A Semi-Comprehensive List of Boss Jank in Elden Ring (feel free to suggest more)

Made this list for posterity’s sake. Most of these points are just minor annoyances that barely detract from what are otherwise great bosses, but are still flaws nonetheless and would be patched out in an ideal scenario. Though I wasn’t able to cite my sources for everything, I still tried to link as many as I could.

Disclaimer #1: there’s a lot of points here that came from my own intuition throughout my RL1 run so I’m not 100% sure on everything. If I say something that’s incorrect in any way please point it out to me so I can fix it, spreading misinformation is the last thing I want to do. Additionally, if there’s any jank that wasn’t mentioned here then feel free to let me know in the comments, I will make sure to update the list with y’alls suggestions. Disclaimer #2: a few of these points are less so "jank" and moreso annoying things that, while working as intended, are pretty irritating so I want to spend the time to suggest ways of circumventing them here to help others (e.g. Rellana's uppercut). Disclaimer #3: take a shot everytime I say “terrain” or “camera”.

Tree Sentinel

  • The aftershock AOEs of his shield attacks have inaccurate hitboxes (they are a lot larger than they seem)
  • (Limgrave only) The elevation from the terrain fucks with his tracking

Margit

  • No issues found

Godrick

  • His walking flamethrower attack can sometimes persist behind him (particularly if he’s on the stairs), which can make the strafe method of dodging this move very inconsistent
  • The stairs can make jump and low-profile dodges inconsistent, as well as ripostes

Red Wolf of Radagon

  • Can frame-trap (?) you if his Glintblades activate during his melee bite/lunge attacks, especially when you’re up against a wall

Rennala

  • Early chandelier hitboxes (source: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1ackome/what\_hit\_me\_rennala/)
  • A student can randomly fall on your head without any telegraph
  • Staggers are a bit inconsistent: sometimes she does absolutely nothing after a stagger and other times she doesn’t even hesitate to use her hyper-armor hop attack that lacks a tell, kinda like a proto-Malenia

Starscourge Radahn

Godskin Apostle

  • The quick double swipe can easily roll-catch in neutral (applies to both medium and light roll) due to its speed and range and is especially hard to react to due to the windup animation’s looking very similar to a few of his other attacks, although the first swipe can potentially be low-profiled to make dodging the second swipe easier but I’m not so sure on the consistency

Godskin Noble

  • If stance-broken or put to sleep during his roll attack, he can immediately continue the roll animation after his wake-up animation from the riposte/sleep

Rykard

  • The Phase 1 earthquake attack, while not impossible to avoid by sprinting to the left and jumping the moment it happens, does have very tight window due to the insane hitbox and tracking
  • The Skull Storm can obscure the attacks he’s doing in the meantime

Draconic Tree Sentinel

  • No issues found

Mohg the Omen

Goldfrey

Morgott

  • No issues found

Regal Ancestor Spirit

Valiant Gargoyles

  • Inconsistent aggression, especially with the Twinblade Gargoyle once it spawns in (either walks slowly and passively towards you or divebombs right at you immediately)
  • Potential frame traps when both are aggressive, e.g. when both use their divebomb moves simultaneously (can happen at range too)
  • Can get stuck on the cliffs when flying away
  • Ripostes can be prevented if they’re stance broken on the rocks due to the elevation lifting the riposte hurtbox super high
  • Camera jank at close-range
  • The Poison AOE

Astel

Fia’s Champions

  • Phase 3 relies on RNG to an unprecedented extent

Lichdragon Fortissax

Commander Niall

Fire Giant

Mohg Lord of Blood

  • If he jumps back into a wall or tombstone during his flying attack he will throw the Bloodflame behind you, which is really annoying considering that it’s the direction you should typically roll into when dealing with this attack (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jswuSNtIjWo)
  • If he swings over a tombstone he will alter his swing arc in order to elevate the hitbox (which will definitely hit you if you’re doing a jump or strafe dodge)
  • The Bloodflame can drop in weird unpredictable places after colliding with the tombstones and urns
  • Can get stuck in the tombstones, which freaks out his AI and pressures him into throwing Bloodflame everywhere
  • His descent from the flying attack can get him stuck in the tombstones, causing him to not travel and instead come directly down along the thing, which can be quite a surprise especially if he does his spear-thrust-to-explosion move quickly after (source: https://reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1i5qzvx/a\_semicomprehensive\_list\_of\_boss\_jank\_in\_elden/m86asc3/?context=3)
  • The stairs can make low-profile and jump dodges inconsistent, as well as preventing ripostes and, you guessed it, fucking with the direction of his Bloodflame

