With these new enemies now filling up the roster in Elden Ring, the game needed a way to quickly convey to players how things were going to change from beginning to end. Fortunately, the game has Margit, the first main boss in Stormveil Castle, who acts as one of the first major walls of the game, as well as an impressive teacher for what players can expect from these fights moving forward.
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Margit, the Fell Omen’s Endless Combos
For many players jumping into The Lands Between, either as newcomers to the FromSoftware design or veterans of the Souls series, Margit holds off progress in Elden Ring until they figure out how this new game works. One of the most obvious changes between Margit and other bosses from previous games like Dark Souls is the way that he is able to string together long combos that requires specific builds in order to block all the way through or dodge entirely. This means that players will need to have chosen their fighting style, either with stable shields using the Barricade skill or light builds able to dodge ad infinitum.
Beyond forcing players to get their builds hammered in early, Margit’s combos make sure to teach the player that they will have to be able to react quickly and consistently to future enemies. Many of the fights beyond Margit aren’t built around waiting for a single attack opportunity after a combo and punishing but instead finding the opportunities presented between attacks. This will later be the key to some of the most notoriously difficult bosses, such as Elden Ring’s Godskin Noble or Maliketh, both of which leave even less room between combos than Margit.
On a first playthrough, especially after getting used to the slower-paced combat of the Dark Souls series, this can seem brutally difficult and even unfair. However, as Margit continues to push the player to be more active and reactive than any FromSoftware boss since Artorias, reading these combos and punishing the openings becomes incredibly rewarding. All of this sight-reading and proper reacting is only elevated by Margit’s habit of sending out early telegraphs and sometimes reading the inputs from the player.
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Margit vs. the Nameless King
One aspect of Dark Souls 3’s Nameless King that helps to make him one of the hardest fights in the base game is the way that he telegraphs an attack, only to hold for an extra beat and a half before releasing the hit. Given the designs of many of the bosses in Elden Ring, it would seem that FromSoftware took this preemptive telegraphing concept and sprinkled it around to several bosses. This is first conveyed to the Elden Ring player when fighting Margit, who has two notable attacks that hold before attacking.
For Margit specifically, this comes when he raises his cane over his head and prepares to slam it down on the ground, as well as when he summons a golden hammer and jumps into the air. Not only does he brace for a long second before jumping into the air, but the hammer attack actually holds him in the air long enough for players to trickshot Margit right out of the attack. The animation is one of the most overwhelmingly “anime” moments from any FromSoftware title (that’s including Ninja Blade), and it will likely catch a player off guard on their first few attempts.
Out of the large roster of boss encounters in Elden Ring, Margit is far from the worst offender of these hesitating attacks, with only a few that will likely catch a player unaware. The point of giving him these attacks, along with the long combos, and the occasional dagger throw when a player tries to get some distance and heal is to introduce each concept in a measured way that isn’t too overwhelming. While Margit might still be incredibly hard on a first playthrough, most bosses to come after will pick one of his major mechanics and crank it up even higher. This makes for more active and dangerous enemies than many other FromSoftware titles, all conveyed early with the initial wall that is Margit, the Fell Omen.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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