GayCharlie88

Elemer of the Briar totally beats the Crucible Knight in terms of parrying. I enjoyed this battle so much that I recorded it three times in separate locations. I decided to use this location because it had the best mixture of attacks. My personal favorite location to fight this boss was in Caelid which could be subject to change if there are more of them. That recording had a better aesthetic however the fight contained too much of the same attacks so it wasn't a worthy showcase for this review. The incredible design of this boss is that there are variables surrounding parrying basic attacks to watch out for that requires a proper response in order to keep the flow intact. At first I was skeptical about the partial parrying however I absolutely fell in love with it here and it has motivated me to try it on bosses I have fought previously like Margit, the Fell Omen and future fights as well. Two attacks are absent in the showcase. The Shoulder Charge which is a ranged triggered attack and the Drilling Attack which is also triggered by range however it can trigger when you're up close. What was really a game changer for my strategy was the amount of strikes I could get in between parrying and riposte recovery times. I did lose focus later in this fight where I didn't parry and I had to dodge the basic attacks instead which wasn't an issue. I have this odd short attention span even when I'm enjoying something and if there's repetition I have a tendency of zoning out for a brief moment which is one of the main reasons why I can't be competitive online. My goodness this fight was amazing. It was like fighting Darth Vader in From Software form. I plan to upload those other fights on my channel along with this one including the locations I haven't discovered. I'm playing this game completely blind so my progress with these restrictions is taking it's time and that's what I prefer. We don't get games like Elden Ring often at all so taking small sips and savoring them is all I want to do in gaming right now.

Crystalian is a very unique concept where the player must shatter them in order to deal significantly more damage and it is absolutely satisfying to achieve. I originally had one Crystalian ready to review however once I found this duo fight I had to review it instead. I am aware of the others that I haven't currently discovered only by accidentally seeing videos on social media. If those fights offer a well designed challenge then I will eventually review the one that displays the concept in the most faithful manner. Since I was dealing with a sorcerer and a spear wielder, I had to utilize the statues to block the incoming projectiles while I parry and heavy strike the other. The reason why I used heavy attacks instead of the riposte is because it never shattered the Crystalian so using heavy strikes caused a visceral opportunity which does shatter it. After finishing off the spear wielder I basically just back stab for the rest of the fight with heavy strikes in between. The element of being aware of your surroundings is one of my favorite aspects in a boss fight whenever it's utilized properly like Father Gascoigne from Bloodborne and Elana, the Squalid Queen from Dark Souls 2. I hope the other battles take it a step further instead of just having poorly designed difficulty which has been present in the game already with bosses having overly aggressive and annoying smaller enemies that compromises any difficulty identity. I loved this fight and it's one that I can watch multiple times because of how much fun my strategy was executed and presented. Try looking up Dot Matrix from Spaceballs because these guys look just like a blue version of that character and it was all I could think about during the fight.

Grafted Scion is exactly how I like to see aggressive bosses executed with satisfying attack window discoveries and i-frames. At first I tried the parry approach however the windows just were not there for my comfort but luckily good old fashion manipulation tactics was waiting to be found. This boss doesn't really remind me of anything else in the SoulsBlood series other than may be a more mobile version of the Prison Horde from Demon's Souls so it's a fairly unique concept. My strategy consisted of watching out for three specific attacks. The scream attack, the lunge attack and a distinct combo attack which had my favorite i-frames to utilize. The boss goes into a second phase that buffs it's weapons but not much else is significantly different however from what I saw in practice runs there were these two major attacks after the boss poses in a weird position that doesn't initiate the attack until you get close enough. The two attacks I saw could be approach the same way where you basically run past the Grafted Scion and ride the attack out from behind. Sorry that those attacks are not present in the video but I already spend enough time getting the right strategy and standards finished for these reviews. I wish they occurred more often because it makes the fight more interesting. I've noticed this being a reoccurring issue with boss fights and it's very odd that sometimes a boss will perform nothing but basic attacks. You would think that a game with so many tools would present tougher attacks more often like the previous From Software games. Perhaps it'll get some adjustments in future updates. Overall I fairly enjoyed the boss. In my opinion it was a very forgettable first boss encounter that doesn't stand out to me and the previous SoulsBlood games have always nailed that aspect so it's quite a shame that they picked the Grafted Scion when so many more bosses would have made a bigger impression. I think the Erdtree Avatar would have been a proper fit but perhaps that's nostalgia talking.

