I do want to correct you on something. I think it's a misunderstanding that Melania woke up because of us. Her Rune clearly states that she bloomed twice. We know of the one in Caelid, the other one is what we assume to be her teacher who challenged her at the haligtree. This isn't confirmed though but it is most likely that many challengers came to the haligtree but either died on the way or succumbed by the rot. P.S. it does seem you touch on it. So I might be wrong. Maybe the first blooming is from before her engagement with Radahn. That is unlikely though due to how the story portrays it.
@@RicknWRX you're going to succeed. Dont give up. And if you feel annoyed, there are several "tricks" to cheese her a little. Usually including slow stepping back and keep her on a distant as well as using ranged attacks or AOEs. You may figure it out on your own.
@@nationdemon that is a good idea! Thanks! Last playthrough was all strength. I could have respecced but decided to just start game over. I was running collosal swords. Though they make regular enemies easy, bosses that don't break poise I just hated how slow they were. I would hit attack and get pummeled while I wait for it to land. And because I was souls newb I had sold so many of the other weapons in the game not knowing they were good. Oops. This time I know better and sell nothing! Since that I have played all 3 dark souls through and am back to elden with that experience and knowledge.
There's a theory that the reason why Malenia doesn't aggressively engage with you during her first phase, is not out of respect - it's because she's blind. She literally can't see, that is why she mostly relies on your movements to know when to attack. Thought it was pretty cool, though I like the "respect" theory also.
@@Batman8356 i wonder if we'll meet a young Melania in her prime in the DLC... im not sure if that'll make me happy or make me throw myself off the erd tree... either way its an experience i guess XD
More than likely that is the implied case. FromSoftware have always given us bosses outside of their prime. Artorias, Radahn, and of course Malenia. To make us think just how powerful they once were, and to be glad we didn't have to face them then. Also lmao Malenia canonically trashing Godrick and leaving him be because he seemed too pathetic to kill.
Props to anyone that didn't get spoiled about anything of the game, because Jesus Christ playing this at launch was a disaster, I already knew malenia would be 2 phases because I simply couldn't open anything (TH-cam, etc) without getting spoiled in the ass. This game's launch was just chaos
The first time I fought her I used the noble’s estoc as a joke. Third try I fought for 10 straight minutes to get her health down, went of cool the death cutscene, only to have my heart sink when a second health bar showed up, before immediately dying to scarlet aoenia
bro for me I thought the second phase would show up when u got the first phase to half health. When i fully killed her in the first phase I thought the game glitched and I didn't get the second phase.
I knew she had a second phase, but was SUPER pumped the first time I got there. Then she immediately insta-killed me with her missile-rot-firebomb attack…
"I am Malenia, blade of Miquella, and I have never known defeat." "I am the Tarnished of no reknown, and defeat is all I have ever known." This fight really is a case of "irresistable force versus immovable object".
more like "I thrive in defeat" or "Defeat cannot stop me" and it's unstoppable force not irresistible, I mean Malenia is irresistible indeed but you used the wrong adjective for the quote. ☝🤓
@@LeHarmacist Both words are acceptable. Its official name is "Irresistible Force Paradox", and the words "irresistible" and "unstoppable" are used interchangeably in its description, though "unstoppable" is slightly more common in the US. (It's also known as the "Spear and Shield Paradox" after the 3rd-century Chinese parable of a merchant selling "a spear that can pierce any shield" and "a shield that can't be pierced by any spear" but couldn't answer when someone asked what would happen if he struck the shield with the spear, and the "Fox and Hound Paradox" after the Ancient Greek story of the Teumessian fox that could never be caught and the hound Lealaps who never fails to catch what it hunts (and rather than try to solve the paradox, Zeus just turned them both into constellations).)
@@zeehero7280 LOL... yes you will! I just finished my 6th play through because I kept trying different builds, and I've defeated her on other runs but ONLY with summons and some level of luck. In my last run, I FINALLY decided to REALLY learn her move set and managed to beat her solo (no gimmicks or summons). #keephopealive #nevergiveup 😂😂😂
Everyone seems to forget this fact. There’s no dlc for ER yet. And From Software’s DLCs always have the hardest enemies. Manus and Artorius. Burnt Ivory King and Fume Knight. Sister Frieda and Gael. I can only imagine what monstrosities await us in the Elden Ring DLC. Edit after SOTE. What i fucking tell yall
Last time i beat her when the game first came out I caved and summoned a mimic tear to brute force bash her face in. Just now I started playing again and after many, many attempts I flew out of my chair and jumped for joy across the room. Depends on how you look at playing videogames i suppose.
I read that malenia's eyes are gone because of rot. So, the reason why if you stand still she doesnt just aggressivly run at you is because she doesnt quite know where you are. look at the floor and notice its full of water, she attacks aggressivly when you move because she can hear where you are
Stairs without railings. And enemies on those stairs. And a guy at the top with a Gatling gun. But yeah, gravity is a nightmare. That said, NG+ is like playing on easy mode. Also, I have never played online, and never used a summon.
Making her heal after every successful attack was really the icing on the cake, from soft we’re definitely kicking there feet and giggling making this boss
@@lrsb1678 yup. How I think of my boss fights anyways is I can do alright solo but as time goes on there’s a higher chance of me making a mistake. And her heal just rlly drags on the fight to unwinnable lengths for me but I finally got her lmao
Funniest part is the hardest from bosses are almost always in the dlc so malenia will probably not be the hardest boss when the dlc comes out, but it makes you wonder what kind of outlandish mechanics the dlc bosses will have
Even Margit defeated prime Radahn (small radahn). Yes, he's very strong but the finale was carried by the God-hood ascended Miquella. The reason it's Radahn and not Malenia or Godwyn is because he's not an Empyrean and not shackled by an outer God like the Rot God. Edit: I guess you meant, Promise Consort Radahn. (w/ Miquella)
@@UFOinDisguiseGotta "Uhm Ackually" here a bit cuz it was never stated that Morgott beat Radahn. There's simply one image of him stabbing Radahn in the opening. It could have been a loss. It could have been a tie. Either way, that doesn't discredit Radahn. Morgott is incredibly powerful. Also I think Promised Consort Radahn would be stronger than normal Prime Radahn, even without Miquella. He has his youth and gravity magic, but now also the blood magic of Mohg.
The fact that her introduction puts her so close to you, and she closes the gap with the first move you're not prepared for (if it's your first time facing her) is just a sample of the pain you endure. I will always put respect on the name after beating Milenia, Blade of Miquella
Having played most of the Soulsborne titles I've learned three things: humanoid enemies are significantly harder to kill, the only unpredictable enemies are other players, and if a boss slow walks towards you in any phase they mean business.
@@lonelypancake5979 I still remembers my entire body was uncontrollably shaking when I finally beat Ludwig. Unfortunately my strict "No Alcohol" rule meant I had to resort to tea to calm myself
13:35 I don't think you guys realized how much pain this dude was in. He was tried so.hard get through phase 1 got so happy...then the CS happened he thought he finally it. That my friends is the laugh of helpless anguish and broken resolve. 😅
The 2nd Bloom near the tree wasn't from Malenia but from one of Millicent's sister's because it's too small and wouldn't make sense for her to bloom for no reason. That bloom was also around the same size as Millicent's bloom in her quest line. Malenia's 3rd bloom will ascend her to Godhood, but we never get to see it. Meaning we haven't even fought her in her strongest potential.
Can’t wait for Godwyn’s insane deathblight attacks, The Gloam-Eyed Queen spewing a shit ton of black flame everywhere, and Miquella being the most insanely tight and harrowing boss battle in video game history.
Malenia requires you to have skill both playing and honing your build (assuming you're fighting her blind, ofc). PCR is a weird mesh of hitboxes problems already seen in vanilla Radahn, homing attacks that doesn't behaves the same between phase 1 and 2 during dodfing, and a high level of stats that rely simply on cranking up the numbers. The DLC's buffing mechanic essentially renders your farming efforts basically useless too, even when you just want to upgrade your main build points. He's probably the most difficult boss so far, but not entirely out of good reasons.
Malenia was the most emotional boss fight I ever had in any game. The rot, Miquella, her waiting for him, her sorrow, all of it was so evident, and I felt so bad the closer she was getting to death. The underlying emotion of all FromSoft games is sorrow and grief. And Malenia was at the epitome of it. Say whatever, but to me, she is one of the best boss fights.
Completely agree, and she was extremely fun to fight against too. I enjoyed every single minute I struggled against her. She's extremely difficult, but she's a fair boss IMO.
I completed all the form soft games I loved them all but I only understand sekiro story properly why dark souls bloodbrone and elden ring story so hard to understand they could easily add dialogues.why don't they tell the story simple way pls tell I love the difficult I love the bosses of all fromsoft game but man why not telling the story like sekiro.
shhhh so many souls veterans fume when you insinuate ER bosses are better than some older classic boss fights they loved, the nostalgia drunk usually operate that way.
She beat me to a bloody pulp too. i didn’t want to continue the story tell I beat her on first play through. I say it was 50 % luck and 50 practicing dieing haha..50+ times and researching what works with my build which luckily I had the katana to lvl 22 with repeating thrust
Honestly, I felt almost no satisfaction when I finally managed to beat her. Simply because I knew full well that it was mostly just sheer luck that my attack landed before hers did.
And ROB and uchi was the filthest cheese strat i have ever done in a souls game. I take great pride in it mainly because i realized how op it was before videos started going up about it.
@user-fg2qd7lt8u mimic tear is op though. If your mimic tear sucked it's because your stats were shit lol. Not even a jab at you. It copies your stats and whatever items you had on its summon. It's just a bit retarded thats all
I think people are mistaking something. From all we've seen, Malenia has bloomed in total only twice. Once against Radahn and the second one after we defeat her. The bloom outside her boss room is clearly from one of Milicents sisters as you find the clothes they wear when you interact with it ( plus we know this can happen cuz milicent can bloom after she dies). So that would infact mean that we haven't yet seen the actual godess of rot. Also, we know that she's supposed to lose her mind when she blooms for the third time, but she is clearly still very "sane" still having her consciousness and most importantly, her personality. I believe if this is true, then when we actually fight the true godess, it might be something more akin to the elden beast, or at the very least, Melania will lose all her sense of self to the rot
If Malenia is this hard imagine how hard the dlc bosses are going to be. Calling it right now with Miquella/St trina being a bosses that will sleep you thenn grab you witha oneshot attack. Better stock up on sleep boluses.
I was thinking that, if Miquella was a boss, he would use Bewitching Branches against Spirit Ashes, entirely cutting off that approach because it would only serve to make the fight harder.
@@macnamaryb7773that would be an amazing mechanic, specifically targeting what many consider the games “easy mode” system. Imagine the horror of summoning a mimic tear just to realize you’re now fighting the boos AND an exact copy of yourself at once 😭
@@NaK-R I'd be ok with him being a Marika like character. It's not like he's a renown fighter. And as Malenia so enthusiastically repeats it, she's the blade.
