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Elden Ring players are using the clunky 'fat roll' to dodge Shadow of the Erdtree's notorious final boss, and at this point I'm convinced it's genius
Players have discovered that using a heavy equip load and its clunky 'fat rolling' mechanic can be an effective strategy against the final boss in Shadow of the Erdtree.
Elden Ring players have discovered another way to deal with Shadow of the Erdtree's deadly final boss, and it goes against everything you'd expect would work by using a heavy equip load and its clunky 'fat rolling' mechanic.
Spoiler warning: Details on Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss are ahead – scroll with caution.
As has been beautifully demonstrated by Reddit user Mathishian29, 'fat rolling' – aka the slow, cumbersome dodge rolls your Tarnished will perform if they're weighed down enough to have a heavy equip load - is oddly effective against Promised Consort Radahn. I'll admit, I was initially baffled by this – he's such an aggressive boss, and has so many speedy moves that are hard to dodge even with a light equip load. You'd think that slowing yourself down would make you a sitting duck.
But no, apparently not. The so-called fat roll is the slowest – it doesn't give you any more invincibility frames than the medium or light rolls, and it takes you longer to recover from the animation, too. However, much like any roll, it also alters your hitbox, keeping you low to the ground. As it happens, being lower to the ground for longer means you can avoid certain attacks from Radahn simply because, well, he's not accounting for you to be down there.
"The fat roll animation is long enough to avoid the 'undodgeable' attack simply because the entire character is physically below the swings, even though you have no i-frames at this point," one Reddit user writes, pointing to the dodge at the 18-second mark. "That's genius."
This is such a viable strategy, in fact, that Mathishian29 managed to complete the whole fight this way without getting hit once. Obviously, it still requires plenty of skill – the player notes that they "definitely did get lucky that I got him before he did his flying attacks" that you see in the second phase of the fight. However, they say that these moves can still be dodged – the "only problem is you need to time your rolls waaay more accurately with the heavy roll for those attacks, so might die 50% of the time to those."
If you've been stuck fighting Radahn, then this is definitely worth a shot, right? You can also refine your strategy with our guide to beating Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn.