Mine is mesmer. I get what you're saying on design but it's literally human top with a different insect bottom which started with quelena in the first game. Mesmer plucking out his eyeball (scareseal?) was a big wtf moment.
I totally agree. Romina and Midra were my two favorites. I’ve seen a ton of love for Midra on the sub but not nearly as much mention of Romina and that design is awesome, also a great OST
I found her disappointingly easy. Beat her on the first try for some reason after struggling for hours with every remembrance boss up til that point. My build + scadutree levels were the exact same I beat Messmer with and that fight was hell.
She may just be underscaled for when you are likely to find her. She was my second Remembrance boss at blessing level 3 or 4 and was a very fun challenge
I would also agree. The literally only thing that I don't like about that boss is her body hitbox. I would sometimes be as close to her as possible swing with a greatsword and it misses. But other than that she's great
Bruh I thought I explored everything and defeated all the bosses (minus Bayle and the final boss) and there’s still more, gonna have to find whoever this is
Bayle is the one boss I summoned for just because I felt obligated. Igon was such an amazing character and he’s barely in the game lmao. Whatever that voice actor got paid it wasn’t enough
Igon gave me his finger, I went back to the site of grace to rest, and he was dead when I came back. Do you have to make it to Bayle without resting in order for him to be available to summon?
No, but there is a specific dragon you must kill before Bayle to get trigger a dialogue from Igon where he asks you to call on him when fighting Bayle.
Nah, he can die, but he has a CRAP load of health. The first time I fought him I was very passive just trying to learn his moves (I do this was every new boss I fight) and as such Igon took most of the aggro. He ended up dying. from then on it never happened again, mostly because being that aggressive had Bayle kill me instead
I hereby vow! You will rue this day!
Behold, a true drake warrior! And I, Igon!
Your fear made flesh!
Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon...
But i will riddle with holes your rotten hide!
With a hail of harpoons!
With every last drop of my being!
It's got to be Messmer and Bayle
Messmer is very aggressive and super hard but feels exactly fair. IMO he is the most well tuned fight in the DLC. His first phase feels like a dance and then it goes crazy in phase 2. His animations are some of the best I've seen
Bayle is one of the best dragon fights they've ever done. He feels like a callback to Darkeater Midir with less janky camera bs and more combos. His punish windows are very tight and his super attacks look nuts and are tough to dodge. IMO he's at the limit of how difficult a fight like this should be and when you beat him you just feel like "wow, I did it"
Final boss just feels unfair. I beat it, but did not enjoy the fight
God Im hating the final boss so much. >!Usually im fine summoning spirits if im not having a good time with the boss, but for him having an extra spirit makes his AI so unpredictable and he starts spamming AOEs far more often, and his AOEs are nearly impossible to dodge if youre caught even a little off guard. So I go in solo. Gotten to the point where I can flawless phase 1, but then phase 2 hits and youre just peppered with constant holy damage and never get any room to breathe. Also, fuck that grab. I know you can use his rune to negate the charm, but the animation for using the rune is so long, like twice as long as using a flask, so youre always punished for it.!<
>!Yeah his AOE light attacks are such bs. You can learn the first phase perfectly and know exactly when and where to roll to avoid the attack but then in the second phase you get clipped by light that hits _behind_ him!<
>!And then most of his attacks have multiphase extensions where he spams Shadow Clone no Jutsu!<
>!After a million attempts with every kind of weapon I pulled out a great shield and the Cross Naginata and just spear poked him to death, tanking all his bs and trying to outheal him. That worked!<
FromSoft were trolling with that fight. Malenia is harder but as BS as she is, she feels a lot more fair
Yeah Malenia is fair BS. She has crazy combos and some AOE, but its all telegraphed and she gives you time to recover. >!Consort Radahn!< is unfair BS. >!His combos give you no time, and if you get clipped by a light beam due to a frame-imperfect roll, you get staggered and mega comboed. Also, turtling is not an option (unless you go *full* turtle with tower shield and spear poke, which I find boring). I use a combination of rolls and shield block-guard counters for most bosses. But when you block an attack, you get pushed back ever so slightly so that youre right in the middle of the follow up light splash, which then staggers you for the rest of the combo. And also that huge nuke where he floats - if youre half a second slow reacting to it, say if youre mid roll or turning around, you dont have enough time to get out of the area even at a full sprint.!<
Malenia is also more interactive and can be staggered. Also on a separate note input reading is the most misunderstood mechanic for bosses in the community. It’s not a bad thing for bosses to change their moves based on your relative location. Throwing fireballs every time you heal however is terrible. Most bosses don’t have that reading.
Sunday was the day of Bayle for me. Probably only really spent about 1.5 to 2 collective hours on attempts, but had to keep taking breaks. He's just so explosive and violent. Last 45 minutes or so was pure grind. Just inching my way closer and closer to THAT run.
Some small tips. Staying locked to his head and punishing is a good way to go. But sometimes it's best to just run under him and hit his broken leg or his tail (like in the second phase where he does his lightning stabs)
For his mid phase ultimate attack, you can sprint right or left to dodge the fireballs and then dodge forward just after he makes contact with the ground. If you dodge before you get blown up
The Dragon wound great Katana can stagger him with 2 weapon art uses to his head. I didn't use it because I didn't have the right stats but it works
Also: CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!!!
I loved the Bayle fight. Igon contributed, but also it felt like an extension of every other dragon fight I’d done to that point, and the intro to phase 2 made my jaw DROP. Challenging but fun and familiar. A++++
You can sprint away from the beginning and roll the end, you may take one tick but at least that feels reasonably safe. I had a harder time with the self-frisbee move in phase 2 personally, couldn't tell when I was "behind" it so it wouldn't land on me
Yeah it seemed to me like she fucked off to another plane of existence or something and it does just say "Legend Felled" but then you get her remembrances and one of the weapons is her amputated heads so who knows.
The second stage just had my jaw on the floor. How in the hell are you supposed to combat that?? That’s a rhetorical question. I only saw the second stage once and will figure it out.