Quick tip for anyone struggling with Malenia: 1) Control the fight. Don't let her corner you; the arena looks much bigger than how it actually feels. 2) For the first two lunges of her Waterfowl Dance, dodge backwards or to the side, the side dodge takes more precision but leaves you at full hp, the back dodge has you take a few hundred points of damage (from the first one, the second won't even hit you) but is easier to execute, even panic rolling works. For the third, unlock your camera from her and as soon as she "jumps" toward you, dodge *FORWARD*, as she's programmed to get behind you. 3) Her rapid slices (the "ding" sound move) can be easily dodged by rolling into the first three slices (preferably forward-right), and back-right from the final slice. 4) For her Scarlet Aeonia, back away as soon as you see her wind up (the Phase 2 beginning is obvious, the others begin with her flying into the air, glowing with an orange hue and flower petals) and when you see her beginning to plunge downwards, immediately roll. Then, sprint, roll or bloodhound step further away to avoid the bloom. 5) Don't get greedy. While it may be tempting to do a full use of some weapon skill or two charged heavy attacks, you're likely animation-locking yourself into getting combo-d. Chip down her health between her moves rather than trying to stunlock her and melt her HP bar in one go, as that'll prove to be quite ineffective. 7) For more or less the rest of her phase 1 attacks, rolling backwards as soon as she lunges towards you seems to do the trick and give you enough time to react and dodge again. If there's anything I missed, feel free to let me know or ask me about it in the replies!!! Hope I helped, even if only slightly
I fought Malenia is a completely different approach. It's build specific, but it was a faith arcane build. Most of Malenia attacks are dodge able with ease. Whenever her katana clanks with her armour, shes going to gap close. The attack is devastating, but it's easily dodge able and once doged she can be punished. My weapon of choice was rivers of blood, but anything else with bleed works. Waterfowl is the big deal, so once we passed the first bleed Proc, the idea was to maintain distance. Bait her move and the deliver a blow and make a gap. The moment she winds up waterfowl - start Borealis mist, this frostbites her and throws her out of waterfowl. Now repeat. Second phase is easier. Scarlet Aeonia - DONOT RUN AWAY. Run directly towards her, she will lunge in your direction and miss you. This is the time for Agheels flame, unload everything onto her. You can remove more than 40% of her HP. After that, find an opening for Borealis mist and keep up the pressure. Because she removed her armour she has very little poise. So you can pressure her much harder. If you don't have access to the dragon incantations, just use the freezing pots. As soon as she is up in the air, chuck a freezing pot to bring her down, works on waterfowl, works on he clone attack. It's that simple.
you don't need to dodge or lock off for the third flurry, just walk towards her and than back away after she lands, that's it if you don't back away too soon you should avoid it completely. You can also dodge first flurry at point blank by just spamming light roll four times away from her.
The biggest thing people Forgot to do was learn her movset once you beat her once you understand her forever and can’t beat her easy every time It’s all about reading her
Rolling light attacks (with light equipment load) are almost always safe after her more standard melee attacks. Her poise isn't terribly high either, so buffing with the poise damage physick and hitting her with something that does a lot of quick hits can get you some criticals or some breathing room to heal.
The bloom outside the boss room is one of Millicent’s sisters, that’s why there’s a travelers set by it. Just like how there’s a bloom where Millicent dies if you kill her
@@victorprati7908 A Scarlet Aeonia in the Haligtree of Miquella, brother to Malenia, with a questline in the game that implies Milicent was given the needle by Gowry in order to properly bloom into a goddess, due to Malenia not wishing to succumb to the influence of the Goddess of Rot while her brother tries healing them both, as opposed to rotting beforehand, hence her fight with her sisters? Could be anyone indeed...
Gowry wants Millicent to bloom into a VALKIRYE that will SERVE the Goddess of Rot and not becoming the Goddess herself. "When Malenia ascends to godhood, Millicent too shall be reborn. As a scarlet valkyrie." @@thosebloodybadgers8499
I think one thing that I really liked on my first play through is that Radahn and Malenia felt like they were about the same difficulty for the time that you actually reach them
True. It’s really easy to accidentally over level past Caelid, but if you wander over there and fight him immediately after rennala, he feels like a force of nature
I’ll never forget the first and only time i defeated malenia in battle. That dead, muted, quiet, unfulfilled sense of things afterward. Almost…regret. Malenia is magnificent.
Malenia’s design is also perfect. The prosthetics, her cape which brandishes the cleanrot knight insignia, her iconic helmet, her fire red hair that seemingly flows like water, it all comes together to craft an iconic design. And the symbolism of her lore is fascinating too. Several war monuments describe Malenia with wings of unparalleled strength or undefeated wings, which become literal wings in our fight. And when she dies her wings fade away, we’re the first ones to clip wings of unparalleled strength. And her hair too. Not only does the scarlet aeonia vastly resemble her hair, her hair is also the last thing to not be corrupted by the rot when we find her. And in phase 2 not even that is safe, her hair is twisted and combined with butterflies into these horrific wings, losing the last thing to the rot. A corruption of the symbol of radagon’s lineage of warriors, faded away
Malenia’s Most Broken Ability is the ability to walk away from staggers. She’s the only enemy/boss in all of Elden Ring that can literally interrupt a stagger. Idk what Fromsoft was thinking with that one lmao
I did used the mimic as a shield to waterfoul, but outside of that there was nothing overpowered other than myself and my damage points almost 100% invested in strength and dexterity in equal parts, just with some healt trown in, not even stamina (i literally ran out of stamina following her when she ran away every time she took much damage). This was my first souls ever and i didnt even knew what rivers of blood was, the katana i got from malenia was my first too. I dont ever parry, i dont use shields nor block. I only attack. Took me 10 hours to do it fighting non stop but i still had funn, top 5 bosses in ER. The elden beast instead was pure shitt to me. Fucker forced me to invest my first ever points into stamina just so i could chase him. I did not change my way to play, only attacking, but it took me 3 days. I literally woke up, fought the boss and went too sleep till the third day i finnaly won
Fighting her solo without bleed or spirit summons was how I first beat her. She’s one of the only, if not the only boss I’ve ever taken hundreds of tries to beat in a From Soft game. Laurence, Midir and Ishiin weren’t nearly this hard and Ludwig, Orphan, Friede and Gael came pretty close.
The funny thing is that I have a theory; her weapon that you get from Enia actually has bleed buildup. But she doesn’t afflict bleed in your fight with her. Her first iteration may have had bleed damage, but they decided it was too much and cut it. She was almost much harder if im right
@@blizzardgaming7070 not really untill radahn fight she was always fighting against the scarlet rot. She only unleased it because she had to win either for her honor/ or more likely because of Miquellas need for another eclipse that radahn was preventing. Her inflicting rot in her first phase wouldnt have made sense atleast according to the lore.
Hardest boss of all time?? Not even close. But that's my opinion playing games for over 40 years. Hard, yes...but when hardness mainly depends on builds and other factors where every fight is individual, the "hardest boss ever" is not even a valid argument. If all players had the same opportunity according to gear an build it could be discussed, but it's not.
I’ve actually heard that the bloom outside of her boss fight is not her bloom. It’s one of Millicents sisters blooms, which is why it has her outfit inside of it. Her third and final bloom is after you kill her and come back to the arena, and there’s speculation she’s inside of it ready to bloom at any point into the ultimate goddess of rot.
It also says she's only bloomed twice, and since we get the Incant after beating her a lot of people (including myself) think the bloom outside her arena isnt hers.
@@aceundead4750yes, and it says that as she blooms the third time, she will become a godess, and you fight the godess of rot on her second phase, so it was in fact her third bloom, the incantation probably was supposed for us to get before her fight, maybe from the sisters of rot since they were supposed to use the scarlet aeonia too, so not only Malenia is dead, as we did fight her last form after the third bloom
@@MotardDeFatima but then why would she turn into the Aeonia flower after being defeated, whereas everyone else fades away, even Marika (who is a god) if none of the mending runes are used fades into dust after Radagon and the Elden Beast are defeated. It also wouldnt make sense for us to get the incant from the sisters unless they somehow had a great rune we were supposed to collect, or it wasnt meant to be a reward for Malenia's remembrance which both seem unlikely.
@@aceundead4750 first off, malenia is the goddess of rot, Marika is the literal elden ring, and we can see Marika is a statue, it's not even her real being, and what happens to statues? They turn into dust, which is what happens. We see Malenia in flesh, not her statue locking her soul, so it wouldn't make sense to turn into dust, but fade away, which is what happens to every boss, to her too, the bloom is in her arena to show her third bloom. Second, the sisters of rot are descendants of malenia, therefore they are able to use the power of scarlet aeonia, since we see that one bloom that is outside of malenia's room is not from Malenia herself. So it can only mean that, like Malenia, the sisters of rot can use the aeonia and bloom, and is what happens, without her great rune. Plus it would connect everything since we would get it before Malenia's bossfight, giving a foreshadowing that she will become a true goddess as we make her bloom the third time. Everything makes sense, there's no holes in it.
Playing a Fromsoft game upon release is truly a treasure trove of experiences. I remember the first couple of days everyone posting and complaining about Radahn and as time passed and people discovered more areas this boogeyman of a boss became legend.
Is it? I didn't reallybeven fight at, I simplybstun locked her using my mimic and a zeiwhander. You can bounce her and it keeps her stun locked if you time it right.
something I’ve always enjoyed about souls games. the bosses are decaying , falling apart, have lost their mind, etc. and yet, they are still powerful, still require such determination to fell.
Honestly, Malenia is one of my favourite boss fights. On my first playthrough, I struggled a lot. Like, a lot a lot. However, I never felt like I was losing fun. I kept trying and eventually I won and when I did, my screams of joy made my discord friends go deaf. It may be because Elden Ring is my first time properly playing a FromSoft game, so I didn't have anyone to compare her to, but the fight just felt and still feels really fun, waterfowl and all.
Exactly this. She's the only boss in the entire game that forces the players to actually think about their builds and strategies. (You can add Rykard if you're not planning to beat him with Serpent Hunter) She's also the only boss that killing her, at least for me personally, is way less satisfying than keeping her around and dancing with her.
I still personally think she's way too overtuned. As if FromSoft tried too hard to make a difficult boss. I hope their DLC bosses are not this ridiculous and I say this as someone who's played most of their previous games. DS3 had much better bosses imo.
@@0x6e95 I actually hope they make a better version, as they always do. I used a build that was pretty much a cheese (without knowing) and killed her easily... I was cosplaying Crucible Knights with Selurias Woe. Mimic tear and at 4 try I did it For me the hardest was mohg though, and I enjoyed that fight a lot
the only time i felt like i was losing fun in elden ring wasnt coming from fighting bosses, it was from fighting the god damn gravity in every end game area , that was such a shitty experience.
Ngl both her and the entire Haligtree area feel like they could have been DLC. Everything from the puzzle to access the area to the difficulty to the completely unique feel of the area. It’s a special experience for sure, and even though I have put in more attempts on Malenia than I have on any other boss I have yet to beat her without either summoning or using bleed.
Halig tree was very lazily done in terms of level design. Looks amazing don’t get me wrong but putting like 6 revenents in a row in a straight line or the erd tree avatars that just spam ranged was not fun or rewarding.
Probably was supposed to be DLC that they populated with known enemies. Good compromise, whatever they were supposed to put in there is probably added to Shadow of the Erdtree.
@@cornpop838 I definitely disagree, the tree section takes pretty good strategy to clear optimally, there are branching paths to cross the rest of the area, and the enemies are varied and challenging. The level feels similar to the ringed city in both difficulty and level design. Difficulty is a fair critique, but the ringed city also has a very high difficulty if you decide to fight every enemy.
Took me 6 days of several hours of attempts each day before I finally took her down. Probably gave me the biggest rush of euphoria I’ve ever felt from a game
@@KishorTwist I thought about it, but after day 2 I was already in too deep to puss out. Only used ashes for gank fights on my first playthrough, I’m crazy enough to fight Malenia solo but I’d have to be borderline insane to take on Crucible or Godskin Duo solo. The former actually became my most hated boss after I spent like 2 hours dying over and over solo before returning with an ash later
Wow people really had this much of a hard time beating her?? 🤔 I slayed her azz the first time I battled her... I was actually disappointed in how easy it was..
@@ultimatehope549 yeah i did the same. I knew how she would be and decided i want to get it done without a summon just for the sake of it. Didnt use a summon, didnt use bloodhound step but caved at bleed buildup and freezepots. But i also didnt look up guides which might have helped a lot but my ego just said nah you can do it
Everyone’s very first fight against her will always result in a death in about 5 seconds since after the intro cutscene the game wants to put you just a few inches away from her resulting in….instant death
@@SolaireofAstoraFH yes, it did. Because unlike most people I didn't neglect my defensive stats. Oh no, Waterfowl dance is so unfair, because it kills you from full health. Well.... Just have high defensive stats, heal back up and continue smashing her head. I didn't even have to learn her moves. Most disappointing fight in my entire gaming experience.
