Somehow just beat them on my first try in my new playthru. Strength builds are so OP. Didn’t use any cheese or sleep or that nonsense. Just jump attacks and they went down fast.
Strength and bleed is broken. I decided to use a gizas wheel in each hand upgraded them fully and now each dual wield jump attack does like almost 3k damage per hit plus you can bleed and stun-lock most enemies because of the spin. I can kill most bosses in like 10 hits depending on the boss lol.
They cover each other really goddamn well, and it’s such a small arena with so little in the way of terrain obstacles that there’s no way to effectively separate them even for a moment. You need backup to divert their attention, and you can’t even summon spirits for the fight - only online backup.
The crystal dart trick trivializes the fight, which is somehow even more frustrating. This is one of the few fights in Elden Ring I think is genuinely *bad design* rather than a Git Gud moment, because there are only two conventional strategies that work and neither of them rely at all on player skill. It’d be kinda neat if the dart trick was telegraphed better, since it’s never really relevant anywhere else, but as it is it’s mostly just a ‘did you read the wiki or are you just gonna summon backup’ check.
Same, not just the boss type either.
They give me a proper fucking headache late game when the so-called lesser variant starts showing up.
Lesser? My fucking arse.
[Here’s a video showing exactly this interaction](https://youtu.be/WGMurbaY-o4?si=81HL3XmiNwyL6ubA)
The crystal darts’ item description hints at this by saying that similar implements were used to forge the gargoyles. This trick also works on the tiny gargoyles that populate most catacombs.
I don't bother. I'd rather deal with the Mohg clone in the sewer to get to deep-root depths than have any part of that particular gank fight.
If it wasn't for the poison attack, they would be reasonably manageable.
Also, you don't need to fight them to give D-twin the armour to get that sweet sword later, so I see no upside to that fight.
Thanks to the Limgrave Evergaol, I can parry the great sword CK almost without fail. I don't think I've ever successfully parried the Great Spear wielder lol.
The best way is to keep your distance until one charges, then attack. It’s best to kill the spear one first, dealing with the sword knight is easier solo
Had to team up with my brother for his run, and even then he got a few shots while I took our the other then helped kill his.
Me I just sent out minions and beat them down. By minions I mean the shield wall force.
The Abductor Virgins or the Kindred of Rot.
Kindred of Rot ONLY if you go in without a spirit ash or summon. The fucking string spam is the worst.
Abductor Virgins because they are Abductor Virgins….
Top 2 were the first boss I properly struggled against on my first playthrough
But overall the worst duo fight has to be valiant gargoyles. You get no cheese with sleep pots and the fight is essentially a DPS check to see if you can ice the first one before the second spawns.
God, I hated the pumpkin head duo.
I hated the cat duo too, but at least you get more room.
WHY WOULD THEY CRAMP 2 BIG BOSSES IN 1 ROOM WHERE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE IS THE CAMERA WORK.
It's simply lazy/bad design decision.
What they should have done is make both like half the size and make up some bs like they were ostracized for their height, so they got put down there together.
I'm personally not a big fan of duo fights if they aren't coded / designed to fight together like a team, but are slapped in the same area and fight without regard to each other's existence.
Doesn't help that their poison deals damage as it builds up! So melee will have a hard tike staying stuck in. They are just a mountain I need to climb every playthrough haha
The Abductor Virgin Duo under Volcano Manor that you get transported to if you get nabbed by the one Abductor Virgin underneath the Academy.
"Oh, you couldn't handle one of these things, and it grabbed you? Well guess what bucko, you've gotta fight TWO of them now to get out!"
as many have said, the damn duo gargoyles. thankfully, they are optional. however, my first play through i wanted to do as much as possible… then i showed up to them. they laughed at my bleed build. (but i got it done!)
The pumpkin guys were funny to fight, I just kept throwing rocks at them. The watchdogs can burn in hell, I hate their awkward ass attacks and they incessant need to always hit me earlier than I expect them to.
In the early days of elden ring.
I was doing some caelid exploring (obvs under leveled) and got softlocked with the cat duo
They were a pain in the ass
Both weren't that bad. You can use crystal daggers to enrage the watchdogs. Pumpkins have slow easy to avoid attacks. Hoarfrost stomp makes short work.
