There’s something endlessly fascinating about debating who would win in a fight, which is why I enjoy watching those ‘NPC battle royale’ videos on YouTube. The creators were inspired by classic games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and now there are channels dedicated to pitting characters against each other. One of these, “Elden Ring Fights,” recently posted a particularly great video: a showdown between Artorias from Dark Souls and the bosses from the original Elden Ring.
FromSoftware brought back a classic swordsman as a boss in the recent ‘Forsaken Hollows’ DLC for Elden Ring. It’s like they’ve updated him to work with Elden Ring’s game engine, letting players fight him in the Lands Between alongside other challenging bosses.
Even after a long break, Artorias handles the bosses in Elden Ring much better than the easy opponents Jake Paul fights. He quickly defeats early challenges like Margit and Godfrey, taking large chunks of their health with each hit. If you’re short on time and don’t want to watch full-length videos, here are the battles I recommend checking out:
- 8:22 – Maliketh the Black Blade
- 13:31 – Dragonlord Placidusax
- 16:53 – Radagon & Elden Beast
- 24:06 – Malenia
These four fights were all really exciting to watch because they were fast-paced and closely matched. Maliketh is one of the few to defeat Artorias, making an incredible comeback in his second phase. After playing the game five times, I still feel like I’m always struggling in the Maliketh fight, and if he had more health, he’d be the most challenging boss FromSoftware has ever created.
Malenia’s vulnerability to being staggered is a significant weakness in boss fights, which often become contests of who can deal the most damage while taking hits. However, she compensates for this with her ability to regain health on attacks and her powerful, nearly unstoppable Waterfowl Dance move.
Players often achieve victories against Placidusax and the Elden Beast after struggling initially. The AI controlling the player character wasn’t well-equipped to deal with these bosses’ quick movements and powerful area-of-effect attacks, especially considering the lengthy Radagon/Elden Beast battle. Despite these challenges, players often manage to win. The fight against the Fire Giant is also difficult, but it can be a tedious experience to watch.
I really dislike fighting Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. He’s just a massive, simple enemy – essentially a big snake with a lot of health and an area-of-effect fire attack. Beating Artorias with that feels cheap and isn’t satisfying at all. Honestly, his victory feels undeserved and a bit silly.
However, this video doesn’t give us the complete picture – we still don’t know how Artorias would perform against the tougher bosses in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Another video shows him losing to Carian Knight Rellana, which suggests he might struggle against other opponents. Artorias is potentially damaging his reputation as an undefeated fighter by avoiding battles he could lose, and trying to maintain his perfect 20-2-0 record.
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2026-01-27 00:17