@@Tilmann5138 while I disagree on it being disappointing, yeah. Most people neglect vigor and other forms of protection, thinking they can out-damage the boss. This gives them less breathing room compared to someone who can tank it.
So, I said on your Radahn video that I was surprised why he was the controversial when she was basically a Sekiro boss in a Souls game. Okay, here is my little conspiracy theory. Some of you may have heard about Tomoe in Sekiro, kind of a legend in the game's lore, swordmaster and the lady who trained Genichiro and bodyguard of the previous divine heir Takeru. Her fighting style was described by many as a dance. Now, how come we never had the opportunity in Sekiro to duel her? I think at one point in Sekiro's development a boss fight against her was planned but scrapped and the movements that were already finished were later implemented in Malenias moveset. I mean her special attack is basically Floating Passage, the way she attacks leaves so few openings but would be counterable with Sekiro's system, everything would add up. Tl;dr: Malenia's moveset is probably based on a scrapped Sekiro Tomoe battle.
Dancer from DS3 has a first phase where she doesn’t aggressively hunt you as well. It’s low key one of the best ever fights in the series, arguably the best. Incredibly unpredictable and beautiful fighting style, 2 iconic attacks in the grab and the sword dance, perfectly balanced in a way that a a lvl 15 player can learn to beat it but is the hardest boss for challenge runners over even midir because her style makes her always a possibility to hit you, no bloated hp bar, no endboss try hard shit, great theme music, great lore with pontiff. Has everything.
I remember during summer vacation in high school I spent a solid week straight doing nothing but fighting the dancer to the point that to this day I still remember some of her attack patterns and when to roll to dodge them, never had such a rewarding yet agonizing experience
Malenia was the only soulsbourne boss that I gave up and summoned for. It always bother me so I went to ng+ and finally solo'd her after fourteen combined hours of trying. Most satisfying feeling I ever felt playing a video game
man I was looking at her sword swing even with no contact she re-gained meter, and when she hit me and my mimic I think she gained health even faster.@@josephnissenson3252
After attempt like 70+ I gave way to summoning as well and beat her on my first try never felt more defeated and unsatisfied definitely plan on giving her a second go with no summoning
I think it’s strongly implied that the bloom right before malenias boss room isn’t from malenia and is from one of the off shoots like Millicent cuz there’s travelers garbs next to it and it’s also way smaller than malenias bloom, I think that we experienced a second bloom and that she was only partial goddess in her second phase, and a third bloom may come later of malenia isn’t really dead but in a coma again
I feel that a third bloom would make an excellent callback if they continue the franchise (how are we going to forget Malenia) but not be as effective if we saw it in DLC for this game. Same for the frenzy flame god coming into power and the gloam-eyed queen. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this storied world once all the demigods have died and you impose a temporary new world order. The outer forces have to gain some strength to upset the balance and set up whatever is next.
I was going to point that out. Also her remembrance, which is only available after the fight, says that she only bloomed twice. They do actually take things like this into account when they write the lore. For example, the fell omen is referred to in past tense in item lore available post-Morgott.
After all the difficulty, controversy and rage Malenia induced, she is one of the few bosses in the game that can get poise-broken so easily and i think that that's her biggest weakness as you can stun-lock her for 2-3 hits at a time if you're careful.
Works wonders up until NG+4 and onwards, that’s when her Poise becomes almost unbreakable or rather it happens very rarely. And that’s also when she’s an entirely different story. Beating her on NG+7 with my Level 150 character was one of the hardest things I‘ve ever experienced apart from Ninja Gaiden Black on Master Ninja…
@@Avyrr On NG9 at the moment and can still bully her with colossal weapons, especially things like stamp:upward cut, giant hunt, etc. Just repeatedly toss her in the air like a ragdoll and follow it with a charged r2, still breaks her poise fairly consistently
@@World_of_KGZ You run a bleed build which cheeses almost every boss in the game except Radagon and Elden Beast, and those two aren't even comparable to Malenia in difficulty. So your opinion isn't that valid if I'm honest.
The Scarlet Aeonia incant states that Malenia has only bloomed twice, so that bloom outside her room may not actually be hers, since we dont get the spell until after beating her.
Malenia may be the hardest boss, but she's my favorite boss to fight. Any new character or NG+ I do, I'll always go to the Haligtree to fight her. And every time I beat her, I bow and do it again in my next playthrough. Love this boss.
I think the thing that does Malenia hard is the fact that she heals on hit So you gotta do it perfect otherwise she will heal while you will rot Ng+ Malenia is so cool to fight tho, my favorite fight in the game along with Maliketh
Her strength is justified. If you read the lore surrounding her and her master/ brother, she got that good because of the circumstances and choices she made throughout her life. I have mad respect for her and beating her in a fight was amazing.
Yeah, people shitting on her for nuking Caelid really didn't get her story. It wasn't a selfish act, it was the ultimate sacrifice to ensure her brother's plan could work (even though it didn't anyway because fuck Mohg).
@@richterkonig7826 How selfish of Radahn in halting nature (The Stars) which stopped the fates of two of his siblings. Then said siblings tried to stop him from doing so in order to move forward. How hypocrite.
@@Sora-vw1bf Nah, not in the same stratosphere of Malenia's selfishness, of nuking the whole of Caelid and making the present and future's inhabitants suffer all because she lost her fight against Radahn. And lol she fainted and had to be carried back home by the cleanrot knight Finlay afterwards.
And yes, she was blind, using the water to ascertain your presence, and the sound of your movements to strike you. Her visor completely covers her eyes. But yes I do agree there is a level of respect she shows to you for being brave enough to get to her and foolish enough to challenge her.
My favourite boss out of every game. Although I must admit, Rykard is a very close second. But Malenia's character is also so terribly sad when you look at her lore and the loss of her brother she obviously loves more than anything. I am not even sure, if she is aware that he isn't even in that room with her anymore. The way she sits looks like she points her still intact hand/arm towards that hole in the Haligtree where Miquella's egg would be if Mohg wouldn't have taken it. And the things she says could also just mean, she sits there and waits for his return which is literally just getting out of that egg. "Waiting for his return". That does not sound like she knows he was kidnapped, because if she knew she would not just sit and wait there? And how is a kidnapped person supposed to "return" when no one takes that person back. If she knew, I would guess she would say something more like "he was taken away and I am still in search for him". She also can't see after all and she was comatose since she fought Radahn...who could have told her, that her brother is gone. Long story short: It sounds more like she is awaiting Miquella to get out of that egg to me. If that is accurate - which I do believe - it would even be more tragic, as they are more divided than she even knows. She almost desperately emphasizes that she is the Blade Of Miquella. That is what counts for her. Not being an Empyrean of such power. But being her brother's guard. Fully aware and prepared to step back for him when the time would have come to be the successor of Queen Marika. And just staying his guard. And all the people going "Radahn blablabla". No. Malenia fought him blind and already amputated. Not necessarily blinded by rot, but blinded by her helmet (as her swordmaster probably taught her this way of fighting as he himself was blind). Every fight she took was without eyesight and wearing prosthetics and it came down to those two in the Shattering Wars. And it is not like she could not beat him. He could not beat her. Blind and wearing prosthetics and still she was that fast. Too fast for him to hit properly. Although he had the advantage of strength, size, magic, an intact body, eyesight and even a horse (although that might be a bit exaggerated looking at how and why he rode it)...he could not beat her. He could not even keep her at distance. While she knew she needs one single hit. As we know, she would land that devastating blow after all. A stalemate for Radahn at that time must have been like a loss looking at his pride as a warrior. All while literally watching her even sacrificing herself to stop him. I think she did fight for Miquella in that war, not for herself. Her choice or thought was that if Radahn can't beat her, Miquella can win the whole war in the end. Again, her brother mattered most. We the players can only beat both of them because the rot has weakened them terribly over time. It is the curse an Empyrean bears after all and even Malenia says, that we will now witness "true horror" when her Goddess phase starts. I do not really think that is a threat in a classic way, more like an "And now you will suffer and feel, what I suffered and felt my whole life". So yes. This whole character of Malenia is not just a hard boss fight. It is part of such a great yet sad story and has such a great depth in it that only grows on second sight.
You're right. Malenia has no idea Miquella is gone, and you're also right about the part where she's waiting for him. While Malenia is cursed by the scarlet rot, Miquella is cursed with etern youth. It's implied the reason Miquella is in the cocoon is so he can find the cure for his as well as his sisters curse, which is then messed by up by Mohg.
Cap, Wdym malenia was to fast in the trailer radahn sliced her prosthetic arm off. Second off if she only needed one hit why did she decide “Hmm… I think I should put my self in a coma!” Like dude she needed to release her suicidal rot just to make it a tie. Radahn didn’t even loose he was just driven mad
@@jaymatt6443Radahn definitly is the loser, if we have to name one. Malenia and Radahn story is pretty much the same as Ranni and Godwin. Ranni loose her body but not her spirit, when Godwin loose his spirit but not his body, who's the winner ? Definitly Ranni, it's really clear. Well, Radahn is the one who loose is spirit in the fight, not Malenia. In this world, losing your spirit is the true death.
@@Éga_Fr lol ranni didn’t win by the fight, she won by getting freed from the greater will. And Goldwyn is still potentially going to take over the lands between with death root.
Genuinely, as a music player, Souls games become a lot easier once you think of it in terms of rhythm. Malenia took me 2 days but I love it as a learning process. Favorite series in gaming
Shes not hard, Shes just a BS boss. Shes just glitchy and stupid, Her waterfoul slash or whatever its called can activate instantly if you stagger her leaving you no chance to dodge making the boss fight a snooze fest waiting game or you just go double hammer and infinite stun lock her just to spite her shitty boss design. Midir, is the true hardest boss of souls games, along with sekiro bosses. Really the only good bosses in elden ring were black blade and radagon
Melania is actually given special treatment by the game engine to avoid stance breaks and staggers. She is the only boss that from software has ever released that allows her to cancel out of her stagger animation without having to complete it. Her stance break mechanic is also treated differently like the other bosses in the game she doesn't stange break while in hyper armor but unlike the other bosses her stance break health begins to reign instantly instead of the 6 second delay timer that other bosses have. This plus her long chains allows her to effectively choose to be stance broken or not which can steal free repost that you should have earned normally.
All this + the highest imput lag of all FS soulsborne games and imput reading, which is also unprecedented. Paralyzing a character's mobility and letting them fight a boss from SEKIRO. Big lol
@@tanatonaut870 oh wait oh wait is that true ? was that calculated by people, is it official that elden ring has more imput lag ? because i swear i often get kick in the nuts by stupid timing while i fucking swear i pressed my button on time ! For the imput reading yeah, the game is well known for that and clearly abuse of it to a point that it make some moment uninteractive because you are simply afraid of pressing buttons and the enemy will just abuse it to do the perfect counter..., still you can get around but sometime its anoying sure
Exactly what i have been saying. Shes a stupid and unfair boss. She doesn't belong in this game. The only way to beat her is to play a RNG waiting game (where u can still die if she just decides to not want to be staggered anymore and u make a small mistake) or you just stagger lock her infinitely with double hammers or swords. Shes the "hardest" but not because shes actually hard to beat but because she just has BS abilities. Its kinda like, if a boss had the ability to just have a 40% chance to randomly one shot you for no apparent reasons. But if she doesn't get that 40%, shes really easy. Easier then radagon in my opinion, maybe even more then black blade (If black blade had a full health bar he would def be harder) The true "hardest" boss of souls games is midir, Thats the best designed boss they have ever made. In terms of how hard he is while also being a very fair fight. Same with slave knight gael. You could argue sekiro bosses are harder but its a completely different style of play. I don't really count sekiro as a souls game.
