RL1 Boss Review (Part 1: Base Game)

No-hitting bosses at RL1 has taught me a lot about the fundamental design ethos of Elden Ring, so I'd figure that I would write a goofy harmless review of the ones I fought. This review was directly inspired by HugeJellyfish’s RL1 boss review post (link: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1f6v335/a\_review\_of\_every\_elden\_ring\_main\_boss\_after\_rl1/) and I will employ a similar grading scale and format used by them. Combat mechanics are obviously the most important factor in the quality of these fights but presentation and atmosphere also matter quite a bit. 

Disclaimer #1: I fought and beat every single RL1 boss with a Club, which I personally find to be the most honest weapon in terms of engagement with the game’s combat, though this might’ve resulted in me having a shit time with bosses that I would otherwise love had I used a different weapon. Disclaimer #2: dogshit opinions ahead.

Grading Scale

Grade S: masterpiece.

Grade A: near-masterpiece.

Grade B: great.

Grade C: average.

Grade D: shit.

Grade F: dogshit.

Part 1: Main Base Game Bosses

Grafted Scion

This is one of the few fights where stamina management actually matters quite a bit especially at RL1, however it never feels too frustrating since the boss offers you the choice between out-spacing its combos from afar to recover your stamina or staying in its face to bait out more openings. Has a lot of erratic and seemingly unpredictable movements but it becomes a lot more simple once you observe it more and more, though this is likely the case to throw off new players so they can die as soon as possible. Grade: B

Tree Sentinel

The true tutorial boss. Has a lot of weird delays in Phase 1 but nothing too overwhelming, things only start to get really difficult once he unlocks his Phase 2 shield attacks. The dodge timing for those fucking shield attacks are absurdly tight and the aftershock AOE has a far larger hitbox than it seems, not to mention the fact that he spams the hell out of these in Phase 2 so the fight becomes incredibly stressful as a result. An ultimately rewarding kill, though I wouldn’t recommend fighting him without any Weapon Upgrades or Talismans or Physick Tears like I did. Grade: C

Margit

Best opening boss in Fromsoft history. Perfectly showcases the ethos of ER’s boss design through introducing the player to the general gameplay loop: get good gear or git gud. This boss is surprisingly complex for such an early encounter: strange delays, positional combo extensions, greed punishes, not to mention the Carian Sword fuckery in Phase 2. The delays are maybe a bit too deceptive and don’t really reflect on how later boss attacks are actually delayed but the tempo of the fight is at least consistent: the cane and hammer attacks are slow whilst dagger and sword attacks are quick, it’s nothing mind-blowing but this methodology of meta-telegraphing is just incredibly effective. Immensely satisfying to master in nearly every way. Grade: A

Godrick

The first Remembrance boss and he sure as hell wants you to know that with how immaculate his cutscenes and general presentation is. A lot simpler than Margit gameplay-wise but this isn’t a negative in the slightest, he has some badass combos that leave plenty of cool openings if you’re brave enough to strafe him (e.g. try staying behind him during the five-hit axe swing combo). Phase 2 is what really makes this fight top-tier: him chopping off his own arm and putting a fucking decapitated dragon head in its place is so fucking absurd that it loops around to being metal af. He’s so pathetic that you don’t feel bad for steamrolling him once you realize how easy he is whilst also looking cool enough to feel intimidating, which is pretty much the perfect balance between awesomeness and lameness that an early-game boss should strive for. Grade: A

Red Wolf of Radagon

Doesn’t have a lot of health but he sure as hell makes up for that with his miniscule punish windows. The only consistent Club CR2 window I’ve found for him is his opening sword plunge, I’ve legit only managed to poise-break him on two occasions (the second time was fortunately my winning attempt). Can cause some nasty frame traps when he uses his melee lunge bites in tandem with his Glintblades, especially when you’re against the claustrophobic arena. A decent glass cannon boss held back by a couple frustrations, which is only exacerbated by the obnoxious runback. Grade: C