Red Wolf of Radagon is definitely not a boss I really cared for due to it's sloppy aggression style of attacks and a sort of uncommon RNG attack. The telegraph design isn't the best here and that's a very important aspect to accomplish properly. I've expressed my opinion on this aggression design before with the Bloodhound Knight but at least that boss is parryable. My strategy was basically attacking after the swords swings then backing off to avoid the Homing Sword projectiles which at times has really bad timing with the Red Wolf. They would shoot towards me and I would roll just to have the Red Wolf hit me with a sword or a bite because the attack initiated right after the point where I needed to evade the projectiles. This may not happen very often but it's still a huge flaw in my opinion because usually when a boss has really bad RNG then players are basically forced to exploit which isn't the motivation you want if someone wants to explore with restrictive playstyles. For the most part all the bosses have required skill to defeat so far. I don't have much else to say about this fight and I'm not sure where it stands in popularity. One thing I can say is that it's first boss I used this awesome weapon with. One more thing I'll mention is that the Red Wolf of Radagon reminds me of a boss from Dark Souls.

Cleanrot Knight is another fight I had to defeat with my second character due to unintentionally finishing during practice however this time I couldn't quit and restart because I died due to being poisoned right after the final blow. I'll show the clip after the review. I finally found an arena with hazards other than falling to your death. It may just be poison but at least it's a step in the right direction so hopefully I get to see more arena hazards later in the game. With this hazard I decided to make it a side challenge to not get poisoned in battle so figuring out the pacing was extremely fun for me. I was going to parry this boss but the attacks were too inconsistent for my comfort in the end. It's definitely possible to land a parry however it's one of those situations were the attacks are not telegraphed well enough to count on. So basically my strategy relied on punishing attacks with a back stab because this boss gets very excessive with it's strikes so I prefer to keep my distance and wait for an opening. I only do this because I'm not a fan of rolling so many times due to the stamina waste and vulnerability to incoming attacks. This boss was fine. It becomes a regular enemy later however it was nice seeing it in a fog containment with poison which added a decent obstacle. Apparently there's a duo boss fight with them so I'll have to see how well that works because duo fights in Elden Ring seem to be a hit or miss in terms of applying skill.

Godrick the Grafted is very mild compared to Margit but don't get me wrong, I adore this battle. This fight is extremely fun and I have a lot to say about it. If you haven't noticed I'm using another character for this fight due to me killing Godrick too early on the other character when quitting and restarting during the death animation didn't work like it usually does. I have a separate video about that occurrence on the channel. At first glance this fight immediately reminded me of the Ludwig, the Accursed and the One Reborn designs from Bloodborne with all of the additional limbs attached to the model however the fight plays out very differently. This may be a stretch but the move set very vaguely reminds me of the Dirty Colossus from Demon's Souls. That boss also shoots projectiles out of it's seemingly amputated left arm which has a barrel encasing that can be destroyed but has no significant change. Other than that the boss is very unique compared to anything else in the SoulsBlood games. Since I'm using a much faster weapon then I usually do, I was able to approach more attacks to punish and I really wish I approached Margit this way to explore more i-frames but thankfully I'll get that opportunity again later. My main strategy was to lightly strike small attacks and strike heavy after more cinematic attacks which is how it usually goes but Godrick perfectly displays that here. The attacks I looked forward to the most was the Axe Drag and the Whirl Wind Jump which were the most satisfying for me especially the Whirl Wind Jump that has an incredible i-frame hug during the jump that allowed a lot of hits. The Whirl Wind attack also has a variant move that doesn't happen a lot unless you're always far away from what I've noticed and this additional move has Godrick dragging his axe creating a homing vortex. This attack reminds me of the Large Homing Purple Mass from the Four Kings which is a very complicated attack to avoid and it deserves a video alone discussing it's incredibly stubborn behavior in player strategies but it's great to see it conceptually executed better here in Elden Ring. Phase two is a lot better and slightly faster paced. Thankfully Godrick doesn't idle nowhere near as bad like Margit so the battle moves at a fairly constant pace. The dragon head attacks are wonderful for the most part except for the one that sprays forward tracking the player. This attack has some random damage detection so I usually just keep my distance and once again the attack I hated the most isn't present in the footage I have so I can't fully showcase my annoyance of how much time it wastes. As for the other fire breath attacks I was very surprised on how generous the i-frames were like the Fire Breath Sweep allows so many attack opportunities if you're close enough and the Fire Gravel Toss also just lets you walk right up for some free hits. Like I said in the beginning I loved this fight however I can't help but feel underwhelmed after Margit. I was really hoping to spend days practicing this fight but perhaps Elden Ring is saving something very special for me.

Flying Dragon Agheel is one of the most satisfying dragon designs I have ever fought in the entire series and the variants haven't been boring. The design has the best sprinkles from just about every dragon battle throughout the other games and it comes together greatly. I only used Torrent when I needed to close distance quickly and I wanted to explore the fight more closely on foot which is something you can't fully accomplish on Torrent. I also feel that the Torrent mechanic isn't fully developed in my opinion but that's just me. From Software has struggled for good dragon fights with the early designs being just gimmicks only defeatable through tedious methods then they would finally nail it with Kalameet from the Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss DLC. I'm not going through a list of similarities here because the review would overlap the footage but I also noticed that there isn't any videos out there talking about dragons and how they've evolved so perhaps that's something I could do after my ventures with Elden Ring. My strategy consisted of reacting properly to the many attack variations of standing in front of Agheel. The best one to approach is a fire breathing attack which allows quite a few hits however I have to be mindful about how long I stay at the feet because there's a compromising attack which is a hovering fire blast. This could be avoided with the proper timing by running towards Agheel however it's a small window of opportunity for my comfort at least. Unfortunately that attack isn't displayed in the video for demonstration but I found that attacking the appropriate amount of times and leaving immediately helped with that situation. I really loved this fight and it's so awesome that it appears several times in the game because the battle design is so addicting and engaging every time. I want to review the best out of these dragon variants so keep an eye out for that in the future.

Tibia Mariner gives me Castlevania vibes and rightfully so because it looks very similar to the Ferryman from Symphony of the Night but you never get to fight him so I guess that's what Elden Ring was made for. These are random encounters you'll find throughout the game and this is the first one I found so I'll review it. If the move set or arena develops in the game then I'll make a definitive review of the boss concept. This is the first time I've used Torrent in a boss fight but only to speed up the fight whenever the boss gains distance. You'll see me do it again and more often in the Flying Dragon Agheel fight. This is more of a crowd control boss like Deacons of the Deep from Dark Souls 3 but actually fun. The attacks are very mild with little to no punishment in the design. I suppose the best part of the battle is making sure the skeletons are low in population so you can freely attack the main attraction. This concept has a lot of potential however it's not boring but just too simplistic in execution. I would love to see a platforming based arena where the Tibia Mariner is in lava or deep waters and the only way to fight is by jumping onto rocks to where the boss is but more brutal attacks would suffice I suppose.

Omenkiller should be an obvious recognition for SoulsBlood fans with it's clear similarities with the Capra Demon from Dark Souls. The arena is actually really nice this time besides the typical circular or rectangular area we usually see. There's actually elevation and obstacles that could throw you off. Too bad the fight is really bland with very little memorable value in the move set. The attack I enjoyed the most was the triple slam which allowed a somewhat satisfying opening for me to approach. Apparently this boss is parryable but I wasn't interested at the time of recording due to the amount of parrying in boss fights I already had that were much better fights than this. I appreciate the call back to the Capra Demon but I feel that the design didn't need improving in my opinion. They kept the annoying aspects of the original design which was increased a step further with the dogs and the attacks. The fight in Dark Souls has it's flaws but it was also designed better in my opinion. This may be an unpopular opinion but I love how small the arena is for the Capra Demon fight and I feel it works beautifully except for the dogs, now that part is just wrong.

