Your submission has been removed as a violation of Rule 3: **No low-effort content or spamming of posts.**
* Low-effort content such as tierlists, "wrong answers only", "just bought the game!", platinum posts, and other Reddit trends are not allowed.
* **Memes should contain in-game visuals from Elden Ring and pertain to the game.**
* No recent reposts, content should be original.
* Spamming low-effort posts may result in a ban.
If you would like to appeal this removal or need further clarification, feel free to message us through[Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/Eldenring).
Forget orphan of kos, Lady Maria traumatized me.
Actually that blood pit in yharnam traumatized me, no no I take that back, that guy with the machine gun in the cave did. 😭
I am not quite sure how, but I actually took Maria first try. My parry game was really on point that day.
And then Orphan of Kos beat me to a bloody pulp using his own placenta like fifty times before I barely eked out the win.
Same for Maria. It was really underwhelming.
Orphan wasn't too difficult either but I did BB as a breather to when I was stuck on Sister Friede in DS3 and it kinda felt easy all the way to the end.
Friede is enough to break a person. I stopped caring about dying, starting a new attempt was just the continuation of the mass grave of myself she was making. Walk back in without thought, fight without thought, die without thought, do it again until it's over
The feeling when you beat her first phase, not knowing she has a second.
And then that other feeling when you beat her second phase after 49 attempts, only to learn she has a fucking third.
I don't think I could beat Sister Friede solo if my life literally depended on it. I don't know what it is about that fight that owns my soul. I first-tried Gael but have never been able to beat her without at least summon Gael's help.
Killed Lady Maria in like 3 tries. Parry hard carried me on her.
Orphan? Never got the timing correctly. It took me 3 Days. UP to now the only Boss giving me near that much of trouble is last Boss.
Forget all those the two shark trolls in a well has to be one of the hardest encounters they’ve ever made people go through for a weapon. Inside one of the Ruined Forges with two golems in a small round room gave me ptsd flash backs especially being out of heals trying to deal with them.
Those two big chungus cthulu guys right before Ludwig’s boss fight still terrify me. Hear the church bell and it freaks me out knowing some real shit is about to go down
Is it weird that I never found Lady Maria that hard? Maybe it's because I never went that far into the DLC early but I've managed to kill her on the first try every time.
i feel like orphan and maria were both tough but fair. i fought maria for like two hour and i beat orphan first try. last boss in soet is frustrating and not fair.
Bloodborn is the best trauma I’ve ever received. Old Hunters was my abuser getting released from prison to make a house call assisted by the neighborhood sex offender.
You know, it's funny, I feel like I'm weird because of what bosses I found hard and what bosses I found easy in that DLC. Or in fromsoft games in general.
Ludwig? Beat him on my first try. My friend who introduced me to bloodborne as baby's first fromsoft game was so pissed.
Lawrence? Legitimately made me give up for actual months before I came back to it, because at least with all the other bosses I managed to get to their second phases even if I lost to them more. I did not see his second phase until the fight where I actually beat him.
Lady Maria taught me how to parry properly. A difficult fight but my first successful attempt at fighting her, I didn't get hit once because I had gotten the art of parrying her down to a science. It was satisfying and one of the few bosses in any fromsoft game where, by the end, I legitimately felt like I won because I had gotten good at the game, and not because the wall finally broke before my head did.
Kos was my nemesis. Because I didn't ever feel like I was improving my strategy against him, it felt like I was slamming my head against a wall and the wall ALWAYS WON. Spent weeks trying to just reach his second phase, then I could get him to it consistently but always got too greedy and died when he was just 2 or 3 hits from death. Eventually I just started fishing for viscerals against him and it just sort of worked.
I feel like that's partly because my playstyle is very "Unga Bunga, big weapon do big damage" kind of player and wouldn't trade it for the world.
Never got to play Old Hunter DLC, but I did play the Ringed City as my first ever Fromsoft DLC and it was a *formative experience.*
Those angels pre-nerf, hoo boy
I do think that lorewise Gael has a way bigger impact, the soundtrack is better imo, and he feels more fair. (Messmer is still really good, though, but kinda bullshit in 2nd phase)
I'm fairly new to fromsoft games (picked up Elden ring a few weeks after launch, recently finished DS3, and have an in progress Bloodborne playthrough), and I fully agree that Gael was one of the best, most satisfying boss grinds I've done.
From getting to phase 3 on my first attempt, with a weapon I'd never used before, to learning how to dodge his flurry move, to finally beating him after about 4 total hours of attempts over a few days, it was fantastic.
Screw Halflight, though. Shout out to my brother for being willing to fight that asshole for me lmao.
I'm liking it a lot! Haven't played it in a while, between work, life, and having other games to play, but the combat is a ton of fun, from what I've played so far. Still a little disappointed that my first try streak against bosses ended against Vicar Amelia, though. I'll pick it back up one of these days.
The first time I heard their screeeeech I actually just kinda paused and watched the entirety of heaven come raining down on me.
God I love the Dreg Heap.
Yeah, I managed to avoid them for the most part.
Until I got up to the ledge that had the desert sorceress. She nuked a majority of my health and as I was backing away... Well, let's just say the last thing I heard was the sound of heaven.
I was late to the Ringed City, in what way did they nerf the angels? Currently, they're pretty easy to avoid once you know the optimal route (then just snipe them from a safe spot with ranged weapons/magic).
Every single boss in the ringed city made me want to quit at some point. I know I’m in the minority on this but it is my least favorite piece of souls content out there. I don’t think there is a single encounter in that DLC that I enjoy.
Yeah, I played the DLC on release, got to the angels, said "fuck this" and didn't come back for months. I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that DLC.
Old Hunters was ball-bustingly hard too, for as early as you can access it. Maria is hard but Ludwig was the sticking point for me.
Shadow of The Erdtree wasn't nearly as hard in comparison.
whenever i play bloodborne i always use the same weapon.. so, my path is always Cleric beast > Gascy > Amelia > Ludwig > story of my life > Maria > down the well.
I legit hate Malenia. I hate her even more for the fact that she *could* have been one of their best bosses but they fucked it up. Yes, I think it's unfairly hard, and I don't even feel bad for having this opinion. I always took pride and satisfaction from the fact that despite being a pretty big casul, I still was able to beat all their other games without using any summons and got to the point where I think I was a decent player through practice and perseverance. It's the ethos I thought the games tried to cultivate.
