Elden Ring
Elden Ring remains my favorite game of 2022, and one of the best of FromSoftware’s SoulsBorne games. But as much as I adore the open-world RPG, I’m nothing like a top-tier player. I haven’t gone on to beat the game on NG+ or spent hours in PvP (which, as a PvE player primarily, has never been what I enjoy about these games).
Still, I can admire other players’ skills. And I can marvel at how players are able to put together such crazy builds in the game, combining consumables with spells or incantations and various bits of gear to create powerful, unstoppable builds.
Take, for instance, player ‘Your Average Gamer’ who managed to somehow craft a build that’s able to one-shot kill both Radagon and the Elden Beast in NG+7—the highest difficulty run you can make. Radagon and Elden Beast are the game’s final bosses, an infuriating pair that I find enormously challenging (not so much Radagon, but you’re always left weakened by the time you reach the Elden Beast and the arena is so huge I wish you could use yourhorse, Torrent).
This is, apparently, a world record or at least a world record as far as anyone knows. Other players have one-shot these bosses before, but as far as I can tell nobody has in NG+7 until now (it’s always possible someone has but hasn’t posted about it, of course).
Your Average Gamer, aka Matthew Farnkopf, told me it took 20 hours to hours to actually get both bosses in one shot in one attempt, and 50 hours of tinkering with the buff system to narrow down the build.
Here’s the video:
And here’s Farnkopf’s video explaining the build he put together for this fight:
This, Farnkopf claims, is the best PvE build you can put together and the recent 1.06 patch—which overhauled numerous items and other aspects of Elden Ring—should have no impact on it, so you’re still free to give it a go without penalty. This is what you’ll need to recreate this crazy one-shot build:
- Gravel Stone Seal or Golden Order Seal
- Jellyfish Shield
- mushroom crown
- Fetid Pots
- Boluses
- Blood sword for health damage
- Godfrey Icon
- Lightning Charm
- Kindred of Roy’s Exultation
- Red Branch Feather Talisman
- Ancient Prayer book (for the incant)
This is fascinating to me. This build is filled with items that offer buffs and penalties, a tangled combination of effects that must be difficult to nail down. But when used properly, enormous damage is the result. It’s a risk/reward payoff that requires attention to detail and well-executed timing.
I’m the type of Elden Ring player that doesn’t pay much attention to the “meta” since I play very little PvP. But I also don’t work that hard at constructing the “best” builds either. I find weapons I like and use them. I find armor that looks cool and use it. I’m a pretty good player, but I don’t have the time or attention span to really dig that deep into all the game’s nuances.
That’s why my Elden Ring character rolls around in a slip of a dress, a circlet and bare feet:
In any case, it’s an impressive pwning of Elden Ring’s powerful final boss duo and something that I will have to enjoy as a spectator. For his part, Farnkopf says that Elden Ring has been more than just a video game to ‘git gud’ at, but also a bastion in tough times.
“I’m physically disabled and have had day to day stomach struggles for years,” Farnkopf tells me. “This game brought me a lot of help in the down times.” He’s not alone. I’ve heard many players of Elden Ring and all of From Software’s games, back to Demon’s and Dark Souls talk about how it helped with their depression or life struggles.
I can relate, at least a little. Elden Ring was a place of solace for me as well at the start of this year during a tough breakup with my long-time girlfriend. The Lands Between, like Lordran and Boletaria before, is a place of escape—into danger, true, but also into a world where struggle is surmountable and where overcoming that struggle brings real satisfaction to a sense of accomplishment and joy.
You can find Your Average Gamer on YouTube here if you’d like to subscribe to his videos.
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