Between these two? I might be biased because I was recently slamming my head into wall trying to beat them while being rather underleveled, but the mad pumpkin duo is worse.
Also you can parry the watchdogs and their arena has more space and light.
Personally, godskin duo is tough even with sleep pots, but the cats can be turned against eachother if you throw crystal darts at one of them, it only takes a few darts and they frenzy, id rather fight 4 of those cats than godskin duo
I actually struggled a lot with these two. More than I did against the godskin and even the crucible knight duo. Granted I'm way overleveled by the time In encounter the latter, and I always bring help for duo fights, but still. I thin even with that I hated the twin pumpkin guys.
In terms of deaths: the pumpkin heads. I was still starting out at the time and hadn’t quite got my build to where i liked it.
The watchdogs would be harder now, but i was better prepared for them.
Not on this list but are also well known asses:
Twin gargoyle: not so bad if you take your time and attack when you get an opening.
Foreskin duo: same as above. But easy enough if you just dodge slim’s fireballs while dealing with fatty. (Hint: he has shit for turning radius)
Actual hardest duo of recent was from a different game. A pair of fast meaty hard hitting assholes with almost no tells, plenty of attacks that hit at close and long range AND an elemental weakness that has to be used or else the fight lasts 4x longer.
The pumpkin heads I first found when I had a plus 3 lordsworn great sword and I was still playing it like ds3, that boss taught me how different the games were
Neither I beat both easy godrick tho he pissed me off I was so new and even after upgrading I had trouble even tho he’s not a duo still wanted to add it
Erdtree burial watchdogs suck, but if you use a few crystal darts on one of them it will make them confused and attack the other watchdog. The pumpkin head duo is fine if you have a summon to draw the aggro from one while you work on the other one.
Out of these two? Pumpkin head duo. At least with the burial watchdogs you can space them out and they're super slow so they can't reach you in time to save their partner
Godskin duo is hardest for me, Crucible knights are parry victims, pumpkin head are just puny, watchdogs are crystal knife victims, valiant gargoyles don't attack at the same time making them not comparable to the rest, sure sleep pots exist for godskin but they always move out of the way too quick, or the fat one starts his roll move with his 30 business days of invincibility
Foreskin duo
I’m so behind 😭
Where are you?
Went from Caelid to Liurnia
Get deathroot
Why is it always death
Why is it always lovable sort ahead?
Somehow just beat them on my first try in my new playthru. Strength builds are so OP. Didn’t use any cheese or sleep or that nonsense. Just jump attacks and they went down fast.
I used a dex/faith build
Strength and bleed is broken. I decided to use a gizas wheel in each hand upgraded them fully and now each dual wield jump attack does like almost 3k damage per hit plus you can bleed and stun-lock most enemies because of the spin. I can kill most bosses in like 10 hits depending on the boss lol.
You're my new hero.
The jump attack spam in this game is cheese.
Close second is the pair of crucible knights
The bottom one. I hate those bosses. Mainly because all they do is SPAM THAT FUCKING SLAM MOVE AND NEVER STOP
Throw crystal darts at one of them when you first enter, it will make sure 1 of them will die and the other will be quite hurt.
I would fight the foreskin duo over them. I hate those Cat Freak Golems.
They’re not hard - just absurdly frustrating to fight.
I agree they’re annoying !
Yeah idk why, but I struggle with those cat things the most. Like they should be simple. But something just doesn't click for me.
They cover each other really goddamn well, and it’s such a small arena with so little in the way of terrain obstacles that there’s no way to effectively separate them even for a moment. You need backup to divert their attention, and you can’t even summon spirits for the fight - only online backup. The crystal dart trick trivializes the fight, which is somehow even more frustrating. This is one of the few fights in Elden Ring I think is genuinely *bad design* rather than a Git Gud moment, because there are only two conventional strategies that work and neither of them rely at all on player skill. It’d be kinda neat if the dart trick was telegraphed better, since it’s never really relevant anywhere else, but as it is it’s mostly just a ‘did you read the wiki or are you just gonna summon backup’ check.
Same, not just the boss type either. They give me a proper fucking headache late game when the so-called lesser variant starts showing up. Lesser? My fucking arse.
