Taking a Naked Level 1 Character to Elden Lord: Tactics Tried Across 35 Boss Fights

With no armor, essentially every boss attack kills in one hit. The player accepts this premise and switches between parries, Ashes of War, status effects, terrain, and special items depending on the situation. Throughout the video, the focus is not just on winning but on how to enjoy each boss fight.

The starting class is Wretch, and the only weapon at the start is the Club. Against the first opponent, the Tree Sentinel, the player goes for parries with a shield picked up beforehand. Critical hits don't land on mounted enemies, but a parry opens up a big window. A charged attack goes in there. The Club is a plain weapon, but it deals heavy stance damage, so the cycle is parry, charged attack, jump attack to knock the boss down, then another charged attack. Repeating this wears the boss down.

What the player emphasizes is stamina management. If you keep attacking, your stamina runs out and parrying becomes difficult, so even after a knockdown, you hold back the urge to attack, catch your breath a little, and then strike. As its HP drops, the Tree Sentinel changes its behavior, and fewer of its attacks can be parried. The attack where it slams its shield into the ground is easy to get caught by the aftershock unless you wait until the last moment to dodge. The player explains that in this game, a parry fails if the distance or angle isn't right, even when the timing is correct. If you're fighting mainly with parries, they recommend sticking close to the enemy and moving to stay in a good position. Some of the Tree Sentinel's big swings can be avoided simply by staying glued to it. This fight was done with a +2 Club, but the boss had a lot of HP for a first boss, and it turned into a long slog.

The second boss, Margit, the Fell Omen, staggers after two parries, opening him to a critical hit. Many of his attacks can be parried, so the player recommends him as a practice partner. His second-half moves are a hassle, so the player brings his HP to just above half before baiting a combo. They land maximum damage off a parry, stack another knockdown with charged attacks, and land another critical. This way, they finished him before his behavior changed.

The third boss, the Lion Guardian, is an optional detour, but defeating it yields a handy weapon and advances an NPC questline. One parry is enough for a critical. The troublesome part is the roar that hits if you're right up against it, so the player keeps some distance while staying close enough to parry. The Buckler obtained from Margit made parrying extremely easy. Since everything kills in one hit anyway, the player says they'll use the Buckler from here on. The boss went down anticlimactically after three parries.

Parries don't work on Godrick the Grafted, so the player fights with just the Club. The Club's Ash of War is a shout that boosts attack power for a while, and using it changes the attack animations. The player's verdict: "It's just fun, not all that strong." Still, they say that parries make fights feel a bit crude, so a slow, grinding fight is nice too. Godrick has lots of openings in his first phase and a rich variety of attack patterns; the player compares him to "a theme park" and rates him as the perfect first major boss. Contrary to his appearance, many of his attacks miss if you're right up against him. With his five-hit combo, the fifth hit won't connect if you're close, so diving in on the fourth hit lets you get in two or three attacks. The player's favorite is the attack where you jump in time with the shockwave on the ground.

In the second phase, you fight Godrick with a dragon's head grafted on. However, the player admits that they haven't tried this boss many times and are fighting on feel, so honestly they don't really know when they should attack. Since this isn't a hardcore challenge run, their attitude was that winning was good enough. When he uses his fire attacks, there are long stretches when you can't attack. The player explains that the fast-moving flames are safe to escape with a dash jump, adding that the same dodge is famous for Malenia's Waterfowl Dance.

The fifth boss, Royal Knight Loretta, is a spirit at Caria Manor who shares her name with the real Loretta you fight later. Her homing magic is a nuisance, but her attack patterns are almost the same as the Tree Sentinel's, so she can be parried. Keeping distance increases her magic, so the player fights up close. It's also annoying when she backs off on her own, so the trick is to drive her into a corner of the room so she can't retreat. Her HP is probably a little over 4,000, and two hits after a parry deal close to 500. The player estimated that by the numbers it would take eight parries, or about six counting stance breaks. In the second half, she adds a bow, fast magic projectiles, and a magic-imbued weapon, so you have to figure out which attacks can be parried. The player says they prefer this, since there's more gameplay to it. Rolling isn't just about timing; direction matters too, and the player reflected that if they had closed in on her bow attack with a forward roll, they could have parried the follow-up melee attack much more easily.

