Hardest Elden Ring Boss, in Your Opinion

[aiswyda]

soooooo I just beat Elden Ring and I'm curious what people found the hardest boss to beat personally. From a brief glance online, it seems Malenia is the top pick, but I'm curious if people feel differently now / there's a stealth competitor.

Malenia was definitely challenging, but once I had a +10 bleed katana, I was able to finish her fight after a break. It just felt like a fight that wants you to take a very specific style of play to it.

I think I want to say Elden Beast, honestly. I couldn't figure out an easy way to manage the fight (I was running a comet azur build, with a moonlight katana as my melee supplement)—it wouldn't sit still long enough for me to set up, it'd kill my summon too fast, and I couldn't get close enough to use transient moonlight often. Radagon isn't difficult himself, but he's a resource drain and an annoyance when you're trying for the final boss. I finally managed to get a lucky run with less awful AI to clean it up.

Special shout out to Elemer of the Briar and Godskin Noble, the two bosses who got me annoyed enough to ask my partner to come co-op with me. It's not so much them, alone—it was the fact their boss fights happen in tiny little rooms. The lack of movement made it soooo much worse for me.

(Poll up with what I figured may be some popular ones! I think I can edit to include more later? Feel free to mention field bosses as well!)

 

[MegaSackman]

Malenia. Og Radahn is a good contender.

 

[Patitoloco]

Radahn pre patch was almost enough to make me stop playing the game.

 

[aiswyda]

Malenia. Og Radahn is a good contender.

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Radahn pre patch was almost enough to make me stop playing the game.

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I didn't start playing until he had been nerfed and then buffed I think, what was wrong with him pre patch?

 

[Dust]

I only had problems with two bosses.

Malenia
That fucking duo of Crucible Knight and whatever beast at Redmane Castle (I was really low level when I tried them).

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Every boss has multiple ways of making it much easier but Malenia is probably the one with the fewest. Mostly due to that one move we've had a million topics on already. But I will say that being determined to beat her solo, no summons, no shields, was... well, it took me like four days. Definitely the longest I've ever spent on any Souls boss. But I learned it enough that I've been able to do it several times since.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Malenia is the only one I (and seemingly most people) had some trouble with.

I didn't start playing until he had been nerfed and then buffed I think, what was wrong with him pre patch?

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He had awkward mobility and high damage, with the phase 2 having the move that just kind of kills you. I beat him (and as a co-op summon) and it was a matter of just learning his weird ass animations.

 

[Velgo]

I did all the bosses without any summons or spirit ashes so my hardest by far was Melania. I can judge this by time spent on the boss as I was stuck on her for about a week and a half or about 300 attempts. She kicked my ass until I got good / lucky and beat her once.

Next would be Maliketh. Spent a good while on him. Then there were random bosses like one of the Death Rite birds which took me a bit haha

 

[mrmickfran]

Fuck Malenia's fucking anime attack

 

[Saint of Killers]

Malenia and Maliketh gave me around about the same amount of trouble. Getting to Maliketh was also a huge pain thanks to the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Hardest overall fight was probably keeping Milicent alive.

Amazing game. >200 hours and counting and I still love it.

Yesterday I was doing this...

 

[aiswyda]

Every boss has multiple ways of making it much easier but Malenia is probably the one with the fewest. Mostly due to that one move we've had a million topics on already. But I will say that being determined to beat her solo, no summons, no shields, was... well, it took me like four days. Definitely the longest I've ever spent on any Souls boss. But I learned it enough that I've been able to do it several times since.

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To be honest, I feel like summoning a friend for that fight just makes it worse. The health pool is so awful with multiple people.

 

[Raide]

Grafted Scion. Right at the start. Nobody is ready for a whopping by this thing. New players pretty much always get ruined by it because you have all base gear and no knowledge of this enemy. Plus it throws fast attacks out that just ruin your timing and guarding.

May or may not be /s. 😂

 

[PlayBee]

Malenia was 2 tries for me. Elden Beast was a handful, maybe half an hour's worth. Fire Giant was also a pain in the ass until I tried bleed and did it in one more try. Radahn took me a few tries to approach, but then I won the first time I got close. I pick Elden Beast.

 

[Patitoloco]

Also, fuck Godskin Duo.

 

[MegaSackman]

I didn't start playing until he had been nerfed and then buffed I think, what was wrong with him pre patch?