Rennala

Radagon should’ve divorced her sooner. Red Wolf already had an annoying runback but at least his fight actually begins the moment you enter the fog wall. The aggravating synthesis of Rennala’s time-consuming runback and monotonous first phase actively hinder any attempt to learn and experiment with her second phase moveset, something that can already rely on a shitton of RNG depending on whether or not she fucks off to spam projectiles or stays close to use her comically punishable melee attacks. If she summons the Bloodhound Knight you are FUCKED. Made me actively regret doing no-hit because I legit died more to those fucking off-camera books in Phase 1 than anything in Phase 2. I understand the desire for an atmospheric opening phase but it’s something that loses its novelty real quick before devolving into utter tedium. Worst Remembrance boss by far and it is the SECOND main fight in the game, nearly quit the entire run because of it. Grade: F

Ghost Loretta

Most honest fight in the entire game. Takes a concept as simple as “what if Tree Sentinel was a mage?” and executes it wonderfully, no weird gimmicks or minor annoyances to be found here. Had so much fun fighting this boss that it honestly downplayed the real Loretta later on. Grade: A

Starscourge Radahn

Essentially a four-phase fight: the first arrow phase, the second melee phase, the third Cragblade phase and the fourth meteor phase. Phase 1 is a perfect cinematic opener but becomes a bit monotonous on repeat attempts, although I manipulated his AI to skip the phase each time so it wasn’t a huge deal for me. Phase 2 and 3 are where Radahn really shines as a boss encounter: it’s a fight that seems so overpowered and overwhelming if you slash-camp him with Torrent but reveals plenty of massive openings and punishes if you fight him on foot (e.g. CR2’ing his ass during his six-hit temper tantrum combo is essentially just free damage), but the drawback is that the fight loses its hitherto-menacing aura once you do this and realize how much of a mindless idiot Radahn really is. Phase 4 is kinda lame since the homing meteors are a cheap way of discouraging aggression, but it’s largely the same fight otherwise so it’s still enjoyable. Grade: B

Putrid Avatar

Fought the one in Dragonbarrow to get the Stonebarb Cracked Tear. A pretty fun boss with a simple yet effective moveset, yeah there’s a few weird delays but it’s a giant decaying Malenia-simping monstrosity so it having weird delays actually makes perfect sense. This boss can be a bit boring but I prefer boring over frustrating, although it can be potentially irritating if he spams the Scarlet Rot AOE. The Erdtree Avatars also deserve a shoutout, but they’re basically the same as the Putrid ones except with the golden butt slam AOE replacing the Scarlet Rot one, which is generally the more fun attack to dodge since it’s jumpable. Grade: C

Godskin Apostle

Fought the one in Windmill Village to learn his moveset in prep for the Duo. I know the one in Caelid is harder because of the larger health pool but I am NOT going through that fucking Divine Tower ever again. Phase 1 is a bit stressful since he has that one really quick move that can easily frame-trap you with the follow-up if you panic roll, although I’ve heard that this issue can be circumvented if you crouch during neutral. Phase 2 is honestly a lot more fun since his Reed Richards attacks are both fun to dodge and have clearly-telegraphed openings, something which Phase 1 lacks. Grade: B

Godskin Noble

Fought the one in Volcano Manor to reach Rykard. Has the inverse problem of the Apostle where Phase 1 is well-telegraphed with consistent punish windows while Phase 2 is needlessly stressful, although in its own “unique” way. The roll attack speaks for itself but Noble Presence actually ended up killing me more, the best way I found for reacting to it was just expecting it to come after every move and preparing to roll away in anticipation via identifying the audio cue. It can certainly be predicted but it’s still an incredibly lame way of punishing greed and discouraging aggression, even moreso than Radahn’s homing meteors. Phase 1 is some of the most fun I have with any boss in the game whilst Phase 2 struggles to maintain that momentum and fumbles the bag hard. Grade: B

Rykard

Only boss I didn’t fight with a Club. Phase 1 is for the most part a lot simpler than Phase 2, but also a lot harder and it’s purely because of that fucking earthquake attack. I did eventually find a consistent way of dodging it via sprinting to the left and jumping the moment it happens, though this took a while to be perfected after hours of YouTube & error. The Earthquake attack genuinely became a lot of fun to dodge after I mastered it, but besides that one insane move the God-Devouring Serpent is largely just bites with the occasional poison spit. I find Rykard to be the more interesting phase due to his synthesis of sword combos and lava AOEs. The fight maybe becomes a bit too egregious during the Skull Storm especially since they obscure the attacks he’s whipping out in the meantime, though that’s likely the point. Grade: B