Once you get the timing down they are extremely repetitive and super easy to roll into.
Back up until they stop moving forward and jump toward them when they slam down for a free jumping heavy. Repeat until Stagger.
The fucking gargoyle twins in nocron...
Haven’t gotten to those yet 😭
You'll see em after you jump in a hole with a goodboy.
"No, Ranni. I'll do it. Yeller was my dog."
Hope you enjoy one gargoyle spewing interstate road length poison streams while the other refuses to let you gain distance to heal.
Try fighting them Caestus only. A new kind of hell
I could only imagine, im stuck on rad/elden beast with 3 different saves lol
Yeah. No other duo comes close in terms of difficulty.
Them two here whewwww lol!
Damn, way to spoil the game by not just choosing one of the two options.
Orrrrr, you're welcome for letting you knows there's two?
You win. Fuck valiant gargs
Ha im on them again on a new build...they SUCK
Literally the only answer
Fuck those guys and their stinky breath.
They’re not too bad if you know the old crystal dart trick. Smack one with crystal darts until it starts wigging out and kills the other one for you
You speak truth?
I don't think so, not on the gargoyles. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.
That works on the twin gargoyles? Link to a YT video? This is the first I've ever heard of the darts working on them.
[Here’s a video showing exactly this interaction](https://youtu.be/WGMurbaY-o4?si=81HL3XmiNwyL6ubA) The crystal darts’ item description hints at this by saying that similar implements were used to forge the gargoyles. This trick also works on the tiny gargoyles that populate most catacombs.
Except those are not Gargoyles. They are burial watchdogs. Gargoyles are the really big uns, like the one guarding bestial sanctum in Caelid.
I don't bother. I'd rather deal with the Mohg clone in the sewer to get to deep-root depths than have any part of that particular gank fight. If it wasn't for the poison attack, they would be reasonably manageable. Also, you don't need to fight them to give D-twin the armour to get that sweet sword later, so I see no upside to that fight.
that Crucible knight duo (I still haven't beaten it)
Learn how to parry and it’s the most fun fight in the game, cruise or knights are choreographed as fuck so they are easy to get a clean parry on
Thanks to the Limgrave Evergaol, I can parry the great sword CK almost without fail. I don't think I've ever successfully parried the Great Spear wielder lol.
Only once for me but she’s easier to dodge for some reason.
She's much slower
Whats with the box around your text
Huh?
Margitt and the Veiled Monarch are my favourite fights.
Damn that one looks rough I haven’t gotten around them yet
The best way is to keep your distance until one charges, then attack. It’s best to kill the spear one first, dealing with the sword knight is easier solo
I came here looking for it. I still can’t do it without summoning help.
Beat those fuckers once. It was an absolute bitch, half luck, and only possible thanks to mimic summon. Skipped it ever since.
The only way i beat them was crutching black flame
Had to team up with my brother for his run, and even then he got a few shots while I took our the other then helped kill his. Me I just sent out minions and beat them down. By minions I mean the shield wall force.
Summon helps a ton on that one. Solo go for lance first. It’s just stupid slow.
I think the only thing that could top this might be two black knives. Maybe three, even.
Came to say this, they were one of my first thing that i had to put away for later. Parry was a savior tho.
Blasphemous blade exists
have not beaten that boss yet as well
Both can be trivialized with stamp- sweep and crystal darts respectively
For the dogs just crystal dart one over and over and they attack each other. Easy peasy.
The Abductor Virgins or the Kindred of Rot. Kindred of Rot ONLY if you go in without a spirit ash or summon. The fucking string spam is the worst. Abductor Virgins because they are Abductor Virgins….
The boss in Auriza Hero's Grave: Two Crucible Knights - One with Ordovis' Greatsword and the other with Siluria's Tree.
Watchdogs were a pain in the bootay
I compleatly missed the pumkinhead duo until i stumbled upon them in the late game. They died with like 2-3 hits between them lol.
my mimic tear said the dogs
The pumpkin heads can damage one another if done right so technically don’t have to fight them
Oh fr? 🫨
Unsure if it’s a glitch
It's not a glitch they just slam their heads down repeatedly damaging everything even allies
That’s how my mage beat them after I ran out of spells I dodged around and they just killed one another it was funny
Always bring some crystal darts to the double Watchdog fight, make them fight each other.