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I believe his attacks had a longer range and everything hit like a truck, companions didn't last much. It was chaos.

I replayed the game with the nerf on and it was almost sad in comparison, but honestly, good ridance, I hated the og fight.

 

[MrCibb]

Malenia for sure, she's the only boss I had to respec to beat. I was using an UGS all game and just couldn't quite get her, switched to RoB and she went down in the next few tries. I also found original Radahn really really tough too, he was ridiculous. But I still got him a lot quicker than I did Malenia and it didn't require a respec, he got defeated by the giant bonk like everyone except Malenia did, plus you can just cheese the big fucker if you can't be bothered to mano a mano. The patches made the fight a lot more balanced imo.

 

[aiswyda]

Also, fuck Godskin Duo.

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What build were you running at that point out of curiosity?
I really struggled with both of them in the earlier separate fights, but my build felt good by the time I got to Duo + I managed to one shot them. I think the bigger arena helped a lot.

I believe his attacks had a longer range and everything hit like a truck, companions didn't last much. It was chaos.

I replayed the game with the nerf on and it was almost sad in comparison, but honestly, good ridance, I hated the og fight.

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Oh interesting. I wonder how close they buffed it back, after. Companions just felt like aggro targets in that fight to me.

 

[gilded_Pb]

Malenia. I had to respec it to beat it because I was using a greatsword build and saw no fucking way.

Atleast with pre nerf Radahn you can just continually run around re summoning npcs and let them fight for you. Maybe can even chuck in a couple hits if you're feeling a little spicy.

 

[Patitoloco]

What build were you running at that point out of curiosity?
I really struggled with both of them in the earlier separate fights, but my build felt good by the time I got to Duo + I managed to one shot them. I think the bigger arena helped a lot.

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Pure melee / strength, but with the level 10 mime. I didn't matter much, the mime barely reached killing one one time. Separately they were easy for me.

Oh interesting. I wonder how close they buffed it back, after. Companions just felt like aggro targets in that fight to me.

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They barely buffed it after the nerf, not even close to how it was at launch.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Maybe can even chuck in a couple hits if you're feeling a little spicy.

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What a sick way to fight, eh?

 

[SnoopZ]

Elden Beast for me, that's the only one I had to Summon another player to help with.

 

[Saint of Killers]

Radahn pre patch was almost enough to make me stop playing the game.

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I would love a pre-patches bosses option.

 

[kimbaka]

Malenia followed by Godskin Duo for me.

 

[finally]

Malenia was too hard and one the hardest boss I ever fought, and I never really had as much problem with all other from games.

I compare Malenia difficulty with the Pantheon of Hallownest from hollow knight.

I'm assuming no summon, no coop, no broken builds and just normal mele build

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

To be honest, I feel like summoning a friend for that fight just makes it worse. The health pool is so awful with multiple people.

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Just the fact that she can target someone other than you instantly makes up for that though. You get so many more moments to breathe.
I've fought her completely solo, with co-op, and wish ash summons at this point. Solo was BY FAR the hardest, ash summons by far the easiest, and co-op in the middle. Hardest part of co-op is just if the host dies to The One Move.

 

[west]

Maybe I lucked into some broken build or something, but really the only challenging things where at the beginning when I felt under leveled. I still feel most bosses in Sekiro where harder than anything Elden Ring threw at me.

The twin bosses are always annoying. The double gargoyles and the Crucible Knight & Misbegotten Warrior before Radhan. At the Godskin duo I already had too many good tools and it was just busywork. Malenia just felt... random.

 

[ala1995ginobiko]

Honestly it was Malenia, but Shardbearer Mohg is a close second. Mohg, I hate you with all my heart, bye bye

 

[EatChildren]

Malenia and Maliketh gave me around about the same amount of trouble. Getting to Maliketh was also a huge pain thanks to the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Hardest overall fight was probably keeping Milicent alive.

Amazing game. >200 hours and counting and I still love it.

Yesterday I was doing this...

Click to shrink...

This is such a weird fucking spot. Awkward descent down to a tiny, irrelevant ledge, home to a unique gollum that has spells not found anywhere else, and your only reward is...nothing? Just the chair in the corner for one of the paintings? And even that can be accessed without fighting the gollum, I think.

