latenna the Albinauric, Dolores the Sleeping Arrow Puppet, as they will easily hit Borealis and draw its aggro.

Use Bleed, Poison, and Scarlet Rot

Inflicting status ailments on Borealis is much easier to do with a ranged character than a melee character, as Borealis moves around a lot, and does a lot of close-range AoE ice attacks. So keep your distance, and keep on pumping Borealis with arrows laced with Bleed, Poison, and Scarlet Rot.

Poison Pots and Rot Pots will help with inflicting status ailments. The Rotten Breath incantation can help if you are able to cast it.

Unload Your Most Powerful Spells

Borealis is a large target and will easily be hit by almost any attack. If you're a magic user, use any spell you want, so long as it keeps you far away from Borealis' ice attacks. The Cerulean Hidden Tear plus Comet Azur combo for Int builds and Ancient Dragons' Lightning Strike for Faith builds will work nicely to obliterate Borealis' HP bar.

Melee Strategy

Borealis the Freezing Fog Boss Tips
Ride on Torrent
Aim for the Hind Legs and Wings
Use Striking Weapons
Use Envoy's Long Horn for Greater Damage

Ride on Torrent

Using Torrent will make it significantly easier to close in on Borealis, as well as make a quick escape from its deadly ice attacks. Note that Borealis' attacks do a lot of damage to Torrent, so try to stay away from Borealis' ice AoE attacks in particular. Bringing a few extra flasks to revive Torrent just in case he is knocked out would be a good idea.

Aim for the Hind Legs and Wings

Use torrent to approach Borealis' hind legs or wings, get a few hits in, then dash away for a quick escape. Two-hand your weapon and aim to do jumping attacks in order to stagger Borealis. When you successfully stagger them, continue inflicting damage at your current position instead of going to the head as you may not make it in time for a critical hit, wasting opportunity to deal more damage.

Use Striking Weapons

Weapons that do striking attacks do much greater damage to Borealis than slashing and piercing attacks do. This doesn't mean that slashing and piercing weapons are useless; they still do a decent amount of damage, but Borealis will go down much quicker with striking attacks.

Use Envoy's Long Horn for Greater Damage

The Envoy's Long Horn Bubble Shower weapon skill is a mid-range attack that Strength-Faith builds can use to inflict massive damage on Borealis. This works well on this boss since its size allows Borealis to get hit by all of the bubbles of Bubble Shower.

Borealis the Freezing Fog Attack Patterns

Physical Attacks

Physical Attack Variations
Tail Whip: Borealis the Freezing Fog lifts its tail and does a quick swipe, doing a 180 to face you. This move is only done when you're directly behind Borealis. This move is avoided by performing a dodge roll or, while riding on Torrent, double jumping.
Flying Stomp: Borealis the Freezing Fog flies into the air then uses its hind legs to smash down onto the ground. This swooping attack covers a long distance, so you can avoid this by using Torrent to run away in the opposite direction. You can land a hit after Borealis recovers from the landing animation.
Foot Stomp: Borealis the Freezing Fog raises its foot into the air and stomps onto the ground, causing a Frost AoE cloud to form. Simply back roll away from this. Do not approach Borealis' feet while the cloud is still in effect. You are free to land hits on Borealis' wings, though.
Foot and Claw Stomp: This move is similar to the Foot Stomp but Borealis the Freezing Fog also brings its front claws down to smash the ground. Avoided by rolling backwards and away. Stay away from the Frost cloud and attack Borealis' wings instead.
Bite and Headbutt Rush: Borealis the Freezing Fog uses this move to close in on you when you are a distance away. Borealis runs at you with a bite, then a headbutt. Avoided by dodge rolling into Borealis, or using Torrent to run away.
Side Bite: Borealis the Freezing Fog opens its mouth and bites at you when you are to its side. This move is easily avoided with a dodge roll or a short sprint with Torrent.
Quick Bite Swipe: Borealis the Freezing Fog opens its mouth for a bite, then does a large sweeping bite that covers a large space around it. Simply dodge backwards, as its range is short.

Ice Attacks

Ice Attack Variations
Backwards Ice Breath: Borealis the Freezing Fog flies a short distance backwards and breathes ice onto the ground. Use torrent to run away from the clouds of ice.
Flying Ice Breath: Borealis the Freezing Fog's most devastating attack. It flies into the air and breathes ice onto a large portion of the battlefield. Use Torrent to ride sideways and as far away from the icy breath as you can.
Stationary Ice Breath: Borealis the Freezing Fog stays on the ground and breathes a cloud of ice at you. Easily avoided even on foot by running sideways. You are free to hit Borealis' wings while this attack is happening.
Ice Roar: Borealis the Freezing Fog does a great roar, which sends ice waves in every direction. Back roll twice out of the way when you see this happening. The radius of the roar is small enough so you can freely attack Borealis' wings. Do not approach its legs while this move is ongoing.
Double Ice Roars: Borealis the Freezing Fog does a great ice roar once with its head pointed at the sky, then does an even greater ice roar, which can be devastating if you're too close. Stay away from Borealis while this move is ongoing.

Elden Ring Related Guides

List of All Bosses

DLC Bosses

Main Bosses

Optional Bosses

Mini-Bosses

Hostile NPCs and Invaders