Elden Ring bug makes its hardest boss fight even harder

By Otto Kratky April 19, 2022

One of Elden Ring‘s hardest bosses just got much, much harder. The game’s 1.04 patch introduced a number of changes today — including buffs to colossal swords and some incantations — along with a bug for Malenia. The Rot Goddess is now healing a bit of her health seemingly every time she attacks (and she attacks quite a lot).

For those who haven’t fought her yet, Malenia is one of Elden Ring‘s optional bosses. She’s the reason why Radahn is a massive, wild beast of a man by the time players fight him, and why all of Caelid looks like the inside of a fridge that hasn’t been cleaned out in a decade. The boss fight against her is one of the hardest in the game, demanding that players dodge her attacks and avoid being hit with Scarlet Rot in her second phase. What makes fighting her really difficult is that she normally heals around 300 health every time she hits the player, even if they’re blocking.

Now, the bug introduced in today’s patch for Elden Ring gives that feature of Malenia’s fight a sizable boost. According to a post on Reddit, Malenia now doesn’t actually have to hit players to heal. Instead, it seems that attacks that players just manage to dodge are giving her health. Considering that one of her most powerful moves involves a massive string of attacks that chase players, it seems like she’s guaranteed to heal a solid portion of her health bar regardless of players getting hit.

The bug makes beating Malenia a near impossibility, though some players will likely try and take her on just for bragging rights. It’s not clear when developer FromSoftware will patch out the bug.

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Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

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