As if Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss wasn't hard enough, one Elden Ring player's attempt to call for help ends in disaster as their jolly co-operator gets killed before entering the room

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss is the hardest fight in the entire action RPG, and one unlucky player getting killed before even entering the room is pretty solid proof of that. Beware, there are spoilers ahead for the final fight of the DLC.

Promised Consort Radahn is an absolute menace. Right from the moment you enter the arena, he tends to launch himself at you with a massive flying strike, which also causes a load of spikes to erupt from the ground in a radius around him, dealing damage if you're too close. It's this move that Reddit user davidoff-sensei was first met with upon being summoned into another player's game to help them with the boss, while simply trying to enter the fog gate to assist. Unfortunately though, their woes didn't end there. 

In the baffling clip shared below, Radahn quickly follows up with his gravity pull move, which drags you close to him if you're within range, or pushes you back if you're on the edge of it. Unfortunately, the latter applied to the poor co-operator, who got caught with the move while once again trying to get into the arena, promptly launching them off the side of the stairs and killing them instantly. "Wow he’s so hard that he won’t even let me into the room!" they joke.

Wow he’s so hard that he won’t even let me into the room! from r/Eldenring

Perhaps the most unfortunate part about this is the fact that the host player who summoned davidoff-sensei was clearly hoping to get some help from the community (and there's no shame in that, it's an incredibly tough fight), but by their co-operator dying instantly, they got the exact opposite. Summoning players or NPCs outside a boss arena buffs the foe's health, which in this case would have made Radahn even harder to kill than usual since they didn't have the summoned player to make up for the difference. We can also briefly see that a second summoned player was in the same boat as davidoff-sensei – it's not clear if they also got killed by the gravity blast, but if so, then that poor host was going to be facing a really chunky health bar all alone. 

If you want to prevent this from happening to any players you summon, it's probably for the best to wait around outside the arena for them to load in before you enter, as it's clear that the host had already started the fight in this case. It's also worth honing your strategy – you can find some great tips on our guide to fighting Shadow of the Erdtree final boss. 

You can also check out our guide to all Shadow of the Erdtree areas and locations to help you explore the entire DLC map.