I'm almost certain that post patch 1.3 Radahn's damage has been nerfed. Especially his meteors, they use to one shot everybody but now don't do much damage.
I have to say, the realization that the entire boss battle was basically Radahn's funeral that has to be conducted while he's still alive because no one can put him out of his misery alone is just... amazing. Wordlessly conveying that this isn't just putting down a mad hero like Artorias, this is a community effort to say farewell to their beloved ruler in the most dignified and honorable way they can is just incredible. Radahn is attending his own funeral and insists it be a party of war. What a legend.
Miyazaki has a way of making the most bleak and dark things simply amazing. I mean ffs Bloodborne is so fucking sad and dark and full of madness, but the experience is like no other.
I'd like to point out a tiny detail in the story trailer that in hindsight makes lot of sense. Radhan is standing still with crossed arms waiting for Malenia to be ready with her artificial arm, only then he picks up his swords and properly starts the fight. He definetly was an honorable warrior.
@@yiangaruga4928 it's only as honorable as the time, place and what people agree on is honorable. Her using her trump card by using the rot she was born with, kinda can't be questioned when it's always been a power she can use.
@@ninjahattori7576 She is a honorable warrior too don't get me wrong, some details of her boss fight put more focus on that aspect of hers. I'm pretty sure Radhan would have been fine with her using rot, just like she would have been fine with Radhan using gravity magic.
Figures one of the toughest bosses in soulsborne history has "gravity" as their superpower. It's the only thing that kills more players than not having a shield around dogs.
@@Nezxmi haven't played at all with a caster build. I am not doing the chore of playing this game all over again. That being said though, Radahn with a melee build gets slaughtered. It doesn't require more than perhaps 10 hits to kill him. Sure you have to get close enough. I don't recommend anyone to play a melee build though because the game between bosses is horribly boring and becomes a chore, because when using a melee build and you get mobbed you will die. And bows doesn't do nearly enough damage to compensate. This game sucks ass when using a melee build. Don't use a melee build.
Something else we have to add. After you beat the boss, the cutscene that follows after for beating him is amazing, showing the stars coming back in the sky... And some of them falling to earth. Understand. Radahn was using most of his power, not to fight you, but to hold back the stars. It's insane. The man has lost his mind, his legs are stumps, he's wounded and maddened and can barely stand, but he's STILL doing his damndest to protect the world, and even after all that he's such a monster that he needs an entire festival of people dedicated to killing him just to finally put him down. I sucked trash at killing Radahn because I was underleveled and needed to cheese him with my friend using rot, but by God, I can't hate him. He's a brilliant man and a brilliant boss.
Kind of like with Slave Knight Gael, Radahn simply ran out of things to fight. Everything in his range has been ground to dust. Stars are all that he has left. Also, the dance applies even to casters. I fought Radahn after Godrick, so I could not afford to be hit more than once in succession, or miss with my own gravity magic.
As usual with character actions in Souls games, it's unclear whether holding back the stars (fate) is a good or a bad thing. Depends alot on whose perspective you're looking at it from. Radahn seems to be on the good side of things but I'm sure there's some darkness surrounding him as well. Especially since it seems that in Elden Ring having alot of power leads to people doing bad things and that seems to be especially true for characters who hold great runes. The player character included
@UCGw0rZeIOTT8Xl_9B8C5_QA He wasn't perfect. Even he was taken by ambition and was responsible for the Shattering, if I'm reading the lore right. However, I believe holding back the stars is a good thing, considering that stuff like Astel is out there. Plus the giant meteor that smashed South of Mistwood immediately after he wasn't there to be a barrier man. Then again, Radahn wouldn't even have gravity magic if the Alabaster/Onyx Lords didn't come from the outside either... Hm.
on a lore persepctive, it's funny how the trailer makes you think he's a villain, but he is instead more a hero. Held back the stars, commanded an elite army that obviously were so loyal to the cause of fighting the rot that they stayed behind in Caelid to do so forever more. Learned gravity magic just so he wouldn't have to abandon his horse (though I'd dead certain one of his soldiers would have taken in Leonard). He was a badass, an honorable warrior, and his men wanted his end to be in honorable battle, like he deserved. and i wussed out and cheesed him with rot breath....
I mean seriously, had to hit him where it hurts huh? At least I bled him to death (his other, even bigger weakness), but I did so in melee. It doesn't matter though, that's the beauty of Fromsoft games, you can approach it how you want to. I'm just giving you a hard time... you monster! Lol
Could be worse, i had summoned a random player to help and he ran up there while i eat his arrows with a shield up. When he turn to attack my co op i finished him off with rock sling using the meteorite staff. Killed him before phase two.
Another interesting aspect of the fight is how it redefines "honour" in souls games. Normally, it means to beat the boss solo, no help, but here we've got Big Boss Chadahn telling you "There is honour in fighting alongside your comerades. Come forth, brave warriors". I beat it alone and I can of regret it, missing the epicness of seeing my dudes going uphill to have a turn to face the bravest warrior. It is like FromSoft saying "It is ok to summon friends. It always was", and I love them for that
I fought him alone for some time, and when I started to get close to victory, I decided to use summons for the finale (though I did only use Alexander and Blaidd because those were the ones I really anted to fight with). Absolutely worth it, it felt amazing to fight Radahn alongside Blaidd even after Alexander had fallen, and headshot him with my greatbow the instant Blaidd died for the revenge finishing blow.
@@alexgm8970 First thing i did when I met patches was take his clothes... and then his life. I'll never forgive him for kivking me down back in tomb of giants bacj in ds1 xD
Admittedly, I completely missed the fact that I could summon these guys. I was too focused on dodging his arrows and trying to get close to him to notice the summon signs.
You would think that Radahn was a big evil dude that caused Caelid to be like that while Malenia was the underdog trying to defeat the evil. Turns out it's the opposite and Radahn's a wholesome badass while Malenia literally gave everyone the dark souls of covid
I love how through his lore Radahn somehow manages to be the most badass, tragic and wholesome character all at the same time. Even if the fight was utter trash (which it isn't) he'd still be one of the best characters they've ever created in Souls games
I personally loved the festival idea and I had so much respect fighting radahn because all he really wanted was to be a strong warrior who could ride his horse till the day he dies, didn’t deserve anything he got
I actually felt bad for killing him after i found out about his lore :( although it was a relief he was searching for for a long time. I wish i could adopt his beloved steed
@ShutterShocked correction: 1 single meteor 1 shots at 1400 health. I agree that they are bullshit, but you can simply choose to avoid them too. And he also never fires it within a few minutes so you could risk it and get in hits when he first summons them, then run. Idk I haven't found a single other hard counter for the meteors, but I discovered that you CAN dodge them, but it's frame perfect and therefore unreliable.
Also the Horse is his weakness in the bossfight. Its the only place he takes a lot of posture damage. So keeping his horse around wasn't even a sound decision. He would have been more powerful without it. But he chose to keep his loyal steed around. What a great guy.
@@mobiusone6994 good point. But I think making it so he didn't want to leave his horse, and learning the gravity magic for that reason, is a much better way to implement it; rather than just simply "lol I don't need feet to move around".
I think he lost his feet from the scarlet rot long after he learned gravity magic to still ride his Lil lad, also when he dose the dive bomb attack he literally shoves him in the ground
One thing you forgot to mention is the cutscene after you kill him, there's a meteor shower, and its not a coincidence, thats the level of POWER this man had, a degraded, animalistic Radahn was still holding a meteor shower with his gravity powers just because he could, what a chad.
Keep in mind, he's also doing this just by existing and still has enough strength to be one of the hardest bosses in Fromsoft history. What an absolute UNIT
Originally he held them back to stop the Outer Gods and other alien creatures from interacting with the Lands Between. Dude was not only an absolute unit, but also a hero.
Radahn's lore brought a tear to my eye when I read his remembrance description, as if the knowledge that he was holding back a falling star hadn't done so already. The fact that he declared war on the stars _and won._ And then to top it all off he was a boss who demanded respect: no matter what sort of character you're playing you _will_ have to dodge his gravity arrows at the very least, while also being a fair boss and an incredible spectacle fight... Amazing. Utterly amazing.
@@vladchiorescu6572 ever since I saw the legendary Redmanes actually warred against the scarlet rot and their fucking cursed abominations, I've used the redmane knight armor and his greatbow and spear, while using the redmane knight Ohga spirit. I've ever since held this feeling of utter loyalty to this long fallen lord and felt fucking great fighting the outer god abominations while charging in with the redmane knight spirits. If we ever could pledge allegiance to him I'd do so in a heartbeat.
It's amazing that a being whose design is intended to evoke awe and god-like terror at his world-altering power was given a charm point like loving his lil' horsey, and neither characteristic weakens the other. Rather, each characteristic strengthens the significance of the other and the viewer's appreciation of the other.
Radahn is using his gravity magic to hold back MULTIPLE stars while also keeping his horse free of his weight, after being driven mad by something that outright kills everything else
@@someyeeterontheblock2421 Oh,and stars in Elden Ring are not simple balls of plasma.But Eldritch&Lovecraftian alien abominations like Astel,Naturalborn of the Void.
another thing to point out if you take a look at Radahn's Helm, it is revealed that Radahn put red plume on his helmet so that he can be like Radagon, his father. Which is interestingly ironic, Radagon hates his red hair because to him, it is the curse of the Giants,; Radahn on the other hand, admired his father's red hair because it was like a Lion's. Radahn I think is a Badass in action but a Child at heart, a very loveable duality in a character. Amazing job Fromsoft.
@@mqmohammed "The golden lion is said to symbolize Godfrey, the Elden Lord, and his beast regent, Serosh. From his youngest years, Radahn was naturally captivated by the Lord of the Battlefield." Copypasted this from fextralife, it is legit confirmed.
Definitely. Mastering gravity just so he can stick with his little horse. A huge conquerer who runs an army but still wants to be with his horse. Like a young boy and his dog
I love that you can summon Patches for this fight. But, he will immediately return to his world. Awesome fight, and it easily tops fromsoft's best designed bosses
"Don't mind me I'mma just pack my shit and leave 'Scuse me please'... I dunno wtf just happened~ But I don't really care~ I'mma get the fuck up outta here! Fuck this shit I'm out!~"-Patches, probably
I never imagined that I'd love fighting a Large Fromsoft Boss like I did Artorias or Sir Alonne yet here I am standing in awe of such a Beast like Radahn.
It's very difficult to craft the "honorable duel" in a game since it requires creating an opponent the player has to respect on some level. It's much, much easier to just make characters the player is supposed to blindly hate because they're evil for the sake of being evil. Artorias, Alonne and now Radahn are out here showing that it's not only possible, but preferable.
The reason I got into Souls games was bc there was always one FS boss fight in every Top Boss Fight vids I watched. Radahn is like the 4th official boss but he feels like he should be close to last. At first it annoyed me thinking I was too under leveled, but he's the first boss in Elden Ring I had to start dancing with. Knowing the lore behind him as well as his battle with Melania, makes him much more admirable and formidable.
@@MidlifeCrisisJoe i mean you say that but DMC been holding that up for a while as well, each battle between dante and vergil was intense and holds the same feeling in my heart as fighting someone like artorias, pretty sure they did the same in bayonetta, i know there is a couple out there but its always hard to bring them to mind cause these ones have already stuck in all too well.
@@dragonofthesky9999 Yeah, Vergil has been a good boss in that category (sort of, not every game anyway). I'm just saying it's not nearly as common as fighting a total bastard. Though the bastard you love to hate may be even more uncommon, as I can only think of a few off the top of my head, like Handsome Jack or RE5 Wesker.
The empty castle was a really nice touch, you know something is up, and to expect something, but there was no way I was prepared for what came. Truly epic.
@@Unknownost Yeah I had been trying to get to the item behind the doors for a while before the boss fight, so once he was done and enemies came back figured I could finally get that whetstone. Was surprised that the double boss was so underpowered after I just got buff enough to wreck Radahn though!
which is kinda sad that i missed this my first time going to redmane castle i had quite the reception... loke two lions and fucking balistas shooting a me lol
@@vwertix1662 I hadn't met Blaidd until this point, after teleporting into the castle if you go into the waiting area and start talking to people but don't go fight Radahn, castle stays empty until the festival is over.
the whole radahn lore is just badassery, imagine having your army spend decades after you go mad just to find a worthy challenger so you can die honorably in battle
The Description of the sorcery Collapsing Stars reads: "A gravitational technique mastered by the young Radahn. "I thank you for your tutelage, for now I can challenge the stars." Absolute Chad.
Lowkey this reminds me of a novel. I think it was "Age of death", the last of a series, and it tells about how essentially, one of the gods went to war and killed the others after achieving immortality, then after discovering how his father (the sky) had done a thing, declared war on the sky. And, in a way, won. Michael J. Sullivan is a great author and I'm not doing that justice, but hey.
@@oz5191 I would, but I would actually suggest reading/listening to his first series, riyria revelations (first book is "theft of swords"), first. It takes place the furthest in the timeline, and The legends of the first empire series (the one age of death is part of) is written as a prequel set 3000 years in the past. It gives context to some of the mysteries leftover from the riyria chronicles, and gives context, plus some fun of seeing how their history wasn't perfectly carried through the years. Plus I just prefer the riyria chronicles, and I think its easier to get into
After I beat Radhan I thought to myself “this man is going to be one of the most sympathetic bosses in the game. And I’m sure I’m going to hate Malenia for cursing him with the rot”
despite how much i fucking love radahn, i also find myself inlove with melania too, her relationship with her brother is awesome, idk if this fight was in radahn’s prime but melania was literally fighting while holding in a fucking outer god which she failed, also fought while he limbs and eyes were rotting off
@@pole8740 radahn was holding the stars at bay, definetely not his prime. If Malenia and Radahn fought at their prime, my money would be on Radahn, but it could end at a tie again
It's funny you mention the respec because I actually did the same thing. Radahn genuinely made it feel like my character had gone through a historic battle and came out the other side a changed man.
Somewhy I had the idea, that the reason you had to wait for "the stars to align" is because Radahn has to keep the falling stars back (the ones you see after killing him), which makes him weaker, thus you and the other Tarnished stand a chance to kill him.