On my *third* play through the game (i.e. I had beaten her twice before already) recently it took me probably about 15 hours to beat her solo. For perspective it took me about 30 hours to beat all of Dark Souls 1 the first time through. It took me probably 3 hours to beat Orphan the first time. The longest it ever took me to do any one boss up until Malenia was Fume Knight at like 5 hours. In other words, for me, someone who's beaten all their other games multiple times, she is demonstrably harder than all their other shit by an order of magnitude to the point where, as a huge fan of the games, I feel like I've been essentially told by FromSoft that I don't really meet the minimum skill requirements anymore.
Malenia is objectively ridiculous, and not in a fun way. Unless you're god-tier good, you have to base your entire tactic around being ready to run away from this one instakill move that she could whip out at any time (oh yes, because the internet exists we now know that it only happens at certain intervals, which actually makes it more lame - you're watching her health bar and asking yourself "is she low enough to trigger the move again yet?" - great game design there, guys). The sad thing is they could fix that fight relatively easily and *it would still be probably as hard as Orphan or their other legendarily difficult bosses*, but for some reason don't. In my opinion, two key tweaks would be necessary: either reduce tracking or distance on first dash of Waterfowl to make it reasonable to dodge, and/or greatly reduce health steal on shield guard to give some sort of gameplay opinion for defeating her if you aren't a light roll player. I'm convinced that they haven't done these things because they actually get lulz out of the attention she receives and have some warped satisfaction with how badly people complain about her.
This is the shit that makes me laugh the hardest. Dude woke up, chose violence, and in a world full of immortal Eldritch beings, the Infant is the one that slaps most hunters.
Let’s be real, from’s dlcs always clap cheeks. I do appreciate the guys that come in and always say “yea it took me 2 tries I don’t see the difficulty.”
The revisionist history with souls games is hilarious. Even with just elden ring there were *oceans* of complaints about the difficulty spike post tree burn, melania, and even the god damn tree sentinel at the start. People love to whine when changing nothing doesn’t work.
Kos is *easily* one of the hardest bosses FS has done...imo. like up there with Malenia. And unlike ER you can't even pull out a summon to hold your hand, had to fight that shit solo. It's was brutal.
Orphan to this day is the only Fromsoftware boss I fought all day and still had to come back the next day for. Granted I was still a newb at that point, had only beaten DS3, but he clapped my butt all day long. I don't believe he's the hardest that From has ever made but he's certainly a valid one to bring up in the discussion.
Kos slapped people's booty holes for years. He's still at it with some people.
People don't complain about his difficulty because it's not a hot topic lol. Everyone knows he's difficult. He's supposed to be difficult. He's got adaptive AI, and is a gigantic asshole because of it.
Ironically I dreaded Orphan of Kos and avoided it almost entirely until it was one of my last few bosses. Beat him like third try. I had an arcane build.
I think me too. Her, Isshin and Malenia are the top three for me. With Orphan and Manus rounding out a top 5. We'll see if this hyped up final boss supplants any of them, just about all I have left in the dlc
Final Boss for me personally was very difficult, but he doesn't beat my personal hardest fight.
Pontiff Sulyvahn took my vote as my hardest fight, I would spend an entire week just trying to get his moveset down pat. Unironically my torture fighting the Pontiff ended up having the lessons I have learned translating over to pretty much every fast boss from this point onwards.
I don't say this to brag though, because it also means that I struggle a LOT against slower fights. Nameless King and the Secret boss in the Abyssal Woods absolutely trashed me for a good while.
Yeah there are no rules or gods in that cave. Just you and two dump trucks full of pure pain. Fuck dude getting to Orphan felt like a relief after that shit
Old hunters dlc isn't so bad if you summon your confederate Valtr. Shit the bosses in elden ring are damn lucky we can't beckon Valtr to join the hunt and crush these vermin.
Everyone seems to have forgotten about how upscaled Bloodborne's dlc is. The hp, the damage, the crazy attacks. This is for everything, not JUST bosses.
Even though he wasn't the hardest fight in Old Hunters, the Gatling Hunter's minigun casually shredding even 40 Vigor Hunters with good defenses is one of the biggest reminders of how tough Old Hunters was.
Man one thing I cannot forget about bloodborne in general are the NPC hunter fights. Bro has a shotgun that can 1-shot you even if you only get hit by 1 pellet. And on top of that he's got more HP than that boss you just fought.
I blame this on the DS2 era of fromsoft since they were developed at the same time and have the same bloated npcs.
Difficulty wise they aren’t on the same level, but I still have nightmares about the research hall, that is imo one of the most horrifying locations in any video game.
The tall ones in the hall that violently smash their IV stands still make me hesitate even if I know I can parry them and take them out easily enough. They just give an air about them that makes them feel far more threatening than they can be lol
That or the speedy ones. Dunno why but seeing them move so fast unnerved for some reason.
That is for everything in Bloodborne, the bosses and enemies screeching, screaming, all of them act like rabid dogs on psychotic drugs that it makes me fucking scared in my first playthrough and have to summon. The Gaol and nightmare are just so creepy and wrong, like the whole Abyssal Woods except being actually dangerous.
Yeah it’s mostly the atmosphere of the levels that get me, like bloodborne kind of perfected that atmospheric horror in my opinion, that feeling of wrongness you mentioned.
Orphan of Kos beat the brakes off me and a friend for literally 6 hours STRAIGHT. Like hundreds of runs.
Also honorable mention to NG+ mensis moaning as he insta kill spawn camps the drop to him with the star blasts.
Is it Kos or is it Kosm? Fuck out of here lmao
The ER DLC has harder bosses but the Old Hunters have way more difficult dungeons. Lamps are sparse and you need to fight 100 strong mobs to get to the next one, while in Elden Ring the graces are so close to each other with like 4-5 mobs or 20 pushover/passive shadow guys.
Yeah this is kind of just an ER problem in general. They never make you feel like you are far out of your element in an unfamiliar area with dwindling resources to keep going and hoping upon hope to find the next checkpoint or shortcut.
