Two years after its debut, FromSoftware’s latest Elden Ring patch makes one of its most infuriating encounters a bit easier. Said boss always made a brilliant first impression, then quickly fumbles its introduction with a nasty second phase that has players hoofin’ it — quite literally, after today’s update.
Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t experienced Elden Ring’s base-game content.
Elden Ring’s final boss, Radagon of the Golden Order, is an incredible fight. The score swells, the one-on-one combat shines, and the spectacle of his attacks dazzle. Then, a second phase comes along and sours the whole affair: the Elden Beast. Well, starting today, that wet blanket of a fight is going to be a lot more bearable as the Tarnished’s trusty companion rushes to the rescue.
Torrent dashes into the Elden Beast arena
Torrent, the spectral steed who carried us all across the Lands Between, can now be summoned to help players fight the Elden Beast as of today’s pre-DLC patch. Why is this important? Well, mostly because the entire Elden Beast fight seems to have been designed with Torrent in mind from the start.
The Elden Beast loves, and I mean just adores wasting the player’s time by flying the length of the arena away every four to five seconds. Prior to today’s patch, you spent most of this encounter simply running after the thing, dodging its merciless ranged attacks before reaching it, doing one or two hits of damage, and repeating the process. Not anymore.
Hitless runs got easier, too
Further helped by this addition is “hitless” runs: self-imposed challenges where players attempt the entire game without taking so much as a papercut’s worth of damage. Elden Stars, an attack used by the boss, features aggressive homing missiles that are nearly impossible for a player to dodge on foot. The hope is with the addition of Torrent, this attack that cut runs down mere inches from the finish line will be much more reliably avoided.