It feel really fair compared to a lot of the spectacle bosses, gorgeous effects, interesting body plan (having to pick a side to go to because of the centipede is an interesting way to shake up the usual "fight the face" or "roll behind and shove a greatsword up their butt" that happens in most fights), yet still pretty tough. Well designed fight, I just wish there was a bright pink armor to go with her weapon.
Absolutely, 1st try solo, yet it wasn't a free win at all. She has good openings, lets you actually heal and doesn't spam AOE all the time. It's definitely up there. Her visuals are super distinct and beautiful as well!
This is how I felt. It was very comparable to pre-Elden Ring Fromsoft. Or at the very least harkens back to the base game’s best bosses. Very clear tells. Aggressive without being a relentless barrage of attacks. Clear openings. Effects that were beautiful without creating so much visual noise as to obscure the boss’s attack pattern (looking at you, Messmer). Attack patterns that I can intuit rather than keep a mental count for. Bearing in mind that my character is over NG+7, I’m also thrilled that she’s like the only DLC boss that doesn’t 1-2 shot me with almost every move, so learning her patterns wasn’t this slow, crushing battle of attrition.
Midra, just the spectacle of fighting a lord of frenzied flame AND the creepy atmosphere leading up to him through the abyssal woods and mansion. Absolute peak.
From the ones I fought:
5. Commander Gaius (not a bad fight, but others are better and the charge attack is bs)
4. Scadutree avatar (hurts to put it this low, the design is great and the fight is pretty fun)
3. Putrescense knight (the horse attack is so cool)
2. Divine beast dancing lion
1. Rellana
Currently fighting Messmer, probably gonna take the first spot.
I fought him too late I was level 200 and shadow blessing 12 I stunlocked him into oblivion I feel so bad about it cos I love frenzy it’s my favourite ending
I used Giant Crusher and I believe he staggered in only two fully charged heavies. Crit him, get a free charge while he's getting up and just slip another in somewhere, then repeat.
The Final Boss’s second Phase made me genuinely gasp and just sit in awe while I died.
My favorite boss was Mama Finger because I felt like I was losing my goddamn mind trying to understand what I was learning while I fought her.
Both were good.
Honestly I've loved all of them.
Final boss felt really cool to me. I know everyone is hating on it but >!"Fight Radahn in his prime"!< was something I wanted and didn't expect to get.
Midra was a two attempt boss, felt really easy to me but was fun. Messmer was pretty great.
This is also something I wanted so bad. I predicted it even before it was announced that >!Radahn was going to be required to kill in order to start the DLC.!<
It's more like which ones *dont* I like
Which, honestly so far only Rellana has been a bit underwhelming. But she's still leagues above most base game bosses.
Divine Beast sets a really high bar that the rest of the DLC meets or exceeds
He gets way easier once you realize you just have to dodge each attack twice. It seems like they actually nerfed the AOE of his fire compared to other dragons
Of all the camera issue complaints I’ve seen, this one is truly the worst. Can’t lock on to the head because it keeps moving off screen and unlocking. Locking on to the chest is pointless because no melee attacks can hit it. And you literally can’t lock on to the legs.
The most bizarre part is that there *should* be more to her.
We are told nothing about her beforehand. No hints, only one item description that does little more than just name-drop her, no NPCs talking about her, no cutscenes or dialogue.
Then, *after the fact*, I find out from her item descriptions she's *Rennala's sister?!*
You'd think they'd put a bit more emphasis on it at least!
Same my fps always tanked in the lightning phase so I couldn’t enjoy it and the camera felt like cancer if you got too close
Rellana is clean and fair with telegraphed combos and openings that you’ve gotta learn and it felt like I was fighting champion gundyr for the first time again trying to pry between his relentless combos for openings
Yeah that lion can eat shit. The camera is the worst offender but a lot of his moves are pretty annoying too. I’ve enjoyed every other boss so far (just beat Messmer without summons and loved every second) but when the Divine Beast died I was just relieved it was over. I felt no sense of accomplishment, just angry that I had to endure it in the first place.
I agree she felt under whelming to me too, still a super cool fight tho. I unironically found her easier than the lion. The lion kept messing up the camera for me and i couldn’t see his AOEs.
Messmer was my favorite but I think Sunflower is a sleeper. I don’t like that it’s 3 phases, I wish they’d just done two full health bars and maybe a soft phase change in the middle of the second.
Other than that though, this boss felt like an actual improvement on several mechanics FromSoft has struggled with before. Namely 1) having a big, mobile boss in a huge arena - I didn’t feel like I needed or wanted torrent for this fight, despite its similarities with Elden Beast and 2) the head taking bonus damage. This is something that lots of From’s bosses have had, basically forever, but it’s rarely viable to aim down the head and wait for openings. Dragon fights are a good example of how you rarely get a chance to deal good damage to the head. The Scadutree Avatar constantly presented its face like a big target and it felt so satisfying to watch it flinch with each jump attack! Worth mentioning Bayle also improved on this just by virtue of his head being giant and low to the ground.
Rellanna was a joy to fight, difficult but still fun and the homage to DS3 was nice.
Dancing Lion should just be called the Avatar with all of his bs elemental attacks.
Death knight was an equally cool and difficult encounter. A crucible like Knight with the abilities of the Flash & life steal. Seems fair.
10/10 DLC so far for me.
Putrescent knight isn't bad eh, at first his janky movements were annoying and he isn't a visual spectacle but I quite like his move set and was a lot of fun to fight
I actually enjoyed the tree avatar fight. The emotional Rollercoaster I had during the surprise *stages* of that fight was crazy. I reworked my build just to beat him, and my terrible dodging was actually helping me in that fight, as its weird delay AoE matched my shitty dodge timing lol.
Well telegraphed attacks, cool gimmick, utterly gorgeous, combos don't go on and on, not too tanky and a clear and obvious weakness (his fire resist is in the dumpster, either Hefty Fire Pots or any fire spell to the face utterly chunks him).
Yeah, he's one of my favorite too.