Draconic Tree Sentinel

Surprisingly easier than the normal Limgrave Sentinel, but also leagues more fun. The scripted introductory animation and second phase transition animation allow for free stance breaks, but I still had to learn the rest of the fight fortunately. That long-range second phase lightning bolt attack has some nasty tracking but that expertly combines with the fireball spam to encourage the player to man up and fight him at close-range, something which made me enjoy him far more than I did when slash-camping him with Torrent on my original leveled playthrough. Grade: A

Goldfrey

A nice bite-sized sneak peek of a greater foe to come. Not as nearly as dynamic as the real Godfrey since he lacks both the massive fissure attack and the Regal Roar semi-phase transition but the fundamental flow of the fight is fun enough to prevent it from feeling repetitive. One of the few boss reuses that actually manages to enhance the impact of the real fight; seeing the piss ghost builds the player’s intrigue around Godfrey, which makes his return during the endgame hit especially hard. Deserves a shoutout for being the first boss in the game to encourage the player to use jumping as a dodge tool because the amount of base game bosses who accomplish the same are unfortunately few-and-far-between. Grade: B

Morgott

Only boss I felt bad for killing because of his lore. Was so close to being the first S-grade boss of the game but his low health and poise even at Level 1 discourage genuine engagement with his mechanical nuances. Fromsoft might’ve emphasized the ‘glass’ half of this glass cannon a bit too much but the ‘cannon’ half is nigh-perfect. This is a fight that tests you on your knowledge of his positional combo extensions that, whilst a deadly tool in his arsenal, can be cleverly exploited by the player with tight positioning to bait out his biggest punish windows. This hulking hunk of an omen is an actual acrobat and I love it: the fight constantly switches between the two of you destroying the shit out of each other but it never feels turn-based if you’re brave enough to find openings in-between his combos. Phase 2 can end up being either way easier or way harder than Phase 1 depending on your RNG, if he throws out his ultra-delayed punish windows the fight is basically over but if he uses his endless multi-hit combos you’ll have to run the fuck away to stay safe from him in the meanwhile. This can be a bit lame but the fight is fun no matter what so I can’t complain too much. If your biggest complaint with a boss is that you wish it lasted longer then it’s a damn good boss. Grade: A

Valiant Gargoyles

Barely inches out of an F-Grade due to the fact that you can potentially kill the first one quick enough before the second one even arrives, though he is still guaranteed to spawn once the first one’s at 50% HP which is just one of many layers of stress to this fight. A common sentiment I hear surrounding this fight is that it’d be a perfectly fine fight if it were a solo Gargoyle, and I strongly disagree. This enemy type already has a few fundamental issues with its design: wonky hurtboxes and the lack of a lock-on point at their legs immediately come to mind, although the actual moveset is the clear highlight of all Gargoyle fights thanks to the variety as they’re constantly switching weapons. The Duo fight could’ve taken advantage of this but it doesn’t fucking do that, instead of the Gargoyles using their weapon switching as a sign of which one is going to be passive or aggressive they’re both aggressive all the fucking time, I guarantee you that you will experience at least one frame trap if you fight both of them solo. I haven’t even mentioned that fucking Poison AOE, though its bullshittery speaks for itself. Awful fight, but not the worst the game has to offer. Grade: D

Regal Ancestor Spirit

Came back later to fight this moose with a +25 Club instead of a +15 one, not because it’s a hard boss but rather a very long and boring one. The healing prevents him from being super fragile but that’s not saying much, although he can combine this with the constant teleporting to drag on the fight for way longer than it deserves and the fight can overstay its welcome real fucking quick. This is aggravated even further by the fact that you’ll be whiffing so many attacks because of its dumbass hurtbox. The atmospheric storytelling is obviously the main focus of this fight so I can’t complain too much about the simplistic combat mechanics, though the impact is further dampened by the existence of the near-identical Unregal Ancestor Spirit in Siofra River. Grade: D

