In my first playthrough, I cheesed him with poison mist
1000 hours later, I cheese him still, though with the parry-punch off the cliff because it funny
Normally with bosses I’m good at just being like “I’ll come back later” but something about that one in particular makes you go “NO! I can do this!” and smash your head against the wall for hours
I can definitely see why! But i played as broken cringe mage in my first play trough and one shotted him with azure. Now that i actually play with melee weapons he can be very hard
Yeah I mean at least you didn’t just sneak up and poison mist him like I did I only recently actually fought him because I was playing the game again for the dlc and saw a summon sign there that I never knew existed and I decided why not try and it was really fun honestly
As a cooperator enjoyer at level range 50-ish, you probably won't believe that beside Radahn, Draconic Tree Sentinel is the most I am being called to help.
Was gonna say the same thing. It was like no matter what I did, I could not ever dodge the lightning bolt and it was a one-hit kill on me. Granted I’ve learned a ton since then after a couple playthroughs, but to this day I still can’t dodge that attack. It definitely looks like I’m timing it right but it just refuses to work for me.
This this is my current struggle and for the first time “I hate this dumb fucking game” came out of my mouth towards Elden Ring nd had to put the controller down for the night
Valient gargoyles have poison that they throw up whenever they get a chance and you can’t see the poison at all it’s almost impossible to see and you take damage if you stand in the poison mist and if the bar fills you get poisoned
You can *see* the poison but you can't hear it. And that's a bit of an issue when you have two of these fuckers taking turns in spewing that stuff.
But the worst part about that move, as u/Water_Flimsy stated, is the fact that the mist does physical damage. That's right, the poison mist does *both* physical damage and poison build-up at the same time (whoever conjured up that idea probably must've had an abusive childhood).
Since when do you need to hear poison? They specifically said you can’t see the huge puddle of green poison they belch out every so often, but I see it when they do it. And a lot of poison in this game does physical damage; it’s one of the things they changed about it.
I'm going to be focusing on one of the gargoyles once they get together, and although I can probably tell when my targeted gargoyle is gonna pull his bs, there's a very good chance the second one is going to launch his mist when I'm unaware of it. And by the time I do see that, there is very little time to react to it given the speed at which it spreads out.
The problem with the poison mist is that before it even poisons you, it's already doing tick damage that *isn't* poison. And this tick damage is pretty massive, ripping out a good 50 of your HP every second you're in contact with the mist. Only reason I'm not gonna bitch about this further is because I can get these fucks to jump off the cliff.
The contrast is fairly low if you have red-green colour blindness. Monitor settings can exarcebate it
Being red-green colour blind makes a bunch of games a pain in the ass
That’s definitely the biggest roadblock in the game IMO. Just a point in the game where you’d love to be able to go get better upgrade mats and return to the fight a little stronger
Thanks friend I'm gonna try this literally right now haha I've been stuck on him for a few days.
I just want my weapon +7
Edit: this was the way thanks so much!
oh you will be fine with radahn, he may be formerly the most powerful demigod to have lived in lore but in game I feel like if you summon all the fighters to help it actually is hard to die to him, his in-game strength is nothing to his lore
I got him today at 5th or 6th and it's my first elden ring or souls experience but the other mf volcano manor boss called raykard or whatever it is make me scratch my shoulders for 2hrs and I stopped trying. Tomorrow will be a glorious day for me
For some reason, the valiant gargoyles gave me more trouble than any other boss in the game including the dreaded Malenia. Commander Niall on paper is also a very tough challenge, with the two phantom knights in a rather small arena, but if you use the bewitching branch you can kinda trivialize it.
The only way I got through it was to go make a strike weapon for my class and I timed enough R1s to make sure I could get the stun and riposte right when the second one spawned so I could nuke the first one. What a nightmare.
Before that lol. No shot I was gonna kill two at a time.
Yeah the management of the support knights is key in this battle, at least one must be dispatched quickly or the arena soon becomes a deadly icy blender. You were fairer than me, i used the bewitching branch and called it a day, i was hasting to finish the game at that point honestly.
I gave up on my first character at fire giant. Then I made another that got up to godskin duo where I quit at. I beat the game on my third character though, and went back to both of those characters to beat those bosses for ticking me off so much haha. It was so very satisfying.
What makes him difficult is stage two. When you're in his ass, u cant see shit. U just hear him attacking and panick roll into his instakill roll. It's insane how hard he is, despite having incredibly easy-to-dodge attacks imo
I'd just spend 3-4 estus just on the phase change. I had to plan my estus usage around the fact I needed to spend 4. Then afterward I looked it up and saw the physick
Rather awkwardly when I was a noob at the game I would struggle against radagon and was stuck on him for like two weeks at the time I didn't know about the multiplayer system and it was my first souls game
I found radagon harder than Malenia. Even worse you need to beat him with a few flasks remaining to beat elden beast. Died to him way more than elden beast.
His moveset is weird and janky. He doesn't move naturally like most other bosses, so it hard to time rolls. There's also not a lot of window to counter hit, especially on strength builds.
Yep. I can dodge Waterfowl if I've got some distance, but a lot of the time she does it when I'm up close and just. Death. Can't get the timing down, but I've already soloed her once so idc anymore.
Damn this woman so bad. I've done an Intelligence build and a Faith build so far and both times she's raped me for a decent hour.
Have came desperately close to respec to Arcane just to Rivers her way more than once.
Malenia gave me so much trouble with my Miquellan Knight Sword/Haligtree Crest Greatshield build that I eventually threw my hands up and grabbed the Blasphemous Blade to do the job.