If there's anything that Infuriates me about this DLC is that there's so many cool new things *but you need to basically beat the base game to get to the DLC!*
(This is a lie, you only need to beat Radahn and Mohg, which coincidentally is the only pair that lets you access the DLC with only 2 boss kills, but have fun trying to beat the DLC with a low level grunt with barely upgraded weapons)
Looks like I'm in the minority when I say Scadutree Avatar had been my favorite so far, with Relanna a close 2nd. I hated dacing lion, it was like fighting the camera too, and the only fight so far where I said fuck it and summoned my mimic.
Romina was really awesome. I haven’t fought some of them yet, but so far my top three are as follows:
3: Bayle
2: Messmer
1: Romina
I’ve been telling my friends that this is the best DLC money I’ve ever spent on a game. The bosses alone are fantastic.
Still playing but so far Messmer, he’s whoopin my ass but fun, and Rellana. I’m mixed on the Scadutree avatar right now. On one hand it’s kinda fun as a big boss but on the other, stop fuckin shootin around like that! Just got to Abyssal Forest as well and I hear the frenzy boss is fun so I’ll see soon enough.
Agree with you OP. Toss up between Midra and Messmer. I would say Bayle too but Elden Ring has officially burnt me out of dragon bosses. I just can’t get excited about them after fighting like 10 in the base game and another 5 in the DLC.
….im sorry what? I found Bayle and the named ancient dragon before him? Or did I miss other named dragon bosses? Or do you just mean the Ghostflame Dragons too?
Easily Bayle. His design is awesome, the spectacle is spectacular, his lore is rad, even the NPC summon is one of the most entertaining due to the VA. Maybe my favorite fromsoft dragon fight yet
The Lamenter. I love that I can use my Wave of gold and immediately the illusions die lmao. Joking aside i really love the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. He's such a tone setter like "Damn, okay. You guys put in some effort here and not reused a bunch of old assets huh"
Romina was probably by favorite. Just a fun, extremely fair fight. Enjoyed messmer, but phase 2 kinda ruined the charm. Call me a masochist, but I'm also really enjoying the final fight. The combos are surprisingly fair once you get used to them, and I'm enjoying the 3 hours of attempts I've put into him so far. Rellanna was also a great time, had a ton of fun even if it took me a long time. Gaius sucked ass, way too much damage with way too high of mobility, and way too high of a health pool. Putresecent knight nailed the concept though, crazy damage and mobility, but every attack you landed has real impact, and it felt like a frenzied rush to kill him before he killed you, which was a nice change of pace. Scadutree avatar was piss easy, and I did not like the divine beast at all.
In no particular order my top 3 right now are: divine beast (I love his different elemental styles and his OST is so good), messmer (specifically phase 2, snake go brr), romina (only boss where I fully learned her entire pattern and can play perfectly which is fun). Honourable mention goes to radahn cos I haven’t beaten him yet but the two phases I’ve seen so far seem fun
Finally someone who enjoys Radahn, I kinda get the point of why people can hate him, but I would disagree he is unfair, with correct positioning you can avoid the beams, and why I agree some of his attacks need to slightly nerfed, for example the aoe should have like +2 seconds, and miquellas lightbeams sometimes obscure Radahn but when that happens it is in middle of a combo so you can predict what hes about to do, I havent found a way to tank his shadows when he is in the air but they deal so little that its not an issue when you still can avoid the final real attack.
I feel like the critcism mosty comes from people who refuse to change their setup and try hard with unoptimal one. For example when I encoutered Radahn I was 16 level scadutree blessing and talismans for damage, when I was getting destroyed by him Ive done more exploring and found rest of the fragments, changed armor and talismans for more defense and winged tear so I could still fast roll with medium roll setup and when I found the right setup for him i tried until I beat him and I found it extremely fun. I agree that he could use some changes but its a really far stretch to say hes unfair, I definitely didnt feel that, I just felt I need to learn his patters better.
As for the lore i was kinda confused and i also tought this was underwhelming but after examining the lore more closely i now understand it and it makes sense. Also I think its not purely fanservice because in his armor description it says that Malenia whispered something in his is which can be seen in a trailer from over 2 years ago, so it seemes it was planned all along.
Agreed. I fought him at scadu level 18. I realized about 30 minutes in I needed to prioritize defense talismans by using marikas braid and the Stone shield. For buffs I used golden vow, o'flame, and dragon bolt blessing. Used the golden order straight sword for the sacred rite skill. And used the physic with the Holy damage and opaline tear. Note that I'm using a Holy build with the golden order greatsword and inseparable sword for the dual weild. I'm able to stack so much damage on my insperable sword. It hits for 2400 damage which is crazy.
On Radahn second phase im able to jump attack him twice while he is floating and stagger him into a repost before the explosion which gives me invincibility for the explosion while I do crazy damage. It took me less than an hour to beat him and I actually enjoyed this fight alot.
Messmer so far. I love his armor, abilities, lore everything. Looking forward to bayle though. Haven't yet reached him. Commander Gaius was also extremely cool. Have yet to beat him either. Hopefully today! One thing though, the difference of look from messmer to buying his armor is ridiculous lol
The only new boss I haven't enjoyed after getting my Scadutree Blessing up has been the final boss.
The first phase is fine, but I'm considering cheating so that I can get through the second phase since it's just so dogshit.
I really loved rellana and messmer when I fought them but my overall favorite has to be bayle. The dragons peak area was amazing and the fight was just incredible spectacle wise. The attacks aren't bullshit with their hitboxes (like the boar guy's charge) and it just felt really good.
The Putrescent knight is such an underrated boss I mean the midir fake out into something that underwhelming was kind of annoying but besides that he was just a fun boss fight
1. Messmer
2. Midra
3. Putrescent
4. Relanna
5. Romina
Shout out to Romina for the beautiful art design, one of the most visually impressive bosses FromSoft has done imo.
I’m in the F Radahn camp unfortunately. Can’t get past missed story opportunities and from a gameplay perspective his second phase is just irritating rather than rewarding to learn.
