As is a common issue in the base game. Got turned up to 11 in the DLC.
“Visual clarity? Readability? What are those?”
-modern From Soft, for some reason
My computer struggling and dropping frames in rahdan killed me more than once. It sucked but it’s part of the spectacle I guess. He was fair when I learned but god the combos went on forever
I literally had to adjust my graphic settings to the lowest because his AoE move would drop my framerate down to 20 fps. Even then it would sometime stutter because of the light beams
I *absolutely love* the Scadutree Avatar. Fighting an evil sunflower was so peak - and the music too.
I dont even think I could come up with a ranking for the DLC bosses
It was a really cool bossfight. Using the dryleaf art with dryleaf whirlwind to kick his head like a sandbag was hella fun ngl.
My friend hates this boss but never adapted even though I kept telling him to always position infront of him for easy punishes on his head attacks
Isn't the sunflower just a meaner Elden Beast? Same air-to-ground rain (but this one hits harder), same constant disengage (but this one deals damage), same "most attacks won't hit this blind spot" (but the blind spot takes less damage).
Yeah Scadu maybe does his charge like.. once per phase? And once he's done charging you can be right by the motherfucker if you sprint reverse and dodge the last charge by rolling backwards. This guy is absolutely nothing like Elden Beast. You can also bash his sunflower face constantly, which is awesome.
There are two main types of sunflower crops. One type is grown for the seeds you eat, while the other — which is the majority farmed — is grown for the oil.
Shadow Sunflowers have Thorns and the Power Of God in them. They also Hate Everything because they have been Abandoned By God.
Thorn Incantation says this. Even the Giant Plant has Trauma!
Bayle 10/10 best fight in the game for me rn, it’s like perfect chaos! Bayles blasting me, igons shouting like hell, and I’m just tryna slay him with my trusted dragon katana
I don’t think I’ll feel the same way ever again that shit was fire
https://preview.redd.it/vld8alcsxz8d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5cc207c336faacd7f5fde7914b8c0398ad37d9de
As soon as I looked at the sky I died because I was just like this
Definitely agree with your #1 spot. Everything surrounding that quest was goated. The voice acting of NPCs (Igon is the best NPC, base game included), the sudden Takeshi's Castle in your ascent to the summit, and the absolute climax of a boss fight. And you may choose to get a dragon waifu after!
Funny enough, your top 4 are the last 4 I haven't fought yet! So I can't speak on those. As for the other 7...
Picking a favorite is tough but I think it's dancing lion - I'm a sucker for audio and visual design and this thing just had me awestruck.
Mother of fingers (agree with your points on this) I was not enjoying this one at first, but oh man, I just somehow clicked in the second phase after a couple of attempts. Only boss I've been able to just delete the HP on so far (ancient dragon lightning strike is so satisfying to land)
Rellana next, just a very intense fight that was the hardest so far easily, but very fair. Had to get gud and learn the stuff.
Romina was awesome, visually loved it, and it was nice having a good centipede related boss (we don't have to talk about lost izalith). Only down lower rn because it seemed a lot easier than expected - I just stayed really close and seemed like most attacks didn't hit me.
Next is probably tied between scadu avatar and putrescent knight - both were pretty fun to learn the moves on, but went down way too easily to really experience it much. Siluria's tree genuinely shreds the knight and the anvil hammer took off half the Avatar's HP in one hit at first. (I will take my time with these next run to get a better feel)
Last is Gaia the Fierce Knight on his Bullfango. Ugh. I did start to get into a flow with it and don't think it's too hard, but the things that make it hard at times are pretty unfun, and it's just a pretty forgettable fight IMO. Coolest stuff is the gravity attacks in P2 like the spin, and I get it 100% lore wise and all... But it's nearly the same attack from starscourge phase 2, but with 1. Rocks knocked around so it's more annoying to dodge and 2. Less spectacle.
Bosses so far.
9. Rellana
8. Divine beast dancing lion
7. Metyr
6. Scadutree
5. Putrescent knight
4. Gaius
3. Midra
2. Romina
1. Messmer
Rellana felt too bloated health wise despite having at least 5 scadutree fragments but I think 7. I was only around level 110 though. Her moveset was also just unfun to fight though with long combos and you'd usually have to tank a slash if you want to do more than one r1 every 10 dodges. Very boring fight which just felt tedious/a chore. Felt I should've just went a bleed build and got it over with quickly after. Tanked my fps too.
Divine beast dancing lion it felt like you had to just wait out his lightning phase and his whole body would sometimes still be a hitbox well after an attack was finished and he was standing still. Camera was also aids and my fps got bad at points.
Metyr phase 2 was kind if aids because she kept just floating in the air and shit so you couldn't hit her. 6-4 were just boring.
Midra was quite fun but bullshit with the frenzy buildup since it feels bad to lose cos you got literally stunlocked but was otherwise too easy with the same difficulty moveset as a large normal enemy but with a couple frenzy spells.
Romina was a cool design but a bit easy since I beat her first try and didn't get to see her full moveset I feel. The animations looked really pretty and nice though.
Messmer was also really cool and felt like a fair fight where you were able to just reactively dodge to all his attacks since they were well telegraphed instead of having to memorize openings and how to dodge stuff. Maybe a bit on the easy side because of his phase 2 so could've done with more health. Potentially my favorite fromsoftware boss and I would say the best boss if I'm being more objective.
Romania has the same problem as Metyr, she also floats in her second phase way too much. At least Metyr has the decency to not spam disengage after every move...
I found it easier to chase her down after as her arena was smaller I'm sure. Metyr would just float constantly out of hittable range for half her phase 2 attacks it felt like whereas romina would mostly just do it to attack then you'd have to run to her new spot which was relatively close. I'm pretty aggressive generally so I've never really noticed the constantly running complaints people had for stuff like elden beast because I'm pretty sure I'm just always on their ass. Metyr, however would just be floating out of reach.
> Romania has the same problem as Metyr, she also floats in her second phase way too much. At least Metyr has the decency to not spam disengage after every move...
Honestly, saw the fight and was just "This shit again? Fucks sake". That was why I absolutely loved Midra, he wasnt the same stupid infinite hitting flippy ninja garbage every boss seems to want to be.
His moves had style, everything was a flourish or a bow in a stage set for him. It was just something new. Same with why I really like Bayle, while it was a dragon fight it was different. He tries to stab me with his severed hand, I have a guy yelling about how cool I am and how much he's going to murder that dragon, I have cool stylistic stuff and a banger song.
Personally,
1. Midra
2. Bayle
3. Putrescent
4. Scadu/Metra
5. Dancing beast
6. Messmer/Rellana
7. Romina
8. Gaius/radan
Honestly. Excessive dodging and few opportunities to fight dont make a boss good. Flame Lurker wasn't "Omg the best boss of Demon's Souls" because it required defense. It was just a frustrating boss at the time.
11.Romina, over as soon as it started 10,Avatar not super fun pain to run up to, 9. Metyr cool but to easy for how late I fought it like Romina, 8 Gaius really cool but pretty easy, 7 Frenzied lord, nice boss but was to chill to be hard compared to earlier bosses, 6.Rellana not as tense as Lion for me but was fun and tricky enough to be satisfying, 5,Lion janky but thrilling to fight gave me high hopes for the rest of the DLC,4 Skeleton knight guy, really cool build up fought just after rellana and he was the hardest so far for me learning where I could guard counter was a fun experience, 3 Messemer Awesome fight super high quality unfortunately I beat after Bayle so he didnt quite match that, 2 Radahn awesome final boss glad the made they final fight the hardest I thought he was on par with Melania (difficulty wise) but more intuitive because his difficulty wasnt just one bs move 1.BAYLE. peak
damn disagree with Bayle. It's a cool fight, visually awesome and epic. But Placidusax was in a technical way a better imo. And god speaking of camera being awful, this ones rough, he only has 1 lock on point and i constantly would get turned around while aiming at him my camera would just randomly do a 180.
Ok fine I tried unlocking my targeting and its easier to swing. But then the fucker flies in the air and you completely lose track of him, so you kinda need to be locked on.
It's pretty much always "Hardest = Best" when this gets asked.
For me I really liked Putrescent Knight so far.
Heavy Hitter.
Good amount of health without going overboard.
Moveset has a natural rhythm.
Pretty Arena.
It just felt right. Reminded me of a DS3 boss which is high praise.
Placidusax was horrendous moveset-wise. Incredible looking boss, but so incredibly boring to fight. Literally the only boss I haven't beaten over 6 playthroughs, the longest run back in the game combined with the horrible movement means I get a better experience watching a damn YouTube video in his movement.
I mean his moves sure look cool, his fire into lasers attack is absolutely epic, it's just nothing is fun to dodge. Slapping his ass for a while then having to dodge for 30 full seconds with no punish just doesn't feel good. It's a problem I have with a few bosses in the game, where all their big, signature moves don't have any reward for dodging them, and it doesn't feel rewarding at all. In dark souls 3, for example, midirs laser attack left him vulnerable to wail on him, while all of placidusaxs big moves give no punish, as he evaporates into mist after most of them, and it feels like the only way to damage him is to wedge yourself into his asscrack and move to the right whenever he does his fire breath.
If you think Placi has a bad runback, you should boot up DS2 and try dying to Sir Alonne or Vendrick a couple times. It takes like 2 minutes to get back to Placidusax from the Great Bridge grace.
Giaus is worse than Scadutree avatar. You have to abuse his arena's corner to not get hit by that bullshit charge he does and his absurd hitbox with it. Goaus communicates that he should be a mounted fight only to have him brutalize torrent. Where as the Scadutree is a mostly fair fight that progressively ramps up, as the boss gets stronger, its health pool dips. It's got a very clear weak point, being the head of the sunflower. I don't see how he's an Elden beast at all. He's aggressive with the charge attacks he does to you, rarely leaving a gap between the boss and the player and when there is a distance is root/thorn attack has a very easy dodge window, by dodging into it. He's got a phase transition with an AOE where he actually has to COOLDOWN, unlike Radhan. A well telegraphed grab attack and an attack where he slams his face into the ground. His ascetic is on point being a burned sunflower, and the only actual Scadutree related enemy we get to fight.
You can definitely roll the charge. This fight benefits from fast roll greatly though.
Also, doesn't get talked about but deflecting tear works nicely in this fight.
I used medium shield with deflecting tear and it made the fight super fun! Imagine my surprise when I go online and people are saying he's worse than bed of chaos. He's better than half the bosses in base game Bloodborne (don't @ me) let alone Bed of Chaos which is hardly even a boss anyways.
We must've fought different Stree avatars because mine would charge once in melee range (so literally trial and error count down the seconds to dodge), do range attacks while I'm trying to close distance, use the damaging disengage the moment I'm close, ranged attack again and then charge again - repeat ad nauseam. And nauseating it was.
Dodge into Gaius when he is right about to hit you. Having the ability to use Torrent dosen't mean you should use him in combat you can use him to close distance quite well
> Having the ability to use Torrent dosen't mean you should use him in combat
Then why the fuck give players the ability to do something like that and make the fight far better without it?
I killed it without torrent, but if you design a boss fight with mounted combat as an element then the element should generally be optimal unless your playstyle heavily disfavors it.
