Elden Ring is notorious for its tough bosses, a staple of nearly every FromSoftware game, but its infamous Fire Giant still makes players sad with its difficult hitboxes and annoying dodge rolls. One player shared their displeasure with the Fire Giant on Reddit, posting a video of the Elden Ring boss continuously rolling across the boss arena for over a minute whenever the player or their co-op gets close. While certain boss moves aren’t uncommon in previous FromSoftware games, this example in particular highlights a big flaw in the Fire Giant boss fight.
Elden Ring bosses have been known to occasionally hype their moves, like Malenia’s infamous Waterfowl Dance or Godfrey’s stomp attack, and Fire Giant is no different. The Fire Giant is a notorious boss, with many players citing its strange hitbox and annoying roll as its most notable flaws. Among the moves used by whining bosses are its oddly timed slams, and its range-increasing dodge.
In the featured video, the boss uses the dodge roll 13 times in a row. Every time one of the two players comes within the hit range of the boss, he will roll to the other side of the boss arena. Due to the spacing between players, he seems to be stuck in a loop and constantly uses moves instead of attacking either of the two co-op players, forcing annoyingly repetitive chases.
While many bosses in Elden Ring are known for their difficulty, they rarely rely on methods such as delivering specific attacks or healing to gain an advantage over the player. Bosses like Margit are widely praised in online forums for their seemingly tough but fair programming. Of Elden Ring’s 70+ bosses, it’s hard to find one that relies on repeated attacks or odd hitboxes like Fire Giant.
FromSoftware as a studio almost perfected the boss design in its “Spirit of Soul” game. While the studio usually gets the bosses right often, in some cases there can be issues with the way it programs the boss fights. The Fire Giant’s heavy use of its dodge move is a clear example of when the way bosses are programmed can backfire. The two players aren’t allowed to get close enough to even damage the boss, unfairly prolonging the fight due to a bug in the boss’s movement setup that has existed in the game since launch.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.