Nah. I used a +25 brick hammer with lions claw and stun locked her. One of the easiest bosses in the game. Took under 2 minutes to kill her on my second try (her second phase landing one shotted me lol)
That Aeonia bloom outside of Malenia's arena is not the second bloom. She blooms a second time during her fight, as stated in the Scarlet Aeonia incantation: "Each time the scarlet flower blooms, Malenia's rot advances. It has bloomed twice already. With the third bloom, she will become a true goddess." Our fight with her and her second phase is not her as a real goddess of rot.
Elden Ring was my first Souls game ever, and I was NOT prepared but oh, man, did I fall in love. I take my time with games, I love to just enjoy them, so this was perfect for me. I also became acquainted with levels of frustration I’ve probably not ever felt in a video game before, starting with Astel, then just escalating from there. Usually, two hours is long for me to play a game uninterrupted. I’ll put a couple hours in, then a couple more later in the day. With Malenia, I believe it took me four and a half hours nonstop. That bliss I felt after victory is a high I don’t really expect a game to ever live up to again.
The battle with her is just so cool. Because she has scarlet rot, she constantly drains your life with each attack to prolong her life. The millions of people and players she has slain to live seconds longer. that is... really something.
Malenia's difficulty is because of her utter devotion to Miquella, and her sheer desperation. She has nothing to gain from defeat, and everything to lose. She's waiting for Miquellas return, and with that return she believes she'll be cured of the scarlet rot. Who knows, if Miquella had returned maybe she even would have regrown her lost limbs, and recovered her sight. Tragically we know that Moghs interference have left Miquella in a withered comatose state, and will not return. There's a lot of bosses that make you regret having to kill them, but none of them have made me feel so awful as Malenia. Rest in Power Malenia, you and your twin were too pure for The Lands Between.
great video! I was gonna say something about Orphan of Kos being quite similar, with like the franticness of the second phase and forcing you to fight on its terms but i forgot that waterfowl dance existed... also very snazzy editing!
I just summoned a 'let me solo her' (wasn't the original) and let him do it and watched in awe. Still almost died, but I was cowering behind a shield the entire time, so he managed to regain aggro while I was still alive. Intense fight I tell you!
Best video game boss ever! Only one I still dread after dozens of playthroughs and 750 hours of game time. Absolutely instant legend. Only had to beat her once solo to feel like a god
11:40 One other thing to note is that Malenia is blind; her eyes are rotted away. She probably couldn't pinpoint the player's location and is reliant on the player making the first move in battle. Which I think is pretty badass.
Great video. One thing about the Isolated Divine tower is that the portal to it only works after the Divine Bridge lift has been activated. The chest in the Weeping Peninsula dose take you to the Divine bridge but the portal is not active even after you defeat the golem.
I had absolutely no problem with any of the bosses until I met Malenia. She humbled me real quick by one shotting me my first attempt. It took me around 4 hours to beat her and I also looked up a guide on her moveset. I yelled so loud when I did finally beat her
Easily my favourte Soulsborne boss so far, not counting Sekiro. The more I learn her, the more satisfying it becomes since there's so many different openings in her moveset. You can downright prevent her from attacking during some of her telegraphs.
@@TheJonkler1 I solo'ed her in less time than it took me to kill Radahn with a mimic... Cuz sure the health drain sucks, but her attacks are super easy to dodge because they flow together in an intuitive way. Raddy lives in delays in his animation selection and never lets you get in a groove. (Also the AOE on his swings are ridiculous, especially in phase 2)
I think it's just more than her respecting the player, but more from her training of the blade since he is blind the most important asset to learn is patience and the knowledge of it waiting for your opponent to strike first. Also theory, I think Malenia play style is a reminense of how a lot of the old Dark Souls players played very patiently.
Malenia is still the 2nd hardest Fromsoftware boss. Radahn being harder doesn't change anything much. Messmer, Midra, Bayle, Rellana, Divine Dancing Lion, all of them are easier than Malenia at launch.
Very happy with how this turned out! Let me know what I can do to improve the storytelling
I do want to correct you on something. I think it's a misunderstanding that Melania woke up because of us. Her Rune clearly states that she bloomed twice. We know of the one in Caelid, the other one is what we assume to be her teacher who challenged her at the haligtree. This isn't confirmed though but it is most likely that many challengers came to the haligtree but either died on the way or succumbed by the rot.
P.S. it does seem you touch on it. So I might be wrong. Maybe the first blooming is from before her engagement with Radahn. That is unlikely though due to how the story portrays it.
Is that you giving a ps5 away
@@ericchura7051 no that's not him. It's a scam bot.
1:56 what's that cut tho?
Otherwise great video😄
What is the song playing in the outro?
Fighting this boss i learned 2 things.
Her name is Malenia.
She is the blade of Miquella.
3 things actually
She also has never known defeat
well we defeated her in the end, so, she now knows defeat.
That is all I have heard yet. Still haven't beat her! Doing playthrough 2 now and determined to be victorious
@@RicknWRX you're going to succeed. Dont give up. And if you feel annoyed, there are several "tricks" to cheese her a little. Usually including slow stepping back and keep her on a distant as well as using ranged attacks or AOEs. You may figure it out on your own.
@@nationdemon that is a good idea! Thanks! Last playthrough was all strength. I could have respecced but decided to just start game over. I was running collosal swords. Though they make regular enemies easy, bosses that don't break poise I just hated how slow they were. I would hit attack and get pummeled while I wait for it to land. And because I was souls newb I had sold so many of the other weapons in the game not knowing they were good. Oops. This time I know better and sell nothing! Since that I have played all 3 dark souls through and am back to elden with that experience and knowledge.
There's a theory that the reason why Malenia doesn't aggressively engage with you during her first phase, is not out of respect - it's because she's blind. She literally can't see, that is why she mostly relies on your movements to know when to attack. Thought it was pretty cool, though I like the "respect" theory also.
That is such a cool theory
Damn imagine fighting her WITH eyes?!?!
@@Batman8356 i wonder if we'll meet a young Melania in her prime in the DLC... im not sure if that'll make me happy or make me throw myself off the erd tree... either way its an experience i guess XD
More than likely that is the implied case. FromSoftware have always given us bosses outside of their prime. Artorias, Radahn, and of course Malenia. To make us think just how powerful they once were, and to be glad we didn't have to face them then.
Also lmao Malenia canonically trashing Godrick and leaving him be because he seemed too pathetic to kill.
@@Batman8356 thats what her second phase is. She controls the rot now and can now see, hence why's she so much more aggressive
Hearing Malenia’s “wait” for the first time was crazy
Best worst feeling ever
Props to anyone that didn't get spoiled about anything of the game, because Jesus Christ playing this at launch was a disaster, I already knew malenia would be 2 phases because I simply couldn't open anything (TH-cam, etc) without getting spoiled in the ass.
This game's launch was just chaos
"The scarlet bloom flowers once more..."
That wait was the equivalent of rocky saying I ain't hear no bell
You Will witness true horror
Her voice actress was wonderful and haunting. "Oh dearest Michella, I've finally met..... my match." Goosebumps every time.
can't agree more
The voice acting in Fromsoftware games is amazing, my favorite voice acting is probably from Merchant Kale but his questline was removed what a shame
@@themasterchef7306Fun fact: Kale is Cypher in Valorant
Same, she expressed so much personality and emotion in the short span of time we were able to hear her. I wish she could have been an NPC.
@@jinsakai758No wonder he sounded so familiar!!
I was struggling for 2-3 hours not realizing she has a second phase and first time seeing that transition cutscene really was a true horror.
The first time I fought her I used the noble’s estoc as a joke. Third try I fought for 10 straight minutes to get her health down, went of cool the death cutscene, only to have my heart sink when a second health bar showed up, before immediately dying to scarlet aoenia
funfact that was never even her final form we fortunatly killed her before she could reach it
bro for me I thought the second phase would show up when u got the first phase to half health. When i fully killed her in the first phase I thought the game glitched and I didn't get the second phase.
Lmao
I knew she had a second phase, but was SUPER pumped the first time I got there. Then she immediately insta-killed me with her missile-rot-firebomb attack…
"I am Malenia, blade of Miquella, and I have never known defeat."
"I am the Tarnished of no reknown, and defeat is all I have ever known."
This fight really is a case of "irresistable force versus immovable object".
more like "I thrive in defeat" or "Defeat cannot stop me" and it's unstoppable force not irresistible, I mean Malenia is irresistible indeed but you used the wrong adjective for the quote. ☝🤓
@@LeHarmacist Both words are acceptable. Its official name is "Irresistible Force Paradox", and the words "irresistible" and "unstoppable" are used interchangeably in its description, though "unstoppable" is slightly more common in the US.
(It's also known as the "Spear and Shield Paradox" after the 3rd-century Chinese parable of a merchant selling "a spear that can pierce any shield" and "a shield that can't be pierced by any spear" but couldn't answer when someone asked what would happen if he struck the shield with the spear, and the "Fox and Hound Paradox" after the Ancient Greek story of the Teumessian fox that could never be caught and the hound Lealaps who never fails to catch what it hunts (and rather than try to solve the paradox, Zeus just turned them both into constellations).)
@@MahouShoujoNobue aight 👍
@@LeHarmacist I have always known defeat. that is why I will win. eventually.
@@zeehero7280 LOL... yes you will! I just finished my 6th play through because I kept trying different builds, and I've defeated her on other runs but ONLY with summons and some level of luck. In my last run, I FINALLY decided to REALLY learn her move set and managed to beat her solo (no gimmicks or summons). #keephopealive #nevergiveup 😂😂😂
Everyone seems to forget this fact. There’s no dlc for ER yet. And From Software’s DLCs always have the hardest enemies. Manus and Artorius. Burnt Ivory King and Fume Knight. Sister Frieda and Gael.
I can only imagine what monstrosities await us in the Elden Ring DLC.
Edit after SOTE. What i fucking tell yall
Thats why i wait😈
Godwyn, every attack with dearthblig 💀
Don't forget that the top 3 hardest bosses in bloodborne are from the dlc
Laurence
Ludwig
And orphan
@@sunpraiser3188 exactly! And what did they add in the Sekiro “dlc”…. Inner Isshin and Inner Father
soldier of God, Rick
16:30
That guy's face is pretty damn relatable.
Doesn't even feel like victory, just feels like it's over finally.
Thousand yard stare
Last time i beat her when the game first came out I caved and summoned a mimic tear to brute force bash her face in.
Just now I started playing again and after many, many attempts I flew out of my chair and jumped for joy across the room.
Depends on how you look at playing videogames i suppose.
😭😭😂😂bro wasnt even happy. he was so over it
I read that malenia's eyes are gone because of rot. So, the reason why if you stand still she doesnt just aggressivly run at you is because she doesnt quite know where you are. look at the floor and notice its full of water, she attacks aggressivly when you move because she can hear where you are
Underrated comment
That is a awesome theory.
Neat
Does that mean the movement mute talisman would work?
Its funny because her father Radagon has no eyes as well
Guys lets face it: The hardest boss From Software ever made was gravity and the camera.
Undefeated to this day
The camera boss sure fucks me up multiple times
I will never understand why the camera is so shit in every FromSoft game
Stairs without railings. And enemies on those stairs. And a guy at the top with a Gatling gun. But yeah, gravity is a nightmare. That said, NG+ is like playing on easy mode. Also, I have never played online, and never used a summon.
And elevators
Making her heal after every successful attack was really the icing on the cake, from soft we’re definitely kicking there feet and giggling making this boss
@@lrsb1678 yup. How I think of my boss fights anyways is I can do alright solo but as time goes on there’s a higher chance of me making a mistake. And her heal just rlly drags on the fight to unwinnable lengths for me but I finally got her lmao
Funniest part is the hardest from bosses are almost always in the dlc so malenia will probably not be the hardest boss when the dlc comes out, but it makes you wonder what kind of outlandish mechanics the dlc bosses will have
@@andreasbeshkin8852 oh god if that’s true I’m looking forward to dlc
@@ivan_d_feets4495 Maybe Miquella will conjure a perfect Melania (not blind and all limbs in tact).
