Yes, I am aware I mispronounced Igon's name. I realized in post, and it was too late to re-record that segment. It's (Eee-gone), not (Eye-gone). Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy this ranking - It's based on my purely subjective experience, so don't worry - I'm not going to convert you into liking a boss you didn't enjoy, just sit back, relax, have a drink and enjoy!
i just beat the final boss. it came down to no flasks, my mimic tear's heart was stolen, i was close to death but radahn was one hit away so i used my black knife skill one last time when radahn was about to use his holy explosion and when the god and lord finally fell, i let out a large scream of joy. sorry billy that your mimic tear took your win away
CURSE YOU BAYLE! I hereby vow! You will rue this day! Behold, a true drake warrior! And I, Igon! Your fear made flesh! Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon... But I will riddle with holes your rotten hide! With a hail of harpoons! With every last drop of my being!
"AND I, IGON" just hits all the feels. The man knows he's not good enough but has such belief in the player that it's hard not to feel ready for battle.
@@weirdybeardystuff9261Homie got his legs chopped off, climbed up a mountain, watched some random guy interrupt a dragon battle, kill BOTH of them and decided "Yeah, that's my champion." Then he proceeds to chop his finger off so that you can bring him into the final battle. Hands down my favorite character because his strength of will and conquering his fears.
Midra was by far my favourite fight in the dlc, maybe even my favourite in the whole game. The buildup with the mansion and the ghosts, the lore surrounding him and the start of the fight which makes you feel like the bad guy attacking this poor guy existing in suffering, trying his best not to let the madness out just for you to break him. The fight itself has really strong orphan of kos vibes for me and is just spectecacular over all. Especually when you stay close to him he really brings out the hunter inside of me, punishing a lack of aggression, giving no room to breath. I'm tramatised by his double stab attack tho for somw reason I just never got the timing right.
Everything you mentioned as well as the distorted version of the frenzied merchant song (my favorite ost in elden ring) that plays towards the end of Midra’s ost make him my favorite as well
I loved that fight but I was really disappointed he doesn’t have a phase 3 with some more cinematic attacks or another arena change. He goes into phase 2 at 66% HP so the game set up my expectations for another phase for no reason. At least some kind of cinematic explosion at the end would’ve been appreciated. Something that really conveys the chaos and destruction this being has to offer. For me that would’ve put him at number 1 in the DLC.
Also, I love how Romina's Scarlet Rot contrasts Malenia's. Malenia's is drab, brown, decayed and pulsating. Romina's is thrumming, 1980s, neon pink and loud.
the npc gank and Dancing Lion over Midra is crazy ngl (in hindsight i can respect the Dancing Lion placement, all the remembrance fights were great so the rankings are interchangeable imo)
I am a fairly casual Elden Ring player I beat Radahn in about 30-40 tries using the Falx. Over 100 attempts is incomprehensible to me. How could you fight one thing that many tries and still never manage to understand how to dodge one of its attacks?
It’s interesting seeing the unexpectedly large amount of disdain or outright hatred from the community at the final boss and ending. Can’t help but feel Fromsoft kinda screwed up.
I don't really have an issue with the ending. Radahn returning finishes up his storyline between him, Miquella & Malenia. I was just hoping we'd get something to do with Godwyn, given he has random catacomb corpses with the Death Knights.
Daaaaang, Midra at 9? Didn’t expect that… Here’s my ranking: 1. Midra (I went for the Frenzied Flame on this playthrough so the story implications were magnificent) 2. CUUUUUURSEEE YOU BAYLEEEEEEE 3. Messmer 4. Rellana 5. Divine Beast 6. Romina 7. Radahn 8. Metyr 9. Hippo 10. Putrescent 11. ADM 12. Ymir 13. Inquisitor (The only two I disliked) 14. Gaius 15. Scadutree Avatars This is after only one playthrough, might change lol
Imo Messmer is the best boss in dlc and one of the best in elden ring. Midra is amazing tho but he can be stuggered so easily so you can beat him without seeing his second phase. I did it on my second pöaythrgpuht of the dlc with bloodfiends arm with 12 scadutree fragments. Bayle is amazing . I think if Radahn’s second phase was fair rsdahn will be top 3
@@BNB-fk8jrI agree. Divine beast is awful but Messmer is one of the best probably across the franchise. Amazing lore and long but fair combos that make you feel rewarded for learning them. Biggest head scratcher for me in this DLC is the consistency. We’ll get a boss like divine beast with constant AOE spam after every move shoving the camera into your face, and then get a masterpiece like messmer.
This is going to be a long one so bear with me here. The DLC’s final boss might be the biggest disappointment I’ve had with a boss fight in FromSoft history since Dragon God in Demon’s Souls. For those who love Radahn, mad respect to you, there is plenty to love here, but I will not sit here and lie to any of you about my fundamental disliking of this boss. I’m going to break down most of Radahn’s attacks and explain why I find the boss to be poorly designed and an unsatisfying challenge. Let me start with Radahn’s first phase which I consider to be mostly great. There are however three attacks I take issue with in this phase. 1. His three hit combo. Not only is it neigh impossible to consistently dodge all the attacks (either get hit by first then dodge two and three or dodge one, hit two, dodge three) he can also cancel certain attacks into this combo. An example is during his flame cut attack. By itself the attack is fair but a little tricky. However if you roll behind Radahn, once he concludes this attack he can pull and instant 180 into the three hit combo. So not only can this attack come out almost instantly, he now starts the animation with his back to you so you cannot even see the animation properly until you’ve taken a hit. 2. His meteor attack. By no means unfair but the amount of times the boss can spam this attack slows the pace of the fight as there is no counter/punish for this attack because he remains out of harms way. 3. Gravity pull attack. Again an attack that’s not too unfair but you get no reward for successfully dodging and if he’s close he can combo into the slam which is only avoided via running away, so you’re now spending more time disengaging with the boss. My major issue with this boss is the second phase where he goes from a solid, almost great fight, to a poorly designed mess. 1. At least two or three times during the fight Radahn will float in the air and force you to run for a lengthy period of time. By the time he finishes this attack GRRM would have written Winds of Winter twice. And again he doesn’t do this attack once, no upwards of three times you are forced to run away from the boss and NOT engage in the fight. 2. The grab attack. Easy to dodge however the punishment for being grabbed is not high damage or an instant kill (unless you’re grabbed twice) but the animation takes so god damn long in a fight that already drags. Look I fucked up dodging the grab, punish me with damage, not wasting my time getting Miqlested. 3. The never ending combos. Although he retains some of the same punishable attacks as phase, now he gains more powerful attacks that go on for a disgustingly irritating amount of time. Again in a boss that wastes you time, having less time to actually engage with the boss only serves to hinder the experience. 4. Last and most importantly the never ending beams of light that follow every attack. It’s not the damage that bothers me, no it’s pretty fair, however the artificial challenge of blinding the player during almost every attack does. With a boss that already has endless combos, aoe attacks, ranged attacks, fuck-you I’m unhittable attacks, and a grab, affecting the player’s ability to properly see the boss’ next attack is not fun or fair challenge, it is blatantly artificial and ruins any chance of enjoyment I SHOULD receive from fighting this boss. Many will disagree with my takes and that’s OKAY. I love all you fellow masochists, and this DLC has some PEAK bosses that offer amazing challenge and threaten the safety of my controller, but Radahn is not, and will not be one of them in my eyes.
Agree with you for second Phase. I finished him with After 12 hours and it was a pleassure to learn the attacks but i have to say this boss have bs attacks and the aoe blind holy attacks After each attack is hard to dodge. The 3 slash comb is bs. And you cant see the attacks is sometimes very annoying. I had to learn him so hard i memorized all of his attacks and then it was hella fun and rewarding. But yeah this boss isnt for everyone. It is my number 4. For the dlc and my Top 15 overall
His first phase is totally fair and all attacks are dodgeable. You just have to 1) time it properly and 2) dodge in the right direction The second phase is bs for me personally but same thing applies but more stringently this time. You dodge direction and timing has to be even more precise.
There are effective counters for all three in the first phase. The three hit combo is parry-able, and possible with very good dodgetiming. And on the flame attack you can dodge away from him, where you are perfectly safe for the followup. The meteor-attack usually results in a charge or a jump-attack, both resulting in a decent punish - and on the offchance its a graviitypull you can still dodge and get away with a heal. The second phase take i mostly agree on, even though its mostly the same as phase one if you're keeping close to Radahn.
Honestly this boss was just so frustrating at phase 2. Phase 1 is a great fight except for that BS 2 slashes into a scissor slash combo. I kid you not I had the golden braid talisman, maxed out scadutree, 60 vigor and medium armor everywhere except my head for fashion souls and got ONE SHOT by his attack where he pulls his swords out of the ground and releases a barrage of holy projectiles. The worst part is I couldn't even see what he was doing because of the BS light beams that are not only a constant flashbang but will almost always catch you at the end of your roll because most of the beams hit you from a horizontal angle even though your meant to dodge into his swords coming from the left and right which is conveniently the direction most of the light beams hit you from and conceal most of his next attacks. Phase 2 Radahn is the worst example of artificial difficulty i've ever experienced and after being one-shot despite having 70 holy defense, 60 vigor and max blessings I just said f*ck it and used Moore's Greatshield to win. I honestly felt more relieved than happy but at least it was somewhat rewarding to outsmart the boss. Still, Radahn is gameplay-wise such a letdown considering how unenjoyable and overtuned his second phase. It's also a letdown lore-wise because of how out of the blue it is for Radahn to be the final boss when they could have had us fight Godwyn and Miquella instead, since resurrecting Godwyn with the use of the eclipse was such an unanswered plot point in the base game and seemed like before the DLC released why we would be required to kill Radahn to access the DLC.