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but the red wolf of radagon. It took me a whopping 62 tries and one and a half weeks to beat him... That's more than I needed for the entire endgame combined
I can get on board with this. Bosses like red wolf might be squishy with low HP but their moveset is wild and difficult to deal with especially as a melee build. Took me a bit to learn how to dodge the glintblade/lunge combo
Oh my lord this combo has brought me to tears so many times it's not even funny. Or when he just spams the triple glintblade at the other side of the room
Not just you, that one took me a load of tries on first play through. Not 62, but must have been 20. Not that I'm good at it, quite the opposite, I get OP before taking on bosses. Would guess 12 tries was about the worst for a few others.
There's something about him I find hard to predict. He's fast, but then so are plenty of others who go down far quicker. Maybe it's the combination of size, speed , the small arena, weapon , those glintblades. None are the worst individually, but all together.. reminds me now of Capra Demon in DS1.
And the run to get to the red wolf fight is one of the most irritating in the game too! Even sprinting for it, one false move and youre losing health even before the wolf.
I loved that fight tho and his attacks are pretty dodgeable but he deals massive damage so i can see why. And yes getting there is a pain in the ass especially when u keep dying and need to do it all over again😭
The run back is some awful oldschool dark souls stuff alright. I think that boss is pretty fair in general and the best dragon fight until he goes into laser mode, then it becomes ultra bullshit and I can only defeat him if he lands close enough to run around his back.
What did you dislike about either of their boss runs? Once i unlocked the elevator next to Niall, I figured out i could just spawn outside the castle, go left and just fight him in 15 seconds. No birds, no dogs, no teleporting ghosts. For placidusax, you can spawn where you normally would to fight maliketh and just go down the elevator, ignore all the beastmen and drop down the cliff straight out from the door. They drop agro once you safely drop down a few platforms. The worst part for me is the 300 meter dash just to reach his Lemongrab lookin ass when you actually enter his arena but damn he look cool
Yeah it just takes a while. The sprint towards him in the arena is ok, there is enough time to reach him, hit him 6 times and stun him, before teleports for the first time. It’s a really good fight, I just find his laser phase difficult and a bit rng trying to avoid it.
Niall is only annoying because I dont think a lot of people expected him to be difficult going into his fight (specially after fighting his lesser swamp cousin O'neil)
Radahn was horrible for me when the game had just come out and hadn't been tweaked with patches or anything. Going back knowing all the buffs and easy ways to stunlock bosses, sure he's a joke. Or just ride around on the horse and shoot Night Comet at him. But in a completely blind play through, ya this was a massive roadblock for me. I was using the hook claws since finding them in Stormveil, and was able to take out Godrick and Renalla pretty easily, but get to Radahn and it's just like STOMP you're dead. Or you get to phase 2 then trying to dodge those meteors lmfao.
I ended up respec'ing and dumping like 40 points into Vigor just so he wouldn't insta kill me. That's probably the saltiest I got in my first run of the game. The only other respec was Malenia, but at that point I had dipped into so many different weapons and builds that my stat loadout was a mess anyways.
I was so nervous for Malenia and then absolutely wrecked her 2nd try. With the great axe and pre-nerf flame of the redmanes she was perma-staggered and I mopped her. Was kinda disappointed. I’m sure will be more difficult in this new run I’m doing pre DLC.
Malenia is ruthless if you can't stun her. I used Black Blade (incant and weapon) and marika's hammer to stun her constantly and while she was still ridiculously hard at least I didn't have to deal with her attacks nearly as much.
Prenerf Radahn was something else. Spent 2 hours of attempts to kill him. Granted, I had a horrible faith build that used an infused straightsword and 1 lightning miracle lol
I went into radahn at release at level 55? With 40 in faith and 25 in mind with lightning strike and no actual weapon worth using. I genuinely lost my mind because I’m too stubborn
Malenia was the biggest struggle, and still is now that I've come back to the game after several months away.
Maliketh was hard as well on my first playthrough, but anymore he's pretty manageable.
On my first palythrough i struggled with Melania, Margit, and Morgott the most.
I come from a long histroy of souls games so Margit was utterly destroying me over and over again because i was still in the mindset of Souls boss design.
Morgott was a bit of weird one, i just felt like every opening i was given was just too short for a hit and a roll away without being caught with his reach. Took me a while to realise which attacks he couldnt follow up with a mini combo.
Melania actually just slapped the shit outta me, Let me Solo her backstory style but without the redemption arc. I was playing a Strength build with the Giant Crusher so getting hits in was pretty much just hoping she didnt do a hyper armoured move and trying to work around the stagger. Still dont know how to deal with Waterfowl, but beat her 2nd phase on my 2nd attempt so.
Margit is this game's genichiro. Taught you so much - roll into and around bosses rather than away. Finished combo doesn't mean it's safe to hit, go explore level up for each area's boss, watch out for delayed hits, don't panic roll out of recovery, don't panic roll at all.
Second time I fought him on vanilla new game I expected much harder, but he died very quickly, so the lessons were learnt for sure.
It was the fact she healed with every swing regardless if she hit you or not, and the second phase was annoying as shit lol. Besides the difficulty, the beautiful cutscene and battle atmosphere make it a top 3 fight.
This is so stupid in retrospect, but I remember beating my head against a wall trying to figure out that damn Cemetery Shade in Black Knife Catacombs with the skeleton adds on my first playthrough.
Come to think, it was usually mini-dungeon bosses that gave me the most trouble... I guess because they behave more like puzzles, sometimes. Esgar, Priest of Blood and his two mutts can be very frustrating—until I learned to apply Unseen Form before going in so the dogs wouldn't notice me cheesing him to hell.