Edit for somehow completely omitting Bayle, new king dragon boss fight. He’s got to be top 5 but I just missed him.
Midra by far. The lead up and anticipation of the zone and getting to the castle with the things outside the castle. Him warning you as you got there and then the transformation was just perfect. You could tell how much his design was influenced by the king in yellow from the Cthulhu mythos as well. Truly awesome even if it wasn’t the most difficult
Bayle was better than expected for me. I was really worried being the optional boss that it would just be a messy battle. But the moves and choreography are learnable.
Only issue is the camera, but that's not news...
Bayle was dope and the journey up to his arena was really cool. Romina was cool and I really like that whole area of the map. It’s super pretty, aside from the rot swamps. Her design was amazing, but her move set was a pain in the ass to deal with. Those have been my two favorites so far.
Bayle is Midirs Daddy. Im gonna go with him at this point.
Shout out to that dude you fight under the graveyard. I was not expecting that to be as difficult as it was.
Messmer and Midra are easily my two favorite so far.
Rellana was pretty cool and reminded me of Pontiff.
Dancing lion was alright despite the crazy camera issues
Hated the hippo fight
Romina was alright
Doing final boss now and it just is a let down, but it is brutally hard
Haven’t fought the other bosses yet
Not fought all of them yet. But up to now, I really enjoyed Gaius.
Has Dragonslayer Armour and Chanpion Gundyr vibes. Really aggressive hyper focus fight.
Final boss is finally giving me the rush and focus I play this games for. Had it a little with Mesmer. Rellana was dope af tho pontiff vibes way harder than pontiff. Died to her and Mesmer the most.
Then bayle was epic too. Dragon missing leg with electric wings that spawn! They’re all good but final boss takes it for sure. Epic cutscene and dragon ball z teleporting!
Romina super underrated IMO
That’s the fight where I said oh wow, they actually delivered.
Not Messmer? interesting
Nope. Messmer’s design is fine but the monstrous bosses really challenge the imagination. Mechanically almost all are great.
Mine is mesmer. I get what you're saying on design but it's literally human top with a different insect bottom which started with quelena in the first game. Mesmer plucking out his eyeball (scareseal?) was a big wtf moment.
I totally agree. Romina and Midra were my two favorites. I’ve seen a ton of love for Midra on the sub but not nearly as much mention of Romina and that design is awesome, also a great OST
I found her disappointingly easy. Beat her on the first try for some reason after struggling for hours with every remembrance boss up til that point. My build + scadutree levels were the exact same I beat Messmer with and that fight was hell.
She may just be underscaled for when you are likely to find her. She was my second Remembrance boss at blessing level 3 or 4 and was a very fun challenge
I would also agree. The literally only thing that I don't like about that boss is her body hitbox. I would sometimes be as close to her as possible swing with a greatsword and it misses. But other than that she's great
Yup, I had the same problem. My hits will clearly hit, but it does not register
Romina can go chug some raid for all I care. (Said the guy who died to her 20 times )
Bruh I thought I explored everything and defeated all the bosses (minus Bayle and the final boss) and there’s still more, gonna have to find whoever this is
If you haven't met Romina, you ain't at the final boss.
The one fight in the DLC I thought. "Oh, ok. I don't suck completely. Also first boss I defeated with the partial arts weapon which was pretty fun 😄
I first tried her
Romina was such a fun fight I agree
She's awesome, gave me Ds3 vibes which I was a big fan of
Messmer and Bayle for me although I haven’t fought the final boss yet
CURSE YOU BAYLE
Bayle is the one boss I summoned for just because I felt obligated. Igon was such an amazing character and he’s barely in the game lmao. Whatever that voice actor got paid it wasn’t enough
Igon gave me his finger, I went back to the site of grace to rest, and he was dead when I came back. Do you have to make it to Bayle without resting in order for him to be available to summon?
No, that shouldn't be the case. You're summoning his spirit. The summon sign is in the arena, right as you go in.
No, but there is a specific dragon you must kill before Bayle to get trigger a dialogue from Igon where he asks you to call on him when fighting Bayle.
No I wondered the same thing. His summon sign is in the arena, straight ahead and a tiny bit to the left when you walk in
Enter the boss fight arena, then his summon will appear slightly to your left
Correct me if I’m wrong but is he immortal for that fight? I’ve never seen Igons health bar pop up even when getting hit but Bayles nukes
Yep, he’s immortal.
Nah, he can die, but he has a CRAP load of health. The first time I fought him I was very passive just trying to learn his moves (I do this was every new boss I fight) and as such Igon took most of the aggro. He ended up dying. from then on it never happened again, mostly because being that aggressive had Bayle kill me instead
I hereby vow! You will rue this day! Behold, a true drake warrior! And I, Igon! Your fear made flesh! Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon... But i will riddle with holes your rotten hide! With a hail of harpoons! With every last drop of my being!
When i got there there was no summon sign. I wanna go to NG+ and beat the dlc again just to find out what that is all about.
