Ranking the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Bosses Easiest to Hardest!

[@BillySYT]

Hey all, just to let you know I did a poll in my community tab a few days ago asking whether it was okay to use late-game DLC bosses in the thumbnail for this video. I got the go-ahead, it would have felt wrong not to have Radahn featured given he's the hot topic for difficulty atm. Either way, please enjoy!

[@debadityachakraborty9223]

The two guys that gave radahn 1/10 were radagon and marika

[@WeirdTroll666]

LOL

[@papapineapple]

Shouldn't that count as one? Or did they count themselves separately just for the extra vote

[@debadityachakraborty9223]

​@@papapineappleNah they did it just to mess around with us

[@pietrocatalano4285]

If there's one thing this DLC really highlighted (at least from my point of view), it's how resistant Souls players are to change, and it really did feel like Fromsoftware wanted them to change. Summoning (easily the most controversial feature of the Souls games) is highly encouraged for some fights, not just because the bosses are harder without summons but also because they're worse: I'm sure I don't need to explain why fighting against Leda summonless is an absolute shitshow, probably the worst fight you could have in the entirety of Elden Ring. Or why refusing to summon Igon for Bayle noticeably weakens the overall enjoyability of the fight. It's also nice how the summoning pools are sometimes inside the boss room, as while this does mean that the bosses don't have increased health and poise, it also makes summoning itself risky as you have to disengage entirely with the boss for a few moments, which, uh...well, let's just say that it's unlikely for Messmer or Bayle to let you do that without at least sneaking a hit or two in. Beyond just summoning, though, it seemed like the playerbase geniunely didn't want to interact with the Scadutree system that Fromsoftware designed specifically for this DLC (Bandai Namco had to put out a post literally "suggesting" that players level up their blessings, lmao), which I think is a shame, because it's a brilliantly designed system that (almost) perfectly fixes the major issue of Elden Ring's open world: how easy it is to get an overpowered build. Nothing, literally nothing in this game, is a challenge if you use some well-optimized builds. There's a reason for why Elden Ring builds have by far the most DPS or even one-shot potential, despite the massive jump in boss complexity since the days of Dark Souls 3. The Scadutree system not only ensures that you can't blitz through the DLC, it also makes it so that you are forced to interact with a large portion of the open world, whereas a some overpowered builds in Elden Ring need only visit a few niche locations for their setup (cough, Rune Level 1 builds, cough), none of which are too far out of the way.

[@BillySYT]

I think it's insane how many people ignored the Scadutree system. Like, for a first playthrough, my goal is always to try interacting with everything the DLC is offering. A second playthrough can be where I fuck around and find out, but it's interesting to see how many people don't have that same mentality.

[@Humorousfellow]

@@BillySYThonestly, I like what they did with the scadutree fragments in concept, at least. I think it would have just been easier if they just had the scaling be at haligtree level, since that’s still enough to hurt higher leveled builds, which was the main concern they seemed to have.

[@Amannus2.0]

For the record, Billy, Midra has a HIGHER health pool than Radahn. He has the highest health pool of any enemy in the game. He just has lower resistances.

[@WeirdTroll666]

Midra was a bit more difficult than Messmer to me!

[@christiancavelltaylor442]

He has 40,000 HP, radahn has over 60,000 HP. You are wrong

[@WeirdTroll666]

@@christiancavelltaylor442 according to fextra: Midra:47k Radahn:46k

[@papapineapple]

​@WeirdTroll666 Fextralife counts both phases separately I believe

[@Trapghanistan]

@@WeirdTroll666 fextra counts promised consort and miquellas consort as separate

[@dannydemarco6405]

Honestly the Divine Beast Dancing Lion was my favorite boss from the entire DLC. Granted, a lot of the fights were up there, but in terms of the raw spectacle of the fight, with that intro cutscene it just takes the cake for me. It’s a sick boss

[@mannytprimeministerofthemanate]

Except for the cross chop combo, and the fact that his light effects blind you and stagger your character even past 51 poise, Rahdan has an almost perfect moveset.

[@lordziz]

That cross chop combo single-handedly ruins the fight for me. It feels like there's no way to dodge both hits of the startup and I can't count the number of times it's killed me, directly or indirectly.

[@shiroamakusa8075]

Gulp deflecting hardtear, given him an enhanced guard counter on the cross-chop.

[@robsidian7400]

The two opening hits are difficult to dodge, sure, but they do very little damage (less than a quarter of my health, at least) and the move leaves one of the largest openings to heal or attack. Personally I'm always happy to see it, and aside from glass cannon builds and lvl 1 runs, I don't understand why it's so controversial. But that's just my opinion, of course

[@Asteriarimia]

I think The Scadutree Avatar and Romina are very underrated bosses.

[@raiden3013]

Eh. I feel like romina needs a buff. She is the final remembrance boss before radhan but she felt easier than every other remembrance boss.

[@pietrocatalano4285]

I think lorewise, it makes sense for them to be around a 5/6 in difficulty, they're not particularily powerful or impressive. But gameplay wise, I would have appreciated a slight buff to Romina, maybe not to the Avatar since's already an endurance fight and making it difficult right off the bat could be seriously frustrating (not to mention that if you mess up too many times, you'll also haemorrage, which isn't very fun).