@@jjnix95 ….well that would be a nightmare….lmao…tho interesting to fight 😂
Laughs in Prime Radahn
True and real
Even Margit defeated prime Radahn (small radahn). Yes, he's very strong but the finale was carried by the God-hood ascended Miquella. The reason it's Radahn and not Malenia or Godwyn is because he's not an Empyrean and not shackled by an outer God like the Rot God.
Edit: I guess you meant, Promise Consort Radahn. (w/ Miquella)
@@UFOinDisguise I did, and I could have phrased the whole thing better, by bad lol
@@UFOinDisguiseGotta "Uhm Ackually" here a bit cuz it was never stated that Morgott beat Radahn. There's simply one image of him stabbing Radahn in the opening. It could have been a loss. It could have been a tie. Either way, that doesn't discredit Radahn. Morgott is incredibly powerful.
Also I think Promised Consort Radahn would be stronger than normal Prime Radahn, even without Miquella. He has his youth and gravity magic, but now also the blood magic of Mohg.
Elden Ring being the most casual friendly fromsoft game while also having the most difficult boss they ever made 😂
The fact that her introduction puts her so close to you, and she closes the gap with the first move you're not prepared for (if it's your first time facing her) is just a sample of the pain you endure. I will always put respect on the name after beating Milenia, Blade of Miquella
So much respect you misspelled Malenoa, Blade of Miguel
I think its Malonina
@@DanielBrazRPM no man its melanin, edge of michelangelo how could u get it wrong
@@aytekineric8306 Apparently my phone's autocorrect doesn't share the same respect 🤪
Malona, Age of Miguelangelo.
Elden Ring players: "Malenia is the hardest boss ever."
Elden Ring DLC: "And I took that personally."
I hope so.
Usually the dlc puts bosses harder than the ones from the main game...so imagine a boss even harder than Malenia.
Miquella in the DLC probably: Allow me to introduce myself.
@@quack-tastictictac1630 godwyn bout to ruin our weeks
@@MrTigracho i haven't played in over a year but that would absolutely make me install it again
I think we all collectively said "we'll see about that" when malenia said " i never known defeat"
Absolutely… I said “Until Me…” then immediately got humbled 😂😂
“And I have known defeat 1000 fold, yet never have I remained fallen.”
And then got curve stumped
@@davissmith1073 I said the same thing.
"...until NOW!"
I won't share what happened afterwards
then malenia blitz in front of you without having time to react. next thing you know is your first defeat by her.
2:40 "will always be the hardest"
DLC final boss enters the chat
Messmer comes in with the steel chair
@@eyyy2271 Messmer to be fair is easier than Malenia, arguably Rellana and definitely Radahn are tougher than her tho
@@eyyy2271Messmer is nowhere near as hard as Malenia, let alone the final boss of the DLC
@@GratefulDave93 he is fun tho
@@eyyy2271 very fun, perfect balance between tough and fair - the best kind of fromsoft boss
Having played most of the Soulsborne titles I've learned three things: humanoid enemies are significantly harder to kill, the only unpredictable enemies are other players, and if a boss slow walks towards you in any phase they mean business.
Humanoid enemies are harder to kill
Laughs in Laurence The first Vicar, Ludwig and General Radhan
@@ravipathak4614 I beat starscourge on my second try. I could hardly believe it and I needed a glass of wine afterwards to calm down
@@lonelypancake5979 I still remembers my entire body was uncontrollably shaking when I finally beat Ludwig. Unfortunately my strict "No Alcohol" rule meant I had to resort to tea to calm myself
@@ravipathak4614 That was me with Orphan, still the hardest boss I've ever fought, phase 2 specifically.
@@ravipathak4614 ludwig was so friggin rough for me >_>
@13:42 homeboy just instantly recognizing how fucked the situation is and laughing through the pain gotta be the realest shit i seen
Big Lac Lacari always delivers
And then just a minute later just screaming at the chat to tell him how to win
@@dr.disappointment8400and when he beat it he looked dead asf he wasn’t smiling that’s for sure lol
13:35 I don't think you guys realized how much pain this dude was in. He was tried so.hard get through phase 1 got so happy...then the CS happened he thought he finally it. That my friends is the laugh of helpless anguish and broken resolve. 😅
You mean 13:37?
@blackline6619 yes thanks didn't realize put 4 instead of 3
His reactions were so funny
Doubted his existence for a moment definitely
nah that's overreacting twitch cringe
The 2nd Bloom near the tree wasn't from Malenia but from one of Millicent's sister's because it's too small and wouldn't make sense for her to bloom for no reason. That bloom was also around the same size as Millicent's bloom in her quest line. Malenia's 3rd bloom will ascend her to Godhood, but we never get to see it. Meaning we haven't even fought her in her strongest potential.
Further evidence: the bloom outside her room drops the same clothing that Millicent and her sisters wear
when she said “you will witness true horror” during the phase transition i knew i was in for some shit
For real i was like the guy ay 13:40 laughing in pure shock like oh yeah yep this is horror indeed
The guy screaming, "Chat, what is the solution? Tell me. How. HOW. HOWWWWWW!!!" may be the best part of this video. 🤣
Ikr. Perfectly encapsulates the Melenia experience.
Like a gun was to his head
Bloodhound step lmao
It’s easy: blasphemous blade +10. She’s only hard for simpy white bois that use katanas.
is actually the most annoying, don't knwo how people handle seeing his live
Can’t wait for Godwyn’s insane deathblight attacks, The Gloam-Eyed Queen spewing a shit ton of black flame everywhere, and Miquella being the most insanely tight and harrowing boss battle in video game history.
@@lrsb1678 DLC bosses are always better than base game bosses. So far the best Boss fight I had is Gael and Friede.
@@lrsb1678 better visuals, better lore. I mean malenia is kind of stale for me. Better attack patterns and not the spammy ones. 🤣
But gloam eyed is Melina, wouldn’t make sense unless in other dlc based on the frenzied flame ending
Would be the coolest shit ever if Godwyn summoned death blight spikes on you like how fortissax summons it’s lightning
@@lrsb1678 Yes the answer is yes
Evan: “Malenia is and will remain the hardest boss fromsoft has ever made”
Consort Radahn: “hold my beer”
Malenia requires you to have skill both playing and honing your build (assuming you're fighting her blind, ofc). PCR is a weird mesh of hitboxes problems already seen in vanilla Radahn, homing attacks that doesn't behaves the same between phase 1 and 2 during dodfing, and a high level of stats that rely simply on cranking up the numbers. The DLC's buffing mechanic essentially renders your farming efforts basically useless too, even when you just want to upgrade your main build points.
He's probably the most difficult boss so far, but not entirely out of good reasons.
she still does... not by much but still does
Malenia was the most emotional boss fight I ever had in any game. The rot, Miquella, her waiting for him, her sorrow, all of it was so evident, and I felt so bad the closer she was getting to death.
The underlying emotion of all FromSoft games is sorrow and grief. And Malenia was at the epitome of it.
Say whatever, but to me, she is one of the best boss fights.
Completely agree, and she was extremely fun to fight against too. I enjoyed every single minute I struggled against her. She's extremely difficult, but she's a fair boss IMO.
I completed all the form soft games I loved them all but I only understand sekiro story properly why dark souls bloodbrone and elden ring story so hard to understand they could easily add dialogues.why don't they tell the story simple way pls tell I love the difficult I love the bosses of all fromsoft game but man why not telling the story like sekiro.
@@pirategamenger4724 VaatiVidya said no. /s
shhhh so many souls veterans fume when you insinuate ER bosses are better than some older classic boss fights they loved, the nostalgia drunk usually operate that way.
Dude... Artorias and Sif exist...
Finally defeating Malenia was the most satisfaction I've had in a minute
She beat me to a bloody pulp too. i didn’t want to continue the story tell I beat her on first play through. I say it was 50 % luck and 50 practicing dieing haha..50+ times and researching what works with my build which luckily I had the katana to lvl 22 with repeating thrust
it took me so long that when i beat her i felt nothing
I feel yah I respected to a mage and found two legendary sorcery spells to try on her. Azure comet one of them..laser beam
Honestly, I felt almost no satisfaction when I finally managed to beat her. Simply because I knew full well that it was mostly just sheer luck that my attack landed before hers did.
@@jebes909090 that definitely happens after a point, there's nothing left.
she is so difficult but also so respectfull she calls you true lord and that she met her match when she is considered strongest of them all
Radahn
@@KwassaKwassa_ radahn is considered strongest of all demigods but he lost to malenia so who is better there🤷♂️
@@krejzitime he didnt lose
@@KwassaKwassa_ i mean it was stalement but to be real she did fucked him up
@@krejzitime that's true, kinda cheap that she used scarlet rot to defeat him, but so did I so I guess it's fair
Mimic tear +10 was my lord and savior during this fight.
And ROB and uchi was the filthest cheese strat i have ever done in a souls game. I take great pride in it mainly because i realized how op it was before videos started going up about it.
I don't get how mimic tear helps you in any way on any boss. For me it was useless 100% of the time on any boss, it was never worth the lost HP
Same, I got lucky, did mimic tear+10 and blasphemous blade and beat her in 3 tries, last try was the only one I used mimic
Blasphemous blade +10. Sorry, katana bois. This isn’t anime.
@user-fg2qd7lt8u mimic tear is op though. If your mimic tear sucked it's because your stats were shit lol. Not even a jab at you. It copies your stats and whatever items you had on its summon. It's just a bit retarded thats all
I think people are mistaking something. From all we've seen, Malenia has bloomed in total only twice. Once against Radahn and the second one after we defeat her. The bloom outside her boss room is clearly from one of Milicents sisters as you find the clothes they wear when you interact with it ( plus we know this can happen cuz milicent can bloom after she dies). So that would infact mean that we haven't yet seen the actual godess of rot. Also, we know that she's supposed to lose her mind when she blooms for the third time, but she is clearly still very "sane" still having her consciousness and most importantly, her personality. I believe if this is true, then when we actually fight the true godess, it might be something more akin to the elden beast, or at the very least, Melania will lose all her sense of self to the rot
Don't forget her dialogue in the transition phase as well, "the scarlet bloom flowers once more" implying it's only happened once so far.
i mean can't she bloom multiple times in the second phase
Millicent's sisters can't bloom without tragedy. I don't know how they'd find that tragedy
It was very funny to recognize that Malenia would be just chillin for hours if you did so too and you both look at each other like "you go first"
it was like a high school fight
you: you're not going to attack?
your enemy: make me
God, her art design is so amazing. I still can't get over it.
Her design and lore is peak
To be fair it’s not
@@JohanLayneto be fair? Fair to what? This area and Melenia are perfect
"To be fair" lol I mean you disagree aight but "to be fair" to what? @@JohanLayne 😅
@@therealeyezicI don't know... She seems like a generic Valkyrie to me and the flowery arena has been done three times already.
Shadow of the Erdtree rn:
If Malenia is this hard imagine how hard the dlc bosses are going to be. Calling it right now with Miquella/St trina being a bosses that will sleep you thenn grab you witha oneshot attack. Better stock up on sleep boluses.
The blind swordsman needs to be dlc
I was thinking that, if Miquella was a boss, he would use Bewitching Branches against Spirit Ashes, entirely cutting off that approach because it would only serve to make the fight harder.
@@EvanExplains an he better be a boss.
Not some NPC figh
@@macnamaryb7773that would be an amazing mechanic, specifically targeting what many consider the games “easy mode” system. Imagine the horror of summoning a mimic tear just to realize you’re now fighting the boos AND an exact copy of yourself at once 😭
@@NaK-R I'd be ok with him being a Marika like character. It's not like he's a renown fighter. And as Malenia so enthusiastically repeats it, she's the blade.
Quick tip for anyone struggling with Malenia:
1) Control the fight. Don't let her corner you; the arena looks much bigger than how it actually feels.
2) For the first two lunges of her Waterfowl Dance, dodge backwards or to the side, the side dodge takes more precision but leaves you at full hp, the back dodge has you take a few hundred points of damage (from the first one, the second won't even hit you) but is easier to execute, even panic rolling works. For the third, unlock your camera from her and as soon as she "jumps" toward you, dodge *FORWARD*, as she's programmed to get behind you.