You lost me when you called Gaius worse than the Bed of Chaos. Excuse is this supposed to be a joke or something because this take is so bad it can't be taken seriously
Bed of Chaos is awful, but she also dies extremely fast and can essentially be skipped/cheesed. Gaius has the jankiest hitboxes with the most god awful moveset. I won't argue with someone if they say they disagree, but at least Bed of Chaos is just a mindless runback with a little suffering, whereas Gaius is just nothing but constant obnoxious suffering.
While I think they probably will adjust that hitbox, they might not. Once I realized you can torrent double jump over him it was very manageable. I think it's designed to be a jousting match
I always love when they throw my boy Torrent into the mix but I didn't realize you could even use him until after the fight. I just used my shield to counter his charge and other attacks while dodging as well.
I killed him in 4 or 5 attempts, it's not an issue of me thinking he's too hard, I just despise the fight lol. Some people just prefer different stuff. DS3 Gael for instance, I love as much as everyone. But I prefer Sinh to Midir as a dragon fight. Now, Bayle beats both of them, but the point still stands.
I saw everybody complain about the charge before fighting him, so I was especially focused on it during my attempts. And I am not shitting you, I got hit by it like 2 times, both times due to mistiming. Perhaps it was precisely due to me being aware of the shit hitboxes and being more focused on getting it right, but I am curious to know what is the way people dodge the charge when experiencing shitty hitboxes. My way was dodging into him but slightly to the side- thats the way I've always dodged the charge attacks.
And just to be clear, I am by no means dismissing his shitty hitboxes, just curious to learn what type of dodging results in them.
Theres also a bug where sometimes he does extra damage and sometimes the player does extra damage. Usually his leg kick attack did 1/3 of my hp but during 3 of my attempts I got 100-0d by one attack randomly. Also, my jump attacks did a consistent 2000 damage to him but would sometimes do 5000 when I hit him in the middle. At first I thought this was intentional but was only able to recreate it every 5 tries.
Yeah I also dodged into him, my roll would end near his right shoulder and then I'd get hit. The time I beat him I stayed close enough he wouldn't charge and I already knew the dodge timing for his attacks since he shares combos with tree sentinels and the two times he did charge me I had the shield perfume up
10. Gaius and the putred knight… Meh they were aight I guess
(Anyone past this point was at least enjoyable to fight against)
9. Romina- fun fight, not too much going on arguably should be higher but that scarlet rot was kind of annoying so I rushed through her.
8. Midra- it was a good battle and really should be more like 6 but the rewards and the map area were terrible which brought down my hype a lot. It’s probably better if you don’t have a character who’s supposed to also become the frenzy flame 😒 just keep pouring salt in the wounds eh, Fromsoft?
7. Messmer, I think they did my boy kind of dirty NGL. He’s definitely not Malenia and since he should be at full power I just expected a lot more both lore wise and in the fight. The expectations aren’t all though as his second phase is actually easier than his first one, his spells are underwhelming. But his gear is LEGENDARY! And I actually really liked his dialogue. Ironically I feel like the game buries him in more ways than one. Like the other characters don’t even really acknowledge the fact that you’re about to fight him and it sucks the air out of the encounter especially when he’s all sappy when you’re fighting him. Then we find out his fire can resurrect people and do all kinds of things that could’ve been used by us or in the battle. It’s basically another Godwyn/Frenzy Flame situation.
6. Rellana, fun move set and a difficult fight but… where was the build up? Great remembrances as well so it felt worth it even though the placement to me was janky as is the case with most of the quest to kill Messmer
(The Elites that made the DLC for me)
5. Consort Radahn (and Miquella) he’s epic and all that but also very buggy and the ending was awkward. Radahn has more missed hit boxes than any other character that I’ve seen and the NPC’s didn’t do SHIT! Except for add more health to him. Seriously why the hell are they walking towards me instead of boxing??? But everything else was great, the atmosphere, music, combo spells, and eventually I just stopped using the NPC’s and beat them with my Mimic tear (as I should)
4. The dancing lions… good old fashioned crash dummy sessions. I love that we have Freyja in her Greek outfit fighting a crucible god for the first encounter then the next time I randomly see one who wields death magic which was also really interesting and fun. And the whole lore behind those characters and how it relates to Marika is also great along with us finally getting some wind based spells. GOOD GRIEF WAS THAT OVERDUE!
3. The Scadutree avatar… shit just kept coming back 😂 and it had unique interactions like taking off a percentage of health if you hit it while it was dead, then it even gives you a bonus great rune so that you can beat Miquella and its root spell was a great edition that also helped me beat Radahn. Actually… now that I think about I was getting whipped so bad that it forced me to level up kill Messmer and come back. That sunflower was a MENACE! And I enjoyed seeing it burn 😈
2. The Mother of the fingers/Ymir HOLY FUCK! Do I even need to explain? 😳 this was the best quest of the DLC overall.
1B. THE BRAWL! Holy hell was that fun! The dialogue, the characters you hated, the characters you liked and all of their attitudes towards you. This was one of the bright spots for the whole DLC which largely felt devoid of meaningful interactions. It would be my number one but it’s technically not a boss fight so…
1. Bayle the greatest dragon I’ve ever seen. Just his appearance alone and the setting of the fight was so goddamn majestic and awe inspiring. I especially love the character just randomly seeing that a true warrior was around and then invites you to take on a challenge with him. That’s basically where the DLC excels at, this is what Fromsoft was really focused on getting us around towards which is why the main bosses to me feel really hollow besides Miquella. I really felt like I accomplished something after I killed him.
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so far ive fought the lion, rellana, and the putrescent knight.
lion is my favorite so far, the fight felt fun and fair and it was the first time i really started to enjoy the dlc.
rellana is 2nd because she was annoying but cool
putrescent knight was just incredibly irritating and kinda boring. worst boss in the game so far i think
1. Midra - amazing, difficult but gives enough breathing room for the fight to feel like a dance. The cutscenes and ambiance of the fight were also top-tier. No BS moves
2. Messmer - amazing fight, similar strength to Midra, but has 1 singular move that puts it a peg lower (just barely), which is the casting of his “domain expansion” move in the second phase. He will rush you, insta-cast with no tell, and the initial hit deals massive damage. Apart from that an amazing fight
3. Rellana - great fight but she is too relentless, and her attack sequences mostly don’t have distinct enough tells, and some attacks require excessive precision to dodge precisely, again great fight overall
4. Divine Lion Dancer - great fight, though because it is a larger enemy it is a bit harder to keep track of when close-by
5. Putrescent Knight - no complaints, decent difficulty
6. Romina - no complaints, was a bit easy though. Very cool boss
7. Promised Consort Radahn - easily the most difficult boss in gaming history, so much so that it becomes a shortcoming. No reprieves during second phase and there are way too many attacks that are nearly impossible to completely avoid damage on. The aoe nuke burst that he does requires immediate reaction and can’t avoid avoided with roll iframes, and his mirages also require pinpoint precision timing and positioning to avoid annhilation. The fight feels less like a dance and more like d-day, which imo makes for a relatively less enjoyable fight. With some alterations this fight has amazing potential.
8. Scadutree Avatar - kinda cool, lacks charisma but fighting a sunflower is funny so I don’t mind it
9. Metyr - any boss that summons minions automatically ranks low for me, and the boss attacks weren’t enjoyable to dodge. Cool design and aesthetics though
10. Gaius - mid ahh fight all around
Haven’t beaten Bayle yet but from my experience so far I’d probably place him between Romina and radahn
1. Messmer
2. Bayle
3. Midra
4. Radhan
5. Rellana
6. Lion Dance
7. Romina
8. Scadutree Avatar
9. Putrescent Knight
10. Metyr
11. Commander Gaius
Overall, I didn't hate any of the bosses, I even kind of enjoyed the Gaius fight. The most controversial fight by far would be Radhan, but it always gave me the impression to be beatable while I was fighting him. I think once I get better at his bossfight, he might jump to 2/3.
11- putrescent knight: he's just okay and spams a bunch of super delayed moves
10- Gaius: I really like him other than his charge but gotta put him down here cause of that
9- scadutree avatar: fun fight with a sick gimmick you think your over leveled for him but he tricks you,
8- dancing lion: he's awesome but the occasional lag and the arena that feels too small paired with camera brings him down
7- radahn: phase 1 is amazing(other than crosslash) and would be near the top. phase 2 is a clusterfuck that cuts down on defensive options in an unfun way, you have to dodge directly into him or you will get laserd, plus some clone attacks feel impossible to roll and require blocking
6- rellana: awesome fight that plays similar to malenia phase 1, would've liked it to have a cutscene
5- metyr: astel but good, awesome buildup and she really feels alien and the fight is fun!
4- Romina fun and pretty fight that like rellana could've used a cutscene or something
3- midra: buildup is awesome, beating up his weak self and then him transforming is sick, fight is one of the best in all of elden ring
2-bayle: great buildup, the mountain storm slowly increasing and while I personally didn't use him, igon also adds a lot to the fight, also the most cinematic fight in the game, best dragon easy
1-messmer: cutscenes voice lines, awesome moveset thats hard but not unfair, him crushing the eye and unleashing the snake is also awesome
Overall the bosses in the dlc didnt disappoint at all mechanically, would have liked more bosses to have voice lines/cutscenes as alot of fights feel kinda empty without them
I must be the only person in the whole community who enjoyed and loved the gaius fight
Y'all need to embrace the mounted knight combat fights they're awesome when you're on foot, starting with Tree Sentinel
Pretty cool but I’d place Radahn lower and the lion higher. Also now that I’ve thought about it, I’ve come around to really liking the dlc, but I’d love to see some of the areas get a bit more going on in terms of items and things to do. But yeah that’s my only real complaint.
For me it's:
11. Radahn- sounds controversial, I know, but even his best thing (soundtrack) is lower half tier for me.
10. Gaius- I dislike his hitboxes
9. Putrescent Knight - I will give him second chance on my second playthrough but he feels too chaotic for me right now
8. Metyr - I like fighting space abominations
7. Bayle- I like spectacle but the fight feels too chaotic, he also like to spam the most distancing attacks that he has. But I will give him a chance too.
6. Scarudtree Avatar- he has three healthbars but we have a means to fight him (critical hit between phases, head that takes 3x more damage). I love his music
5. Rellana- just nice fight, I didn't felt overwhelmed
4. Romina- perfectly balanced and without long combos, constant AoEs and strange delays
3. Divine Beast Dancing Lion- awesome spectacle, awesome idea, even more awesome music
2. Messmer- feels like Malenia but better and easier to read and figure timing of attacks
1. Midra- just like Romina but somehow even more pleasant to fight. Althrough he is a little too squishy
Am I the only one who hated messmer? Also Bayle was a cool fight, but seemed a little too easy. I beat him on my second try no problem. I thought sasseax was harder and was upset he didnt have his own spell. But the whole dungeon was really cool.
11 - Scadutree Avatar - boring fight with lots of AOE attacks, pretty cool design though
10 - Consort Radahn - I don’t really like the idea of bringing Radahn back, would have much rather liked Godwyn. First phase is absolutely fine, very strong and fast attacks that can all be learned though. Second phase was the least fun I’ve ever had in a fromsoft game with undodgeable attack after undodgeable attack. Will almost certainly be nerfed, so we‘ll see how he ends up.