[@andreamassari7954]

Scolopendra waifu and depressed sunflowers are peak 🗿. The Avatar is good like that, but yeh, Romina is so cool (I love centipedes, peak arthropod design) that seeing her being THAT easier compared to the other bosses, especially considering her placement is frustrating to me. It does'nt help that she does'nt have a cutscene

[@TheMineA7]

Leda fight is amazing, it encourages you to do the NPC quests. I was invaded by Hornsent on my way to Romina and that meant he wouldn't be in the Leda fight. I failed to give Ansbach the scroll so him and Freya were not there. I gave Moore a new purpose so he fought me. I truly loved that aspect of you reap what you sow. Also helps I am using Malenia's sword in the DLC so I can waterfowl the npcs and show them true pain that we all had to deal with against Malenia.

[@apharys8921]

It also does a great job showcasing Miquella's power right before we fight him, as well as previewing how his so-called age of compassion could end up and why he needs to go.

[@MissChambersxo]

Ranking the shadow of the Erdtree bosses easiest to hardest to Radahn

[@eonwe5885]

on Dancing Lion: you don't actually want to be close to the boss. Keep your distance and roll/jump/run into a clear window. It will come together much better then. You are there to watch the dance! Also speaking of jumping into windows, that's what you want to be doing for the frost stomp.

[@NishSoup]

The Leda fight was probably my favorite in the dlc, felt very cinematic as I was fighting Freyja, i saw Ansbach jumping in the air with his scythe attacking Moore. Just made everything feel epic

[@benjamincrowhurst5998]

Can’t believe how much comfort “I’m Billy S, welcome to the channel” brings my ears now

[@darianclark3980]

The fact that the Hippo and Gaius were the only bosses that were "nerfed" by fixing their bugs is a little funny but frustrating that Promised Consort Radahn, Consort of Miquella still ruins framerates with their BS attacks!

[@ashrog82]

Like some others on here, I had trouble with Jori in my first playthrough. Second playthrough, I put on the golden braid, my best holy resist armor, and a fire weapon. Went full aggro, face tanked all of his attacks, he went down before he could really do anything.

[@jackstern5737]

I think the difference between going in at like +5-7 scadutree it's probably really tough, at +8-12 it's probably fairly easy with a high dps build, +15+ and above should be no problem. Iirc I was +13-14 when I got there and it was pretty easy. 2 attempts, got cocky and wasn't respecting the damage from the spam spell and with 1 hit to go died.

[@topherbee6788]

my gay ass getting every dragrace reference you throw out 💀

[@joaopedrodurand5325]

I died less than 15 times to Messmer... you know... the dlc stamp, but Rellana killed me 100+ TIMES

[@JustinL186]

I found Rellana to be extremely difficult but Messmer to be on another level. But I could still beat both without any Scadutree levels

[@Bobbbbbritches]

Same bro😭. Had like 35 deaths to messmer, but 118 to Rellana. I think I was under leveled, blessing wise, for Rellana ( bl lvl 3) but over leveled for messmer (Bl lvl 16)

[@firstorderblade4432]

i was so happy to find bayle in this game. I was really disappointed with all the other dragons in elden ring and he was such a surprise. Definitely a close match between him and midir for the best dragon

[@izanagisburden6850]

I'm so glad, it felt weird having kalameet at 2nd best dragon fight, even though kalameet is worlds behind midir

[@firstorderblade4432]

@@izanagisburden6850 I think sinh is the second best, and I think right now he's only a little behind midir. Its mostly because of presentation though. He doesn't have a massive moveset or anything, but seeing him several times throughout the area, and the way he comes out of his gorgeous arena with a spray of flames is just so cool and his ost is better than bayles

[@izanagisburden6850]

@@firstorderblade4432 I mean from a technical standpoint sinh is pretty far behind both midir and bayle, not as much emphasis on the head. I do like that you get to see him p often in the fight, but those times are basically pauses in the fight cus he's flying around. also the fact that he has the weapon break shit is very cringe. still one of the best for sure tho

[@firstorderblade4432]

@@izanagisburden6850 I like the weapon break thing, its only annoying on scholar the first sin because weapon durability is still broken on the version and it drains 3x as quickly

[@izanagisburden6850]

@firstorderblade4432 yeah I think that's my issue, the only version I've ever played is scholar.

[@otex5155]

I’m gonna fight that first Scadutree avatar comment. BADLY DESIGNED???! It’s amazingly designed!

[@just_cade]

It’s perfect. When it does that big charge attack in phase 3, it’s shaped exactly like the Scadutree

[@tailsfan109_SonicSFM_Gamer]

I really wanted to participate in the ranking for this, but I only beat Radahn last night, after nearly a week of trying… aw. :(

[@klausvendicato3524]

Man I just love how passionate you are about these games and the community within them! So warming to see/watch

[@melephs_cap]

I liked the Scadutree Avatar, I was just confused by the three phases! When it revived for the second time and it didn't show any new moves I was like "oh, I guess I don't know the trick to killing it for good." I had to look it up to realize phase 3 was the end lol

[@kokushibo6299]

Fun fact: The second phase of Metyr’s ost goes nearly silent, but you can hear a deep, astral audio when listening closely. Said audio is the first ever recorded sound of a black hole, likely her trying to communicate with the greater will or the other fingers

[@Ana198]

Midra actually has over 1k hp more than Radahn, he has the most HP out of anyone in the whole game, it's just the low poise that makes it easy

[@Reversi44]

Midra also has much lower physical damage resistances compared to Radahn which on average makes Radahn have more effective HP compared to Midra

[@lordziz]

Midra may have more HP but his defenses aren't as high, so most people will still finish off Midra faster in their successful attempt even taking poise out of the equation

[@АнанасикХитрожопый-и7в]

People when they see the Gank Squad from DS2: YOU F*CKING DONKEY! People when they see the gank squad, but from Enir Ilim: oh, dear, gorgeous!