 

[-Tetsuo-]

I don't think opinion has anything to do with it in this instance lol

 

[Rhete]

I voted Malenia because she definitely took me the most tries and I think she's the most difficult, but on reconsideration Radahn (right at launch) made me the angriest. He got nerfed like two days after I beat him.

 

[Saint of Killers]

This is such a weird fucking spot. Awkward descent down to a tiny, irrelevant ledge, home to a unique gollum that has spells not found anywhere else, and your only reward is...nothing? Just the chair in the corner for one of the paintings? And even that can be accessed without fighting the gollum, I think.

Click to shrink...

Can be made slightly less awkward. Kind of.



No rewards? But what about the, er, rune arc and smithing stones?! lol (I had no idea about the painting. Time for another visit!)

 

[Shin Kojima]

Malenia was the hardest for me, but also the most enjoyable.

 

[Saint of Killers]

Honestly it was Malenia, but Shardbearer Mohg is a close second. Mohg, I hate you with all my heart, bye bye

Click to shrink...

Zero regrets cheesing him from over the wall xD A friend was stuck on it for days and couldn't believe it when I sent him a clip of it. (He was even more happy for me seeing me beat Nobles on my third attempt lol)

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

God Skin Duo. I HATE duo bosses, Malenia no prob back off and dodge her bullshit, but if you throw another boss I can't see what they're doing behind me I'm fucked.

 

[Yuntu]

Malenia. Everything else didnt get my blood pumping and died p quickly.

 

[bushmonkey]

Maybe I was just lucky or I was too high level but I didn't struggle too much with Malenia.
The Elden Beast though I had issues beating. I got really close on my first go but then I couldn't get back to that level for quite a few runs. I did barely manage to beat it in the end.

 

[CloudWolf]

It's clearly Malenia

 

[Kewlmyc]

Malenia and it's not even close

 

[Sento]

Malenia is the hardest Fromsoft boss to date.

 

[Tommi813]

Malenia and it's not even close.

She costs me a whole sunday afternoon. But I got the platinum

 

[Tayls]

Godskin noble, putrid tree spirit in catacombs, and the one in rot lake but only because I was underleveled.

 

[Sadire]

I don't like to use the word hard in the context of Elden Ring, Malenia was frustrating. That's it.

And I'm probably better off investing energy in games that aren't frustrating.

See ya in three years gal!

 

[Legacy]

I feel like we have this thread every week now. Or "hardest souls boss".

The current poll response is exactly what anyone should expect to see.

I don't think opinion has anything to do with it in this instance lol

Click to shrink...

Pretty much this.

 

[Batatina]

Radahn originally was really hard, but cheesable. Malenia on the other hand doesn't let you do anything. By far the hardest.

I thought Elden Beast was difficult but manageable, he's just really annoying because you have to run around a lot.

 

[Nimby]

Malenia obviously, but if she wasn't in the game probably Radagon or Maliketh.

 

[Jetsun Mila]

Radagon and Elden Beast. A boss where you have to spend 90% of the time running after is absolutely not a fun boss

 

[Karlinel]

Malenia, Radahn and Tiche can make your day miserable if you don't focus a lot. Radagon and Elden thingy are annoying af tho. Mohg seems hard but my Tiche and I melted him first try and poor sod didn't live to sprout wings so Idk.

 

[Bebpo]

When I was underleveled the dual gargoyle boss was the toughest boss and longest amount of time wasted in my 100% run. Must have spent two hours before giving up.

When I came back later overleveled they were cake.

It's hard for me to figure out what's tough because being underleveled can make bosses feel impossible while overleveled can make them all a joke. I killed Mogh in one combo and he never even got to his second phase. I only learned last night he had a second phase. Malenia went down quick too.

Like the first Crucible Knight prison boss fight took me 20x longer than Malenia, but I did it when I first found it after Stormgate and was very underleveled for a very tough jerk boss.

On NG+ runs, I thought Elden Beast was the toughest, but didn't refight every boss in NG+ so who knows.

 

[grmlin]

Malenia shouldn't be in the game like she is. Stupid boss

 

[Jombie]

Malenia, but other bosses have moves I could never get a handle on. The timing on godfrey's fucking aoe spam, and Elden beast's projectile bullshit. Looking back, I kind of hate this game. And I beat fume knight on NG++ with bare fists.