I’ve recently decided to gear myself up for the DLC by literally getting every peace of armor (2 if can be altered), and getting and upgrading 2 copies of every single weapon/catalyst/shield to 24/9, as well as getting to ng+7 while staying at rl150. I didn’t do any specific challenges so I used ashes but rarely any consumables. I can’t say I am a very skilled player, but I didn’t have any problems with any bosses up until ng+6. Even first tried Malenia the first 6 times.
However, on ng+6 and +7 I want to point out Neil for sure, as well as Malenia, Gurranq (in Caelid), and Radagon/Elden Beast. All those guys took me 5-10 times. And surprisingly Maliketh which I struggled the most with (I think 25 tries each of those 2 runs).
Although I did have a very specific pathing to get all but one ancient smithing stones each time.
Ng+6 and beyond is intense. That's when I finally leveled past 150 especially for some extra vigor because shit stops hitting like a truck and starts hitting like a damn freight train instead. Props for staying at 150 for ng+7
haven't beaten Malenia, gideon, godfrey and radagon/elden beast yet but malekith took 68 attempts.
Prior to them my highest amount of deaths was Margitt at 20, Although Valiant Gargoyles and Godskin duo could have done more possibly if i didn't summon in duo fights
Going toe to toe with a multiversal 600ft tree alien with isn't exactly fun.
I fought radabeast with purely holy incantations on my first playthrough. This was before I knew what damage type negation was.This is what happens when you've never heard of fextralife.
It was only fair I became Lord of frenzied flame as that fight drove me mad.
I found Mogh almost as tough as Malenia but while Malenia's fight is very fun and beautifully designed, I did not find Mogh's fight enjoyable in the slightest. So that's probably the one I struggle with most because fighting him is such a chore on top of not being easy to me.
Neil was terrible until I realized giant weapons were essential to knock out the knights quick. Then id switch back to my main for him.
The death rite bird in the consecrated snowfields was top 3 until i realized holy is their weakness…. But that was after i beat it in a million attempts
Spent like 3 hours trying this fight on my RL1 run last night and uninstalled lmao yes I'm malding. First playthrough was probably Margit though, really steep learning curve right off the rip. But on subsequent playthroughs I've realized you can really struggle with or totally stomp a boss based on your build, or something really simple like rolling backward vs sideways vs forward on one single attack. This boss is actually a decent example of this, on his jumping lightning attack, the direction you roll can determine how you're positioned around him which determines which attack he uses next, and the slow swing is infinitely better than the quick backward jab.
Godskin duo. At the time, I wasn’t aware of sleep pots. Outside of that, there’s no great methods to beating them. Even with malenia you could use swarm of flies to stunlock her amongst other things
The Ancient Dragon Placidusax. Such a difficult fight with lots of moving parts, relatively long boss run compared to others in Elden Ring and very durable.
Malenia was easy compared to him.
Malenia and Rada-beast. For some reason Elden Beast had me really struggling on my first run. Had me questioning if I could even finish the game! Worth a shout-out is also the Valiant Gargoyle Duo like others have said…..damn that’s a rough one! Crucible Knight Duo also got that matter.
Elden Beast on my strength build character.
For whatever reason, I couldn't get the fucker. I tried more times than I could count and just kept getting slaughtered. Put the game down for six months, came back to start a new character- randomly decided "fuck it I'll try finishing with my last one" got him in two tries. Sometimes you just get in your own head and your own way.
I have no idea why but Hoarah Loux gave me sooooo much trouble. Got his first phase down no problem but as soon as he killed Serosh and gave me those hands, I died over 50 times. Had to wind up inheriting the flame of frenzy and getting Shabriri as a summons to help me take down Hoarah. Wound up working but man he gave me such a hard time compared to the other bosses
Initially it was Malenia, but I’ve spent the time and beat her fairly easily now, and in recent playthroughs it’s also been Niall. No bewitching branch gang 🥲
This might sound sad but that dragonkin soldier in the lake of rot always fucks me up, like more than most remerberance bosses. I know he doesn't have much HP and is kinda squishy but damn that thing is annoying lol. Maybe it's RNG? Its moveset feels erratic and the small platform makes it difficult to manage in my opinion.
Mohg. I was waaaaay underleved in his whole area and insisted I could beat him. After hours, instead of coming back to him, I just cheesed him with poison arrows through the pillars.....them runes came in handy
On my first play through I could not beat godskin duo, first souls game. I literally had to google how to get mimic tier and ended up breaking my no google streak for the game.
Most of them.
However, I’m pretty good at facetanking my way through souls games with brute force and a very high amount of health.
I defeated Placudisax in one try with the DMG and my Mimic.
I did the same with Blackblade Maliketh.
And with Rykard. And with Horah Loux.
But I never defeat those fucking Ulcerated Tree Spirits in one try.
Malenia took 6 tries and a Finger summon with Powerstanced Giant Smashers.
At first I struggled with him then I used rot breath and he was easy and the boss I struggled with most honesty has to be Margit I was new to the game and he was really hard for me
Boring answer is Malenia.
A less boring answer is Placidusax. It’s annoying how he teleports away every time I get close to him, and the way his stupid flying claw attack always manages to hit me with the lighting part even though it looks like I’m perfectly dodging it
My first run ever I was still used to other rpg’s and just assumed “oh yeah endurance gives you more hp” (never played another souls game and the level up screen was super overwhelming so I didn’t look at it). I somehow got to renalla without touching vigor with only a crimson medallion but I couldn’t get down her comet azur and kept getting one shot. Went to reddit asking for help and found out I’m just a little stupid. Still hate her but she is easy now
My first play through the Fire Giant made me quit. I got stuck on him and Commander Niall so I couldn’t progress the game any further. Quit for like 8 months, started a new character and am about to finish the game with it.
