As most players will know, Elden Ring (and many of FromSoftware’s other games) allows you to summon other players to help you fight through the nightmarish world they've crafted for you. But if you don’t feel like relying on other people, and want to stick to the story beats, the game provides you with NPCs you can summon as well.
And while any amount of help against certain bosses will be much appreciated, depending both on their own strength and the difficulty of the bosses you are up against, some NPCs will be more useful than others. If you find yourself struggling, consider summoning one of these in-game characters.
10 Blaidd: Bloodhound Knight Darriwil, Starscourge Radahn
Everyone’s favorite half-wolf, Blaidd’s main summon is inside the Forlorn Hound Evergaol, where you can fight Bloodhound Knight Darriwil. For many players, there’s no real reason to fight Darriwil super early in the game, and it won’t take long to level up enough that you can take him down on your own.
That being said, Darriwil does drop one of the strongest weapons in the entire game: Bloodhound’s Fang. And if you want it right from the start, getting Blaidd’s help can be quite useful. You need to jump through some hoops to get to that point, though. First, find Blaidd howling at the Mistwood ruins, then talk to Merchant Kalé about him to start his questline.
9 Sorcerer Rogier: Margit, The Fell Omen
Sorcerer Rogier isn’t an especially powerful phantom, but the fight you summon him for, Margit, the Fell Omen, can be absolutely brutal, even if you’ve already done a few playthroughs of the game. According to FromSoftware’s stats, he has killed more players than almost any other boss, second only to Malenia.
Just having Rogier around as a distraction, giving you a break from Margit’s relentless attacks, is exceptionally useful, even if he is fairly squishy and doesn’t deal massive damage. Best of all, you don’t need to do anything to summon him. Rogier is available to help against Margit even if you rush straight to him at the start of the game.
8 Great Horned Tragoth: Magma Wyrm Makar, Draconic Tree Sentinel, Starscourge Radahn
Great Horned Tragoth is basically a brick wall that hits enemies with a second, slightly smaller brick wall. He spawns in wearing the Bull-Goat Set and carrying the Giant-Crusher—the heaviest armor set and weapon in the game, respectively.
The first boss you can summon Tragoth for, Magma Wyrm Makar isn’t particularly difficult (although it never hurts to have some help), but the second is a different story. The Draconic Tree Sentinel, which guards the entrance to Leyndell, Royal Capital, can be a tough fight, and having this big boy on your side will make things far easier. And you don’t even need to do anything to get Tragoth on your side; he helps you out of the goodness of his heart. It’s a real shame you have to murder him later if you want to get his sweet armor set.
7 Millicent: Magma Wyrm Makar, Godskin Apostle, Draconic Tree Sentinel, Black Blade Kindred
Millicent can be summoned for four different fights, more than any other character. And she can invade you as well, so in theory, you should see her as a phantom extremely often. But it’s extremely easy to miss basically all of her appearances, since they rely on you progressing her questline, and many players will explore a significant portion of the Lands Between before you even start it.
For example, if you make your way through the Altus Plateau before Caelid, you’ll have skipped three of her summon signs. If you want to see Millicent in combat, you’ll need to head to Caelid early, then make sure you talk to her at each of her locations before taking on various boss fights. And it can be worth going through the trouble, since Millicent can use the Waterfowl Dance, the skill Malenia uses to kill you over and over again.
6 Melina: Morgott, The Omen King
Melina can only be summoned for one boss, but she leaves quite the impression. In combat, she uses the Blade of Calling to inflict Holy-based attacks, both at close and long range. She can also call down pillars of light from the sky (Giant Miranda Sprouts use the same ability) and has a completely unique Incantation that creates a golden tree with a healing aura.
Additionally, her moveset is similar to Black Knife Tiche. She jumps around a lot, and can cover large distances quite quickly. This means she rarely gets left out of the fight, as some of the slower NPC summons do. It also makes it hard for Morgott to hit her, allowing her to survive far longer than you might expect.
5 The Dung Eater: Mohg, The Omen, Morgott, The Omen King
The Dung Eater NPC summon functions in a similar way to both his Spirit Summon and his invading phantom. He’s an impressive combatant, who can deal and take immense amounts of damage. He’s strong enough to take down Mohg, the Omen (the phantom beneath Leyndell, not the real deal) basically by himself, and he is a great tank against Morgott, the Omen King as well.
Of course, for him to be available for either fight, you’ll need to have freed him from his cell in the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. And those aren’t exactly a fun time to explore, full of twisting hallways and terrifying enemies.
4 Nepheli Loux: Godrick The Grafted, Omenkiller, Godfrey, First Elden Lord
Nepheli Loux’s summon signs are locked behind various stages in her questline, but most of the steps are fairly simple. Summoning her against Godrick just requires talking to her in the area leading up to his boss room (although Godrick is one of the easiest bosses in the game, so you probably don’t need her help here). Similarly, her summon sign will appear for the Omenkiller Field Boss if you talk to her on the path leading to him. And he’s surprisingly difficult, with powerful strikes and multiple dogs at his side.
The trickiest of her summons to get is for the hardest of her bosses, Godfrey, First Elden Lord. You need to finish her questline before the summon sign appears. And that’s worth doing if Godfrey is giving you trouble. Nepheli can deal solid damage with her Stormhwak Axes, and is surprisingly hard to kill for a character who’s basically not wearing anything - although, given that she seems to be a direct descendent from Godfrey himself, that probably shouldn’t be too much of a shock.
3 Iron Fist Alexander: Fire Giant, Starscourge Radahn
Iron Fist Alexander can be summoned against the Fire Giant, although if you haven’t progressed his questline far enough, you might have missed him. His summon sign is also inside the arena, which is quite unusual, so you might not have even known to look for it.
The Fire Giant moves around a lot for such a massive enemy, and Alexander’s rotund frame means he isn’t exactly a sprinter. However, his massive girth comes in handy once he actually gets into range. Alexander is capable of tanking an immense amount of damage, and he can dish it out as well, especially with some of his charged punch attacks.
2 Recusant Bernahl: Godskin Duo
Like Sorcerer Rogier, Recusant Bernahl is another NPC who can be summoned for a particularly difficult boss. In Bernahl’s case, the boss in question is the Godskin Duo, arguably the most complained about boss in the game. Assuming you haven’t killed him, Bernahl should be summonable outside their boss room.
But unlike Rogier, Bernahl is more than just a distraction. He can absorb a ton of damage, keeping one-half of the Duo distracted and evening the odds in what is one of Elden Ring’s most frustrating fights. However, if you are going for the Sleep strategy (the Duo are extremely weak to this status effect) summoning him might be counterproductive, since NPCs will just hit sleeping enemies and wake them up.
1 Everyone In The Radahn Festival (Except Patches): Starscourge Radahn
Starscourge Radahn’s boss fight contains the most unique group of NPC summons in the game. Once you enter Radahn’s arena, you’ll be able to summon a small army of NPCs to help you take down the Starscourge. Well, Patches will immediately teleport home, but everyone else will team up to fight the Scarlet Rot-afflicted giant.
The group that includes a few NPCs from earlier on this list, including Blaidd, Tragoth, and Alexander (assuming they're still alive), among several others. It’s easily the highest number of NPCs you can summon for a single boss. Most importantly, unlike any other boss fight, you can re-summon them if they die. They will run out of summons eventually, some faster than others, but with their help, you can kill Radahn without ever attacking him.