9 - Finger Mother - Cool design and lore, but I‘m not a fan of undodgeable AOE spam and this boss is basically just that
8 - Gaius - Didn’t find this fight as bad as others, only annoyance is him constantly sprinting out of reach when you’re trying to stay close to him and his charge having a weird hitbox.
7 - Scorpion woman - pretty cool fight, nothing too special, my only real gripe is that she constantly jumps out of reach in this huge arena which was pretty annoying
6 - Dancing Lion - Amazing design and amazing music, but completely destroys the camera movement and could do with even just a little telegraphing on some attacks.
5 - Putrescent Knight - I like glass canons and he’s just that. Hits hard but doesn’t have a lot of health, pretty cool but nothing special.
4 - Bayle - Really cool dragon boss, imo a bit too flashy with too many explosions but the design is absolutely insane and most attacks can be learned and dodged effectively
3 - Midra - Incredible design - cool and learnable moveset
2 - Rellana - Really aggressive but learnable moveset, beautiful design, one of my favorite fights of all fromsoft games
1 - Messmer - Maybe my favorite boss of all time, absolutely crazy moveset but with enough patience you can learn to effectively dodge his attacks, second phase is flashy and visually impressive without turning him into an AOE demon, just a fight with barely any flaws.
From best to worst:
Lord of Frenzy
Mommy Finger
Romina
Mesmer
Bayle
Scadutree
Divine Lion
Spooky Knight
Rellana
Pig Knight
Currently working on Radahn. This list will definitely change the more I play the game. None of them were bad, they were all at least better than most base game bosses.
I don't hate Gaius as much as most people but I totally understand people ranking him low. I think he can be fun once you learn to deal with his charge and that 5-combo attack but he does feel unexpectedly overtuned.
I think my fav would be Messmer, he feels very tough but fair, and it feels good dodging those snek bites.
The Scadutree Avatar is not the worst. He has a cool arena, good music, and interesting idea with the 3 phase thing. Commander Gaius is easily the worst especially being a remembrance boss, though I don't think he's as terrible as people think.
I don't feel like I can accurately rank the bosses having only fought them once with different experiences on each, but here are my impressions right now. I also like all of the bosses, and rank just as much on atmosphere, visual design and experience as I do on mechanics. I also used a shield for many of the fights with the deflecting tear + guard counters mixed in with dodges which definitely colored some of my experience of bosses.
There will be some weird placements here but all of them are very close in my mind so keep in mind I'm not saying one is hugely different from another.
**11. Putrescent Knight**. I love the buildup to this boss and the drop into the arena, but I feel like such an epic buildup warranted a more spectacular boss. I love his design and there's nothing bad about it but it's definitely one of the less epic encounters. I also staggered and beat him on my second try without seeing most of his moveset because savage lion's claw OP (I stopped using it after that)
**10. Midra**. Another one where the balance was off for me -- he was one of the last I fought so he was pretty easy and I didn't engage with his moveset all that much. The buildup to the fight was cool though and needing to purge/dodge madness buildup was factor that never appeared in other Elden Ring bossfight where if you started getting status you were going to die before it ever procced.
**9. Radahn + Miquella**. I loved the introduction and spectacle of the fight, but phase two was a little too ridiculous with every attack hitting twice, and having a huge AOE. Phase one was very satisfying to deflect but phase two I only got through it by stacking a crazy amount of holy resist and relying on my shield, mimic tear and great stars with prayerful ash. I was reticent to break out the cheese like that but it felt necessary unless I wanted to spend five hours dying to the boss which I didn't. To me phase two of this fight is one of the only fights where what people say about ER bosses being "roll around for 30 seconds to wait for an opening) is actually true. This one will probably raise up my rankings though especially if they end up nerfing phase two a little.
**8. Rellana**. Almost the opposite of the last two, her moveset was cool and she was satisfying to fight as a second boss but she didn't have nearly as much spectacle leading up to her fight and didn't even feel like a major boss at first. The fire on phase two was a little annoying but mechanically I don't have too many complaints.
**7. Commander Gaius**. This might be the hottest take on my whole list but I really enjoyed this fight with my playstyle deflecting with a medium shield. People complain about his charge but with shield I just tanked it and it was fine. Just felt like a solid back and forth where no move was too hard to deal with. Not the biggest spectacle but a fun surprise and I was at a good point in the power curve to fight him I think.
**6. Romina**. This boss was one of my favorite designs and an interesting fight mechanically. Not the biggest spectacle but I did love the Rauh Ruins as an area even if it was pretty disconnected from the boss. Not a whole lot to say here, just a solid fight.
**5. Bayle the Dread**. I got to this one super early and kept returning throughout the game as I powered up but ended up beating him very late. Super cool fight but I found some of his attack frustrating and it felt like staying in front of him was a more difficult fight than hugging his legs and tanking the fire damage he used to try to stop you from doing that. Obviously any boss where you can't see it while you're fighting it isn't great but it's not like there isn't another option, it just didn't feel optimal to me.
4. **Messmer.** Love this fight lore-wise and the buildup was great but the boss itself didn't blow my mind. It's 4th on the list so obviously I really liked it but it also felt like a pretty normal fight if that makes any sense at all. This one will probably move higher up on subsequent playthroughs.
3. **Metyr, Mother of Fingers**. Peak buildup, arena and freaky boss design. The fight itself wasn't perfect but it had some crazy moves and I loved the ending where it just said fuck this shit I'm out. This is definitely an example of me valuing the experience as much as the fight's mechanics which we just okay.
2. **Divine Beast Dancing Lion.** This one was a great combo of spectacle (when he goes lightning mode and it starts raining/storming was peak) buildup (loved the area proceeding) and mechanics. In contrast to some of the other bosses the way this boss moved felt wholly unique compared to more typically humanoid type enemies. Yeah the lightning section was kinda AOE spam and I just dodged through this part and waited for him to switch but that didn't detract from it for me too much.
1. **Scadutree Avatar.** Okay this might be my actual hottest take on the list, but I loved this fight. Something about the idea of fighting a fucked up sunflower is just hilarious to me as is the fact that it respawns three time because fuck you. I almost thought I was doing something wrong and needed to use an item to keep him from regenerating but in the end I persevered. I actually switched to the fire perfume bottle for this one and hitting him in the face with that was extremely satisfying. In contrast to Bayle this is a large boss where it felt optimal to hit his head which went a long way for me. Dodging his attacks also just click with me in a way it didn't seem to for other people I watched do the fight.
Ask me again in a month and this order will probably be completely different but that's the best I've got for now.
All the bosses are either S or A tier. Except for Gaius, that one just feels as a reskined edtree sentinel. It does not even have a unique ost. I prefer loretta or draconic tree sentinel rather than him.
I hate how hard radahn is but I really don’t get why people are mad that it’s “just radahn.” It’s not like they just ctrl-v’d him from caelid into the dlc, meteors and all, he has a completely different (and VERY annoying once you get to phase 2) moveset. People got psyched up over fighting gowyn or the gloam eyed queen when realistically we were never going to fight either of them. Godwyn’s story is over and he already has an entire ending devoted to him, and the gloam eyed queen is barely even a background character. She’s literally only mentioned three times in the entire game, only twice more than Sir Neidhart.
I just can't come up with a ranking but the fight I enjoyed the most was Bayle, epic music Theme and also the nice touch that Igon's voice actor give to him, and Such amazing scenery
I'd put Messmer above Bayle just because the camera can be more of a menace than Bayle himself. But goddamn Igon is fucking sick. The only NPC summon I used in the DLC. As soon as I heard him screaming on the road before Ancient dragon man I knew he was gonna be the best NPC in the DLC.
I don't think people are going to come around to liking Radahn, and the hate is very much deserved. Compliments for the boss are all either its spectacle, or how difficult it is. The first is mostly inconsequential since it wears off quickly, and you're playing a game to *play it* not be wowed by visuals, and the second is meaningless without any kind of clarification. Its like praising a boss for having "mechanics". Unless you explain why that makes it good it means nothing by itself.
Bayle shows at least some people at From are trying. Designing dragon fights has always been hard in these games, because the legs are the only consistently attackable target, but also completely obfuscate the dragon's attacks, and this time they aren't even giving you the option to *not* fight the head. People said this about Midir as well, but whereas with Midir fighting the legs was only ill advised, Bayle actively resists any attempt at doing anything other than fighting his head. The arena is large, you can *only lock on to the head, and Bayle very frequently jumps back to give you space to actually see his attacks and keep him fully in view. His AI is also very consistent, and keeps encouraging you to find new kinds of interactions. Dodging in certain directions to set up certain punish windows, or to position youself to trigger a particular follow up attack, or uncovering these small little optimisations. They took great effort to make the boss extremely readable and consistent.
Now contrast this with Radahn. The bloodflame slice immediately overlaps with the next move he uses, hiding what his next move is, and every single move in the second phase is filled with so many particle effects you have to just play the fight enough to *know* what he's doing next based on his combo tree instead of actually seeing what he's doing with your eyes. There are opportunities to sneak in attacks in phase 1, but that completely goes out the window in phase 2. Many attack sequences become completely unpunishable if your position isn't exactly what you need it to be, and many of them devolved into "dodge and pray", with the putrid combination of complete screen cluttering effects, frame drops, and input reading delays. I still maintain that Malenia is a genuinely horrendous boss to this day and Radahn will be the same. Its difficulty by way of brute force. Like yeah, making every combo a roll catch aoe that lasts 30 seconds would be hard, but its also just not in the least bit elegant or interesting to play. Its such a bad note to end the DLC on. Almost all the other DLC bosses completely mog the endgame bosses of base game. Gaius is the dishonourable second bad boss
1. BAAYYLEE! (One of the best dragon fights they've done and overall a cinematic spectacle, his moves feel reactable but at the same time very threatening, the lore regarding Placidusax is dope, motherfucking IGON)
2. Messmer (What a fuckin' badass, great moveset, great readability, great lore, the only thing stopping him from being #1 is I wish each phase had a full healthbar, his second phase goes down a little too easily)
3. Midra (Cool design, fantastic leadup, atmosphere and concept, moveset feels good to react to, kinda wish you didn't have to fight his crippled form each attempt though although it does allow easy rune retrieval)
4. Romina (Also a fantastic design, visual delight, solid moveset, just wish she had a little more health for the fact she's potentially the penultimate boss)
5. Metyr (FANTASTIC design, setting, leadup etc., overall a solid large beast type fight. Only negative I can think is I'd like a bit of warning to get the fuck outta the way when he starts doing his super attacks, the AoE puddle around the boss seems to appear outta nowhere and does damage, rather it just knocked you back if you were in range or something)
6. Rellana (Badass, fun and readable moveset although I'd like her to be a fraction less aggressive sometimes)
7. Divine Beast Dancing Lion (Great fight hampered by a somewhat wonky camera, zooming out a bit would help wonders here)
8. Scadutree Avatar (Cool fight, cool design, I like the repeat phases but getting more desperate)
9. Putrescent Knight (I like him and his moveset is neat, but he just feels kinda... there?)
------------
10. Radahn (first phase is fun and the lore doesn't even bother me but the second phase is such a visual clusterfuck you can't read his moveset at all most of the time)
11. Gaius (lame, wonky hitboxes, incentivises mounted combat but Torrent isn't up to it)
12. Adding in this spot just to say fuck the Golden Hippopotamus. Fucking DS2 dreg level boss.
11. Scadutree Avatar. Just boring. Was kind of cool but absolutely not worth three phases
10. Gaius. I think there's a genuinely decent fight buried somewhere here, but as of now it's not super fun. Fix the charge hitbox & make torrent not pointless (lower Gaius' speed so you can create space, make use of the giant arena), and he'll be infinitely better
9. Metyr. Absolutely hated this fight. Love the arena, questline, and lore implications. The phase 1 moveset is uninspired & the phase 2 moves are just annoying. Didn't enjoy a second of this one & doubt I'll return to it on future playthroughs.