The Red Wolf of Radagon has no melee attacks that can be parried. So the player came prepared with Carian Retaliation, an Ash of War that parries magic and sends it back. They dodge the second hit of the attack coming from the right with a jump and follow straight through with a jump attack to wear down its stance. Perhaps because its defense is low, its HP dropped quickly, and the player finished it off by reflecting its magic with Retaliation.

Regarding Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, the player explains that there are seven Great Runes and that collecting them is the main thread of the story. The first came from Godrick, and Rennala holds the second. Here they change things up, taking out her minions with a dagger and then attacking with the Great Stars using the Ash of War Spinning Strikes. The first phase was over in a single turn. For the second phase, they switch to a greatsword and use the Ash of War Giant Hunt to launch the boss four times, finishing with a charged attack. Because this is an adventure where runes aren't spent on leveling, the player says they can have fun with all sorts of weapons.

Commander O'Neil calls in allies, so the player sneaks up from behind and lands Spinning Strikes. Thanks partly to the Great Stars' bleed effect, it dealt heavy damage. The minions are cut down with the Uchigatana's Unsheathe. The Uchigatana has lenient requirements, and even at level 1, Unsheathe deals high damage. However, a poor hit won't kill in one strike. The player reckons that if you keep moving so as to maximize your angular velocity relative to the whole group of minions, their attacks will almost never hit. Finally, they land a critical with the Misericorde after a parry, then switch back to the Great Stars and finish with Spinning Strikes. At level 1 the weapon can't be held one-handed, so they're careful not to forget to switch grips. There was also a little aside: they had thought the "shukushō" in the boss's Japanese title meant the boss of an inn, but when they looked it up, it turned out to mean a seasoned, highly experienced general.

Magma Wyrm Makar is a mid-boss on the way to the Altus Plateau in search of the third Great Rune. The player wears down its stance with jump attacks to knock it down, then chips away with Spinning Strikes. Attacks to the head seem to be effective, and the player says, "It's fun, like Monster Hunter." Since bleed works on it, stacking Spinning Strikes deals more damage than a critical hit. Of the Great Stars, the player says that although they don't use it in this run, its attacks also heal, and it's a weapon they'd recommend for clearing the game too.

Against the Draconic Tree Sentinel, the player goes back to the original Club out of nostalgia. They gave it the Cold affinity for no particular reason. Fire attacks are sent back with Carian Retaliation. To save FP, they carry two shields and switch only for the fire attacks. Compared with the first Tree Sentinel, the Draconic Tree Sentinel gave the impression of being calm and well-behaved, and with the sharpness gone from its attacks, they found it easier to deal with. They finished it off with combos after parries, saying that being able to stack so many attacks was thanks to the Club's stamina efficiency.

Against Godfrey, First Elden Lord (his shade), the player chose a Lightning-affinity Uchigatana because of its short recovery after rolling attacks. They switch to the Misericorde only for criticals. However, the fight didn't turn into much of a spectacle, and the player reflects that maybe they should have used an axe or something. Here they talk about the level 1 run. You'd think there would be few usable weapons, but every stat can easily be boosted to around 15 with talismans and such. Since all your runes can go into weapon upgrades, you can try all kinds of weapons, which they say is fun.

Against Starscourge Radahn, the plan was to boost attack power with the banner obtained from Commander O'Neil. The banner's effect is a 30-second attack boost, and the player inflicts frostbite and bleed with Spinning Strikes from a Cold Great Stars. In about 10 seconds they took around half his HP, but the boss flew off into the sky. They say that on a good run, you can kill him before he flies. His first strike when he comes back down leaves a huge opening, so starting Spinning Strikes there wins the fight. Wary of being stomped by his right foot, the player stays toward his back and keeps up Spinning Strikes without flinching, bringing him down.