[@debater452]

The Leda fight gives you help, has a story significance, has a god like ost, has a lot if variability and you actually care about the characters.

[@АнанасикХитрожопый-и7в]

@@debater452 the Leda fight has 3 to 5 npcs simultaneously chasing you up in a melee combat, whereas DS2 gank squad has a heavy melee, a light melee and an archer, and the arena actually helps you with crowd control

[@debater452]

@@АнанасикХитрожопый-и7в In the Leda fight you can have 3 allies to help you out and the NPC's spawn 1 at a time. You can decide you difficult the fight is. Your allies do the crowd controll in this fight

[@debater452]

@@АнанасикХитрожопый-и7в You don't even have to do npc questilnes to have a good fight. If you do no quest it's a 2v3, but you can kill Hornsent pretty quickly so it's really only a 2v2

[@INspectre691]

great list! I loved seeing everyone collectively agree that Bayle was amazing lol. Am I sad that my note on Bayle wasn't in the vid? yes 😭, but am I glad to see the dragon getting the love he deserves? also yes :D

[@rainestar6781]

Yeah I was waiting to hear my comment on Bayle until he mentioned 125 votes for favorite boss, lmao Definitely glad he got plenty of love.

[@MaidenlessScrub]

After this DLC, I'm completely convinced that I'm actually better than I thought I was because I really enjoyed Gaius and downed him after 3 tries. I genuinely don't understand why people are complaining out him so much.

[@jokrozart]

Took me a solid 6 hours to beat Radahn the first time but I felt I understood most of his attacks so I went into ng+ right after and rematched him. This time i beat him on my second try which makes me find this boss to be pretty fair since I don’t feel anywhere near as unsafe in second phase as I once did

[@user-pn4px5lr8w]

I love Metyr, but so far the only answer I can think of to the first spin of her black hole laser is Raptor of the Mists, or Vow of the Indomitable. The second spin before it ends has a gap you can simply stand in to avoid via positioning. Otherwise she's fantastic. Gaius is arguably my favorite boss in the dlc like I said in a previous video. If the charge has a shared hit list on all 3 hitboxes, so if one hitbox gets you, the rest turn off. It would make it more consistent if punished by it. I've seen a video showing its hitboxes, and they're just fine so I don't understand outside of the charge. You can also jump over Putrescent Knight's boomerang throw. It's realy cool. One of his combos where he does a bit of an uppercut has him recovering while moving forward. So if you step backwards you can ready a charged attack as he basically runs into you during recovery. Fun fact, Midra has 47,171hp, while Consort Radahn has 46,134hp. Midra is just squishier. I do wish he was more chaotic given the nature of the Frnezied Flame. His theme also sounds like a march in phase 2, so I was expecting something more oppressive, and aggressive, but that's just me speaking with my sensibilities in mind.

[@ShinxBOOM247]

8:26 The biggest piece of advice I can give for fighting Jori, especially for dealing with their repeated casts of Spira, is that Jori is vulnerable to backstabs, to the point you can loop backstabs against them if you are good at positioning around their other attacks. Spira in particular gives you a massive opening to run/roll to them, get behind them, and then plunge your weapon straight into their back to get them to cut it out

[@ShinxBOOM247]

You know what, how's about I turn this into a thread on some of my personal thoughts on the bosses: 25:50 Nah, Metyr's laser is always a problem due to my single least favorite part of her fight: her propensity to chain her phase 2 attacks into eachother. In most of my attempts against her, she would always chain one of her phase 2 moves into another one over and over again, usually ending in the giant laser attack that is basically impossible to fully avoid without specific ashes of war or spells. This tends to make the fight slow down to a crawl, since all of her phase 2 attacks are very long and leave little opening for counter attacks, and is a big reason why I'd personally put her as one of the worst rememberance bosses

[@ShinxBOOM247]

1:07:38 I think one thing that really differentiates Rellana and Malenia and results in Rellana feeling more like a DS3 boss is the fact Rellana cannot be flinched by attacks. For Malenia, her ability to be flinched when coupled with her long combos which can go on for as long as she likes reaults in a fight where you are encouraged to be aggressive and interrupt her attacks to get damage rather than purely relying on clear enders to go for punishes. Meanwhile, Rellana's inability to be flinched by even the heaviest of attacks results in you having to focus on the specific combo sequences she is doing and dodging the onslaught to punish after the fact, which is much more in line with tough bosses from DS3 like Twin Princes, Nameless King, Gael, Fride, and Midir

[@ShinxBOOM247]

No timestamp on Radahn since no one brought this up, but a big part for why Radahn is so tough in my eyes is that his moveset is filled to the brim with frame traps; attack combos where if you try to roll through one hit of a combo you will get hit by another. This happens with his x slash combo, his light rays throughout phase 2, and almost all of his clone attacks. The X slash combo in particular is funny because it is easy to dodge with light rolling or with fat rolling but is outright impossible to properly dodge without extreme luck with medium rolls. Some of this can be mitigated with good positioning (his light rays in particular are best dealt with by dodging in the right direction rather than just rolling straight towards him), but a significant chunk of them border on unfair without specific build setups. Thank god for the Deflecting Hard Tear, because this fight becomes significantly more managable with it active

[@Ju5t4l1z4rd]

I beaten Gaius 1st try in NG4 so I never had to deal with him greeting me with a pointblank charge and let’s say I didn’t sugar coat a Rotten Great Axe infused with a Frosted Lion’s Claw and a mimic tear summon, completely bullied him.