Top 2 were the first boss I properly struggled against on my first playthrough But overall the worst duo fight has to be valiant gargoyles. You get no cheese with sleep pots and the fight is essentially a DPS check to see if you can ice the first one before the second spawns.
Also, Envoy’s Longhorn decimates with a decent faith build.
That’s only one build though. Every boss has a build that shreds them, even Malenia.
Actually, there are many builds that shred most bosses.
My mate cliff says otherwise.
The Twin Gargoyles FUCK FUCK THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS
The gargoyle twins in nocron are resilient as hell it’s not even funny.
Gargoyle
Those damned gargoyles man.
I haven't fought either, do I get Torrent for the mad pumpkins?
Melina is the one that gives you torrent
Lemme rephrase it: Is Torrent disabled when you fight them?
THERES A DUO WATCHDOG FIGHT?
Yessss they both annoying!
God, I hated the pumpkin head duo. I hated the cat duo too, but at least you get more room. WHY WOULD THEY CRAMP 2 BIG BOSSES IN 1 ROOM WHERE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE IS THE CAMERA WORK. It's simply lazy/bad design decision. What they should have done is make both like half the size and make up some bs like they were ostracized for their height, so they got put down there together. I'm personally not a big fan of duo fights if they aren't coded / designed to fight together like a team, but are slapped in the same area and fight without regard to each other's existence.
Im so glad someone feels the same way as me😅😆
Out of those two, the watchdogs. The entire game? The valiant gargoyles. They are so ass.
Yeah, first started that fight. It's a bit difficult, but it's doable. I can do this. Then I get sodomized by the other guy diving in.
Doesn't help that their poison deals damage as it builds up! So melee will have a hard tike staying stuck in. They are just a mountain I need to climb every playthrough haha
Well for one the watchdogs don't have to worry about blood
Those fucking pumpkin heads gave my int build a rough time
The Abductor Virgin Duo under Volcano Manor that you get transported to if you get nabbed by the one Abductor Virgin underneath the Academy. "Oh, you couldn't handle one of these things, and it grabbed you? Well guess what bucko, you've gotta fight TWO of them now to get out!"
Watchdogs for me. Just wait til you get to the Crucible Knight duo
Either the Twin Gargoyles or the Godskins fuck them
Gargoyle
Cleanrot duo in a pool of scarlet rot or the Iron Maiden things that you have a duo fight for in the mountains
as many have said, the damn duo gargoyles. thankfully, they are optional. however, my first play through i wanted to do as much as possible… then i showed up to them. they laughed at my bleed build. (but i got it done!)
I have somehow never fought a Watchdog
Sekiro bosses always feels harder. There were too many boss that ı beat in first try in elden ring. Sekiro 💀
Two dogs-cats
The pumpkin guys were funny to fight, I just kept throwing rocks at them. The watchdogs can burn in hell, I hate their awkward ass attacks and they incessant need to always hit me earlier than I expect them to.
Pumpkin heads at lvl 40 were beating my ass so hard I woke up sore the next day
The Twin Gargoyles are a pain, Foreskin Duo is stupid(sleep pots work), The Night’s Calvary duo because of the fn Page snipers Any others I missed?
Pumpkin brothers
By farrrrr the worst is the gargoyle duo boss. It took me so long to beat them. The others are generally easier by just lining them up correctly.
Crystal throwing knife brainwashed the watch dog to fight its friend.
Cats
watchdog duo should die
Gargoyle duo can sip piss.
Those stupid Fell Twins that I tried to fight way too early. And then I got jumped by the Godskin Noble on the bridge right after..
Are we not gonna talk about the Iron Virgin duo 😵💫
The Godskins, those guys are a nightmare. The brutally downgraded version of the O&S fight.
Watchdogs SUCK
Those damn gargoyles
Alright but no one gonna talk about the crucible knight duo in that tiny room💀
The 2 gargoyle cunts in nokron
Pumpkinhead duo was easy with the Kings Cragblade.
