The first time I fougth him I was like "Wtf where did he went?" And then i heard the WOOOOOOOSHHHH and saw the ball of fire. I did like a thousand panic rolls. Good times
Got to him super early. Most of the player base properly didn't even see Malena. I played 6mths after launch and i think around 15% had beat the Fire Giant at that point.
@@zenfaku4526 I defeated him before he was nerfed, I got the platinum trophy in every soulsborne game and got through Sekiro with Demon bell/No Kuro charm equipped and not once did I feel as bullshitted as I felt with Malenia...
For the record, the Lake of Rot wasn't created by Malenia. That's the place where the Scorpion Kami (Outer God) of Rot was imprisoned by the blind swordsman; the man who taught Milenia her fighting style
@@Hugo_Tate I think in the Japanese version of the game the outer gods are called the kami. The scorpion part comes from the scorpion stinger weapon description: "Dagger fashioned from a great scorpion's tail, glistening with scarlet rot. A ceremonial tool used by heretics, crafted from the relic of a sealed outer god." This implies that the rot god may be associated with scorpions in some way.
I beat Radahn in August, months after the 1.3.3 patch that un-nerfed him, and he was honestly one of the most fun bosses I have ever fought in any game.
I agree. He’s one of the most fun bosses I’ve ever fought. I only fought him after the patch that reverted the nerf. He’s my favorite fight in elden ring. I still log in and put down my summoning sign for his battle each time I log into the game
@@simon-peterwilliamson2412 they unnerved him after they finally discovered how to fix his AI. The sole reason for his Nerf was because he was supposed to use his big nuke attacks after switching so many targets however there was a glitch that caused him to only target you and Spam his super strong attacks. This was because his AI was actually targeting the summons but it came into conflict with the basic mob ai that would main target player character over summons. Thus causing his AI to do both things making him basically constantly swap targets but was actually going after you the entire time. A trick to prevent them from doing this back before he was nerfed was to not actually lock onto him thus canceling the conflicting ai code because you wouldn't activate it by locking on. Once they fully fix the AI than unnerved him it was like he wasn't un-nerfed at all because of the fix.
@@drnobody1908 ok good so I fought the unnerfed version of him then. Thanks for the clarification. I only tried using the summons twice so even if he wasn't I probably wouldn't have seen it
I want to point out the Lake of Rot did not appear because of Malenia. That predates her. Also you don't need to talk to Ranni. Getting to Altus is enough to activate the festival.
It's not as simple as talking to Ranni either. You have to talk to Blaidd in Siofra River, who sends you to Seluvis, who sends you to Sellen, then you go back to Blaidd, after which the festival will start
@@kimballbelliston5925 You don’t even have to do that. I talked to Blaidd at Mistwood Ruins, then had him help with the Bloodhound, then got both haves of Dectus Medallions. I never talked to him in Siofra, didn’t speak to Selvuis, Ranni or Sellen and Blaidd was still the festival once I made it to Altus.
I do feel like Radahn is noticeably easier than he was at launch. The fix they put in only fixed unintentional nerfs to Radahn, not what was actually put in the patch notes. When I first did Radahn I was using the pre-nerfed Sword of Night and Flame which was stupidly busted and still having trouble, and in later playthroughs even after the rebalance, with worse weapons, Radahn has felt easier.
@@TheJML1975 I guarantee you I did not learn his attacks. My first playthrough was me frantically summoning while running away, and in subsequent playthroughs I was able to fight him up close without taking tons of tries to learn his attacks.