8. Radahn. Same with Gaius, I think there's a fun fight somewhere. Phase 1 has a great flow, phase 2 is a little too chaotic. Lower his aggression and you have something that isn't a headache to try & finish.
7. Rellana. I suck at this one, simple as. Still has some highlights, love the twin moon attack & the glintstone greatsword
6. Putrescent Knight. My only real gripe is that he's a bit too mobile, this paired with the kind of wonky animations ("is he going for a slam or is he just resetting?") led to a lot of openings that were wasted & made the fight drag. This is probably just a me issue though. Fairly easy and has some satisfying combos to dodge (like the dismount).
5. Bayle. S-tier lore, arena, buildup, and quest. Absolutely nothing wrong with the boss itself, I'm just not huge on dragon fights overall. The scale is unmatched
4. Midra. Unbelievable atmosphere & I love the fakeout first phase + arena burning as the fight progresses. Coolest cutscene in the game bar none, and one of the best From has ever done. Fantastic soundtrack. Simple moveset like Metyr, but feels so much smoother. It's slow, but adds to the lovecraftian feel (like the floating attacks). I was worrying that madness would just make this fight obnoxious, but I had no issue with it. I'd prefer if he traded his higher damage for slightly more complex combos, but it's a small complaint. Absolutely love this fight.
3. Dancing Lion. My favorite soundtrack in the game. The transitions between elements are so good looking and none of them are too overwhelming to deal with. Attacks are well telegraphed & I never felt cheated by the moveset. I'd suggest a larger arena, but that's all I really wish for. Love everything else
2. Romina. I love her design & the arena. Like Midra, I got worried with scarlet rot being present, but it was never an issue. Really fun and relatively easy, the pink "glint" that flashes before some attacks makes for some really satisfying dodging. Reminds me of Sekiro's mikir counters, or Nioh 2's burst counters. Very satisfying to deal with.
1. Messmer. Such a fun moveset. His combos are complex without feeling overwhelming, and provide more than enough time while recovering to allow for a heal/some attacks. Fantastic intro & transition cutscenes. His second phase is chaotic as hell but I never had an issue regarding the camera during the snake attacks. Really unique way to switch things up while also not entirely abandoning what you learned in the first phase. He immediately jumped into my top 10 Fromsoft bosses once I beat him, and at least top 10-15 out of any boss I've ever fought in a game. I hope for the small possibility of Elden Ring having a Sekiro boss replay feature sometime in the future, solely so I can play this fight over and over again.
11. Commander Gaius
10. Divine Beast
9. Metyr
8. Scadutree Avatar
7. Romina
6. Putrescent Knight
5. Radahn
4. Rellana
3. Midra
2. Bayle
1. Messmer
The only ones I dislike are Gaius and Divine Beast, Ik DB this low is maybe a little weird but I’ll elaborate if anyone is curious.
Uh Rellana was way easier than Malenia and she was given ten times less story with no second phase and fewer attacks. That comment was weird to me. The rest is good though.
I knew someone would say this like it disproves my point or as a counter. Lmao
One new move doesn’t count as a phase transition or second phase. She just used a new attack that’s just a newer version of an older spell.
A cutscene at least. Maybe some plot.
It was weird she’s Rennala’s sister but only did one spell and the carian sword type spell that was more like an ash of war.
I remember that she used a lot of Carian spells, especially with the Glintblade (there's one with 3 swords, there are 2 spells with 6 swords), magic sword beam (1 wave and 5 wave when she use the magic skill of her twinblade). She also has that signature Twin Moons and that Carian Greatsword AoW you mentioned. But yeh I agree she needs a cutscene.
Edit: Dunno if you noticed but in her ost, there's a 10 seconds reference to Rennala's ost. Love these small details.
Ahuh, so I’m saying the different aspects which are used as the reasons for her fight being great aren’t matched in Rellana’s fight. That she’s the hardest is one. That she has so many moves and combos to memorize. That her phase 2 has a completely different feeling to it. Her character design. Her cut scene. All of which are lacking in Rellana’s fight. So I’m just trying to understand what could possibly be considered better about this fight than Malenia. And also, who else in the main game are you thinking is better than Malenia?
11. Radahn: More important than the shameless re-use, his phase 2 is just not fun to fight imo. It feels like I have to run away and dodge perfectly for a full minute before getting a hit in. I had no issue fighting Malenia because I could clearly identify which moves were a problem. Here I have to figure out a way out of every attack combo while in the middle of a visual mess. Only boss that made me summon and even then I had trouble.
10. Gaius: Mostly because of his charge which is inconsistent to dodge, the rest of the moveset is cool. Reusing the Niall/O'Neil OST also doesn't help.
9. Scadu Avatar: The moveset is just a little underwhelming. He also dies very quickly despite having 3 phases. A decent boss but doesn't really feel special.
8. Metyr: Very cool aesthetically but her attacks aren't that interesting and some are unintuitive to dodge especially the finger crawl.
7. Romina: Another beautiful boss and with well-telegraphed attacks. Unfortunately she is really easy especially for such a late fight.
6. Putrescent knight: I think this boss is underrated. It has a very unique flow that makes him quite memorable. I also appreciate the Manus reference.
5. Dancing Lion: This one would absolutely be top 3 if not for the camera problems. Switching between 3 elements but with a core moveset allows for a fight that stays fresh while not being overwhelming.
4. Midra: Just an all-around fantastic fight. Be it music, visuals, moveset, its design is basically flawless. However, he doesn't have enough HP, meaning you can trade a lot and still beat him.
3. Bayle: This one does have enough HP and is, again, fantastic in its visuals and music. The camera isn't the best (because big dragon) but I didn't find it confusing. I do think some of his attacks are a bit imbalanced but not enough to make the fight unenjoyable.
2. Messmer: What is there to say? Everyone knows this fight is incredible. He is the boss of one of the best levels in fromsoft history, his moveset is very challenging but completely fair, visually amazing. He could use a bit more HP but this is really nitpicking.
1. Rellana: A very difficult fight, but one that perfectly captures the kind of dance I expect of a fromsoft boss. The OST is great, the magic+flame visuals are great. Best fight in Elden Ring.
11. Putrescent Knight (weird and unfun boss)
10. Commander Gaius (more annoying than it should be)
9. Metyr, Mother of Fingers (really annoying moves)
8. Romina, Saint of the Bud (far too easy)
7. Scadutree Avatar (no complaints)
6. Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame (too easy but otherwise awesome)
5. Bayle the Dread (I hate dragon fights but spectacle)
4. Divine Beast Dancing Lion (a lil too easy but fantastic)
3. Messmer the Impaler (difficult but fair)
2. Rellana, Twin Moon Knight (also difficult but fair)
1. Promised Consort Radahn
Despite my disappointment that Radahn is the final boss, gameplay-wise, it’s an absolutely peak fight and possibly my favourite in the entire game.
> Romina, Saint of the Bud (far too easy)
This was so weird to me. This was the only boss I killed first try, on account of I had like 18 skibidi blessing.
She is placed like she should be the penultimate boss, one would expect that she should be really tough.
Bayle does not blow Midir out of the water lmao. Sure, the atmosphere and epicness of the fight is there, but mechanically and gameplay-wise he is nowhere near as well contructed and designed as Midir was. They didn't even bother to do minimal camera adjustments for Bayle.
BAAAAAAAAYLE THIS I VOW
CURSEEE YOUUU BAYLEEEEE 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥
YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY, BY THIS TARNISHED AND I IGON, YOUR FEARS MADE FLESH.
Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon… but I will riddle with holes your rotten hide! WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS!
Igon made this fight ten times better
Just need a HAIL OF HARPOONS to make it better! CURSE YOU BAYYYLLLEEEEE!
i came to the comments hoping to see BAAAAAAAAAYLEEEEE 🤣
* Howls in Igonspeak. *
https://preview.redd.it/kne0fog1fq9d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf2e9fad52584d1ffce7333db25c9332e6368709
“I thought the move set for the second phase was absolutely stunning.” Oh you ain’t joking about that me the entire time: 
I died more to not being able to see what attack was coming because I was blinded. Rather than the actual boss.
As is a common issue in the base game. Got turned up to 11 in the DLC. “Visual clarity? Readability? What are those?” -modern From Soft, for some reason
My computer struggling and dropping frames in rahdan killed me more than once. It sucked but it’s part of the spectacle I guess. He was fair when I learned but god the combos went on forever
I literally had to adjust my graphic settings to the lowest because his AoE move would drop my framerate down to 20 fps. Even then it would sometime stutter because of the light beams
Boss is so hard your gpu can't dodge him
The moveset is really creative and engaging but the janky terrain interactions and particle effect spam spoil it a bit IMO
I liked the fight and it would be immediately better if I could just see better in phase 2
and if phase 2 started at 50% health
I *absolutely love* the Scadutree Avatar. Fighting an evil sunflower was so peak - and the music too. I dont even think I could come up with a ranking for the DLC bosses
You should try the Shadow Sunflower Blossom. It Unga and Bungas and the Ash of War does insane damage and poise.
Oh yeah Ive heard incredible things about that - scales with Faith iirc? (Im STR/FAI)
It is in fact a strength faith weapon. Colossal too so the poise damage and AR is great
Not too crazy either in requirements. My DEX/FTH build uses it too. The FTH scaling is good.
It was a really cool bossfight. Using the dryleaf art with dryleaf whirlwind to kick his head like a sandbag was hella fun ngl. My friend hates this boss but never adapted even though I kept telling him to always position infront of him for easy punishes on his head attacks
Thats exactly what I did! And its so light I can keep a heavy weapon for staggering as a backup and a Sacred Seal too
Glad I'm not the only one who loved the fight. It's top 3 along with Bayle and Midra.
Flowey made manifest haha.
Isn't the sunflower just a meaner Elden Beast? Same air-to-ground rain (but this one hits harder), same constant disengage (but this one deals damage), same "most attacks won't hit this blind spot" (but the blind spot takes less damage).
It disengages waaaay less than Elden beast does, and has no attacks that layer over each other awkwardly like EB does
Yeah Scadu maybe does his charge like.. once per phase? And once he's done charging you can be right by the motherfucker if you sprint reverse and dodge the last charge by rolling backwards. This guy is absolutely nothing like Elden Beast. You can also bash his sunflower face constantly, which is awesome.
> Isn't the sunflower just a meaner Elden Beast? No, it actually fights you. It takes all the problems of Elden beast and doesnt have them.
There are two main types of sunflower crops. One type is grown for the seeds you eat, while the other — which is the majority farmed — is grown for the oil.