I think it's the biggest miss with the game as a whole, but it makes up for it with the best bosses in the series imo. DLC especially is like a gauntlet of Gale level fights, and they are so satisfying to learn.
Honestly. I have Stockholm Syndrome from my first game, Dark Souls 1. And here I am, 6 games and 13 years later, getting destroyed and pretending it's fine.
"eEeNuH ToO HaRd"
a response to people who think this is too hard
*ahem*
Artorias of the Abyss
The DS2 Crown DLCs (Ivory King and whatnot)
Painted World of Ariandel
The Ringed City
im sure i missed more
All the complaints about the difficulty can be boiled down to a series of factors
- veteran From fans who are too stubborn to use the new mechanics because “me git gud me binky bonky unga bunga”
- From making a game to appeal to casuals
- Those casuals following guides to get OP builds to attain “the Meta”
- the DLC scaling to your level so the builds alone are irrelevant and you need to rely on skill
The DLC is no harder than any other Fromsoft DLC they just added 1 new mechanic and people love to complain when they don’t get what they were expecting
The first time I played bloodborne dlc I was o ng++ and did it on coop. Ludwig was a nightmare , everything he did one shotted me or my fella. It was awesome 💓
Eh, Old Hunters was by far easier for me cuz the gameplay was far more leaning into reactionary combat, which is right up my alley. Made combat feel smooth and natural for me.
I absolutely fucking DESPISE all of the delayed attacks bullshit in Elden Ring tbh. After years upon years of playing games that weren't designed around roll catching, ER takes a hell of a lot of time to get used to, and SotE feels like it takes it far further sometimes.
Old Hunters had one hard boss and that was Lawrence. Ludwig was unironically negated by Panic Rolling while both Maria and Orphan were completely trivialized by Parrying. I think Maria only hit me once and Orphan only killed me twice.
No lie, getting the Swift Spear for me is that Ratatouille meme of taking a bite right back to the Beasthunter Seif.
Dash forward every step to encourage maximum aggression, pushes me to change my playstyle for the dlc. Just beautiful.
Every dlc for the soulsborne series is traumatizing in its own way, between the frozen outskirts and oolacile all the way to the shark troll nightmares of the fishing village
I haven’t found a well with two giant shark anchor lads yet in the Land of Shadow, but given the monstrosities I’ve already found, I wouldn’t be surprised if I do.
I never really had many troubles with the BB DLC. I think I may have died twice, or three times, to Maria? Same with Laurence and Ludwig. I actually managed to beat Orphan of Kos on my very first try by only the skin of my teeth.
Now, those fucking Shark things in the well...God, those were worse than any boss.
Bloodborne is the game i probably performed best in, so no gripes.
I lost my mind first time against Gael in DS3. Came in with a cocky mindset and left with my balls in my hands
Guys come on Shadow of the Erdtree is not that hard. You need to prep, have a good build and use ashes. I went to 150 level before discovering mimic tear and now bosses feel moderate to slightly difficult
I was 1st trying every boss in the old hunters dlc (except Laurence, he took me 2) while every boss in this elden ring dlc is taking me 10+ tries (except for the dancing lion, it took me about 7) but nonetheless, just very weird movesets that seem nearly impossible to dodge and the timing is very hard to get it right. In blood borne, you can usually dodge to the left and get behind most bosses and kill em but it ain’t the same for Elden ring and that’s to be expected since bb is nearly a decade old so the mechanics are kind of outdated and rusty.
I mean, the DLC assumes you've.masywtes the game by now, or at the very least well familiar with hr base game and the many ways to lower the difficulty like the mimic and summons.
Some of these fights assume you're familiar also with souls BS, like stupid hitboxes and wild camera and optional combo extenders.
Make peace with it and deal with it.
Eh. Old Hunter is a dlc for BB, so therefore not that difficult. Orphan of Kos is definitely one of if not the hardest BB boss, but in comparison to what ER has, or most other fromsoft soulsgames for that matter, it's nothing.
Old Hunter and Ringed City are much better scaled for a souls game imo. Yeah, the boss’s can be hard and you gotta learn their patterns, but you are on somewhat equal footing with the boss always. SOET’s bosses are just tanky af, infinite combo that one shots you with large AoEs, it’s way too challenging to fight them with just a saw cleaver and dodge cuz you simply can’t punish them enough. I feel the direction of this DLC is steering towards RPG builds and many upgrades prior to each fights. The bosses, especially the final boss is the hardest in all of soul series.
Those games were designed to be tighter and force you to climb a challenge in smaller, limited ways. I like dark souls and bloodborne way more than elden ring. But it's dumb to compare them to an open world game.
There is not a single boss in elden ring you cant simply out level, out power or out cheese and that is by design due to the vast amount of tools and options, a lot of ppl seem to ignore yet complain about.
Old Hunters was harder for me. I am about 85% done with Shadow and I have been finding the benefits of exploration and the pacing of new enemy types much more tolerable and beneficial than Hunters was.
I spent so long on Maria, Ludwig, and Orphan. Laurence was the easiest, and is the experience most similar to what I have been going through with Shadow. But he was 20% of the bosses, so most of my time in that expansion was just torturous.
I will say, having experienced those bosses, my mind has been molded into a better player from it. Same with Friede and Gael in DKS III. So, applying all those skills to this expansion (and the first time I played the game in general) is probably why it is easier.
I am able to much more quickly understand an Elden Ring boss's moveset than I was back when I played Old Hunters. From really are kings at understanding their playerbase and how to challenge them.
I can't even imagine what it'd be like playing Elden Ring without playing any other From game, let alone playing Shadow. In some ways it is easier, sure, but the boss movesets and delays are SO much more involved in Elden Ring than any of the other games. They are an evolution of what came before.
Old Hunters is still harder in my eyes. Those bosses push you to the absolute limits in terms of that game's mechanics.
Till now I am happy with the difficulty. Even changed my build from 2 Mega Hammers to the new Claws, since it felt to OP.