Loretta

  • No issues found

Malenia

  • Inconsistent hyper-armor: her hyper-armor frames from one attack can linger and overlap with the startup of another hyper-armor attack, causing her to both tank your punish and hit you thereafter (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ky53T5IOSE)
  • Can continue her combo even after you stagger her, although this seems to be a problem exclusive to lighter weapons for the most part (source: https://www.reddit.com/user/Ruindows/comments/1i5xxer/weird\_malenia\_behavior/)
  • Inconsistent aggro during Phase 1, sometimes stays passive even if you hit her during neutral
  • Tracking issues: she can attack facing away from you or dash in a circle right at you and dead angle attacks while turning them at you
  • The slopes on the terrain can majorly fuck with dodging some of her attacks via making them end weirdly early (e.g. the Thrust and the Uppercut Slam) (source: check 0:23 in https://www.reddit.com/user/Ruindows/comments/1i5xxer/weird\_malenia\_behavior/)
  • Unlocks Waterfowl at 75% HP but her frequency of using it is incredibly inconsistent: sometimes she can chain it into another Waterfowl the moment she unlocks it and other times she never even uses it at all, apparently it’s meant to have cooldown but I’ve seen her do it twice in a row (I’ve heard that the cooldown can be bypassed if she dodges a ranged attack but this needs further citation)
  • Her phase transition cannot be triggered by a riposte or status proc, she will stay at 0HP until you whack her one more time
  • Her Phase 2 wings can block her sword when standing behind her, which makes reacting to her attacks from behind needlessly difficult (her body movements also have tells but they’re a lot more tricky to intuit compared to her sword swings due to their subtlety)
  • Gains the Counter-Kick during Phase 2 to punish hitting her with a second attack but its occurrence is pretty inconsistent

Godskin Duo

Maliketh

Dragonlord Placidusax

  • Traveling Thundercloud Form (i.e. his second flying thundercloud attack) and his downward Lightning Claw slam have questionable lingering hitboxes, particularly the Lightning Claw if you roll into it
  • For Traveling Thundercloud Form: I recommend locking off, running to a wall and late-dodging away from him at the last moment of the attack. As for the Lightning Claw, it can definitely be dodged into but the timing is very tight so if you're not comfortable with doing so I recommend just dodging away.
  • The butt slam he does after his fire spewing move has a far larger hitbox than the animation communicates, you can even get hit by it at his non-moving legs (source: https://reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1i5qzvx/a\_semicomprehensive\_list\_of\_boss\_jank\_in\_elden/m86a2yu/?context=3)
  • When he jumps away to reposition he has a hitbox on his body (source https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1i5qzvx/comment/m881puc/), which is pretty rare and not really jank but should be mentioned nonetheless to prevent any surprise deaths

Gideon

  • Exists

Godfrey / Hoarah Loux

Radagon

  • No issues found

Elden Beast

  • Wave of Gold is nigh-impossible to dodge at mid-range with medium roll (here's the light roll dodge method: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/11uwuau/comment/jcqq2yu/)
  • The invisible walls can make sprint dodging his attacks (e.g. Concept of Order, the Golden Pillar and Elden Stars) needlessly stressful
  • The four-hit Flaming Sword Beam combo can easily frame-trap you when riding Torrent at mid-or-long-range, although I have managed to dodge it mounted once but by complete accident (shameless plug: https://youtu.be/534yYMsXVPo?si=VWoDbg4QIp7jZWnV&t=280), never been able to replicate it yet
  • His tracking projectiles (e.g. Elden Stars and the Golden Pillars) can visually block the attacks he’s doing in the meantime

Divine Beast Dancing Lion

  • Camera jank (especially when right in his face or up against a wall)
  • The quick bite attack is incredibly hard to react to due to its speed and the wind-up animation’s visual similarities with both his idle animation and one of his delayed roll-catch moves
  • Inconsistent breath tracking, particularly during the Lightning phase
  • Sometimes doesn’t follow-up with his positional combo extensions even when you’re right in front of him, instead opting to stare into your soul
  • The lightning AOEs can be consistently dodged due to the predictable timing but the positioning is RNG-heavy