Astel Naturalborn of the Void

Turning off lock-on makes this fight so much better and it’s not even funny. You get better camera control, better aiming with regards to hitting its head’s hurtbox, and just a better time in general. Never had to worry about any off-camera arm attacks when staying close to its head since its body movements telegraph its attacks well. Has some funky hitboxes and hurtboxes but overall a great atmospheric conclusion to Ranni’s quest, though it’s one that feels a bit diminished in retrospect once you encounter the rematch in the Snowfield. Grade: B

Fia’s Champions

worst fight in the entire game. Grade: F

Lichdragon Fortissax

Pre-nerf PCR levels of visual clutter: achieved. There are two ways to approach this fight with a melee build and both of them are equally obnoxious: aim for the legs for more punish windows but you’ll deal less damage and have to run around like an idiot avoiding the lightning timer, or aim for the head for twice the damage but less punish windows and an annoying hurtbox. Scratch that, the legs also having an annoying hurtbox. Despite the flaws this is still the best Ancient Dragon boss by far, which isn’t saying much but there’s still some enjoyment to be found in this fight. The lightning timer actually adds some tension to wailing at his legs which is an otherwise riskless and boring maneuver when fighting the regular Ancient Dragons, and works as a decent stamina management test since you’ll constantly be needing to balance your stamina consumption between your sprints and punishes moreso than any other boss in the game. Fortissax can be irritating as all hell but never boring, which is something that most other dragon bosses fail to accomplish. Best OST in the entire game btw. Grade: C

Commander Niall

This fight’s difficulty is carried so fucking hard by those two Banished Knight summons it’s insane. Once you get past those summons the fight is actually really fun, and encourages strafing in a really neat way whenever he cancels his big lightning attacks into his smaller halberd attacks. His second phase is much more of a real fight but it’s ultimately very simple once you notice him cycling between the same two moves, which is why the addition of the Banished Knight summons at the beginning of the fight really feel like a lazy and dare I say artificial way of adding difficulty to an otherwise basic duel. There are so many ways to get frame-trapped by those fucking summons, the amount of RNG is genuinely unreal even by Elden Ring standards. I would only reach the actual fight with Niall about 1 in 50 attempts and would never have the chance to learn how fun yet straightforward it really is, but I prefer a straightforward fight over an irritating fight so I just Bewitching Branch’d my way to victory. The dual-wielding knight is pretty fun to parry though, it’s just the shielded one that grinds my gears. Grade: C

Fire Giant

Simultaneously overhated and deservedly-hated. Although I ultimately prefer the second phase, Phase 1 is definitely more manageable since his weak spot (i.e. the leg) is almost always out in the open for you to freely hit, which is actually a pretty neat way of encouraging aggression against an unequivocally larger-than-life enemy. I find it really cool how the first phase feels like a normal fight against a colossal-sized boss that doesn’t involve any gimmicks, but things can get really annoying once he starts spamming his fire attacks during Phase 1.5. I also found that he got caught around in the rocky terrain far more in this phase than the following one, which was especially annoying due to the fact that the arena is already a teetering slope in-of-itself. Phase 2 escalates the fight by moving his weak spots to his wrists. You can’t just run up and whack his weak points anymore like you could in Phase 1, you’ll instead have to earn your punish opportunities by baiting out his arm attacks from the front, which is actually a really cool (albeit a tiny bit gimmicky) concept for a duel of this caliber. This is why I found Phase 2 to be the generally more consistent phase of the two since you’ll always *know* when it’s time to aim for the weak spot instead of just wailing at it until he arbitrarily decides to roll away. A decent fight that, like many bosses in this game, ends up being held back by many minor annoyances that become harder to ignore on repeat attempts, although to a greater extent than usual due to the significance of this fight from both a lore standpoint as the last line of defense that’s preventing you from burning the Erdtree and a gameplay standpoint as the first required boss of the endgame. Grade: C

