Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Blackgaol Knight just became everyone’s archnemesis
polygon.comIt’s release day for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, which means that the world gets to find out what game director Hidetaka Miyazaki meant when he warned that the expansion would “[push] the envelope in terms of what [the developers] think can be withstood by the player.” Turns out, you don’t have to wait long to see exactly what Miyazaki is talking about. Once you load into the new area, the game throws a boss fight at you almost immediately in the form of the Blackgaol Knight. And this guy isn’t messing around.
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In my own playthrough, where I’m running a dual-wielding mage, I discovered that this miniboss could kill me in three hits despite my being vastly overleveled for the base game. I had to spend time popping multiple defense spells before walking into the mist just to survive another hit or two, and there was little room for error. One wrong step and the Knight can trap you in a multi-hit combo. Meanwhile, even with a fully upgraded sword, I was barely dealing any damage. Powerful, borderline OP spells like Rock Sling were useless thanks to their long wind-up time, and the knight isn’t susceptible to any type of status effect. You also can’t summon a spirit ash to help you in battle. He is, in other words, a hard skill check that is meant to give the player a sense of whether or not they are ready to take on the rest of the enormous DLC.
Veteran players of FromSoftware games and their ilk would expect nothing less in a series infamous for kicking the player’s ass, but still, it’s been amusing to see the community reaction to a boss who exists with the express purpose of wiping the floor with you. After all, it’s been two years since the release of the base game. Some players are jumping in and basically having to relearn everything, only to be harshly reminded of how much their Elden Ring skills have atrophied.
“Forgot how much I suck at this game when I don’t know the enemies,” reads the top-voted comment on the stickied Shadow of the Erdtree m
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