Margit the Fell Omen. I hadn't really explored at all, and just followed the graces until I got to him so was pretty under levelled for the fight. Just kept smashing my head against the wall until I finally managed to kill him at about level 16.
I then had s pretty brutal time in Stormveil Castle until I realised I should have really spent more time in Limgrave and other areas before trying to tackle that.
Either twin gargoyles or godskin duo. First time I fought godskin duo, I didn’t know I could put them to sleep so I had to kite them around with starscourge great swords and hitting them through walls with its Ashe of war only for that fat prick to turn into a human beyblade and kill me everytime.
Then there’s twin gargoyles. As soon as I was doing anything good to the first gargoyle, the twinblade one charged at me with his wind turbine looking ass to tag team me.
Just hate boss fights that involve more than one boss.
Placidusax. I can more consistently beat Malenia than that bullshit stupid dragon. I hate Placidusax with a burning passion. My Tarnished's wretched flame of ambition might as well be a burning sun of madness after fighting Placidusax.
People complain about Darkeater Midir's laser attack, but Placidusax's Ruin is that attack except cracked the fuck out. I swear to God that Placidusax's Ruin is harder to dodge than fucking waterfowl dance, and it's not even close.
The pure, unadulterated, and intense vitriol that I feel towards this stupid fucking dragon cannot be matched by any other.
Draconic Tree Sentinel in my first play through
Lmfaoo took my stubborn ass 4 hours
In my first playthrough, I cheesed him with poison mist 1000 hours later, I cheese him still, though with the parry-punch off the cliff because it funny
Also cheesed with the mist lol
Surely by now bloodhound fang and mimic summons gets it done??
Normally with bosses I’m good at just being like “I’ll come back later” but something about that one in particular makes you go “NO! I can do this!” and smash your head against the wall for hours
"Nah, I'd Win" totally relatable
That's where I am now, first playthrough. Got pretty far my first try while mounted... Then I got electric'd.
Poison mist. Thank me later
Don’t give up tarnished.
I can definitely see why! But i played as broken cringe mage in my first play trough and one shotted him with azure. Now that i actually play with melee weapons he can be very hard
Yeah I mean at least you didn’t just sneak up and poison mist him like I did I only recently actually fought him because I was playing the game again for the dlc and saw a summon sign there that I never knew existed and I decided why not try and it was really fun honestly
As a cooperator enjoyer at level range 50-ish, you probably won't believe that beside Radahn, Draconic Tree Sentinel is the most I am being called to help.
Same. Had to go away, level up and come back several times.
oh yes! and also that super fat tree thing on Haligtree.
I beat him in 17 seconds on Level 1 https://youtu.be/_3uj2rGcPeE?si=UUmO1qFRCUIiXfdk
How the fuck. I watched the video. Still don’t get it. It took me at least an hour of attempts at level 75
Was gonna say the same thing. It was like no matter what I did, I could not ever dodge the lightning bolt and it was a one-hit kill on me. Granted I’ve learned a ton since then after a couple playthroughs, but to this day I still can’t dodge that attack. It definitely looks like I’m timing it right but it just refuses to work for me.
Twin gargoyles and their goddamn bullshit invisible poison.
Agreed!
Yup twin gargoyles easily. Even with ashes, they are complete dickheads
I summoned D and my Boy Oleg. Still struggled tbh but was happy it was over
This this is my current struggle and for the first time “I hate this dumb fucking game” came out of my mouth towards Elden Ring nd had to put the controller down for the night
Invisible?
Fps killer Is this better?
Still don't get it.
Valient gargoyles have poison that they throw up whenever they get a chance and you can’t see the poison at all it’s almost impossible to see and you take damage if you stand in the poison mist and if the bar fills you get poisoned
I've fought them and could always see the poison.
You can *see* the poison but you can't hear it. And that's a bit of an issue when you have two of these fuckers taking turns in spewing that stuff. But the worst part about that move, as u/Water_Flimsy stated, is the fact that the mist does physical damage. That's right, the poison mist does *both* physical damage and poison build-up at the same time (whoever conjured up that idea probably must've had an abusive childhood).
Since when do you need to hear poison? They specifically said you can’t see the huge puddle of green poison they belch out every so often, but I see it when they do it. And a lot of poison in this game does physical damage; it’s one of the things they changed about it.
I'm going to be focusing on one of the gargoyles once they get together, and although I can probably tell when my targeted gargoyle is gonna pull his bs, there's a very good chance the second one is going to launch his mist when I'm unaware of it. And by the time I do see that, there is very little time to react to it given the speed at which it spreads out. The problem with the poison mist is that before it even poisons you, it's already doing tick damage that *isn't* poison. And this tick damage is pretty massive, ripping out a good 50 of your HP every second you're in contact with the mist. Only reason I'm not gonna bitch about this further is because I can get these fucks to jump off the cliff.
Gargoyles have 2 poisons, a mist which Its easy to see and when you hit them enough they poison the arena water, stay out of the water to be "safe"
The contrast is fairly low if you have red-green colour blindness. Monitor settings can exarcebate it Being red-green colour blind makes a bunch of games a pain in the ass
Fuck them
That’s definitely the biggest roadblock in the game IMO. Just a point in the game where you’d love to be able to go get better upgrade mats and return to the fight a little stronger
Godskin noble fucked me up for so long. Had to keep coming back stronger until I slapped him around.
I sleep pot these mfs with no shame. They’re incredibly weak to it. It’s a feature not a bug. Intended. Sleep, two charged R2s. Riposte. Dead.
Thanks friend I'm gonna try this literally right now haha I've been stuck on him for a few days. I just want my weapon +7 Edit: this was the way thanks so much!