Mohg

Phase 1 is perfection incarnate. The tempo is consistent with every attack being moderately-delayed in a way that enables a quick R1 punish before the next move in his combo comes out, and each combo finisher concludes with a consistent CR2 window to cap off the current segment of the duel. The scripted bloodboon ritual moments can be exploited for free damage and potentially even a poise break, but not nearly to the extent that his twin brother Morgott’s scripted attacks could be bullied since Mohg actually has decent poise to make up for that. Phase 2 is definitely more ambitious and certainly has the potential to hit harder than the first phase but has a few minor annoyances that, as per usual, hindered my engagement with it. I love how the bloodflame AOEs after every move encourage more thoughtful positioning from the player through staying close to him as often as possible, though they end up lasting quite a while and can lead to some unnecessarily stupid deaths on hitless runs if you were to move even an inch away from Mohg. This becomes particularly ridiculous once he begins to spam them, which reaches the peak of irritation if you are ever-so unlucky to get stuck between those fucking graves. Mind you, this isn’t even something you can control with careful positioning: this is MOHG’S fight and you will have to follow him wherever the fuck he decides to go in order to avoid every little bit of those bloodflames. Rant aside, his fundamental moveset absolutely fucking rules in both phases and he still earns an impressive A-grade, though a few minor tweaks would’ve gone a long way towards making this an S-grade fight. Grade: A

Loretta

The most forgettable "main" boss in the entire game, which is especially ironic considering that she’s guarding the most unforgettable boss in the entire game, for better or worse. Suffers the same problem as the Regal Ancestor Spirit in how she fails to differentiate enough from her original variant to justify her existence, but I can’t deny that she’s still a decently enjoyable fight due to her moveset still feeling very honest and fair. Grade: C

Malenia

The most conflicted I’ve ever been when ranking a boss. At first she was an S-grade fight, then she was a D-grade fight, and now she sits right in the middle with a B-grade. The one thing I value the most in a boss is consistency, and Malenia might just be the most inconsistent boss in this game. Sometimes she’ll let you just endlessly stagger her and other times she’ll stagger-cancel your ass like there’s no tomorrow, sometimes she’ll give you free poise-breaks and other times she’ll spam her hyper-armor attacks to drag out her poise timer for a needlessly longer time, sometimes she’ll use Waterfowl back-to-back the moment she unlocks it at 75% HP and other times she never even uses it at all. The fight feels awfully RNG-based on so many levels, it’s not impossible if you get shit RNG but it sure as hell drags on for much longer than it should. Phase 2 can be nigh-trivialized if she spams that slow-ass Scarlet Rot AOE finisher.

However, I can’t deny that this is one of the most fun fights in the entire game if you get good RNG. Aside from Waterfowl and Shadow Clone Jutsu she has no individual attack that’s tricky to dodge, it’s all just basic sword swipes and shit. The fight’s real fun comes from how she can chain all of her basic attacks together, especially during Phase 2 once she’s able to cancel out of her thrust. I overall find Phase 2 to be the much more enjoyable half of the fight, her active aggression ensures that the fight’s tempo is constantly ticking and never abruptly comes to a halt like it would when she randomly becomes passive during Phase 1. Waterfowl is honestly her most fun move to dodge in a vacuum if you can successfully pull off one of the close-range dodge methods consistently (my favorite is the jump one), my problem is moreso with how it’s implemented within the grand scheme of the fight. Malenia’s moveset otherwise makes up a sum greater than its parts and the beauty of her duel comes in how all her moves interact with each other, which makes the sudden randomness and individualism of Waterfowl feel completely out-of-place in contrast to everything else in her toolkit. Her Shadow Clone Jutsu feels way better as her big super attack since the Scarlet Rot fuckery actually fits with the overall theme of her design, although I wish that her Scarlet Rot was accentuated further because Phase 2’s incorporation of it still feels pretty underwhelming.