When Radahn jumped into the sky and disappeared I thought it be gonna be a two part fight and that I would have to fight him again later,and then I saw something in this distance wondering like an idiot “what’s that so I went towards it. It wasn’t until it was entirely to late that I realized what was happening. And then I died
This one actually was tragic. I had beaten him a week before they announced the nerf. It's sad to see them cave on this one. It was difficult but not impossible. It just incentivizes people to not get better at the game. And for reference, I only played part of dark souls 3 before elden ring. I was barely used to souls games mechanics and have limited skill myself
The beaty of Elden Ring... I beat General Radahn on my first try (launch week), meanwhile, it took me like 70 attempts to kill the Crucible Knight (Evergaol) 🤣🤣
I ventured into Calid on my first go, kept going through the level dying only a few times. Sadly, after conquering the treacherous land, the lake of liurnia was not dangerous enough, not until getting to faram azula did that thirst get quenched, and later in the halig tree
Radahn is easily my favorite boss fight ever. He wanted to be beaten by a warrior instead of taking his own life, suffering the entire time, until you step up to the challenge. He gives you no mercy an for you to prove your worth his life. One of the 2 cutscenes I refuse to skip in elden ring after beating it so many times is his intro. Its so fucking badass. He never needed to be nerfed, literally just ride the horse and throw black fireballs, an keep summoning everyone. You'll maybe need to heal twice. Just spam blue pots an fire tell he goes down. Its not hard in the slightest.
I think it just takes time to learn the game, learn different builds and boss patterns. When I first started Elden Ring it was the first FromSoft game I ever played, and it indeed was very hard. But now I’ve played 5 different brand new games (not NG+) and really none of the bosses give me trouble anymore. I don’t like NG+ because it’s not as challenging and when your fresh off the Chapel it’s just a lot of fun building everything up, if that makes sense.
@@23Butanedione I use them sometimes if I’m in trouble, but who cares? It’s a game mechanic they intend for you to use. Lemme guess you kill everything naked with club without getting hit once? lol The only bosses that are actually challenging are the late late game ones like Maliketh and Malenia. Elden Beast is pretty annoying too, but everyone else has patterns that are pretty easy to learn. I don’t have some weird ego thing going on. I play for enjoyment, not to torture myself to prove a point to no one but my ego lol.
@@maricleredpav4068 I have one save with NG + on just to see how it was. I’m level 353 though on it and I just crush everything minus the bosses I mentioned above. It got boring just to kill everything fast.
Dark souls 3 has the best ng+ since most players play that game for the bosses, and re spec also exists iirc. It’s much easier to get back to bosses in ng+ for that game, in comparison to an entirely new playthrough
I literally beat him with level 40 back in march I never got the controversy around him but on the other hand malenia took me like 50 tries at level 150
On the Visual Change for the sky during the battle: Caelid skybox looks like it's covered by rot, and what Radahn's knights use to hold the rot on Caelid? Fire. My guess is that when he re-enters the atmosphere, he does it burning the rot in the air and kinda cleans it for a while or at least around the arena. My guess is: He does the meteor move not only to kill you but maybe to try killing the rot and fight you as the actual "God" he used to be... after all, most of his spells/skills using gravity are only used after said move.
As someone who went and beat him both pre and post patch. There was a definite difference in difficulty. Whether it's not just his hitboxes but just the overall damage that you are able to do to General rad. The very first time I ever played the game, I was so paranoid by everything I had read that I got to about level 70 before I even fought Margot. So by the time I fought General radon pre-patch, it felt like it was a fight of equal footing. But you could tell that there were wonky hit boxes in his favor. It matters less since he's an AI but still. Post patch, There were definitely differences in his AI pattern and hits that could have or should have hit me definitely don't. His patterns are more predictable and easier which is one thing that I don't think it's mentioned enough. There's also something to be said about the level of entry. Due to constant weapon balances for PVP, and the overall nature of elden Ring's patches, he is definitely much more manageable than he used to be.
Radahn needed the hitbox size reduction. I fought him within a week of launch, and died to the air at the end of his swords because they were oversized. The damage nerf was unnecessary, but I consider him to be the best boss in the game in his current state
He's definitely easier than what he was at launch now. I remember that first fight & it felt like my first Souls boss again - something that I hadn't felt in the same way since defeating the Cleric Beast on Bloodborne all those years ago. That first fight against Radahn felt amazing. He was hard, epic, infuriating & gave me that massive sense of accomplishment that Souls game fans experience at least once. Following the nerf - I still get excited to fight him, but the fight just feels anti-climactic now
I think the problem was that everyone was too low of a level when fighting Rudahn. Can't blame them, we didn't know Rudahn was optional back then, thus people thought they had to beat him to play the rest of the game, heh, he's not like the flamelurker from demon souls.
