Even though the holidays are very often synonymous with fantasy, here we will discuss a much darker side of this aspect that usually reflects happiness: dark-fantasy. FromSoftware are the masters in the matter and each time offer us mature titles where joy can never arise despite some hopes. Finally if, in a single case, the elimination of an opponent, in particular bosses.
So, for those who have managed to become the Lord of Elden on Elden Ring, here is our selection of the most complicated bosses we have encountered. Of course, we all have our perception of bosses, we are never safe from a feat that will make you disagree with my opinion! Everyone has their affinities with the bosses' paterns and the weapons used sometimes have an advantage among some of them. So, if your opinion differs from mine, I invite you to give me your selection in the comments, it's still interesting to see what others have suffered in Entre-Terre.
Our top 5 hardest bosses in Elden Ring
There are many opponents who made us bite the dust on Elden Ring. Just the Sentinel of the tree is a torture when we take our first steps in the game. Later, there will of course be the Funerary Volatiles or the dragons like Borealis, the freezing fog which will have made us lose patience so much the fights are played at a hair's breadth.
But the bosses still have more than one trick up their sleeves to make us regret buying this torture game. So, without further ado, here is a selection of bosses for you that will have caused us to lose some hair and possibly a controller.
Malenia, sword of Miquella
Malenia is deadly beautiful. Endowed with great grace, she uses her quick step to inflict the worst torture on us: a hasty return to square one. Like a forbidden fruit, she will not let us touch her and if you manage to do so, this outstanding knight will be able to regenerate herself by drawing our blood. However, it remains accessible if you show accuracy and patience; especially considering its vulnerability to jump attacks.
Except that this phase is the simplest, even if it is still very athletic. The real danger lies in his anseriform dance. The latter will jump in the air and rush at us to provoke a 360° tear attack; clearly, you will have no escape and once caught in this attack, you may have a life bar like a GigaChad, it will be pulverized. This attack can be dodged down to the frame, but a long learning curve will await you to hope to achieve this.
The most complicated way to make Malenia's second form appear is to give her no respite. Posture damage and a good dodge will allow you to achieve your goals, before its most complex phase: Malenia, Goddess of Decay. Once her life bar drops to 0, she turns into a kind of angel of misfortune with wings made of putrid flower. She keeps part of her basic blow set, but comes back with some subtleties: a big zone attack with her red flower and the summoning of spectral copies that will not hesitate to rush at you. Then, of course, she becomes much more aggressive than usual.
Her Anseriform Dance becomes even deadlier than before, as she now applies Scarlet Rot... We're "very happy", especially considering the scarcity of items to create dumplings. Without a summon, you will have very little chance of defeating her in a few attempts. Thus, Malenia is the most complex boss in Elden Ring and her presence has allowed the community to see a capeless hero appear: LetMeSoloHer.
Maliketh, the Black Blade
Maliketh is, in our opinion, the second most complex boss to defeat on Elden Ring. Its first phase is quite simple; when he is in Bestial Cleric, he will use bestial incantations that we know very well. With some gymnastic exercises, you will be able to reach him very easily and inflict damage on him, especially in his back. The pillars of the arena will be perfect to have a little respite, especially to take a small vial. Except that we are not at the end of our surprises: its second phase increases the difficulty in a way that we would never have imagined.
When Maliketh becomes the Black Blade, our whole comfort zone is shattered: he is more powerful, faster, more agile and even more aggressive. And to top it off, it takes the form of an upgraded version of the Black Knives Assassins who are already quite complex enough to fight.
Now equipped with a great blade, our ordeal has only just begun. It will be necessary to show great dexterity with dodges, to observe the damage zones on the jump attacks that it inflicts on us and to avoid taking too much damage to avoid generated by its blade. Yes, like Scarlet Decay, Maliketh will be able to generate passive damage on our character with a single swing of the blade. Each sword strike always leads to an explosion of flames a few moments later, which further nibbles your life bar.
To succeed in the fight, you must either raise your affliction bar to the maximum shortly before your second phase, use an invocation or play on bleeding or glaciation. For a fair fight, without incantation, without Runic Arc, or anything, you will have to be a real star dancer: dodge to the nearest frame and seize the few opportunities to inflict some damage on him.
Placidusax, Dragon Lord
We've seen dragon battles on Elden Ring, but this one is by far the most complex. Indeed, our faithful steed Torrent cannot be summoned, so the chances of dying in one shot are multiplied by 10! The latter behaves like any dragon; he will turn around with a swipe of his tail if you are too far behind him, will try to crush you with his paws and will give many claw strikes. Except that he is a little more pimped than these congeners: he uses electric damage which will hit you 3 times in a row, will infuse his claws with this red electricity and the arena will be hit randomly with this lightning. Except that our misfortune does not stop in such a good way: it is only its first phase!
During its transformation, the latter will change into a black cloud and will rush at you after a short trip in the sky. He will keep a good part of his basic attacks, but will come back as grown: he will be much more unpredictable, will launch a double laser beam and will teleport... Yes, the latter teleports and he abuses it, buggers himself. After a teleportation, he will often strike you with an electric claw and will leave again in the mist to place himself elsewhere.
The difficulty of this boss lies in the management of its zone attacks, but especially of these laser beams which will randomly sweep the arena. Without Torrent by our side this titanic fight is harshly complicated.
General Radahn, the scourge of the stars
Radahn is sort of the "first real boss" we face. His strength is astronomical: he can touch us both from near and far and without the help of the summons available on the battlefield, the big man on his little horse will be a real pain. In its first phase it is already very complicated to get within reach of it, because it will not stop using its gargantuan arrows to block our way. And then, once very close to him, the latter will not stop jumping in all directions, will distance himself with the help of his horse and will deliver devastating zone attacks. Without invocation, the fight is complex, because all its blows (which are however AoE) will be carried on you.
When he has his life bar down, he will abuse his gravitational attacks, especially the spheres. But, with the help of Torrent, the fight will still be viable. However, without warning, the latter will disappear and then return in the form of a meteorite which will kill you if you take it head on. Dodging it is quite complex and staying away from the impact zone is a miracle. Radahn is tall, moves fast, and deals AoE damage that makes dealing with him truly abysmal without help from allied summons.
Duo Sanctechair
Already these two bosses are complicated to defeat independently, so having to face them both together is sadism on the part of the developers. It's a purely personal choice, because I had a lot more trouble killing these two fanatics than defeating Malenia or even Hoarah Loux, that's to say!
While one stretches out its limbs to inflict damage on you, the other goes into Michelin tires to roll over you shamelessly, all with very small dodge windows. But it is not finished ! While you are healing yourself, they launch magic attacks or pounce on you... There is enough to make you lose patience.
But that's not the worst ; while one would have thought that the fight was similar to that of Ornstein and Smough from Dark Souls 1, the latter is very different: they resurrect! You have to kill a Sanctechair 4 times to completely empty the mutual life bar they have. No fight with a single opponent is possible, you will absolutely have to rub shoulders with these two unbearable beings to finish them off. It was with great pain that I had to resign myself to taking out Tiche of the Black Knives to have some respite from this frustrating boss fight.
On the sales side it's undeniable, Pokémon Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Purple have smashed the records, but what about the rest? Should we rather congratulate risk-taking or be indignant at the lack of "tweaking" which is increasingly becoming a criterion of quality?