First phase is nasty but fair and hard. Phase two is embarrassingly awful and felt like the designers desperately throwing bullshit at the wall to make it hard enough for the crazy good players and forgot that regular people play their game. Beat it in a handful of hours and it made me want to never play the DLC again in full.
bro i may be alone in this but even though Bayle was super cool, fighting my 4th dragon in a row right before him did not make me excited for a 5th, even beefier one
yeah, consort radahn made demon of hatred and malenia look like true king allant in comparison. also i think scadutree avatar is probably the most underrated fight in elden ring. great video billy and bayle despite recency bias deserves to be #2 or #1 dragon fight next to midir
I loved Midra, probably second favorite of the DLC after Messmer (who is now my favorite Fromsoftware boss ever). Midra I enjoy for both the spectacle but also a very DS3-esque moveset - he has a few minor combo finisher variants but mostly once you recognize the beginning of a combo he sticks with it which makes the fight feel incredibly smooth and never verging on panicking. It brings back that DS3 feeling of difficulty where it always required focus but never felt like completely chaotic in the way that some Elden Ring bosses end up feeling with their insanely changeable movesets
Great ranking! And to answer your question, it’s not just your PS4, my frames tanked quite a bit here and there on the Dancing Lion fight on PS5 as well, I’m sure that’s just a simple performance issue they’ll end up patching out soon
Bayle is such a spectacle, but gameplay wise I just really don't like dragon fights or any large boss tbh. The camera is always the hardest part of the fight and they tend to move unnaturally fast. I would have prefered another humanoid boss for sure.
Midra is by far my favorite. The whole experience of finding the abyssal woods at the bottom of some catacombs and then finding and making my way through the mansion and then that reveal and the music and cutscene were just all so perfect and his fight was so fun. I may also be obsessed with frenzy flame and have been playing a frenzy flame character lmao
From a sheer horror perspective, Midra is absolutely insane. My survival horror instincts were kicking in full force the whole time - I just wish I'd given him more of a chance to show his moveset before cheesing him so I could finish the DLC without getting spoiled ^^
I wasn't happy that I had to max out by scadutree blessing for me to beat radahn with mimic tear. But hearing about people needing to use a great shield made me realize that I didn't have that bad of a time against radahn. Edit: I completely agree with Scadutree Avatar's placement, though I would have had it at number 1.
I'd go 1. Rellana 2. Messmer 3. Midra 4. Radahn 5. Romina 6. Divine Beast Dancing Lion 7. Bayle 8. Scadutree Avatar 9. Putrescent Knight 10. Mother of Fingers 11. Golden Hippo 12. Gaius I fought Rellana at +4 Scadutree, which was a bit low. However, it made the fight absolutely incredible, as I had to perfect her moveset. Definitely the 2nd hardest boss in the DLC for me.
I hard agree with the placement of Gaius, because of that dman rush attack being BS and the occasional ranged AOE attacks he can pull out are devastating and one comes out particularly quickly, at least the lore is great for the Commander!
You can turn into a dragon man actually!! After defeating Bayle and going to where the dragon priestess was picking up the item left there and using it allows you to turn into a dragon man until next death
@@BillySYT the priestess one boosts dragon cult incants, so you didn't miss out with your Dex/Arc build. The one provided by the painting is the one that boosts dragon communion spells, which is much more likely to be used for your build.
@@BillySYTthat’s how I felt when I initially played through Elden ring with summons. Got to Malenia and pulled out mimic. Beat her by essentially having her stunlocked the entire time and felt no type of accomplishment from said victory. Played through the entire base game and dlc no summons this summer since I had the time and man, that grind was EPIC and so worth it
@@Drewstanton480it was the same for me. ER was my first soulsborn game so I was pretty shaky. I played the first time with summons until I got to malenia, and I drew a line in the sand for myself to beat her no summons. The thrill I got from finally doing it on my own after 100 ish tries made me want to replay the whole game without the help. 4(?) playthroughs later, here I am at the end of the dlc, ever grateful that I decided to see what I could do on my own
RANT OF A LEVEL 1 RUNNER: hey everybody here is the thought´s of someone who put over 120 hours into a souls level 1 elden ring DLC. its impossible there are bosses in the dlc that have attack´s that come out so fast and are so unfair that its not possible to beat it at level one. and yes there will be people like maybe 40 on the planet who can do it but for most people its impossible. for a example mertyr has a attack in his second fase where she floats in to the air and from the moment she is rising if your close to her you will take damage and at level 1 you will be dead before you can react it´s bullshit. elden ring dlc might be to hard for souls level one but what is possible and verry fun to try is beating it without scadutree fragments because you can take the bullshit attacks and still have a rough challenge because mesmer or redanh will still kill you in two hits or one combo. also for the people who want to know this is the list of bosses i coudnt beat on level one all the bosses that are not on this list i did beat on level 1. Redanh, mertyr and commander gaius. p.s for the people that say Bayle is hard you´ll are tripping bayle is easy just fight him like you would fight midir ATTACK HIS HEAD yes he is tanky but his moves are verry fair and every single one is punishable prob one of if not the best fight fromsoft has ever made, he is up their with Geal.
Theres only a few attacks that are bs to dodge but the rest are fine. Radahn's double slash into cross slash is what makes RL1 so bullshit, the rest is super well designed but man that one attack is a pain
@@shades4385more than the double slash. The phase 2 gravity pull attack is pretty bs as well. And the meteors are very unintuitive to dodge on a medium load character(strafe jumping to the right). And the boss doesn’t really have any positional combo variation, just the same long combo strings with the same tight attack windows. Even when you learn the fight it’s kinda boring.
@@bigsmall2842I could only consistently dodge the meteor attack with medium equip load but unlocking and running to the right and jumping from the sound cue of when the meteors were going to hit me
Scadutree Avatar was my FAVOURITE boss in the dlc, such a refreshing fight. The design is by far my favourite, it looks completly out of this game's world, the animations are so different from every other boss and the arena is just gorgeous
The abyssal woods have grown on me, probably my favorite area by far. You just get that feeling that you are not welcomed there and you should leave. I absolutely love it.
Oh, I adored the area. It's a bit empty, wish there was a tad more to find there. Like, one hidden field boss, a Frenzy Dragon or something. But the atmosphere and the ambience are unmatched. Those dev notes when you first enter had me paranoid af.
@BillySYT yea it is a bit empty. A frenzy dragon would go so hard lol. They definitely captured that ambiance. When I saw I couldn't summon torrent I wanted to leave haha
I'd put the hippo at the bottom, I hate that fight with a passion, it's so obvious they just scaled up the model of the normal hippos but in a sloppy way because locking on makes the camera go into its head more often than not. Also the arena is very small for the fight.
I think this is what makes you a great reviewer (writing this as you're speaking of the end boss), that you're consistent in your reviews and we get to know what you personally think and how you personally would review a boss, and it being thought out still. A lot of reviewers disregard popular opinion due to their own often quirky opinion, while others disregard their own opinion due to a popular opinion. I just think you're in the sweet spot. Anyway, keep up the good work. PS I like Radahn and despise Malenia.That said, had to use summons on both not to hate my life.
Still don’t know why they gave a goddamn sunflower a remembrance. Like, you got this fire-using warlord, an undead knight, the lord of chaos himself, and oh, also a f*king flower. And for some reason, I love that flower.
Radahn, Consort of Miquella might be the *Most Dissatisfying DLC Final Boss of All Time.* Even thou the Lore is Dark AF. However. . . . 1. Way Too Hard 2. Miquella Him-Her Tran-self Should Had Been the Final Boss 3. F$%k the 2nd Phase.
Hey ps5 player here, answering if there’s a difference in performance in the ps5 and the short answer is no, long answer there was a few times I can tell the frames drop one is with commander Gaius fight if you and the boss have a magic projectile attack getting ready, for some reason the frames will drop but with the divine beast I didn’t see any frames dropping same with radahn. I do hope they fix the performance issue that’s honestly my biggest complain for the dlc.
My issue with Midra is the lead up was super cool, the lore and boss itself was hype, but was a complete pushover…in an area where you can get one hit…why does the boss just fall over
Crazy how different people's rankings are, Midra & Radahn were the best fights in the game for me, Radahn was the most exhilarating fight in the game, I know people act like he's broken & That he's legitimately "Too hard" In an unfair way, But honestly other than the visual clutter occasionally being a little distracting in phase 2, His moveset is actually entirely fair, Every attack is dodgable, You just have to play near perfect, Which i believe is how it should be for the final boss of the first and only DLC of Elden Ring, It's the ultimate skikk check, And its very fitting for the lore, You really do have to play like a god to defeat a literal god. I love it. And Midra IMO is as close to perfect as an Elden Ring boss gets. The build up, The atmosphere, The design, The Cutscene, The OST and the fight itself all knocked it out of the park. Midra isn't THAT hard but he's def no pushover either, His moveset is fun to learn and he leaves tons of openings for punish windows, He reminds me of a combination between a Bloodborne and DS3 boss fight, And i mean that as a massive compliment, He never felt unfair or like he was attacking for too long like many Elden Ring bosses, He os challenging in the most fair, Entertaining type of way, I love his phase 2 transition as well, The Frenzy Flame attacks are so damn cool. Top 5 bosses in the DLC for me IMO: 1. Midra 2. Radahn 3. Messmer 4. Bayle 5. Dancing Lion.
Midra & Radahn are the two bosses I wish I'd fought differently during my playthrough, so their rankings are a bit more temporary than the rest of the roster for me. Glad so many people seem to be enjoying Midra, especially.
I must say, i beat radahn using a greatsword build, no guardshield or anything and it felt SO good to beat him, a new game experience will change your mind on him
I disagree, I had no enjoyment in the 100ish attempts it took me even after I best it and it was not helped by how anticlimactic the dlc ending cutscene is
Your list was very great and interesting I havent thought of my full scale list but my top 3 are midra bayle and messmer Also i really appreciate the placement for dancing lion and scadutree avatar both are very underrated and imo scadutree avatar has the best boss theme in the dlc
I highly agree with you on Midra by the way. I forced myself to brute force him. No mimic, no summons, no cheese. Just learning to dodge and punish. And when I finally beat him it was EXTREMELY satisfying
Glad you got that experience with Midra. I really want to go at him again without relying on weapon skills to get me through - Really learn that moveset. If only FromSoft would add a boss rush mode.
The build up Lore and the preceding area to Midra easily makes him the most stand out for me. And his fight is not half bad. Mechanically it is a very fair and balanced fight. The Frenzy does surprise you a couple of times but incredibly easy to learn and feels very rewarding once you do. And I for pnce was praying that From Soft touches upon the Frenzied Flame Lore even more and I got exactly what I had wished for. I also think that fans got vindicated for the Kale's cut content story from the base game. Bayle comes in a close second in terms of Lore and build up and an epic boss fight at the end.
Overall though I gotta say the quality of bosses in thie DLC is lower than main game for me (if we only including main bosses). Only Messmer, Bayle, and Midra really can compare with my list of base game bosses, which in my opinion has the best bosses in history of gaming: Maliketh, Rykard, Malenia, Radahn, Godfrey, Radagon, Mohg, Placidusax, Fortisax, Margit/Morgott.
While I definitely think the base game demigods are absolutely peak, I do think fights like Scadutree Avatar & Romina, while easier than people perhaps wanted, are well designed and nice breathers from the rest of the roster. I'd say Metyr was the only boss I felt a bit let down by, and that's just because she has such an interesting sidequest leading up to her.
@@BillySYT Agree with Metyr. For the other bosses, it is not the fight itself, but everything else around them that feels underwhelming for me. The lack of cutscene, lore, and unique visual design in particular hurt them the most. Margit for example feels impactfull cause we could hear him talk, and understood somewhat his personality and his goals. I have no clue how Romina is as a person, and why is she guarding the sealing tree. Shes just a roadblock to me.
I absolutely hated the Putrescent knight. The fact that after he's done every attack that he moves backwards slightly and avoids your attacks was so annoying. He took me the most attempts outside the final boss for me.
Hot Take: Messmer should have had 2 health bars like Malenia. He should have had a third cutscene where he goes full snake or gets some sort of big thing, even if his second health bar would be very short.
@@BillySYT I can see that working too. Only reason why I suggested a third phase is because I was expecting something bigger from him, like what sister Friede gave us so a third phase after a cutscene would have been more shocking. I know we got the Scabutree Avatar for this but still.
Rhadan is probably the most unbalanced and unfair boss From has ever made . I hope they can patch the fight into something more rewarding and fun. Hard bosses should make you want to go back one more try. You get an inch closer to beat them , you even lose with just a sliver of their health and you don't get mad. You go on until you bea them. With Radhan I'm at a point of total frustration. I mean. I cant even summon the mimick without losing half my health at the beginning. And second phase is madness. I can't believe they didn't realize what they did.
I think as the months go by, counters will be put in place by the community to make his fight easier, and I do see a nerf in his future. But when nobody knows how to beat him in those first weeks, it doesn't shock me he feels too hard to defeat.
@@BillySYT Yeah, I finally beat him without summons, but with the mimick with the help of a video that showed me all the ways you can counter damage in the game that I wasn't aware (some consumables and such) and using those I could finally survive phase 2 enough to see what to do. The mimick was more of a distraction in phase 1 because he obliterated him and was never around in phase 2... so all in all after the initial frustration I got a victory I was actually proud of. I celebrated with a "YEAH!" when I did it. I was afraid it was going to be a bitter victory. I still think he need serious nerfs, specially in phase 2, but I am pretty happy nonetheless.
I must add that summoning, at least for me, was impossible for this boss. It seems everyone was summoning, for obvious reasons, so I could only summon once during my frustrating tries. The rest of the time I was getting "unable to summon" over and over.
So can someone plays tell my why it's "so wrong" to fight against bosses with summons? The game gives you the spirit ashes, why shouldn't I use them? I also feel like the bosses were made with spirit ashes in mind, as some are way too aggressive
Im nowhere near a god tier gamer. Still havent beat Malenia all by myself. I always summon mimic tear. But I defeated all the bosses solo in this DLC. If i can do it. It must not be that bad. Tired of hearing ppl complaining its "too hard."
Same feeling I had when I first beat Malenia. Sometimes, even with skill, there doesn't come mastery. I'd say regardless of how you beat him, feel proud in it!
my ranking 1 Bayle 2 Rellana 3 mesmer 4 midra 5 Scadutree avatar 6 Redanh 7 putrescent knight 8 dancing lion 9 death knight dubble axes 10 romana saint of the bud. 11 lady leda and her friends 12 yoda the sword master haha least fav boss Jori elder inquisitor. f*ck this guy you wanne know how long this guy took me on my level 1 run? 6 hours and 214 deaths each holy thingy is a insta kill omg he is the worst worst boss fromsoft has ever made. and Yes that means worst then bed of chaos
Its funny how the hippo wasnt a case of "being bad at dodging" he was actually just genuinely bugged with his grab attack. I wont lie though, Radahn is hard for all the wrong reasons. Visual clutter, inflated HP and EVERY. SINGLE. ATTACK. Is delayed. Also 20 aoes
beating redanh scadutree level 1 with my trusted moonveil and fast roll might be the proudest i have ever been in a game it took me over 400 ettemps i lost count but it was wort it. almost 20% of my dlc playtime went into fighting this boss
Quick note about Radahn's grav well: you _can_ avoid the followup with medium equip load, if you get pulled you need to *run* away immediately and jump - this way you will outpace the AoE. Rolling won't help
DBDL, rellana, bayle, messmer and midra really just reminded me how good fromsoft is at making all this types of bosses, really shows how far they have come since the demon souls era
I just beat Radahn after idk. 6 hours our so without bleed or summons and I must say that I really enjoyed Radahn himself. Miquella is the one who introduces the bull shit. Radahn‘s basic sword combos are so fun to dodge and honestly a 8/10 for me. They would be a 10/10 if it wasn’t for this one quick swipe with both blades infront of him as you have to be frame perfect to dodge them. I only managed to do that twice on accident in my countless attempts. The other attack I really hate is his huge explosion at the start of phase 2. If you even wait half a second before you start running you will definitely get hit by it and I just think that’s unfaire especially when he does this mid fight. His attacks where he jumps in the air and sends a bunch of clones at you before striking himself are okay. It really depends on what he follows it up with. But over all, I had a great time.
PS: Needle Knight Leda is the worst 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 bossfight i‘ve ever done in a video game. Throwing four hyper aggressive NPC with the potential of three of them fighting you at the same time is just so lazy and unfun. The only fight in thr DLC I wasn’t able to finish solo and honestly I couldn’t care less.
I think that fight is like Radahn in the base game. It's a fight that's there for spectacle, it's meant to be you fighting along side a group of allies to face your foe. And unlike with Bayle who also seems to heavily encourage a summon in Igon, the fight feels like it was tailor made for summons. The fact that they don't come in until midway through the battle enforces this I think, just like Radahn summons constantly come back throughout the fight @@Tactical_Cookie
My ranking is 1. Messmer 2. Bayle 3. Midra 4. Rellana 5. Romina 6. Scadutree avatar 7. Dancing Lion 8. Promised Consort Radhan 9. Metyr 10. Gaius. Messmer is by far my favourite boss dare i say in all of Fromsoft Scadutree Avatar to me was honestly brilliant, even with its placement i can't call it a bad boss due to the music, premise and the story told throughout the fight itself FUCK GAIUS, I HATE HIM, I ABSOLUTELY HATE HIM, he's the only boss i had to cheese because of how bullshit his hitbox is
Radahn's meteors are a bitch because you can basically say goodbye to your progress on his posture bar when he does them. Also he has one basically undodgable combo that is pure BS and is extremely difficult to avoid consistently. Although I find the claims of him having poor visual clarity to be very exaggerated. Also his gravity well attack is literally his EASIEST attack, just dodge once when you see the telegraph and you're good, I literally never got hit by that after the first time. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say that he 'uses it while you're in another animation'.
My ranking for a top 10 would be: 1. Romina 2. Bayle 3. Metyr 4. Messmer 5. Scadutree Avatar 6. Midra 7. Rellana 8. Dancing Lion 9. Death Knight (twin axes) 10. One of the red bears I know its a weird ranking, especially for Messmer and Midra. But both of them are two cursed twinky humanoids with a piercing/slashing weapon and fire abilities. They're very cool, but bosses like Romina, Bayle, the Avatar or Metyr have that sense of uniqueness that Im look for when I play that kind of DLC. And I also think they're fight delivers as well as Messmer and Midra
I haven't quite finished the video yet but I got far enough to realize you didn't put Gaius at the bottom. I... respect this but I LOATHED that fight. Though, now that I watch your video, I realized it's because I just... do not guard. I play Elden Ring like Bloodborne because I that's just the kind of gameplay I enjoy. So I honestly just forget guarding exists. Maybe that would've made him quite a bit of easier. In the end I just cheesed him by manipulating his AI. It wasn't satisfying at all but I put about 90 attempts in and I was just so tired of his bullshit. On the bright side, though, they apparently fixed the charge always happening at the start of the battle. So that's nice!
The final boss fight is definitely where they want you to pull out all the stops. You're not just fighting God, you're fighting the STRONGEST champion in the lands between, boosted by an ascended God. The Elden Beast and Radagon cannot hold a candle to full power Radahn alone - and they seem even more pathetic compared to the combined power of both him and Miquella "the Tyrant." EDIT: I found his grab attack very "charming" if it lands you can take a few seconds to think about your mext move since it gives a breather. Get grabbed enough times trying to fight him and you'll realize that you can breathe out, relax, decompress, then engage.
As someone who beat him in 72 tries and considers Radahn by 3rd favorite dlc fight, I have 3 tipes that will save your life. 1: Lord's Divine Fortification. Stack that with the Golden Braid Tailsman, and his phase 2 attacks deal like 75% less damage. 2: Raptor of the Mists. Use it to dodge the Lion's Claw, Ground Upheaval, and Orbital Strike, takes a lot of stress off your shoulders. 3: Rapiers. I kid you now, rapiers are the most fun weapon to use against this guy. There are certain attack strings that have delays that allow you to get one rapier hit in between hits. If you learn these openings, you literally don't have to learn the dodge timings for the delayed follow-up; just hit once with a rapier and immediately dodge, and you will likely avoid the attack. Hope this helps
The Radahn fight is something I'd like to revisit with a different approach. Ideally I'd like it to be challenging like a dodge-rolling run, but not braindead easy like the fingerprint shield + poke combo I ultimately beat him with on the 2nd go. Even without summons, it still felt like an unearned victory. It's just so irritating to get into a good dodge flow with 2nd phase Radahn. ONGBAL has shown us it's possible to not get hit once, but I'm a mere mortal and do not have the patience for that kind of run. For these reasons, my three favorites are Midra, Rellana and Messmer. These three are exactly what I want out of a soulslike boss fight. All three fights are incredibly cinematic and are challenging without resorting to cheap tricks.