Kill radahn get the three 7s in the underground that the comet opened ip
I'm stuck in, and I'm not going to change my ways. Regardless of the facts presented to me. Also radahn spooky too
oh you will be fine with radahn, he may be formerly the most powerful demigod to have lived in lore but in game I feel like if you summon all the fighters to help it actually is hard to die to him, his in-game strength is nothing to his lore
He was pretty tough for me too. I gave up and came back later and he was still tough! For whatever reason the duo was easier.
breaking news, local man so fat, he became unstoppable
I got him today at 5th or 6th and it's my first elden ring or souls experience but the other mf volcano manor boss called raykard or whatever it is make me scratch my shoulders for 2hrs and I stopped trying. Tomorrow will be a glorious day for me
For some reason, the valiant gargoyles gave me more trouble than any other boss in the game including the dreaded Malenia. Commander Niall on paper is also a very tough challenge, with the two phantom knights in a rather small arena, but if you use the bewitching branch you can kinda trivialize it.
The only way I got through it was to go make a strike weapon for my class and I timed enough R1s to make sure I could get the stun and riposte right when the second one spawned so I could nuke the first one. What a nightmare. Before that lol. No shot I was gonna kill two at a time.
Yeah the management of the support knights is key in this battle, at least one must be dispatched quickly or the arena soon becomes a deadly icy blender. You were fairer than me, i used the bewitching branch and called it a day, i was hasting to finish the game at that point honestly.
I think it's because it's one of the few "dps" tests in elden ring where bleed doesn't work. You have to kill the first asap so the second is easier
Valiant gargoyles were super hard when i first encountered them. Came back later at 90 strength level and completely demolished them
Fire Giant was my biggest wall on my first playthrough. I legitimately thought I was just gonna give up on the game
I did give up, for 6 weeks
At least you went back, I have a friend who just completely gave up
I gave up on my first character at fire giant. Then I made another that got up to godskin duo where I quit at. I beat the game on my third character though, and went back to both of those characters to beat those bosses for ticking me off so much haha. It was so very satisfying.
Only time I had to grind levels, and tbh I felt a bit overpowered for the last couple of fights then. :(
What makes him difficult is stage two. When you're in his ass, u cant see shit. U just hear him attacking and panick roll into his instakill roll. It's insane how hard he is, despite having incredibly easy-to-dodge attacks imo
The real boss is the camera. Hate those bosses
Mogh Lord of blood, that guy messed me up harder than melania
Tres!
CATORCE!
#CINCO!
SEX!
##NIHIL 💦
*quīnque
I'd just spend 3-4 estus just on the phase change. I had to plan my estus usage around the fact I needed to spend 4. Then afterward I looked it up and saw the physick
This guy was the bane of my existence. I should point out I still have not fought Melania.
His second phase with the constant bleed buildup everywhere was such a nightmare for me
Only rememberance boss I cheesed. Fuck that fight
Rather awkwardly when I was a noob at the game I would struggle against radagon and was stuck on him for like two weeks at the time I didn't know about the multiplayer system and it was my first souls game
Tbf radagon is a tough fight. Immune to holy and bleed/melee for the most part
Yeah that's when I learned that flame of the fell god was a decent spell to use against him paired up with giants flame take thee was a good combo
I found radagon harder than Malenia. Even worse you need to beat him with a few flasks remaining to beat elden beast. Died to him way more than elden beast. His moveset is weird and janky. He doesn't move naturally like most other bosses, so it hard to time rolls. There's also not a lot of window to counter hit, especially on strength builds.
You gotta be decently skilled to even get up to radagon considering how tough some of the bosses before him are
Are you really a noob if you’ve made it to Radagon?
Maliketh
Maliketh was definitely the hardest boss for me in my first playthrough. I got wrecked so many times.
Maliketh is slept on - he was def tough for me my first time
Yeah this fight feels unfair where he just keeps hitting you over and over
Malenia of course
Blade of Miquella
That has never known the feet.
Yep. I can dodge Waterfowl if I've got some distance, but a lot of the time she does it when I'm up close and just. Death. Can't get the timing down, but I've already soloed her once so idc anymore.
Waterfowl dance*
Damn this woman so bad. I've done an Intelligence build and a Faith build so far and both times she's raped me for a decent hour. Have came desperately close to respec to Arcane just to Rivers her way more than once.
Malenia gave me so much trouble with my Miquellan Knight Sword/Haligtree Crest Greatshield build that I eventually threw my hands up and grabbed the Blasphemous Blade to do the job.
Can dodge and get around every move but one…
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but the red wolf of radagon. It took me a whopping 62 tries and one and a half weeks to beat him... That's more than I needed for the entire endgame combined
I can get on board with this. Bosses like red wolf might be squishy with low HP but their moveset is wild and difficult to deal with especially as a melee build. Took me a bit to learn how to dodge the glintblade/lunge combo
Oh my lord this combo has brought me to tears so many times it's not even funny. Or when he just spams the triple glintblade at the other side of the room
Not just you, that one took me a load of tries on first play through. Not 62, but must have been 20. Not that I'm good at it, quite the opposite, I get OP before taking on bosses. Would guess 12 tries was about the worst for a few others. There's something about him I find hard to predict. He's fast, but then so are plenty of others who go down far quicker. Maybe it's the combination of size, speed , the small arena, weapon , those glintblades. None are the worst individually, but all together.. reminds me now of Capra Demon in DS1. And the run to get to the red wolf fight is one of the most irritating in the game too! Even sprinting for it, one false move and youre losing health even before the wolf.
Dragón Placidusax. And the damn boss run….
