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Of all the Elden Ring challenges out there, defeating serpent demigod Rykard in just one hit might stand as the most impressive to date – or, at least, it's certainly up there.
Now that the FromSoftware RPG has been out in the wild since 2022, players have found all sorts of creative ways to challenge themselves. Heck, folks have managed to tackle no-hit saxophone runs and more… if you can believe it. There have also been plenty of attempts at one-shot boss takedowns – and successes, as Reddit user Cheppitos survives to prove.
In his latest post, he announces that he's not just killed any boss in a solo hit, though.
Cheppitos has done the seemingly impossible and dealt nearly 100,000 damage in one shot, as he writes, to Rykard – a boss he describes as "the hardest one-shot kill in all of Elden Ring, including the DLC." It took the skilled player a whopping eight hours to do, too, and a whole lot of luck thanks to RNG. Cheppitos explains just why this part of his one-shot journey was so difficult in the comments, noting that the stars had to align.
Rykard One-Shot Kill! Nearly 100,000 total damage dealt. Without a doubt, the hardest one-shot kill in all of Elden Ring, including the DLC. An absolute nightmare that took eight hours. from r/Eldenring
"It's RNG," he says, "Rykard in phase two needs to perform the specific breath attack, which is the rarest. Furthermore, the angle and timing of the spell need to be perfect, or the lightning bolts won't kill him, and the buffs might expire."
In a separate reply, he expands on this, calling Rykard "the only boss in the entire game that's truly impossible to One-Hit Kill legitimately compared to all the others." He has the "highest HP pool in the whole game," after all.
The Elden Ring mastermind concocted a strategy that involved damage stacking with poison debuffs to "burst him down" and then the Sacred Bloody Flesh, White Mask, and Lord of Blood's Exultation for the second phase – and he did it.
His attached clip proves as much, highlighting how Cheppitos destroyed Rykard without breaking a sweat… er, at least during that one pull, anyway. His conclusion? "It's absolute hell."
It sure sounds like it is – but somehow, I feel the community will somehow manage to go on and pleasantly surprise me with an even wilder challenge run, honestly.