It’s wild cause radahn won the duel in lore, this is symbolized by his breaking of her sword in the battle and a npc mentions it but I can’t remember which one. But he lost the war in the end because melinia unleashed the outer gods rot she had hated and sealed in herself. Radahn is the real gigachad, never caved to a outergod and learned gravity magic just to ride his lanky boi horse That’s being said I bet him prenerf and the dopamine hit I got after almost 4 hours of smashing my face into the wall was great, I feel sorry for peps who can’t get that feeling anymore
Also, why doesn’t someone Teach Melania the Flames Cleanse Me incantation? It literally says “cures poison and scarlet rot” in the description of the spell…
In my opinion the first Radahn fight was that hard simply because the hitboxes were bugged. It was intended to be hard, but not that hard, so they tried to patch It in the next month. While doing that, they ended up reducing his threat level substancially, which wasn't intended and was later fixed. That's why today the fight is still hard, but slightly less than the initial one.
Radahn is def way easier now but I got to beat him in his prime severely underleveled. If it means more people can experience this beautiful game I'm ok with it.
Radahn took me seven and a half hours to kill. This was also before he was nerfed. Malenia took me four and a half hours. Despite causing me significantly more stress and taking more time, at no point did Radahn feel unfair or imbalanced... except *maybe* the pre-nerf damage on the giant rocks, but at the same time I understand giant gravity magic-propelled rocks should hit really hard, and I should have just learned to dodge better or leveled vigor and then came back. Malenia, on the other hand, consistently felt like total and utter BS, and I have 0 qualms whatsoever cheesing her however I can even now.
I say it makes sense from a balancing perspective. It would be nice if Radahn was still a powerhouse, but you have to remember there’s bosses that come after. Astel, Draconic Sentinel, Lord’s Apparition, and Morgott did not feel like they compared to pre-nerf Radahn. The difficulty feels appropriate for his placement now. I think the biggest thing that hurts Radahn is his ties with Ranni’s questline and that he blocks an alternate route to Leyndell, unlike Malenia, who is completely optional and has no ties to progressing the main game.
Opinion before watching: Pre-nerf solo: One of the hardest FS bosses, but also very fair in that the player knows the what and why of each death. Ideal version with his gameplay matching the spectacle in terms of difficulty. Pre-nerf w/ raid summons: Harder than an average boss but very cheesable. Post-nerf solo: Enjoyable cinematic fight but easily beatable in 5-10 attempts with how poor his damage was. Post-nerf w/ raid summons: If you're careful enough you could realistically win first try. Post-buff: Haven't played so no opinion Controversial Malenia take: She's a gimmick boss who's difficulty is reliant on waterfowl dance. Without that one attack she'd be something most players could beat within an hour. One attack being the sole cause of difficulty is fundamentally bad design and makes most deaths feel cheap.
The feeling of running around the Dunes summoning all these NPCs and charging across the sands with them was unparalleled. Radahn is a game design W in my book
Torrent: *Dies falling from the litteral height of a pebble* Redahn: I need you soar, at escape velocity, straight upwards. Then I need you to crash directly to the ground from the actual stratosphere. Redahn's Horse: I will do precisely as you wish my king.
Current Radahn is the best version of Radahn. He's an early mid-game boss that opens up to far easier bosses and areas. He was overtuned at launch. He was harder than Morgot, Rykard, Astel etc. It made little sense.
If FromSoft games taught me anything, they wouldn’t make adjustments to any game unless they truly believed those changes were aligned with their vision. There’s no way Radahn was nerfed because gamers were complaining.