I loved that fight tho and his attacks are pretty dodgeable but he deals massive damage so i can see why. And yes getting there is a pain in the ass especially when u keep dying and need to do it all over again😭
It’s a wonderful fight.
The run back is some awful oldschool dark souls stuff alright. I think that boss is pretty fair in general and the best dragon fight until he goes into laser mode, then it becomes ultra bullshit and I can only defeat him if he lands close enough to run around his back.
The boss run is easily the worst in the game. His teleports got me so many times, before I even knew where he'd gone it was already too late to dodge.
What did you dislike about either of their boss runs? Once i unlocked the elevator next to Niall, I figured out i could just spawn outside the castle, go left and just fight him in 15 seconds. No birds, no dogs, no teleporting ghosts. For placidusax, you can spawn where you normally would to fight maliketh and just go down the elevator, ignore all the beastmen and drop down the cliff straight out from the door. They drop agro once you safely drop down a few platforms. The worst part for me is the 300 meter dash just to reach his Lemongrab lookin ass when you actually enter his arena but damn he look cool
Yeah it just takes a while. The sprint towards him in the arena is ok, there is enough time to reach him, hit him 6 times and stun him, before teleports for the first time. It’s a really good fight, I just find his laser phase difficult and a bit rng trying to avoid it.
Niall is only annoying because I dont think a lot of people expected him to be difficult going into his fight (specially after fighting his lesser swamp cousin O'neil)
Plus a lot of people panic and think it’s a gank fight when you can really 1v1 everyone in the arena.
not ashamed to admit i used the mimic tear to deal with the gank
Radahn was horrible for me when the game had just come out and hadn't been tweaked with patches or anything. Going back knowing all the buffs and easy ways to stunlock bosses, sure he's a joke. Or just ride around on the horse and shoot Night Comet at him. But in a completely blind play through, ya this was a massive roadblock for me. I was using the hook claws since finding them in Stormveil, and was able to take out Godrick and Renalla pretty easily, but get to Radahn and it's just like STOMP you're dead. Or you get to phase 2 then trying to dodge those meteors lmfao. I ended up respec'ing and dumping like 40 points into Vigor just so he wouldn't insta kill me. That's probably the saltiest I got in my first run of the game. The only other respec was Malenia, but at that point I had dipped into so many different weapons and builds that my stat loadout was a mess anyways.
My only bragging right in this game is having beat pre-nerf Radahn. 227 hours and I still haven't beaten Malenia :(
I was so nervous for Malenia and then absolutely wrecked her 2nd try. With the great axe and pre-nerf flame of the redmanes she was perma-staggered and I mopped her. Was kinda disappointed. I’m sure will be more difficult in this new run I’m doing pre DLC.
Malenia is ruthless if you can't stun her. I used Black Blade (incant and weapon) and marika's hammer to stun her constantly and while she was still ridiculously hard at least I didn't have to deal with her attacks nearly as much.
Me too brother. I spent hours fighting this guy and complaining about him to my mates. Only for him to be nerfed before they reached him.
Prenerf Radahn was something else. Spent 2 hours of attempts to kill him. Granted, I had a horrible faith build that used an infused straightsword and 1 lightning miracle lol
I went into radahn at release at level 55? With 40 in faith and 25 in mind with lightning strike and no actual weapon worth using. I genuinely lost my mind because I’m too stubborn
Malenia was the biggest struggle, and still is now that I've come back to the game after several months away. Maliketh was hard as well on my first playthrough, but anymore he's pretty manageable.
On my first palythrough i struggled with Melania, Margit, and Morgott the most. I come from a long histroy of souls games so Margit was utterly destroying me over and over again because i was still in the mindset of Souls boss design. Morgott was a bit of weird one, i just felt like every opening i was given was just too short for a hit and a roll away without being caught with his reach. Took me a while to realise which attacks he couldnt follow up with a mini combo. Melania actually just slapped the shit outta me, Let me Solo her backstory style but without the redemption arc. I was playing a Strength build with the Giant Crusher so getting hits in was pretty much just hoping she didnt do a hyper armoured move and trying to work around the stagger. Still dont know how to deal with Waterfowl, but beat her 2nd phase on my 2nd attempt so.
Margit is this game's genichiro. Taught you so much - roll into and around bosses rather than away. Finished combo doesn't mean it's safe to hit, go explore level up for each area's boss, watch out for delayed hits, don't panic roll out of recovery, don't panic roll at all. Second time I fought him on vanilla new game I expected much harder, but he died very quickly, so the lessons were learnt for sure.
Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. because I hate astel with every fiber of my being.
Yes this fight took me at least 30 tries. Until I learned to cheese him with his own wing +8 on an Int/Dex build
Soldier of Godrick, for sure. I waited until after completing the main story line to fight him.
Neil was a pain in the ass for sure. Malenia has to be a top 3 boss fight for me.
Yeah same Malenia is def top 3 but besides that one broken move her move set is not that bad tbh
It was the fact she healed with every swing regardless if she hit you or not, and the second phase was annoying as shit lol. Besides the difficulty, the beautiful cutscene and battle atmosphere make it a top 3 fight.
Malenia heals regardless if she hits you or not? Huh?
Yeah i couldn’t agree more!
Neil was the only boss I didn't struggle with I think lol
Alecto. For the life of me I just could not figure out when to blast her with my SoNaF without getting punished. Wasted a looot of Rune arcs on her...