I think it’s fitting that the two hardest bosses in this game were radahn and malenia it’s also funny how the represent both side of melee souls players with radahn being the epitome of strength and malenia the epitome of dexterity
The representation of Dex being someone who had to resort to giving everyone leprosy prepare to die edition while facing chad Radahn who was simultaneously HOLDING BACK THE COSMOS even when fighting her. And she still didn't win after resorting to that while he's not devoting his full powers thanks to the whole stars thing. If these 2 are the str Dex dynamic the community joke of 'ew dex' is very rightful lmao
You have to look at both sides Though, Malenia was born with basically terminal cancer, lost 3 of her limbs and is implied to be blind. Miquella, her Brother, made a needle to literally stop it from consuming her and everyone around her, her knights used holy weapons to stave off her rot as well. It is also implied that Malenia hates the rot and was keeping another Outer Deity by containing the Scarlet Rot, this part seems kinda like a theory though so take it with a grain of Salt. Still, she was fighting an uphill battle from the start. While Radahn was born healthy, with amazing genes, was a prodigy in both strength and gravity magic, and was loved by his people. He learned gravity magic to keep his beloved horse around, later he kept the stars at bay using said Gravity magic, and it seems these "Stars" bring abominations like Astel, which we see 2 in the game even if we only see 1 hit the Lands Between. Malenia is a Knight who faced an Uphill Battle from birth and still managed to go undefeated, Radahn was a General that challenged the stars and Won. At the end they're opposites to each other, Both have honor but one of them was willing to let that honor aside during the war. At the end of the day, the Shattering was an all out war, people treat it like its a Duel with rules, but it's not, it's a war, there's no place for honor in war. In the end they both Tied, Malenia lost her brother to Mohg and Radahn lost himself to the Rot. They're both tragic figures but from different types of "Cliches" That's why i find them absolutely brilliant as Characters
@@thensnes7544 Except the trailers deliberately show they had a duel. They stood one on one and Radahn didn't even draw blades until she was ready. Radahn WAS honorable, the whole point of the festival is to give him an honorable death.
"The dance" with Radahn was great. I was surprised so many called for nerfs. Honestly, this was the best boss designed boss, buildup, lore, spectacle, everything just like you said. I was around for original Demons Souls and Japan Dark Souls eras, and this is a boss I'll remember as one of the greats.
130 hours into the game and radhns still the boss I spent the most time trying to conquer. 3 days worth. The guy is a straight Chad and the fact that malenia had to play dirty and nuke bomb the continent to make him this "weak" and still didn't kill him proves he was the superior demigod.
I think you somehow put it best, haha. "Malenia had to nuke bomb the whole continent just to weaken him and he *still* managed to survive." Man survives a tactical nuke, literally declares war on the STARS and *wins* and, heck, he even learned the very sorcery that made him famous, power over gravity itself, just so his frickin HORSE wouldn't feel bad. I swear I love Gael, and Artorias, and Alonne, but I just can't imagine a bigger bro and chad than Radahn. He's the typa guy who'd be the protagonist in a half decent isekai. The massivest chad around yet still somehow wholesome.
What I love about this is that while the story is tragic the game isn't busy smacking you in the head to be sad like dark souls, instead warriors have gathered to celebrate and honor who Radahn was before his corruption and consider it an honor to fight him and give him one last challenge before putting him down. Even after you win, there is no tragedy, just everyone again honoring the memory of Radahn and praising you for rising up to the challenge.
Radahn is hands-down by favorite boss in all of the Souls games. He's pretty much perfection tbh from his lore to his presentation and to his finale. While Melania is an awesome character.. I despise her as a boss. There's no "dance" with her, she controls the tempo almost entirely in my opinion. Whereas with Radahn, you are solely punished for the mistakes you make against him. There's no bs from him like there is with Malenia, Radahn feels complete from start to finish and I love him (along with that scrawny steed of his
No bullshit? Did you fight another boss? "Oh, here's a trail of raining spears you need to be on your horse to stay away from. In the mean time, I will shoot a random spread of spears in your general direction, which you can't dodge, because you're on your horse. If you randomly get hit by any of those spears, the trail of spears will catch up, and you're immediately dead." How is there anything more bullshit than that?
You know what? I first thought - man, this guy is a cheap bastard, two-hitting me the second I get in. I said, how the fuck do I even get to the fight? Then I figured out the timing of the arrows and got to the real thing. Honestly? Even though I was pretty squishy, I was still technically overleveled and overgeared, using the best magic has to offer at that point in the game. I had every advantage. A metric ton of flasks, almost every Tear under the sun. I still got the shit kicked out of me. But somehow, I ended up starting to have fun. I laughed my ass off when he just Valstraxed me out of nowhere. I got smashed flat by meteors and thought "Damn, I have to take him down before that, I've got no chance of surviving it." I ended up just killing him with Rock Slings before he could do anything super dangerous... But it still felt cool, because it somehow felt less like cheese and more like racing the guy to death in a gravity duel. Hell, I barely made it - he phase changed and did the Valstrax smash anyway, and I thought I was screwed, but that last rock hit just in time to stop him from using his own. Godspeed, Radahn, you glorious asshole. And thanks for giving even a dirty cheeselord like me a fight to remember. Rad-ahn indeed.
I usually try to solo bosses or only use summons if the boss is really hard and is part of an npc questline but in Radan's case I desided to use all the summons. Because it was the Radan Festival, all those people where there too to fight him too and after the solem entrance into the courtyard it feels like the right thing to do. When you get in the boss fight you realise all the summons in the world don't do more than slow him down for a second (if they group up and he does his sword whirlwind around the he can kill then all in like 4 seconds). So it is intended that you are the main source of damage in the fight but if you let the summons die you won't last long, specially against the Radan commet and the floating sword wirlwind. In short I had to gank him, I feel bad about it but at the same time it was setiously hinted as an option. When I make a second playthrow I will try to solo him and see how it goes.
I know exactly how you feel, I tend to do bosses solo but it felt like the canonical way to fight Radahn was with the use of the summons. After a half hour of defeats I decided to try him out solo to see how it would go and was able to get him that time. It may well have been a fluke, but Radahn seemed easier solo for me, though I play as a melee with no ranged attacks. I could see a mage not having to much difficulty with Radahn while he's distracted woth the 6 or so summons. Its worth noting that the NPC questlines are not affected if you choose not to summon them.
I've seen even the most skilled players, who don't even have the summoning bell on them, to use them at all; still summon everyone for Radahn because it's what the game wants you to do. And on a 1st playthrough, if you're doing it without summons, well, you've choose the path of hardship. On a 2nd playthrough, or better, a ng+ run, then solo is more plausible. And the "just come back later when you're stronger" strategy doesn't work for a lot of players. So I say use the mechanics the game gives you, and if you want to challenge him solo, you can come back on another playthrough
try to see it not as ganking Radahn, but as you allowing his loyal followers to give their beloved leader an honorable funeral and the rest he deserves
And he still subconciously held the stars back lol Radahn is just amazing. It's almost felt like an honor for me to put him down when I first knew his lore.
I really like how the Malenia fight adds so much to Radahns Lore and fight. When you first fight her she seems impossibly strong, as if no one could possibly equal her might. But the fact that Radahn could rival her strength really shows you just how amazingly powerful he was. Dude truly deserves to be called a legend.
@@BBQcheese idk. The summons definitely help you deal with his ranged phase. Once you get in melee range, and learn his moves, I agree the summons do more harm than good. But they have their uses
Hmm thanks for the info, ive been gridning trying to get to a higher lvl because calied is a hard place for me(i think imagine Radhan) i was lvl 70 and now im 88, but ig its suppose to be a hard place. And this just confirms it. He sounds like such a badass and honorable warrior! i want to leave him for the end lol :/
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 "summons do more harm than good" how is this even a notion when you can literally resummon them over and over and run away from radahn making this the easiest fight in the game????
Same, but I couldn't *see* the dance. I've had a better time see telegraphs in monster hunter while poking at an anjanth's foot, not being able the see the rest of it. At least the anjanth is polite enough to not engulf the entire screen and block anything you might be able to see.
@@stevenn1940 I certainly didn't have a problem with seeing what Radahn was about to do, even if he took up most of the screen. The "dance" became clear to me very quickly, and the combo which started it was his 4 attack combo that he pulls out really frequently. Really fun and easy to dodge
Radahn is hands down my favourite soulsborne boss, he wins in spectacle, atmosphere, soundtrack, lore, gameplay and difficulty. I can't praise this boss enough
I'm curious what build you're using; we couldn't have further opinions on the last two points. He is easily one of my least favorite bosses in any fromsoft game I've played. Oh, I agree with all the other points, except gameplay and difficulty. Honestly, bed of chaos and capra demon feel fair and perfectly reasonable in comparison to me (though in fairness they were easy for me).
@@stevenn1940 I fought him after rennala using a Quality build with the bloodhound greatsword. He did one shot me several times but that's the way I enjoy souls games, trial and error. His Moveset isn't that difficult once you learn the timings for his delayed attacks and wombo combo. I did use the summons tho, but mostly for the immersion.
Same but I realise after the fact that it’s actually pretty well telegraphed, he basically retreats a little and then the meteors go off, he also does his gravity wave attack that you have to roll through too.
@ShutterShocked talking about the 4 rocky meteors? he does always run away before firing them. the 7-8 energy balls he does not. if youre on horseback chasing after him the whole fight you might not realize what he's doing
Yeah, those meteors are ass. They were designed as a way to get you off of him, but in practice, they always hit me when I wasn't even close to him. You do have time when he first summons the meteors to get some damage in, but if you're pure melee, the ONLY reliable counter is get as far away as possible. You CAN dodge them if you see the tell in time, but that's iffy, and it's frame perfect. It doesn't ruin the fight for me or anything like that, I was never mad about dying to it, but I do think it wasn't great design. It should have been a big explosion that insta kills you if you're in it, OR had the meteor projectiles to attack you at range, NOT both. But ultimately, he's dead, it's over, not a big deal
A lot of bad and annoying design in this game to be honest. Mostly bullshit aoes and combos that never end, but also shitty camera like in radahn’s fight and elden beast fight. Elden beast was overall just a boring, annoying, lame fight but I’d still take that shit over malenia’s fight, the most bullshit boss I have ever had the misfortune of playing against holy shit what a travesty that was.
I was consistently dying to him at the last part of a fight ( the meteors.. ) ...considering i am completely melee and was dancing with him i could never see the tell for meteor strikes. But then i tried summoning in the last part ( i was fighting without summons... ) and realized that this is not your "normal" summon for a boss fight but is infact inteneded for you to summon. Even the story afterwards conincides with that, Blaidd commenting on you joining blades and afterwards again, Alexander getting hit and retreating a bit and then commenting afterwards how he got cracked and all... It is an "spectacle" and "event" boss fight like with Burnt Ivory King in Dark Souls 2 where you are supposed to get his knights before hand and plunge into the heart of chaos to fight him ( another awesome spectacle boss fight...and another awesome boss story ). So we beat him finally, first i danced with him and then me and other attendees of the festival rushed him at the end under a starry sky in a flurry of weapons on a desolate field..marking the honourable end of General Radahn.
Any and all spectacle and any emotion other than frustration and disgust were burnt out of me with the bullshit of the fight. I will always regard this as the worst boss in any fromsoft game I've played. Glad other people had a good time with him and all, but honestly, this fight alone is making me reconsider playing the game again.
@@BBQcheese I ended up summoning in the second phase, after he crashes down as a meteor...just for his meteor bait... I got it to 10 or 20 % of health every time solo but meteors obliterate me. And i couldnt see his tells because i had to be literaly underneath him to be able to hit him and dodge him ( 2x bleed schimitars ). Btw, speaking of gank bosses, have you seen "ruin sentinels 2.0" in that cave by the graveyard above Sellia... only boss i hated in Elden Ring so far. Three of those crystal guys spreading scarlet rot and basically being horrible.
I was laughing all the way through my attempts at this boss. He is genuinely really fun to me. And that's coming from a guy who gets annoyed by boss mechanics way too easily. This fight though, I loved it. It did take me quite a few attempts (and when I died, it was almost always within the last 10% of Radahn's health, as low as a pixel at one point) but I didn't care. They did a really good job with this fight. This also the first time I kinda want to do a run as him, that is, a Strength/Wisdom with Gravity magic. Maybe that'll be my NG+. One thing I have to say though, the message system really screws with the fight. I eventually went offline for this fight because people apparently think it's funny to spam messages around the summon signs. I could probably get "gudder" to learn to spam Y and simultaneously i-frame the arrows, but going offline is easier. Also, props for Patches being Patches as always.
I had a lot of attempts with the fight and for the most part wasn't getting far over halfway through. But I weirdly just had a lot of fun to keep trying, I wasn't once like 'let me go elsewhere first' the energy of radahn and the festival was really inspiring somehow
Radahn is up there with Gehrman, Orphan, Sulyvahn, Gundyr, Ludwig, Isshin, and Owl for me. Not as hard as the others, but one of the most epic boss fights in gaming with an amazing boss theme.
I genuinely feel bad for the guy. It sucks we’ll probably never get to see what he was like when he was sane. Maybe since this isn’t Dark Souls, Fromsoft may allow us a look backwards at this world, but I’m not counting in it.
Imagine there’s like a challenge boss run where you can fight through full powered bosses, e.g: radahn at full strength without holding the stars and without being bound by the rot.
@@skinless5136 don’t do that because then I’ll force myself to fight a full power Malenia solo for bragging rights and I’d rather do anything else then that unfun bullshit again. Harder than Kos with none of the satisfaction of toppling her
I beefed up my Endurance a bit and swapped talismans just so I could sport Radahn's armor once I beat him and represent for this ABSOLUTE CHAD of a character. You were the best of all of us, Radahn. RIP, sweet prince. May you enjoy a comfy retirement with Leonard in the afterlife.
I think the music when he enters "phase 3" is so amazingly good. Each time he gets more powerful it becomes more and more clear until the culmination at the end with the solumn battlehymn. It makes me feel as if battle is freeing his mind from the scarlet rot deterioration. Giving him a brief moment of lucidity in those final moments of combat. Radahn is an absolute chad. I refused to summon more then usual just because I felt like I had to fight him 1v1 with honor.