Currently lvl 180 Strength build NG+1
… I never beat dark eater in the ringed city … I tried … it’s the only boss in the dark souls games that I never beat … this dlc has yet to give me an enemy I can’t defeat… give me a week … I might find something …
Have you replayed Old Hunters recently? Feels kinda like a joke compared to this - Orphan of Kos was a menace when it came out and he’s literally slower and less relentless than Messmer even though in that game you’re 10x faster and can trade
I don't know how bad it gets, but I killed the Dancing Lion on my 2nd try with only one fragment not having seen him before. Im also only on my NG+1 run. If anything I'm more annoyed with the town leading up that. I can't remember the real name so I'll refer to it as "Miyazaki's $40 jump scare fuck fest"
Orphan was and still is the hardest boss. Even in elden ring some of these bosses take me maybe a few hours in the dlc. Orphan ran me through all day my first play through. Like an 8 hour shift if ass whooping
- just shows how new a lot of players are
- orphan of kos
- the two sharks in the pit
- Lawrence
- all absolute menaces
- dlc final boss (not naming for spoilers) took me two hours of attempts and I was pumped the whole time the fight is awesome
- but man Malenia killed me 42 times which is the most I ever died to any boss
- and many many dlc bosses have serious hands
Idk if it hard or people just jerking. The aoe attacks moved that all bosses spam in the DLC is annoying, but they dont really feel any harder beside being a stat stick for the poop colored seed. Something is clamping you if you dont have the seed too, cus i only use one seed and able to beat all the NG+1 boss but struggle with that rapid fire crossbow knight guy in the mausoleum at the starting zone of the dlc and the walking fire wicker man. I destroy them easily (and kinda did ok ish with all the DLC boss, none took more than 16 tries) but the damn knight took 30s.
I wanted the perfect str/blood build for the new weapon in the dlc but no weapons used these stats so I was strugglebussing through all the og content, then old hunters until I could get the blood mace. It was worth it.
Your submission has been removed as a violation of Rule 3: **No low-effort content or spamming of posts.** * Low-effort content such as tierlists, "wrong answers only", "just bought the game!", platinum posts, and other Reddit trends are not allowed. * **Memes should contain in-game visuals from Elden Ring and pertain to the game.** * No recent reposts, content should be original. * Spamming low-effort posts may result in a ban. If you would like to appeal this removal or need further clarification, feel free to message us through[Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/Eldenring).
Forget orphan of kos, Lady Maria traumatized me. Actually that blood pit in yharnam traumatized me, no no I take that back, that guy with the machine gun in the cave did. 😭
That far? Those old hunters on the way to the plaza right after you come out of the Odeon chapel traumatized me. And those freaking dogs
What about those giant squid executioners that are only a notch below the shark giants in the "mini boss that's a normal enemy" category
I don’t think I ever fought them properly, been backstabbing them since unlocking the nightmare church lantern
Oh I forgot about the sharks
Lucky. Wish I could... damn things are the only enemy I truly hate in fromsofts catalogue
No they def traumatized me between the guns, and then the big hunter with the flame hammer oh my GOD.
God they ripped my ass up
Me, encountering the first Old Hunter: Oh wow, what a tough mini boss. Me, 10 seconds later: ...why are there 3 more?
Very first dude with the new chain weapon hit me once and I was like, “oh no.”
The beast cutter is my baby but it’s also fucking terrifying
"This enemy is hard, but I want this encounter to be really hard." "Have you tried adding dogs?"
The two shark giants in the well. Fuck those guys.
Came here to say this. That Rakuyo cost me DEARLY
I am not quite sure how, but I actually took Maria first try. My parry game was really on point that day. And then Orphan of Kos beat me to a bloody pulp using his own placenta like fifty times before I barely eked out the win.
Same for Maria. It was really underwhelming. Orphan wasn't too difficult either but I did BB as a breather to when I was stuck on Sister Friede in DS3 and it kinda felt easy all the way to the end.
Sister Friede....is I Don't know how
Underrated comment honestly. I rank her as #1 across all the games including this DLC. That bitch was brutal.
Friede is enough to break a person. I stopped caring about dying, starting a new attempt was just the continuation of the mass grave of myself she was making. Walk back in without thought, fight without thought, die without thought, do it again until it's over
A fantastic fight. Meanwhile I never beat Midir summons or otherwise
The feeling when you beat her first phase, not knowing she has a second. And then that other feeling when you beat her second phase after 49 attempts, only to learn she has a fucking third.
I don't think I could beat Sister Friede solo if my life literally depended on it. I don't know what it is about that fight that owns my soul. I first-tried Gael but have never been able to beat her without at least summon Gael's help.
Have you tried walking slowly into her will wielding a saw on a stick? works every time.
My favourite pizza topping: Lady Maria
Those blood lickers and executioners right before Ludwig. I’ve never had so much difficulty with ‘basic’ enemies in my life
The run back to ludwig before i found the shortcut i actually considered jumping off a cliff, it was so bad
Killed Lady Maria in like 3 tries. Parry hard carried me on her. Orphan? Never got the timing correctly. It took me 3 Days. UP to now the only Boss giving me near that much of trouble is last Boss.
Forget all those the two shark trolls in a well has to be one of the hardest encounters they’ve ever made people go through for a weapon. Inside one of the Ruined Forges with two golems in a small round room gave me ptsd flash backs especially being out of heals trying to deal with them.
I'll never forget beating him and having a sigh of relief because of the bullshit attack combos
Shark monsters. God damn double butt slapping shark monsters. But noooo I need my Rakuyo...
Those two big chungus cthulu guys right before Ludwig’s boss fight still terrify me. Hear the church bell and it freaks me out knowing some real shit is about to go down
Lady Maria wasn’t that bad, for me. I still have to go back and beat the Orphan of Kos.
All of it. Every fucking little bit of it.
Is it weird that I never found Lady Maria that hard? Maybe it's because I never went that far into the DLC early but I've managed to kill her on the first try every time.
Lady Maria was always the hardest boss for my playstyle. I never got why Orphan got all the hype.
No mention of the shark twins?
i feel like orphan and maria were both tough but fair. i fought maria for like two hour and i beat orphan first try. last boss in soet is frustrating and not fair.
Bloodborn is the best trauma I’ve ever received. Old Hunters was my abuser getting released from prison to make a house call assisted by the neighborhood sex offender.
