Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Blackgaol Knight just became everyone’s archnemesis

It’s release day for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, which means that the world gets to find out what game director Hidetaka Miyazaki meant when he warned that the expansion would “[push] the envelope in terms of what [the developers] think can be withstood by the player.” Turns out, you don’t have to wait long to see exactly what Miyazaki is talking about. Once you load into the new area, the game throws a boss fight at you almost immediately in the form of the Blackgaol Knight. And this guy isn’t messing around.

In my own playthrough, where I’m running a dual-wielding mage, I discovered that this miniboss could kill me in three hits despite my being vastly overleveled for the base game. I had to spend time popping multiple defense spells before walking into the mist just to survive another hit or two, and there was little room for error. One wrong step and the Knight can trap you in a multi-hit combo. Meanwhile, even with a fully upgraded sword, I was barely dealing any damage. Powerful, borderline OP spells like Rock Sling were useless thanks to their long wind-up time, and the knight isn’t susceptible to any type of status effect. You also can’t summon a spirit ash to help you in battle. He is, in other words, a hard skill check that is meant to give the player a sense of whether or not they are ready to take on the rest of the enormous DLC.

Veteran players of FromSoftware games and their ilk would expect nothing less in a series infamous for kicking the player’s ass, but still, it’s been amusing to see the community reaction to a boss who exists with the express purpose of wiping the floor with you. After all, it’s been two years since the release of the base game. Some players are jumping in and basically having to relearn everything, only to be harshly reminded of how much their Elden Ring skills have atrophied.

“Forgot how much I suck at this game when I don’t know the enemies,” reads the top-voted comment on the stickied Shadow of the Erdtree megathread on r/EldenRing. The replies are largely in agreement. “Nothing like getting beat to death by a Carian troll that you feel like you really shouldn’t lose to by this point,” another Redditor chimes in. “Everything hits like a tank,” reads another top comment in that same thread.

One upshot to the communal suffering, however, is that the memes are impeccable:

The Blackgaol Knight, it should be noted, is an optional boss. While I didn’t have to spend hours bashing my head against a proverbial wall for an enemy so meaningless that he’s housed in a “nameless mausoleum,” I figured that if I couldn’t beat him, then I wouldn’t stand a chance against the rest of the expansion. The kicker? A few hundred feet away from the dreaded knight, the game rewards you with another absurd enemy who can one-shot you in a glorious maw of flames. We’re so back.

But for those of you who are still trying to beat the Blackgaol Knight, make sure to read our guide. In my case, I was only able to beat this boss after equipping the Hammer of Haima spell, which hits hard enough to stagger him and, at times, send him flying. I coupled that approach with talismans that would quickly regenerate my stamina, increase my intelligence, and buff up my spellcasting overall. Good luck out there, Tarnished.