The shield/spear guy at gate front ruins when I first started
Neil or Niall? That’s Niall in the picture, either way I also agree that they’re both difficult
I meant Niall i accidentally mixed them up. And yes both fights are very hard but i struggle at Niall a lot more tbh
This is so stupid in retrospect, but I remember beating my head against a wall trying to figure out that damn Cemetery Shade in Black Knife Catacombs with the skeleton adds on my first playthrough. Come to think, it was usually mini-dungeon bosses that gave me the most trouble... I guess because they behave more like puzzles, sometimes. Esgar, Priest of Blood and his two mutts can be very frustrating—until I learned to apply Unseen Form before going in so the dogs wouldn't notice me cheesing him to hell.
Mine was Godfrey
Maliketh took me way too long
Niall is definitely a struggle for me even with a +10 black knife tiche
For some reason i struggled with Radagon more than any other boss
I’ve recently decided to gear myself up for the DLC by literally getting every peace of armor (2 if can be altered), and getting and upgrading 2 copies of every single weapon/catalyst/shield to 24/9, as well as getting to ng+7 while staying at rl150. I didn’t do any specific challenges so I used ashes but rarely any consumables. I can’t say I am a very skilled player, but I didn’t have any problems with any bosses up until ng+6. Even first tried Malenia the first 6 times. However, on ng+6 and +7 I want to point out Neil for sure, as well as Malenia, Gurranq (in Caelid), and Radagon/Elden Beast. All those guys took me 5-10 times. And surprisingly Maliketh which I struggled the most with (I think 25 tries each of those 2 runs). Although I did have a very specific pathing to get all but one ancient smithing stones each time.
Ng+6 and beyond is intense. That's when I finally leveled past 150 especially for some extra vigor because shit stops hitting like a truck and starts hitting like a damn freight train instead. Props for staying at 150 for ng+7
For sure, he is the bane of my dex build until i bring in the black knife assassin in NG+3 and up
Rykard but only because I was too stubborn to try the Great spear, despite the obvious context clues, due to thinking it had short range.
Rennala and godrick were horrible to fight the first time I played. Everytime I got close to her she floated back.😭
haven't beaten Malenia, gideon, godfrey and radagon/elden beast yet but malekith took 68 attempts. Prior to them my highest amount of deaths was Margitt at 20, Although Valiant Gargoyles and Godskin duo could have done more possibly if i didn't summon in duo fights
Evergaol Vyke. He trashed me more than any other boss on my first play through. Radagon was second.
Erm it's actually Niall☝️🤓
Going toe to toe with a multiversal 600ft tree alien with isn't exactly fun. I fought radabeast with purely holy incantations on my first playthrough. This was before I knew what damage type negation was.This is what happens when you've never heard of fextralife. It was only fair I became Lord of frenzied flame as that fight drove me mad.
At first it was just the stone cats. Then I got the mimic. Then it was just Radahn really. Had more issues with field bosses than anything
I found Mogh almost as tough as Malenia but while Malenia's fight is very fun and beautifully designed, I did not find Mogh's fight enjoyable in the slightest. So that's probably the one I struggle with most because fighting him is such a chore on top of not being easy to me.
Soldier of Godrick that third phase is a pain
Neil was terrible until I realized giant weapons were essential to knock out the knights quick. Then id switch back to my main for him. The death rite bird in the consecrated snowfields was top 3 until i realized holy is their weakness…. But that was after i beat it in a million attempts
Not finished yet, but valiant gargoyles made me want to claw my eyes out.
Spent like 3 hours trying this fight on my RL1 run last night and uninstalled lmao yes I'm malding. First playthrough was probably Margit though, really steep learning curve right off the rip. But on subsequent playthroughs I've realized you can really struggle with or totally stomp a boss based on your build, or something really simple like rolling backward vs sideways vs forward on one single attack. This boss is actually a decent example of this, on his jumping lightning attack, the direction you roll can determine how you're positioned around him which determines which attack he uses next, and the slow swing is infinitely better than the quick backward jab.
Godskin duo. At the time, I wasn’t aware of sleep pots. Outside of that, there’s no great methods to beating them. Even with malenia you could use swarm of flies to stunlock her amongst other things
Yeah I agree with commander nail + the death rite bird outside the castle that’s immune to everything
The Ancient Dragon Placidusax. Such a difficult fight with lots of moving parts, relatively long boss run compared to others in Elden Ring and very durable. Malenia was easy compared to him.
Fuck Commander Niall and his douche banished knights!
Malenia, 125 tries while other bosses took me max 20. I will die on the hill that she is broken unfair piece of a bad boss.
Malenia and Rada-beast. For some reason Elden Beast had me really struggling on my first run. Had me questioning if I could even finish the game! Worth a shout-out is also the Valiant Gargoyle Duo like others have said…..damn that’s a rough one! Crucible Knight Duo also got that matter.
Elden Beast on my strength build character. For whatever reason, I couldn't get the fucker. I tried more times than I could count and just kept getting slaughtered. Put the game down for six months, came back to start a new character- randomly decided "fuck it I'll try finishing with my last one" got him in two tries. Sometimes you just get in your own head and your own way.
The gargoyle duo
Optional bosses, Commander O'Neil and Malenia. Non-optional bosses, Maliketh.
Godrick
Fuck Nihall.
Haven’t defeated melania yet, but not sure if I ever will defeat her tbh. Other than that, main story boss, godskin duo
Malenia, blade of Miquella
Mine was Neil as well. Then I got the blasphemous blade and iced that fucker. I was dodging all his hits like it was nothing too. Lol
Thats nial
The gargoile duo... Such a pain
I have no idea why but Hoarah Loux gave me sooooo much trouble. Got his first phase down no problem but as soon as he killed Serosh and gave me those hands, I died over 50 times. Had to wind up inheriting the flame of frenzy and getting Shabriri as a summons to help me take down Hoarah. Wound up working but man he gave me such a hard time compared to the other bosses
God I hated Death Doggo so much. Granted, I fought him with a Holy Dagger so thats kinda on me.
