This Elden Ring player fights bosses for seven hours straight dealing one damage per hit in anti-speedruns

Elden Ring
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Elden Ring players have gotten terrifyingly good at killing bosses as quickly as possible. Just days ago, one Tarnished slayed Malenia in just 15 seconds on NG+7. But Twitch streamer questi0n_markss isn't interested in fast boss kills. With the patience of a saint, they've been defining Elden Ring's anti-speedrun leaderboards by killing bosses with absurd limitations like dealing one damage at a time, with fights lasting upwards of five to seven hours for one attempt.

Questi0n_markss has been tackling ridiculous Elden Ring boss runs for a while – they bare-fisted their way through the game eight months ago – but I didn't learn of their exploits until I saw their recent post about killing Morgott in eight-and-a-half hours while doing just one damage per hit. It turns out this fight actually took them closer to seven hours – and you can watch the big finish around 4:17:30 in this Twitch VOD, complete with the mandatory "let's freaking go" – but that's still an unfathomable effort to... basically anyone. 

Morgott is just one of the many bosses they've defeated this way, but he's a good demonstration of how intensive this challenge is. According to the Elden Ring wiki, Morgott, the Omen King has 10,399 HP, so you'd have to hit him that many times if you're only dealing one damage. How do you deal exactly one damage? By equipping a single piece of the Briar Armor set and rolling directly into an enemy – 10,000 times. 

Apart from sheer endurance, this challenge also demands near-perfect knowledge of a boss's move set. To survive against Morgott for seven hours straight, questi0n_markss used stamina-replenishing items to make sure they were always able to dodge. They also offset the health loss from some inevitable blows with spells like Bestial Vitality, which slowly regens your health over time. But even then, they're always just one slip-up away from losing hours of progress. 

Goldfrey killed by 1 damage! (5 Hours) WORLDS FIRST from r/Eldenring

This has got to be the most brutal and extreme Elden Ring challenge I've ever seen someone complete, so my first question for questi0n_markss was what I imagine most people would ask: why? Why do this? 

"Well for me it’s quite simple," they say. "But for others I can understand the confusion. My goal is to push the game as far as I possibly can."

I can understand the appeal of one-hitting bosses or killing them super fast. I can see the fun in that. But is it fun dealing one damage for hours at a time? 

"Honestly? Kind of," questi0n_markss says. "Being a very small streamer makes doing these things feel more worth it in the chance it’ll draw some attention. Luckily I have some viewers so they were there to talk and support me. So I’d say so."

"I didn’t do it straight," they said of Morgott's seven-hour run. "I took around two 20-minute breaks then just did five hours without a break because I just wanted to be done." 

Casually, they add that "I also plan on doing the whole game [this way]." They reckon that will take them 150 to 200 hours – which is apparently "not too bad." 

Hungry for more weird Elden Ring challenges? Meet the superfan who's beaten the game over 100 times playing by the strangest rules you can think of. 

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.