Elden Ring hero Let Me Solo Them recently hit her long-running goal of helping 5,000 Xbox players beat the final bosses of FromSoftware's RPG epic, Radagon and the Elden Beast. Initially inspired by the Malenia-slaying efforts of community legend Let Me Solo Her, Solo Them has become a Jarnished icon in their own right, and she's still fighting the good fight after all this time.
"I am still going, but not to the same schedule I used to do!" she tells me in a recent interview. "I used to try and help at least 10 people each day beat Radagon / Elden Beast since I started this journey!"
Amazingly, her origin story is similar to Let Me Solo Her, who initially struggled with Malenia in their own playthrough. "When I first started the game, I wasn’t great and often used summons to help me get across the finish line," she explains. "But on my second playthrough I wanted to challenge myself and do a no-hit run for the bosses, meaning I would fight a boss continuously until I got the fight hitless and then I would go on to the next.
"Radagon was the biggest challenge to do without getting hit. But from practicing his fight so much I grew to love it, and when I finally beat him hitless I wanted to keep fighting him so I did but as a summon for other players."
She says Let Me Solo Her was "a huge inspiration to me as he brought out my passion for helping others," which is why she stuck with the recognizable jar-headed warrior look. "Seeing how many players he had helped motivate me to keep fighting the final boss as a summon. That’s when I popped a jar helm on and set the goal of helping 1,000 players beat the game! Which was my first goal, but I loved the joy I experienced and the happiness people expressed when I assisted them. So that’s when I set the goal to just keep going and help as many people as I could."
Solo Them has actually spoken with Let Me Solo Her, as the OG Jarnished told GamesRadar+ earlier this year. "Let Me Solo Her had messaged me in the past to congratulate me and also give thanks to my hard work for the community. He’s been extremely supportive of other Jarnished players."
Let Me Solo Them has not only helped 5,000 players beat Radagon and the Elden Beast, she says she's also helped people with other bosses, even following some Tarnished "through the entire game." In total, with two characters at the game's 999.59-hour cap, she says she's put a bare minimum of 2,000 hours into Elden Ring. "I think I played for at least 2 hours a day since release. The game is still as fun as ever!"
I’ve helped 5000 people defeat the final boss of Elden Ring! from r/gaming
I was fascinated to learn how her approach to Radagon changed over time as she got more comfortable with the fight. "I used to go in there with a big old Haligtree great shield and the Blasphemous Blade. I only had the twinblade as my secondary weapon for the Elden Beast part of the fight! But after I got better and more confident at the fight, I switched to using the twinblade. I really like the style of the weapon.
"That all boils down to a lot of practice. Even to this day I’m still learning new ways on how to dodge attacks (only recently I found that you can jump out of Radagon's grab attack if you time it perfectly). But the more I fought the bosses the easier it became!"
From these 5,000 kills, the most memorable sessions are the ones where "something 'out of the norm' occurs," she says. "After doing the fight so many times, you notice the funny things other players do when they battle. For instance they could be laying down the entire fight or being super excited over the in-game chat.
"Most of the time it’s because players message me their thanks. There was a lovely gentleman last year who had surgery on his thumbs right before the final boss of Elden Ring and he couldn’t finish the game. He was beyond grateful for me helping him get his ending. I think that’s the most memorable one for me."
Given their investment in the game, I'm curious to hear what Let Me Solo Them wants from the upcoming Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree. Whatever happens, she says "I will continue my Jarnished journey and help others with the bosses there as well. I’m hoping there are some very challenging and fun battles to come."
For the time being, she's considering making some video guides to help others with Elden Ring's dynamic duo, and may try some Soulslike games for a bit of variety. "I’ve been playing Lies of P and I’m on my second playthrough now. I love all Soulslike games. I’ve played through the entire Souls franchise as well as Sekiro. I’ve also played Wo Long and I’m excited to try Lords of the Fallen soon!"
FromSoftware parent Kadokawa says Shadow of the Erdtree is coming along well.