I did the same thing with Radahn where I gave up and slapped on double bleed spears and a mimic tear. I felt a feeling of relief at actually being able to beat the game but also regret because I don’t like using summons, I want to be the one fighting the boss but that phase 2 is… yeah, I’ll come out and say it. It’s bullshit. Straight bullshit. Malenia has one bullshit move with the waterfowl and even that is fine at most ranges, it’s only at close range. Radahn in Phase 2, or I suppose Miquella, is out here with like 5 bullshit moves, and while they don’t one shot you, it makes up for it by Radahn jumping around the arena 24/7 so you can’t punish back and Miquella covering your screen with light AoEs making the fight really confusing. Ahhh. Kind of felt like a bad note to end the DLC on which sucks because the rest of it was so good!! Doing a second playthrough now, maybe I’ll get Radahn without throwing my pride in the toilet
S Messmer Dancing lion Midra A Consort radahn Relanna Putrescent knight Scadutree avatar Romina Metyr Bayle (only this low because I was just too tired at the time to allow myself to enjoy this and this list is based on level of enjoyment it gave me, not critical rating. Still A though) Golden hippo (I loved this fight so much so I’m surprised I have it this low it just goes to show I pretty much loved every boss in this dlc except for gaius) D Gaius (I wanted to joust on horseback but he was too good at insta killing torent) I know now that there was some strategies that could have made this much better but I was going full blind play through and on a second play through I bet he will move up to c or b who knows)
I somehow managed to beat Radahn 4 times in less than a few weeks without summons. I found parrying was the best bet because he’s so aggressive to the point where he does most of the same attacks that can be parried (even after a parry). Tbh, he’s within my top 5 favorite bosses of the dlc overall. He’s just so cool and flashy with all of his attacks, especially the holy attacks Miquella follows up with. It can be annoying because it feels like a flashbang goes off every time he does said holy attacks. He’s just an insane final boss that really caps off SOTE difficulty so perfectly. It’s a battle of attrition where there’s little room for mistakes.
I did Rellana first but my sense was that the dancing lion WAS supposed to be your first boss. Rellana is much harder in my opinion. Loved fighting her first though, took my whole first evening with the DLC. There are so many ways to avoid attacks against Radahn. I think rather than going fingerprint, embracing looking up no hit videos and guides is a good way to lighten the challenge of learning a bit while preserving the feeling of overcoming the fight. Nothing wrong with shield and poke of course, but it seems like it made your victory feel hollow to you. Hope you enjoy it more next time. I can't disagree too much with your ranking though. Many of the bosses are on a similar level of quality and it comes down to what order you find them in, and what your preferences are.
I hate radhan, he just flies around the arena for so long. And the dmg windows are so small. I can't do this shit, malenia more you learn the better the fight flows but this, unless you have really fast weapon you'd be doing only light atks, its just not fun. Took me 30 hours, just beat him yesterday on like 400th attempt and I just don't think it's a good fight. There are no clever positioning based punishes like you can do with every other main boss. And you have to run for your life If he decides to do one of his super moves, because unless you are super quick on your reaction time my man you are going to get hit. Malenia had 2 of this types of atks but they have a long wind up and you can consistently dodge them if you have the timing down but this, this is utter BS. Idk how the community sentiment is gonna be after we learn him but in his current state it's just ehe. People said malenia requires build change but no, she had massive positioning based opening for big weapons. This boss is just to much, idk how else to describe it. Do I want to nerf him, just his double slash into cross but even for tht wait a month or two, maybe thn.... Anyway messmer is the new goat now, he is really eazy but he is just so fun, one of those bosses thts just fun no matter how many times I die, followed by midra, love tht guy. Both are somehow on the same level as the elden chad, malenia and radagon for me
with putrescent knight and gaius, and rider fights in general, you can do directional dodges to punish some attacks you wouldn't be able to otherwise, like I know dodging backwards on one of the putrescent knight attacks will let you punish the attack where he would usually ride away for a few seconds. also, putrescent knight's combos are consistent, they're just positioning based, I think the only random one he does is whether he does a from-neutral throw into swipe and ride away after the other variant of the throw that isn't from neutral which seemed to happen like half the time. oh and you can also jump some of his attacks to get those hits in too.
Tbh i rly enjoyed the dlc so far and i love the world and the npcs and most of the bosses. Im Not a pro player and still could manage the Fights with the tools the Game give me, even without cheesing them. But wtf is this final fight? P1 of radahn is rly hard but learnabel but p2? Wtf i Had coundless tries now for 3 days straight. Now im at a point where i try to cheese it with bleed strenght build, allys and mimik but still got No chance at all. There is just way too much going on there and i think they went too far with that one... Rly hope for a Patch making IT maybe kind of more enjoyebel
I hate Raddahn fight so I brought Caelid back to his ass Messmer is my new favorite boss in Elden Ring and first canonically based boss in souls My first reaction to Bayle was "holy shit satan" Ancient Dragon-man = Old Scally Person I think it's hilarious that after Sister Friede the first boss with 3 health bars is a sunflower Also if you want to make Leda Gank Squad trivial just spam Messmer's spear ash of war
My top 5 hardest as a Mage build: 5 - Scadutree Avatar 4 - Commander Gaius 3 - Rellana 2 - Bayle 1 - Radahn These bosses were just super aggressive right off the bat and don't offer much time to get a charged spell cast off, i mean i had to burst Radahn down with Impenetrable thorns just to try to survive phase 2 long enough with flasks because there was so much going on.
As much as the fight was gorgeous I can't rank consort too high due to a few things. The first phase is glorious and everything I expected from fighting radhan in his prime, phase 2 however is filled with relentless beams of light that cause a great amount of pain, the quadruple front flip is ridiculous to dodge and easily akin to waterfowl as 'that attack' but my biggest issue is the meteor. The meteor attack he does at really low health comes in with far too little warning, it's very difficult to spot in the sky, gives almost no sound cue and even if you do spot it's hitbox is so confusing that i find it very difficult to tell if you're going to die instantly or just take a chip of damage.
Everyone who has seen one of those vids of a hippo crushing a watermelon in its jaw like it's nothing will have been rightfully wary of golden hippo's jaws (seriously, hippos are no joke and kill more people than one would think. Maybe even more than sharks.). Now guess which attack it got and I think one-shotted me with the moment I stepped foot into its arena for the very first time. 😂
Yes, I am aware I mispronounced Igon's name. I realized in post, and it was too late to re-record that segment. It's (Eee-gone), not (Eye-gone). Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy this ranking - It's based on my purely subjective experience, so don't worry - I'm not going to convert you into liking a boss you didn't enjoy, just sit back, relax, have a drink and enjoy!
Igon is best npc with lines such as "CURSE YOU BAYLE" I love that npc
igon saved my ass during the bayle fight but now i have all the fragments to beat radahn
@@ELDniel-DW5pgmake sure you take Miquella rune it counters his whisper
i just beat the final boss. it came down to no flasks, my mimic tear's heart was stolen, i was close to death but radahn was one hit away so i used my black knife skill one last time when radahn was about to use his holy explosion and when the god and lord finally fell, i let out a large scream of joy. sorry billy that your mimic tear took your win away
CURSE YOU BAYLE! I hereby vow! You will rue this day! Behold, a true drake warrior! And I, Igon! Your fear made flesh! Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon... But I will riddle with holes your rotten hide! With a hail of harpoons! With every last drop of my being!
Preach
"AND I, IGON" just hits all the feels. The man knows he's not good enough but has such belief in the player that it's hard not to feel ready for battle.
Peak souls npc, with Ansbach my favourite of the dlc
@@weirdybeardystuff9261Homie got his legs chopped off, climbed up a mountain, watched some random guy interrupt a dragon battle, kill BOTH of them and decided "Yeah, that's my champion." Then he proceeds to chop his finger off so that you can bring him into the final battle. Hands down my favorite character because his strength of will and conquering his fears.
Igon makes the bayle fight perfect
Midra was by far my favourite fight in the dlc, maybe even my favourite in the whole game. The buildup with the mansion and the ghosts, the lore surrounding him and the start of the fight which makes you feel like the bad guy attacking this poor guy existing in suffering, trying his best not to let the madness out just for you to break him. The fight itself has really strong orphan of kos vibes for me and is just spectecacular over all. Especually when you stay close to him he really brings out the hunter inside of me, punishing a lack of aggression, giving no room to breath. I'm tramatised by his double stab attack tho for somw reason I just never got the timing right.
Me when I got to the Abyssal Woods: "Oh, I see. This is where Bloodborne 2 was hiding."
Everything you mentioned as well as the distorted version of the frenzied merchant song (my favorite ost in elden ring) that plays towards the end of Midra’s ost make him my favorite as well
Midra was amazing but not the best. Maybe in top 3 in dlc imo.
I didn’t really like him personally
I loved that fight but I was really disappointed he doesn’t have a phase 3 with some more cinematic attacks or another arena change. He goes into phase 2 at 66% HP so the game set up my expectations for another phase for no reason. At least some kind of cinematic explosion at the end would’ve been appreciated. Something that really conveys the chaos and destruction this being has to offer. For me that would’ve put him at number 1 in the DLC.
Also, I love how Romina's Scarlet Rot contrasts Malenia's. Malenia's is drab, brown, decayed and pulsating.
Romina's is thrumming, 1980s, neon pink and loud.
Malenia's rot is depressing and drab, while Romina was like "Instagram filter, saturation 100+"
Igon’s dialogue now rivals Rykard as the go-to comment fodder.
Don't forget...
MY NAME IS GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA!!!!!!!!!!
AS I BREATHE YOU WILL NOT PASS THE CASTLE GATE!!
@@WoedenazIt honestly doesn't even compare to igon's and rykard's..
the npc gank and Dancing Lion over Midra is crazy ngl
(in hindsight i can respect the Dancing Lion placement, all the remembrance fights were great so the rankings are interchangeable imo)
YEAH MAN dancing loin suck imo
The npc gank is in my top 20 souls fights, hot take
Midra was like my favorite boss bro 💀
NPC gank was really fun as somebody who cares about the story
@@BNB-fk8jr the dancing lion is legitimately awesome to fight I think it's the perfection of the fromsoft spectacle fight
When Radahn pulls you in run away and jump that's how you dodge it
You don't have to jump, you can time it and dodge through it.