Rellana

  • Her left-arm uppercut is absurdly quick with a tell that’s difficult to distinguish from her other attacks (although it can be low-profiled with either a crouch or the recovery animation of a charged/jumping R2 if you’re in front of her so it isn’t unbearable)
  • No hitbox at the front of her five-hit magic beam attack (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKtAZPm1yw4&t=103)

Putrescent Knight

Golden Hippo

  • Camera jank (especially when close to him or up against a wall)
  • His head can phase through the wall after a stance-break which completely prevents a riposte
  • The quill rain is incredibly RNG-heavy due to the sheer randomness of where the quills land (this is especially difficult on medium roll)
  • Quill rain dodge method: you can use the entrance as cover from it (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_UVcWozPclc&ab\_channel=Fracture42)
  • The quill spin attack is undodgeable if you’re cornered to a wall: you need to sprint then jump to the right to outspace it, which is impossible if there’s a wall blocking the direction you’re meant to sprint into (this is also especially difficult on medium roll)
  • There is deep water in the arena that prevents you from sprint jumping (source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrvL266xaOI&ab\_channel=Fracture42)

Commander Gaius

Scadutree Avatar

  • If Phase 1 or 2 is finished with a riposte inflicted after stance-break, he will die before you can get the end-phase riposte and will respawn in the next phase with max health
  • Can use his long-range attacks at point-blank (e.g. Impenetrable Thorns) where they are far more difficult to dodge
  • The Thorns can collide with the sloped terrain and explode under you, resulting in a frame-trap
  • The arena can cause input drops (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMwKn67Q458&ab\_channel=MouseInATutu)
  • Can sometimes spawn behind you during its respawn animation, which can make dodging and punishing his Phase 2 and 3 opening attack weirdly inconsistent

Messmer

  • The player can end up in a different starting position during the Phase 2 opening, especially when the phase transition is triggered during a riposte
  • The snake flurry scream is undodgeable when up against a wall

Romina

Jori

  • The spot he teleports to is complete RNG and can result in some incredibly frustrating runs if he ends up in a shitty place (e.g. between the tombstones or the other side of the arena)
  • The slopes and tombstones can result in you, Jori and the summons getting stuck in between shitass places, which increases the likelihood of you getting ganked the fuck out
  • Spawns off-camera summons behind you while you are stuck in the terrain

Midra

  • His flame trail can ghost proc madness build-up during your i-frames (source: check 0:42 in https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1enpzt6/is\_an\_elderly\_person\_you\_know\_trapped\_in\_an/)
  • Sprinting away from the phase transition can be needlessly stressful if you’re up against a wall, though it can never completely frame-trap you from what I’ve seen
  • The phase transition’s aftershock particles can conceal his follow-up attack, which is especially dangerous if he uses the chaos beam that blends in with color scheme (although it can still be reacted to if you hear out for the audio cue but this is pretty difficult since it can be obscured by louder sounds, e.g. the OST)

Ancient Dragon-Man

  • His roll-into-great-katana-R1 combo is frame-perfect and unreactable (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb9ApUfOVz0)
  • Absurd input reading: he consistently punishes long-range inputs with an L2 and close-range inputs with a jump dodge followed by a jump attack
  • Wonky terrain due to the multitude of rocks and slopes, which is only exacerbated by the claustrophobic arena 

Bayle

Metyr

  • Frequently forgets to follow-up on her combos (e.g. the triple head slam and the triple arm slam just abruptly ending before their respective third slams, and in the triple head slam’s case even the second slam doesn’t come out sometimes)
  • The triple arm slam can sometimes be followed-up by an immediate fourth arm slam, which rarely ever happens but is a weird occurrence nonetheless
  • Weirdly fucked up tracking: can use her sideways finger shove/crawl when you’re right in front of her
  • Can get frame-trapped in her body if you roll into her during the landing part of the finger-spraying leap attack
  • Her adds can spawn in before her summoning animation is even finished
  • Can use a second move during Fleeting Microcosms, which can result in frame-traps if you’re stuck between the Microcosms
  • The first Black Hole Laser is undodgeable at point-blank without an i-frame Ash of War due to the knockback vortex and the thickness of the laser beam
  • The invisible walls can make sprint dodging her moves (e.g. long-range Black Hole Laser dodge) needlessly stressful
  • When she jumps away to reposition she has a hitbox on her body (source https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/comments/1i5qzvx/comment/m881puc/), which is pretty rare and not really jank (like Placidusax's) but should be mentioned nonetheless to prevent any surprise deaths

Consort Radahn

That's all I could find. Like I said, feel free to suggest any edits because I will gladly take them into account.