The Mimic Tear that appears afterward is a boss that transforms into the player's appearance. The player baited big swings with a dagger, parried them, and landed criticals to win.

For Morgott, the Omen King, the player brought Margit's Shackle, which also works on the real Morgott. Using it about twice creates openings, and they chip away with Spinning Strikes. The second-phase rain of light is scary, so they wear down his stance to be able to stack a knockdown on it. They pushed through to the end with a critical and charged attacks.

The Ancestor Spirit in the underground world was defeated in four hits by landing the vertical slash of a Fire-affinity Uchigatana's Unsheathe. Unsheathe excels at both damage and stance damage, and even at level 1 the Uchigatana can be equipped with a single talisman. It also looks cool, and the player rates it as a strong weapon that's a real blessing for a Wretch (though they also say opinions vary on a katana with nothing else on). The Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella is softer than it looks and can be beaten easily by getting under its feet. The space behind it is a safe zone, and a single Spinning Strikes took off a big chunk.

Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, guards the fifth Great Rune, but the player calls it "more of a scripted event fight, a formality." You can win by spamming charged attacks with the weapon stuck in the ground at the entrance. Because this weapon is meant for the event, all its stat requirements are 0, and it performs well too, so the player mentions that it's apparently popular for level 1 runs.

Against Elemer of the Briar, the player unusually used a dagger. Unlike the long weapons they usually use, the range is hard to gauge, but daggers take off a lot of HP with critical hits. Their swings are fast with little recovery, so you can keep attacking right up until the parry, which the player says feels great. With help from buffs cast before the fight, it was over in two criticals.

The Regal Ancestor Spirit is a stronger version of the Ancestor Spirit. Using an incantation that can be equipped with a single talisman, the player sets their body ablaze in red, raising attack power and fire damage to boost Unsheathe. The player grumbles about its "stalling tactics": warping out of sight and draining life from the surrounding animals to fully restore its HP. To keep it from healing over and over, they went all in with maximum damage. The Grafted Scion is the boss of the first scripted loss and can be fought again later. As a bit of a break, the player decided to take it out, landing a buffed critical after a parry and finishing with a charged attack.

The Fire Giant is a boss with over 40,000 HP, and it was the fight that took the longest in this run. In the first phase, the player chips away little by little with Spinning Strikes, using jump attacks for basic attacks. The first knockdown is easy, but perhaps because the boss builds resistance, the second and later ones are hard. They break the shackle on its ankle to stagger it and land Spinning Strikes. Status effects are effective, and combining frostbite and bleed, two Spinning Strikes dealt about 10,000 in total. The secondary dagger has the Ash of War Bloodhound's Step, used as a dodge that's better than a regular roll. Spinning Strikes has short reach, so they land it by rolling to where the foot is likely to come down.

Since it's a long fight, the player also talks about equipment. The Great Stars requires 22 Strength and 12 Faith, but wielding it two-handed treats your Strength as 1.5 times higher. So 16 Strength and 12 Faith are enough to use it. A level 1 Wretch has 10 in every stat, but by equipping stat-boosting talismans and the like, you can secure enough, such as 20 Strength. The side effect of taking more damage isn't really a downside either, since naked you die in one hit anyway. The player says anyone can start swinging it right away, regardless of their build.

For the second phase, the player used a "secret weapon": a rot incantation usable with 12 Faith plus a talisman. There are stronger incantations, but the rot buildup and damage are the same, so this one is the better deal, with gentler requirements and FP cost. After confirming that rot was steadily draining its HP, they declared "Run away!" and tried hiding behind a tree to wait it out. But the tree got burned, and another tree was quickly destroyed too. Before long the enemy's rot wore off, and they steeled themselves and returned to the fight. They closed in while dodging with Bloodhound's Step, but the final blow turned into an unexpected string of whiffs. They managed to bring it down in the end, and the player wrapped up with, "Guess you shouldn't try things you're not used to."