Radahn's fight is one of my favorite moments in any From Software title. In the Dark Souls games, I often feel like all the interesting story has already happened, and I'm just there to kill everyone that's left. The lead up and mechanics of this fight actually made me feel like I was participating in the world's story, and not just murdering him in a ruin somewhere. Doing it with comrades I had met along the way was exhilarating. It's a surprisingly JRPGish moment, and I loved it.
@@justaway6901 Dude was literally the protector of the Erdtree. He remain loyal to it, even though he was forsaken by it, like everything else. "He loved it, not in return, for he was never loved, but love it he did."
Radahn has the best personality among the Elden Ring bosses. To me he is the best boss in from's history, surpassing the likes of Gael and Isshin, the sword saint.
Ok, I do find it funny that I read this while literally typing out to reply to another comment that I think he's the worst boss for all the fromsoft game's I've played (Specify that because I've missed a few)
@@stevenn1940 this boss is divisive ng, so many people hates it. But the presentation, atmosphere and event build up, lore, music, arena, mechanics - Radahn nailed all the aspects to become the best one imo.
I was about to talk about how amazing Gael is, but then I realized that he was absolutely amazing for the standards of an Elden Ring-less world, thinking about it now, while I find fighting Gael more fun, I agree with you. And there were other bosses in Elden Ring, like Margit, that were more fun than Gael. This game is just too good to be real.
Fromsoft delivers the most unexpected things at time. A man so powerful that he was left on a battlefield just to fight for eternity and die a honorable death and also a man who loved his scrawny yet beloved steed so much that he learnt gravitational magic just so he wouldn't overburden his horse and was doing so even when he was basically crazy. Great presentation of a character. Another point to be noted is that he also looks like someone who would despise magic because he uses a purely melee moveset and he admired Godfrey as well who was a beast with his axe. So yeah XD
You earned my subscription just for this video! Let me tell you my experience.. I was 60 hours into the game and at level 113 when I started thinking ok fine - let me do some Caelid exploration (I wasn't ready for the boss yet). One exploration led to another and before I knew it I was in his castle!! and the castle was.. Empty with the ominous music.. I was like -- ok I've made it here why not give it a try. And then when I went near the announcer - a short video of General Radahn played.. (I'll never call him just Radahn).. I got literally scared seeing it and also the arena that I chose to wander more and come back later.. Never in all my years of gaming have I done this just because of a boss intro!!! The build up was magnificent!!! I finally defeated him after about 10 tries or so.. It was such a GLORIOUS BATTLE..! I loved every moment of it. Yes.. General Radahn is a terrific character in the history of gaming!!
I love the setup for this fight, but I hate it. The tedious opening, which I can do in my sleep now, then the one-shot meteor attack that is almost certain to get you the first time it happens unless your camera happens to be in the right place and finally the gravity balls of bullshit that will chase you half way across the world to one shot you. I have so many screen shots of his health bar a whisker away from empty where those stupid balls killed me. His lore is great but I t-bagged him after the fight.
He will always come down either from the characters front direction or where the camera is facing. Can't remember fully but I believe it's the characters direction.
The first elden lord in the flesh is my favorite boss, cz of how good It felt to beat him. but mechanically nothing beats spectacle of taking down rykard, I felt like the God of War taking down that snake just spamming that giant windblade .
I loved radahn so much on the trailers that I wanted to make a strength gravity build But once I got to fight him I was REALLY under leveled but since I did everything else I could reach(or so I thought) I didn't have other choice but to fight him. At the end I was so annoyed that I was even using cheese strats like poison I love this boss but I wish I could have more patience for a more honorable fight...
I was surprised at how early his fight took place in the game. It reminded me of Genichiro, who I thought was going to be a late game boss because of the trailers. Genichiro you can fight as the second main boss of the game.
Depends, doesn't have to be early at all. I didn't get to him until 60 hours in. Just like anything in this game, it can be early or later in the game. A guy at work didn't get to Godrick until level 70, I did him at 15.
Glad you liked it, but I myself was pretty sick of this fight after my 30th try. His insane damage output meant I could get hit literally once by certain strikes, all the others were one shot kills. The summoning mechanic was cool the first 20 times but it starts becoming tedious quickly because when you start the fight, you can't actually start the fight, you have to run around using summoning signs. I beat him eventually and all I felt was this huge sense of relief, finally I was able to move on. And if he likes his horse so much he should probably stop curbstomping its head when attacking
A little detail I noticed is that the island Redmane castle is on is pretty much the only part of Caelid completely devoid of scarlet rot. So Radahn’s soldiers managed to keep it from crossing the bridge
What i love about his fight the most i think is that his entire moveset revolves around being aggressive but not oppressive, he simply charges forward and pulls out all the stops, and whats unbelievably awesome about that is you can beat him easily after you learn the trick is to do the same thing, he cant punish you if you simply run forwards hit him hard and dont panic.
Now we know why you asked us how much vigor we had beating him^^ I dont remember the exact number but i know that a lot of his attacks straight up oneshotted me 😁
As a mage I can't tank much. I had to invest in vigor before fighting Redahn otherwise I'd just get OS by the arrows at the beginning. Now that I had enough health(25 vigor) to survive an arrow, I summoned all the NPC near the entrance so THEY could tank and take the aggro of me then, then rushed toward him with my horse then I spammed the heck out of magic glintblade dwindeling his health fast to his P2 which killed all the NPCs. Down to a little less than half of his health it's now 1v1. I can't allow him to get to close otherwise the chances of me dying 1 or 2 hits are great. The main threat was the throwing orbs that he summons. I managed to avoid them twice but the second time I did it getting too close to him but his health was really low at that point. I had to try to finish him it was him or me. I had so little health left that at first I thought I was dead putting my controller on my desk. Then I see that it's him disappearing not me. Incredulous that I won with 1hp left.
Reminds me of when I killed Midir the first time. I had no Estus for the last minute, somehow perfectly dodging almost all his attacks, but he still had quite a bit of health left. I made a mistake and we traded, my HP bar was completely emptied, but somehow Midir fell down and I got up, I didn't even understand what happened, but I dealt the critical hit which was nearly the exact amount of damage needed to kill him. I quickly looked at my stats screen and saw that I had 7 HP out of my 1600+ bar, and I couldn't believe what had just happened. The unnaturally skilled dodging I did on the last third of the fight, and the unbelievable luck of both surviving the trade by a sliver, breaking his poise at the exact time and doing just enough damage to kill him.
@@JimmySquiky Didn't last long, I was too desperate trying to find the print screen button. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that before my HP replenished for getting embered, so I don't have a pic.
Radahn was a great spectacle, and the lore surrounding him and his fame were well presented and seeing him in the battlefield was amazing. He's in many ways an excellent boss, but for me there are issues with him that I really hated about his fight. Camera is a real bitch if you're up close, the festival summon mechanic makes him swing around in very unexpected ways, and you're given the option of using a horse, but the game punishes you for using it. You don't have invulnerability if you get knocked off and Radahn seems to be programmed to aggro you on dismount, even if he wasn't swinging at you when he knocked you off, leading to your death most of the times he even clips you with his attacks. This leads to much frustration if you try to use the festival mechanic and/or the horse with a melee character. A horseback battle against the big general that's also riding a horse could have been very cool, but while I ultimately killed him while riding the horse, it was a pretty horrible time. Also my headcanon is that his horse has become the demigod of horses through sheer osmosis, and that's why it still hasn't died from the rot.
Umm that was just self sabotage I would say. If you're trying that challenge in ER, you've got hell waiting for you. Even after years of Ds3, a MUCH easier game, trying a SL 10 run (I wanted to hit certain thresholds, sue me) that was pure hell, I never enjoyed it, and didn't finish it (hit a wall named Friede). Bosses are way harder in ER, and I have no sympathy for anyone choosing that hell of a lv 1 run. However, I salute you for taking the challenge, I never would... that's for sure. Kudos for when you finish it, and have fun dying a million times until then lol. In all seriousness though, good luck, and my hat's off to you
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 i did end up beating him as a level 1. i didn't really want to do a level 1 run of ER, but i did one for dark souls, dark souls 2, dark souls 3, and bloodborne so kind of feel inclined to do so. admittedly, i've never used so much cheese in a souls game. im making progress, but because of some of my methods im resorting to at times, it hardly feels rewarding...
@@victory8992 not planning on doing that fight, i just want to beat the game as a level 1. Not doing all bosses. I haven't done all bosses level 1 since dark souls 1(even did all bosses level 1 ng+)...
Great analysis and the whole part of the game so far (still not even nearly through the game) one of my favorite moments in all of From Soft Soulsborne games history. Realizing that you are supposed to lead a whole army against him, realizing the ritualistic nature of the whole fight until the aftermath where you catch up and chat with your allies, sharing a sense of accomplishment and dignity and then learning that you basically freed the Redmane soldiers from their duty... It's glorious and has prompted me to keep wearing the Redmane Knight set in honor of General Radahn since then.
It's actually pretty easy to outstat him. The key is to overlevel your weapon, not your character. A simple bleed weapon properly upgraded can shred him in less a minute. The only thing that makes him so dangerous is his many oneshots in phase 2. Well at least imo.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn I don't know, I mean overleveling your weapon works on any boss, not just him. This was more or less the first thing I figured out when I started fighting the bigger bosses in the game. Apart from vigor to avoid oneshots, leveling my weapon rather than my character felt way more impactful and I feel radahn takes that to the extreme.
@@justalex4214 Yes, but that's not the point. Many people fight Radahn before getting enough good weapon upgrade materials, so they don't have that option yet.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn of course they have that option. It's an open world game after all. If players choose to mindlessly bang their head against the radahn wall instead of taking a break to upgrade their stuff that's on them. This is basically the first lesson the game teaches you with the knight guy on horseback after arriving in limgrave.
@@justalex4214 Yes, I know. I'm not saying they can't do it, I'm saying that it's normal for people to not do that. Of course you can leave and come back later, I'm just saying that many people attempt fighting him without doing that. Think of it like this, you can kill Radahn before fighting Margit, but most people won't, like that, you can fight Radahn with a +20 weapon, but most people won't do that. PS: "don't have that option yet" was supposed to be read in the meaning "most people will decide to fight him before having that option" (option being upgrade your weapon, you don't have it because there are not enough materials in your inventory)
I love the lore. I love the presentation. Its just such a shame that the camera is absolute dogshit. Whether fighting him locked or unlocked half of my deaths felt like they happened because I couldn't properly see what was happening. If the camera was zoomed out for this fight I'd probably like it. But as it is the camera makes this boss absolutely miserable.
THIS! The presentation, the spectacle are all amazing. But when you have to do the same run towards him for the 7th time and then get one shot by not being able to see what's going on with the boss at 10% of his health.... I beat him today but did not have a good time.
Yeah, I can kinda see that. But the thing is, if you're right under him, you can see the tell for what he's gonna do. And a lot of his swings will just whiff by you if you're positioned right. I agree the camera made it difficult at times, but his telegraphs were so long, you could easily dodge him without seeing exactly where he would hit. I "no scoped" 90% of those dodges, once I learned the tell. Do I think the camera was done well for this fight? Absolutely not. But you can work around it. Also, with as big as he is, plus the horse, plus everything else in this fight... how would you do the camera better? Zooming out would actually make dodging harder, because seeing the difference between the spin to win, and the five hit combo (as an example) would be nigh on impossible. And if that wouldn't helped you, I think you'd be in the minority, cuz Ik that view would have made this fight way harder for me. He's a big dude, you're not gonna be able to see much when you've got that giant Chad taking up 90% of your view. Also, by this point in the game, you've fought numerous enemies where you do the entire fight focused on their ankles, and you use sound cues and small differences in tells to dodge; so I felt like the game properly prepared me for this when I got to Radahn.
Agreed. I wish FromSoft would develop a better, more dynamic camera for the next games or atleast allow the player to "zoom out" in certain situations.
Bro that’s exactly what I thought when I faced him for the first time. I had to Respec for vigor too, and get caught by the dance. I think I’m gonna use this as a guide for a similar video in Italian language bro, awesome work
I faught him when I way way too underleveled. I felt stupid for fighting him so early. I beat him by letting the summons do it. So I can't say in honest opinion if I like him or not.
Radahn's horse gave me such intense joy while fighting. It turns out that it's bittersweet and that horse stuck with his friend until the bitter end. Try fingers but hole.
I never had a way to describe it but you've chosen the words beautifully. I fell in love with the dance back in Bloodborne. Forever changing my approach to fromsoft titles. As I'm now fighting radahn and remember my old moves im quickly finding the partner I jive with best.
I see people arguing over who "really won" or who "would've won", many call Malenia's rot "underhanded" which I think is just some copium. This wasn't some honorable duel they planned and decided to hash it out over, no this was a war. A war where every demigod wanted to claim every shard and become next Elden Lord. Underhanded doesn't exist in this equation, she's literally called the "Goddess of Rot" and used her rot to decimate Caelid and reduce Radahn to a shadow of his former self, thats just tactics. If she couldn't win no one could. Both of them were (and up until you show up still are) undefeated great demigod warriors. They battled and it ended in a stalemate that destroyed Radahns mind and nearly killed Malenia, to say either won would be objectively incorrect. In reality they both lost, lost to some maidenless Tarnished of no renown no less.
I really like his lore, and I like that he is presented as the most threatening boss in the game. I just dont like his fight. It.Is.Annoying. The run in the beginning is annoying. The spreadshot RNG is annoying. The damage is annoying. The homing meteors are annoying. The AoE spam is annoying. Can you 1st try him? Yes. Did you? Probably not. And thats fine. Whats not as fine is dying and not feeling like youre learning anything. The only thing I really learned from most of Radahns moves once he pulls out gravity magic, is "stay away". And thats precisely what I did, I stayed away and let the summons chip him away and only did like 5 hits total. Not really fun I'd say. Anyways those are my thoughts of my experience with Radahn. Cool boss to look at, shit to fight. 1st phase is actually ok(excluding the run,obviously), even if the damage is still overtuned, but once he starts pulling out the gravity bullshit you have to dodge and/or block perfectly to actually participate as a melee build, and im not a machine.