[@melephs_cap]

Big fan of the chill conversational vibe of this video

[@apharys8921]

33:35 I've heard a lot of people say this about Putrescent Knight but he really clicked for me; the second hits come out faster than you might think, that's all. My second time fighting him (after learning I could jump his fire) was as smooth as butter. His move set is pretty small. Radahn is the only dlc boss that made me break out the mimic with the crap build I had at the time. It didn't take all that much aggro but it lasted until phase 2 and allowed me to rebuff when it got charmed which was nice. I look forward to trying out the deflecting hardtear next time.

[@hitdoctor24]

Ayyy that second Bayle comment was mine! Really been enjoying your content since I found your channel a few months ago. Keep it up man

[@Trapghanistan]

No matter how many times I see your subscriber count im suprised. Litteraly some of the highest quality soulsborne vidoes out there. Id be even more surprised if you don't seriously blow up soon

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

Finally beat the last boss so I can watch Elden Ring content again (I went blind).

[@ZaulieP]

It’s nice to see my note get featured. Great work as usual!

[@cecefuss]

I am finding it slightly odd that Souls content creators are trying to make Leda and Allies a boss. They’re featuring in every SotE boss ranking video. It’s not a boss. It’s a very hard miniboss encounter. It isn’t making me angry and I’m not spewing rage on the internet. I’m very calmly saying that I find it very strange that for some reason this encounter seems to have broken the miniboss ceiling to be treated as an actual boss

[@BillySYT]

To be perfectly honest, even if she doesn't have a boss healthbar, she killed me more than over half the bosses in the DLC. I'd say that earns her & the squad a spot on the list + it's just a really exciting encounter that I otherwise wouldn't ever get the opportunity to talk about.

[@cecefuss]

@@BillySYTappreciate the response. You wouldn’t ever do a miniboss ranking? Regardless, just my observation that plenty of people are making exceptions like you’ve done for an encounter that doesn’t have a boss healthbar. There’s been plenty of minibosses in the series that are as good as bosses (Bloody Crow, O’Rin, Blaidd) that don’t get to be called bosses. You seem to be like the 4th list maker who are making an exception for this miniboss. Just the simultaneous exception really intrigues me. Maybe you’re all in a discord group somewhere making executive decisions like the stonecutters in the Simpsons?

[@J0000OOOO]

Gaius' charge is probably the worst attack in the DLC, but the rest of his moveset is pretty greatly designed. I hope they tweak the charge a bit, there's a great boss hiding behind it.

[@Eo-ms3kw]

How can you say this when Radahn's cross slash and Metyr's rotating laser exist? At least you can dodge the charge with just medium roll.

[@J0000OOOO]

@@Eo-ms3kw The rotating laser is definitely a worse attack in a vacuum yeah, it just isn't used with the frequency of the charge so the charge gets put ahead for that reason imo. The cross slash never gave me too much trouble honestly? It's a bit fucked for sure but I don't know, the charge always screwed me more lol.

[@SilverlandgmodTV]

The fight vs. Leda and her allies might be one of my favorites in the series. It feels like the real climax of the DLC, not the fight against Radahn and Miquella. I personally cared a lot more about the 8 NPCs I had been dealing with in the DLC up to that point. Some became my close friends, others I learned to despise, and still others I felt sympathetic towards, even if our goals had diverged. It was really cool to be able to have all of the NPC questlines resolve at once in one big showdown. I'm still sad for Freya and Moore. Leda kind of went insane and I never felt a partiular affinity for the Hornsent or Dane. But those first two were only opposed because of their loyalty or naivety. They felt more like dramatic flaws rather than personal ones. In a just world, they should have been in the right. Unfortunately, Miquella had cast away his love, and there was no way the Tarnished of No Renown was going to let anyone else than him and his consort be a God or Lord.

[@thewarhamster8139]

Hot take: Metyr is The One Reborn done well. Still very easy for me. I killed her in 2 tries.

[@Hedonite]

I really don't see this comparison. Help me out alittle 😂

[@thewarhamster8139]

@@Hedonite Metyr's physical design reminds me a lot of The One Reborn and a lot of it's moves remind me of it too. Basically it feels like FromSoft looked at that old fight and finally figured out how to make it work properly, swapped out the bell dudes the rafters for orbital lasers and made Metyr.

[@powerdrillpete9319]

One of the most interesting aspects of the DLC for me is the extent to which different people had different experiences with boss difficulty. Of course, this is partially explainable by Scadutree Blessing levels, but even then, unless there's a HUGE difference in level then it's not an earth-splittingly large distance in power between players. I thought Bayle was BY FAR the hardest boss besides Radahn, and beat many of the mid-difficulty bosses on this list (Metyr, Putrescent Knight, Romina ) in 1, 2, and 3 tries respectively. Meanwhile, Jori, Scadutree Avatar and Golden Hippo, who all score lower than the aforementioned bosses, all took me probably between 8-15, with Jori on the low side and Scadutree Avatar on the high side. Build also plays a huge part, as Midra ranked 6/16 here, so "hard," but he probably took me 8-10 tries as well simply because I figured out which attacks I could tank or ignore quickly.

[@tylerhughes4785]

41:57 midra has the most hp in the dlc but only by a small margin compared to promise concort but its not like it matters because midras defenses are so trash.