I am a fairly casual Elden Ring player I beat Radahn in about 30-40 tries using the Falx. Over 100 attempts is incomprehensible to me. How could you fight one thing that many tries and still never manage to understand how to dodge one of its attacks?
@@lDoxologyRunning away and jumping works as well.
@@nayyarrashid4661 whatever works for you, but dodging is easier.
CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!
I HERBY VOW YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY
BEHOLD, A TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR!
@@ghostytoasty6976 AND I, IGON
YOUR FEAR MADE FLESH
SOLID OF SCALE YOU MIGHT BE, FOUL DRAGON
It’s interesting seeing the unexpectedly large amount of disdain or outright hatred from the community at the final boss and ending. Can’t help but feel Fromsoft kinda screwed up.
I don't really have an issue with the ending. Radahn returning finishes up his storyline between him, Miquella & Malenia. I was just hoping we'd get something to do with Godwyn, given he has random catacomb corpses with the Death Knights.
Daaaaang, Midra at 9? Didn’t expect that…
Here’s my ranking:
1. Midra (I went for the Frenzied Flame on this playthrough so the story implications were magnificent)
2. CUUUUUURSEEE YOU BAYLEEEEEEE
3. Messmer
4. Rellana
5. Divine Beast
6. Romina
7. Radahn
8. Metyr
9. Hippo
10. Putrescent
11. ADM
12. Ymir
13. Inquisitor
(The only two I disliked)
14. Gaius
15. Scadutree Avatars
This is after only one playthrough, might change lol
Imo Messmer is the best boss in dlc and one of the best in elden ring. Midra is amazing tho but he can be stuggered so easily so you can beat him without seeing his second phase. I did it on my second pöaythrgpuht of the dlc with bloodfiends arm with 12 scadutree fragments. Bayle is amazing . I think if Radahn’s second phase was fair rsdahn will be top 3
Divine beast sucks
What is ADM? Is that the finger monster? Because that one is missing
Edit: no it’s not I can’t keep these M names straight
@@thepikminbrawler1746 Ancient Dragon Man, put him on there bc he’s required to get to the Jagged Peak
@@BNB-fk8jrI agree. Divine beast is awful but Messmer is one of the best probably across the franchise. Amazing lore and long but fair combos that make you feel rewarded for learning them. Biggest head scratcher for me in this DLC is the consistency. We’ll get a boss like divine beast with constant AOE spam after every move shoving the camera into your face, and then get a masterpiece like messmer.
This is going to be a long one so bear with me here. The DLC’s final boss might be the biggest disappointment I’ve had with a boss fight in FromSoft history since Dragon God in Demon’s Souls.
For those who love Radahn, mad respect to you, there is plenty to love here, but I will not sit here and lie to any of you about my fundamental disliking of this boss.
I’m going to break down most of Radahn’s attacks and explain why I find the boss to be poorly designed and an unsatisfying challenge.
Let me start with Radahn’s first phase which I consider to be mostly great. There are however three attacks I take issue with in this phase.
1. His three hit combo. Not only is it neigh impossible to consistently dodge all the attacks (either get hit by first then dodge two and three or dodge one, hit two, dodge three) he can also cancel certain attacks into this combo. An example is during his flame cut attack. By itself the attack is fair but a little tricky. However if you roll behind Radahn, once he concludes this attack he can pull and instant 180 into the three hit combo. So not only can this attack come out almost instantly, he now starts the animation with his back to you so you cannot even see the animation properly until you’ve taken a hit.
2. His meteor attack. By no means unfair but the amount of times the boss can spam this attack slows the pace of the fight as there is no counter/punish for this attack because he remains out of harms way.
3. Gravity pull attack. Again an attack that’s not too unfair but you get no reward for successfully dodging and if he’s close he can combo into the slam which is only avoided via running away, so you’re now spending more time disengaging with the boss.
My major issue with this boss is the second phase where he goes from a solid, almost great fight, to a poorly designed mess.
1. At least two or three times during the fight Radahn will float in the air and force you to run for a lengthy period of time. By the time he finishes this attack GRRM would have written Winds of Winter twice. And again he doesn’t do this attack once, no upwards of three times you are forced to run away from the boss and NOT engage in the fight.
2. The grab attack. Easy to dodge however the punishment for being grabbed is not high damage or an instant kill (unless you’re grabbed twice) but the animation takes so god damn long in a fight that already drags. Look I fucked up dodging the grab, punish me with damage, not wasting my time getting Miqlested.
3. The never ending combos. Although he retains some of the same punishable attacks as phase, now he gains more powerful attacks that go on for a disgustingly irritating amount of time. Again in a boss that wastes you time, having less time to actually engage with the boss only serves to hinder the experience.
4. Last and most importantly the never ending beams of light that follow every attack. It’s not the damage that bothers me, no it’s pretty fair, however the artificial challenge of blinding the player during almost every attack does. With a boss that already has endless combos, aoe attacks, ranged attacks, fuck-you I’m unhittable attacks, and a grab, affecting the player’s ability to properly see the boss’ next attack is not fun or fair challenge, it is blatantly artificial and ruins any chance of enjoyment I SHOULD receive from fighting this boss.
Many will disagree with my takes and that’s OKAY. I love all you fellow masochists, and this DLC has some PEAK bosses that offer amazing challenge and threaten the safety of my controller, but Radahn is not, and will not be one of them in my eyes.
Agree with you for second Phase. I finished him with After 12 hours and it was a pleassure to learn the attacks but i have to say this boss have bs attacks and the aoe blind holy attacks After each attack is hard to dodge. The 3 slash comb is bs. And you cant see the attacks is sometimes very annoying. I had to learn him so hard i memorized all of his attacks and then it was hella fun and rewarding. But yeah this boss isnt for everyone. It is my number 4. For the dlc and my Top 15 overall
His first phase is totally fair and all attacks are dodgeable. You just have to 1) time it properly and 2) dodge in the right direction
The second phase is bs for me personally but same thing applies but more stringently this time. You dodge direction and timing has to be even more precise.
There are effective counters for all three in the first phase. The three hit combo is parry-able, and possible with very good dodgetiming. And on the flame attack you can dodge away from him, where you are perfectly safe for the followup. The meteor-attack usually results in a charge or a jump-attack, both resulting in a decent punish - and on the offchance its a graviitypull you can still dodge and get away with a heal. The second phase take i mostly agree on, even though its mostly the same as phase one if you're keeping close to Radahn.
Honestly this boss was just so frustrating at phase 2. Phase 1 is a great fight except for that BS 2 slashes into a scissor slash combo. I kid you not I had the golden braid talisman, maxed out scadutree, 60 vigor and medium armor everywhere except my head for fashion souls and got ONE SHOT by his attack where he pulls his swords out of the ground and releases a barrage of holy projectiles. The worst part is I couldn't even see what he was doing because of the BS light beams that are not only a constant flashbang but will almost always catch you at the end of your roll because most of the beams hit you from a horizontal angle even though your meant to dodge into his swords coming from the left and right which is conveniently the direction most of the light beams hit you from and conceal most of his next attacks.
Phase 2 Radahn is the worst example of artificial difficulty i've ever experienced and after being one-shot despite having 70 holy defense, 60 vigor and max blessings I just said f*ck it and used Moore's Greatshield to win. I honestly felt more relieved than happy but at least it was somewhat rewarding to outsmart the boss. Still, Radahn is gameplay-wise such a letdown considering how unenjoyable and overtuned his second phase. It's also a letdown lore-wise because of how out of the blue it is for Radahn to be the final boss when they could have had us fight Godwyn and Miquella instead, since resurrecting Godwyn with the use of the eclipse was such an unanswered plot point in the base game and seemed like before the DLC released why we would be required to kill Radahn to access the DLC.
First phase is nasty but fair and hard. Phase two is embarrassingly awful and felt like the designers desperately throwing bullshit at the wall to make it hard enough for the crazy good players and forgot that regular people play their game. Beat it in a handful of hours and it made me want to never play the DLC again in full.
Anyone else think the Putrescent Knight arena looked incredibly similar to Midir’s?
It is
Definitely, just more sludge lol
bro i may be alone in this but even though Bayle was super cool, fighting my 4th dragon in a row right before him did not make me excited for a 5th, even beefier one
I struggled more with the Ancient Dragon before him, god the lock on on those is horrible.
Messmer, Bayle and Midra are top tier!
Rellana?
yeah, consort radahn made demon of hatred and malenia look like true king allant in comparison.
also i think scadutree avatar is probably the most underrated fight in elden ring. great video billy and bayle despite recency bias deserves to be #2 or #1 dragon fight next to midir
I loved Midra, probably second favorite of the DLC after Messmer (who is now my favorite Fromsoftware boss ever). Midra I enjoy for both the spectacle but also a very DS3-esque moveset - he has a few minor combo finisher variants but mostly once you recognize the beginning of a combo he sticks with it which makes the fight feel incredibly smooth and never verging on panicking. It brings back that DS3 feeling of difficulty where it always required focus but never felt like completely chaotic in the way that some Elden Ring bosses end up feeling with their insanely changeable movesets
I felt this way about Romina
Great ranking! And to answer your question, it’s not just your PS4, my frames tanked quite a bit here and there on the Dancing Lion fight on PS5 as well, I’m sure that’s just a simple performance issue they’ll end up patching out soon
I hope so. I love these fights, but in a game that's so fast and fluid as Elden Ring, framedips feel a lot of more dangerous than say in Bloodborne ^^
Killed Radahn yesterday with no mimic, no great shield and no battle magic, that was tough but I felt extreme pleasure at the end
Bayle is such a spectacle, but gameplay wise I just really don't like dragon fights or any large boss tbh. The camera is always the hardest part of the fight and they tend to move unnaturally fast. I would have prefered another humanoid boss for sure.
Midra is by far my favorite. The whole experience of finding the abyssal woods at the bottom of some catacombs and then finding and making my way through the mansion and then that reveal and the music and cutscene were just all so perfect and his fight was so fun. I may also be obsessed with frenzy flame and have been playing a frenzy flame character lmao
From a sheer horror perspective, Midra is absolutely insane. My survival horror instincts were kicking in full force the whole time - I just wish I'd given him more of a chance to show his moveset before cheesing him so I could finish the DLC without getting spoiled ^^
I wasn't happy that I had to max out by scadutree blessing for me to beat radahn with mimic tear. But hearing about people needing to use a great shield made me realize that I didn't have that bad of a time against radahn.