Hard agree, very unfun fight. I want to be able to learn "the dance" but when you have no opportunity to learn outside of a few hits and have a 3 min run back really soured this boss for me.
To each their own I guess. I'm pure melee, and I'm not even that good, but I found it to be a dance for sure. I ALMOST beat him on my 1st try at lv 45 with a +6 claymore, but got clapped by the fucking meteors. A few more tries, and I realized that I would have to play near perfectly to get him then, something I'm not capable of at the best of times but definitely not in my first 50 hours. (I explored the entire world I could go to before ever even killing Margit. I had every map unlocked that it possible. I was 40 hours in before I hit lv 25, and started progressing the story) I finally beat Radahn at lv 60 something with a +10 claymore and I loved every minute, even the run back. Probably the only boss I've fought so far (50+ at this point), that I wasn't mad at any death. The meteors are kinda bs, but you can just avoid them... I don't like that mechanic, but it didn't ruin the fight for me. If you're pure melee, you have no choice but to get in his face on foot, and challenge him; which was fantastic! To be clear: Fromsoft put a lot of cheap bullshit in this game, which I'm not a fan of; but that doesn't include any of the major bosses, not even Radahn. All those fights are amazing and well designed... Now, if you want to talk about the myriad of enemies that aggro you, then just stay out of your reach, annoying you, and preventing you from using the map at all; yeah fuck that. War dead catacombs? Fuck that place. The 10000% increase in random bullshit that's there just to kill you for the lolz? Not a fan. But the fight with Radahn is simply a matter of: can you learn his moves? If yes, what level of strength and mastery of the game's mechanics are you at? If you're at a low level, and you're not a melee God, you're not ready for him. If yes to one of those 2 requirements, then it's just a matter of executing. It's no more complicated than that. The ones hating the fight never truly learned his moveset, and got through by other means (or gave up entirely). The ones that did learn him 100%, or the melee gods of ER absolutely love this fight. And if you cheesed him somehow, then you probably don't have an opinion either way
Also, the knights of the great jar... if you're like me and refuse to use cheese, and you've never really liked pvp in general; THIS IS THE EPITOME OF BULLSHIT RIGHT HERE! People calling Radahn bs are so wrong, but there IS Bs in Elden ring. Fuck that place, I said fuck it, I'm not dealing with this for a measly 4% increase to equip load.
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 well, I never said any of his moves are bullshit(by gravity bullshit I just meant gravity magic, not unfair moves). I said they are annoying. All of his moves have tells, and if the whole fight was like phase 1(minus the run), it would probably be one of my favorites. However after the Valstrax divebomb, the fight becomes a matter of: if not using summons, pray that you get good RNG and he doesnt spam AoE out the ass so that you can actually get hits in. If using summons, stay away and let the summons chip him down(unless you have ranged attacks), since his AI becomes unpredictable and you could get hit by an attack not even meant for you. I guess some people could find fun in a chaotic fight like this one, but I like it when the hard bosses are fair: Orphan of Kos, Gael and most recently Morgott are VERY good examples of difficult but not downright mechanically broken bosses. As for the rest of the game, honestly this feels like Dark Souls 1. The areas themselves remain good even in the later half imo, but I've noticed a severe drop in quality in some of the bosses that you fight in the higher level areas. Crucible+Misbegotten gank, Double Crucible gank, Radahn, Valiant Gargoyles, Niall and I've also been hearing Malenia is kinda bad. I havent finished the game so I cant really say much, but I can say that some of this bosses are Dark Souls 1-2 tier of bad (not saying all the bosses in those games are bad, but if you ask most people will say the majority of bad bosses in the series come from these 2 games).
And also, I dont think hating the fight is a matter of having learned his moveset. Now im not going to say I completely learned every move he has,but I knew enough of them to at least avoid them. The problem is that there were very few openings where I could safely engage. I had 40 vigor at level 70 and I was still getting 2 shot with decent armor. If he just dealt very heavy damage with a combo every now and then, I doubt I'd dislike Radahn at all. But most if not all of his moves are multihit or have follow-ups in phase 3. A boss that actively discourages you to engage unless you are a god at melee doesnt sound fun(note:I didnt say bady designed, I said not fun). And im not about to bang my head against the same fucker 142 times just to get good move RNG on the attemp I win.
Very sad he got nerfed. He was described to be the strongest, and should be a wall that these 10vig, "only 3 tries max or i cry bad design" plebs should be working hard for. Just because they've been stomping common dungeon bosses does not mean every boss should be like them. I hope they don't nerf Malenia, and these scrubs get ripped a new one by that boss. Git gud, normies. Stop playing souls games if you want to beat a boss in less than 5 tries with your 10vig naked builds.
The community is really torn about this one, I believe it's one of the most dividing bosses so far. You either hate him or praise like the sun. Nevertheless: I couldn't disagree with you more. For me this fight is just poorly designed. Great idea, but for different game. First off - The way to the boss: It's fun for the first two times but if you're struggling with the boss, you have to spend about a minute running up to him if you use summons and 30 seconds if you decide to skip them. When you take into account that you have to have to teleport to his arena (which is a soft loading screen) you look at one of the worst boss-runs in From's games. One shots: I know that I'm partially to blame here because Elden Ring requires for you to have a lot more health than in previous games. But guy has some preety cheap one shots. His normal arrow shots can only be avoided with a perfectly timed dodge and the rain of arrows he casts out as you get closer to him lasts way to long and has the tendency to stunlock you to death if you aren't able to avoid it or you have to mount up but dodging his homing arrows is impossible on horseback. Not to mention the meteors that have barely visible telegraph and will always one shot you if you're not overleveled. Melle+Magic: His attacks are way too fast for someone this size and they hit like a truck. I don't agree with you that his attacks are well telegraphed and slow... some of them? Yeah maybe. But he has tendency to have 4-5 chained attacks that for me the only viable method to avoid for me was to abuse Bloodhound Step. Summons: Apart from the fact that player messages were in a way of summon signs forcing me to go offline, to get rid of them, the summons barely help if you're a melee. Technically they agro him but their health is awfully low, so they often get one shotted, and they do minimal damage. The worst part is that they tend to agro boss at random what makes avoiding his attacks harder so... it's the best to keep away from the summons. Maybe apart from the healing lady if you feel like you need it. Last but not least: You can get invaded by other players. I know that this is not intended (at least I hope so) but when I went to help other players and maybe learn something, but... We were invaded during the boss fights multiple times by multiple people. Which made boss fights even worse. So... I hated it. The only tactic that I could think of is to abuse BH Step and basically nuke him with blood and frostbite. It finally worked but I wasn't happy that I've defeated him i was just exhausted. But... if You liked it... more power to You. I'm not claiming You're wrong for liking him and If someone can be happy instead of ranting like me... It's for the better.
I've ranted enough on here to just say, hey, I feel ya. I hate radahn. Easily my least favorite boss in any fromsoft game I've played. I fully agree with your points about his telegraphing, and I'll add that unless you're using a massive sword, his body blocks almost the entire camera, so you can't even see what he's doing. Making telegraphs meaningless. I feel like you aren't supposed to be invaded during that fight, and it didn't happen to me when I tried summoning peopel a couple times. But, maybe I got lucky, or it's a bug. I'm glad people can like him, but for me.. he's just simply the worst. Great lore, great music, great buildup for the fight, and great spectacle. But mechanically? Abysmal. ok, done with my mini-rant. I'm going to explore that city
"one of the worst boss-runs" disagree with that fully, when the DS2 boss runs through areas CRAWLING with enemies meant to be faced with several players exist. here you just go through a few seconds of loading, and you start the fight even if the start of the fight is you getting closer to the boss (+summonning if you choose) As for the sumons, there is a few good ones but they aren't here if you didn't meet the related NPCs before (mostly Blaidd, and also Alexander who is relatively tanky). more importantly though, its possible to resummon them after a while if they die. And its helped by another gimmick: you can actually use your own horse in the fight, making grabbing signs much easier I do agree its size is an issue with the camera, but even there, there is worst out there (looking at you, dragons)
Radahn Phase 2 music, when the choir harmonizes and the drums rattle, gives me chills every time, I feel like his music really captures his battle more than other souls bosses, you feel its his last battle, and he’s using every trick up his sleeve until the end until you defeat him.
I'm almost certain that post patch 1.3 Radahn's damage has been nerfed. Especially his meteors, they use to one shot everybody but now don't do much damage.
That's honestly quite sad, he's supposed to feel unsormountable
Very sad... Now I fear that if bleed status gets a nerf it makes my favourite Elden Ring boss easier ._.
I was literally in the middle of fighting him when my game restarted and said update required👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽
What a mid update idea
@@katacutie game’s already ruined cuz people can’t stop crying 😭
I have to say, the realization that the entire boss battle was basically Radahn's funeral that has to be conducted while he's still alive because no one can put him out of his misery alone is just... amazing. Wordlessly conveying that this isn't just putting down a mad hero like Artorias, this is a community effort to say farewell to their beloved ruler in the most dignified and honorable way they can is just incredible. Radahn is attending his own funeral and insists it be a party of war. What a legend.
with all the deaths the past 6 hours, is it his funeral or mine
@@alto2849 get on horse, run away, resummon all NPCs every time you can. let them tank it.
Wonder if the 'dlc' will be taking us back through time. Would be great to fight him at his full power and glory.
Miyazaki has a way of making the most bleak and dark things simply amazing. I mean ffs Bloodborne is so fucking sad and dark and full of madness, but the experience is like no other.
The last minute or two of his theme hits hard. It perfectly captures the atmosphere of what you're describing.
I'd like to point out a tiny detail in the story trailer that in hindsight makes lot of sense.
Radhan is standing still with crossed arms waiting for Malenia to be ready with her artificial arm, only then he picks up his swords and properly starts the fight.
He definetly was an honorable warrior.
If only Malenia was as honorable... But alas she was so obsessed with victory over Radahn that she went full chemical warfare on him
i mean she did wait for him to flex in the cutscene but yeah i get the bias
@@yiangaruga4928 it's only as honorable as the time, place and what people agree on is honorable. Her using her trump card by using the rot she was born with, kinda can't be questioned when it's always been a power she can use.
He's pretty much based on the character Zodd from Berserk in many ways, including how he has a reverence for proper battle and a worthy opponent
@@ninjahattori7576
She is a honorable warrior too don't get me wrong, some details of her boss fight put more focus on that aspect of hers.
I'm pretty sure Radhan would have been fine with her using rot, just like she would have been fine with Radhan using gravity magic.
Figures one of the toughest bosses in soulsborne history has "gravity" as their superpower.
It's the only thing that kills more players than not having a shield around dogs.
My dual dagger build was SUFFERING making it through the shaded castle last night. Those dogs are not nice
@@JakeLemasterGuitar beast repellent torch is your best friend my guy
Radahn is extremely easy if you go for a melee build and use the summons. Godskin duo and melee build on the other hand, utterly broken.
@@simonfarre4907 Disagreed lol, Radahn is definitely easier with a caster build. Godskin isn’t bad with either.
@@Nezxmi haven't played at all with a caster build. I am not doing the chore of playing this game all over again. That being said though, Radahn with a melee build gets slaughtered. It doesn't require more than perhaps 10 hits to kill him. Sure you have to get close enough.
I don't recommend anyone to play a melee build though because the game between bosses is horribly boring and becomes a chore, because when using a melee build and you get mobbed you will die. And bows doesn't do nearly enough damage to compensate. This game sucks ass when using a melee build. Don't use a melee build.
Something else we have to add.
After you beat the boss, the cutscene that follows after for beating him is amazing, showing the stars coming back in the sky... And some of them falling to earth.
Understand. Radahn was using most of his power, not to fight you, but to hold back the stars.
It's insane. The man has lost his mind, his legs are stumps, he's wounded and maddened and can barely stand, but he's STILL doing his damndest to protect the world, and even after all that he's such a monster that he needs an entire festival of people dedicated to killing him just to finally put him down.
I sucked trash at killing Radahn because I was underleveled and needed to cheese him with my friend using rot, but by God, I can't hate him. He's a brilliant man and a brilliant boss.
Kind of like with Slave Knight Gael, Radahn simply ran out of things to fight. Everything in his range has been ground to dust. Stars are all that he has left.
Also, the dance applies even to casters. I fought Radahn after Godrick, so I could not afford to be hit more than once in succession, or miss with my own gravity magic.
As usual with character actions in Souls games, it's unclear whether holding back the stars (fate) is a good or a bad thing. Depends alot on whose perspective you're looking at it from. Radahn seems to be on the good side of things but I'm sure there's some darkness surrounding him as well. Especially since it seems that in Elden Ring having alot of power leads to people doing bad things and that seems to be especially true for characters who hold great runes. The player character included
@UCGw0rZeIOTT8Xl_9B8C5_QA
He wasn't perfect. Even he was taken by ambition and was responsible for the Shattering, if I'm reading the lore right.
However, I believe holding back the stars is a good thing, considering that stuff like Astel is out there. Plus the giant meteor that smashed South of Mistwood immediately after he wasn't there to be a barrier man.
Then again, Radahn wouldn't even have gravity magic if the Alabaster/Onyx Lords didn't come from the outside either...
Hm.
I must be forgetting something pretty obvious, but why was holding the stars back? So that ot won't cause destruction?
@@ES21007 Yeah it really depends who you ask, Ranni for one would certainly disagree with it being a good thing
on a lore persepctive, it's funny how the trailer makes you think he's a villain, but he is instead more a hero. Held back the stars, commanded an elite army that obviously were so loyal to the cause of fighting the rot that they stayed behind in Caelid to do so forever more. Learned gravity magic just so he wouldn't have to abandon his horse (though I'd dead certain one of his soldiers would have taken in Leonard). He was a badass, an honorable warrior, and his men wanted his end to be in honorable battle, like he deserved.
and i wussed out and cheesed him with rot breath....
Of all things, it had to be rot? Come on.
@@verified_tinker1818 to be fair my starting class was bandit, so not exactly an honorable warrior themself.