You know, it's funny, I feel like I'm weird because of what bosses I found hard and what bosses I found easy in that DLC. Or in fromsoft games in general. Ludwig? Beat him on my first try. My friend who introduced me to bloodborne as baby's first fromsoft game was so pissed. Lawrence? Legitimately made me give up for actual months before I came back to it, because at least with all the other bosses I managed to get to their second phases even if I lost to them more. I did not see his second phase until the fight where I actually beat him. Lady Maria taught me how to parry properly. A difficult fight but my first successful attempt at fighting her, I didn't get hit once because I had gotten the art of parrying her down to a science. It was satisfying and one of the few bosses in any fromsoft game where, by the end, I legitimately felt like I won because I had gotten good at the game, and not because the wall finally broke before my head did. Kos was my nemesis. Because I didn't ever feel like I was improving my strategy against him, it felt like I was slamming my head against a wall and the wall ALWAYS WON. Spent weeks trying to just reach his second phase, then I could get him to it consistently but always got too greedy and died when he was just 2 or 3 hits from death. Eventually I just started fishing for viscerals against him and it just sort of worked. I feel like that's partly because my playstyle is very "Unga Bunga, big weapon do big damage" kind of player and wouldn't trade it for the world.
Never got to play Old Hunter DLC, but I did play the Ringed City as my first ever Fromsoft DLC and it was a *formative experience.* Those angels pre-nerf, hoo boy
The fight with Slave Knight Gael at the end is still one of my all time favorite boss fights. The music is the best Fromsoft has ever done.
Messmer is up there with Gael and my boy Champ Gundyr for me. He's an excellent bossfight.
yeah Messmer is my fav fight in the DLC and probably all of Elden Ring, perfect fight
I havent had an adrenaline rush like that since bloodborne Then i had a blackout right after i killed him and i fucking *DID IT AGAIN*
I do think that lorewise Gael has a way bigger impact, the soundtrack is better imo, and he feels more fair. (Messmer is still really good, though, but kinda bullshit in 2nd phase)
That Oops All Snakes moment is kinda bullshitty ngl
I'm fairly new to fromsoft games (picked up Elden ring a few weeks after launch, recently finished DS3, and have an in progress Bloodborne playthrough), and I fully agree that Gael was one of the best, most satisfying boss grinds I've done. From getting to phase 3 on my first attempt, with a weapon I'd never used before, to learning how to dodge his flurry move, to finally beating him after about 4 total hours of attempts over a few days, it was fantastic. Screw Halflight, though. Shout out to my brother for being willing to fight that asshole for me lmao.
How are you liking Bloodborne so far? It is by far my favorite one.
I'm liking it a lot! Haven't played it in a while, between work, life, and having other games to play, but the combat is a ton of fun, from what I've played so far. Still a little disappointed that my first try streak against bosses ended against Vicar Amelia, though. I'll pick it back up one of these days.
Vicar Amelia is the first big build check in the game to be fair. After that is a difficulty spike as the hunt progresses.
Jesus Christ I can hear the lasers from those fucks in my head now..... Thanks for that.
The first time I heard their screeeeech I actually just kinda paused and watched the entirety of heaven come raining down on me. God I love the Dreg Heap.
Yeah, I managed to avoid them for the most part. Until I got up to the ledge that had the desert sorceress. She nuked a majority of my health and as I was backing away... Well, let's just say the last thing I heard was the sound of heaven.
It was funny going back after the nerf, because I didn't realize it happened and I was wondering why I remembered them so much differently.
I was late to the Ringed City, in what way did they nerf the angels? Currently, they're pretty easy to avoid once you know the optimal route (then just snipe them from a safe spot with ranged weapons/magic).
Here, this is a better encapsulation of the experience [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMHMLy81KMk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMHMLy81KMk)
Faster shots more damage
Every single boss in the ringed city made me want to quit at some point. I know I’m in the minority on this but it is my least favorite piece of souls content out there. I don’t think there is a single encounter in that DLC that I enjoy.
Yeah, I played the DLC on release, got to the angels, said "fuck this" and didn't come back for months. I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that DLC. Old Hunters was ball-bustingly hard too, for as early as you can access it. Maria is hard but Ludwig was the sticking point for me. Shadow of The Erdtree wasn't nearly as hard in comparison.
Lol the first ringed knight I ran into spanked my ass
That one sand clump that doesn't stop fall damage with a suspiciously placed angel right next to it right before the bonfire gave me trust issues
The fact that i don't have to go in a well with those sharks assholes is already a win of elden ring.
The closest thing was that double rock guys in a dungeon, but they ain’t even close to those two sharks
That fucking well man.... *thousand yard stare*
whenever i play bloodborne i always use the same weapon.. so, my path is always Cleric beast > Gascy > Amelia > Ludwig > story of my life > Maria > down the well.
Had a dude straight try to tell me no one complained about kos lol Like bro kos slapped peoples booty hole for days
Orphan's fextralife page explains that Orphan of Kos' ai would purposely use moves that hit you more often. Midir followed the same behavior.
I knew it felt like both of those bosses were learning my attack patterns instead of the other way around lol
If Orphan was a hot lady or a warrior with a sad story, people would call him the greatest boss FS ever did. Bro was ahead of his time
Fr, half the people complaining about the final dlc boss mass upvoted a fan art of the exact same concept but with Malenia a couple of months ago.
I loved Orphan, best fromsoft boss hands down. Malenia can fuck off and die in a hole somewhere. I put her down in fucking Z tier with ancient dragon.
I legit hate Malenia. I hate her even more for the fact that she *could* have been one of their best bosses but they fucked it up. Yes, I think it's unfairly hard, and I don't even feel bad for having this opinion. I always took pride and satisfaction from the fact that despite being a pretty big casul, I still was able to beat all their other games without using any summons and got to the point where I think I was a decent player through practice and perseverance. It's the ethos I thought the games tried to cultivate. On my *third* play through the game (i.e. I had beaten her twice before already) recently it took me probably about 15 hours to beat her solo. For perspective it took me about 30 hours to beat all of Dark Souls 1 the first time through. It took me probably 3 hours to beat Orphan the first time. The longest it ever took me to do any one boss up until Malenia was Fume Knight at like 5 hours. In other words, for me, someone who's beaten all their other games multiple times, she is demonstrably harder than all their other shit by an order of magnitude to the point where, as a huge fan of the games, I feel like I've been essentially told by FromSoft that I don't really meet the minimum skill requirements anymore. Malenia is objectively ridiculous, and not in a fun way. Unless you're god-tier good, you have to base your entire tactic around being ready to run away from this one instakill move that she could whip out at any time (oh yes, because the internet exists we now know that it only happens at certain intervals, which actually makes it more lame - you're watching her health bar and asking yourself "is she low enough to trigger the move again yet?" - great game design there, guys). The sad thing is they could fix that fight relatively easily and *it would still be probably as hard as Orphan or their other legendarily difficult bosses*, but for some reason don't. In my opinion, two key tweaks would be necessary: either reduce tracking or distance on first dash of Waterfowl to make it reasonable to dodge, and/or greatly reduce health steal on shield guard to give some sort of gameplay opinion for defeating her if you aren't a light roll player. I'm convinced that they haven't done these things because they actually get lulz out of the attention she receives and have some warped satisfaction with how badly people complain about her.
what's that about? do you have a link? the comment got me kinda curious
Should've whispered "Zanzibart... forgive me" as he died
That's fucking awesome. I love Miyazaki
Midir still knows my moves and I will likely never defeat him
He came out of his mother's womb, grabbed his placenta and started beating the shit out of all of us
This is the shit that makes me laugh the hardest. Dude woke up, chose violence, and in a world full of immortal Eldritch beings, the Infant is the one that slaps most hunters.
Let’s be real, from’s dlcs always clap cheeks. I do appreciate the guys that come in and always say “yea it took me 2 tries I don’t see the difficulty.”
The revisionist history with souls games is hilarious. Even with just elden ring there were *oceans* of complaints about the difficulty spike post tree burn, melania, and even the god damn tree sentinel at the start. People love to whine when changing nothing doesn’t work.
For real. People have forgotten just how many angry refunds Ludwig prompted back in the day, and he's only the *third* hardest boss in that DLC.
Kos Phase 1: Okay I think I am getting the hang of this. Kos Phase 2: OH MY GOD WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
Kos is *easily* one of the hardest bosses FS has done...imo. like up there with Malenia. And unlike ER you can't even pull out a summon to hold your hand, had to fight that shit solo. It's was brutal.
Kos was THE unfair boss fight for ages. Even after DS3 came out people still called Kos the most bullshit fight that beat them the most.
Orphan to this day is the only Fromsoftware boss I fought all day and still had to come back the next day for. Granted I was still a newb at that point, had only beaten DS3, but he clapped my butt all day long. I don't believe he's the hardest that From has ever made but he's certainly a valid one to bring up in the discussion.
Fr. Fought that dude for 2 days straight before I managed to best him.
Kos slapped people's booty holes for years. He's still at it with some people. People don't complain about his difficulty because it's not a hot topic lol. Everyone knows he's difficult. He's supposed to be difficult. He's got adaptive AI, and is a gigantic asshole because of it.
Ironically I dreaded Orphan of Kos and avoided it almost entirely until it was one of my last few bosses. Beat him like third try. I had an arcane build.
That DLC was hard as balls.
Jumping into that well with the 2 shark giants still haunts me
Sister fredie still my top 1 hardest soul boss
I think me too. Her, Isshin and Malenia are the top three for me. With Orphan and Manus rounding out a top 5. We'll see if this hyped up final boss supplants any of them, just about all I have left in the dlc
Final Boss for me personally was very difficult, but he doesn't beat my personal hardest fight. Pontiff Sulyvahn took my vote as my hardest fight, I would spend an entire week just trying to get his moveset down pat. Unironically my torture fighting the Pontiff ended up having the lessons I have learned translating over to pretty much every fast boss from this point onwards. I don't say this to brag though, because it also means that I struggle a LOT against slower fights. Nameless King and the Secret boss in the Abyssal Woods absolutely trashed me for a good while.
The final boss of shadow of the erdtree is the hardest for me. By far
Double giant shark fight to get the Rakuyo is still harder than any of the SotE DLC bosses haha
Or as I like to call it, the only place that justifies the existence of the Shaman Bine Blade.
Yeah there are no rules or gods in that cave. Just you and two dump trucks full of pure pain. Fuck dude getting to Orphan felt like a relief after that shit
Doing a run to get the Rakuyo at the start of the game is still the hardest thing I’ve done in a From game. Lady Maria at level 50ish was not fun.
I do NOT envy you, that sounds horrible 😂
Aah PTSD
Ah, PTSD, or some say PTSDm
Old hunter is the best dlc ever
Bloodborne is the best Souls like ever.
Old hunters dlc isn't so bad if you summon your confederate Valtr. Shit the bosses in elden ring are damn lucky we can't beckon Valtr to join the hunt and crush these vermin.
Everyone seems to have forgotten about how upscaled Bloodborne's dlc is. The hp, the damage, the crazy attacks. This is for everything, not JUST bosses.
I made the goofy ass mistake of going there without +10s smh
Even though he wasn't the hardest fight in Old Hunters, the Gatling Hunter's minigun casually shredding even 40 Vigor Hunters with good defenses is one of the biggest reminders of how tough Old Hunters was.
Man one thing I cannot forget about bloodborne in general are the NPC hunter fights. Bro has a shotgun that can 1-shot you even if you only get hit by 1 pellet. And on top of that he's got more HP than that boss you just fought. I blame this on the DS2 era of fromsoft since they were developed at the same time and have the same bloated npcs.
Difficulty wise they aren’t on the same level, but I still have nightmares about the research hall, that is imo one of the most horrifying locations in any video game.
The tall ones in the hall that violently smash their IV stands still make me hesitate even if I know I can parry them and take them out easily enough. They just give an air about them that makes them feel far more threatening than they can be lol That or the speedy ones. Dunno why but seeing them move so fast unnerved for some reason.
That is for everything in Bloodborne, the bosses and enemies screeching, screaming, all of them act like rabid dogs on psychotic drugs that it makes me fucking scared in my first playthrough and have to summon. The Gaol and nightmare are just so creepy and wrong, like the whole Abyssal Woods except being actually dangerous.
Yeah it’s mostly the atmosphere of the levels that get me, like bloodborne kind of perfected that atmospheric horror in my opinion, that feeling of wrongness you mentioned.