I took an extremely long time to get to Elden Ring, so I knew about practically all the bosses once starting about three weeks ago. I had heard Radahn was a tough fight, and was excited to finally get to fight him. I was just below level 70 when I finally decided to face him, even sending the elevator to reach him back up as I was fully expecting to die. But I didn’t. I beat him on my first try with my starting weapons (I chose warrior class). This video makes him sound ridiculously difficult compared with how he is now. So although I never faced early Radahn, I can say with certainty that something must be completely different. I should also mention that Elden Ring is my first From Software game, which makes this an even bigger certainty that something is different.
I never had a problem with radahn. He was the first boss I beat on my second try of my very first playthrough. They literally give you a handicap with all the summons too. Now milenia... 😂😭
Really good video, and I agree with Radahn not needing to be changed. His fight is still my favorite and it feels amazing just from the scale of having a small army to summon and when you finally beat him the satisfaction is unparalleled. Personally I didn't like having all the generic streamers (xqc, asmon, penguinz0) reaction part of the video, but that's just me since I don't find them entertaining.
Pre-patch/nerf Radahn was the most memorable part of the game for me. Never complained or noticed how broken he was, I was just quick to study his move set and had no issue afterwards. Glad to have the unlocked achievement as proof for that.
Yeah I was surprised they nerfed him. I fought him back when it first came out and it was ridiculously hard. I used the rotten breath to be able to beat him back then. But I get it was too early in the game to have a boss that hard in some ways.
Guess having a boss at the end of a level 70+ area that can only be fully unlocked by doing a quest or reaching altus plat retrieving 2 key items in the meantime and beating a few shardbearers by now is deemed "too early in the game" I'm pretty sure you don't need to kill him or every single shardbearer to beat the game, either?
I opened up that chest in the lake that sent me to Caelid early. That was rough trying to get through that damn cave and then fighting the falling star beast. I had to come back to it later.
Radahn is easier than pre patch absolutely but cleaning up some hitboxes isnt really that big of deal. Like yes pre patch was a bit of a badge but i cant tell you the amount of times i said stuff like, "wow that actually hit me?" Im all for current Radahn hes tough, hes super fun but he doesn't have you questioning yourself on getting roll caught on massive lingering hitboxes all the time.
Vanilla Radhan was the best fight of the series for me, he lived up to the legends, amazingly so. Even if he killed me many times and took great pains to put down I never thought it was unfair, I could use Torrent, then there were lots of summons and I could use scarlet rot which was super effective. Beating him felt great because it was hard, that's the whole point of the series!
I think the time changes for the same reason melania had to use her flower. He felt himself losing so he uses his ultimate move but looses control temporarily of the sky’s
I started playing ER well after the nerf and then the fix to said nerf. ER is the first souls game I’ve ever played all the way through and now I’m on NG+ 7. I found him challenging every time I encountered him. I lfg’d help after two days of trying to beat him and finally learned the mechanics and even changed my build around till I was finally able to solo him. Like most bosses in the game, it was an incredibly satisfying achievement/experience for me. This game really seems to illicit some emotional responses from people and there also seems to be a bit of “gatekeeping” from certain people as well which kinda sucks. But I can understand if you’re passionate about something. ER definitely deserves game of the year and I’m glad that more people are getting into the genre. It inspired me to go back and check out the other games. Great video, love your destiny content, and this has been great too!
radahn's name alone is enough reason to solidify him as one of the greatest bosses of all time. bro is literally called Starscourge Radahn and that is cold af.
Radahn is such a badass I love his names. "General radahn. Mightiest of the shattering. Starscourge radahn. The red lion. Conqueror of the stars. Bad ass
As someone who's played the souls games religiously for years, it's easier to tell hit box changes and Radahn's lingering hit boxes as well as their size were in general reduced since release. His on release hit boxes were *wild*
Correction To Trigger the Radahn fight all you need to do is goto Altus Plateau doesn't which way you go to get there, fighting your way thru the caves and fight the magma worm, or getting the 2 halves of the medallion and using the lift. Balidd and Alexander will be there even without talking to either before hand.
