Elden Ring’s bosses are hard enough for me no matter how prepared I am to fight them, so it’s extraordinary (and hilariously frustrating) watching someone beat them without doing a damn thing. Case in point: YouTuber InfernoPlus, who’s back with a new video of cheesing bosses by siccing a powerful spirit summon on them, and then lying around doing absolutely nothing else.
In their latest video, Inferno demonstrates the technique for polishing off Elden Ring’s notoriously challenging enemies–in this case using spirit ash Banished Knight Oleg–without even having to hold a controller.
Last week, Inferno posted a clip of them doing absolutely nothing while their spirit ash, the Raya Lucaria Soldiers, did the dirty work of killing the Tree Sentinel that roams the early parts of Limgrave. The hilarious video showed Inferno sitting down on some rocks and watching as the trio of ethereal warriors damn near laid waste to the golden, halberd-swinging mercenary.
In this latest video, Inferno performs various gestures (including one called “balled up,” which has you lying on the floor in the fetal position), all while the Banished Knight Oleg went to town on bosses like the Bell Bearing Hunter and Leonine Misbegotten. And not once did Inferno take damage during gesturing. Part of me is seething because of how hard some of these enemies are, but I can’t help but laugh at how easy it is to cheese Elden Ring bosses.
It’s worth noting that this appears to be early game. Inferno’s Hero was level 15 and their Banished Knight Oleg only upgraded to +9. Still, this summon is really good if you can pick it up from the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave in Limgrave. You gotta fight the big and hard Ulcerated Tree Spirit at the dungeon’s end to get the summon, but it deals massive damage and has high combo potential with its two swords, which makes it worthwhile as you prepare for Elden Ring’s endgame.
Inferno told Kotaku over direct messages that summoning a spirit ash is better in most cases because Elden Ring doesn’t register your ghost companions as additional players, meaning boss health doesn’t increase.
“You can have a high level summon beat pretty much every single boss in Limgrave, Stormveil, Raya Lucaria, and Liurnia. But after that you have to start helping,” Inferno said. “Bosses in Caelid and Altus are just a bit too strong for summons to do completely unaided. I will say that the summons are insanely powerful though and can pretty much carry you through some end game fights as long as you are actively helping. I would even go so far as to say that the good summons are better than actual players in most cases. This is mainly because the game increases boss HP when you summon real players, but it does not do this for spirit summons.”
Elden Ring might not be an easy game, but folks online certainly make it seem like one. From players beating it without dying to many others refusing to level up, FromSoftware’s latest has been completed in all manners of ways. If you’re wondering about me, I died again last night to the Magma Wyrm in my feeble attempt at nabbing the excellent Moonveil katana.