Elden Ring Endings: 🔥 Every Ending Explained 🏆

The Lands Between never let the Tarnished walk a single path, and the same is true when the final boss falls. Elden Ring Endings shape how the entire story closes, and each one paints a completely different future for the world.

Some players want the noble path, others want chaos, and a few just want to see every possible outcome before moving to the next playthrough. Understanding Elden Ring Endings early saves a lot of wasted hours near the finish line.

So, how many endings does the base game actually have? Currently, there are six major named endings, each tied to a specific questline, item, or Great Rune choice made before the final boss fight. Some of them require heavy prep work, while others can be triggered with almost no extra effort.

This guide breaks down every requirement, ranks the endings by tone, and shows how to avoid locking yourself out of the one you actually want. It also covers how all Elden Ring endings connect to specific NPC questlines, plus a quick look at how Nightreign handles its own version of victory.

Elden Ring Endings: The Full List Explained

Before diving into requirements, it helps to understand the basic structure. Every ending in the base game is triggered at the same location, right after the final boss encounter, but the specific outcome depends on choices made throughout the run.

Consequently, missing a quest step early on can silently remove an ending from the table. That is why tracking NPC questlines matters just as much as leveling up a build.

How Many Endings Are In Elden Ring?

The base game currently offers six distinct named endings. They are usually grouped as follows:

• Age of the Erdtree: the default, "neutral" outcome available to everyone.
• Age of Despair: achieved through Godwyn's Great Rune.
• Age of Order: tied to Goldmask and Brother Corhyn's questline.
• Age of Stars: Ranni's ending, arguably the most requested one.
• Lord of Frenzied Flame: the chaos ending, and the hardest to reverse once triggered.
• Age of the Duskborn: Fia's ending, connected to the Deathbed Companion questline.

Each of these represents a genuinely different tone for the world, so it is worth experiencing more than one across separate playthroughs.

Where To Trigger Every Ending

All six endings share the same final trigger point, right before or during the last boss encounter at the base of the Erdtree. However, the specific item equipped, or the quest state completed beforehand, determines which cutscene plays out.

Therefore, the real work happens hours before the credits roll, not during the final fight itself.

All Elden Ring Endings And Their Requirements

Here is a clear breakdown of what each ending needs, along with the general tone of the outcome. This table is useful for planning a run around a specific ending goal.

Age Of The Erdtree (Default Ending)

This is the ending every player gets by default if no other conditions are met. It requires nothing special beyond defeating the final boss and choosing to mend the Elden Ring as intended.

As a result, it is the easiest ending to reach, but also the least dramatic in terms of story payoff. Many players treat it as a first-run baseline before chasing the others.

Age Of Despair (Godwyn's Rune)

This variant requires carrying Godwyn's Great Rune into the final choice. Since Godwyn is the demigod whose death started the Shattering, mending the Elden Ring with his rune produces a much darker outcome.

Notably, this ending leans into themes of decay and eternal death, which fits players who enjoyed the darker corners of the story.

Age Of Order (Goldmask's Ending)

Goldmask's questline is one of the longer ones in the game, running through Brother Corhyn and multiple side locations. Completing it in full unlocks the Age of Order path, built around cold, rational law replacing the old faith.

In addition, this questline overlaps with other NPC arcs, so following it carefully avoids accidentally locking Goldmask's fate too early.

The Elden Ring Frenzied Flame Ending Explained

The Elden Ring Frenzied Flame ending is easily the most requested "secret" outcome, mostly because it visibly changes the Tarnished's appearance and tone during the finale.

Unlike the other endings, this one actively locks the player out of most other quests once triggered, so timing matters enormously.

How To Get The Lord Of Frenzied Flame Ending

Reaching this ending takes a specific sequence of steps. Here is the general order:

1. Locate and reach the Three Fingers, deep within the Subterranean Shunning Grounds.
2. Interact with the Three Fingers to receive the Frenzied Flame and lose an eye in the process.
3. Continue progressing through the story while keeping the Seal of the Three Fingers available.
4. Defeat the final boss as normal.
5. Use the Frenzied Flame option at the ending choice instead of mending the Elden Ring conventionally.

Once accepted, the world burns in chaos flame, and the Tarnished becomes the vessel for the flame's madness. It is one of the most visually distinct all endings Elden Ring offers.

What Happens After Choosing Frenzied Flame

Interacting with the Three Fingers early actually locks out several NPC questlines immediately, not just at the final choice. Consequently, most guides recommend saving this path for a dedicated playthrough rather than a first run.

Furthermore, once the Frenzied Flame is accepted at the finale, there is no undoing the choice on that save file without starting a fresh cycle through New Game Plus.

Age Of The Stars And Age Of The Duskborn

These two endings are tied directly to companion questlines, and both require significant time investment across the full playthrough.

Ranni's Age Of The Stars Ending

Ranni's questline is one of the most involved in the entire game, spanning multiple regions and requiring several specific item deliveries. Completing it in full leads to the Age of Stars, where the Elden Ring is shattered permanently and a new order tied to the moon and stars begins.

Many players consider this the emotionally richest path, since Ranni's arc is treated as a genuine companion story rather than a simple checklist.

Fia's Age Of The Duskborn Ending

Fia's Deathbed Companion questline overlaps with Godwyn's corpse and the Dung Eater, making it one of the trickier arcs to complete without missing a step. Finishing it properly unlocks the Age of the Duskborn.

This outcome leans into themes of gentle rot and quiet death, offering a softer counterpoint to the destruction of the Frenzied Flame path.