Bloodhound Knight is a boss I would rather fight in Sekiro and the level of aggression with this design doesn't allow very satisfying strike opportunities in my opinion. I wanted at least three successful unique parries for the review however that's all I wanted to explore and I just don't enjoy fights like this in general which is why it's so short. The design reminds me of a mix between the Nimble Shadow from Dark Souls 2 and the Long-arm Centipede Giraffe from Sekiro, both are equally annoying to fight for me personally. I found that the bigger attacks had better parry windows compared to the basic attacks which was odd. I'm sure there's a better way to parry them but I was so uninterested in the boss design that I simply didn't care enough to explore those boundaries. If this boss just had the bigger and distinct attacks only then it would be a more entertaining fight for me but since the boss is constantly using the same boring basic attacks, I just can't find the appeal. Aggression is a great design tool when used properly. Just look at Bloodborne and Sekiro for example, those games are designed for the player to apply aggression and having better parry tools allows the design to be viable with wilder enemy move sets. I just don't think it works here in Elden Ring but perhaps future playthroughs will prove me wrong.

This is a glitch I discovered while practicing Godrick. It's not as crazy like the Iudex Gundyr glitch in Dark Souls 3 but still interesting to me at least. Music - King's Field 2 OST - Demo, Composed by Koji Endo.

Ancient Hero of Zamor is the continuation of the parry catalog this week. The first phase is very similar to The Crucible Knight strategy however the second phase goes all Boreal Valley and parrying no longer seemed viable. This boss is strikingly like the Mad Ones from Bloodborne but much faster and with frost infused attacks. The first phase require a refresh loop due to two specific attacks. One was a combustion attack which is telegraphed pretty well and the other has a slight difference in animation but with a retreat at the end. The combustion attack was only an inconvenience due to the idling that rarely occurred while anticipating a parry opportunity and the retreat attack didn't appear to have a parry window from what I experienced. If it does then it would be too small for my interest strategy wise. The second phase is definitely a better fight with some satisfying attack opportunities and i-frames. I preferred attacking after most lunging attacks that occurred frequently enough for time comfort however other attacks didn't have the recovery time I was looking for. I'm not sure if the second phase attacks can be parried or not. I didn't test that out because I wanted to prevent presentation repetition like I mention in the Crucible Knight review. The Frost Spread attack was a nice call back to Sister Friede from Dark Souls 3 and the Frost Thrust attack reminded me of thrust attacks from Slave Knight Gael oddly enough also from Dark Souls 3. I strangely liked this fight more than I thought I would. The first phase is a little weak but the second phase makes up for it with frosty fun attacks.

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The Crucible Knight is basically the Pursuer of Elden Ring. The boss is extra special to me because it's the first boss I used a parry tool that finally met my timing preference which is the Buckler found in Storm Veil so this week is mainly focused on parrying. I'm not going to parry every boss that allows it because it starts to gain a presentation repetition and I want to explore more i-frames than that. You'll see as the next bosses come out that I'll parry significantly less compared to this fight. My main strategy for this fight when applying a parry tool was to achieve, leave and reprise. Doing this primarily prevents dangerous attacks that could compromise the fight like the stomp attack, two handed attacks, Eagle Charge and the Tail Sweep. Doing a no dodge run was complete luck because the only time I applied it was when I approached for another parry attempt however the Crucible Knight would perform a shield bash causing me to walk away and start again. My favorite attack to evade from was the giant Tail Sweep because finding the timing and range was very satisfying to discover. I think a dodge focused strategy would have actually made this boss less engaging just due to the lack of staggering and level of aggression. I'm not saying that the boss needs stagger sensitivity however a few brutal attacks with a recovery opportunity to reward the player is always something I highly appreciate in boss fights. I really loved this fight. It was a great introduction to my parry timing preference in Elden Ring and I can not wait for the duo fight later in the game. I don't know if it's a reoccurring theme but it seems that the bosses that come from the Abnormal Stone Cluster platforms are parry focused but maybe it's just a coincidence so far.