3) Her rapid slices (the "ding" sound move) can be easily dodged by rolling into the first three slices (preferably forward-right), and back-right from the final slice.
4) For her Scarlet Aeonia, back away as soon as you see her wind up (the Phase 2 beginning is obvious, the others begin with her flying into the air, glowing with an orange hue and flower petals) and when you see her beginning to plunge downwards, immediately roll. Then, sprint, roll or bloodhound step further away to avoid the bloom.
5) Don't get greedy. While it may be tempting to do a full use of some weapon skill or two charged heavy attacks, you're likely animation-locking yourself into getting combo-d. Chip down her health between her moves rather than trying to stunlock her and melt her HP bar in one go, as that'll prove to be quite ineffective.
7) For more or less the rest of her phase 1 attacks, rolling backwards as soon as she lunges towards you seems to do the trick and give you enough time to react and dodge again.
If there's anything I missed, feel free to let me know or ask me about it in the replies!!!
Hope I helped, even if only slightly
I fought Malenia is a completely different approach.
It's build specific, but it was a faith arcane build.
Most of Malenia attacks are dodge able with ease. Whenever her katana clanks with her armour, shes going to gap close. The attack is devastating, but it's easily dodge able and once doged she can be punished. My weapon of choice was rivers of blood, but anything else with bleed works.
Waterfowl is the big deal, so once we passed the first bleed Proc, the idea was to maintain distance. Bait her move and the deliver a blow and make a gap. The moment she winds up waterfowl - start Borealis mist, this frostbites her and throws her out of waterfowl. Now repeat.
Second phase is easier. Scarlet Aeonia - DONOT RUN AWAY. Run directly towards her, she will lunge in your direction and miss you. This is the time for Agheels flame, unload everything onto her. You can remove more than 40% of her HP.
After that, find an opening for Borealis mist and keep up the pressure. Because she removed her armour she has very little poise. So you can pressure her much harder.
If you don't have access to the dragon incantations, just use the freezing pots. As soon as she is up in the air, chuck a freezing pot to bring her down, works on waterfowl, works on he clone attack. It's that simple.
you don't need to dodge or lock off for the third flurry, just walk towards her and than back away after she lands, that's it if you don't back away too soon you should avoid it completely. You can also dodge first flurry at point blank by just spamming light roll four times away from her.
The biggest thing people
Forgot to do was learn her movset once you beat her once you understand her forever and can’t beat her easy every time
It’s all about reading her
I didn’t have trouble with her. Learned how to dodge waterfowl. Took maybe 10 tries. Spammed weapon art on fallingstar beast jaw. Easy win
Rolling light attacks (with light equipment load) are almost always safe after her more standard melee attacks. Her poise isn't terribly high either, so buffing with the poise damage physick and hitting her with something that does a lot of quick hits can get you some criticals or some breathing room to heal.
The bloom outside the boss room is one of Millicent’s sisters, that’s why there’s a travelers set by it. Just like how there’s a bloom where Millicent dies if you kill her
That set could belong to anybody. Even Melina wears it.
@@victorprati7908 A Scarlet Aeonia in the Haligtree of Miquella, brother to Malenia, with a questline in the game that implies Milicent was given the needle by Gowry in order to properly bloom into a goddess, due to Malenia not wishing to succumb to the influence of the Goddess of Rot while her brother tries healing them both, as opposed to rotting beforehand, hence her fight with her sisters?
Could be anyone indeed...
Gowry wants Millicent to bloom into a VALKIRYE that will SERVE the Goddess of Rot and not becoming the Goddess herself.
"When Malenia ascends to godhood,
Millicent too shall be reborn.
As a scarlet valkyrie."
@@thosebloodybadgers8499
He said “she will be forever the hardest boss they ever made” he jinxed us and in return we got consort Radhan 💀😭
I think one thing that I really liked on my first play through is that Radahn and Malenia felt like they were about the same difficulty for the time that you actually reach them
True. It’s really easy to accidentally over level past Caelid, but if you wander over there and fight him immediately after rennala, he feels like a force of nature
I disagree, radahan now is a joke. Pre nerf radahan was a monster
just climb the side and spam poison arrows. so much for a demigod.
Radahn literally gives you a squad lmao. He was rough pre nerf and baby mode after.
@@redblade37they fixed it already, no? The nerf was accidental
9:16 is probably the best fight on Malenia that I've ever witnessed
Rocking the +4 flasks
I could be wrong, but looking at that build, I very strongly feel that was a rl1 run 😂
Maybe not though, it is toast. Maybe he just decided hp was overrated 😂
@@5stargrim It's like a beginner-level player walking thru the first boss room he found not knowing it was an endgame boss by luck 🤣🤣
@@5stargrim He had some spells you'd need to have super high int for. He was playing a glass cannon mage
Elden Ring: *has a boss that heals*
Everyone: “We were not ready”
Literally the hunter from Bloodborne:
@@atif45602 there's no numbing mist this time xD
Hunter and Friede, are you dense,
I’ll never forget the first and only time i defeated malenia in battle. That dead, muted, quiet, unfulfilled sense of things afterward. Almost…regret. Malenia is magnificent.
Malenia’s design is also perfect.
The prosthetics, her cape which brandishes the cleanrot knight insignia, her iconic helmet, her fire red hair that seemingly flows like water, it all comes together to craft an iconic design. And the symbolism of her lore is fascinating too.
Several war monuments describe Malenia with wings of unparalleled strength or undefeated wings, which become literal wings in our fight. And when she dies her wings fade away, we’re the first ones to clip wings of unparalleled strength.
And her hair too. Not only does the scarlet aeonia vastly resemble her hair, her hair is also the last thing to not be corrupted by the rot when we find her. And in phase 2 not even that is safe, her hair is twisted and combined with butterflies into these horrific wings, losing the last thing to the rot. A corruption of the symbol of radagon’s lineage of warriors, faded away
@@lrsb1678 her wings are most likely (before ascension obviously) symbolic for her sheer will and bravery.
no
Her helmet is valkyrie
Yeah but hair don't get rot I think I mean we never saw anyone with rotted hair
Not even melicit when she die her hair seem to stay the same
Malenia’s Most Broken Ability is the ability to walk away from staggers. She’s the only enemy/boss in all of Elden Ring that can literally interrupt a stagger. Idk what Fromsoft was thinking with that one lmao
She's just...better lmao
Your just not that good at the game if you think that is broken like git gud casual
average souls gamer comment@@FrenziedmerchantisaHomo
@@FrenziedmerchantisaHomomost likeable elden ring fan
@@FrenziedmerchantisaHomobraindead
Killing this boss without spirit summons is truly something else. And if you do it without bleed & frost, you're a true giga chad.
I did it RL1 with commander`s spear. But jesus christ it took me like 400 tries.
It took more time to beat her than to reach her at RL1
I did used the mimic as a shield to waterfoul, but outside of that there was nothing overpowered other than myself and my damage points almost 100% invested in strength and dexterity in equal parts, just with some healt trown in, not even stamina (i literally ran out of stamina following her when she ran away every time she took much damage). This was my first souls ever and i didnt even knew what rivers of blood was, the katana i got from malenia was my first too. I dont ever parry, i dont use shields nor block. I only attack. Took me 10 hours to do it fighting non stop but i still had funn, top 5 bosses in ER.
The elden beast instead was pure shitt to me. Fucker forced me to invest my first ever points into stamina just so i could chase him. I did not change my way to play, only attacking, but it took me 3 days. I literally woke up, fought the boss and went too sleep till the third day i finnaly won
Her first phase is pretty easy to beat without summons.
I did it hitless with only parries (using convergence mod)
Fighting her solo without bleed or spirit summons was how I first beat her. She’s one of the only, if not the only boss I’ve ever taken hundreds of tries to beat in a From Soft game. Laurence, Midir and Ishiin weren’t nearly this hard and Ludwig, Orphan, Friede and Gael came pretty close.
prime radahn: hold my beer
The funny thing is that I have a theory; her weapon that you get from Enia actually has bleed buildup. But she doesn’t afflict bleed in your fight with her. Her first iteration may have had bleed damage, but they decided it was too much and cut it. She was almost much harder if im right
Yeah I always thought that was stupid, if anything it should have had rot.
Bro imagine you get rot infected then lost half your health to a bleed proc 😢
@@blizzardgaming7070 not really untill radahn fight she was always fighting against the scarlet rot. She only unleased it because she had to win either for her honor/ or more likely because of Miquellas need for another eclipse that radahn was preventing. Her inflicting rot in her first phase wouldnt have made sense atleast according to the lore.
@@rodneydsouza2454 I didn't mean her fight should have rot, I'm saying the weapon you get should have rot.
Because all katanas by default have bleed
Definitely the most rage-psychosis inducing boss of all time imo. Great fight, super satisfying defeat, but took many hours of my life in trade. 10/10
That title firmly belongs to the bed of chaos, for all the wrong reasons
definitely not, try a megaman or ikaruga game.
you need to play Sekiro
Hardest boss of all time?? Not even close. But that's my opinion playing games for over 40 years. Hard, yes...but when hardness mainly depends on builds and other factors where every fight is individual, the "hardest boss ever" is not even a valid argument. If all players had the same opportunity according to gear an build it could be discussed, but it's not.
In all fairness what's the hardest boss you ever faced in your 40 years gaming career? @@petterdanielsen2263
I’ve actually heard that the bloom outside of her boss fight is not her bloom. It’s one of Millicents sisters blooms, which is why it has her outfit inside of it. Her third and final bloom is after you kill her and come back to the arena, and there’s speculation she’s inside of it ready to bloom at any point into the ultimate goddess of rot.
That’s what I thought. DLC maybe…?
15:45 bro is genuinely tweaking 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Fr
The thing about her story is that she may not even be dead. From her Scarlet Aronia spell description it refers to her as if she's still alive.
It also says she's only bloomed twice, and since we get the Incant after beating her a lot of people (including myself) think the bloom outside her arena isnt hers.
@@aceundead4750yes, and it says that as she blooms the third time, she will become a godess, and you fight the godess of rot on her second phase, so it was in fact her third bloom, the incantation probably was supposed for us to get before her fight, maybe from the sisters of rot since they were supposed to use the scarlet aeonia too, so not only Malenia is dead, as we did fight her last form after the third bloom
@@MotardDeFatima but then why would she turn into the Aeonia flower after being defeated, whereas everyone else fades away, even Marika (who is a god) if none of the mending runes are used fades into dust after Radagon and the Elden Beast are defeated. It also wouldnt make sense for us to get the incant from the sisters unless they somehow had a great rune we were supposed to collect, or it wasnt meant to be a reward for Malenia's remembrance which both seem unlikely.
@@aceundead4750 first off, malenia is the goddess of rot, Marika is the literal elden ring, and we can see Marika is a statue, it's not even her real being, and what happens to statues? They turn into dust, which is what happens. We see Malenia in flesh, not her statue locking her soul, so it wouldn't make sense to turn into dust, but fade away, which is what happens to every boss, to her too, the bloom is in her arena to show her third bloom. Second, the sisters of rot are descendants of malenia, therefore they are able to use the power of scarlet aeonia, since we see that one bloom that is outside of malenia's room is not from Malenia herself. So it can only mean that, like Malenia, the sisters of rot can use the aeonia and bloom, and is what happens, without her great rune. Plus it would connect everything since we would get it before Malenia's bossfight, giving a foreshadowing that she will become a true goddess as we make her bloom the third time. Everything makes sense, there's no holes in it.
@@MotardDeFatimaI have a doubt. If the bloom outside her room is not hers, when did she bloom for the second time?
Playing a Fromsoft game upon release is truly a treasure trove of experiences. I remember the first couple of days everyone posting and complaining about Radahn and as time passed and people discovered more areas this boogeyman of a boss became legend.