[@thefoochie2118]

I feel like I’m the only person who finds Radahn hard but 100% fair.

[@DuckLord0013]

Don’t worry I’m with you on that lol

[@moustachio05]

Yes

[@justanotherblackwhitemicke7817]

Dont worry, theres still people that dont cry like a bitch

[@starwarsfan729]

Literally everyone is saying it’s the hardest boss of all to me bar a few? Are you dull?

[@seymourflux747]

​​@@starwarsfan729 I think they meant an emphasis on the "100% [fair]"

[@winterdragon2004]

I actually made my way to Enir-Ilim before finding the path to the Abyssal Woods, so i was already acquainted with Spira casters by the time i found Jori. Because of that, i naturally saw the spell as a perfect backstab opportunity, and once it was confirmed that actually works the fight ended up not being so bad.

[@p90590]

One thing I wish I’d known before completing the dlc was how great holy damage would perform in most of it. I crafted a cool holy damage build only until the very end of my ng+2 run on it.

[@felltactician]

I beat the DLC Bow Only (black bow + Ansbach Longbow when i got that.) The hardest ones for me to beat to the point of wanting to change off my preferred weapons were the "mounted" bosses Romina, Gaius, and Purescent Knight. Romina being the worst one for this, the reason being that their lock on was placed on the midsections of each, and with the more nimble ones (Romina and Putrescent) it meant a lot of arrows would miss if i tried to fight locked on. So i was constantly jumping between lock on, aiming, and trying my luck at free-shooting. My favorite boss to fight though hands down is BAYLE, even if i had to ADS occasionally due to his lock on being head only, he just brought me back to my monster hunter days

[@azurethescaletipper210]

Yeah, Consort Radahn really took the most effort for me to beat a boss in all of Elden Ring. I didn’t really need a video guide or change my build to beat Malenia, and Radahn had me do the latter twice! I started the fight rocking the Faith/Arcane build with various Occult weapons I had been using the whole game, summoning Thiollier and Ansbach because it felt right. Only to find that the Lightning or Holy damage setups were not cutting it, and that I couldn’t bring either Thiollier or Ansbach without inflating his HP bar. So I went from what I had, to resorting to Imprenetrable Thorns (poorly), before finally getting a heavy armor setup with the Bloodfiend’s Occult Fork I was using for the whole DLC. I had the Dancing Lion’s head for “better” resistances than the Lionel helm (without realizing it increased damage taken) and used a +0 Dragon Greatshield. And yet nothing felt more triumphant than managing the win with my new ass-kicking outfit.

[@TheDanktator]

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for your content ☺️

[@seymourflux747]

I like the lack of introductory cutscenes on some important bosses my problem with Rellana's introduction is just her room buildup. I expected at least something of a larger building after that bridge with all the enemies, but nah it's just Site of Grace and Rellana right away

[@TengouX]

Personally I had the most trouble with divine beast dancing camera. Even more than with Radahn once I figured out I should be rolling to the side during that fight. The damn camera...

[@jacobnorris8256]

"Jori's summons act as attacks" would be a pretty cool mechanic if they didn't sometimes stay for half a fucking minute to spam spells at you together with the boss. And then he summons another 2 batches to do the same, and then the big guy who then does the tornado attack which I don't know if is even possible to dodge from melee. Oh and you finally found a single window where the summons have all despawned? Lmao xd Jori does the funny teleport away attack. Jori's melee combo that summons 2 dudes to attack at the same time, which then despawn almost immediately after, is pretty cool. The ones where he summons his dudes to keep attacking you for a century are not as cool. If all of his moves worked like the melee one he'd have one of the most cool and unique gimmicks they've made, but they botched the execution with the attacks that make them stay longer. Killing his summons is pointless because he can resummon them immediately since his summon moves are ridiculously fast for some reason.

[@johnwilson121283]

Congrats on 24K, Billy. At launch Gaius and Consort were my toughest; Bayle, Rellana, and Messmer were my favorite, and I wish Midra and Romina were buffed. Otherwise, I think all the big bosses were solid and engaging.

[@compencemusic]

I'm on my 5th playthrough atm and I can confirm that Golden Hippo & Gaius have gotten much easier after their nerfs/hitbox fixes, as well as Rellana and Dancing Lion because of the early-game Scadutree buffs

[@i420Freestyle]

Hell yeah, romina was so fun to learn, even have a clip of the winning fight against her, which was quite clean for someone who use mimic tear fornthe whole of ng and ng+ and then decides to complete the dlc with just a sword 😅

[@charlottewhyman4025]

Been looking forward to this! 😊

[@imwatchingyouleo]

new billy video as soon as my food got here 😭🙌🏽

[@auburnkeyblade2491]

I didn't have the difficulty with Jori as many others seem to have had. I actually quite enjoyed the figjt myself. I'll admit, Blasphemous Blade carried me a little in that fight, but Jori's summons didn't last long enough to impede my progress, and I found the Spria spam wasn't nearly as bad as it was in Enir-Ilim by the two fuckers on the stairs. And I'll add a comment that I wasnt able to add in the ranking (I wanted to talk about so many bosses). Rellana is one of my favorite fights in all of Soulsborne. The first time i fought her I was more cautious, sending out Tiche while chucking Bolts of Gransax at her. All was fune until her Twin Moon nuke happened, juggling me into oblivion. I was gobsmacked! "Did... did that just happen?" I decided to come back after exploring more of the area, collecting Scadutree Fragments and the like, even finding my way the Scadu Altus and gathering some gear and talismen up that way. Once I felt preppared, I cited a mantra to myself: "Tonight, Rellana dies!" Simething possessed me right then and there. I went in with the Darkmoon Greatsword, and I locked in. It was like I was experiencing the fight in slow motion. Her Glintblade Phalanx never slowed me down. Her combos I bobbed and weaved. Her Carian Sovereignty I dodged effortlessly. I saw the dreaded Twin Moon strike, and I jumped through it all without missing a beat. I dodged left and right through her 5 blade AOW combo, danced around her pillars of fire. And before I knew it: Legend Felled. 2nd Attempt. Did using Tiche make it easier? Yes, but it was still such an exhilarating experience and it was the best Ive ever performed in a fight. My only regret is not saving the clip on my PS4...