On release I managed to beat Elden Ring within the first week of release. This includes Radahn. Also, a small correction, you do NOT need to speak to Ranni in order to start the Radahn encounter. You just need to head up to Altus Plateau at least once whether through the Grand Lift or by taking the elevator after Magma Wyrmm. I did not start the Ranni questline officially until after I had killed Radahn and news had just come out in the community about Ranni's questline sometime that day/night. Radahn before nerf was an absolute menace! I was around level 33 when I first encountered him and spent a good solid hour fighting him with the Greatsword (Guts Greatsword) or the Lordsworn Greatsword with Flame Strike. What made him so difficult was not only the cheeky arrow snipes at the very beginning but it was mostly due to his hitboxes. There were many times where I would be on his left side as his blades would strike the npcs to his right and would still often get hit, nearly one tapped thinking I just need to dodge better. I did notice after his initial nerfs and bug fixes that he absolutely dies much sooner than expected, however I do believe it is mostly due to me fighting him on average at lvl 40-60 as opposed to lvl 30. All in all, he Radahn still holds up rather well as a challenge, however it may not seem like due to the fact that majority of players now fight him at a more reasonable level range and proper early game build setups and plus everyone is quick to provide information to any newcomers for a better experience.
There's a HUGE problem with this video, the whole idea that Radahn is hard because you can reach him at low level is FALSE, as the festival just starts when the player reaches the capital. By then, you'll be at least 60, I dunno why the creator would let this crucial detail slide, but you CAN'T fight Radahn at low level by accident.
Radahn is this games Great ape, everyone hates it but it's the fight that forces you to use and practice the mechanics! If I hadn't died to him 40 times I likely wouldn't have learned how the game wanted me to play, he's a good teacher to use the battle field, summons, horse-y ect.
Most souls games have a difficulty setting and Elden Ring isn't different, the difficulty comes from the build you play, you can cheese the entire game with summons, triavialize every single boss fights with one shot builds OR put many restrictions during your playthrough to make it harder. People say that Elden Ring isn't balanced, some say its too hard and others too easy...well, yeah, it all comes from the build you are playing. I beat the game around 20 times and most of them were with broken builds, my first playthrough was pure str with Giants Crusher doing massive poise damage and it was relatively easy for my first time (I actually beat Malenia on my second try with this build). TL;DR: The game is great and people that complain about difficulty just don't understand the game enough.
fighting pre-nerf Radahn while summoning all the time was my favourite part of Elden Ring. it took me 4.5 hours and if the game just ended there, I'd be 110% satisfied.
My dumb self went to Calid and fought General Radhan before going to Luniria Lakes because I didn’t know any of this was optional. Needless to say when I went to Raya Lucaria, it wasn’t as challenging as if I’d went there first. However, I didn’t regret the freedom and the challenge of the Red Valley ! Still, even Maleina Blade of Miqulia wasn’t as frustrating as I expected due to being a high level, in these games when you hit a wall- level up until you can smash that wall. Although I understand people not wanting to grind so much and just want to progress.
It amazes me that in a game with Waterfowl Dance, Godskin Duo, everything post Mountaintop doing absurd damage and other atrocities of hit boxes Radahn who is meant to be one of the strongest canonical characters gets the nerf hammer
And even then, if you build your character properly and use damage resistance tools and high vigor, you should never be close to be oneshotted or stumped by high damage, and Radahn is the roadblock to prepare for what's to come.
I played from the beginning and I didn't get to see his Meteor Attack until NG +3. Was doing Comet Azur build and killed him in one shot first two times.
You know what makes this boss so hard? Pride. Veteran Souls players are too stubborn to accept that something might require a higher level or better equipment and will bash their head against the wall, and refuse to use the summons even if the battle basically says: "This is a war against the God of War. A festival. This is basically an MMO Raid. But no, their pride won't allow it. All that, only to go to reddit to complain "Huur how I am supposed to beat Radahn" and the same guy has 7 Vigor and is at RL32. That's what nerfed him. Dumb players.
Me after seeing a dangerous area with lots of giant enemies: I should steer clear of this place. *Sees them surrounding a purple item pickup* Me: Cowabunga it is.