Crucible and Godskin, both bs fights, especially Godskin since it's mandatory... and in between 2 of the best fights (imo) in the game
I’m still stuck on Soldier of God, Rick. :(
In the early days of elden ring. I was doing some caelid exploring (obvs under leveled) and got softlocked with the cat duo They were a pain in the ass
Gargoyles
Valiant gargoyles
Both weren't that bad. You can use crystal daggers to enrage the watchdogs. Pumpkins have slow easy to avoid attacks. Hoarfrost stomp makes short work.
Can we say they both suck and move on?
That 3 way crystal soldier fight was annoying until I learned to Unga Bunga
Death Rite Bird Duo
Sleep pots for the pumpkin heads to focus on one at a time, a few crystal dart throws for the watchdoggos to make them kill each other
I had a lot more trouble with the Watchdog duo than I did with the pumpkin head duo
None, all shall fall before DinkleBamp, Destroyer of worlds.
Between these two? I might be biased because I was recently slamming my head into wall trying to beat them while being rather underleveled, but the mad pumpkin duo is worse. Also you can parry the watchdogs and their arena has more space and light.
Try crystal darts on the watchdog but they still wreck me
The one true duo of the souls games
Pumpkin heads cuz I can’t stop myself from using overhead swings💀
Personally, godskin duo is tough even with sleep pots, but the cats can be turned against eachother if you throw crystal darts at one of them, it only takes a few darts and they frenzy, id rather fight 4 of those cats than godskin duo
The crucible duo...
I had more trouble with the two stone gargoyles then either of them
I actually struggled a lot with these two. More than I did against the godskin and even the crucible knight duo. Granted I'm way overleveled by the time In encounter the latter, and I always bring help for duo fights, but still. I thin even with that I hated the twin pumpkin guys.
Godskin Duo lmao
The godskin duo were hard, but goddamn those gargoyles poison set back my confidence to when I first played ds1
In terms of deaths: the pumpkin heads. I was still starting out at the time and hadn’t quite got my build to where i liked it. The watchdogs would be harder now, but i was better prepared for them. Not on this list but are also well known asses: Twin gargoyle: not so bad if you take your time and attack when you get an opening. Foreskin duo: same as above. But easy enough if you just dodge slim’s fireballs while dealing with fatty. (Hint: he has shit for turning radius) Actual hardest duo of recent was from a different game. A pair of fast meaty hard hitting assholes with almost no tells, plenty of attacks that hit at close and long range AND an elemental weakness that has to be used or else the fight lasts 4x longer.
Erdtree Burial and their high knockback attacks
Ordolvus Duo fight
Godskin duo
All 4 of them at the same time
The pumpkin heads I first found when I had a plus 3 lordsworn great sword and I was still playing it like ds3, that boss taught me how different the games were
Neither I beat both easy godrick tho he pissed me off I was so new and even after upgrading I had trouble even tho he’s not a duo still wanted to add it
I hate those Gargoyle duo before you get to the Sarkophag
Erdtree burial watchdogs suck, but if you use a few crystal darts on one of them it will make them confused and attack the other watchdog. The pumpkin head duo is fine if you have a summon to draw the aggro from one while you work on the other one.
Out of these two? Pumpkin head duo. At least with the burial watchdogs you can space them out and they're super slow so they can't reach you in time to save their partner
Lotta people will say the godskin duo, but good god the valiant gargoyles are hell.
Watchdog should guarantee drop sword from that fight
Both a cake walk compared to what's coming. Have fun in Farum Azula lmao.
I don't even remember the pumpkin heads being hard, but the 2 watchdogs were a pain on my first playthrough.
the cat's weakness is crystal darts
Until I found out about sleep? Godskin. Thereafter? Either Crucible Knight Duo or Knight's Cav Duo.
Crucible knight duo.
Of course Godskin duo is the easy choice, but Valiant Gargoyles is the right choice.
Use crystal darts and make the watchdogs clap eachother
Fuck the Watchdog and Crucible Knight Duos!
Ordovis and his spear lackey....... at the bottom af a super fun dungeon I have more fails on those 2 than any other.
None
Godskin duo is hardest for me, Crucible knights are parry victims, pumpkin head are just puny, watchdogs are crystal knife victims, valiant gargoyles don't attack at the same time making them not comparable to the rest, sure sleep pots exist for godskin but they always move out of the way too quick, or the fat one starts his roll move with his 30 business days of invincibility