[@nicholascaddick7514]

I didn’t think Gaius was bad even before patch. Once I figured out you can dodge the charge straight through him rather than the side or diagonal I had a much better time fighting him. Still a tight window but more doable… at least for me. Love your channel. I watch all the time as I rock my kid to sleep. ❤️

[@nathanbarrett4402]

Mentioning Laxasia being surpsassed by Radahn makes me think that From needs to add a way of permanently having Deflect active ala Sekiro and Lies of P and not as a tear in their next game. Radahn def has some moves like the cross slash that are too demanding to dodge and having an alternate way of surviving that isn't tanking it while also building agression on the boss is essential for keeping these bosses interactive, difficult and reasonably fair.

[@AiorosSagittarius]

Fun fact to Rellana. So, I play Elder Scrolls Online. And in one of its 12 man raids, the first boss has also an attack that launches you into the air 3 times and usually kills you when you get caught in it, unless you do it on normal (there is normal and veteran difficulty). We lovingly call this mechanic "popcorn". Fast forward to the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC dropping and me seeing Rellanas tripple moon-groundblast for the first time. I died to it because I went in blind and didn't know I had to jump - but I couldn't even be mad. I had to put down my controller and laugh and clap. Because I was like: "ESO Sanctum Ophidia: We got popcorn. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: We now got popcorn too. It's even moonflavoured.". Seriously, try to find a video of the Sanctum Ophidia Manticora boss's popcorn mechanic. It is just the same as Rellana's. XD XD XD XD XD

[@aidansilli4257]

I had a different experience from yall. Idk how I compare to everyone else, but I probably died way more than yall. I also fought Putrescent Knight and Rellana super underleveled. 1. Radahn-69 deaths 2. Rellana/Gaius- 46 3. Putrescent Knight-36 4. Messmer- 34 5. Midra-18 6. Golden Hippo- 15 7. Scadutree Avatar-14 8. Metyr Mother of Fingers-12 9. Romina- 8 10. Divine Beast Dancing Lion-4 11. Bayle/Dragonman- 3 12. Leda-2 13. Jori-0

[@bagredecartola1289]

All i had to summon against leda was thiollier and that random sanguine noble and finished her first time Whoever is not summoning against leda is a stubborn mule, you're fighting npcs with npcs, it feels fun and historically satisfying

[@just13rain]

Messmer and Midra's grab attacks are the most brutal grabs in the souls games.

[@DracoUmbra95]

Rellana is very hard, but very fair. Radahn on the other hard is very hard, but feels unfair. I felt like I was able to learn all of Rellana's combos fairly easily. Radahn was a completely different story. His phase 1, I was able to learn nearly perfectly, until the only 2 attacks I wasn't completely confident in were the gravity pull and his gravity meteors. The gravity pull itself wasn't the problem, it was the follow-up of the spikes, that I couldn't figure out how to get out of consistently. If I properly dodged the gravity pull, then there wasn't an issue. The gravity meteors, also weren't really a problem, just me not figuring out the proper method of efficiently dodging them. Phase 2 however was a different story. It really all starts with the fact that it triggers at 65% health, like the complaints would still exist, but phase 1 I like so much as a dance, that triggering at 65% health feels like I don't have enough time to enjoy the first phase. The real complaints of phase 2 though are that it completely destroys my frame rate when phase 2 starts, which if he doesn't go for the AOE attack, means I usually don't have the proper time to react and end up getting hit. It also drops when he goes into the AOE attack which I can typically still avoid, it's just frustrating this this section is so unoptimized that even my high-end PC chugs. The two attacks that gave me the biggest issues this phase, and I believe are complete BS are his gravity pull where he follows up with the afterimage attack and then spikes. Not once was I able to avoid that attack when it went off. The other was the Holy Meteor, which I now know the strat to avoid, but trying to learn in the moment was impossible. I died to the attack each time, until my eventual winning attempt where I only got hit by 2 of the hits of that attack. Also, 40% resistance on almost everything is frustrating especially on a boss with 46k HP. I legitimately think Phase 2 of the fight was poorly designed, and it tears down the fantastic phase 1. In terms of most disappointing bosses in the DLC for me, he is probably number 1.

[@hypername1]

Gaius doesnt deserve nearly as much hate as he gets. The first charge can just be dodged with torrent, by running away and then jumping when he gets close, and as long as you're close to him, the charge attack is completely possible and easy to dodge when he uses it after, and besides that, hes a good fight, and definitely the best mounted boss in the game.

[@sebastianpijov8708]

The charge can be annoying, but only from a distance. It's otherwise a solid fight with a decent difficulty.

