An Elden Ring streamer killed Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss in one hit and only needed to juggle 5 consumables, 3 weapons, 4 helmets, and 5 talismans to do it

GamesRPGElden RingAn Elden Ring streamer killed Shadow of the Erdtree’s final boss in one hit and only needed to juggle 5 consumables, 3 weapons, 4 helmets, and 5 talismans to do itWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Close up of Messmer the Impaler holding a flame and looking sinister

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree earned an immediate reputation for its punishing difficulty, to the point that it suffered a brief barrage ofnegative reviewsfrom players who thought its boss fights were excessively brutal. The DLC’s final boss, as you might expect, is particularly nasty—so nasty that it took legendary boss-deleter Let Me Solo Herthree hours of attempts. Seems like all the fuss might be a little unnecessary, though, because over the weekend, Elden Ring streamer Ainrun killed Erdtree’s last boss with a single hit.

There will bespoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree’s final boss ahead, considering—well, you saw the headline.

Before you get your hopes up about walking through that last fog gate and one-shotting the boss yourself, I should clarify that Ainrun’s setup is… pretty involved. Bending Elden Ring’s combat math enough to pull off the instant knockout entailed an elaborate inventory juggling routine, where Ainrun stacked buffs from 5 consumables, 3 weapons, 4 helmets, and 5 talismans—some of which were actively killing him.

First, Ainrun pops aLulling Branchconsumable, gaining a damage boost from theSt. Trina’s Smiletrinket after falling asleep. The Flask of Wondrous Physick then provides a charged attack boost from theSpiked Cracked Tearand a flat damage buff from theBloodsucking Cracked Tear, which starts draining his health. He tosses aFrenzyflame Stone, which will eventually inflict him with madness to gain damage buffs from his equippedMadding Handweapon,Black Dumplinghelm, andAged One’s Exultationtalisman.

Then, another equipment swap to slot in theWhite Maskhelm and theLord of Blood’s Exultationtalisman, which he gains yet more damage buffs from after equipping a katana to use theSeppukuweapon skill and inflict bloodloss on himself. A final helm swap gives him the fullRakshasa Armor Set, slightly boosting his damage with each piece. He equips theFire Knight’s Greatswordalongside theTwo-Handed Sword TalismanandAxe Talismanto boost it. In his other hand, he equips theTwinbird Kite Shield—which grants him another boost while his health is low, thanks to the Bloodsucking Cracked Tear health drain and meat dumpling poison—and slaps it on his back. And, finally, his sword’sRoyal Knight’s Resolveskill grants him a large damage boost for his next attack.

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If your eyes have glazed over, I don’t blame you. It’s a lot. Worse, the sequence has to be performed quickly and flawlessly, or the various health-draining consumables involved will kill you before you’re in the boss room. But if my math is right, all the various damage buffs provided Ainrun with somewhere in the neighborhood of 350% increased damage on his one, big charged attack.

The result? He stepped into the arena and hit Promised Consort Radahn with a93,000 damage haymaker.

From the creators of 49k Midra comes 93k Radahn pic.twitter.com/qLNkCrbG0tJuly 21, 2024

It’s an impressive feat, but it wasn’t enough for Ainrun. The OHKO on Radahn-redux was just a piece of Ainrun’s larger project of trying to land 100,000 damage hits on every Elden Ring boss. And while his first Promised Consort one-hit kill fell a little short of the mark, Ainrun achieved a105,000 damage instakillon Radahn the very next day. Apologies to Miquella.

I, meanwhile, haven’t even killed Mohg yet. But I’m sure if I ever work my way up to hyper-Radahn, I’ll give him more than enough opportunity to win back his self esteem.

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