I mean seriously, had to hit him where it hurts huh? At least I bled him to death (his other, even bigger weakness), but I did so in melee. It doesn't matter though, that's the beauty of Fromsoft games, you can approach it how you want to. I'm just giving you a hard time... you monster! Lol
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 next time..next time I’m gonna face him true and proper. It will be glorious.
Could be worse, i had summoned a random player to help and he ran up there while i eat his arrows with a shield up. When he turn to attack my co op i finished him off with rock sling using the meteorite staff. Killed him before phase two.
Another interesting aspect of the fight is how it redefines "honour" in souls games. Normally, it means to beat the boss solo, no help, but here we've got Big Boss Chadahn telling you "There is honour in fighting alongside your comerades. Come forth, brave warriors". I beat it alone and I can of regret it, missing the epicness of seeing my dudes going uphill to have a turn to face the bravest warrior. It is like FromSoft saying "It is ok to summon friends. It always was", and I love them for that
I fought him alone for some time, and when I started to get close to victory, I decided to use summons for the finale (though I did only use Alexander and Blaidd because those were the ones I really anted to fight with). Absolutely worth it, it felt amazing to fight Radahn alongside Blaidd even after Alexander had fallen, and headshot him with my greatbow the instant Blaidd died for the revenge finishing blow.
You also missed summoning Patches and watching him immediately use the Finger Severer to flee the battle.
@@SkellyHertz lol, classic Patches. Gotta love that guy
@@alexgm8970 First thing i did when I met patches was take his clothes... and then his life.
I'll never forgive him for kivking me down back in tomb of giants bacj in ds1 xD
Admittedly, I completely missed the fact that I could summon these guys. I was too focused on dodging his arrows and trying to get close to him to notice the summon signs.
You would think that Radahn was a big evil dude that caused Caelid to be like that while Malenia was the underdog trying to defeat the evil. Turns out it's the opposite and Radahn's a wholesome badass while Malenia literally gave everyone the dark souls of covid
more like the dark souls of leprosy
More like the darksouls Chernobyl
@@mohandasjung The Chernobyl zone today has more wildlife than before the meltdown
Oof
Hahaha the dark souls of covid! That's poetry:)
I love how through his lore Radahn somehow manages to be the most badass, tragic and wholesome character all at the same time. Even if the fight was utter trash (which it isn't) he'd still be one of the best characters they've ever created in Souls games
I personally loved the festival idea and I had so much respect fighting radahn because all he really wanted was to be a strong warrior who could ride his horse till the day he dies, didn’t deserve anything he got
@ShutterShocked the one shots are so frustating, his magic attacks are the worst ofender of that.
I actually felt bad for killing him after i found out about his lore :( although it was a relief he was searching for for a long time.
I wish i could adopt his beloved steed
@@healmyvision5941 dont feel bad, with the rot killing him already, its what he wanted
@ShutterShocked correction: 1 single meteor 1 shots at 1400 health. I agree that they are bullshit, but you can simply choose to avoid them too. And he also never fires it within a few minutes so you could risk it and get in hits when he first summons them, then run. Idk I haven't found a single other hard counter for the meteors, but I discovered that you CAN dodge them, but it's frame perfect and therefore unreliable.
Also the Horse is his weakness in the bossfight. Its the only place he takes a lot of posture damage. So keeping his horse around wasn't even a sound decision. He would have been more powerful without it. But he chose to keep his loyal steed around. What a great guy.
He doesn't have feet, I don't he would be more powerful without the horse since he would very slow
He literally has no feet, so it's kinda hard to walk...
@@HeirofDacia he has gravity magic my man, think he couldn't float
@@mobiusone6994 good point. But I think making it so he didn't want to leave his horse, and learning the gravity magic for that reason, is a much better way to implement it; rather than just simply "lol I don't need feet to move around".
I think he lost his feet from the scarlet rot long after he learned gravity magic to still ride his Lil lad, also when he dose the dive bomb attack he literally shoves him in the ground
One thing you forgot to mention is the cutscene after you kill him, there's a meteor shower, and its not a coincidence, thats the level of POWER this man had, a degraded, animalistic Radahn was still holding a meteor shower with his gravity powers just because he could, what a chad.
Keep in mind, he's also doing this just by existing and still has enough strength to be one of the hardest bosses in Fromsoft history. What an absolute UNIT
Originally he held them back to stop the Outer Gods and other alien creatures from interacting with the Lands Between. Dude was not only an absolute unit, but also a hero.
Not just a meteor shower, bruh. He challenged the literal stars and WON, preventing them from moving ever again until he dies.
@@nowanimportant8887 stars as in shoot stars not actually Suns
Radahn's lore brought a tear to my eye when I read his remembrance description, as if the knowledge that he was holding back a falling star hadn't done so already. The fact that he declared war on the stars _and won._ And then to top it all off he was a boss who demanded respect: no matter what sort of character you're playing you _will_ have to dodge his gravity arrows at the very least, while also being a fair boss and an incredible spectacle fight... Amazing. Utterly amazing.
Now im wearing his armor and swords with pride, just to Honour one of the best lore and designed chads ever made.
@@vladchiorescu6572 ever since I saw the legendary Redmanes actually warred against the scarlet rot and their fucking cursed abominations, I've used the redmane knight armor and his greatbow and spear, while using the redmane knight Ohga spirit.
I've ever since held this feeling of utter loyalty to this long fallen lord and felt fucking great fighting the outer god abominations while charging in with the redmane knight spirits. If we ever could pledge allegiance to him I'd do so in a heartbeat.
@@acehughj4527 Well spoken, I missed the lore but im glad it was explained in this video. Makes me appreciate Radahn alot more
Ngl I don't think I dodged a single arrow just kept getting beamed, I had 40 vigor tho thank god I was left with 10 hp a few times lol.
@@acehughj4527 he îs great. Great lore, great design, even with 10 summons he folds you easy
It's amazing that a being whose design is intended to evoke awe and god-like terror at his world-altering power was given a charm point like loving his lil' horsey, and neither characteristic weakens the other. Rather, each characteristic strengthens the significance of the other and the viewer's appreciation of the other.
Radahn is using his gravity magic to hold back MULTIPLE stars while also keeping his horse free of his weight, after being driven mad by something that outright kills everything else
Correction Thousands of stars
@@parrotilol Correction.He challenged the constellations and crushingly defeated them keeping their cycles in stasis. CONSTELLATIONS.
@@theonewhoismany8072 what is, he a DBZ character? Out here with star level feats
@@someyeeterontheblock2421 Oh,and stars in Elden Ring are not simple balls of plasma.But Eldritch&Lovecraftian alien abominations like Astel,Naturalborn of the Void.
another thing to point out
if you take a look at Radahn's Helm, it is revealed that Radahn put red plume on his helmet so that he can be like Radagon, his father.
Which is interestingly ironic, Radagon hates his red hair because to him, it is the curse of the Giants,; Radahn on the other hand, admired his father's red hair because it was like a Lion's.
Radahn I think is a Badass in action but a Child at heart, a very loveable duality in a character.
Amazing job Fromsoft.
He also admires Hoarah Loux as a warrior, having a loyal lion familiar and all. You could see Radahn's armor with lion ornaments on most pieces.
@@Goefrei0516 man, I never noticed that. Good observation man!
@@ThisIsPampkin yeah man I noticed it too, I think if you open up the chest armour description it is mentioned there if you want to have a look 😆
@@mqmohammed "The golden lion is said to symbolize Godfrey, the Elden Lord, and his beast regent, Serosh. From his youngest years, Radahn was naturally captivated by the Lord of the Battlefield."
Copypasted this from fextralife, it is legit confirmed.
Definitely. Mastering gravity just so he can stick with his little horse. A huge conquerer who runs an army but still wants to be with his horse. Like a young boy and his dog
I love that you can summon Patches for this fight. But, he will immediately return to his world. Awesome fight, and it easily tops fromsoft's best designed bosses
Easily tops and doms that stupid fucking fire witch tree that needs platforming.
@@berb_yt "Okay, pal, you rang so i'm here. What's on the menu for-
Oh, hell no."
"Don't mind me
I'mma just pack my shit and leave
'Scuse me please'...
I dunno wtf just happened~
But I don't really care~
I'mma get the fuck up outta here!
Fuck this shit I'm out!~"-Patches, probably
@@advertisingadrian is it bad that I enjoy platforming in Elden Ring?
@@advertisingadrian Funnily enough, that boss design might be much better and more epic in Elden Ring now that we have a jump button.
I never imagined that I'd love fighting a Large Fromsoft Boss like I did Artorias or Sir Alonne yet here I am standing in awe of such a Beast like Radahn.
It's very difficult to craft the "honorable duel" in a game since it requires creating an opponent the player has to respect on some level. It's much, much easier to just make characters the player is supposed to blindly hate because they're evil for the sake of being evil. Artorias, Alonne and now Radahn are out here showing that it's not only possible, but preferable.
The dancer? Don't forget about that bitch
The reason I got into Souls games was bc there was always one FS boss fight in every Top Boss Fight vids I watched. Radahn is like the 4th official boss but he feels like he should be close to last. At first it annoyed me thinking I was too under leveled, but he's the first boss in Elden Ring I had to start dancing with. Knowing the lore behind him as well as his battle with Melania, makes him much more admirable and formidable.
@@MidlifeCrisisJoe i mean you say that but DMC been holding that up for a while as well, each battle between dante and vergil was intense and holds the same feeling in my heart as fighting someone like artorias, pretty sure they did the same in bayonetta, i know there is a couple out there but its always hard to bring them to mind cause these ones have already stuck in all too well.
@@dragonofthesky9999 Yeah, Vergil has been a good boss in that category (sort of, not every game anyway). I'm just saying it's not nearly as common as fighting a total bastard. Though the bastard you love to hate may be even more uncommon, as I can only think of a few off the top of my head, like Handsome Jack or RE5 Wesker.
The empty castle was a really nice touch, you know something is up, and to expect something, but there was no way I was prepared for what came. Truly epic.
Btw if you didn't know. You can go back to the castle and there will be another boss fight plus all the doors would be open.
@@Unknownost Yeah I had been trying to get to the item behind the doors for a while before the boss fight, so once he was done and enemies came back figured I could finally get that whetstone. Was surprised that the double boss was so underpowered after I just got buff enough to wreck Radahn though!
which is kinda sad that i missed this my first time going to redmane castle i had quite the reception... loke two lions and fucking balistas shooting a me lol
Im pretty sure its only empty if you do Baidds quest.
@@vwertix1662 I hadn't met Blaidd until this point, after teleporting into the castle if you go into the waiting area and start talking to people but don't go fight Radahn, castle stays empty until the festival is over.
the whole radahn lore is just badassery, imagine having your army spend decades after you go mad just to find a worthy challenger so you can die honorably in battle
And continue to fight something akin to radioactive fallout to oreserce what little is left of his teritory and protect the other places from it
The Description of the sorcery Collapsing Stars reads:
"A gravitational technique mastered by the young Radahn. "I thank you for your tutelage, for now I can challenge the stars."
Absolute Chad.
Lowkey this reminds me of a novel. I think it was "Age of death", the last of a series, and it tells about how essentially, one of the gods went to war and killed the others after achieving immortality, then after discovering how his father (the sky) had done a thing, declared war on the sky. And, in a way, won.
Michael J. Sullivan is a great author and I'm not doing that justice, but hey.
@@stevenn1940 would you recommend this series sounds really cool and I like mythology
@@oz5191 I would, but I would actually suggest reading/listening to his first series, riyria revelations (first book is "theft of swords"), first. It takes place the furthest in the timeline, and The legends of the first empire series (the one age of death is part of) is written as a prequel set 3000 years in the past. It gives context to some of the mysteries leftover from the riyria chronicles, and gives context, plus some fun of seeing how their history wasn't perfectly carried through the years. Plus I just prefer the riyria chronicles, and I think its easier to get into
Man, is that like the only time Radahn's words are clearly listed out? If so, that's a really wholesome way of speaking.
After I beat Radhan I thought to myself “this man is going to be one of the most sympathetic bosses in the game. And I’m sure I’m going to hate Malenia for cursing him with the rot”
All I could think was "thank god that fucking asshole is dead."
Edit: I thought the same thing, mich more strongly, when I beat melania
Toxic femininity of Malenia...
despite how much i fucking love radahn, i also find myself inlove with melania too, her relationship with her brother is awesome, idk if this fight was in radahn’s prime but melania was literally fighting while holding in a fucking outer god which she failed, also fought while he limbs and eyes were rotting off
@@pole8740 radahn was holding the stars at bay, definetely not his prime.
If Malenia and Radahn fought at their prime, my money would be on Radahn, but it could end at a tie again
@@mortalrazer7092 even with her limbs and eyes intact, i'd also bet on radahn
As always, thank you for painting us the full picture
It's funny you mention the respec because I actually did the same thing. Radahn genuinely made it feel like my character had gone through a historic battle and came out the other side a changed man.
Somewhy I had the idea, that the reason you had to wait for "the stars to align" is because Radahn has to keep the falling stars back (the ones you see after killing him), which makes him weaker, thus you and the other Tarnished stand a chance to kill him.
Another reason could be that his army took a while to get rid of enough rot
I think it’s fitting that the two hardest bosses in this game were radahn and malenia it’s also funny how the represent both side of melee souls players with radahn being the epitome of strength and malenia the epitome of dexterity
Radahn wasn't even close to the hardest boss
@@hunkulus he was to me but then again I suck at knowing where to dodge to avoid because panic kicks in
The representation of Dex being someone who had to resort to giving everyone leprosy prepare to die edition while facing chad Radahn who was simultaneously HOLDING BACK THE COSMOS even when fighting her. And she still didn't win after resorting to that while he's not devoting his full powers thanks to the whole stars thing.
If these 2 are the str Dex dynamic the community joke of 'ew dex' is very rightful lmao
You have to look at both sides Though, Malenia was born with basically terminal cancer, lost 3 of her limbs and is implied to be blind. Miquella, her Brother, made a needle to literally stop it from consuming her and everyone around her, her knights used holy weapons to stave off her rot as well. It is also implied that Malenia hates the rot and was keeping another Outer Deity by containing the Scarlet Rot, this part seems kinda like a theory though so take it with a grain of Salt. Still, she was fighting an uphill battle from the start.
