Nerfing Radahn in Elden Ring is an annoying betrayal

The last Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree patch nerfed Radahn, the infamously difficult final boss of the DLC – and that’s not cool.

Okay, we need to talk about the Radahn nerf from the 1.14 update that’s made the boss less of a challenge. First of all, I get it, he’s a nightmare. His first stage is hard enough and then Miquella joins the fight making it absolutely bananas. I struggled with it, he cut me to ribbons many times.

Let’s not forget that Radahn (with Miquella) is arguably even more challenging than Malenia from the base game, and he’s a contender for the most difficult boss in all of gaming. So, why are you so bothered about the nerf I hear you ask. Well, it comes down to the oldest argument about Souls games in existence, making it easier kills the point of it.

The Warrior’s path

I pretty much carved my way through the DLC with ease. The early bosses died the first time I saw them, and Messmer the Impaler only got the better of me once before I had his number. I went in with my favorite “main” a well-optimized bleed build who was over level 400.

In the base game and in the Colosseum, my guy was a god among mortals. A veteran of the Souls subgenre since 2009’s Demon’s Souls, I invaded other players purely for sport. I also laughed at those who made the mistake of invading me, and I’m not bragging when I tell you I can’t remember the last time another player killed me in PvP.

Then I came up against the reborn Radahn at the very end – and I finally met my match. He cut me down to size and made me feel something I hadn’t felt since Malenia. Loss and frustration.

But as any Souls veteran will tell you, this is the game. This is why we do it. To be sent packing as unworthy, only to become worthy, come back and prove it. However, with Radahn, no amount of “gittin gud” was working. I came close to killing him a few times, and my “right, I’ll get him next time” mentality slowly faded as I realized something was missing.

While I had collected some of the Scadutree Fragments, DLC items that make you stronger, I arrogantly assumed my skill and experience with these games were enough to take down any foe. I had planned to explore the DLC map more, but I wanted this last story boss out of the way first. This was my mistake and the game was punishing me for rushing.

Hitting a wall

This was a pre-release copy of Shadow of the Erdtree so I was trying to learn as much about the game’s main bosses as I could, which is why I became so focused on Radahn. Oh and if you think the fight is hard now, you should have seen this version of him. Pure hell. Yet, the boss achieved what it was designed to achieve, it sent me away to go find more Scadutree Fragments – which is what I should have done all along.

You see, the Scadutree Fragments are scattered all over the map for a reason. Shadow of the Erdtree wants you to take your time and explore. It wants you to understand what’s going on with Miquella and why the Shadowlands are the way they are. There are so many revelations in the DLC and many of them are jaw-dropping.

Only after I (temporarily) gave up on Radahn did I get to experience the St. Trina quest or the amazing story that went down in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr. It also allowed me to discover Marika’s childhood village, the truth about Mohg, and slay a dragon alongside Elden Ring’s very own version of Captain Ahab.

These were some of the best adventures I’ve ever had in a Souls game, and if I had killed Radahn when I first tried, I would have needed to wait until my next NG+ cycle to experience them or read about them elsewhere rather than discovering them for myself.

Only then, did I return to Promised Consort Radahn. Maxed out on Scadutree Fragments, a new katana in my hands, and St. Trina‘s final plea in my ears. Only then did a God die. 

It’s about the journey, not the destination

Okay, he took me three tries, but you get my point. Radahn wasn’t too hard, I just wasn’t ready for him. As ever in the Souls series, the game was completely fair, the fault lay with me.

This is why the nerf is a betrayal. If Radahn had been a tiny bit easier I would have killed him sooner and missed out on the best parts of the DLC. Radahn is intended to be a final boss in its truest form, the ultimate challenge and the figure Miquella is literally hiding behind.

Radahn is also literally a gatekeeper, and the context of why he (and his manipulative little brother) need to die by your hand isn’t entirely clear until you’ve explored every inch of the Shadowlands.

Essentially, if you play the game as it is meant to be played, engage in the whole DLC, and collect the Scadutree Fragments to level up, Radahn isn’t as difficult as people think. It’s about you, not him.

Of course, those who rush through the story are going to find him borderline impossible, but that’s on them, and that’s the whole point. It’s also an insult to those who did take the time to learn the lessons that Shadow of the Erdtree is teaching.