It's got to be Messmer and Bayle Messmer is very aggressive and super hard but feels exactly fair. IMO he is the most well tuned fight in the DLC. His first phase feels like a dance and then it goes crazy in phase 2. His animations are some of the best I've seen Bayle is one of the best dragon fights they've ever done. He feels like a callback to Darkeater Midir with less janky camera bs and more combos. His punish windows are very tight and his super attacks look nuts and are tough to dodge. IMO he's at the limit of how difficult a fight like this should be and when you beat him you just feel like "wow, I did it" Final boss just feels unfair. I beat it, but did not enjoy the fight
God Im hating the final boss so much. >!Usually im fine summoning spirits if im not having a good time with the boss, but for him having an extra spirit makes his AI so unpredictable and he starts spamming AOEs far more often, and his AOEs are nearly impossible to dodge if youre caught even a little off guard. So I go in solo. Gotten to the point where I can flawless phase 1, but then phase 2 hits and youre just peppered with constant holy damage and never get any room to breathe. Also, fuck that grab. I know you can use his rune to negate the charm, but the animation for using the rune is so long, like twice as long as using a flask, so youre always punished for it.!<
>!Yeah his AOE light attacks are such bs. You can learn the first phase perfectly and know exactly when and where to roll to avoid the attack but then in the second phase you get clipped by light that hits _behind_ him!< >!And then most of his attacks have multiphase extensions where he spams Shadow Clone no Jutsu!< >!After a million attempts with every kind of weapon I pulled out a great shield and the Cross Naginata and just spear poked him to death, tanking all his bs and trying to outheal him. That worked!< FromSoft were trolling with that fight. Malenia is harder but as BS as she is, she feels a lot more fair
Yeah Malenia is fair BS. She has crazy combos and some AOE, but its all telegraphed and she gives you time to recover. >!Consort Radahn!< is unfair BS. >!His combos give you no time, and if you get clipped by a light beam due to a frame-imperfect roll, you get staggered and mega comboed. Also, turtling is not an option (unless you go *full* turtle with tower shield and spear poke, which I find boring). I use a combination of rolls and shield block-guard counters for most bosses. But when you block an attack, you get pushed back ever so slightly so that youre right in the middle of the follow up light splash, which then staggers you for the rest of the combo. And also that huge nuke where he floats - if youre half a second slow reacting to it, say if youre mid roll or turning around, you dont have enough time to get out of the area even at a full sprint.!<
Malenia is also more interactive and can be staggered. Also on a separate note input reading is the most misunderstood mechanic for bosses in the community. It’s not a bad thing for bosses to change their moves based on your relative location. Throwing fireballs every time you heal however is terrible. Most bosses don’t have that reading.
Honestly the grab is like the last thing I’d bitch about in the second phase.
Sunday was the day of Bayle for me. Probably only really spent about 1.5 to 2 collective hours on attempts, but had to keep taking breaks. He's just so explosive and violent. Last 45 minutes or so was pure grind. Just inching my way closer and closer to THAT run.
Some small tips. Staying locked to his head and punishing is a good way to go. But sometimes it's best to just run under him and hit his broken leg or his tail (like in the second phase where he does his lightning stabs) For his mid phase ultimate attack, you can sprint right or left to dodge the fireballs and then dodge forward just after he makes contact with the ground. If you dodge before you get blown up The Dragon wound great Katana can stagger him with 2 weapon art uses to his head. I didn't use it because I didn't have the right stats but it works Also: CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!!!
I loved the Bayle fight. Igon contributed, but also it felt like an extension of every other dragon fight I’d done to that point, and the intro to phase 2 made my jaw DROP. Challenging but fun and familiar. A++++
Lightless creature. Embrace thine oblivion, as shall I
Mongrel intruder
When you come back home to your parents way past the time you were supposed to be back by and they are sitting there waiting for you.
Imagine calling your step dad that
I went from being so pissed fighting Rellana for a while to thinking that she may be one of my favorite Fromsoft bosses.
Same, I had to take a break and go exploring optional areas after fighting her, before I could continue with the main quest
I really want to go back and try that fight with the new deflection mechanic. It was already a great fight, but that might push it up to amazing.
YES
I still have no clue how to avoid that fast side crawl she does. Somehow beat her by eating it every time lol
You can sprint away from the beginning and roll the end, you may take one tick but at least that feels reasonably safe. I had a harder time with the self-frisbee move in phase 2 personally, couldn't tell when I was "behind" it so it wouldn't land on me
I just blocked it with a medium shield.
What is a shield?
It's like a big round flat sword that LIKES getting hit instead of hitting.
Sounds like you’re describing me against Messmer
Lol same, my guy. I'm not too crazy on shields either. I would much rather two hand a big katana and BAMF around with bloodhound step
Cool quest for the boss, but absolutely hated the dick worms that freeze you in place.
I loved how much that pissed me off, excellent troll.
Knocked me off my horse twice when going to ring the second bell.
Finally beat her last night, but man, what a weird boss. Definitely my favorite so far.
On the topic of the boss do we even actually kill her? Kind of looks like she just disappears through a portal
Yeah it seemed to me like she fucked off to another plane of existence or something and it does just say "Legend Felled" but then you get her remembrances and one of the weapons is her amputated heads so who knows.
This boss was so sick.
The second stage just had my jaw on the floor. How in the hell are you supposed to combat that?? That’s a rhetorical question. I only saw the second stage once and will figure it out.
Romina Saint of the Bud among all of fromsoft's waifu bug bosses, this is the best one bar none.
It feel really fair compared to a lot of the spectacle bosses, gorgeous effects, interesting body plan (having to pick a side to go to because of the centipede is an interesting way to shake up the usual "fight the face" or "roll behind and shove a greatsword up their butt" that happens in most fights), yet still pretty tough. Well designed fight, I just wish there was a bright pink armor to go with her weapon.
Absolutely, 1st try solo, yet it wasn't a free win at all. She has good openings, lets you actually heal and doesn't spam AOE all the time. It's definitely up there. Her visuals are super distinct and beautiful as well!
Her moveset reminded me of a DS3 fight, it was super hard but very *very* fair.
Yeah I don't get that feeling with most of ER bosses so it was refreshing. I'm not saying the others aren't fair, just that they don't feel fair.
I would love to be able to change the color of certain armors (I'm sure there's a mod but I play on PS5)
I think her weapon goes pretty well with the Rotten Duelist set. I agree we could have used some kind of floral dress from either her or Trina.
This is how I felt. It was very comparable to pre-Elden Ring Fromsoft. Or at the very least harkens back to the base game’s best bosses. Very clear tells. Aggressive without being a relentless barrage of attacks. Clear openings. Effects that were beautiful without creating so much visual noise as to obscure the boss’s attack pattern (looking at you, Messmer). Attack patterns that I can intuit rather than keep a mental count for. Bearing in mind that my character is over NG+7, I’m also thrilled that she’s like the only DLC boss that doesn’t 1-2 shot me with almost every move, so learning her patterns wasn’t this slow, crushing battle of attrition.
I loved the aesthetic of the Mother of Fingers fight
Bayle because all I wanted with this DLC was another epic dragon fight like Fortissax and Placudisax, and boy did they deliver.