While Radahn was born healthy, with amazing genes, was a prodigy in both strength and gravity magic, and was loved by his people. He learned gravity magic to keep his beloved horse around, later he kept the stars at bay using said Gravity magic, and it seems these "Stars" bring abominations like Astel, which we see 2 in the game even if we only see 1 hit the Lands Between.
Malenia is a Knight who faced an Uphill Battle from birth and still managed to go undefeated, Radahn was a General that challenged the stars and Won.
At the end they're opposites to each other, Both have honor but one of them was willing to let that honor aside during the war.
At the end of the day, the Shattering was an all out war, people treat it like its a Duel with rules, but it's not, it's a war, there's no place for honor in war.
In the end they both Tied, Malenia lost her brother to Mohg and Radahn lost himself to the Rot.
They're both tragic figures but from different types of "Cliches"
That's why i find them absolutely brilliant as Characters
@@thensnes7544
Except the trailers deliberately show they had a duel. They stood one on one and Radahn didn't even draw blades until she was ready.
Radahn WAS honorable, the whole point of the festival is to give him an honorable death.
"The dance" with Radahn was great. I was surprised so many called for nerfs. Honestly, this was the best boss designed boss, buildup, lore, spectacle, everything just like you said. I was around for original Demons Souls and Japan Dark Souls eras, and this is a boss I'll remember as one of the greats.
The festival mechanic makes it very doable. You can just run around doing summon signs.
130 hours into the game and radhns still the boss I spent the most time trying to conquer. 3 days worth. The guy is a straight Chad and the fact that malenia had to play dirty and nuke bomb the continent to make him this "weak" and still didn't kill him proves he was the superior demigod.
Gigachad
I think you somehow put it best, haha. "Malenia had to nuke bomb the whole continent just to weaken him and he *still* managed to survive."
Man survives a tactical nuke, literally declares war on the STARS and *wins* and, heck, he even learned the very sorcery that made him famous, power over gravity itself, just so his frickin HORSE wouldn't feel bad. I swear I love Gael, and Artorias, and Alonne, but I just can't imagine a bigger bro and chad than Radahn. He's the typa guy who'd be the protagonist in a half decent isekai. The massivest chad around yet still somehow wholesome.
@@YTDariuS-my6dg My friend put it the best when someone asked him about Radahn's lore: you can think Radahn as the protagonist before your character
I fully endorse pro Radahn propaganda. Keep it comin boys. For the conqueror of the stars
Malenia: i have never known defeat
Tarnished: yeah right, say that to Radahn, actually, you'll be able in a couple of minutes.
What I love about this is that while the story is tragic the game isn't busy smacking you in the head to be sad like dark souls, instead warriors have gathered to celebrate and honor who Radahn was before his corruption and consider it an honor to fight him and give him one last challenge before putting him down. Even after you win, there is no tragedy, just everyone again honoring the memory of Radahn and praising you for rising up to the challenge.
Radahn is the only boss I never got mad at for killing me, the whole encounter felt like a fucking war it was awesome.
I’d laugh when he got me, I loved it
I'm glad I got to experience him before he was nerfed. One of the most memorable fights I've had in a From game.
Radahn is hands-down by favorite boss in all of the Souls games. He's pretty much perfection tbh from his lore to his presentation and to his finale. While Melania is an awesome character.. I despise her as a boss. There's no "dance" with her, she controls the tempo almost entirely in my opinion. Whereas with Radahn, you are solely punished for the mistakes you make against him. There's no bs from him like there is with Malenia, Radahn feels complete from start to finish and I love him (along with that scrawny steed of his
Radahn is honorable and fights fair. Melania fights dirty, and is the opposite of Radahn. She won against Radahn only by poisoning him.
Melania has a weak poise, one can abuse that to get easy staggers.
Agreed, you can dodge her flurry move but it pretty much requires near perfect execution on the first part
No bullshit? Did you fight another boss? "Oh, here's a trail of raining spears you need to be on your horse to stay away from. In the mean time, I will shoot a random spread of spears in your general direction, which you can't dodge, because you're on your horse. If you randomly get hit by any of those spears, the trail of spears will catch up, and you're immediately dead." How is there anything more bullshit than that?
@@Cruzz999 get good
You know what? I first thought - man, this guy is a cheap bastard, two-hitting me the second I get in. I said, how the fuck do I even get to the fight?
Then I figured out the timing of the arrows and got to the real thing. Honestly? Even though I was pretty squishy, I was still technically overleveled and overgeared, using the best magic has to offer at that point in the game. I had every advantage. A metric ton of flasks, almost every Tear under the sun. I still got the shit kicked out of me. But somehow, I ended up starting to have fun. I laughed my ass off when he just Valstraxed me out of nowhere. I got smashed flat by meteors and thought "Damn, I have to take him down before that, I've got no chance of surviving it."
I ended up just killing him with Rock Slings before he could do anything super dangerous... But it still felt cool, because it somehow felt less like cheese and more like racing the guy to death in a gravity duel. Hell, I barely made it - he phase changed and did the Valstrax smash anyway, and I thought I was screwed, but that last rock hit just in time to stop him from using his own.
Godspeed, Radahn, you glorious asshole. And thanks for giving even a dirty cheeselord like me a fight to remember. Rad-ahn indeed.
if you are ever fighting him again, he always rides away before shooting the rocks giving you time to prepare for it
@@hachikuji_mayoi best way to avoid it is run at him, makes them far simpler to dodge.
definitely make more of these, 10/10
I usually try to solo bosses or only use summons if the boss is really hard and is part of an npc questline but in Radan's case I desided to use all the summons. Because it was the Radan Festival, all those people where there too to fight him too and after the solem entrance into the courtyard it feels like the right thing to do. When you get in the boss fight you realise all the summons in the world don't do more than slow him down for a second (if they group up and he does his sword whirlwind around the he can kill then all in like 4 seconds). So it is intended that you are the main source of damage in the fight but if you let the summons die you won't last long, specially against the Radan commet and the floating sword wirlwind. In short I had to gank him, I feel bad about it but at the same time it was setiously hinted as an option. When I make a second playthrow I will try to solo him and see how it goes.
I know exactly how you feel, I tend to do bosses solo but it felt like the canonical way to fight Radahn was with the use of the summons. After a half hour of defeats I decided to try him out solo to see how it would go and was able to get him that time. It may well have been a fluke, but Radahn seemed easier solo for me, though I play as a melee with no ranged attacks. I could see a mage not having to much difficulty with Radahn while he's distracted woth the 6 or so summons. Its worth noting that the NPC questlines are not affected if you choose not to summon them.
I've seen even the most skilled players, who don't even have the summoning bell on them, to use them at all; still summon everyone for Radahn because it's what the game wants you to do. And on a 1st playthrough, if you're doing it without summons, well, you've choose the path of hardship. On a 2nd playthrough, or better, a ng+ run, then solo is more plausible. And the "just come back later when you're stronger" strategy doesn't work for a lot of players. So I say use the mechanics the game gives you, and if you want to challenge him solo, you can come back on another playthrough
Looks like Patches didnt like the festival so he left early
nice english
try to see it not as ganking Radahn, but as you allowing his loyal followers to give their beloved leader an honorable funeral and the rest he deserves
And he still subconciously held the stars back lol
Radahn is just amazing. It's almost felt like an honor for me to put him down when I first knew his lore.
I really like how the Malenia fight adds so much to Radahns Lore and fight. When you first fight her she seems impossibly strong, as if no one could possibly equal her might. But the fact that Radahn could rival her strength really shows you just how amazingly powerful he was. Dude truly deserves to be called a legend.
Very true about not being able to "out spec" Radahn. I think I was a little over level 100 when I fought him and was still getting trounced.
@@BBQcheese True he might be easier solo, but the hype was real running in with everyone!
It's not mandatory, but def recommended.
@@BBQcheese idk. The summons definitely help you deal with his ranged phase. Once you get in melee range, and learn his moves, I agree the summons do more harm than good. But they have their uses
Hmm thanks for the info, ive been gridning trying to get to a higher lvl because calied is a hard place for me(i think imagine Radhan) i was lvl 70 and now im 88, but ig its suppose to be a hard place. And this just confirms it. He sounds like such a badass and honorable warrior! i want to leave him for the end lol :/
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 "summons do more harm than good" how is this even a notion when you can literally resummon them over and over and run away from radahn making this the easiest fight in the game????
Great point about “the dance”, it’s my favorite part about this genre and the reason I play melee builds
Same, but I couldn't *see* the dance. I've had a better time see telegraphs in monster hunter while poking at an anjanth's foot, not being able the see the rest of it. At least the anjanth is polite enough to not engulf the entire screen and block anything you might be able to see.
@@stevenn1940 I certainly didn't have a problem with seeing what Radahn was about to do, even if he took up most of the screen. The "dance" became clear to me very quickly, and the combo which started it was his 4 attack combo that he pulls out really frequently. Really fun and easy to dodge
The only game where I feel "the dance" more than in From games is Hollow Knight, which is all about dancing with the bosses.
It is an awesome feeling.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn I actually just beat hollow knight recently, and it was an absolute treat to play
Radahn is hands down my favourite soulsborne boss, he wins in spectacle, atmosphere, soundtrack, lore, gameplay and difficulty. I can't praise this boss enough
I'm curious what build you're using; we couldn't have further opinions on the last two points. He is easily one of my least favorite bosses in any fromsoft game I've played. Oh, I agree with all the other points, except gameplay and difficulty. Honestly, bed of chaos and capra demon feel fair and perfectly reasonable in comparison to me (though in fairness they were easy for me).
@@stevenn1940 I fought him after rennala using a Quality build with the bloodhound greatsword. He did one shot me several times but that's the way I enjoy souls games, trial and error. His Moveset isn't that difficult once you learn the timings for his delayed attacks and wombo combo. I did use the summons tho, but mostly for the immersion.
Radahn was the epitome of I’m not trapped here with you, you’re trapped here with me
The only attack I really couldn't stand of his was the meteors. Otherwise 100% agree he is a good boi and a very cool boss fight.
Same but I realise after the fact that it’s actually pretty well telegraphed, he basically retreats a little and then the meteors go off, he also does his gravity wave attack that you have to roll through too.
@ShutterShocked talking about the 4 rocky meteors? he does always run away before firing them. the 7-8 energy balls he does not. if youre on horseback chasing after him the whole fight you might not realize what he's doing
@@yoduh99 no he can throw the meteors while your at his feet. you just got lucky i guess.
Yeah, those meteors are ass. They were designed as a way to get you off of him, but in practice, they always hit me when I wasn't even close to him. You do have time when he first summons the meteors to get some damage in, but if you're pure melee, the ONLY reliable counter is get as far away as possible. You CAN dodge them if you see the tell in time, but that's iffy, and it's frame perfect. It doesn't ruin the fight for me or anything like that, I was never mad about dying to it, but I do think it wasn't great design. It should have been a big explosion that insta kills you if you're in it, OR had the meteor projectiles to attack you at range, NOT both. But ultimately, he's dead, it's over, not a big deal
A lot of bad and annoying design in this game to be honest. Mostly bullshit aoes and combos that never end, but also shitty camera like in radahn’s fight and elden beast fight. Elden beast was overall just a boring, annoying, lame fight but I’d still take that shit over malenia’s fight, the most bullshit boss I have ever had the misfortune of playing against holy shit what a travesty that was.
I was consistently dying to him at the last part of a fight ( the meteors.. ) ...considering i am completely melee and was dancing with him i could never see the tell for meteor strikes. But then i tried summoning in the last part ( i was fighting without summons... ) and realized that this is not your "normal" summon for a boss fight but is infact inteneded for you to summon. Even the story afterwards conincides with that, Blaidd commenting on you joining blades and afterwards again, Alexander getting hit and retreating a bit and then commenting afterwards how he got cracked and all...
It is an "spectacle" and "event" boss fight like with Burnt Ivory King in Dark Souls 2 where you are supposed to get his knights before hand and plunge into the heart of chaos to fight him ( another awesome spectacle boss fight...and another awesome boss story ).
So we beat him finally, first i danced with him and then me and other attendees of the festival rushed him at the end under a starry sky in a flurry of weapons on a desolate field..marking the honourable end of General Radahn.
Any and all spectacle and any emotion other than frustration and disgust were burnt out of me with the bullshit of the fight. I will always regard this as the worst boss in any fromsoft game I've played.
Glad other people had a good time with him and all, but honestly, this fight alone is making me reconsider playing the game again.
@@BBQcheese I ended up summoning in the second phase, after he crashes down as a meteor...just for his meteor bait...
I got it to 10 or 20 % of health every time solo but meteors obliterate me.
And i couldnt see his tells because i had to be literaly underneath him to be able to hit him and dodge him ( 2x bleed schimitars ).
Btw, speaking of gank bosses, have you seen "ruin sentinels 2.0" in that cave by the graveyard above Sellia... only boss i hated in Elden Ring so far. Three of those crystal guys spreading scarlet rot and basically being horrible.
I was laughing all the way through my attempts at this boss. He is genuinely really fun to me. And that's coming from a guy who gets annoyed by boss mechanics way too easily. This fight though, I loved it. It did take me quite a few attempts (and when I died, it was almost always within the last 10% of Radahn's health, as low as a pixel at one point) but I didn't care. They did a really good job with this fight. This also the first time I kinda want to do a run as him, that is, a Strength/Wisdom with Gravity magic. Maybe that'll be my NG+.
One thing I have to say though, the message system really screws with the fight. I eventually went offline for this fight because people apparently think it's funny to spam messages around the summon signs. I could probably get "gudder" to learn to spam Y and simultaneously i-frame the arrows, but going offline is easier.
Also, props for Patches being Patches as always.
I had a lot of attempts with the fight and for the most part wasn't getting far over halfway through. But I weirdly just had a lot of fun to keep trying, I wasn't once like 'let me go elsewhere first' the energy of radahn and the festival was really inspiring somehow
Radahn is up there with Gehrman, Orphan, Sulyvahn, Gundyr, Ludwig, Isshin, and Owl for me. Not as hard as the others, but one of the most epic boss fights in gaming with an amazing boss theme.