Edit: I completely agree with Scadutree Avatar's placement, though I would have had it at number 1.
I'd go
1. Rellana
2. Messmer
3. Midra
4. Radahn
5. Romina
6. Divine Beast Dancing Lion
7. Bayle
8. Scadutree Avatar
9. Putrescent Knight
10. Mother of Fingers
11. Golden Hippo
12. Gaius
I fought Rellana at +4 Scadutree, which was a bit low. However, it made the fight absolutely incredible, as I had to perfect her moveset. Definitely the 2nd hardest boss in the DLC for me.
I hard agree with the placement of Gaius, because of that dman rush attack being BS and the occasional ranged AOE attacks he can pull out are devastating and one comes out particularly quickly, at least the lore is great for the Commander!
Messmer the best imo
Rellana is the queen
I wouldn't put rellena at first but I can agree that gaius should be at last.
bayle at 7 is criminal
You can turn into a dragon man actually!! After defeating Bayle and going to where the dragon priestess was picking up the item left there and using it allows you to turn into a dragon man until next death
Also one of the new painting rewards can turn you into one
@@hypername1There’s actually two different dragon forms.
I think because I did the alternate variant of her questline, I didn't get access to it :
@@BillySYT the priestess one boosts dragon cult incants, so you didn't miss out with your Dex/Arc build. The one provided by the painting is the one that boosts dragon communion spells, which is much more likely to be used for your build.
1. Messmer
2. Midra
3. Bayle
4. Radahn
5. Rellana
6. putrescent
7. Lion
8. Romina
9. Scadutree
10. Metyr
11. Gaius
Perfect list
Edit: gaius can burn in mt gelmir
This may be the perfect list
Don’t let Radahn get you down, you did nothing wrong, wins a win
I know, but I think this'll be one of those "I'm haunted until I eventually go back and beat him the way I wanted to" moments lol
@@BillySYTthat’s how I felt when I initially played through Elden ring with summons. Got to Malenia and pulled out mimic. Beat her by essentially having her stunlocked the entire time and felt no type of accomplishment from said victory. Played through the entire base game and dlc no summons this summer since I had the time and man, that grind was EPIC and so worth it
@@Drewstanton480it was the same for me. ER was my first soulsborn game so I was pretty shaky. I played the first time with summons until I got to malenia, and I drew a line in the sand for myself to beat her no summons. The thrill I got from finally doing it on my own after 100 ish tries made me want to replay the whole game without the help. 4(?) playthroughs later, here I am at the end of the dlc, ever grateful that I decided to see what I could do on my own
NPC gank above Midra LOL.
Tip for the gravity pull attack, if he pulls you, you can run and jump away from the boss and he won’t catch you with the follow-up.
Midra 1v1 is a delight. Definitely feel like it'll be as you suspect and it'll rocket up the ranks over time.
Midra being so low is criminal. Easily in the top 3 IMO
14:57 the depths of your FOOLISHNESS
RANT OF A LEVEL 1 RUNNER: hey everybody here is the thought´s of someone who put over 120 hours into a souls level 1 elden ring DLC. its impossible there are bosses in the dlc that have attack´s that come out so fast and are so unfair that its not possible to beat it at level one. and yes there will be people like maybe 40 on the planet who can do it but for most people its impossible. for a example mertyr has a attack in his second fase where she floats in to the air and from the moment she is rising if your close to her you will take damage and at level 1 you will be dead before you can react it´s bullshit. elden ring dlc might be to hard for souls level one but what is possible and verry fun to try is beating it without scadutree fragments because you can take the bullshit attacks and still have a rough challenge because mesmer or redanh will still kill you in two hits or one combo. also for the people who want to know this is the list of bosses i coudnt beat on level one all the bosses that are not on this list i did beat on level 1. Redanh, mertyr and commander gaius. p.s for the people that say Bayle is hard you´ll are tripping bayle is easy just fight him like you would fight midir ATTACK HIS HEAD yes he is tanky but his moves are verry fair and every single one is punishable prob one of if not the best fight fromsoft has ever made, he is up their with Geal.
Theres only a few attacks that are bs to dodge but the rest are fine. Radahn's double slash into cross slash is what makes RL1 so bullshit, the rest is super well designed but man that one attack is a pain
@@shades4385Just use the deflect tear on Radhan. Idk if it was because I used it, but Radhan was my favorite boss of the DLC
@@shades4385more than the double slash. The phase 2 gravity pull attack is pretty bs as well. And the meteors are very unintuitive to dodge on a medium load character(strafe jumping to the right). And the boss doesn’t really have any positional combo variation, just the same long combo strings with the same tight attack windows. Even when you learn the fight it’s kinda boring.
@@bigsmall2842I could only consistently dodge the meteor attack with medium equip load but unlocking and running to the right and jumping from the sound cue of when the meteors were going to hit me
@@jvfe287 the crucible talisman that gives you s on backsteps also works
Scadutree Avatar was my FAVOURITE boss in the dlc, such a refreshing fight. The design is by far my favourite, it looks completly out of this game's world, the animations are so different from every other boss and the arena is just gorgeous
“I used a shield and summons and levels and equipment and oh I feel so dirty” 🙄
The abyssal woods have grown on me, probably my favorite area by far. You just get that feeling that you are not welcomed there and you should leave. I absolutely love it.
Oh, I adored the area. It's a bit empty, wish there was a tad more to find there. Like, one hidden field boss, a Frenzy Dragon or something. But the atmosphere and the ambience are unmatched. Those dev notes when you first enter had me paranoid af.
@BillySYT yea it is a bit empty. A frenzy dragon would go so hard lol. They definitely captured that ambiance. When I saw I couldn't summon torrent I wanted to leave haha
great video messmer is my personal favorite (2 phase is excellent). You are my favorite souls content creator. Keep it up❤
Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated ^^
I'd put the hippo at the bottom, I hate that fight with a passion, it's so obvious they just scaled up the model of the normal hippos but in a sloppy way because locking on makes the camera go into its head more often than not. Also the arena is very small for the fight.
I don’t see why we have to act like using the tools the game gives you and expects you to use (spirit summons) and act like it’s wrong.
I think this is what makes you a great reviewer (writing this as you're speaking of the end boss), that you're consistent in your reviews and we get to know what you personally think and how you personally would review a boss, and it being thought out still. A lot of reviewers disregard popular opinion due to their own often quirky opinion, while others disregard their own opinion due to a popular opinion. I just think you're in the sweet spot. Anyway, keep up the good work. PS I like Radahn and despise Malenia.That said, had to use summons on both not to hate my life.
Still don’t know why they gave a goddamn sunflower a remembrance. Like, you got this fire-using warlord, an undead knight, the lord of chaos himself, and oh, also a f*king flower. And for some reason, I love that flower.
I mean it was a fully fleshed out, super well made fight. It was more than just an Erdtree avatar
was way more fun and fair that effing hippo or gaius
@@itachileesan god I hated Gaius. That mf made me break my chair in rage.
The sunflower is an icon, a legend, and truly the moment. Fight me irl.
@@memelord6671 yeah he just charges you right away making it impossible to summon, and the charge is broken af
Radahn, Consort of Miquella might be the *Most Dissatisfying DLC Final Boss of All Time.*
Even thou the Lore is Dark AF.
However. . . .
1. Way Too Hard
2. Miquella Him-Her Tran-self Should Had Been the Final Boss
3. F$%k the 2nd Phase.
Hey ps5 player here, answering if there’s a difference in performance in the ps5 and the short answer is no, long answer there was a few times I can tell the frames drop one is with commander Gaius fight if you and the boss have a magic projectile attack getting ready, for some reason the frames will drop but with the divine beast I didn’t see any frames dropping same with radahn. I do hope they fix the performance issue that’s honestly my biggest complain for the dlc.
Midra and Messmer are my two faves, by far. Another BS dragon fight getting top spot lol, something I'll never understand...
That was a sad kill of Radahn, but I understand why you felt pressured to do it. I'm glad I beat him my way without that greatshield build or summons.
My issue with Midra is the lead up was super cool, the lore and boss itself was hype, but was a complete pushover…in an area where you can get one hit…why does the boss just fall over
Crazy how different people's rankings are, Midra & Radahn were the best fights in the game for me, Radahn was the most exhilarating fight in the game, I know people act like he's broken & That he's legitimately "Too hard" In an unfair way, But honestly other than the visual clutter occasionally being a little distracting in phase 2, His moveset is actually entirely fair, Every attack is dodgable, You just have to play near perfect, Which i believe is how it should be for the final boss of the first and only DLC of Elden Ring, It's the ultimate skikk check, And its very fitting for the lore, You really do have to play like a god to defeat a literal god. I love it. And Midra IMO is as close to perfect as an Elden Ring boss gets. The build up, The atmosphere, The design, The Cutscene, The OST and the fight itself all knocked it out of the park. Midra isn't THAT hard but he's def no pushover either, His moveset is fun to learn and he leaves tons of openings for punish windows, He reminds me of a combination between a Bloodborne and DS3 boss fight, And i mean that as a massive compliment, He never felt unfair or like he was attacking for too long like many Elden Ring bosses, He os challenging in the most fair, Entertaining type of way, I love his phase 2 transition as well, The Frenzy Flame attacks are so damn cool. Top 5 bosses in the DLC for me IMO:
1. Midra
2. Radahn
3. Messmer
4. Bayle
5. Dancing Lion.
Midra & Radahn are the two bosses I wish I'd fought differently during my playthrough, so their rankings are a bit more temporary than the rest of the roster for me. Glad so many people seem to be enjoying Midra, especially.
No way this came out right as I checked the channel
just beat radahn summonless with malady man what a fight he really is the hardest boss Fromsoft has ever done i loved
I must say, i beat radahn using a greatsword build, no guardshield or anything and it felt SO good to beat him, a new game experience will change your mind on him
I disagree, I had no enjoyment in the 100ish attempts it took me even after I best it and it was not helped by how anticlimactic the dlc ending cutscene is
I love the Rellana Twin Swords. So much fun.
Messmer more fun
Your list was very great and interesting
I havent thought of my full scale list but my top 3 are midra bayle and messmer
Also i really appreciate the placement for dancing lion and scadutree avatar both are very underrated and imo scadutree avatar has the best boss theme in the dlc
I'm surprised people aren't high on Dancing Lion? I figured he'd be a shoe-in for Top 5 for a lot of people.