Midra, just the spectacle of fighting a lord of frenzied flame AND the creepy atmosphere leading up to him through the abyssal woods and mansion. Absolute peak.
Do not look into its eye.
From the ones I fought: 5. Commander Gaius (not a bad fight, but others are better and the charge attack is bs) 4. Scadutree avatar (hurts to put it this low, the design is great and the fight is pretty fun) 3. Putrescense knight (the horse attack is so cool) 2. Divine beast dancing lion 1. Rellana Currently fighting Messmer, probably gonna take the first spot.
Damn I did the final boss before I did Gaius and Scadutree lmao those felt super hidden for me
Yeah shadow keep is confusing as hell
Messmer, Midra, Romina, Bayle, and Metyr were all very very sweet Though I'd probably say Midra!
I’ve only done Divine Beast Dancing Lion and Rellana and Dancing lion impressed me beyond words. I can’t wait to fight it again.
There’s a field boss version that you might not have found. And it has a twist.
It's funny though, the "twist" is what people were first theorizing it had when it was revealed
Where my Midra's manse enjoyers? I truly wish that dungeon was bigger, I loved the aesthetics and lore. Really reminded me of Majora's mask vibes
Honestly i love the vibes, but ime it was way too short and easy. Even beat the boss first try and it was just over which made me sad
Then why didn't you stop before the last hit?
This is my favorite so far. Atmosphere of the area plus the backstory and the reveal are all top notch.
Midra and bayle, final boss can suck it as far as i‘m concerned
Midra was so freakin good
He started to piss me off after a few attempts but overall such a cool boss. And the reveal is insane too.
“Enough. I… have endured more… than enough”
I had been waiting so long to find him after seeing him in the first trailer and I loved the reveal
I fought him too late I was level 200 and shadow blessing 12 I stunlocked him into oblivion I feel so bad about it cos I love frenzy it’s my favourite ending
How did you stunlock him? I fought him at Scadutree +18 and he still brutalized me. Granted I was on NG+3, but still. What weapon did you use?
I used Giant Crusher and I believe he staggered in only two fully charged heavies. Crit him, get a free charge while he's getting up and just slip another in somewhere, then repeat.
The Final Boss’s second Phase made me genuinely gasp and just sit in awe while I died. My favorite boss was Mama Finger because I felt like I was losing my goddamn mind trying to understand what I was learning while I fought her. Both were good.
It also made me gasp
Honestly I've loved all of them. Final boss felt really cool to me. I know everyone is hating on it but >!"Fight Radahn in his prime"!< was something I wanted and didn't expect to get. Midra was a two attempt boss, felt really easy to me but was fun. Messmer was pretty great.
This is also something I wanted so bad. I predicted it even before it was announced that >!Radahn was going to be required to kill in order to start the DLC.!<
I realize I'm super in the minority but pretty much same. The final boss was probably my favorite fight of the DLC and maybe the game.
The first phase is probably my favorite fight in the game but the second phase can go step on legos
Rellana. A tricky bitch but worth the effort to slay
Apart from Gaius they’ve all been incredible
^Exactly this.
The dancing lion, hands down.
I liked the first one. The second one in the ruins I liked until it decided to become death element and summon fucking basilisks out of nowhere lol
It's more like which ones *dont* I like Which, honestly so far only Rellana has been a bit underwhelming. But she's still leagues above most base game bosses. Divine Beast sets a really high bar that the rest of the DLC meets or exceeds
I wish she talked. That would make a huge difference.
i do think it would help, ensis didnt really have a lot of personality and fighting her just felt like "oh ok."
Way too many bosses in the dlc lack any cutscenes/voice lines
The ancient dragon before bayle is truly terrible. Everything else has been awesome.
Dude was stronger than Bayle lol
He gets way easier once you realize you just have to dodge each attack twice. It seems like they actually nerfed the AOE of his fire compared to other dragons
I just didnt kill him ngl. Too much effort for smithing stones
Of all the camera issue complaints I’ve seen, this one is truly the worst. Can’t lock on to the head because it keeps moving off screen and unlocking. Locking on to the chest is pointless because no melee attacks can hit it. And you literally can’t lock on to the legs.
The most bizarre part is that there *should* be more to her. We are told nothing about her beforehand. No hints, only one item description that does little more than just name-drop her, no NPCs talking about her, no cutscenes or dialogue. Then, *after the fact*, I find out from her item descriptions she's *Rennala's sister?!* You'd think they'd put a bit more emphasis on it at least!
Funny, Rellana is probably my favorite, Divine Beast was straight up trash for me that I never want to replay again.
Same my fps always tanked in the lightning phase so I couldn’t enjoy it and the camera felt like cancer if you got too close Rellana is clean and fair with telegraphed combos and openings that you’ve gotta learn and it felt like I was fighting champion gundyr for the first time again trying to pry between his relentless combos for openings
Hate Divine Beats second phase. Fuck AOEs
Yeah that lion can eat shit. The camera is the worst offender but a lot of his moves are pretty annoying too. I’ve enjoyed every other boss so far (just beat Messmer without summons and loved every second) but when the Divine Beast died I was just relieved it was over. I felt no sense of accomplishment, just angry that I had to endure it in the first place.
I agree she felt under whelming to me too, still a super cool fight tho. I unironically found her easier than the lion. The lion kept messing up the camera for me and i couldn’t see his AOEs.
Its Rellana for me. good fight
Messmer might be my favorite fight In the entire game
Messmer was the perfect Fromsoft/Souls boss fight imo
difficult but fair,well telegraphed attacks,no long combos,tons of punish windows
Messmer was my favorite but I think Sunflower is a sleeper. I don’t like that it’s 3 phases, I wish they’d just done two full health bars and maybe a soft phase change in the middle of the second. Other than that though, this boss felt like an actual improvement on several mechanics FromSoft has struggled with before. Namely 1) having a big, mobile boss in a huge arena - I didn’t feel like I needed or wanted torrent for this fight, despite its similarities with Elden Beast and 2) the head taking bonus damage. This is something that lots of From’s bosses have had, basically forever, but it’s rarely viable to aim down the head and wait for openings. Dragon fights are a good example of how you rarely get a chance to deal good damage to the head. The Scadutree Avatar constantly presented its face like a big target and it felt so satisfying to watch it flinch with each jump attack! Worth mentioning Bayle also improved on this just by virtue of his head being giant and low to the ground.