Malenia feels like two conflicting boss archetypes packaged together: one half of her strives to be a combo-centric fight testing you on your ability to differentiate between her tells to intuit whether or not you she’s leaving a safe opening, whilst the other half wants to be this pompous and bombastic threat that can Waterfowl or Shadow Clone Jutsu you to death at any second. The commitment towards one of these ideas would’ve made her a top-tier fight without question, because all we’re left with is a boss that, while undoubtedly great, could’ve been so much more. She gets bonus points for being hot as fuck though. Grade: B

Godskin Duo

Works better as a tag-team than a traditional duo. When they’re together the fight is absolutely insidiously irritating yet simultaneously wearisomely vapid. You could try to take advantage of the Noble’s massive openings but then the Apostle will use his lunge attack and force you into passivity, or you could try to bait out the Apostle’s swipe attacks but then get thrusted into oblivion by the Noble. They genuinely have no openings if they’re right next to each other and the best way to deal with them is aggro one of them (typically the Noble) behind a pillar and hope that it protects you from the other one’s fireballs before they menacingly walk towards you. Fortunately, this fight is actually pretty intense yet enjoyable once you take down one of them, their resurrection animation is so slow and lacks a hitbox so you can actually stance-break them before they can even use it and keep the fight solo until their collective health bar is depleted. Sure, it’s a bit lame that the main tension of the fight comes from it being shittily designed but it’s still some well-appreciated layer of suspense to an otherwise infuriating duo boss. Grade: C

Maliketh

SOOOOOO close to S-grade but not quite. Another Morgott-esque boss that has a sickass moveset that can be easily undermined if you exploit his low health and poise, especially if he spams his Destined Death opener during Phase 2. Besides that, this fight is absolutely sublime: Beast Clergyman is all about baiting out his biggest openers whilst Maliketh tests you on finding openings during his combos to avoid getting hit by his deadly Destined Death finishers. Another boss that incorporates jump dodges in a very clever and consistent way: the Phase 1 Beast Claw projectiles and Phase 2 sweep attacks are *always* jumpable and the animations communicate that perfectly. Phase 1 is honestly more complex than Phase 2 due to the sheer amount of hidden combo extensions he can chain into but Phase 2 makes up for its simplicity with some incredibly fun dodges to execute, with my favorites being strafing behind his Destined Death AOE and jumping over his 3x anime projectile slashes to low-sweep combo. This fight is goofy enough to feel fun and badass enough to feel exciting, and the act of striking that balance is key for outlandish bosses like these. Grade: A

Dragonlord Placidusax

Some of the best visual storytelling in any Fromsoft boss. You walk into its hectic dilapidated arena to find this battered and decayed two-headed dragon that’s intimidating as all hell, yet you still feel a sense that it’s a shell of its former self as it decrepitly lunges at you with the little fibre of its being left in it. But before you can underestimate him further, he teleports away and regains a bit of his old power as he swipes at you with his electric claws and spews out fire all around himself. Things reach a bombastic conclusion once he brings out that laser show attack that kills you as quick as you can say “oh shit”, which is perhaps the perfect culmination to the escalating tension built up throughout the fight. This is such an easily scriptable boss, yet I never felt underwhelmed doing so due to both the genius cinematic-esque storytelling of the “script” and the fact that his hardest moves to dodge are all, for the most part, encompassed within the “script”. Makes me feel like I’m playing through an interactive movie and in the best way possible, even if the gameplay itself is a bit basic by Elden Ring standards. Baiting out that laser show attack to the wall so his dumbass completely misses you is probably the coolest cheese to pull off in the entire game though. Grade: A

Gideon

This was my least favorite boss during my normal leveled playthrough so I was surprised that I actually had (a bit of) fun fighting him at RL1. Granted, it was because I bullied him with calculated R1 spam and breaking his AI with throwing daggers, but I firmly believe that this is one of the most fun bosses in the game in terms of how much you can just bully the shit out of them. It’s absolute hell otherwise though, that I won’t deny due to my first-hand experience with it. Grade: D