@@BillySYT yes i actually was shocked too see his high placement he is my top 6 placement but many seem to hate this boss
I highly agree with you on Midra by the way. I forced myself to brute force him. No mimic, no summons, no cheese. Just learning to dodge and punish. And when I finally beat him it was EXTREMELY satisfying
Glad you got that experience with Midra. I really want to go at him again without relying on weapon skills to get me through - Really learn that moveset. If only FromSoft would add a boss rush mode.
I beat the final boss with a Claymore no summons and no status. It took days, but I did it
The build up Lore and the preceding area to Midra easily makes him the most stand out for me. And his fight is not half bad. Mechanically it is a very fair and balanced fight. The Frenzy does surprise you a couple of times but incredibly easy to learn and feels very rewarding once you do. And I for pnce was praying that From Soft touches upon the Frenzied Flame Lore even more and I got exactly what I had wished for. I also think that fans got vindicated for the Kale's cut content story from the base game. Bayle comes in a close second in terms of Lore and build up and an epic boss fight at the end.
i loved messmer's fight and all, but kinda bummed the arena doesn't catch on fire like Midra's or Rykard's in phase 2.
Either that, or just having more of his impaler spears around the arena. It felt a tad empty, needed a bit more to it.
Here for the discussion about the avatar being underrted and dificulty not equating to quality.
You get me fr fr
Overall though I gotta say the quality of bosses in thie DLC is lower than main game for me (if we only including main bosses). Only Messmer, Bayle, and Midra really can compare with my list of base game bosses, which in my opinion has the best bosses in history of gaming: Maliketh, Rykard, Malenia, Radahn, Godfrey, Radagon, Mohg, Placidusax, Fortisax, Margit/Morgott.
While I definitely think the base game demigods are absolutely peak, I do think fights like Scadutree Avatar & Romina, while easier than people perhaps wanted, are well designed and nice breathers from the rest of the roster. I'd say Metyr was the only boss I felt a bit let down by, and that's just because she has such an interesting sidequest leading up to her.
@@BillySYT Agree with Metyr. For the other bosses, it is not the fight itself, but everything else around them that feels underwhelming for me. The lack of cutscene, lore, and unique visual design in particular hurt them the most. Margit for example feels impactfull cause we could hear him talk, and understood somewhat his personality and his goals. I have no clue how Romina is as a person, and why is she guarding the sealing tree. Shes just a roadblock to me.
I’m playing on PS5 and never had any major frame drops during any boss, even dancing lion and consort.
I really like the theory that Midra is Marikas dad
i found midra before rellana so fun how we all have our own way of playing these games
I had to look up how to get to all those areas🤣 I fought Gaius. Finger mom and Midra all after defeating Radahn
I absolutely hated the Putrescent knight. The fact that after he's done every attack that he moves backwards slightly and avoids your attacks was so annoying. He took me the most attempts outside the final boss for me.
YEP! Gotta love when a boss always flees the scene after every combo, so half the weapon roster in the game can't even capitalize.
He has very little health so this isn't much of a problem
Hot Take: Messmer should have had 2 health bars like Malenia. He should have had a third cutscene where he goes full snake or gets some sort of big thing, even if his second health bar would be very short.
Honestly, I think they should have given his second phase a full healthbar instead of just half. It would have hit that perfect balance for me.
@@BillySYT I can see that working too. Only reason why I suggested a third phase is because I was expecting something bigger from him, like what sister Friede gave us so a third phase after a cutscene would have been more shocking.
I know we got the Scabutree Avatar for this but still.
31:58 I put him as number 1 myself.
Rhadan is probably the most unbalanced and unfair boss From has ever made . I hope they can patch the fight into something more rewarding and fun. Hard bosses should make you want to go back one more try. You get an inch closer to beat them , you even lose with just a sliver of their health and you don't get mad. You go on until you bea them. With Radhan I'm at a point of total frustration. I mean. I cant even summon the mimick without losing half my health at the beginning. And second phase is madness. I can't believe they didn't realize what they did.
I think as the months go by, counters will be put in place by the community to make his fight easier, and I do see a nerf in his future. But when nobody knows how to beat him in those first weeks, it doesn't shock me he feels too hard to defeat.
@@BillySYT Yeah, I finally beat him without summons, but with the mimick with the help of a video that showed me all the ways you can counter damage in the game that I wasn't aware (some consumables and such) and using those I could finally survive phase 2 enough to see what to do. The mimick was more of a distraction in phase 1 because he obliterated him and was never around in phase 2... so all in all after the initial frustration I got a victory I was actually proud of. I celebrated with a "YEAH!" when I did it. I was afraid it was going to be a bitter victory. I still think he need serious nerfs, specially in phase 2, but I am pretty happy nonetheless.
I must add that summoning, at least for me, was impossible for this boss. It seems everyone was summoning, for obvious reasons, so I could only summon once during my frustrating tries. The rest of the time I was getting "unable to summon" over and over.
PS4? You're a content creator.
So can someone plays tell my why it's "so wrong" to fight against bosses with summons? The game gives you the spirit ashes, why shouldn't I use them? I also feel like the bosses were made with spirit ashes in mind, as some are way too aggressive
this dlc had amazing incredible never seen before mesmerizing showstopping enemy and boss design goddamn !!!!
Im nowhere near a god tier gamer. Still havent beat Malenia all by myself. I always summon mimic tear. But I defeated all the bosses solo in this DLC. If i can do it. It must not be that bad. Tired of hearing ppl complaining its "too hard."
It’s not too hard but seriously, how have you beat Radhan without summons but you can’t do malenia? She’s significantly easier to fight solo
I think I’m burnt out on the FROM formula; the DLC just couldn’t hold my interest
Totally fair. Maybe it's worth looking into other games that hit that same itch - Soulslikes, or something like Monster Hunter?
@@BillySYT I did enjoy lies of p quite a bit! Have you tried that one?
I beat radahn with no summons or shield and I still don’t feel good I just got lucky
Same feeling I had when I first beat Malenia. Sometimes, even with skill, there doesn't come mastery. I'd say regardless of how you beat him, feel proud in it!
@@BillySYT ye that’s true dude thanks for the great videos btw
my ranking
1 Bayle
2 Rellana
3 mesmer
4 midra
5 Scadutree avatar
6 Redanh
7 putrescent knight
8 dancing lion
9 death knight dubble axes
10 romana saint of the bud.
11 lady leda and her friends
12 yoda the sword master haha
least fav boss Jori elder inquisitor. f*ck this guy you wanne know how long this guy took me on my level 1 run? 6 hours and 214 deaths each holy thingy is a insta kill omg he is the worst worst boss fromsoft has ever made. and Yes that means worst then bed of chaos
CURSE YOU BAYLE! That number one belonged to Messmer
Its funny how the hippo wasnt a case of "being bad at dodging" he was actually just genuinely bugged with his grab attack. I wont lie though, Radahn is hard for all the wrong reasons. Visual clutter, inflated HP and EVERY. SINGLE. ATTACK. Is delayed. Also 20 aoes
Day 4 of asking for a boyfriend reveal.
He already did didn’t he they had that one video on Valentine’s.
Huh must’ve missed it
Just imagine if From shoved two Dancing Lions in one room, had them fight, and put you right in the middle of their brawl.
I would simply cry.
beating redanh scadutree level 1 with my trusted moonveil and fast roll might be the proudest i have ever been in a game it took me over 400 ettemps i lost count but it was wort it. almost 20% of my dlc playtime went into fighting this boss
Im rocking a moonveil build with Scadu level 20 and I’m getting cooked. Which Talisman did you use?
@@mt2r-music the mistake is moonveil switch to glintstone krist and then spam weapon art, thank me later that's how I got through
@@mt2r-music holy damage negation plus 3 alexanders great jar fast stamina turtle one and crimson seed plus 1
Quick note about Radahn's grav well: you _can_ avoid the followup with medium equip load, if you get pulled you need to *run* away immediately and jump - this way you will outpace the AoE. Rolling won't help
Miquella: I promise thee a thousand year journey of compassion.
Hahaha, chicken leg go BRRRRRR
DBDL, rellana, bayle, messmer and midra really just reminded me how good fromsoft is at making all this types of bosses, really shows how far they have come since the demon souls era
You can avoid Metyr's dual spinning laser attack by un-targeting Metyr, facing the beams as they approach and then running around them.
I just beat Radahn after idk. 6 hours our so without bleed or summons and I must say that I really enjoyed Radahn himself. Miquella is the one who introduces the bull shit. Radahn‘s basic sword combos are so fun to dodge and honestly a 8/10 for me. They would be a 10/10 if it wasn’t for this one quick swipe with both blades infront of him as you have to be frame perfect to dodge them. I only managed to do that twice on accident in my countless attempts. The other attack I really hate is his huge explosion at the start of phase 2. If you even wait half a second before you start running you will definitely get hit by it and I just think that’s unfaire especially when he does this mid fight. His attacks where he jumps in the air and sends a bunch of clones at you before striking himself are okay. It really depends on what he follows it up with. But over all, I had a great time.
PS: Needle Knight Leda is the worst 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 bossfight i‘ve ever done in a video game. Throwing four hyper aggressive NPC with the potential of three of them fighting you at the same time is just so lazy and unfun. The only fight in thr DLC I wasn’t able to finish solo and honestly I couldn’t care less.
I think that fight is like Radahn in the base game. It's a fight that's there for spectacle, it's meant to be you fighting along side a group of allies to face your foe. And unlike with Bayle who also seems to heavily encourage a summon in Igon, the fight feels like it was tailor made for summons. The fact that they don't come in until midway through the battle enforces this I think, just like Radahn summons constantly come back throughout the fight @@Tactical_Cookie
My ranking is
1. Messmer
2. Bayle
3. Midra
4. Rellana
5. Romina
6. Scadutree avatar
7. Dancing Lion
8. Promised Consort Radhan
9. Metyr
10. Gaius.
Messmer is by far my favourite boss dare i say in all of Fromsoft
Scadutree Avatar to me was honestly brilliant, even with its placement i can't call it a bad boss due to the music, premise and the story told throughout the fight itself
FUCK GAIUS, I HATE HIM, I ABSOLUTELY HATE HIM, he's the only boss i had to cheese because of how bullshit his hitbox is
Radahn's meteors are a bitch because you can basically say goodbye to your progress on his posture bar when he does them. Also he has one basically undodgable combo that is pure BS and is extremely difficult to avoid consistently. Although I find the claims of him having poor visual clarity to be very exaggerated. Also his gravity well attack is literally his EASIEST attack, just dodge once when you see the telegraph and you're good, I literally never got hit by that after the first time. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say that he 'uses it while you're in another animation'.