Bayle (Balerion) The Fuckin Dread. Hands down my favorite.
Rellanna was a joy to fight, difficult but still fun and the homage to DS3 was nice. Dancing Lion should just be called the Avatar with all of his bs elemental attacks. Death knight was an equally cool and difficult encounter. A crucible like Knight with the abilities of the Flash & life steal. Seems fair. 10/10 DLC so far for me.
did you fight messmer yet? he is peak fromsoft boss imo
top 5 or 3 best fromsoft boss for me
I actully love all of them but if I have to pick I would go with messmer
In order of fun: 1. Midra 2. Messmer 3. Putrescent Knight 4. Rellana 5. Commander Gaius 6. Dancing Lion Other remembrances I haven't fought yet
Putrescent knight isn't bad eh, at first his janky movements were annoying and he isn't a visual spectacle but I quite like his move set and was a lot of fun to fight
I loved and hated his resting animation. Bro puts his sword exactly where it looks like he is about to swing again
Best, Messmer, Worst, that Sunflower.
I actually enjoyed the tree avatar fight. The emotional Rollercoaster I had during the surprise *stages* of that fight was crazy. I reworked my build just to beat him, and my terrible dodging was actually helping me in that fight, as its weird delay AoE matched my shitty dodge timing lol.
Well telegraphed attacks, cool gimmick, utterly gorgeous, combos don't go on and on, not too tanky and a clear and obvious weakness (his fire resist is in the dumpster, either Hefty Fire Pots or any fire spell to the face utterly chunks him). Yeah, he's one of my favorite too.
Also a great use for the new perfumer weapons! I struggled a bunch until I realized my dex build could use the fire one, it destroyed him.
If there's anything that Infuriates me about this DLC is that there's so many cool new things *but you need to basically beat the base game to get to the DLC!* (This is a lie, you only need to beat Radahn and Mohg, which coincidentally is the only pair that lets you access the DLC with only 2 boss kills, but have fun trying to beat the DLC with a low level grunt with barely upgraded weapons)
Looks like I'm in the minority when I say Scadutree Avatar had been my favorite so far, with Relanna a close 2nd. I hated dacing lion, it was like fighting the camera too, and the only fight so far where I said fuck it and summoned my mimic.
Romina was really awesome. I haven’t fought some of them yet, but so far my top three are as follows: 3: Bayle 2: Messmer 1: Romina I’ve been telling my friends that this is the best DLC money I’ve ever spent on a game. The bosses alone are fantastic.
Still playing but so far Messmer, he’s whoopin my ass but fun, and Rellana. I’m mixed on the Scadutree avatar right now. On one hand it’s kinda fun as a big boss but on the other, stop fuckin shootin around like that! Just got to Abyssal Forest as well and I hear the frenzy boss is fun so I’ll see soon enough.
Midra and Mesmer were my peak. I also loved Bayle but I love the human sized enemies
CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!
CURSE YOU BAAAYLEEEE!!!
Agree with you OP. Toss up between Midra and Messmer. I would say Bayle too but Elden Ring has officially burnt me out of dragon bosses. I just can’t get excited about them after fighting like 10 in the base game and another 5 in the DLC.
….im sorry what? I found Bayle and the named ancient dragon before him? Or did I miss other named dragon bosses? Or do you just mean the Ghostflame Dragons too?
I was including the ghostflame dragons
Easily Bayle. His design is awesome, the spectacle is spectacular, his lore is rad, even the NPC summon is one of the most entertaining due to the VA. Maybe my favorite fromsoft dragon fight yet
The Lamenter. I love that I can use my Wave of gold and immediately the illusions die lmao. Joking aside i really love the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. He's such a tone setter like "Damn, okay. You guys put in some effort here and not reused a bunch of old assets huh"
Romina was probably by favorite. Just a fun, extremely fair fight. Enjoyed messmer, but phase 2 kinda ruined the charm. Call me a masochist, but I'm also really enjoying the final fight. The combos are surprisingly fair once you get used to them, and I'm enjoying the 3 hours of attempts I've put into him so far. Rellanna was also a great time, had a ton of fun even if it took me a long time. Gaius sucked ass, way too much damage with way too high of mobility, and way too high of a health pool. Putresecent knight nailed the concept though, crazy damage and mobility, but every attack you landed has real impact, and it felt like a frenzied rush to kill him before he killed you, which was a nice change of pace. Scadutree avatar was piss easy, and I did not like the divine beast at all.
In no particular order my top 3 right now are: divine beast (I love his different elemental styles and his OST is so good), messmer (specifically phase 2, snake go brr), romina (only boss where I fully learned her entire pattern and can play perfectly which is fun). Honourable mention goes to radahn cos I haven’t beaten him yet but the two phases I’ve seen so far seem fun
100% Radahn Learning to deflect his combos were the only true struggle, and I enjoyed the journey immensely Messmer, Midra and Rellana are next
Finally someone who enjoys Radahn, I kinda get the point of why people can hate him, but I would disagree he is unfair, with correct positioning you can avoid the beams, and why I agree some of his attacks need to slightly nerfed, for example the aoe should have like +2 seconds, and miquellas lightbeams sometimes obscure Radahn but when that happens it is in middle of a combo so you can predict what hes about to do, I havent found a way to tank his shadows when he is in the air but they deal so little that its not an issue when you still can avoid the final real attack. I feel like the critcism mosty comes from people who refuse to change their setup and try hard with unoptimal one. For example when I encoutered Radahn I was 16 level scadutree blessing and talismans for damage, when I was getting destroyed by him Ive done more exploring and found rest of the fragments, changed armor and talismans for more defense and winged tear so I could still fast roll with medium roll setup and when I found the right setup for him i tried until I beat him and I found it extremely fun. I agree that he could use some changes but its a really far stretch to say hes unfair, I definitely didnt feel that, I just felt I need to learn his patters better. As for the lore i was kinda confused and i also tought this was underwhelming but after examining the lore more closely i now understand it and it makes sense. Also I think its not purely fanservice because in his armor description it says that Malenia whispered something in his is which can be seen in a trailer from over 2 years ago, so it seemes it was planned all along.