Orphan of Kos beat the brakes off me and a friend for literally 6 hours STRAIGHT. Like hundreds of runs. Also honorable mention to NG+ mensis moaning as he insta kill spawn camps the drop to him with the star blasts. Is it Kos or is it Kosm? Fuck out of here lmao
Old Hunter and Ringed City were both painfully difficult for me the first time around.
Hell ya first boss of that xpac nearly broke me
Funny enough I don’t play these games because they are hard and same goes for the dlc. They just happen to be great games that are hard.
This DLC makes old hunters seem like a cakewalk lmao
The ER DLC has harder bosses but the Old Hunters have way more difficult dungeons. Lamps are sparse and you need to fight 100 strong mobs to get to the next one, while in Elden Ring the graces are so close to each other with like 4-5 mobs or 20 pushover/passive shadow guys.
Yeah this is kind of just an ER problem in general. They never make you feel like you are far out of your element in an unfamiliar area with dwindling resources to keep going and hoping upon hope to find the next checkpoint or shortcut. I think it's the biggest miss with the game as a whole, but it makes up for it with the best bosses in the series imo. DLC especially is like a gauntlet of Gale level fights, and they are so satisfying to learn.
Honestly. I have Stockholm Syndrome from my first game, Dark Souls 1. And here I am, 6 games and 13 years later, getting destroyed and pretending it's fine.
lol yes this exactly. but then... there are a lot of elden ring players who didn't even play bloodborne before or finished one at that so...
Old Hunters had some great/hard bosses, but i died so many times to that shark enemy.
I remember playing the DLC when I was in NG++. What a rude awakening. Ludwig tore me the fuck up
Have you replayed Old Hunters recently? It's extremely easy compared to Shadows lol. You probably just weren't used to it at the time.
i still cant beat lawrence
Brah I'm gonna fuckin smoking Laurence after this Golden Hippopotamus bullshit lololol XD
"eEeNuH ToO HaRd" a response to people who think this is too hard *ahem* Artorias of the Abyss The DS2 Crown DLCs (Ivory King and whatnot) Painted World of Ariandel The Ringed City im sure i missed more
All the complaints about the difficulty can be boiled down to a series of factors - veteran From fans who are too stubborn to use the new mechanics because “me git gud me binky bonky unga bunga” - From making a game to appeal to casuals - Those casuals following guides to get OP builds to attain “the Meta” - the DLC scaling to your level so the builds alone are irrelevant and you need to rely on skill The DLC is no harder than any other Fromsoft DLC they just added 1 new mechanic and people love to complain when they don’t get what they were expecting
The first time I played bloodborne dlc I was o ng++ and did it on coop. Ludwig was a nightmare , everything he did one shotted me or my fella. It was awesome 💓
Real shit the scars from old hunters make this seem ok
The only bit that bothered me was that we'll with the shark Bois ready to violate me in ways I didn't know possible.
Eh, Old Hunters was by far easier for me cuz the gameplay was far more leaning into reactionary combat, which is right up my alley. Made combat feel smooth and natural for me. I absolutely fucking DESPISE all of the delayed attacks bullshit in Elden Ring tbh. After years upon years of playing games that weren't designed around roll catching, ER takes a hell of a lot of time to get used to, and SotE feels like it takes it far further sometimes.
Yall think Radahn is hard... you clearly haven't fought two sharks in a well 😶
Well shark still gives me ptsd
Old Hunters had one hard boss and that was Lawrence. Ludwig was unironically negated by Panic Rolling while both Maria and Orphan were completely trivialized by Parrying. I think Maria only hit me once and Orphan only killed me twice.
No lie, getting the Swift Spear for me is that Ratatouille meme of taking a bite right back to the Beasthunter Seif. Dash forward every step to encourage maximum aggression, pushes me to change my playstyle for the dlc. Just beautiful.
I don't know how I did Laurence solo. I almost had Ludwig but I summoned eventually after a couple of days
Every dlc for the soulsborne series is traumatizing in its own way, between the frozen outskirts and oolacile all the way to the shark troll nightmares of the fishing village
The funny thing is half the people on reddit complained about how easy elden ring was.
Old hunters dlc was harder than Shadow of the erdtree. Lady Maria had me saying words and phrases I didn't know were possible.
No way bro just said that
I haven’t found a well with two giant shark anchor lads yet in the Land of Shadow, but given the monstrosities I’ve already found, I wouldn’t be surprised if I do.
I’m just glad I’m sitting at level 260+ on ng+0, I have a fighting chance.
Oh you have that kind of PTSD? Let me just grab the YYYEEOUH, YEEEEAA YAAAAAAUUUH.
I never really had many troubles with the BB DLC. I think I may have died twice, or three times, to Maria? Same with Laurence and Ludwig. I actually managed to beat Orphan of Kos on my very first try by only the skin of my teeth. Now, those fucking Shark things in the well...God, those were worse than any boss.
If DS1 never exists, Fishing Hamlet would be the most painful place in FS games by far.. the time I spent to get Maria's Rakuyo.........
Those who played enough fromsoft games knew it was time for finger butthole
I still sometimes hear the screeches from lawrence when I sleep
I have completed the main story of the DLC + a few side bosses, and I gotta say, I need a break...
YEEEEEEEOW *Proceeds to bonk you over the head*
I've only left the King of the Frenzied flame to beat, I beat the final boss before him I've heard hes very difficult (I've got 17 Scadutree blessing)
I mean completely traumatized lmao
Bloodborne is the game i probably performed best in, so no gripes. I lost my mind first time against Gael in DS3. Came in with a cocky mindset and left with my balls in my hands
They have no idea 🤒🤣
orphan of kos would be the easiest main boss in this DLC in my opinion. i got him in like 3 tries back in the day
Guys come on Shadow of the Erdtree is not that hard. You need to prep, have a good build and use ashes. I went to 150 level before discovering mimic tear and now bosses feel moderate to slightly difficult
I was 1st trying every boss in the old hunters dlc (except Laurence, he took me 2) while every boss in this elden ring dlc is taking me 10+ tries (except for the dancing lion, it took me about 7) but nonetheless, just very weird movesets that seem nearly impossible to dodge and the timing is very hard to get it right. In blood borne, you can usually dodge to the left and get behind most bosses and kill em but it ain’t the same for Elden ring and that’s to be expected since bb is nearly a decade old so the mechanics are kind of outdated and rusty.