The second phase is so "hard" I had to consult additional lore material after that
I had to consult a therapist bro 😂
Is it? I didn't reallybeven fight at, I simplybstun locked her using my mimic and a zeiwhander. You can bounce her and it keeps her stun locked if you time it right.
@@tylerrobbins8311 "lore"
The fight was hard and so was i
@@moonrabbit2334 same bruv. There is some good supplementary Lore Material for this game out here^^
Why did I get satisfaction from the guy at 9:15 being so smug and instantly getting humbled
I chuckled too hard when it happened
something I’ve always enjoyed about souls games. the bosses are decaying , falling apart, have lost their mind, etc. and yet, they are still powerful, still require such determination to fell.
Honestly, Malenia is one of my favourite boss fights. On my first playthrough, I struggled a lot. Like, a lot a lot. However, I never felt like I was losing fun. I kept trying and eventually I won and when I did, my screams of joy made my discord friends go deaf. It may be because Elden Ring is my first time properly playing a FromSoft game, so I didn't have anyone to compare her to, but the fight just felt and still feels really fun, waterfowl and all.
Exactly this.
She's the only boss in the entire game that forces the players to actually think about their builds and strategies. (You can add Rykard if you're not planning to beat him with Serpent Hunter)
She's also the only boss that killing her, at least for me personally, is way less satisfying than keeping her around and dancing with her.
I still personally think she's way too overtuned. As if FromSoft tried too hard to make a difficult boss. I hope their DLC bosses are not this ridiculous and I say this as someone who's played most of their previous games. DS3 had much better bosses imo.
@@0x6e95 I actually hope they make a better version, as they always do. I used a build that was pretty much a cheese (without knowing) and killed her easily... I was cosplaying Crucible Knights with Selurias Woe. Mimic tear and at 4 try I did it
For me the hardest was mohg though, and I enjoyed that fight a lot
the only time i felt like i was losing fun in elden ring wasnt coming from fighting bosses, it was from fighting the god damn gravity in every end game area , that was such a shitty experience.
I feel the same even though I played every souls game, Malenia is my favorite boss
Well now another boss has claimed that throne😅
Ngl both her and the entire Haligtree area feel like they could have been DLC. Everything from the puzzle to access the area to the difficulty to the completely unique feel of the area. It’s a special experience for sure, and even though I have put in more attempts on Malenia than I have on any other boss I have yet to beat her without either summoning or using bleed.
Halig tree was very lazily done in terms of level design. Looks amazing don’t get me wrong but putting like 6 revenents in a row in a straight line or the erd tree avatars that just spam ranged was not fun or rewarding.
Probably was supposed to be DLC that they populated with known enemies. Good compromise, whatever they were supposed to put in there is probably added to Shadow of the Erdtree.
@@cornpop838 I definitely disagree, the tree section takes pretty good strategy to clear optimally, there are branching paths to cross the rest of the area, and the enemies are varied and challenging. The level feels similar to the ringed city in both difficulty and level design. Difficulty is a fair critique, but the ringed city also has a very high difficulty if you decide to fight every enemy.
Took me 6 days of several hours of attempts each day before I finally took her down. Probably gave me the biggest rush of euphoria I’ve ever felt from a game
No ash to help you?
@@KishorTwist I thought about it, but after day 2 I was already in too deep to puss out. Only used ashes for gank fights on my first playthrough, I’m crazy enough to fight Malenia solo but I’d have to be borderline insane to take on Crucible or Godskin Duo solo. The former actually became my most hated boss after I spent like 2 hours dying over and over solo before returning with an ash later
Wow people really had this much of a hard time beating her?? 🤔 I slayed her azz the first time I battled her... I was actually disappointed in how easy it was..
@@504Trey I have a friend who beat her in 2 hours and that really humbled me 😅
@@ultimatehope549 yeah i did the same. I knew how she would be and decided i want to get it done without a summon just for the sake of it. Didnt use a summon, didnt use bloodhound step but caved at bleed buildup and freezepots. But i also didnt look up guides which might have helped a lot but my ego just said nah you can do it
Everyone’s very first fight against her will always result in a death in about 5 seconds since after the intro cutscene the game wants to put you just a few inches away from her resulting in….instant death
My first fight with her ended with her being dead 🤷♂️
@@Tilmann5138no it didnt
@@SolaireofAstoraFH yes, it did. Because unlike most people I didn't neglect my defensive stats. Oh no, Waterfowl dance is so unfair, because it kills you from full health. Well.... Just have high defensive stats, heal back up and continue smashing her head. I didn't even have to learn her moves. Most disappointing fight in my entire gaming experience.
@@Tilmann5138 while I disagree on it being disappointing, yeah. Most people neglect vigor and other forms of protection, thinking they can out-damage the boss. This gives them less breathing room compared to someone who can tank it.
@@Tilmann5138 Cool story bro
Radahn in DLC: Hold my beer 🍻
So, I said on your Radahn video that I was surprised why he was the controversial when she was basically a Sekiro boss in a Souls game.
Okay, here is my little conspiracy theory. Some of you may have heard about Tomoe in Sekiro, kind of a legend in the game's lore, swordmaster and the lady who trained Genichiro and bodyguard of the previous divine heir Takeru. Her fighting style was described by many as a dance. Now, how come we never had the opportunity in Sekiro to duel her? I think at one point in Sekiro's development a boss fight against her was planned but scrapped and the movements that were already finished were later implemented in Malenias moveset.
I mean her special attack is basically Floating Passage, the way she attacks leaves so few openings but would be counterable with Sekiro's system, everything would add up.
Tl;dr: Malenia's moveset is probably based on a scrapped Sekiro Tomoe battle.
she has hella openings
I've thought about the same thing lmao. Tomoe would've made an epic boss in Sekiro.
Malenia has openings they just take some time to get used to
I agree
I blame elden ring for sekiro not getting a dlc and i honestly will never forgive that
Dancer from DS3 has a first phase where she doesn’t aggressively hunt you as well.
It’s low key one of the best ever fights in the series, arguably the best. Incredibly unpredictable and beautiful fighting style, 2 iconic attacks in the grab and the sword dance, perfectly balanced in a way that a a lvl 15 player can learn to beat it but is the hardest boss for challenge runners over even midir because her style makes her always a possibility to hit you, no bloated hp bar, no endboss try hard shit, great theme music, great lore with pontiff. Has everything.
Dancer is really fun to fight.
Dancer is my favorite Soulsborne boss!!
I remember during summer vacation in high school I spent a solid week straight doing nothing but fighting the dancer to the point that to this day I still remember some of her attack patterns and when to roll to dodge them, never had such a rewarding yet agonizing experience
That description sound almost identical to Malenia
Malenia was the only soulsbourne boss that I gave up and summoned for. It always bother me so I went to ng+ and finally solo'd her after fourteen combined hours of trying. Most satisfying feeling I ever felt playing a video game
nah I summoned she's made to be ridiculous so I got my Mimic and went to work on her
@@FGame2star summoning just never felt satisfying for me personally. I always just feel like i cheesed them by splitting the agro
man I was looking at her sword swing even with no contact she re-gained meter, and when she hit me and my mimic I think she gained health even faster.@@josephnissenson3252
@@josephnissenson3252cringe
After attempt like 70+ I gave way to summoning as well and beat her on my first try never felt more defeated and unsatisfied definitely plan on giving her a second go with no summoning
Her Waterfowl's Dance is perhaps one of the most beautiful and, at the same time, the most horrifying move in all of FromSoft.
I think it’s strongly implied that the bloom right before malenias boss room isn’t from malenia and is from one of the off shoots like Millicent cuz there’s travelers garbs next to it and it’s also way smaller than malenias bloom, I think that we experienced a second bloom and that she was only partial goddess in her second phase, and a third bloom may come later of malenia isn’t really dead but in a coma again
I feel that a third bloom would make an excellent callback if they continue the franchise (how are we going to forget Malenia) but not be as effective if we saw it in DLC for this game. Same for the frenzy flame god coming into power and the gloam-eyed queen. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this storied world once all the demigods have died and you impose a temporary new world order. The outer forces have to gain some strength to upset the balance and set up whatever is next.
I was going to point that out. Also her remembrance, which is only available after the fight, says that she only bloomed twice. They do actually take things like this into account when they write the lore. For example, the fell omen is referred to in past tense in item lore available post-Morgott.
After all the difficulty, controversy and rage Malenia induced, she is one of the few bosses in the game that can get poise-broken so easily and i think that that's her biggest weakness as you can stun-lock her for 2-3 hits at a time if you're careful.
P
Works wonders up until NG+4 and onwards, that’s when her Poise becomes almost unbreakable or rather it happens very rarely. And that’s also when she’s an entirely different story. Beating her on NG+7 with my Level 150 character was one of the hardest things I‘ve ever experienced apart from Ninja Gaiden Black on Master Ninja…
@@Avyrr On NG9 at the moment and can still bully her with colossal weapons, especially things like stamp:upward cut, giant hunt, etc. Just repeatedly toss her in the air like a ragdoll and follow it with a charged r2, still breaks her poise fairly consistently
I beat her on second try because of this
Oh and also weak to bleed
She is a cake
Pretty overhyped
@@World_of_KGZ You run a bleed build which cheeses almost every boss in the game except Radagon and Elden Beast, and those two aren't even comparable to Malenia in difficulty. So your opinion isn't that valid if I'm honest.
The Scarlet Aeonia incant states that Malenia has only bloomed twice, so that bloom outside her room may not actually be hers, since we dont get the spell until after beating her.
"No other boss respects you "
Chadfeee: Thou has fought long and hard.
Tarnished thy strength befits a crown 👑.
Malenia may be the hardest boss, but she's my favorite boss to fight. Any new character or NG+ I do, I'll always go to the Haligtree to fight her. And every time I beat her, I bow and do it again in my next playthrough. Love this boss.
She's mid.
I think the thing that does Malenia hard is the fact that she heals on hit
So you gotta do it perfect otherwise she will heal while you will rot
Ng+ Malenia is so cool to fight tho, my favorite fight in the game along with Maliketh
Malenia ROTUSSY GOT ME PLAYING WITH 1 HAND now that is TRUE DIFFICULTY
touch some grass
@@bandi642 no u
Her strength is justified. If you read the lore surrounding her and her master/ brother, she got that good because of the circumstances and choices she made throughout her life. I have mad respect for her and beating her in a fight was amazing.
Yeah, people shitting on her for nuking Caelid really didn't get her story.
It wasn't a selfish act, it was the ultimate sacrifice to ensure her brother's plan could work (even though it didn't anyway because fuck Mohg).
No her strength isn't justified because of choices... she was born from two gods and taught by the best swordsman ever
@@dinorex3464 Only selfish people would say it wasn't selfish.
@@richterkonig7826 How selfish of Radahn in halting nature (The Stars) which stopped the fates of two of his siblings. Then said siblings tried to stop him from doing so in order to move forward. How hypocrite.
@@Sora-vw1bf Nah, not in the same stratosphere of Malenia's selfishness, of nuking the whole of Caelid and making the present and future's inhabitants suffer all because she lost her fight against Radahn.
And lol she fainted and had to be carried back home by the cleanrot knight Finlay afterwards.
When she said “Oh miquella my brother, I’ve finally met my match” I screamed so loud at the screen
The cuts out of nowhere are so funny. This was a great vid
And yes, she was blind, using the water to ascertain your presence, and the sound of your movements to strike you. Her visor completely covers her eyes. But yes I do agree there is a level of respect she shows to you for being brave enough to get to her and foolish enough to challenge her.
I love how for Malenias fight i knew the 2nd phase was coming but i was in denial saying “please tell me there isnt a 2nd phase” during the cut scene
My favourite boss out of every game. Although I must admit, Rykard is a very close second.
But Malenia's character is also so terribly sad when you look at her lore and the loss of her brother she obviously loves more than anything.