The Godskin Duo are "cowards" who attack two at a time. The player says they're no less cowardly themselves and uses sleep. They put the bosses to sleep with Sleep bolts from a crossbow and take them out with Spinning Strikes in the meantime. After taking off about half, they hide behind a pillar and wait for the rolling attack. You could put them to sleep again, but the player says this way is more fun. If it works, you can finish them off like that, but the pillar angles and such are unforgiving, and with a bad angle Spinning Strikes whiffs.

A Sleep Pot leaves its effect area lingering for a while, so its sleep effect is strong. Enemies gradually build resistance to the same status effect, and the player observed that this boss seems to keep its resistance even when it reappears. It's not a series of different enemies appearing, but apparently the same two coming and going. The player also mentions that sleep crafting materials aren't unlimited, so if you keep failing you might get stuck. They note that for bosses with shared HP, hitting a corpse can still reduce HP, a feature common to the whole Souls series, and diligently beat on the corpse. Sleep bolts can be crafted in greater numbers than pots and are more economical, but the bolts' own damage can wake the enemy up. When firing three in a row, some adjustment is needed. They also joked that the boss should be named "the Godskin Quartet."

Mohg, the Omen is a mid-boss who appears late in the game, something like a double of Mohg. The player uses Mohg's Shackle to create two openings and lands Spinning Strikes. Pressing the attack button during Spinning Strikes finishes it with a stronger blow, so they suggest it might be good to use it when stamina is nearly gone. Trying it for the first time, they find that a heavy attack right after a roll also has little recovery and apparently deals excellent stance damage. Status effects don't work on this boss, so they changed tactics from the usual bleed and frostbite. They say the key to a knockdown is to keep landing attacks at short intervals. The player explains that if you don't follow up for a while, the boss's stance recovers quickly, so you want to attack within five seconds.

With the Valiant Gargoyles, a second one appears after some time passes. You could kill the first one quickly, but the player bears a grudge from struggling against them and wanted to "cast them into the depths of despair," so they cornered one at the cliff edge and tried to knock it off. It didn't fall when it leapt backward, so they wore down its stance, knocked it down, and pushed it off the cliff. From the point that blunt damage works well on skeletal enemies, they also note that in the Souls series, paying attention to physical damage types makes a big difference in damage. Bloodhound's Step is suited to enemies that resist bleed, but using it tends to make you do nothing but step, dragging the fight out. They laughed that it's a case of "when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

During this fight, the player talks about how tricky it is to find the right way to enjoy the game. If you power up heavily as you go, the bosses along the way become too easy, and sometimes you can't properly appreciate the flavor each boss has. But that doesn't mean you should just hold back, either; progressing without giving it your all doesn't feel right. They say that at the root of doing this run at level 1 was a desire to enjoy the game with everything they had. The player's view is that rather than offering difficulty settings, the Souls series solves this problem well by providing a wide range of ways to play.

Fia's Champions is a series of fights against multiple NPCs that suddenly begins in the underground world. The first fight was dispatched with a single parry. Next, the player brings out the greatsword for the first time since the Rennala fight. The Ash of War Giant Hunt is also effective on humanoid NPCs, and once you land it in an opening, you can win by spamming it. Based on their maximum FP, they say it can be used up to five times in a row. The last fight is one against three, and with a mage among them, there are no openings. They ran around for a while, then reflected a spell the enemy cast with Carian Retaliation to kill one. The knight using throwables was beaten with a single parry, and the remaining one went down to five Giant Hunts in a row.