Ulcerated Tree Spirit feels like an unused boss someone found hidden in the files of Elden Ring. The damage detection is very inconsistent especially with it's size. It mostly reminded of the Pus of Man from Dark Souls 3 but somehow worse. They really should have properly designed the hit boxes bigger and even adding some wouldn't have hurt. I understand that this boss appears multiple times in the game but why even have this design if you're going slack on consistency and wonky movements? My strategy mostly consisted of waiting for a big animation to finish then strike and the only part that gets exciting is when the boss sparks up and has spots of the arena combust but after that not much else. I think having a more hazardous arena would have benefited this fight immensely however this is still early in the game and a better version of this fight could be waiting on me somewhere. I've been having that hope for quite a few bosses actually. At least this fight was significantly better than that plant I reviewed previously.

Giant Miranda Flower has a boss bar. That's basically it. My goodness, I thought the Soldier of Godrick was poorly composed however a boss that doesn't do hardly anything would be worse I suppose. I entered poisoned because why not add something somewhat challenging. You have three smaller plants to deal with briefly then you have the three attack wonder here that spits a poison mist, shoots sparkle spears for some reason and can slam attack in different directions. A very exciting sight to see in regards of poor boss design. I'm sure someone out there likes this so that's a positive outlook if there is one. Sorry for the more negative tone but this boss is rather insulting to seasoned players of the SoulsBlood series. They could have at least put four of them in an arena then there would have been some pacing to be concerned about. Alright I'm moving on to review the Ulcerated Tree Spirit now. I hate that the gesture at the end was a bow, it should have been nothing.

Runebear is very similar to Vordt Of The Boreal Valley from Dark Souls 3 with a little sprinkle of the Guardian Ape from Sekiro when it comes to movement. It's still great seeing all of the borrowed elements of older properties being used for mini bosses in Elden Ring. At first I thought the damage detection range was ridiculous however it's actually extremely generous considering how big the Runebear is. My biggest challenge was the charge attack which had a very subtle tell before it occurs then you end up evading it like Ludwig's charge attack from Bloodborne except that has a better telegraph design in my opinion. My original strategy consisted of me keeping my distance and waiting for the Runebear to run towards me however it took too long and left me open too many times so I eventually found the proper i-frames to stay close which allowed me to read the charge attack a lot better. There is a grab attack that isn't present here though it's basically like the frontal slam but with a slightly wider detection range I believe so avoiding is about the same timing. Overall it's a decent fight and the tight arena is interesting. I just think it could have worked better with a more tunnel structured design for the Runebear to utilize for some more thrilling moments.

Margit, the Fell Omen is finally here everyone. I know some people are very curious on why I've been reviewing smaller insignificant bosses but I love to explore and analyze to see what makes them tick. Anyway this is one of the main bosses in the game so complexity was definitely expected here and it took quite a bit of experimenting to discover what behaviors and i-frames worked to get through without receiving a hit. Unfortunately one of my favorite attacks became rare once I discovered my dominating strategy. It was a jump attack in the first phase which had very satisfying i-frames that allowed me to simply walk underneath without dodging then I could strike twice which would lead into a visceral opportunity after only a few more hits so I had to sacrifice a lot just to have a more solid strategy. From the beginning when I first saw this boss in previews, I immediately noticed similarities from the other games like Margit's model design looks like the Ghru enemies from Dark Souls 3 with the move set of the Taurus Demon and the arena actually from Dark Souls, except you cant climb one of the towers this time. Idling is something I mentioned on the Leonine Misbegotten boss and this is the perfect fight to discuss the problems with it but let me explain what it is first just in case someone is unaware of what transpires. Idling is a moment in a boss fight where nothing happens and can continue for an uncomfortable amount of time usually until either the boss snaps out of it or the player takes action. Personally this has happened to me several times throughout the series especially with fights like Artorias and Manus. This is an issue that basically exists with every SoulsBlood game except maybe Sekiro since it's designed to basically keep combat flowing at all times due to the game punishing players wanting to play passively by making the battle longer which is what I did as a new player in Sekiro. While practicing Margit I noticed that there is a major aggression toward using items so I started throwing knives to knock the idling out. It did work for the most part however it left me vulnerable to the little summon daggers that Margit throws so I had to ditch that plan. I eventually just had to wait it out because walking up to Margit also risked the same attack which has a very small animation right before a dagger is thrown plus I had to avoid getting hit by a huge combo that was devastating to get caught in. I'm currently working on a new weapon to help avoid this issue along with this weapon's terribly slow recovery time. My strategy had to be established around the slow recovery time of my weapon which only allows small moments to attack which is why I'm extremely passive in the second phase of this fight. My biggest challenge was avoiding the double swing of the cane and hammer which had a fairly tight window to dodge through. I couldn't go towards Margit due to the quick recovery attacks so I found a nice window by walking and dodging away. There was also a follow up attack which caught me off guard a lot where Margit launches towards me with a cane sweep however once I started to expect that it was no longer an issue. I really liked this fight and I wish my weapon of choice didn't compromise so much of it. One detail I found intriguing was this wind up attack that added a second swing if you were too far away. This attack was very convenient whenever I was very close because I could strafe and land a nice big charge attack. I actually had to specifically dodge to Margit's left side after the hammer slam to avoid fast recovery attacks if I got caught directly in front because this allowed attacks that I absolutely could not avoid due to once again my weapon's slow animation transition. Another interesting obstacle was the objects on the sides of the arena. At first I thought this would be a major issue for the second phase then I discovered that I can get Margit just far enough to one side so I could walk right by without activating the brutal combo I mentioned earlier. I'm looking forward to learning more about this fight because it's comfort is based on old roots.

Guardian Golem was definitely unexpected to see in such an amazing cave but it has a big health bar at the bottom of the screen so let's see what this boss has to offer. I don't believe there's anything different about the boss compared to the versions outside which doesn't surprise me at this point. I used a weaker weapon this time to prevent a stagger since I wanted to see most of the attacks and the visceral attack damage is basically a one shot which is something I want to avoid for this showcase. I feel that this type of enemy is almost perfect but fails to be aggressive enough for it's size. Giant enemies haven't had the best treatment in the SoulsBlood series in my opinion and this is just another example. It's usually the same strategy of aiming for their ankles and avoid getting stepped on so it's getting rather old after seeing it in nearly every game. I can't even think of an appropriate example on how to execute giant type enemies from the other six games, they been that bad. Perhaps later in the game they'll change my mind hopefully. My strategy requires a fair bit of manipulation where I bait an attack standing away so that I can attack the ankles during the attack animation then I would simply do it again. There are special situations such as a charge attack and a spit fire attack. The charge attack compromises the strategy cycle but only for a brief moment. The spit fire attack with a backwards walk has an opportunity for striking however in this example the Guardian Golem was up against the wall so I didn't risk it. It's not surprising that I had to restrict dodging for this fight and I wanted a challenge so I gave myself one. This will probably be one of the last fights you'll see me restrict dodging because as bosses get more complex the more i-frames there are to find and I only have so much time during the day. However if I notice enough generous i-frames then I'll apply restrictions once again. We shall see.

Erdtree Avatar is a nostalgic pleasure for me. I'm sure it's no shock to everyone that this boss is basically a Stray Demon from Dark Souls and it put a huge smile on my face. I've always loved this design and apparently so does From Software. Others may not like the fact that they are using an old idea but I personally see nothing wrong with it. Apparently this boss appears several times throughout the game and I'm looking forward to every single one on my journey. Once again, I will not be reviewing everyone of those encounters unless there's something significantly new to analyze. I would go as far to say that this is the definitive version of the concept so far. it's still simple but extremely fun to fight and there's nothing wrong with that. Plenty of new players will have trouble with this boss because it's unfamiliar to them if they haven't played the Souls games. Boss designs like this helps motivate players to improve and get motivated to progress and I wish there was more like this in the caves and catacombs instead of the bosses that can be destroyed in just a few hits. The arenas have been getting gradually better however the music is still a hit or miss with reused or mundane tracks. I especially love this battle field with dead pot men scattered around that can shatter with a huge majestic tree in the back. Most of the attacks basically look the same but with small animation differences which can be evaded consistently. The magical attacks are stunning especially the light tracking orbs that's very satisfying to run away from. I just really enjoyed this boss even though it's not as overly complex like many to come. Perhaps my nostalgia is taking over and blinding my judgment however a boss doesn't always need to be difficult to be fun.