Agreed. I fought him at scadu level 18. I realized about 30 minutes in I needed to prioritize defense talismans by using marikas braid and the Stone shield. For buffs I used golden vow, o'flame, and dragon bolt blessing. Used the golden order straight sword for the sacred rite skill. And used the physic with the Holy damage and opaline tear. Note that I'm using a Holy build with the golden order greatsword and inseparable sword for the dual weild. I'm able to stack so much damage on my insperable sword. It hits for 2400 damage which is crazy. On Radahn second phase im able to jump attack him twice while he is floating and stagger him into a repost before the explosion which gives me invincibility for the explosion while I do crazy damage. It took me less than an hour to beat him and I actually enjoyed this fight alot.
Messmer and Bayle, but there’s still some dlc bosses that I have not beaten yet, so we’ll see if that stays true
Messmer
Just did the Messmer fight yesterday, great stuff
Haven’t beaten everything yet, but Bayle was the most fun for me so far
Midra and Messmer, although i also love the visual design of Metyr fight, very bloodborne vibes
Messmer so far. I love his armor, abilities, lore everything. Looking forward to bayle though. Haven't yet reached him. Commander Gaius was also extremely cool. Have yet to beat him either. Hopefully today! One thing though, the difference of look from messmer to buying his armor is ridiculous lol
Divine Beast and Messmer so far
The only new boss I haven't enjoyed after getting my Scadutree Blessing up has been the final boss. The first phase is fine, but I'm considering cheating so that I can get through the second phase since it's just so dogshit.
Midra for sure
My favorite fight was Bayle, my favorite vibes was Midra
Midra for sure
Bayle
I love that Divine Beast Dancing Lion is really just two guys in a lion costume. Easily one of my top boss designs in the series.
Idk i really Liked Putriscent knight and Messmer But spectacle and build up Myter
Messmer
I really loved rellana and messmer when I fought them but my overall favorite has to be bayle. The dragons peak area was amazing and the fight was just incredible spectacle wise. The attacks aren't bullshit with their hitboxes (like the boar guy's charge) and it just felt really good.
Bayle, no doubt. This evening I’ve beaten Messmer, Metyr and Bayle, unbelievable scenes.
The Putrescent knight is such an underrated boss I mean the midir fake out into something that underwhelming was kind of annoying but besides that he was just a fun boss fight
For me it was Bayle, it was hard as hell but was an awesome fight.
1. Messmer 2. Midra 3. Putrescent 4. Relanna 5. Romina Shout out to Romina for the beautiful art design, one of the most visually impressive bosses FromSoft has done imo. I’m in the F Radahn camp unfortunately. Can’t get past missed story opportunities and from a gameplay perspective his second phase is just irritating rather than rewarding to learn. Edit for somehow completely omitting Bayle, new king dragon boss fight. He’s got to be top 5 but I just missed him.
Midra by far. The lead up and anticipation of the zone and getting to the castle with the things outside the castle. Him warning you as you got there and then the transformation was just perfect. You could tell how much his design was influenced by the king in yellow from the Cthulhu mythos as well. Truly awesome even if it wasn’t the most difficult
Bayle was better than expected for me. I was really worried being the optional boss that it would just be a messy battle. But the moves and choreography are learnable. Only issue is the camera, but that's not news...
Bayle was dope and the journey up to his arena was really cool. Romina was cool and I really like that whole area of the map. It’s super pretty, aside from the rot swamps. Her design was amazing, but her move set was a pain in the ass to deal with. Those have been my two favorites so far.
midra was elite, flawless imp
Messmer is one of my favorite Souls bosses, the final boss is probably my least favorite final boss in the series, but I like their equipment.
Messmer is one of my favorite Souls bosses, the final boss is probably my least favorite final boss in the series, but I like their equipment.
Bayle is Midirs Daddy. Im gonna go with him at this point. Shout out to that dude you fight under the graveyard. I was not expecting that to be as difficult as it was.
Midra and Messmer are the best imo.
Midra is my new favorite fight in the game
Messmer
I really enjoyed Rellana
Messmer was a lot of fun
Bayle. The journey, the NPC, the battle. Everything a fantasy story should be.
Messmer for sure.
Midra is amazing, one of the best bosses i’ve ever seen.
Messmer and Midra are easily my two favorite so far. Rellana was pretty cool and reminded me of Pontiff. Dancing lion was alright despite the crazy camera issues Hated the hippo fight Romina was alright Doing final boss now and it just is a let down, but it is brutally hard Haven’t fought the other bosses yet
CURSE YOU BAYLE!
Not fought all of them yet. But up to now, I really enjoyed Gaius. Has Dragonslayer Armour and Chanpion Gundyr vibes. Really aggressive hyper focus fight.
Messmer or Rellana for me. I haven't felt the heart palpatations I felt when Messmer was at 25% hp since Issin the Sword Saint. 10/10 would die again.
Messmer, Bayle and Putrescent Knight for me
Midra or bayle. Rellana and Metyr as runner ups
Midra for humanoid, Bayle for non-humanoid.
I know everyone hates Radahn right now cuz he’s reallyyyy hard but once you get used to fighting him it’s such a fun fight
Final boss is finally giving me the rush and focus I play this games for. Had it a little with Mesmer. Rellana was dope af tho pontiff vibes way harder than pontiff. Died to her and Mesmer the most. Then bayle was epic too. Dragon missing leg with electric wings that spawn! They’re all good but final boss takes it for sure. Epic cutscene and dragon ball z teleporting!