What Is The Best Elden Ring Ending?

There is no single objectively best Elden Ring ending, since each one reflects a different philosophy about power, order, and decay. However, players tend to gravitate toward specific outcomes based on what they value in the story.

Choosing By Tone And Story

If a hopeful, character-driven finale matters most, Ranni's Age of Stars usually wins. On the other hand, players who want a haunting, morally grey conclusion often prefer Age of Despair or Age of the Duskborn.

• Want a triumphant, straightforward finish: Age of the Erdtree.
• Want a companion-driven emotional payoff: Age of Stars or Age of the Duskborn.
• Want cold, rational order: Age of Order.
• Want pure chaos and destruction: Lord of Frenzied Flame.

Choosing By Gameplay Difficulty

Some endings are simply easier to reach in terms of required steps. Ranked from least to most demanding in terms of questline length:

1. Age of the Erdtree (no extra steps needed)
2. Lord of Frenzied Flame (moderate detour, but high commitment)
3. Age of Despair (requires locating a specific Great Rune)
4. Age of the Duskborn (multi-stage companion questline)
5. Age of Order (long, multi-region questline)
6. Age of Stars (longest and most item-dependent questline)

Pro Tips: Elden Ring Endings

• Save before the final boss: Creating a separate save slot lets a player try multiple endings without replaying the entire campaign, which matters a lot given how long some questlines run.
• Track NPC quest markers closely: Many questlines silently fail if an NPC dies or a location gets sequence-broken, so checking quest status before major story triggers avoids losing an ending path.
• Avoid touching the Three Fingers early: Since the Frenzied Flame locks out other questlines almost immediately, doing it last preserves access to every other ending on that same character.
• Use New Game Plus for leftover endings: Instead of grinding a fresh character from scratch, New Game Plus keeps gear and levels while resetting story flags, making it far faster to chase remaining endings.

Common Mistakes Elden Ring Players Make

1. Rushing the final boss before finishing quests: Defeating the last boss too early can permanently lock certain NPC arcs. Fix: confirm every active questline is either finished or safely paused before progressing to the endgame area.
2. Accepting the Frenzied Flame on a completionist save: This choice removes access to many other quests almost instantly. Fix: dedicate a separate save file specifically for the Frenzied Flame path.
3. Forgetting to grab the required Great Rune: Some endings, like Age of Despair, need a specific rune equipped before the final choice. Fix: double check the active Great Rune in the equipment menu before triggering the ending sequence.
4. Skipping companion dialogue during long questlines: Missing a single dialogue trigger can silently end a companion arc without the player noticing. Fix: revisit key NPCs after every major boss defeat to check for new dialogue options.

Elden Ring Nightreign Endings: How They Differ

Elden Ring Nightreign takes a very different structural approach compared to the base game. Instead of branching story endings tied to companion questlines, it focuses on repeatable co-op runs against powerful bosses.

Victory And Defeat In Nightreign

Each run, generally called an expedition, ends in either victory or defeat against that run's Nightlord boss. There is no equivalent to choosing between Age of Order or Lord of Frenzied Flame here.

Instead, the challenge comes from surviving escalating threats within a single expedition, then repeating the loop with new strategies. This makes Elden Ring Nightreign endings feel more like match results than narrative branches.

Why Nightreign Endings Feel Different

Since Nightreign is built around repeated online sessions rather than a single long campaign, its pacing rewards fast, stable connections far more than the base game does. A dropped connection mid expedition can undo an entire run's progress.

As a result, players chasing consistent Nightreign victories tend to care a lot more about connection stability than base game players typically do.

Playing Online Without Losing Your Ending Progress

Chasing all endings Elden Ring offers usually means replaying huge sections of the game, and that often involves online co-op to get past a brutal boss standing between the player and a specific questline.

Summon signs, cooperative boss fights, and invasions all depend on a stable connection behind the scenes. A laggy session at the wrong moment can waste an hour of careful questline progress.

This is where ExitLag becomes genuinely useful for players grinding through multiple playthroughs. ExitLag is not a VPN, it is a real-time connection optimizer that analyzes multiple network paths and picks the fastest, most stable route to the game's servers.

• Real-time Optimization: Reduces delay and packet loss, so summons and co-op actions land more reliably during tough boss fights.
• Multipath Technology: Sends data through multiple routes at once, so if one path has issues, the connection stays smooth through another.
• Multi-Internet: Supports up to four simultaneous connections, which helps prevent a single dropped line from ending a cooperative session early.

ExitLag currently supports over 4,000 titles, with more than 1,500 servers spread across 190+ countries, and it is trusted by over 30 million users running roughly 18 million optimizations every week.

Importantly, ExitLag does not modify game files, does not inject code, and does not interact with anti-cheat systems in any way, so it is safe to use alongside Elden Ring. It should not, however, be combined with a VPN, since running both at once reduces effectiveness.

Anyone planning a long grind through multiple questlines and co-op boss fights can grab the ExitLag Download and set up a smoother connection before starting the next attempt.

Elden Ring Endings: Final Thoughts

Chasing every outcome takes real commitment, but understanding the requirements ahead of time makes the process far less frustrating. Elden Ring Endings reward players who track questlines carefully and plan their final boss run with intention.

Whether the goal is the hopeful Age of Stars, the destructive Lord of Frenzied Flame, or simply seeing all six outcomes across separate saves, the Lands Between always has one more story left to tell.

All game images used in this blog post belong to FromSoftware and Bandai Namco. They are used for informational and educational purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with the rights holders.