[@maidenless_tarnished]

I thought Juri's staff holy machine gun was hilarious, so I buffed it along with using holy damage buffs. Melted the Putrescent Knight in seconds

[@shslmahoushoujo]

The Golden Hippo being so disliked is interesting to me, because the more I look at it, the more certain I am he shares moves with the Watchdog of the Old Lords and Pontiff Beast, and yet for some reason fighting this hippo (and the minor ones around the overworld) doesn't frustrate me nearly as much as dealing with them. Maybe it's that I've gotten used to the moveset because of those guys, but I had this feeling I was being a lot more successful at dodging the hippo's grab compared to the very similar move followed up by a jump that Pontiff Beasts LOVE to do. I spent far more time trying to clear out the underground of Irythill from the two beasts there compared to fighting all hippos in this DLC combined, honestly. Also amused by Romina. People say she was easy, yet I fought her after pretty much every other boss except for the Enir-Ilim ones for obvious reasons, and she STILL gave me a good challenge. I don't know if it's my build or what, but I spent more time fighting her than I did Metyr or Gaius. Something about her moveset just kept tripping me up. And for Putrescent Knight. The spinny move is one I find really fun to dodge, actually! It's a good mix of rolling and positioning. Dodging forward is the answer, but you also don't want to wait for him to approach, but get closer before rolling, that way dodging the horse attack won't lead into the knight catching you getting out of a roll, and many times the second spin the knight does will overshoot you. I just REALLY enjoy fighting him, honestly.

[@christophertheofilos1063]

When did you fight him, pre-bug fix or post? Because there is a huge difference in his hitbox for the grab now. I struggled first playthrough, destroyed him every time since

[@shslmahoushoujo]

@@christophertheofilos1063 Pre-patch still, the patch came out around the time I got to Metyr I remember. I really have this feeling that the hitbox was VERY similar to the Pontiff Beasts similar attack, and having tortured myself constantly trying learn those, pre-patch hippo was somehow doable, but it's not exactly a positive since that's by far my least favorite attack of the Pontiff Beasts anyway.

[@Rassalcon]

It's fascinationg to me how small changes make a big impact. I LOVE Watchdog, but hate the Pontiff beasts. I also found the other Hippos to be easy and kinda fun, so I think it's mostly that the arena you fight it in sucks

[@shslmahoushoujo]

@@Rassalcon Yeah, all of the minor hippos you find around the world show how good an arena change can be. While I don't find the Golden Hippo too tough or bad, compared to the wide open spaces you face the minor ones in, the small space in the Shadow Keep arena is prone to camera issues, which can often get people killed in boss fights.

[@vancechristakes3489]

Putrecent knight was and is contender for my favorite boss in the DLC, and one of the main reasons BEING his horse and him tag team fight. I figured it out pretty easily ( no offence ) and it is my favorite move in the entire game tbh

[@collinhalverson4681]

I can promise the fix with Golden Hippo does make it fairer. It feels better to fight now.

[@titangamer3326]

I don't view the Leda fight as a boss, but rather a (mostly final) destination in NPC quests. It sits better with me, and makes more sense, since there is no boss health bar

[@NickNoll-b4o]

Man, I feel like I got cheated out of the standard radahn fight..he took me an hour to beat and most of that was learning the first phase attacks after I realized the second phase is 90% the same attacks but with a punishment for if you roll away from him.

[@droooooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

Yay! My comment about Romina made it into the video! =D

[@DuoFaceGaming]

yay my comment on Midra got featured ‼

[@aayushdasgupta9754]

I have beaten Radahn about 6 times till now. So on my 1st playthrough, I fought him with mimic but my build was not extremely cheesy. Flame Art FKGS with Flame spear. Then there were the meta builds (bloodfiend's arm and greatshield poke) And one build where I suffered with the Great Katana. No OP AoW, no nothing. It was pain. However the most fun and rewarding was deflect tear with heavy weapons ( Giant Crusher and Messmer Soldier Spear)

[@huntergville7040]

Thank you for including my response!! I

[@Jacob-se1hu]

Light rolling turns Gaius and Hippo into joke bosses, i carried a few people through them as a summon by light rolling and keeping aggro with Shabriri's Woe. I was using a greatsword as well, no issues with either. You get enough space and s to easily dodge through most of their attacks and they have big openings to punish.

[@ThroughfulGamer95]

Midra actually has the biggest health bar at 47k. He just has - comparatively - weaker defenses, and little stance at just 80.

[@Aninvader-rm4fl]

the Hippo's grab isn't hard to dodge, its just that the method to dodge it isn't what you'd expect instead of rolling diagonally, just run to the side to fully strafe it without rolling at all I've noticed that most of the people who loathed this boss didn't know how to dodge the grab, so maybe being able to dodge it consistently was a big factor in my enjoyment of the fight. I had almost no problems with this fight, the attack that I think should really be the focus is the spin that shoots quills everywhere after so many attempts I couldn't never dodge it fully also I don't think the damage is a big deal, I fought him at blessing level 7 (I avoided leveling more to not over level) without heavy armor, and each hit dealt enough damage to need a flask, but pretty much everything does enough damage to need a flask in the DLC, at least he can't one shot you the fight is just more fun in general when you just embrace the absurdity of it, which is significantly easier when you know how to dodge the grab

[@jacobgilbreath6704]

I always wondered why all the dragon forms always look so emaciated and spindly.

[@kinggamereon653]

I beat Gaius with medium load and the rusted anchor. I had fun and I don't see what's the issue with the fight for medium load strength users. Only the opening charge felt unfair but that's one flask from 14, how terrible.