I am not even sure, if she is aware that he isn't even in that room with her anymore. The way she sits looks like she points her still intact hand/arm towards that hole in the Haligtree where Miquella's egg would be if Mohg wouldn't have taken it. And the things she says could also just mean, she sits there and waits for his return which is literally just getting out of that egg. "Waiting for his return". That does not sound like she knows he was kidnapped, because if she knew she would not just sit and wait there? And how is a kidnapped person supposed to "return" when no one takes that person back. If she knew, I would guess she would say something more like "he was taken away and I am still in search for him". She also can't see after all and she was comatose since she fought Radahn...who could have told her, that her brother is gone.
Long story short: It sounds more like she is awaiting Miquella to get out of that egg to me. If that is accurate - which I do believe - it would even be more tragic, as they are more divided than she even knows.
She almost desperately emphasizes that she is the Blade Of Miquella. That is what counts for her. Not being an Empyrean of such power. But being her brother's guard. Fully aware and prepared to step back for him when the time would have come to be the successor of Queen Marika. And just staying his guard.
And all the people going "Radahn blablabla". No.
Malenia fought him blind and already amputated. Not necessarily blinded by rot, but blinded by her helmet (as her swordmaster probably taught her this way of fighting as he himself was blind). Every fight she took was without eyesight and wearing prosthetics and it came down to those two in the Shattering Wars.
And it is not like she could not beat him. He could not beat her. Blind and wearing prosthetics and still she was that fast. Too fast for him to hit properly.
Although he had the advantage of strength, size, magic, an intact body, eyesight and even a horse (although that might be a bit exaggerated looking at how and why he rode it)...he could not beat her. He could not even keep her at distance. While she knew she needs one single hit. As we know, she would land that devastating blow after all.
A stalemate for Radahn at that time must have been like a loss looking at his pride as a warrior. All while literally watching her even sacrificing herself to stop him. I think she did fight for Miquella in that war, not for herself. Her choice or thought was that if Radahn can't beat her, Miquella can win the whole war in the end. Again, her brother mattered most.
We the players can only beat both of them because the rot has weakened them terribly over time. It is the curse an Empyrean bears after all and even Malenia says, that we will now witness "true horror" when her Goddess phase starts.
I do not really think that is a threat in a classic way, more like an "And now you will suffer and feel, what I suffered and felt my whole life".
So yes. This whole character of Malenia is not just a hard boss fight. It is part of such a great yet sad story and has such a great depth in it that only grows on second sight.
You're right. Malenia has no idea Miquella is gone, and you're also right about the part where she's waiting for him. While Malenia is cursed by the scarlet rot, Miquella is cursed with etern youth. It's implied the reason Miquella is in the cocoon is so he can find the cure for his as well as his sisters curse, which is then messed by up by Mohg.
Cap, Wdym malenia was to fast in the trailer radahn sliced her prosthetic arm off. Second off if she only needed one hit why did she decide “Hmm… I think I should put my self in a coma!” Like dude she needed to release her suicidal rot just to make it a tie. Radahn didn’t even loose he was just driven mad
@@jaymatt6443Radahn definitly is the loser, if we have to name one. Malenia and Radahn story is pretty much the same as Ranni and Godwin. Ranni loose her body but not her spirit, when Godwin loose his spirit but not his body, who's the winner ? Definitly Ranni, it's really clear. Well, Radahn is the one who loose is spirit in the fight, not Malenia.
In this world, losing your spirit is the true death.
@@Éga_Fr lol ranni didn’t win by the fight, she won by getting freed from the greater will. And Goldwyn is still potentially going to take over the lands between with death root.
Genuinely, as a music player, Souls games become a lot easier once you think of it in terms of rhythm. Malenia took me 2 days but I love it as a learning process. Favorite series in gaming
Btw (not to brag) but I beat her in my first play through with a Colossal Sword and on NG +2 with two Colossal Swords. No mimic tears or summons.
Bro really said 🤓
Man I've been saying that you could probably set a metronome to 99% of all FromSoft bosses and you'd get a pretty steady count. Sekiro especially!
Shes not hard, Shes just a BS boss. Shes just glitchy and stupid, Her waterfoul slash or whatever its called can activate instantly if you stagger her leaving you no chance to dodge making the boss fight a snooze fest waiting game or you just go double hammer and infinite stun lock her just to spite her shitty boss design.
Midir, is the true hardest boss of souls games, along with sekiro bosses. Really the only good bosses in elden ring were black blade and radagon
It’s like the secret boss of Drakengard, Ive heard
Melania is actually given special treatment by the game engine to avoid stance breaks and staggers. She is the only boss that from software has ever released that allows her to cancel out of her stagger animation without having to complete it. Her stance break mechanic is also treated differently like the other bosses in the game she doesn't stange break while in hyper armor but unlike the other bosses her stance break health begins to reign instantly instead of the 6 second delay timer that other bosses have. This plus her long chains allows her to effectively choose to be stance broken or not which can steal free repost that you should have earned normally.
All this + the highest imput lag of all FS soulsborne games and imput reading, which is also unprecedented. Paralyzing a character's mobility and letting them fight a boss from SEKIRO. Big lol
@@tanatonaut870 oh wait oh wait is that true ? was that calculated by people, is it official that elden ring has more imput lag ? because i swear i often get kick in the nuts by stupid timing while i fucking swear i pressed my button on time !
For the imput reading yeah, the game is well known for that and clearly abuse of it to a point that it make some moment uninteractive because you are simply afraid of pressing buttons and the enemy will just abuse it to do the perfect counter..., still you can get around but sometime its anoying sure
Exactly what i have been saying. Shes a stupid and unfair boss. She doesn't belong in this game. The only way to beat her is to play a RNG waiting game (where u can still die if she just decides to not want to be staggered anymore and u make a small mistake) or you just stagger lock her infinitely with double hammers or swords. Shes the "hardest" but not because shes actually hard to beat but because she just has BS abilities. Its kinda like, if a boss had the ability to just have a 40% chance to randomly one shot you for no apparent reasons. But if she doesn't get that 40%, shes really easy. Easier then radagon in my opinion, maybe even more then black blade (If black blade had a full health bar he would def be harder)
The true "hardest" boss of souls games is midir, Thats the best designed boss they have ever made. In terms of how hard he is while also being a very fair fight. Same with slave knight gael. You could argue sekiro bosses are harder but its a completely different style of play. I don't really count sekiro as a souls game.
Nah. I used a +25 brick hammer with lions claw and stun locked her. One of the easiest bosses in the game. Took under 2 minutes to kill her on my second try (her second phase landing one shotted me lol)
13:49 that madness laugh is amazing, the man lost it xD
*Chuckles in DLC*
That Aeonia bloom outside of Malenia's arena is not the second bloom. She blooms a second time during her fight, as stated in the Scarlet Aeonia incantation: "Each time the scarlet flower blooms, Malenia's rot advances. It has bloomed twice already. With the third bloom, she will become a true goddess." Our fight with her and her second phase is not her as a real goddess of rot.
Elden Ring was my first Souls game ever, and I was NOT prepared but oh, man, did I fall in love. I take my time with games, I love to just enjoy them, so this was perfect for me. I also became acquainted with levels of frustration I’ve probably not ever felt in a video game before, starting with Astel, then just escalating from there.
Usually, two hours is long for me to play a game uninterrupted. I’ll put a couple hours in, then a couple more later in the day. With Malenia, I believe it took me four and a half hours nonstop. That bliss I felt after victory is a high I don’t really expect a game to ever live up to again.
The battle with her is just so cool. Because she has scarlet rot, she constantly drains your life with each attack to prolong her life. The millions of people and players she has slain to live seconds longer. that is... really something.
If any of the other rot enemies did this, I’d agree. As is it’s just a cheap ass mechanic
wait until he finds out about radahn
He was nerfed bruh, he’s easy compared to her tbh
Malenia's difficulty is because of her utter devotion to Miquella, and her sheer desperation. She has nothing to gain from defeat, and everything to lose. She's waiting for Miquellas return, and with that return she believes she'll be cured of the scarlet rot. Who knows, if Miquella had returned maybe she even would have regrown her lost limbs, and recovered her sight. Tragically we know that Moghs interference have left Miquella in a withered comatose state, and will not return. There's a lot of bosses that make you regret having to kill them, but none of them have made me feel so awful as Malenia.
Rest in Power Malenia, you and your twin were too pure for The Lands Between.
Y'know I feel like it's kinda her fault for not stopping a minute to just talk to you. Although, I do understand her not wanting to take any chances.
No, her difficulty is because of Waterfowl Dance. Remove that mode and she is just a somewhat challanging boss instead.
great video! I was gonna say something about Orphan of Kos being quite similar, with like the franticness of the second phase and forcing you to fight on its terms but i forgot that waterfowl dance existed... also very snazzy editing!
awesome man and thank you! Orphan definitely made you play in its territory
Orphan is harder tho
@@julesbellet1449 I think orphan is miles better, and in my experience harder i agree, but i still can't dodge waterfowl dance for the life of me
@@coffeepoweredart i can't dodge it either but I still managed to beat her twice
@@julesbellet1449 oh i've beaten her several times i didn't mean to say it killed me every time it's just annoying
I just summoned a 'let me solo her' (wasn't the original) and let him do it and watched in awe. Still almost died, but I was cowering behind a shield the entire time, so he managed to regain aggro while I was still alive. Intense fight I tell you!
consort radahn: 👁👄👁
Best video game boss ever! Only one I still dread after dozens of playthroughs and 750 hours of game time. Absolutely instant legend. Only had to beat her once solo to feel like a god
She was good but best ever? New to the Fromsoft franchise I see
I spent 8 hours dying to her over and over. The most a video game has ever challenged me. Looking back, ( because I didn’t at the time) I loved it.
Dude that opening of Malenia was such a cool intro.
11:40 One other thing to note is that Malenia is blind; her eyes are rotted away. She probably couldn't pinpoint the player's location and is reliant on the player making the first move in battle. Which I think is pretty badass.
Great video. One thing about the Isolated Divine tower is that the portal to it only works after the Divine Bridge lift has been activated. The chest in the Weeping Peninsula dose take you to the Divine bridge but the portal is not active even after you defeat the golem.
My portal was active before I used the lift, I think it might be entering the capitol
I had absolutely no problem with any of the bosses until I met Malenia. She humbled me real quick by one shotting me my first attempt. It took me around 4 hours to beat her and I also looked up a guide on her moveset. I yelled so loud when I did finally beat her
Easily my favourte Soulsborne boss so far, not counting Sekiro. The more I learn her, the more satisfying it becomes since there's so many different openings in her moveset. You can downright prevent her from attacking during some of her telegraphs.
"Melania is and WILL ALWAYS BE the hardest boss ever made"
Prime Radahn chuckles while Yoda'ing a god
I mean aside from 1 move that is quite literally undodgeable and that Second phase will give you a fucking epilepsy attack he is fine
@@TheJonkler1 I solo'ed her in less time than it took me to kill Radahn with a mimic...
Cuz sure the health drain sucks, but her attacks are super easy to dodge because they flow together in an intuitive way. Raddy lives in delays in his animation selection and never lets you get in a groove. (Also the AOE on his swings are ridiculous, especially in phase 2)
I think it's just more than her respecting the player, but more from her training of the blade since he is blind the most important asset to learn is patience and the knowledge of it waiting for your opponent to strike first. Also theory, I think Malenia play style is a reminense of how a lot of the old Dark Souls players played very patiently.
I will not forget the moment when I finally defeated her... It was so effin rewarding!!! It took me 2 weeks, before finally learning her moves!!!!
Im convinced that Malenia, Malekith and Radahn are Sekiro bosses rerolled into Elden Ring. They just feel so different.
Every boss in the dlc is either Melania level, or “I wish I was fighting Melania.
Malenia is still the 2nd hardest Fromsoftware boss. Radahn being harder doesn't change anything much. Messmer, Midra, Bayle, Rellana, Divine Dancing Lion, all of them are easier than Malenia at launch.
@@Vengeance_I_m Messmer is harder than Melania in my opinion. Atleast Phase 1 is