Like most of FromSoftware’s games, Elden Ring is built around its exceptionally challenging bosses. Some of them are so infamous for their difficulty that community figures like Let Me Solo Her have spawned for the singular purpose of defeating them. That hasn’t changed in the RPG’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, but with a new pantheon of iconic fights, fans are now conflicted about who the ultimate boss challenge is in Elden Ring.
Before Shadow of the Erdtree, Malenia, the final boss of the Legacy Dungeon Miquella’s Haligtree, was widely considered to be Elden Ring’s fiercest foe. Statistically, she was the enemy that defeated the most players, coming in with 329 million kills as of March 2023. Now, newcomers in the DLC, like Messmer the Impaler and Promised Consort Radahn, are giving her a run for her money. As is the case with any RPG that lets you have wildly varied builds, different Elden Ring players are encountering different challenges throughout Shadow of the Erdtree. It’s fascinating to see the gap in what some players consider hard compared to others.
If you scroll through the Elden Ring subreddit, you’ll find players debating who the hardest fight is in Shadow of the Erdtree, and while Messmer and Radahn are recurring answers, it seems folks are having trouble with just about everyone.
“[Frenzy Lord] was hard as fuck,” HEMANFTWETERNIA wrote. “Weird thing, when he leaps into the air, if you look at him, he will move closer to you and you can’t block his attack.”
“Haven’t finished [the DLC] yet, but Romina,” Last12u wrote. “She sucks so much ass.”
“Commander Gaius seemed kinda hard for me,” Emergency_Work6066 said.
The big debate right now is if Messmer, Let Me Solo Her’s new nemesis, has ascended to the throne of hardest Elden Ring boss. The vicious, two-stage boss battle has been giving players a lot of trouble, and it has players wondering if he has overtaken Malenia’s title.
“Messmer is the hardest fight I have faced yet (I just finished the Shadow Keep),” Duelz_96 wrote. “Messmer took me 144 attempts Malenia took me 118 attempts Both are ridiculously hard. I’m just processing cause I just beat Messmer right now. Completely shaking still.”
“Malenia feels like a fair duel once you know the moves,” Klutzy-Call9328 wrote. Messmer always feels like you’re being crushed under his boot regardless of how well you know his moveset.”
“Personally, I would say Messmer is slightly harder,” L-man6151 said. “His tax feel like they have significantly more range, he closes distance, much quicker and his regular attacks hit harder I find. Plus he’s got that wombo combo, that not only does physical damage (specifically piercing damage, which is the best type of physical damage in the game) but a lot of fire damage too. I think he’s a lot harder to try to heal off of.”
While Messmer is universally considered to be a tough-as-nails fight, not everyone agrees that he’s more challenging than Malenia. Some mention that play style can play a key role in who is harder for you.
“I beat just beat Messmer (LFG) and it took me around 6 hours of nonstop fighting,” Feisty_Bass6200 wrote. “I haven’t beat Malenia yet without summoning… something about her just wrecks me.”
“I think he’s pretty easy compared to Malenia and really fun to play against after you learn his moves,” Friendly_Industry_74 said.
“Blind fight: Malenia harder. Over-levelled: Malenia harder. Under-levelled: Messmer harder. No hit: Messmer harder,” iBlack92O said. “For someone like me who spends my first dozen attempts learning a move-set, bosses that have far too much visual clutter will always be much more of an issue.”
One other challenger for the throne is Promised Consort Radahn. The final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree (though some loreheads think the character’s reappearance feels like fanservice) is at the top of lists of the most difficult DLC boss fights for IGN and Dot Esports. IGN’s Matt Kim describes Radahn’s reappearance as “relentless,” with his second phase feeling “downright impossible” thanks to his fast speed effectively making the dodge roll maneuver useless.
“It will take frame-perfect movement, guile, and maybe more than a little luck to get through this two-part boss fight,” Kim writes. “But I promise the feeling afterward will be worth it.”
Ultimately, just how difficult Elden Ring bosses are comes down to playstyle just as much as skill level. Certain builds are more effective than others at handling enemies that fight at close range vs. long range. Some can take a few more hits if they don the right armour or have spec’d into defence and survivability. Not to mention that summoning other players to take on a boss alongside you and using Spirit Ashes to bring an AI-controlled companion into the fight can tip the scales in your favour. But sometimes, there are just universally challenging foes that have a response to any strategy you might have up your sleeve. It sounds like that hasn’t changed in Shadow of the Erdtree. Hopefully, FromSoftware will release stats that show us who is killing players the most in the coming weeks.
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