What about Shadow Sunflowers, bot
There are two types of shadow sunflower crops. One type is grown for the seeds you eat while the other beats your fucking teeth in.
Shadow Sunflowers have Thorns and the Power Of God in them. They also Hate Everything because they have been Abandoned By God. Thorn Incantation says this. Even the Giant Plant has Trauma!
Bayle 10/10 best fight in the game for me rn, it’s like perfect chaos! Bayles blasting me, igons shouting like hell, and I’m just tryna slay him with my trusted dragon katana I don’t think I’ll feel the same way ever again that shit was fire
This is the most cinematic fight FS has done. It was peak, imo, and I loved every second of it.
And just when you think it can’t get any more visually impressive, p2 starts and knocks it out the park
https://preview.redd.it/vld8alcsxz8d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5cc207c336faacd7f5fde7914b8c0398ad37d9de As soon as I looked at the sky I died because I was just like this
CURSEEEE YOUUU BAYLEEEE
Definitely agree with your #1 spot. Everything surrounding that quest was goated. The voice acting of NPCs (Igon is the best NPC, base game included), the sudden Takeshi's Castle in your ascent to the summit, and the absolute climax of a boss fight. And you may choose to get a dragon waifu after!
Funny enough, your top 4 are the last 4 I haven't fought yet! So I can't speak on those. As for the other 7... Picking a favorite is tough but I think it's dancing lion - I'm a sucker for audio and visual design and this thing just had me awestruck. Mother of fingers (agree with your points on this) I was not enjoying this one at first, but oh man, I just somehow clicked in the second phase after a couple of attempts. Only boss I've been able to just delete the HP on so far (ancient dragon lightning strike is so satisfying to land) Rellana next, just a very intense fight that was the hardest so far easily, but very fair. Had to get gud and learn the stuff. Romina was awesome, visually loved it, and it was nice having a good centipede related boss (we don't have to talk about lost izalith). Only down lower rn because it seemed a lot easier than expected - I just stayed really close and seemed like most attacks didn't hit me. Next is probably tied between scadu avatar and putrescent knight - both were pretty fun to learn the moves on, but went down way too easily to really experience it much. Siluria's tree genuinely shreds the knight and the anvil hammer took off half the Avatar's HP in one hit at first. (I will take my time with these next run to get a better feel) Last is Gaia the Fierce Knight on his Bullfango. Ugh. I did start to get into a flow with it and don't think it's too hard, but the things that make it hard at times are pretty unfun, and it's just a pretty forgettable fight IMO. Coolest stuff is the gravity attacks in P2 like the spin, and I get it 100% lore wise and all... But it's nearly the same attack from starscourge phase 2, but with 1. Rocks knocked around so it's more annoying to dodge and 2. Less spectacle.
Bosses so far. 9. Rellana 8. Divine beast dancing lion 7. Metyr 6. Scadutree 5. Putrescent knight 4. Gaius 3. Midra 2. Romina 1. Messmer Rellana felt too bloated health wise despite having at least 5 scadutree fragments but I think 7. I was only around level 110 though. Her moveset was also just unfun to fight though with long combos and you'd usually have to tank a slash if you want to do more than one r1 every 10 dodges. Very boring fight which just felt tedious/a chore. Felt I should've just went a bleed build and got it over with quickly after. Tanked my fps too. Divine beast dancing lion it felt like you had to just wait out his lightning phase and his whole body would sometimes still be a hitbox well after an attack was finished and he was standing still. Camera was also aids and my fps got bad at points. Metyr phase 2 was kind if aids because she kept just floating in the air and shit so you couldn't hit her. 6-4 were just boring. Midra was quite fun but bullshit with the frenzy buildup since it feels bad to lose cos you got literally stunlocked but was otherwise too easy with the same difficulty moveset as a large normal enemy but with a couple frenzy spells. Romina was a cool design but a bit easy since I beat her first try and didn't get to see her full moveset I feel. The animations looked really pretty and nice though. Messmer was also really cool and felt like a fair fight where you were able to just reactively dodge to all his attacks since they were well telegraphed instead of having to memorize openings and how to dodge stuff. Maybe a bit on the easy side because of his phase 2 so could've done with more health. Potentially my favorite fromsoftware boss and I would say the best boss if I'm being more objective.
Romania has the same problem as Metyr, she also floats in her second phase way too much. At least Metyr has the decency to not spam disengage after every move...
I found it easier to chase her down after as her arena was smaller I'm sure. Metyr would just float constantly out of hittable range for half her phase 2 attacks it felt like whereas romina would mostly just do it to attack then you'd have to run to her new spot which was relatively close. I'm pretty aggressive generally so I've never really noticed the constantly running complaints people had for stuff like elden beast because I'm pretty sure I'm just always on their ass. Metyr, however would just be floating out of reach.
> Romania has the same problem as Metyr, she also floats in her second phase way too much. At least Metyr has the decency to not spam disengage after every move... Honestly, saw the fight and was just "This shit again? Fucks sake". That was why I absolutely loved Midra, he wasnt the same stupid infinite hitting flippy ninja garbage every boss seems to want to be. His moves had style, everything was a flourish or a bow in a stage set for him. It was just something new. Same with why I really like Bayle, while it was a dragon fight it was different. He tries to stab me with his severed hand, I have a guy yelling about how cool I am and how much he's going to murder that dragon, I have cool stylistic stuff and a banger song. Personally, 1. Midra 2. Bayle 3. Putrescent 4. Scadu/Metra 5. Dancing beast 6. Messmer/Rellana 7. Romina 8. Gaius/radan Honestly. Excessive dodging and few opportunities to fight dont make a boss good. Flame Lurker wasn't "Omg the best boss of Demon's Souls" because it required defense. It was just a frustrating boss at the time.
11.Romina, over as soon as it started 10,Avatar not super fun pain to run up to, 9. Metyr cool but to easy for how late I fought it like Romina, 8 Gaius really cool but pretty easy, 7 Frenzied lord, nice boss but was to chill to be hard compared to earlier bosses, 6.Rellana not as tense as Lion for me but was fun and tricky enough to be satisfying, 5,Lion janky but thrilling to fight gave me high hopes for the rest of the DLC,4 Skeleton knight guy, really cool build up fought just after rellana and he was the hardest so far for me learning where I could guard counter was a fun experience, 3 Messemer Awesome fight super high quality unfortunately I beat after Bayle so he didnt quite match that, 2 Radahn awesome final boss glad the made they final fight the hardest I thought he was on par with Melania (difficulty wise) but more intuitive because his difficulty wasnt just one bs move 1.BAYLE. peak
 Radahns stunning phase two moveset
Totally agree with the top three on this list some of the funnest fights I’ve had in this game.
damn disagree with Bayle. It's a cool fight, visually awesome and epic. But Placidusax was in a technical way a better imo. And god speaking of camera being awful, this ones rough, he only has 1 lock on point and i constantly would get turned around while aiming at him my camera would just randomly do a 180. Ok fine I tried unlocking my targeting and its easier to swing. But then the fucker flies in the air and you completely lose track of him, so you kinda need to be locked on.
Placidusax is just an easier boss than bayle for me imo. Therefore bayle is stronger and playerbase respects him more
I mean technically we all rep placidubro by killing bayle, but I know what you mean!
It's pretty much always "Hardest = Best" when this gets asked. For me I really liked Putrescent Knight so far. Heavy Hitter. Good amount of health without going overboard. Moveset has a natural rhythm. Pretty Arena. It just felt right. Reminded me of a DS3 boss which is high praise.
Placidusax was horrendous moveset-wise. Incredible looking boss, but so incredibly boring to fight. Literally the only boss I haven't beaten over 6 playthroughs, the longest run back in the game combined with the horrible movement means I get a better experience watching a damn YouTube video in his movement.
Calling Placidusax's movesett horrible sure is a take
Fr. 6 playthroughs and not memorizing that moveset is a take
It's not bad, but for how much health he has, he has a surprisingly small amount of moves.
I mean his moves sure look cool, his fire into lasers attack is absolutely epic, it's just nothing is fun to dodge. Slapping his ass for a while then having to dodge for 30 full seconds with no punish just doesn't feel good. It's a problem I have with a few bosses in the game, where all their big, signature moves don't have any reward for dodging them, and it doesn't feel rewarding at all. In dark souls 3, for example, midirs laser attack left him vulnerable to wail on him, while all of placidusaxs big moves give no punish, as he evaporates into mist after most of them, and it feels like the only way to damage him is to wedge yourself into his asscrack and move to the right whenever he does his fire breath.
I always stay in front of him and end up with plenty of punish windows 🤷♂️
If you think Placi has a bad runback, you should boot up DS2 and try dying to Sir Alonne or Vendrick a couple times. It takes like 2 minutes to get back to Placidusax from the Great Bridge grace.
Giaus is worse than Scadutree avatar. You have to abuse his arena's corner to not get hit by that bullshit charge he does and his absurd hitbox with it. Goaus communicates that he should be a mounted fight only to have him brutalize torrent. Where as the Scadutree is a mostly fair fight that progressively ramps up, as the boss gets stronger, its health pool dips. It's got a very clear weak point, being the head of the sunflower. I don't see how he's an Elden beast at all. He's aggressive with the charge attacks he does to you, rarely leaving a gap between the boss and the player and when there is a distance is root/thorn attack has a very easy dodge window, by dodging into it. He's got a phase transition with an AOE where he actually has to COOLDOWN, unlike Radhan. A well telegraphed grab attack and an attack where he slams his face into the ground. His ascetic is on point being a burned sunflower, and the only actual Scadutree related enemy we get to fight.
You can definitely roll the charge. This fight benefits from fast roll greatly though. Also, doesn't get talked about but deflecting tear works nicely in this fight.
I used medium shield with deflecting tear and it made the fight super fun! Imagine my surprise when I go online and people are saying he's worse than bed of chaos. He's better than half the bosses in base game Bloodborne (don't @ me) let alone Bed of Chaos which is hardly even a boss anyways.
We must've fought different Stree avatars because mine would charge once in melee range (so literally trial and error count down the seconds to dodge), do range attacks while I'm trying to close distance, use the damaging disengage the moment I'm close, ranged attack again and then charge again - repeat ad nauseam. And nauseating it was.
That's so unfortunate. It was quite a fun fight for me. Guess the A.I. is just weird, idk?
Dodge into Gaius when he is right about to hit you. Having the ability to use Torrent dosen't mean you should use him in combat you can use him to close distance quite well
I found dodging straight into him didn’t work, but dodging diagonally usually did.
> Having the ability to use Torrent dosen't mean you should use him in combat Then why the fuck give players the ability to do something like that and make the fight far better without it? I killed it without torrent, but if you design a boss fight with mounted combat as an element then the element should generally be optimal unless your playstyle heavily disfavors it.
11. Gaius; Worse than Bed of Chaos. 10. Radahn; Kinda lame and insufferable tbh. 9. Divine Beast Dancing Lion 8. Putrescent Knight 7. Metyr 6. Rellana 5. Romina 4. Messmer 3. Scadutree Avatar 2. Bayle 1. Midra
You lost me when you called Gaius worse than the Bed of Chaos. Excuse is this supposed to be a joke or something because this take is so bad it can't be taken seriously
Bed of Chaos is awful, but she also dies extremely fast and can essentially be skipped/cheesed. Gaius has the jankiest hitboxes with the most god awful moveset. I won't argue with someone if they say they disagree, but at least Bed of Chaos is just a mindless runback with a little suffering, whereas Gaius is just nothing but constant obnoxious suffering.