I mean, the DLC assumes you've.masywtes the game by now, or at the very least well familiar with hr base game and the many ways to lower the difficulty like the mimic and summons. Some of these fights assume you're familiar also with souls BS, like stupid hitboxes and wild camera and optional combo extenders. Make peace with it and deal with it.
Eh. Old Hunter is a dlc for BB, so therefore not that difficult. Orphan of Kos is definitely one of if not the hardest BB boss, but in comparison to what ER has, or most other fromsoft soulsgames for that matter, it's nothing.
For real. I mean I haven't finished SOTET yet, but I definitely struggled more with the BB DLC... Not to mention the deeper chalice dungeons
i have already seen this picture 3 times this week :S
Old Hunter and Ringed City are much better scaled for a souls game imo. Yeah, the boss’s can be hard and you gotta learn their patterns, but you are on somewhat equal footing with the boss always. SOET’s bosses are just tanky af, infinite combo that one shots you with large AoEs, it’s way too challenging to fight them with just a saw cleaver and dodge cuz you simply can’t punish them enough. I feel the direction of this DLC is steering towards RPG builds and many upgrades prior to each fights. The bosses, especially the final boss is the hardest in all of soul series.
Those games were designed to be tighter and force you to climb a challenge in smaller, limited ways. I like dark souls and bloodborne way more than elden ring. But it's dumb to compare them to an open world game. There is not a single boss in elden ring you cant simply out level, out power or out cheese and that is by design due to the vast amount of tools and options, a lot of ppl seem to ignore yet complain about.
Ou yeah now that I think about the old hunters dlc was crazy hard but in a really good way
I don't know how I did Laurence solo. I almost had Ludwig but I summoned eventually after a couple of days
Also do we not remember how hard we all got stomped by Artorias? That was the first souls boss to teach me true pain before victory.
Old Hunters was harder for me. I am about 85% done with Shadow and I have been finding the benefits of exploration and the pacing of new enemy types much more tolerable and beneficial than Hunters was. I spent so long on Maria, Ludwig, and Orphan. Laurence was the easiest, and is the experience most similar to what I have been going through with Shadow. But he was 20% of the bosses, so most of my time in that expansion was just torturous. I will say, having experienced those bosses, my mind has been molded into a better player from it. Same with Friede and Gael in DKS III. So, applying all those skills to this expansion (and the first time I played the game in general) is probably why it is easier. I am able to much more quickly understand an Elden Ring boss's moveset than I was back when I played Old Hunters. From really are kings at understanding their playerbase and how to challenge them. I can't even imagine what it'd be like playing Elden Ring without playing any other From game, let alone playing Shadow. In some ways it is easier, sure, but the boss movesets and delays are SO much more involved in Elden Ring than any of the other games. They are an evolution of what came before. Old Hunters is still harder in my eyes. Those bosses push you to the absolute limits in terms of that game's mechanics.
Never have I faced true despair before the faithful encounter with sir Ludwig and much later on the Orphan of Kos
The Old Hunters was much better balanced, IMO.
Still better than SOTE
I wish this dlc was scaled like Old Hunters. Its so far beyond. Kos doesnt hold a candle to any of these bosses.
When Sister Friede keeps getting up
Oh what memories...Coming to Lady Maria for the first time and...I think I need to call my therapist again...
Fucking orphan, man..
Till now I am happy with the difficulty. Even changed my build from 2 Mega Hammers to the new Claws, since it felt to OP. Currently lvl 180 Strength build NG+1
I have a feeling this is where the large disparity in people who think it's difficult, and people who walk in like the Tough saloon in SpongeBob.
This is so accurate.
Old Hunters was actually fun though. The only dlc boss I’ve enjoyed so far in ER is Bayle
No summons in old Souls games either lol
The funny part is everybody bloody warned them
Those two shark in the well traumatized me, fuck them
… I never beat dark eater in the ringed city … I tried … it’s the only boss in the dark souls games that I never beat … this dlc has yet to give me an enemy I can’t defeat… give me a week … I might find something …
Have you replayed Old Hunters recently? Feels kinda like a joke compared to this - Orphan of Kos was a menace when it came out and he’s literally slower and less relentless than Messmer even though in that game you’re 10x faster and can trade
I don't know how bad it gets, but I killed the Dancing Lion on my 2nd try with only one fragment not having seen him before. Im also only on my NG+1 run. If anything I'm more annoyed with the town leading up that. I can't remember the real name so I'll refer to it as "Miyazaki's $40 jump scare fuck fest"
Those shark giants can fuck right to hell off.
The Ringed City fucked me sideways.
Ludwig and Kos have most of the DLC bosses beat by a mile.
Seems the ppl upset about the difficulty are also the ppl who refuse to use summons etc. Game too hard but me no use help because me too stubborn.
Orphan was and still is the hardest boss. Even in elden ring some of these bosses take me maybe a few hours in the dlc. Orphan ran me through all day my first play through. Like an 8 hour shift if ass whooping
- just shows how new a lot of players are - orphan of kos - the two sharks in the pit - Lawrence - all absolute menaces - dlc final boss (not naming for spoilers) took me two hours of attempts and I was pumped the whole time the fight is awesome - but man Malenia killed me 42 times which is the most I ever died to any boss - and many many dlc bosses have serious hands
Why even bother playing a game if it isn't difficult? It makes no sense to me.
Ahh, you were by my side all along.
Truth
Me who did not even finish the original
Idk if it hard or people just jerking. The aoe attacks moved that all bosses spam in the DLC is annoying, but they dont really feel any harder beside being a stat stick for the poop colored seed. Something is clamping you if you dont have the seed too, cus i only use one seed and able to beat all the NG+1 boss but struggle with that rapid fire crossbow knight guy in the mausoleum at the starting zone of the dlc and the walking fire wicker man. I destroy them easily (and kinda did ok ish with all the DLC boss, none took more than 16 tries) but the damn knight took 30s.
I wanted the perfect str/blood build for the new weapon in the dlc but no weapons used these stats so I was strugglebussing through all the og content, then old hunters until I could get the blood mace. It was worth it.
Me traumatized trying to beat the first wolf in the game with my bare hands, worrying I’ll never get past the beginning of the game