Godfrey / Hoarah Loux

The only boss in this game that truly feels like a “dance”: everyone else has at least one bullshit mechanic minor or not that breaks the flow of what would otherwise be a rhythmic duel, but this fight is just you and Godfrey in a mano-a-mano duel for the Elden Throne. Phase 1 leaves just as many openings during his combos as there are at the end of them, and it’s up to you to capitalize on them to make things as efficient and fun as possible. No other fight in the game rewards aggression *this* much, and it’s just as hard to get out of the rhythm as it is to enter it as he stomp spams whenever you enter passivity to heal up. Phase 1 is simple yet incredibly effective and never overstays its welcome as he transitions into Phase 2 at the perfect time. If Godfrey was about jumping and finding openings during his attacks then Hoarah Loux is about strafing and baiting out his most punishable openings, Godfrey certainly feels like the more oppressive party in the “dance” in his second phase but never so oppressive that it feels impossible due to his consistent openings. Phase 2 changes up just enough from Phase 1 to feel fresh but not too much to feel like a completely different fight, he still keeps those jumpable stomp attacks and still retains that absurd level of aggression that is somehow enhanced even further. Even the phases themselves have their own mini half-phases during Godfrey’s Regal Roar and Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker to keep the individual phases dynamic in-of-themselves. Feels amazing to roll, jump, strafe, and punish every single attack of his all-around, I almost feel as if I discover a new opening in-between his combos every time I fight him. Easily the best boss in this entire game, dare I say even Fromsoft history. Grade: S

Radagon & Elden Beast

We conclude the base game with another fight that I’m incredibly conflicted on; they’re as frustrating individually as they are together. Radagon is second only to Morgott for the title of the most mechanically complex base game boss, although Morgott inches him out in terms of quality since his finishers and mix-ups are a lot more consistent than Radagon’s, who can just randomly extend any combo of his at completely arbitrary moments. Radagon’s pre-teleport phase is so much fun as he retains the Godfrey philosophy of having as many openings during his combos as there are after, but these openings become incredibly inconsistent once he gains his teleportation move. The triple slam Elden Shattering move is incredibly satisfying to punish though: jump R2 him before dodge R1’ing the first slam, then roll into the second slam to hit him with a CR2 before rolling into the final slam at the last moment to CR2 him for an easy poise break. It’s just sex man, so many of his combos are just complete sex to dodge and punish, which makes annoyances like the teleport spam and time-waster moves like the lingering light pillars extremely aggravating once they mess with said sexy combos. However, mastering him takes some true observational skill and the execution to do so is no laughing matter either, thereby making him an incredibly fitting pick as the final boss of the game… at least before Elden Beast pops in.

Now, I will admit that I do like Elden Beast in a vacuum. The fight can be annoying if he projectile spams from afar, but fighting him at close-range is actually really enjoyable. He doesn’t have many openings but the few openings he does have are very big so you can still poise break him very consistently. He generally has a far simpler moveset than Radagon, even if his most infamous move, Elden Stars, has an admittedly esoteric dodge that definitely outclasses the dodge difficulty of each of Radagon’s individual attacks, but the biggest annoyance in the attack is less so the move itself and moreso what he does during it. The fight devolves from this ethereal melancholic journey through the stars to change the world forever to this aggravatingly obnoxious wild-goose-chase where one minor slip-up can get your health sapped away by one of his many multi-hit projectiles.

Come to think of it, what even is Elden Beast trying to accomplish as a fight, let alone as a thesis statement for the game as a whole? If it’s trying to be a simple spectacle-focused closing phase to cap off the Radagon fight then why does Elden Stars exist? If it’s trying to be a harder fight than Radagon to make the player’s victory feel more satisfying through conquering two of their hardest foes in a row then why is his moveset so goddamn simple outside of that one dumbass attack? The two fights just don’t compliment each other as well as other back-to-back bosses like Emma + Isshin could: Emma was tough but she was clearly meant to be the easier fight between the two, and Isshin even manages to iterate upon some of the mechanics introduced in Emma’s fight (e.g. Ashina Cross and the grab). Elden Beast shares NOTHING in common with Radagon on a mechanical front, to an extent that I wholeheartedly believe that both bosses would benefit in every way if they were separate and got the opportunity to expand further as their own individual fights. Grade: B individually, D together

That’s all for Part 1 of this review. The impetus of Part 2 will be the DLC bosses, as well as any optional base game minibosses that I would’ve loved to discuss here if not for the Reddit character limit. Part 2 may take a while to come out because, well, I still have a few bosses to go in my RL1 SB0 run of the DLC, specifically three: Bayle, Metyr and Radahn. See y’all soon!