Lichdragon Fortissax is a boss you defeat to reach one of the three ending branches. The player wields a classic straight sword and fights with its Ash of War's two-hit attack. If you're close, red lightning builds up and explodes, and he has plenty of other nasty attacks, like shockwaves. Still, most can be dodged by spamming rolls, so they repeatedly land an attack and roll. They regret that their poor camera work meant the cool leaping attack barely made it on screen. That leads into a discussion of how you don't have enough thumbs to roll and control the camera with your right thumb at the same time. The player says that since starting the Souls series, they've been pressing the four right-hand buttons with their index finger. They also say it might be good to make use of a controller with back buttons. In the second phase, standing in the death smoke builds up a gauge that kills you, so they took care not to stand still and brought him down.

Commander Niall, like O'Neil, summons minions. The player uses a Bewitching Branch to turn the minions and makes them fight each other. The player just watches, saying "Kill each other" and "Go for it." Niall's own highlight is his lightning-charged kick, but after that he just waves his banner, so he's easy to beat with parries. A critical with the upgraded dagger does 2,600 damage per hit, firepower the player says is hard to believe at level 1.

The highlight of Mohg, Lord of Blood is the plan to win without using the physick. First, the rot incantation used against the Fire Giant inflicts damage over time. Next, the player lands Blade of Death, an incantation that lowers the enemy's maximum HP while dealing damage over time. From the second phase on, a special mechanic inflicts damage that's close to instant death. The physick can mitigate it, but this run forbids the physick. So the plan was to get his HP as low as possible during the first phase and then wipe it out in one go, combined with the damage over time.

He enters the second phase once the phase-transition incantation has been chanted three times. The player has two uses of the shackle left: the first to create an opening for the incantation, the second saved for Spinning Strikes. Blade of Death requires 18 Faith, so they had equipped a Faith-boosting talisman, but at the end they swapped to one specialized for physical damage. Since resistance to status effects builds gradually, they had been saving frostbite and bleed until this point. They created an opening with the last shackle, shredded his HP all at once with Spinning Strikes, and won.

Dragonlord Placidusax is something of a hidden boss, and since the fight is just chipping away with nothing interesting about it, it was played at double speed. The player had never used a spear, so they brought a lance to try it out. But since it was their first time, they didn't know how to use it and just swung it around. They aim for knockdowns with jump attacks, but the boss quickly recovers its stance with troublesome attacks it uses at regular intervals. Having tried other weapons, they say they now appreciate how great the Great Stars was. It was a terrifying weapon that stacks huge amounts of bleed and frostbite with little stamina and wears down stance too. They also said that if you're fighting seriously, another weapon that sprays bubbles would probably be faster, but since each boss can only be defeated once, it's tough to decide when you want to try this and that.

Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree is the real version of the spirit the player fought long ago at Caria. They brought their old partner from that time, the Club. This time they have Carian Retaliation, but consecutive spells may punch through it, so they only reflect spells that come in singly. Retaliation deals about 2,000 damage, more than parrying normally and hitting her. However, if she fires too many in a row, they get overwritten before you can send them back, so a moderate barrage is ideal. The trick to parrying is to approach in time with the enemy's run-up and think of it as sliding in at her feet. If you struggle with it, the player recommends Golden Parry, which loosens the distance constraint. In the second phase, the magic projectiles increase and there are almost no chances for Retaliation, so it became a dull stretch of just dodging. The player also recalls that around release, it seemed popular to cast your own spell and have Retaliation absorb it. The player praises how this progression is designed. It starts with the early Tree Sentinel, offers chances to practice with Loretta's spirit and the Draconic Tree Sentinel, and finally lets you feel how much you've improved with this Loretta.

Maliketh, the Black Blade is the main boss of what is effectively the final dungeon. His attacks are fast, but if you watch closely, many of them don't actually hit. He goes down after about three hits from heavy and jump attacks, and he has low HP for a late-game boss. The player's impression is that you can brute-force your way through. In the second phase, they used the Blasphemous Claw to parry the Black Blade. The advantage of this item is that you can parry with it even while two-handing, and when it succeeds, the enemy staggers around like a drunk old man. They finished him off with Spinning Strikes in the meantime.

Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing was treated as "a palate cleanser," and the player took him on with a lance fitted with Giant Hunt. They say the low damage they felt last time was only because the enemy was too tanky, and against normal enemies it delivers this kind of damage. Landing it repeatedly is demanding, but the tracking is better than expected, and they explain that if you lock on and fire at the right timing, you don't really need to think about distance or angle.

Hoarah Loux, Warrior is a boss who comes at you not as a lord but as a warrior. Saying that fist against fist is the fitting way to fight, the player chose spiky fists. They say the sense of actually punching is strong, and the heavy attacks come out fast and break stance easily. Dodging his ground-pound attack feels great, and they say they wish there were more attacks like the momentum-building one Godrick also had. In the second phase, there were moments when the dust clouds hid his animations, but they closed it out with a knockdown, a jump attack, a fully charged attack, and a critical hit.

For Malenia, Blade of Miquella, the player brought the Great Stars, which had been with them through thick and thin. In the first phase, they repeat the Ash of War's lunge, a fully charged attack, and a critical hit. The timing of the charged attack is crucial: if you start charging when the stamina gauge has recovered to about 80%, you'll get the knockdown. The player says that once you're used to it, the success rate is nearly 100%. Since they tend to run out of stamina, they use a talisman to speed up recovery. Because resistance to status effects builds up, they advised that people who struggle with the second phase might want to fight the first phase with a normal weapon and save status effects.

In the second phase, the basic approach is to get a knockdown with three parries. For the most frightening attack, Waterfowl Dance, they switch to a shield with an Ash of War that grants invincibility. The weapon can only be used two-handed, and parries only come out when holding the shield one-handed. So they switch grips between offense and defense, on top of swapping to the shield for Waterfowl, which they say is "enough to drive you crazy." They had also prepared to stop Waterfowl Dance by building up frostbite and throwing a Freezing Pot at the telltale sign, but it never came to that. The trick to dodging with invincibility is to roll backward and then slowly tilt the stick forward and to the right. Depending on the camera it can fail, so they avoid walls. If you keep your distance, Malenia uses attacks that can't be parried, so they always stay close.

The player rates Malenia as one of the best bosses in this game. Beyond whether she's strong or weak, they say she's a boss who draws out a rush of emotions while you fight her — fun, pain, enjoyment — and moves you. They defeated her in a match of about five minutes.

In the first phase against the final boss, the Elden Beast, the player made use of a behavior where getting close and continuously circling counterclockwise prevents it from counterattacking. This was from around release and has since been fixed, so the player urges anyone trying now to fight it properly. In the second phase, they first wear down its stance with the starting Club, then switch to dual wielding once it's knocked down. They say they'd always wanted to try dual wielding. The knockdown window is long, so there's time for five or six attacks.

What they're wary of is Elden Stars, which it uses at around half HP. It tracks you for about 15 seconds, so going along with it wastes runtime. So they planned to bring its HP to near 50% while also wearing down its stance, then when the telltale sign came, knock it down all at once with an Ash of War with strong stance damage to interrupt the attack, and the plan succeeded.

This boss isn't popular and is sometimes called a "kaiju," but the player says they actually rather like it. It entertains you with field-day-like mechanics, the sounds each time you hit it are beautiful, and the experience of trading blows with a giant opponent in a fantastical arena is hard to find anywhere else. If anything, they said, had it danced with you a bit more, it might have given more of a sense of building the fight together and felt more approachable. They also mention how cool the dual-wield dash attack is, and say that part of what makes this game fun is roleplay — in other words, playing pretend. They say it's most fun when you're fighting stylishly in your favorite gear.

Reflecting on the journey, the player says they had expected it to be a brutally hard ordeal. In reality, there was room for creativity and ingenuity, and it was fun from start to finish. They conclude that it made them feel once again just how much room this game makes for different ways to play.