Leonine Misbegotten is the one of few bosses I had to keep coming back to but only due to the technical issues I was having with the controller inputs. Whenever I needed to dodge or run, my character would just stand there and I had stamina but nothing would happen. Now I've had this occur in other boss fights however due to the aggressiveness of this fight it occurred more often. I tried many different methods to bypass the error but in the end I had to cross my fingers and hope for the best. I did however find a few tiny manipulation tactics to reduce the amount of malfunctions. I just want to say that this is the prettiest arena I've seen so far. It reminds me of Bloodborne but on the beach without Orphan of KOS and a tombstone sprinkle of Father Gascoigne and Shadow of Yharnam. The music is whatever again. The boss model reminds me of the Chimera from God of War 3 and the move set is very similar to Slave Knight Gael and Artorias. One small thing that I thought was weird, whenever you get killed the boss runs straight to the fog gate. I tried exploring this a little bit but found nothing so perhaps it's just a positioning overlook from the developers. There are a lot of openings considering the speed of my weapon with only a few attacks being red zones. My favorite attack to respond at was a double dash sweeping attack which was very satisfying to evade through. One attack in particular that was a huge tease consisted of the boss jumping straight up and slamming down, this was a red zone due to the quick recovery time and usually follows up with the same attack which catches you in the blast wave. I did get caught a few times in the roar attack but considering the button malfunction I let it slide because I needed to move on. Another issue I had was an idling issue that isn't uncommon in the From Software games where a boss will just do nothing for uncomfortably long moments. This is especially jarring when you're in the heat of battle ready for another attack yet nothing happens unless you wait or get close to the boss. I will touch on idling more with Margit, the Fell Omen. Well I may have disliked this boss in the beginning but I came out loving it after finding what i-frames worked which is what commonly happens to me. I wish I didn't experience the malfunctions that are still present in the fight because it did discourage me some especially that it was beyond my control.

Scaly Misbegotten is as you can expect a basic enemy. I was hoping for another Stonedigger Troll or at least something bigger at the end of a really fun cave. So there's not much to go on with this fight and I really should have used a stronger weapon however I wanted to make sure most of the attacks were displayed. I feel that I need to explain my build briefly here, I generally use slow weapons and for a good reason. I don't like to excessively strike my enemies so I use something that requires a big calculated risk for an equally satisfying reward. I'm only using a faster weapon in this fight for a lower damage input. As for my strategy it's pretty much a basic Green Light/Red Light display of how I manage these fight. I find what recovery times are the best for my weapon and then use them against the boss and it may only be two or three attacks that allow opportunities to strike but at least I count on not receiving damage. This establishment has worked for me for the past five years after learning about it and it hasn't failed me yet. This wasn't much of a review but this fight is basically the Soldier of Godrick again so I decided to ramble on instead. A hazardous arena could have really saved this boss. I would have loved to see the fight on rafters so platforming could be more involved, we have a jump button so why not give it a bigger purpose? I have about forty hours in the game and jumping has had very little importance to my experience. Hopefully I'm starting to see the end of these mediocre boss designs, I suppose they're not bad for new players but at least make more interesting somehow with more attack variations.