[@kevinprinz3204]

Radahn was the only fight that I couldn't just force the win. I actually had to try more than 3 times and it doesn't help that his second phase attacks destroy any fps I had

[@dyedyeding]

and has for bayle the second phase where is wings show up the first time is the most jaw droping stuff i have seen in a souls game (close second being Sulyvahn walking up to you with the terrifying ost behind it yes im annoying with Sulyvahn but hes my fav boss ever in video game history sorry XD)

[@geordiejones5618]

Midra and Rellana are the most I've enjoyed watching a boss kill me since Lady Maria. I hated Golden Hippo and Gaius until I started helping people beat them in co-op. Putrescent Knight was especially tough and I was starting to enjoy it but it has THE worst co-op set up in either the DLC or base game because of the fog wall delay.

[@Tectonic-ne4dy]

I agree on most of these, especially radahn, i beat him with the magic pixel of health and no healing, where as with malenia i had no heals but full health when i beat her

[@THETYMEKK12]

Golden Hippo is very hard! I don't like him but it took me more attempts than Metyr, Avatar, Romina and most of the NPCs. Why is it at the bottom of the list? Same thing with Jori. Is it a favourite boss list or a hardest boss list?

[@BillySYT]

I suspect your experiences are an outlier compared to the people polled for this video. Nothing wrong with that, we all have a boss or two we struggle with that the community doesn't.

[@TengouX]

I understand why Jori is hated, but he's not so bad. The fact that the summons need to be stance broken to disappear is definitely a hard counter to most magic builds, though, since a lot of spells do next to no stance damage. That leads to magic builds having no recourse but to dodge through all the nonsense and find time to fire off their own pewpews.

[@6FootVampire]

Wait what!? You played this on a ps4!?

[@BillySYT]

I bought Elden Ring on PS4 in 2022, so why would I upgrade for a singular game?

[@6FootVampire]

@@BillySYT im not saying you should upgrade for one game

[@6FootVampire]

@@BillySYT its crazy dedication 😃 was it a ps4 pro or the regular?

[@geenalawrence8338]

Rellana is an example of a PERFECT Souls boss fight. Extremely challenging, amazing OST, fair but difficult, easy to understand/hard to master moveset. 10/10. Radahn meanwhile was absolute BS and just felt completely unfair. Even Malenia was a better battle.

[@griffendesai2039]

I really enjoyed needle knight Leda. I had thollier and ansbach, she had, everyone shy of freya. Maybe the 3 v 4 is way easier than the 3 v 5, idk. I love npc fights in these games so maybe I’m biased.

[@renar3339]

Romina was unironically one of the hardest in the dlc for me and I found her harder than Messmer honestly. She kept spamming two attacks that felt really hard to dodge for me and I couldn't understand her at all. I beat her after Messmer too and it was miserable. On a first playthrough my 3 hardest bosses were honestly Radahn, Rellana then Romina.

[@skoop4477]

honestly I didn't have a problem with the charge, it's really easy to dodge consistently. Just dodge to the right.

[@jfranks1295]

Radahn was to every Souls game what every boss was to Sekiro. You either figured the enemy out and beat it using the game mechanics, or you didn’t move forward. Don’t know how they’ll ever top Sekiro gameplay

[@MrJay-be9wh]

So I'll say this, I think any player can eventually beat Radahn with their build if they are willing to put the time in and stick with it. Not everyone will. The second phase is also a bit of a roadblock because initially people will get killed fast and have no idea what the hell is going on and won't learn it until many attempts of getting there. But he is learnable and even consistently learnable if you put the time in That said, I think he's probably the limit of difficulty you could have with a boss without it being fundamentally unfair. I can't see them doing much more and it not being just total nonsense and requiring luck.

[@Ifyoucanreadthisgooglebroke]

I had a very different first playthrough experience of Sunflower, Midra, and Gaius than the consensus. Latter two seemed pretty easy. Sunflower killed me 4th most. I also thought ancient dragon (not the man, the dragon) was harder than Bayle. Bayle was all a very intuitive dragon fight. That DLC ancient dragon seemed rough with some of the widespread damage moves.

[@eltatabasado]

At one point i gave up on fighting radahn in a fair way. I summoned thiolier, sir ansbach and my mimic tear at 80 arcane with the alberich set, the mother of fingers staff and the impenetrable thorns sorcery equiped and the fight was over in 10 seconds (no bs). Funniest shit ever

[@harrdeeharr]

Bosses I found a lot less challenging than their spots on this list: Putrescent Knight, Divine Beast, Rellana, Bayle (because Igon makes it easy and I don’t have the heart not to summon Igon) Bosses I found a lot more challenging than their spots on this list: Midra, Gaius, Golden Hippo

[@rebbeca5967]

Haven't played ER for a second, but I'm CONVINCED the Golden Hippo is a copy of the Pontiff Beast from DS 3

[@BillySYT]

I wouldn't be surprised if they sourced a ton of it's basic attack animations from the Pontiff Beasts. Honestly, can't fault them for it - If the animations made sense, re-using them is just a healthy part of the game dev cycle. The entire second half of the fight would make up for it anyway with the entirely unique animations due to the Crucible Thorns incantations ^^

[@DAsrada]

Jori went to the N. Tropy School of Boss Design: Sit on the other end of the arena spamming blasts.

[@Haidenz0]

Omg I wrote a heart felt fucking novel for Radahn :((((((( but also it’d be so cool if you released all the comments left for us to read somewhere 🤔

[@killzonexbattleshak2276]

Number 16 is a comic relief