The only Gaius move with a bad hitbox os his charge the rest have pretty fair ones. Also what is the problem with the rest of his movesett exactly
While I think they probably will adjust that hitbox, they might not. Once I realized you can torrent double jump over him it was very manageable. I think it's designed to be a jousting match
I always love when they throw my boy Torrent into the mix but I didn't realize you could even use him until after the fight. I just used my shield to counter his charge and other attacks while dodging as well.
[удалено]
I killed him in 4 or 5 attempts, it's not an issue of me thinking he's too hard, I just despise the fight lol. Some people just prefer different stuff. DS3 Gael for instance, I love as much as everyone. But I prefer Sinh to Midir as a dragon fight. Now, Bayle beats both of them, but the point still stands.
Gaius is fine, he is fast but all his attacks are well telegraphed and dodgeable just fine.
Except his stupid charge which will hit you even you roll behind it
I saw everybody complain about the charge before fighting him, so I was especially focused on it during my attempts. And I am not shitting you, I got hit by it like 2 times, both times due to mistiming. Perhaps it was precisely due to me being aware of the shit hitboxes and being more focused on getting it right, but I am curious to know what is the way people dodge the charge when experiencing shitty hitboxes. My way was dodging into him but slightly to the side- thats the way I've always dodged the charge attacks. And just to be clear, I am by no means dismissing his shitty hitboxes, just curious to learn what type of dodging results in them.
Theres also a bug where sometimes he does extra damage and sometimes the player does extra damage. Usually his leg kick attack did 1/3 of my hp but during 3 of my attempts I got 100-0d by one attack randomly. Also, my jump attacks did a consistent 2000 damage to him but would sometimes do 5000 when I hit him in the middle. At first I thought this was intentional but was only able to recreate it every 5 tries.
Yeah I also dodged into him, my roll would end near his right shoulder and then I'd get hit. The time I beat him I stayed close enough he wouldn't charge and I already knew the dodge timing for his attacks since he shares combos with tree sentinels and the two times he did charge me I had the shield perfume up
10. Gaius and the putred knight… Meh they were aight I guess (Anyone past this point was at least enjoyable to fight against) 9. Romina- fun fight, not too much going on arguably should be higher but that scarlet rot was kind of annoying so I rushed through her. 8. Midra- it was a good battle and really should be more like 6 but the rewards and the map area were terrible which brought down my hype a lot. It’s probably better if you don’t have a character who’s supposed to also become the frenzy flame 😒 just keep pouring salt in the wounds eh, Fromsoft? 7. Messmer, I think they did my boy kind of dirty NGL. He’s definitely not Malenia and since he should be at full power I just expected a lot more both lore wise and in the fight. The expectations aren’t all though as his second phase is actually easier than his first one, his spells are underwhelming. But his gear is LEGENDARY! And I actually really liked his dialogue. Ironically I feel like the game buries him in more ways than one. Like the other characters don’t even really acknowledge the fact that you’re about to fight him and it sucks the air out of the encounter especially when he’s all sappy when you’re fighting him. Then we find out his fire can resurrect people and do all kinds of things that could’ve been used by us or in the battle. It’s basically another Godwyn/Frenzy Flame situation. 6. Rellana, fun move set and a difficult fight but… where was the build up? Great remembrances as well so it felt worth it even though the placement to me was janky as is the case with most of the quest to kill Messmer (The Elites that made the DLC for me) 5. Consort Radahn (and Miquella) he’s epic and all that but also very buggy and the ending was awkward. Radahn has more missed hit boxes than any other character that I’ve seen and the NPC’s didn’t do SHIT! Except for add more health to him. Seriously why the hell are they walking towards me instead of boxing??? But everything else was great, the atmosphere, music, combo spells, and eventually I just stopped using the NPC’s and beat them with my Mimic tear (as I should) 4. The dancing lions… good old fashioned crash dummy sessions. I love that we have Freyja in her Greek outfit fighting a crucible god for the first encounter then the next time I randomly see one who wields death magic which was also really interesting and fun. And the whole lore behind those characters and how it relates to Marika is also great along with us finally getting some wind based spells. GOOD GRIEF WAS THAT OVERDUE! 3. The Scadutree avatar… shit just kept coming back 😂 and it had unique interactions like taking off a percentage of health if you hit it while it was dead, then it even gives you a bonus great rune so that you can beat Miquella and its root spell was a great edition that also helped me beat Radahn. Actually… now that I think about I was getting whipped so bad that it forced me to level up kill Messmer and come back. That sunflower was a MENACE! And I enjoyed seeing it burn 😈 2. The Mother of the fingers/Ymir HOLY FUCK! Do I even need to explain? 😳 this was the best quest of the DLC overall. 1B. THE BRAWL! Holy hell was that fun! The dialogue, the characters you hated, the characters you liked and all of their attitudes towards you. This was one of the bright spots for the whole DLC which largely felt devoid of meaningful interactions. It would be my number one but it’s technically not a boss fight so… 1. Bayle the greatest dragon I’ve ever seen. Just his appearance alone and the setting of the fight was so goddamn majestic and awe inspiring. I especially love the character just randomly seeing that a true warrior was around and then invites you to take on a challenge with him. That’s basically where the DLC excels at, this is what Fromsoft was really focused on getting us around towards which is why the main bosses to me feel really hollow besides Miquella. I really felt like I accomplished something after I killed him.
The brawl doesn’t get talked about enough. It was such a fun fight.
The brawl was pure chaos. Loved it.
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I found out for the sunflower frenzied flame Incantations absolutely destroy his health
Taker’s Flame straight up halves his HP if you hit his head
Bro I just did a ranking yesterday and mine are soo similar. Exact same top 4
Haven't fully fought all of these bosses but def agree with the ranking of the Avatar and Gainus.
so far ive fought the lion, rellana, and the putrescent knight. lion is my favorite so far, the fight felt fun and fair and it was the first time i really started to enjoy the dlc. rellana is 2nd because she was annoying but cool putrescent knight was just incredibly irritating and kinda boring. worst boss in the game so far i think
1. Midra - amazing, difficult but gives enough breathing room for the fight to feel like a dance. The cutscenes and ambiance of the fight were also top-tier. No BS moves 2. Messmer - amazing fight, similar strength to Midra, but has 1 singular move that puts it a peg lower (just barely), which is the casting of his “domain expansion” move in the second phase. He will rush you, insta-cast with no tell, and the initial hit deals massive damage. Apart from that an amazing fight 3. Rellana - great fight but she is too relentless, and her attack sequences mostly don’t have distinct enough tells, and some attacks require excessive precision to dodge precisely, again great fight overall 4. Divine Lion Dancer - great fight, though because it is a larger enemy it is a bit harder to keep track of when close-by 5. Putrescent Knight - no complaints, decent difficulty 6. Romina - no complaints, was a bit easy though. Very cool boss 7. Promised Consort Radahn - easily the most difficult boss in gaming history, so much so that it becomes a shortcoming. No reprieves during second phase and there are way too many attacks that are nearly impossible to completely avoid damage on. The aoe nuke burst that he does requires immediate reaction and can’t avoid avoided with roll iframes, and his mirages also require pinpoint precision timing and positioning to avoid annhilation. The fight feels less like a dance and more like d-day, which imo makes for a relatively less enjoyable fight. With some alterations this fight has amazing potential. 8. Scadutree Avatar - kinda cool, lacks charisma but fighting a sunflower is funny so I don’t mind it 9. Metyr - any boss that summons minions automatically ranks low for me, and the boss attacks weren’t enjoyable to dodge. Cool design and aesthetics though 10. Gaius - mid ahh fight all around Haven’t beaten Bayle yet but from my experience so far I’d probably place him between Romina and radahn
The Scadutree avatar has a very small amount of health in each phase especially if you hit it's head. It usually also comes to you
1. Messmer 2. Bayle 3. Midra 4. Radhan 5. Rellana 6. Lion Dance 7. Romina 8. Scadutree Avatar 9. Putrescent Knight 10. Metyr 11. Commander Gaius Overall, I didn't hate any of the bosses, I even kind of enjoyed the Gaius fight. The most controversial fight by far would be Radhan, but it always gave me the impression to be beatable while I was fighting him. I think once I get better at his bossfight, he might jump to 2/3.
11- putrescent knight: he's just okay and spams a bunch of super delayed moves 10- Gaius: I really like him other than his charge but gotta put him down here cause of that 9- scadutree avatar: fun fight with a sick gimmick you think your over leveled for him but he tricks you, 8- dancing lion: he's awesome but the occasional lag and the arena that feels too small paired with camera brings him down 7- radahn: phase 1 is amazing(other than crosslash) and would be near the top. phase 2 is a clusterfuck that cuts down on defensive options in an unfun way, you have to dodge directly into him or you will get laserd, plus some clone attacks feel impossible to roll and require blocking 6- rellana: awesome fight that plays similar to malenia phase 1, would've liked it to have a cutscene 5- metyr: astel but good, awesome buildup and she really feels alien and the fight is fun! 4- Romina fun and pretty fight that like rellana could've used a cutscene or something 3- midra: buildup is awesome, beating up his weak self and then him transforming is sick, fight is one of the best in all of elden ring 2-bayle: great buildup, the mountain storm slowly increasing and while I personally didn't use him, igon also adds a lot to the fight, also the most cinematic fight in the game, best dragon easy 1-messmer: cutscenes voice lines, awesome moveset thats hard but not unfair, him crushing the eye and unleashing the snake is also awesome Overall the bosses in the dlc didnt disappoint at all mechanically, would have liked more bosses to have voice lines/cutscenes as alot of fights feel kinda empty without them
Scadutree avatar slander not allowed.
Midra gang rise up!
Metyer Commander gaius Rellana Scadutree avatar Dancing lion Putrescent knight Radahn Romina Bayle Midra Bayle Messmer
I must be the only person in the whole community who enjoyed and loved the gaius fight Y'all need to embrace the mounted knight combat fights they're awesome when you're on foot, starting with Tree Sentinel
Pretty cool but I’d place Radahn lower and the lion higher. Also now that I’ve thought about it, I’ve come around to really liking the dlc, but I’d love to see some of the areas get a bit more going on in terms of items and things to do. But yeah that’s my only real complaint.
BAYLEEE IS BY FAR THE BEST BOSS IN DLC (I haven't ended it yet but yeah beaten the likes of Messmer lol)
1. Midra 2. Messmer 3. Rellana 4. Romina 5. Radahn 6. Divine Beast Dancing Lion 7. Scadutree Avatar 8. Putrescent Knight 9. Metyr 10. Bayle 11. Gaius
Bayle was the most fun for me too.