I genuinely feel bad for the guy. It sucks we’ll probably never get to see what he was like when he was sane. Maybe since this isn’t Dark Souls, Fromsoft may allow us a look backwards at this world, but I’m not counting in it.
Imagine there’s like a challenge boss run where you can fight through full powered bosses, e.g: radahn at full strength without holding the stars and without being bound by the rot.
@@skinless5136 He would literally be unbeatable.
@@skinless5136 don’t do that because then I’ll force myself to fight a full power Malenia solo for bragging rights and I’d rather do anything else then that unfun bullshit again. Harder than Kos with none of the satisfaction of toppling her
@@letslearntricking But Malenia when you fight her is at her full power, when she fights you she is stronger than when she fought Radahn.
@@letslearntricking it could be more like the evergaols where it’s just one boss
I beefed up my Endurance a bit and swapped talismans just so I could sport Radahn's armor once I beat him and represent for this ABSOLUTE CHAD of a character.
You were the best of all of us, Radahn. RIP, sweet prince. May you enjoy a comfy retirement with Leonard in the afterlife.
I did the same with blaidds armor. Blaidds armor and rannis hat. Feels fitting lore-wise to wear them together and they look fabulous as a combo.
Finally not someone complaining! His moves also have huge blindspots when you're very close to him. This fight rewards positioning!
I think the music when he enters "phase 3" is so amazingly good. Each time he gets more powerful it becomes more and more clear until the culmination at the end with the solumn battlehymn. It makes me feel as if battle is freeing his mind from the scarlet rot deterioration. Giving him a brief moment of lucidity in those final moments of combat.
Radahn is an absolute chad. I refused to summon more then usual just because I felt like I had to fight him 1v1 with honor.
Even with Rotten Breath, he was one shoting me before I could reach him.
Awesome boss and I loved the festival part.
Rotten breath just saps away the enemy's HP, right?
@@MarkerMurker yeah, two blasts will do it while summoning.
Radahn's fight is one of my favorite moments in any From Software title. In the Dark Souls games, I often feel like all the interesting story has already happened, and I'm just there to kill everyone that's left. The lead up and mechanics of this fight actually made me feel like I was participating in the world's story, and not just murdering him in a ruin somewhere. Doing it with comrades I had met along the way was exhilarating. It's a surprisingly JRPGish moment, and I loved it.
Love these little vignette videos of things you enjoyed, more please!
The Elden Ring videos you make are by far my favorite thing on youtube! Please keep them coming.
Artorias, Slave Knight Gael, Ludwig, and General Radahn
There's always that badass character in these games.
Lies, Morgott is the Artorias of this game
Please elaborate.
@@justaway6901 Dude was literally the protector of the Erdtree. He remain loyal to it, even though he was forsaken by it, like everything else.
"He loved it, not in return, for he was never loved, but love it he did."
Sir Knight Alonne: Am I a joke to you?
Radahn has the best personality among the Elden Ring bosses. To me he is the best boss in from's history, surpassing the likes of Gael and Isshin, the sword saint.
Ok, I do find it funny that I read this while literally typing out to reply to another comment that I think he's the worst boss for all the fromsoft game's I've played (Specify that because I've missed a few)
@@stevenn1940 this boss is divisive ng, so many people hates it. But the presentation, atmosphere and event build up, lore, music, arena, mechanics - Radahn nailed all the aspects to become the best one imo.
@@mahfuzannan8270 I agree on all points save mechanics, and we'll just have to agree to disagree.
@@stevenn1940 I agree with you on the last point
I was about to talk about how amazing Gael is, but then I realized that he was absolutely amazing for the standards of an Elden Ring-less world, thinking about it now, while I find fighting Gael more fun, I agree with you. And there were other bosses in Elden Ring, like Margit, that were more fun than Gael.
This game is just too good to be real.
your video essays have really dethroned vaati for me, great job 👏
short, but sweet... hope for more great content.
This was really well made
Fromsoft delivers the most unexpected things at time. A man so powerful that he was left on a battlefield just to fight for eternity and die a honorable death and also a man who loved his scrawny yet beloved steed so much that he learnt gravitational magic just so he wouldn't overburden his horse and was doing so even when he was basically crazy. Great presentation of a character.
Another point to be noted is that he also looks like someone who would despise magic because he uses a purely melee moveset and he admired Godfrey as well who was a beast with his axe. So yeah XD
I mean the guy went from helping his horse, to master of gravity, to holding the stars in place
I'm so proud of myself for beating him solo at level 75 pre-nerf!! It was a great fight the best I have ever fought!
Love the king's field music you put in the background :)
You earned my subscription just for this video! Let me tell you my experience.. I was 60 hours into the game and at level 113 when I started thinking ok fine - let me do some Caelid exploration (I wasn't ready for the boss yet). One exploration led to another and before I knew it I was in his castle!! and the castle was.. Empty with the ominous music.. I was like -- ok I've made it here why not give it a try. And then when I went near the announcer - a short video of General Radahn played.. (I'll never call him just Radahn).. I got literally scared seeing it and also the arena that I chose to wander more and come back later.. Never in all my years of gaming have I done this just because of a boss intro!!! The build up was magnificent!!! I finally defeated him after about 10 tries or so.. It was such a GLORIOUS BATTLE..! I loved every moment of it. Yes.. General Radahn is a terrific character in the history of gaming!!
I love the setup for this fight, but I hate it. The tedious opening, which I can do in my sleep now, then the one-shot meteor attack that is almost certain to get you the first time it happens unless your camera happens to be in the right place and finally the gravity balls of bullshit that will chase you half way across the world to one shot you. I have so many screen shots of his health bar a whisker away from empty where those stupid balls killed me. His lore is great but I t-bagged him after the fight.
He will always come down either from the characters front direction or where the camera is facing. Can't remember fully but I believe it's the characters direction.
@@Willow4526 Maybe I just didn't see him then, after it happened the first time I just got on my horse until he landed.
@@tropictiger2387 yeah that's also a good way to just avoid him. I believe once he starts falling he's locked into where he's going to land.
The first elden lord in the flesh is my favorite boss, cz of how good It felt to beat him.
but mechanically nothing beats spectacle of taking down rykard, I felt like the God of War taking down that snake just spamming that giant windblade .
Damn ! This was way more interesting than i thought it would be , nice work dude.
Rahdan was my favorite boss fight in any video game I have ever played. I still get chills just thinking about the entire thing
I loved radahn so much on the trailers that I wanted to make a strength gravity build
But once I got to fight him I was REALLY under leveled but since I did everything else I could reach(or so I thought) I didn't have other choice but to fight him.
At the end I was so annoyed that I was even using cheese strats like poison
I love this boss but I wish I could have more patience for a more honorable fight...
I was surprised at how early his fight took place in the game. It reminded me of Genichiro, who I thought was going to be a late game boss because of the trailers. Genichiro you can fight as the second main boss of the game.
Depends, doesn't have to be early at all. I didn't get to him until 60 hours in. Just like anything in this game, it can be early or later in the game. A guy at work didn't get to Godrick until level 70, I did him at 15.
@@deedumeday518 Right? I only found him when I was completely overleveled, since I thought the fight would become available waay later.
I only found him 100hrs in, after exploring all of Limgrave, Liurnia and Caelid lol
I got to him around hour 70 or so
Ive never seen such badass character both in terms of story and design, Radhan for me is the best fromsoft have ever created
Damn, Ratatoskr gonna wind up being the new Vaati?
Lore, context, design?
Loving it man! Keep these videos coming!!!
I love this so much. Subbed!
this is for me, the best boss in any soulborne bossess, so unique and one of a kind.
Glad you liked it, but I myself was pretty sick of this fight after my 30th try. His insane damage output meant I could get hit literally once by certain strikes, all the others were one shot kills.
The summoning mechanic was cool the first 20 times but it starts becoming tedious quickly because when you start the fight, you can't actually start the fight, you have to run around using summoning signs.
I beat him eventually and all I felt was this huge sense of relief, finally I was able to move on.
And if he likes his horse so much he should probably stop curbstomping its head when attacking
You should have had around 30 vigor before fighting him. Vigor is way more important in this game compared to any souls game
A little detail I noticed is that the island Redmane castle is on is pretty much the only part of Caelid completely devoid of scarlet rot. So Radahn’s soldiers managed to keep it from crossing the bridge
What i love about his fight the most i think is that his entire moveset revolves around being aggressive but not oppressive, he simply charges forward and pulls out all the stops, and whats unbelievably awesome about that is you can beat him easily after you learn the trick is to do the same thing, he cant punish you if you simply run forwards hit him hard and dont panic.
Now we know why you asked us how much vigor we had beating him^^
I dont remember the exact number but i know that a lot of his attacks straight up oneshotted me 😁
As a mage I can't tank much. I had to invest in vigor before fighting Redahn otherwise I'd just get OS by the arrows at the beginning. Now that I had enough health(25 vigor) to survive an arrow, I summoned all the NPC near the entrance so THEY could tank and take the aggro of me then, then rushed toward him with my horse then I spammed the heck out of magic glintblade dwindeling his health fast to his P2 which killed all the NPCs. Down to a little less than half of his health it's now 1v1. I can't allow him to get to close otherwise the chances of me dying 1 or 2 hits are great. The main threat was the throwing orbs that he summons. I managed to avoid them twice but the second time I did it getting too close to him but his health was really low at that point. I had to try to finish him it was him or me. I had so little health left that at first I thought I was dead putting my controller on my desk. Then I see that it's him disappearing not me. Incredulous that I won with 1hp left.
Reminds me of when I killed Midir the first time.
I had no Estus for the last minute, somehow perfectly dodging almost all his attacks, but he still had quite a bit of health left. I made a mistake and we traded, my HP bar was completely emptied, but somehow Midir fell down and I got up, I didn't even understand what happened, but I dealt the critical hit which was nearly the exact amount of damage needed to kill him. I quickly looked at my stats screen and saw that I had 7 HP out of my 1600+ bar, and I couldn't believe what had just happened.
The unnaturally skilled dodging I did on the last third of the fight, and the unbelievable luck of both surviving the trade by a sliver, breaking his poise at the exact time and doing just enough damage to kill him.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn I wish I could have seen the look of incredulity on your face when this happened !
@@JimmySquiky Didn't last long, I was too desperate trying to find the print screen button. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that before my HP replenished for getting embered, so I don't have a pic.
You make my favorite Elden Ring videos
Man, your videos always feel like they end so soon - you’re very good at this. Great analysis, keep it up!
Radahn was a great spectacle, and the lore surrounding him and his fame were well presented and seeing him in the battlefield was amazing.
He's in many ways an excellent boss, but for me there are issues with him that I really hated about his fight.
Camera is a real bitch if you're up close, the festival summon mechanic makes him swing around in very unexpected ways, and you're given the option of using a horse, but the game punishes you for using it.
You don't have invulnerability if you get knocked off and Radahn seems to be programmed to aggro you on dismount, even if he wasn't swinging at you when he knocked you off, leading to your death most of the times he even clips you with his attacks.
This leads to much frustration if you try to use the festival mechanic and/or the horse with a melee character.
A horseback battle against the big general that's also riding a horse could have been very cool, but while I ultimately killed him while riding the horse, it was a pretty horrible time.
Also my headcanon is that his horse has become the demigod of horses through sheer osmosis, and that's why it still hasn't died from the rot.
Actually the only time I beat him was when I was on my horse.
i honestly liked the boss, and then i fought him as a level 1 on my second playthrough. truly terrible experience
Umm that was just self sabotage I would say. If you're trying that challenge in ER, you've got hell waiting for you. Even after years of Ds3, a MUCH easier game, trying a SL 10 run (I wanted to hit certain thresholds, sue me) that was pure hell, I never enjoyed it, and didn't finish it (hit a wall named Friede). Bosses are way harder in ER, and I have no sympathy for anyone choosing that hell of a lv 1 run. However, I salute you for taking the challenge, I never would... that's for sure. Kudos for when you finish it, and have fun dying a million times until then lol. In all seriousness though, good luck, and my hat's off to you
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 i did end up beating him as a level 1. i didn't really want to do a level 1 run of ER, but i did one for dark souls, dark souls 2, dark souls 3, and bloodborne so kind of feel inclined to do so. admittedly, i've never used so much cheese in a souls game. im making progress, but because of some of my methods im resorting to at times, it hardly feels rewarding...
@@nocturnallight2640 dear god i fear for your health when you inevitably fight malenia
@@victory8992 not planning on doing that fight, i just want to beat the game as a level 1. Not doing all bosses. I haven't done all bosses level 1 since dark souls 1(even did all bosses level 1 ng+)...
Great analysis and the whole part of the game so far (still not even nearly through the game) one of my favorite moments in all of From Soft Soulsborne games history. Realizing that you are supposed to lead a whole army against him, realizing the ritualistic nature of the whole fight until the aftermath where you catch up and chat with your allies, sharing a sense of accomplishment and dignity and then learning that you basically freed the Redmane soldiers from their duty... It's glorious and has prompted me to keep wearing the Redmane Knight set in honor of General Radahn since then.
I absolutely love the ghostly flags that show you where the summons are
It's actually pretty easy to outstat him. The key is to overlevel your weapon, not your character. A simple bleed weapon properly upgraded can shred him in less a minute. The only thing that makes him so dangerous is his many oneshots in phase 2. Well at least imo.
The point is that he's available early, so even if it's possible to overstat him, most people won't unless they specifically try to.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn I don't know, I mean overleveling your weapon works on any boss, not just him. This was more or less the first thing I figured out when I started fighting the bigger bosses in the game. Apart from vigor to avoid oneshots, leveling my weapon rather than my character felt way more impactful and I feel radahn takes that to the extreme.
@@justalex4214 Yes, but that's not the point. Many people fight Radahn before getting enough good weapon upgrade materials, so they don't have that option yet.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn of course they have that option. It's an open world game after all. If players choose to mindlessly bang their head against the radahn wall instead of taking a break to upgrade their stuff that's on them. This is basically the first lesson the game teaches you with the knight guy on horseback after arriving in limgrave.