My ranking for a top 10 would be:
1. Romina
2. Bayle
3. Metyr
4. Messmer
5. Scadutree Avatar
6. Midra
7. Rellana
8. Dancing Lion
9. Death Knight (twin axes)
10. One of the red bears
I know its a weird ranking, especially for Messmer and Midra. But both of them are two cursed twinky humanoids with a piercing/slashing weapon and fire abilities. They're very cool, but bosses like Romina, Bayle, the Avatar or Metyr have that sense of uniqueness that Im look for when I play that kind of DLC.
And I also think they're fight delivers as well as Messmer and Midra
I haven't quite finished the video yet but I got far enough to realize you didn't put Gaius at the bottom. I... respect this but I LOATHED that fight. Though, now that I watch your video, I realized it's because I just... do not guard. I play Elden Ring like Bloodborne because I that's just the kind of gameplay I enjoy. So I honestly just forget guarding exists.
Maybe that would've made him quite a bit of easier. In the end I just cheesed him by manipulating his AI. It wasn't satisfying at all but I put about 90 attempts in and I was just so tired of his bullshit.
On the bright side, though, they apparently fixed the charge always happening at the start of the battle. So that's nice!
The final boss fight is definitely where they want you to pull out all the stops. You're not just fighting God, you're fighting the STRONGEST champion in the lands between, boosted by an ascended God. The Elden Beast and Radagon cannot hold a candle to full power Radahn alone - and they seem even more pathetic compared to the combined power of both him and Miquella "the Tyrant."
EDIT: I found his grab attack very "charming" if it lands you can take a few seconds to think about your mext move since it gives a breather. Get grabbed enough times trying to fight him and you'll realize that you can breathe out, relax, decompress, then engage.
As someone who beat him in 72 tries and considers Radahn by 3rd favorite dlc fight, I have 3 tipes that will save your life. 1: Lord's Divine Fortification. Stack that with the Golden Braid Tailsman, and his phase 2 attacks deal like 75% less damage. 2: Raptor of the Mists. Use it to dodge the Lion's Claw, Ground Upheaval, and Orbital Strike, takes a lot of stress off your shoulders. 3: Rapiers. I kid you now, rapiers are the most fun weapon to use against this guy. There are certain attack strings that have delays that allow you to get one rapier hit in between hits. If you learn these openings, you literally don't have to learn the dodge timings for the delayed follow-up; just hit once with a rapier and immediately dodge, and you will likely avoid the attack. Hope this helps
The Radahn fight is something I'd like to revisit with a different approach. Ideally I'd like it to be challenging like a dodge-rolling run, but not braindead easy like the fingerprint shield + poke combo I ultimately beat him with on the 2nd go. Even without summons, it still felt like an unearned victory.
It's just so irritating to get into a good dodge flow with 2nd phase Radahn. ONGBAL has shown us it's possible to not get hit once, but I'm a mere mortal and do not have the patience for that kind of run. For these reasons, my three favorites are Midra, Rellana and Messmer. These three are exactly what I want out of a soulslike boss fight. All three fights are incredibly cinematic and are challenging without resorting to cheap tricks.
I did the same thing with Radahn where I gave up and slapped on double bleed spears and a mimic tear. I felt a feeling of relief at actually being able to beat the game but also regret because I don’t like using summons, I want to be the one fighting the boss but that phase 2 is… yeah, I’ll come out and say it. It’s bullshit. Straight bullshit. Malenia has one bullshit move with the waterfowl and even that is fine at most ranges, it’s only at close range. Radahn in Phase 2, or I suppose Miquella, is out here with like 5 bullshit moves, and while they don’t one shot you, it makes up for it by Radahn jumping around the arena 24/7 so you can’t punish back and Miquella covering your screen with light AoEs making the fight really confusing. Ahhh.
Kind of felt like a bad note to end the DLC on which sucks because the rest of it was so good!! Doing a second playthrough now, maybe I’ll get Radahn without throwing my pride in the toilet
Am I the only one who liked putrescent knight?
I mean, I LIKED him, I just didn't love him lol
@@BillySYTidk I guess I really liked his move set as it seemed fun to dodge for me and I never got caught in stupid hitboxes
S
Messmer
Dancing lion
Midra
A
Consort radahn
Relanna
Putrescent knight
Scadutree avatar
Romina
Metyr
Bayle (only this low because I was just too tired at the time to allow myself to enjoy this and this list is based on level of enjoyment it gave me, not critical rating. Still A though)
Golden hippo (I loved this fight so much so I’m surprised I have it this low it just goes to show I pretty much loved every boss in this dlc except for gaius)
D
Gaius (I wanted to joust on horseback but he was too good at insta killing torent) I know now that there was some strategies that could have made this much better but I was going full blind play through and on a second play through I bet he will move up to c or b who knows)
I somehow managed to beat Radahn 4 times in less than a few weeks without summons. I found parrying was the best bet because he’s so aggressive to the point where he does most of the same attacks that can be parried (even after a parry). Tbh, he’s within my top 5 favorite bosses of the dlc overall. He’s just so cool and flashy with all of his attacks, especially the holy attacks Miquella follows up with. It can be annoying because it feels like a flashbang goes off every time he does said holy attacks.
He’s just an insane final boss that really caps off SOTE difficulty so perfectly. It’s a battle of attrition where there’s little room for mistakes.
I did Rellana first but my sense was that the dancing lion WAS supposed to be your first boss. Rellana is much harder in my opinion. Loved fighting her first though, took my whole first evening with the DLC.
There are so many ways to avoid attacks against Radahn. I think rather than going fingerprint, embracing looking up no hit videos and guides is a good way to lighten the challenge of learning a bit while preserving the feeling of overcoming the fight. Nothing wrong with shield and poke of course, but it seems like it made your victory feel hollow to you. Hope you enjoy it more next time.
I can't disagree too much with your ranking though. Many of the bosses are on a similar level of quality and it comes down to what order you find them in, and what your preferences are.
I hate radhan, he just flies around the arena for so long. And the dmg windows are so small. I can't do this shit, malenia more you learn the better the fight flows but this, unless you have really fast weapon you'd be doing only light atks, its just not fun. Took me 30 hours, just beat him yesterday on like 400th attempt and I just don't think it's a good fight. There are no clever positioning based punishes like you can do with every other main boss. And you have to run for your life If he decides to do one of his super moves, because unless you are super quick on your reaction time my man you are going to get hit.
Malenia had 2 of this types of atks but they have a long wind up and you can consistently dodge them if you have the timing down but this, this is utter BS. Idk how the community sentiment is gonna be after we learn him but in his current state it's just ehe.
People said malenia requires build change but no, she had massive positioning based opening for big weapons. This boss is just to much, idk how else to describe it. Do I want to nerf him, just his double slash into cross but even for tht wait a month or two, maybe thn....
Anyway messmer is the new goat now, he is really eazy but he is just so fun, one of those bosses thts just fun no matter how many times I die, followed by midra, love tht guy. Both are somehow on the same level as the elden chad, malenia and radagon for me
Bayle is by farrrrr my favorite dlc boss! They even give you a weapon to use against him like they do wirh Rykard! So cinematic and FUN!
with putrescent knight and gaius, and rider fights in general, you can do directional dodges to punish some attacks you wouldn't be able to otherwise, like I know dodging backwards on one of the putrescent knight attacks will let you punish the attack where he would usually ride away for a few seconds. also, putrescent knight's combos are consistent, they're just positioning based, I think the only random one he does is whether he does a from-neutral throw into swipe and ride away after the other variant of the throw that isn't from neutral which seemed to happen like half the time. oh and you can also jump some of his attacks to get those hits in too.
Tbh i rly enjoyed the dlc so far and i love the world and the npcs and most of the bosses. Im Not a pro player and still could manage the Fights with the tools the Game give me, even without cheesing them. But wtf is this final fight? P1 of radahn is rly hard but learnabel but p2? Wtf i Had coundless tries now for 3 days straight. Now im at a point where i try to cheese it with bleed strenght build, allys and mimik but still got No chance at all. There is just way too much going on there and i think they went too far with that one... Rly hope for a Patch making IT maybe kind of more enjoyebel
I hate Raddahn fight so I brought Caelid back to his ass
Messmer is my new favorite boss in Elden Ring and first canonically based boss in souls
My first reaction to Bayle was "holy shit satan"
Ancient Dragon-man = Old Scally Person
I think it's hilarious that after Sister Friede the first boss with 3 health bars is a sunflower
Also if you want to make Leda Gank Squad trivial just spam Messmer's spear ash of war
My top 5 hardest as a Mage build:
5 - Scadutree Avatar
4 - Commander Gaius
3 - Rellana
2 - Bayle
1 - Radahn
These bosses were just super aggressive right off the bat and don't offer much time to get a charged spell cast off, i mean i had to burst Radahn down with Impenetrable thorns just to try to survive phase 2 long enough with flasks because there was so much going on.
As much as the fight was gorgeous I can't rank consort too high due to a few things. The first phase is glorious and everything I expected from fighting radhan in his prime, phase 2 however is filled with relentless beams of light that cause a great amount of pain, the quadruple front flip is ridiculous to dodge and easily akin to waterfowl as 'that attack' but my biggest issue is the meteor. The meteor attack he does at really low health comes in with far too little warning, it's very difficult to spot in the sky, gives almost no sound cue and even if you do spot it's hitbox is so confusing that i find it very difficult to tell if you're going to die instantly or just take a chip of damage.
Everyone who has seen one of those vids of a hippo crushing a watermelon in its jaw like it's nothing will have been rightfully wary of golden hippo's jaws (seriously, hippos are no joke and kill more people than one would think. Maybe even more than sharks.). Now guess which attack it got and I think one-shotted me with the moment I stepped foot into its arena for the very first time. 😂