If you’re finding yourself struggling against one of Shadow of the Erdtree’s many difficult bosses, you shouldn’t be afraid to call for a little back-up.
Since the launch of Shadow of the Erdtree, there has been a lot of talk about how difficult the DLC is proving with director Hidetaka Miyazaki even admitting that the developers were trying to push players past their limits with this new DLC. Having beaten the DLC during the review window, I absolutely agree that FromSoftware is trying to do different things with Shadow of the Erdtree, making players think differently when it comes to challenging bosses.
I changed my build and I re-spec’d my character multiple times during my playthrough, and in the back of my mind I kept thinking, “maybe I’ll have to hold off beating the DLC until it launches and I can get some help with fighting [Redacted].”
In the end I did finish the DLC before the review embargo went up, but instead of jumping to start a new game, I’ve been camping around some of the bosses I had the most trouble with during my time beating the game — mainly Rellana, the Twin Knight, and Messmer the Impaler — to leave behind my summon sign and help new players on their quest through the Elden Ring DLC. It’s a lesson I learned from a dear friend of mine, Solaire, the jolly co-operator from the very first Dark Souls game whose incandescent aura was meant to teach players that co-op in Dark Souls isn’t just a tool, but a divine calling.
The frequency in which I’m getting called in to help someone fight a boss, I think, proves how little issue most players have with summoning online players to help. And one of my close friends playing the DLC now is trying to do so without any summons at all, NPC or otherwise, for their first playthrough which is also a valid way to play. But to anyone saying that summoning an online player or even an NPC to help with a boss is somehow “cheating” is ridiculous, and furthermore, plain wrong.
The hardliners calling for there to be only one “right” way of playing a FromSoftware game — without NPC or online co-op — can’t be easily dismissed. I’ve seen enough comments online from new players struggling with a boss but too scared to ask for any kind of help because they believe it’s wrong, when in fact it is a part of the FromSoftware experience woven into the genre itself.
To return back to Solaire, if online co-op were such a shameful thing in a FromSoftware game, why introduce it in Dark Souls through one of the best characters to ever grace a Souls game? The knight Solaire and his willingness to help players defeat the game’s toughest bosses is one of the earliest and most enduring memes to come out of Dark Souls, but shouldn’t overshadow his lesson of cooperating with others to overcome great challenges.
But more than that, co-op in any FromSoftware game is a new dimension to the experience. Playing with others against particularly hard bosses, especially on higher New Game Plus difficulties, is no walk in the park, and there’s a dread of seeing your summoned partner die part way through the fight. Or on the flip-side, overpowering a boss with a partner, unleashing chaotic combos and massive damage is an experience that’s too rare in a FromSoftware game too.
There’s also the learning aspect of co-op. Even if your party ends up wiping against a boss, you might learn a new tactic or strategy from your summoned partner that you can then take into the boss by yourself, learning from an online stranger like an apprentice learns from a mysterious master.
Miyazaki is adamant about several things, that making Elden Ring easier would ruin the game, and that FromSoftware is a studio that enjoys designing challenging and difficult games. But as FromSoft fans also know, nothing the team does is ever done without reason, and that is precisely why co-op and summons have been a mainstay in every FromSoftware SoulsLike since Demon’s Souls. It is as much a part of FromSoftware’s DNA as a poison swamp.
I believe the guiding philosophy of FromSoftware when it comes to difficulty is that all the tools to beat one of its games are readily available. It’s all a matter of how you want to go about it. If you’re finding yourself coming close to beating a boss but not making it over the final third of its health bar, maybe a few more hours of grinding for levels will help. If you find that the weapon you used for most of your game is suddenly coming up short, there’s likely a stronger version of your favorite weapon hiding somewhere nearby. There are also plenty of guides online you can use.
And if you’ve exhausted all the options above, there’s no reason you can’t look around for a golden summon sign to call on a little help from an unknown friend online. Think back to the early days of Elden Ring when the hardest boss in the game was Malenia, Blade of Miquella. FromSoftware often makes some of its games’ hardest bosses optional and there’s a chance that if Malenia was mandatory, many people would never have finished the game. Thankfully, a naked, pot-headed warrior named ‘LetMeSoloHer’ ushered many a player to the promised land (beating Malenia).
Ultimately, the FromSoftware community is a joyous and collaborative one at its core. Reddits house lore hounds who share secrets freely with one another, trading theories on different character backstories. Build guides are made so players can learn how to create their perfect characters, and nothing beats summoning a partner, trading the customary gesture like the bow or wave, and heading into the fog gate together.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