Tree Sentinel is obviously similar to Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa from Sekiro however this is a Dark Souls focused game so I could apply some old fashion manipulation tactics instead of deflecting for the entire fight. I generally start boss fights by hugging them on the left or right side to see how many I-frames there are and it didn't work well for this fight except for specific moments so I remain distant to respond to the attacks appropriately. I'm not using Torrent because I'm simple not impressed with the limited combat. I'm sure there are bosses still to come that'll absolutely require it's use but for now I rather run and roll. You're going to start seeing me roll through attacks more often now. It takes a lot of time finding those I-frames and I only a have few hours each day to dedicate to playing but I'll definitely explore them more deeply on another playthrough someday. For this entire fight, I relied on two distinct attacks. The first one was a charge swing which after viewing several times revealed that the swing has a set activation and it didn't require my character to be within the range to trigger it. I used that opportunity to use a heavy attack when the horse turns around however I had to be quick because the recovery time was just slow enough for me to get away from other attacks. The second attack was a jump uppercut which had a few outcomes. If there wasn't a second swing then I wouldn't attack, if there was a second swing the I would apply a light attack then if there was second swing with the horse raising up I would use a heavy attack. I can finally say that I love both the arena and music for this fight. At first I wasn't a fan of the arena but then I realized that it's actually very unique having choices for environments to battle in so that had to grow on me a little bit. I'm still conflicted on the boss not being in a fog containment mainly because when I need to quit and restart, it'll put me exactly where I left the game which can place me right where the boss spawns. I know this is a specific issue that not many players will have so just take it as a nitpick because it can be avoided by just positioning the character away. There's an odd situation with the second phase I need to look further into because the boss disappeared on me a couple of times and I figured it was mainly due to distance but the boss wasn't far away the second time so I'm not sure what happened. It also seems to reset back to phase one due to the shield not being used in attacks afterwards. I'm almost restarted but I was concerned it would happen again and the fight was already going well so I finished it. In the second phase the jump uppercut attack was compromise with the shield so I was required to only attack if the horse raises up after the second swing. I had a lot of fun with this boss and I can't wait to explore the fight even more on future adventures.

Demi-Human Chief has a lot of smaller enemies in the arena and a second boss approaches whenever you trigger it's activation which is sound I believe. I wasn't sure how to handle this fight due to the smaller enemies and aggressive bosses so a clean fight would be pure luck basically because I can't spend ten minutes finding openings so I expected there to be an original battle without the smaller enemies however I could not find it so perhaps there isn't one. At first I used the cave pillar which almost worked but it still had too much luck involved to execute. I tried backstabbing though it didn't seem to have window for it from what I saw. I almost skipped this fight review wise and instead have a messy brawl then I noticed that the boss is asleep whenever I first enter the arena, on occasion the boss wouldn't be so I don't the cause for that affect exactly perhaps I was too loud before the fog gate. The boss is stagger sensitive and with my Greataxe I was at a huge advantage then I figured if the boss design was going to be against me then I'll return the favor. In the end I charged my attack twice for each Demi-Human Chief and got a visceral which killed them instantly. I didn't want to fight them this way however with the amount of luck involved I simply wasn't interested so I'm not a fan of this design overall.

Black Knife Assassin is the most Sekiro like aspect I've seen so far in Elden Ring along with the music which is really good this time. This boss started out with half it's health for some reason so I used a weaker weapon one step above the club. I'm basically using the same strategy as the Cemetery Shade where I located the best opportunity for backstabs due to quick recovery times from the boss. I found a very unique window for a backstab whenever the boss performs a tiny thrust then I quickly turn my character around and hopefully the command registers. I found that the Claymore had a better registering window than the club somehow however it just be a placebo effect which seems to work for me from time to time. I'm having a lot of fun turning simple bosses into challenges however I'm starving for more complex and satisfying fights already but the world of Elden Ring has been too interesting to concentrate on the main path. Anyway I know there's multiple Black Knife Assassins so if they're different enough I'll make another review though if it contains multiple enemies then I may just pass because I rather display a clean fight not a sloppy one and multiple enemies with a boss is usually very messy especially when the wrong type of enemy is used. Once again I didn't like this boss very much. When I have to go out of my way to compose a challenge then there's something significantly wrong with the design which is what I've had to do for quite a few bosses already.