Elden Ring is still a few months away, but thanks to the recent network test, players have already found how to cheese bosses by knocking them off ledges.
As our friends at PC Gamer (opens in new tab) spotted, Elden Ring fans wasted no time testing the limits of level design, gravity, and boss behavior. Reddit user Professional_Ease765 managed to lure the dragon Agheel, who’s normally fought in a swamp (and preferably on horseback, per our guide on Elden Ring bosses), up and off a nearby ledge, one-shotting the dragon in the process. They weren’t the only one, either; Redditor Survivalhorrorz (opens in new tab)pulled off a similar feat, seemingly by accident.
For a lethal fall, this one is weirdly low and slow. This would be like three steps on a dragon-sized staircase, for crying out loud. Plus, as we said in our Elden Ring hands-on preview, fall damage is pretty forgiving compared to previous FromSoftware games, but apparently that doesn’t go for dragon – perhaps a trade-off for being able to fly.
Agheel wasn’t the only victim of fall damage in the network test, either. Reddit user G4GamingYT (opens in new tab) saw the final boss of the test, Margit the Fell, ironically fall off the whole dang level and instantly die. Anyone who’s fought Margit can tell you that this boss jumps around a lot, but he’s always careful about where he lands. Well, almost always.
Elden Ring fans have beaten bosses using more than just fall damage, too. This is the fanbase that cheesed Demon’s Souls bosses by killing them without even passing through boss fog walls. You know they’re gonna find some degenerate strategies in a world as vast as Elden Ring’s. Sure enough, one player recorded (opens in new tab) an utterly unfair match with the Tree Sentinel boss, who normally mows you down on horseback but apparently can’t overcome the might of a three-foot rock. If you lure this horseman to any kind of elevated terrain, you can safely plink away at him with magic or ranged weapon skills. Maybe get a longer halberd next time, buddy.
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