@@justalex4214 Yes, I know. I'm not saying they can't do it, I'm saying that it's normal for people to not do that. Of course you can leave and come back later, I'm just saying that many people attempt fighting him without doing that.
Think of it like this, you can kill Radahn before fighting Margit, but most people won't, like that, you can fight Radahn with a +20 weapon, but most people won't do that.
PS: "don't have that option yet" was supposed to be read in the meaning "most people will decide to fight him before having that option" (option being upgrade your weapon, you don't have it because there are not enough materials in your inventory)
I love the lore. I love the presentation. Its just such a shame that the camera is absolute dogshit. Whether fighting him locked or unlocked half of my deaths felt like they happened because I couldn't properly see what was happening. If the camera was zoomed out for this fight I'd probably like it. But as it is the camera makes this boss absolutely miserable.
THIS! The presentation, the spectacle are all amazing. But when you have to do the same run towards him for the 7th time and then get one shot by not being able to see what's going on with the boss at 10% of his health.... I beat him today but did not have a good time.
what you didn't realize the camera was the real boss?
Yeah, I can kinda see that. But the thing is, if you're right under him, you can see the tell for what he's gonna do. And a lot of his swings will just whiff by you if you're positioned right. I agree the camera made it difficult at times, but his telegraphs were so long, you could easily dodge him without seeing exactly where he would hit. I "no scoped" 90% of those dodges, once I learned the tell. Do I think the camera was done well for this fight? Absolutely not. But you can work around it.
Also, with as big as he is, plus the horse, plus everything else in this fight... how would you do the camera better? Zooming out would actually make dodging harder, because seeing the difference between the spin to win, and the five hit combo (as an example) would be nigh on impossible. And if that wouldn't helped you, I think you'd be in the minority, cuz Ik that view would have made this fight way harder for me. He's a big dude, you're not gonna be able to see much when you've got that giant Chad taking up 90% of your view.
Also, by this point in the game, you've fought numerous enemies where you do the entire fight focused on their ankles, and you use sound cues and small differences in tells to dodge; so I felt like the game properly prepared me for this when I got to Radahn.
Agreed. I wish FromSoft would develop a better, more dynamic camera for the next games or atleast allow the player to "zoom out" in certain situations.
I'm loving the King's Field music in your videos.
Bro that’s exactly what I thought when I faced him for the first time.
I had to Respec for vigor too, and get caught by the dance.
I think I’m gonna use this as a guide for a similar video in Italian language bro, awesome work
I faught him when I way way too underleveled. I felt stupid for fighting him so early. I beat him by letting the summons do it.
So I can't say in honest opinion if I like him or not.
Honestly, that's probably the most fun way of doing it. You didn't have to deal with what is, in my opinion, the worst boss fight so far in the game.
Radahn's horse gave me such intense joy while fighting. It turns out that it's bittersweet and that horse stuck with his friend until the bitter end.
Try fingers but hole.
My favorite part of the fight was the elevator to the fight. So many people died to that tiny lip lol
I never had a way to describe it but you've chosen the words beautifully. I fell in love with the dance back in Bloodborne. Forever changing my approach to fromsoft titles. As I'm now fighting radahn and remember my old moves im quickly finding the partner I jive with best.
Please, sir, I want some more. Keep ‘‘em coming. Love the lore behind the game.
I see people arguing over who "really won" or who "would've won", many call Malenia's rot "underhanded" which I think is just some copium. This wasn't some honorable duel they planned and decided to hash it out over, no this was a war. A war where every demigod wanted to claim every shard and become next Elden Lord. Underhanded doesn't exist in this equation, she's literally called the "Goddess of Rot" and used her rot to decimate Caelid and reduce Radahn to a shadow of his former self, thats just tactics. If she couldn't win no one could. Both of them were (and up until you show up still are) undefeated great demigod warriors. They battled and it ended in a stalemate that destroyed Radahns mind and nearly killed Malenia, to say either won would be objectively incorrect. In reality they both lost, lost to some maidenless Tarnished of no renown no less.
I just imagine a timeline where Radahn is like "hol up" and just drops an entire meteor shower on her and her army
@@h4zrd-rs252 honestly still more honorable than giving everyone in Caelid cancer
@@MrSegadude21 Just to kill one guy but he survived the mega cancer on his face
You're text was great, but you made a mistake.
I'm not maidenless anymore, Lady Ranni took care of that problem before I fought Radahn and Melenia.
@@h4zrd-rs252 🤣devs gotta make this happen
I really like his lore, and I like that he is presented as the most threatening boss in the game. I just dont like his fight. It.Is.Annoying.
The run in the beginning is annoying.
The spreadshot RNG is annoying.
The damage is annoying.
The homing meteors are annoying.
The AoE spam is annoying.
Can you 1st try him? Yes. Did you? Probably not. And thats fine. Whats not as fine is dying and not feeling like youre learning anything. The only thing I really learned from most of Radahns moves once he pulls out gravity magic, is "stay away". And thats precisely what I did, I stayed away and let the summons chip him away and only did like 5 hits total. Not really fun I'd say.
Anyways those are my thoughts of my experience with Radahn. Cool boss to look at, shit to fight. 1st phase is actually ok(excluding the run,obviously), even if the damage is still overtuned, but once he starts pulling out the gravity bullshit you have to dodge and/or block perfectly to actually participate as a melee build, and im not a machine.
Hard agree, very unfun fight. I want to be able to learn "the dance" but when you have no opportunity to learn outside of a few hits and have a 3 min run back really soured this boss for me.
To each their own I guess. I'm pure melee, and I'm not even that good, but I found it to be a dance for sure. I ALMOST beat him on my 1st try at lv 45 with a +6 claymore, but got clapped by the fucking meteors. A few more tries, and I realized that I would have to play near perfectly to get him then, something I'm not capable of at the best of times but definitely not in my first 50 hours. (I explored the entire world I could go to before ever even killing Margit. I had every map unlocked that it possible. I was 40 hours in before I hit lv 25, and started progressing the story) I finally beat Radahn at lv 60 something with a +10 claymore and I loved every minute, even the run back. Probably the only boss I've fought so far (50+ at this point), that I wasn't mad at any death. The meteors are kinda bs, but you can just avoid them... I don't like that mechanic, but it didn't ruin the fight for me. If you're pure melee, you have no choice but to get in his face on foot, and challenge him; which was fantastic!
To be clear: Fromsoft put a lot of cheap bullshit in this game, which I'm not a fan of; but that doesn't include any of the major bosses, not even Radahn. All those fights are amazing and well designed...
Now, if you want to talk about the myriad of enemies that aggro you, then just stay out of your reach, annoying you, and preventing you from using the map at all; yeah fuck that. War dead catacombs? Fuck that place. The 10000% increase in random bullshit that's there just to kill you for the lolz? Not a fan.
But the fight with Radahn is simply a matter of: can you learn his moves? If yes, what level of strength and mastery of the game's mechanics are you at? If you're at a low level, and you're not a melee God, you're not ready for him. If yes to one of those 2 requirements, then it's just a matter of executing. It's no more complicated than that.
The ones hating the fight never truly learned his moveset, and got through by other means (or gave up entirely).
The ones that did learn him 100%, or the melee gods of ER absolutely love this fight. And if you cheesed him somehow, then you probably don't have an opinion either way
Also, the knights of the great jar... if you're like me and refuse to use cheese, and you've never really liked pvp in general; THIS IS THE EPITOME OF BULLSHIT RIGHT HERE!
People calling Radahn bs are so wrong, but there IS Bs in Elden ring. Fuck that place, I said fuck it, I'm not dealing with this for a measly 4% increase to equip load.
@@ricardodarcangelo2437 well, I never said any of his moves are bullshit(by gravity bullshit I just meant gravity magic, not unfair moves). I said they are annoying. All of his moves have tells, and if the whole fight was like phase 1(minus the run), it would probably be one of my favorites. However after the Valstrax divebomb, the fight becomes a matter of: if not using summons, pray that you get good RNG and he doesnt spam AoE out the ass so that you can actually get hits in. If using summons, stay away and let the summons chip him down(unless you have ranged attacks), since his AI becomes unpredictable and you could get hit by an attack not even meant for you.
I guess some people could find fun in a chaotic fight like this one, but I like it when the hard bosses are fair: Orphan of Kos, Gael and most recently Morgott are VERY good examples of difficult but not downright mechanically broken bosses.
As for the rest of the game, honestly this feels like Dark Souls 1. The areas themselves remain good even in the later half imo, but I've noticed a severe drop in quality in some of the bosses that you fight in the higher level areas. Crucible+Misbegotten gank, Double Crucible gank, Radahn, Valiant Gargoyles, Niall and I've also been hearing Malenia is kinda bad. I havent finished the game so I cant really say much, but I can say that some of this bosses are Dark Souls 1-2 tier of bad (not saying all the bosses in those games are bad, but if you ask most people will say the majority of bad bosses in the series come from these 2 games).
And also, I dont think hating the fight is a matter of having learned his moveset. Now im not going to say I completely learned every move he has,but I knew enough of them to at least avoid them. The problem is that there were very few openings where I could safely engage. I had 40 vigor at level 70 and I was still getting 2 shot with decent armor. If he just dealt very heavy damage with a combo every now and then, I doubt I'd dislike Radahn at all. But most if not all of his moves are multihit or have follow-ups in phase 3. A boss that actively discourages you to engage unless you are a god at melee doesnt sound fun(note:I didnt say bady designed, I said not fun). And im not about to bang my head against the same fucker 142 times just to get good move RNG on the attemp I win.
I really love your Analyses and that you use King's Field Music like Zullie
Amazing video!! Very high quality content! Definitely subscribing 👍
Very sad he got nerfed. He was described to be the strongest, and should be a wall that these 10vig, "only 3 tries max or i cry bad design" plebs should be working hard for. Just because they've been stomping common dungeon bosses does not mean every boss should be like them. I hope they don't nerf Malenia, and these scrubs get ripped a new one by that boss.
Git gud, normies. Stop playing souls games if you want to beat a boss in less than 5 tries with your 10vig naked builds.
The community is really torn about this one, I believe it's one of the most dividing bosses so far. You either hate him or praise like the sun. Nevertheless: I couldn't disagree with you more.
For me this fight is just poorly designed. Great idea, but for different game.
First off - The way to the boss:
It's fun for the first two times but if you're struggling with the boss, you have to spend about a minute running up to him if you use summons and 30 seconds if you decide to skip them. When you take into account that you have to have to teleport to his arena (which is a soft loading screen) you look at one of the worst boss-runs in From's games.
One shots:
I know that I'm partially to blame here because Elden Ring requires for you to have a lot more health than in previous games. But guy has some preety cheap one shots. His normal arrow shots can only be avoided with a perfectly timed dodge and the rain of arrows he casts out as you get closer to him lasts way to long and has the tendency to stunlock you to death if you aren't able to avoid it or you have to mount up but dodging his homing arrows is impossible on horseback. Not to mention the meteors that have barely visible telegraph and will always one shot you if you're not overleveled.
Melle+Magic: His attacks are way too fast for someone this size and they hit like a truck. I don't agree with you that his attacks are well telegraphed and slow... some of them? Yeah maybe. But he has tendency to have 4-5 chained attacks that for me the only viable method to avoid for me was to abuse Bloodhound Step.
Summons: Apart from the fact that player messages were in a way of summon signs forcing me to go offline, to get rid of them, the summons barely help if you're a melee. Technically they agro him but their health is awfully low, so they often get one shotted, and they do minimal damage. The worst part is that they tend to agro boss at random what makes avoiding his attacks harder so... it's the best to keep away from the summons. Maybe apart from the healing lady if you feel like you need it.
Last but not least: You can get invaded by other players. I know that this is not intended (at least I hope so) but when I went to help other players and maybe learn something, but... We were invaded during the boss fights multiple times by multiple people. Which made boss fights even worse.
So... I hated it. The only tactic that I could think of is to abuse BH Step and basically nuke him with blood and frostbite. It finally worked but I wasn't happy that I've defeated him i was just exhausted.
But... if You liked it... more power to You. I'm not claiming You're wrong for liking him and If someone can be happy instead of ranting like me... It's for the better.
I've ranted enough on here to just say, hey, I feel ya. I hate radahn. Easily my least favorite boss in any fromsoft game I've played.
I fully agree with your points about his telegraphing, and I'll add that unless you're using a massive sword, his body blocks almost the entire camera, so you can't even see what he's doing. Making telegraphs meaningless.
I feel like you aren't supposed to be invaded during that fight, and it didn't happen to me when I tried summoning peopel a couple times. But, maybe I got lucky, or it's a bug.
I'm glad people can like him, but for me.. he's just simply the worst. Great lore, great music, great buildup for the fight, and great spectacle. But mechanically? Abysmal.
ok, done with my mini-rant. I'm going to explore that city
"one of the worst boss-runs" disagree with that fully, when the DS2 boss runs through areas CRAWLING with enemies meant to be faced with several players exist. here you just go through a few seconds of loading, and you start the fight even if the start of the fight is you getting closer to the boss (+summonning if you choose)
As for the sumons, there is a few good ones but they aren't here if you didn't meet the related NPCs before (mostly Blaidd, and also Alexander who is relatively tanky). more importantly though, its possible to resummon them after a while if they die. And its helped by another gimmick: you can actually use your own horse in the fight, making grabbing signs much easier
I do agree its size is an issue with the camera, but even there, there is worst out there (looking at you, dragons)
Your comment about having to respec is correct. The last (and only other) time I had to do so before Elden Ring was against Midir.
Fantastic video. Now we need a analysis about Malenia haha. you never disappoint :)
"It was love at first fight" love everything about him ❤♥💙
Radahn Phase 2 music, when the choir harmonizes and the drums rattle, gives me chills every time, I feel like his music really captures his battle more than other souls bosses, you feel its his last battle, and he’s using every trick up his sleeve until the end until you defeat him.
The Nier Replicant track in the background at the beginning sent me straight to flashback city
You are my favorite UA-camr at the moment!