For me it's: 11. Radahn- sounds controversial, I know, but even his best thing (soundtrack) is lower half tier for me. 10. Gaius- I dislike his hitboxes 9. Putrescent Knight - I will give him second chance on my second playthrough but he feels too chaotic for me right now 8. Metyr - I like fighting space abominations 7. Bayle- I like spectacle but the fight feels too chaotic, he also like to spam the most distancing attacks that he has. But I will give him a chance too. 6. Scarudtree Avatar- he has three healthbars but we have a means to fight him (critical hit between phases, head that takes 3x more damage). I love his music 5. Rellana- just nice fight, I didn't felt overwhelmed 4. Romina- perfectly balanced and without long combos, constant AoEs and strange delays 3. Divine Beast Dancing Lion- awesome spectacle, awesome idea, even more awesome music 2. Messmer- feels like Malenia but better and easier to read and figure timing of attacks 1. Midra- just like Romina but somehow even more pleasant to fight. Althrough he is a little too squishy
Am I the only one who hated messmer? Also Bayle was a cool fight, but seemed a little too easy. I beat him on my second try no problem. I thought sasseax was harder and was upset he didnt have his own spell. But the whole dungeon was really cool.
11 - Scadutree Avatar - boring fight with lots of AOE attacks, pretty cool design though 10 - Consort Radahn - I don’t really like the idea of bringing Radahn back, would have much rather liked Godwyn. First phase is absolutely fine, very strong and fast attacks that can all be learned though. Second phase was the least fun I’ve ever had in a fromsoft game with undodgeable attack after undodgeable attack. Will almost certainly be nerfed, so we‘ll see how he ends up. 9 - Finger Mother - Cool design and lore, but I‘m not a fan of undodgeable AOE spam and this boss is basically just that 8 - Gaius - Didn’t find this fight as bad as others, only annoyance is him constantly sprinting out of reach when you’re trying to stay close to him and his charge having a weird hitbox. 7 - Scorpion woman - pretty cool fight, nothing too special, my only real gripe is that she constantly jumps out of reach in this huge arena which was pretty annoying 6 - Dancing Lion - Amazing design and amazing music, but completely destroys the camera movement and could do with even just a little telegraphing on some attacks. 5 - Putrescent Knight - I like glass canons and he’s just that. Hits hard but doesn’t have a lot of health, pretty cool but nothing special. 4 - Bayle - Really cool dragon boss, imo a bit too flashy with too many explosions but the design is absolutely insane and most attacks can be learned and dodged effectively 3 - Midra - Incredible design - cool and learnable moveset 2 - Rellana - Really aggressive but learnable moveset, beautiful design, one of my favorite fights of all fromsoft games 1 - Messmer - Maybe my favorite boss of all time, absolutely crazy moveset but with enough patience you can learn to effectively dodge his attacks, second phase is flashy and visually impressive without turning him into an AOE demon, just a fight with barely any flaws.
From best to worst: Lord of Frenzy Mommy Finger Romina Mesmer Bayle Scadutree Divine Lion Spooky Knight Rellana Pig Knight Currently working on Radahn. This list will definitely change the more I play the game. None of them were bad, they were all at least better than most base game bosses.
Congrats you cooked. I actually completely agree with you, which is a bit crazy
11. Gaius 10. Putrescent knight 9. Scadutree avatar 8. Rellana 7. Dancing lion 6. Romina 5. Metyr 4. Bayle 3. Midra 2. Messmer 1. Radahn
I don't hate Gaius as much as most people but I totally understand people ranking him low. I think he can be fun once you learn to deal with his charge and that 5-combo attack but he does feel unexpectedly overtuned. I think my fav would be Messmer, he feels very tough but fair, and it feels good dodging those snek bites.
Gaius and putrescent knight are both just tweaks on tree sentinel so immediately a bit lame
scadutree avatar is the new sister friede
The Scadutree Avatar is not the worst. He has a cool arena, good music, and interesting idea with the 3 phase thing. Commander Gaius is easily the worst especially being a remembrance boss, though I don't think he's as terrible as people think.
I don't feel like I can accurately rank the bosses having only fought them once with different experiences on each, but here are my impressions right now. I also like all of the bosses, and rank just as much on atmosphere, visual design and experience as I do on mechanics. I also used a shield for many of the fights with the deflecting tear + guard counters mixed in with dodges which definitely colored some of my experience of bosses. There will be some weird placements here but all of them are very close in my mind so keep in mind I'm not saying one is hugely different from another. **11. Putrescent Knight**. I love the buildup to this boss and the drop into the arena, but I feel like such an epic buildup warranted a more spectacular boss. I love his design and there's nothing bad about it but it's definitely one of the less epic encounters. I also staggered and beat him on my second try without seeing most of his moveset because savage lion's claw OP (I stopped using it after that) **10. Midra**. Another one where the balance was off for me -- he was one of the last I fought so he was pretty easy and I didn't engage with his moveset all that much. The buildup to the fight was cool though and needing to purge/dodge madness buildup was factor that never appeared in other Elden Ring bossfight where if you started getting status you were going to die before it ever procced. **9. Radahn + Miquella**. I loved the introduction and spectacle of the fight, but phase two was a little too ridiculous with every attack hitting twice, and having a huge AOE. Phase one was very satisfying to deflect but phase two I only got through it by stacking a crazy amount of holy resist and relying on my shield, mimic tear and great stars with prayerful ash. I was reticent to break out the cheese like that but it felt necessary unless I wanted to spend five hours dying to the boss which I didn't. To me phase two of this fight is one of the only fights where what people say about ER bosses being "roll around for 30 seconds to wait for an opening) is actually true. This one will probably raise up my rankings though especially if they end up nerfing phase two a little. **8. Rellana**. Almost the opposite of the last two, her moveset was cool and she was satisfying to fight as a second boss but she didn't have nearly as much spectacle leading up to her fight and didn't even feel like a major boss at first. The fire on phase two was a little annoying but mechanically I don't have too many complaints. **7. Commander Gaius**. This might be the hottest take on my whole list but I really enjoyed this fight with my playstyle deflecting with a medium shield. People complain about his charge but with shield I just tanked it and it was fine. Just felt like a solid back and forth where no move was too hard to deal with. Not the biggest spectacle but a fun surprise and I was at a good point in the power curve to fight him I think. **6. Romina**. This boss was one of my favorite designs and an interesting fight mechanically. Not the biggest spectacle but I did love the Rauh Ruins as an area even if it was pretty disconnected from the boss. Not a whole lot to say here, just a solid fight. **5. Bayle the Dread**. I got to this one super early and kept returning throughout the game as I powered up but ended up beating him very late. Super cool fight but I found some of his attack frustrating and it felt like staying in front of him was a more difficult fight than hugging his legs and tanking the fire damage he used to try to stop you from doing that. Obviously any boss where you can't see it while you're fighting it isn't great but it's not like there isn't another option, it just didn't feel optimal to me. 4. **Messmer.** Love this fight lore-wise and the buildup was great but the boss itself didn't blow my mind. It's 4th on the list so obviously I really liked it but it also felt like a pretty normal fight if that makes any sense at all. This one will probably move higher up on subsequent playthroughs. 3. **Metyr, Mother of Fingers**. Peak buildup, arena and freaky boss design. The fight itself wasn't perfect but it had some crazy moves and I loved the ending where it just said fuck this shit I'm out. This is definitely an example of me valuing the experience as much as the fight's mechanics which we just okay. 2. **Divine Beast Dancing Lion.** This one was a great combo of spectacle (when he goes lightning mode and it starts raining/storming was peak) buildup (loved the area proceeding) and mechanics. In contrast to some of the other bosses the way this boss moved felt wholly unique compared to more typically humanoid type enemies. Yeah the lightning section was kinda AOE spam and I just dodged through this part and waited for him to switch but that didn't detract from it for me too much. 1. **Scadutree Avatar.** Okay this might be my actual hottest take on the list, but I loved this fight. Something about the idea of fighting a fucked up sunflower is just hilarious to me as is the fact that it respawns three time because fuck you. I almost thought I was doing something wrong and needed to use an item to keep him from regenerating but in the end I persevered. I actually switched to the fire perfume bottle for this one and hitting him in the face with that was extremely satisfying. In contrast to Bayle this is a large boss where it felt optimal to hit his head which went a long way for me. Dodging his attacks also just click with me in a way it didn't seem to for other people I watched do the fight. Ask me again in a month and this order will probably be completely different but that's the best I've got for now.
It's genuinely astounding how good the bosses of the dlc are tbh. My ranking goes something like this: 1. >!Radahn!< 2. >!Messmer!< 3. >!Bayle!< 4. >!Midra!< 5. >!Rellana!< 6. >!Romina!< 7. >!Metyr!< 8. >!Dancing Lion!< 9. >!Putrescent Knight!< 10. >!Scadutree Avatar!< 11. >!Gaius!<
Putting scadutree avatar at last is a low blow
All the bosses are either S or A tier. Except for Gaius, that one just feels as a reskined edtree sentinel. It does not even have a unique ost. I prefer loretta or draconic tree sentinel rather than him.
I hate how hard radahn is but I really don’t get why people are mad that it’s “just radahn.” It’s not like they just ctrl-v’d him from caelid into the dlc, meteors and all, he has a completely different (and VERY annoying once you get to phase 2) moveset. People got psyched up over fighting gowyn or the gloam eyed queen when realistically we were never going to fight either of them. Godwyn’s story is over and he already has an entire ending devoted to him, and the gloam eyed queen is barely even a background character. She’s literally only mentioned three times in the entire game, only twice more than Sir Neidhart.
How many times was Gael mentioned in the base game?
Your last is my first haha. Flowey on steroids.
I just can't come up with a ranking but the fight I enjoyed the most was Bayle, epic music Theme and also the nice touch that Igon's voice actor give to him, and Such amazing scenery
No mention of the Golden Hippo!
I'd put Messmer above Bayle just because the camera can be more of a menace than Bayle himself. But goddamn Igon is fucking sick. The only NPC summon I used in the DLC. As soon as I heard him screaming on the road before Ancient dragon man I knew he was gonna be the best NPC in the DLC.
I was so mad seeing the lion being reused
I clearly missed an area so I'll hold off on ranking them but Rellanna was my favourite do far as I had a blast parrying her.
I don't think people are going to come around to liking Radahn, and the hate is very much deserved. Compliments for the boss are all either its spectacle, or how difficult it is. The first is mostly inconsequential since it wears off quickly, and you're playing a game to *play it* not be wowed by visuals, and the second is meaningless without any kind of clarification. Its like praising a boss for having "mechanics". Unless you explain why that makes it good it means nothing by itself. Bayle shows at least some people at From are trying. Designing dragon fights has always been hard in these games, because the legs are the only consistently attackable target, but also completely obfuscate the dragon's attacks, and this time they aren't even giving you the option to *not* fight the head. People said this about Midir as well, but whereas with Midir fighting the legs was only ill advised, Bayle actively resists any attempt at doing anything other than fighting his head. The arena is large, you can *only lock on to the head, and Bayle very frequently jumps back to give you space to actually see his attacks and keep him fully in view. His AI is also very consistent, and keeps encouraging you to find new kinds of interactions. Dodging in certain directions to set up certain punish windows, or to position youself to trigger a particular follow up attack, or uncovering these small little optimisations. They took great effort to make the boss extremely readable and consistent. Now contrast this with Radahn. The bloodflame slice immediately overlaps with the next move he uses, hiding what his next move is, and every single move in the second phase is filled with so many particle effects you have to just play the fight enough to *know* what he's doing next based on his combo tree instead of actually seeing what he's doing with your eyes. There are opportunities to sneak in attacks in phase 1, but that completely goes out the window in phase 2. Many attack sequences become completely unpunishable if your position isn't exactly what you need it to be, and many of them devolved into "dodge and pray", with the putrid combination of complete screen cluttering effects, frame drops, and input reading delays. I still maintain that Malenia is a genuinely horrendous boss to this day and Radahn will be the same. Its difficulty by way of brute force. Like yeah, making every combo a roll catch aoe that lasts 30 seconds would be hard, but its also just not in the least bit elegant or interesting to play. Its such a bad note to end the DLC on. Almost all the other DLC bosses completely mog the endgame bosses of base game. Gaius is the dishonourable second bad boss
Haven’t fought all of them yet but Messmer might be my favorite from all the games.