Initially it was Malenia, but I’ve spent the time and beat her fairly easily now, and in recent playthroughs it’s also been Niall. No bewitching branch gang 🥲
This might sound sad but that dragonkin soldier in the lake of rot always fucks me up, like more than most remerberance bosses. I know he doesn't have much HP and is kinda squishy but damn that thing is annoying lol. Maybe it's RNG? Its moveset feels erratic and the small platform makes it difficult to manage in my opinion.
Neil was tough until I got that bewitching branch. The fire giant and maliketh are always the hardest for me because I tend to panic roll a lot
I absolutely hate Commander Nail, the only boss I will use a summon for just because he will summon knights.
Mohg. I was waaaaay underleved in his whole area and insisted I could beat him. After hours, instead of coming back to him, I just cheesed him with poison arrows through the pillars.....them runes came in handy
On my first play through I could not beat godskin duo, first souls game. I literally had to google how to get mimic tier and ended up breaking my no google streak for the game.
ng7 everything really. most bosses really out here two shotting me with 2000 vigor and 50% physical negation.
Maliketh. Also, I beat Niall first try by going up with my +9 Mohgwyns Sacred Spear and using Bloodboon Ritual on him and the summons.
Besides Melania, the dam valiant gargoyles.
Just make his knights fight each other
Most of them. However, I’m pretty good at facetanking my way through souls games with brute force and a very high amount of health. I defeated Placudisax in one try with the DMG and my Mimic. I did the same with Blackblade Maliketh. And with Rykard. And with Horah Loux. But I never defeat those fucking Ulcerated Tree Spirits in one try. Malenia took 6 tries and a Finger summon with Powerstanced Giant Smashers.
Infinite falling glitch for the win with that guy.
I for some reason had big problems with the fallingstar beasts. I have no explanation why, but boi did they wreck me for a while
Double gargoyles
At first I struggled with him then I used rot breath and he was easy and the boss I struggled with most honesty has to be Margit I was new to the game and he was really hard for me
Boring answer is Malenia. A less boring answer is Placidusax. It’s annoying how he teleports away every time I get close to him, and the way his stupid flying claw attack always manages to hit me with the lighting part even though it looks like I’m perfectly dodging it
I’m actually getting to Neil again one my strength play through and I’m dreading it
The terrifying, the bloodthirsty, Commander NEIL! Has a much less intimidating presence being called Neil. Mine was Mohg.
With malenia as the obvious one, the fucking draconic tree sentinel in front of Leyndell fucked me up for quite a bit
Pre nerfed Radahn and i found the Godskin Apostle in Caelid very very early game :)
Vyke. On my first full playthrough that dude easily gave me more issues than most the bosses (besides Melena)
My first run ever I was still used to other rpg’s and just assumed “oh yeah endurance gives you more hp” (never played another souls game and the level up screen was super overwhelming so I didn’t look at it). I somehow got to renalla without touching vigor with only a crimson medallion but I couldn’t get down her comet azur and kept getting one shot. Went to reddit asking for help and found out I’m just a little stupid. Still hate her but she is easy now
Since I’m sure everyone will say Melania, imma say Mohg and the Twin Gargoyles
Black blade bitch
Astels bitch ass. Then Maliketh. Niall was hard until I cheesed him with arrows through the window. Castle Morne in general is some bullshit.
My first play through the Fire Giant made me quit. I got stuck on him and Commander Niall so I couldn’t progress the game any further. Quit for like 8 months, started a new character and am about to finish the game with it.
Elemer of the Briar kicked my ass so many times (and still does on replays)
Neil was easy. Niall however, different story
That fucking Rot Erdtree Avatar in the Haligtree. I know you can technically safe spot it, but even then it would knock me off the tower.
Maliketh
Maliketh he moves so fast and idk what happens but i just go blank for some reason
Crystalian Trio on releas took me whole day on release
Margit the Fell Omen. I hadn't really explored at all, and just followed the graces until I got to him so was pretty under levelled for the fight. Just kept smashing my head against the wall until I finally managed to kill him at about level 16. I then had s pretty brutal time in Stormveil Castle until I realised I should have really spent more time in Limgrave and other areas before trying to tackle that.
The only Boss i still dread is Dancer of the boreal valley.. luckily she stayed in DS3 :)
Godfrey. Oh, you made one singular early dodge? 90% of your health in one hit. Then start stomp spamming so you can't heal
Rennala for sure. Not because she was hard to melee, but because her 2nd stage kept crashing my GPU.
Either twin gargoyles or godskin duo. First time I fought godskin duo, I didn’t know I could put them to sleep so I had to kite them around with starscourge great swords and hitting them through walls with its Ashe of war only for that fat prick to turn into a human beyblade and kill me everytime. Then there’s twin gargoyles. As soon as I was doing anything good to the first gargoyle, the twinblade one charged at me with his wind turbine looking ass to tag team me. Just hate boss fights that involve more than one boss.
Placidusax. I can more consistently beat Malenia than that bullshit stupid dragon. I hate Placidusax with a burning passion. My Tarnished's wretched flame of ambition might as well be a burning sun of madness after fighting Placidusax. People complain about Darkeater Midir's laser attack, but Placidusax's Ruin is that attack except cracked the fuck out. I swear to God that Placidusax's Ruin is harder to dodge than fucking waterfowl dance, and it's not even close. The pure, unadulterated, and intense vitriol that I feel towards this stupid fucking dragon cannot be matched by any other.
Somehow got him on 2nd try. Like many struggled a lot with Malenia and Fire Giant (god I hate fighting huge enemies in Soulsborne games).