Git gud (at juggling).

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree earned an immediate reputation for its punishing difficulty, to the point that it suffered a brief barrage of negative reviews from players who thought its boss fights were excessively brutal. The DLC’s final boss, as you might expect, is particularly nasty—so nasty that it took legendary boss-deleter Let Me Solo Her three hours of attempts. Seems like all the fuss might be a little unnecessary, though, because over the weekend, Elden Ring streamer Ainrun killed Erdtree’s last boss with a single hit.

There will be spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree’s final boss ahead, considering—well, you saw the headline.

Before you get your hopes up about walking through that last fog gate and one-shotting the boss yourself, I should clarify that Ainrun’s setup is… pretty involved. Bending Elden Ring’s combat math enough to pull off the instant knockout entailed an elaborate inventory juggling routine, where Ainrun stacked buffs from 5 consumables, 3 weapons, 4 helmets, and 5 talismans—some of which were actively killing him.

I’ll do my best to explain Ainrun’s procedure here, informed by IGN’s excellent writeup. You might want to take notes.

First, Ainrun pops a Lulling Branch consumable, gaining a damage boost from the St. Trina’s Smile trinket after falling asleep. The Flask of Wondrous Physick then provides a charged attack boost from the Spiked Cracked Tear and a flat damage buff from the Bloodsucking Cracked Tear, which starts draining his health. He tosses a Frenzyflame Stone, which will eventually inflict him with madness to gain damage buffs from his equipped Madding Hand weapon, Black Dumpling helm, and Aged One’s Exultation talisman.

Next, he eats a Sacred Bloody Flesh, which gives an immediate damage buff and another when bloodloss occurs nearby (that’ll come soon). Further damage buffs come from a Bloodboil Aromatic consumable and the Rallying Standard weapon skill from the Commander’s Standard polearm. After his building madness kicks in, he swaps in the Mushroom Crown helm and Kindred of Rot’s Exultation talisman, which provide more damage boosts when he poisons himself by eating a Raw Meat Dumpling.

Then, another equipment swap to slot in the White Mask helm and the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, which he gains yet more damage buffs from after equipping a katana to use the Seppuku weapon skill and inflict bloodloss on himself. A final helm swap gives him the full Rakshasa Armor Set, slightly boosting his damage with each piece. He equips the Fire Knight’s Greatsword alongside the Two-Handed Sword Talisman and Axe Talisman to boost it. In his other hand, he equips the Twinbird Kite Shield—which grants him another boost while his health is low, thanks to the Bloodsucking Cracked Tear health drain and meat dumpling poison—and slaps it on his back. And, finally, his sword’s Royal Knight’s Resolve skill grants him a large damage boost for his next attack.