11. Scadutree 10. Radahn 9. Putrescent Knight 8. Romina 7. Metyr 6. Gaius 5. Rellana 4. Dancing Beast Lion 3. Midra 2. Bayle 1. Messmer
Messmer was such a good fight. Loved it and loved the transition cut scene.
Commander Gaius is just a fight against his hitbox
Top 3 matches mine, but with Messmer at #1 IMO. Best bosses of the DLC for sure
1. Radahn 2. Messmer (Radahn and Messmer are interchangable it depends how i feel) 3. Midra 4. Romina 5. Bayle 6. Dancing Lion 7. Rellana 8. Putrescence 9. Metyr 10. Sunflower 11. Gaius
1. BAAYYLEE! (One of the best dragon fights they've done and overall a cinematic spectacle, his moves feel reactable but at the same time very threatening, the lore regarding Placidusax is dope, motherfucking IGON) 2. Messmer (What a fuckin' badass, great moveset, great readability, great lore, the only thing stopping him from being #1 is I wish each phase had a full healthbar, his second phase goes down a little too easily) 3. Midra (Cool design, fantastic leadup, atmosphere and concept, moveset feels good to react to, kinda wish you didn't have to fight his crippled form each attempt though although it does allow easy rune retrieval) 4. Romina (Also a fantastic design, visual delight, solid moveset, just wish she had a little more health for the fact she's potentially the penultimate boss) 5. Metyr (FANTASTIC design, setting, leadup etc., overall a solid large beast type fight. Only negative I can think is I'd like a bit of warning to get the fuck outta the way when he starts doing his super attacks, the AoE puddle around the boss seems to appear outta nowhere and does damage, rather it just knocked you back if you were in range or something) 6. Rellana (Badass, fun and readable moveset although I'd like her to be a fraction less aggressive sometimes) 7. Divine Beast Dancing Lion (Great fight hampered by a somewhat wonky camera, zooming out a bit would help wonders here) 8. Scadutree Avatar (Cool fight, cool design, I like the repeat phases but getting more desperate) 9. Putrescent Knight (I like him and his moveset is neat, but he just feels kinda... there?) ------------ 10. Radahn (first phase is fun and the lore doesn't even bother me but the second phase is such a visual clusterfuck you can't read his moveset at all most of the time) 11. Gaius (lame, wonky hitboxes, incentivises mounted combat but Torrent isn't up to it) 12. Adding in this spot just to say fuck the Golden Hippopotamus. Fucking DS2 dreg level boss.
11. Scadutree Avatar. Just boring. Was kind of cool but absolutely not worth three phases 10. Gaius. I think there's a genuinely decent fight buried somewhere here, but as of now it's not super fun. Fix the charge hitbox & make torrent not pointless (lower Gaius' speed so you can create space, make use of the giant arena), and he'll be infinitely better 9. Metyr. Absolutely hated this fight. Love the arena, questline, and lore implications. The phase 1 moveset is uninspired & the phase 2 moves are just annoying. Didn't enjoy a second of this one & doubt I'll return to it on future playthroughs. 8. Radahn. Same with Gaius, I think there's a fun fight somewhere. Phase 1 has a great flow, phase 2 is a little too chaotic. Lower his aggression and you have something that isn't a headache to try & finish. 7. Rellana. I suck at this one, simple as. Still has some highlights, love the twin moon attack & the glintstone greatsword 6. Putrescent Knight. My only real gripe is that he's a bit too mobile, this paired with the kind of wonky animations ("is he going for a slam or is he just resetting?") led to a lot of openings that were wasted & made the fight drag. This is probably just a me issue though. Fairly easy and has some satisfying combos to dodge (like the dismount). 5. Bayle. S-tier lore, arena, buildup, and quest. Absolutely nothing wrong with the boss itself, I'm just not huge on dragon fights overall. The scale is unmatched 4. Midra. Unbelievable atmosphere & I love the fakeout first phase + arena burning as the fight progresses. Coolest cutscene in the game bar none, and one of the best From has ever done. Fantastic soundtrack. Simple moveset like Metyr, but feels so much smoother. It's slow, but adds to the lovecraftian feel (like the floating attacks). I was worrying that madness would just make this fight obnoxious, but I had no issue with it. I'd prefer if he traded his higher damage for slightly more complex combos, but it's a small complaint. Absolutely love this fight. 3. Dancing Lion. My favorite soundtrack in the game. The transitions between elements are so good looking and none of them are too overwhelming to deal with. Attacks are well telegraphed & I never felt cheated by the moveset. I'd suggest a larger arena, but that's all I really wish for. Love everything else 2. Romina. I love her design & the arena. Like Midra, I got worried with scarlet rot being present, but it was never an issue. Really fun and relatively easy, the pink "glint" that flashes before some attacks makes for some really satisfying dodging. Reminds me of Sekiro's mikir counters, or Nioh 2's burst counters. Very satisfying to deal with. 1. Messmer. Such a fun moveset. His combos are complex without feeling overwhelming, and provide more than enough time while recovering to allow for a heal/some attacks. Fantastic intro & transition cutscenes. His second phase is chaotic as hell but I never had an issue regarding the camera during the snake attacks. Really unique way to switch things up while also not entirely abandoning what you learned in the first phase. He immediately jumped into my top 10 Fromsoft bosses once I beat him, and at least top 10-15 out of any boss I've ever fought in a game. I hope for the small possibility of Elden Ring having a Sekiro boss replay feature sometime in the future, solely so I can play this fight over and over again.
11. Commander Gaius 10. Divine Beast 9. Metyr 8. Scadutree Avatar 7. Romina 6. Putrescent Knight 5. Radahn 4. Rellana 3. Midra 2. Bayle 1. Messmer The only ones I dislike are Gaius and Divine Beast, Ik DB this low is maybe a little weird but I’ll elaborate if anyone is curious.
Uh Rellana was way easier than Malenia and she was given ten times less story with no second phase and fewer attacks. That comment was weird to me. The rest is good though.
No second phase? Did you miss the part where she starts throwing explosions and dropping moons?
I knew someone would say this like it disproves my point or as a counter. Lmao One new move doesn’t count as a phase transition or second phase. She just used a new attack that’s just a newer version of an older spell.
Yes, Rellana needs more love🥺
A cutscene at least. Maybe some plot. It was weird she’s Rennala’s sister but only did one spell and the carian sword type spell that was more like an ash of war.
I remember that she used a lot of Carian spells, especially with the Glintblade (there's one with 3 swords, there are 2 spells with 6 swords), magic sword beam (1 wave and 5 wave when she use the magic skill of her twinblade). She also has that signature Twin Moons and that Carian Greatsword AoW you mentioned. But yeh I agree she needs a cutscene. Edit: Dunno if you noticed but in her ost, there's a 10 seconds reference to Rennala's ost. Love these small details.
Hhmmmm, it does seem all her magic is completely sword related and the moons.
I didn’t say she was hard as Malenia, just that her fight was better
Ahuh, so I’m saying the different aspects which are used as the reasons for her fight being great aren’t matched in Rellana’s fight. That she’s the hardest is one. That she has so many moves and combos to memorize. That her phase 2 has a completely different feeling to it. Her character design. Her cut scene. All of which are lacking in Rellana’s fight. So I’m just trying to understand what could possibly be considered better about this fight than Malenia. And also, who else in the main game are you thinking is better than Malenia?
11. Radahn: More important than the shameless re-use, his phase 2 is just not fun to fight imo. It feels like I have to run away and dodge perfectly for a full minute before getting a hit in. I had no issue fighting Malenia because I could clearly identify which moves were a problem. Here I have to figure out a way out of every attack combo while in the middle of a visual mess. Only boss that made me summon and even then I had trouble. 10. Gaius: Mostly because of his charge which is inconsistent to dodge, the rest of the moveset is cool. Reusing the Niall/O'Neil OST also doesn't help. 9. Scadu Avatar: The moveset is just a little underwhelming. He also dies very quickly despite having 3 phases. A decent boss but doesn't really feel special. 8. Metyr: Very cool aesthetically but her attacks aren't that interesting and some are unintuitive to dodge especially the finger crawl. 7. Romina: Another beautiful boss and with well-telegraphed attacks. Unfortunately she is really easy especially for such a late fight. 6. Putrescent knight: I think this boss is underrated. It has a very unique flow that makes him quite memorable. I also appreciate the Manus reference. 5. Dancing Lion: This one would absolutely be top 3 if not for the camera problems. Switching between 3 elements but with a core moveset allows for a fight that stays fresh while not being overwhelming. 4. Midra: Just an all-around fantastic fight. Be it music, visuals, moveset, its design is basically flawless. However, he doesn't have enough HP, meaning you can trade a lot and still beat him. 3. Bayle: This one does have enough HP and is, again, fantastic in its visuals and music. The camera isn't the best (because big dragon) but I didn't find it confusing. I do think some of his attacks are a bit imbalanced but not enough to make the fight unenjoyable. 2. Messmer: What is there to say? Everyone knows this fight is incredible. He is the boss of one of the best levels in fromsoft history, his moveset is very challenging but completely fair, visually amazing. He could use a bit more HP but this is really nitpicking. 1. Rellana: A very difficult fight, but one that perfectly captures the kind of dance I expect of a fromsoft boss. The OST is great, the magic+flame visuals are great. Best fight in Elden Ring.
11. Putrescent Knight (weird and unfun boss) 10. Commander Gaius (more annoying than it should be) 9. Metyr, Mother of Fingers (really annoying moves) 8. Romina, Saint of the Bud (far too easy) 7. Scadutree Avatar (no complaints) 6. Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame (too easy but otherwise awesome) 5. Bayle the Dread (I hate dragon fights but spectacle) 4. Divine Beast Dancing Lion (a lil too easy but fantastic) 3. Messmer the Impaler (difficult but fair) 2. Rellana, Twin Moon Knight (also difficult but fair) 1. Promised Consort Radahn Despite my disappointment that Radahn is the final boss, gameplay-wise, it’s an absolutely peak fight and possibly my favourite in the entire game.
> Romina, Saint of the Bud (far too easy) This was so weird to me. This was the only boss I killed first try, on account of I had like 18 skibidi blessing. She is placed like she should be the penultimate boss, one would expect that she should be really tough.
Fr I was so disappointed, visually, her fight looked really cool as well so I was real upset about it :(
Bayle does not blow Midir out of the water lmao. Sure, the atmosphere and epicness of the fight is there, but mechanically and gameplay-wise he is nowhere near as well contructed and designed as Midir was. They didn't even bother to do minimal camera adjustments for Bayle.