An Elden Ring player suffered a wholly unjustified death against Maliketh, the Black Blade that understandably left a sour taste in their mouth. Elden Ring is no stranger to heartbreaking clips of tragic defeats, but they are often the result of player greed and not unfairness on behalf of the game.

FromSoftware veterans can be skeptical of claims that a moment in titles such as Bloodborne, Sekiro, or Elden Ring is outright unfair. Games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne virtually coined the phrase "challenging but fair," and the community can become very defensive, pointing out mistakes made by the player. To their credit, this is often the case, with some Tarnished unaware of certain Elden Ring mechanics such as equip load, subsequently fat-rolling, or being pursued by a boss without respite because they refuse to face them head-on. However, there are occasionally moments where impassioned cries of injustice are a completely valid response.

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A video posted to Reddit by PalpitationWitty8195 captures one of these moments, showcasing a tragic defeat at the hands of Maliketh that was in no way their fault. The two are brawling near the arena's edge, with Maliketh's second phase having been reached. Aptly rolling away from Maliketh's ground quake area of effect, the Tarnished quickly casts their Glintblade Phalanx Ash of War, which sees four blades of magic hover above them. Maliketh then enters the animation for what could become Destined Death, an attack that sees him plunge his weapon into the ground and fill the surrounding area with a myriad of blades.

The player seems to accurately identify the move and rolls forward to avoid it, but the hovering Glintblades collide with Maliketh and stagger him, canceling the animation and placing him in an incapacitated state. Understandably assuming themselves to be in a relatively safe position, the Tarnished stops trying to avoid the attack that is no longer in motion and goes for a critical hit. But Maliketh's flurry of Destined Death comes out of nowhere regardless, instantly defeating the player.

Many in the comments were sarcastically suggesting that it was a skill issue, or that if one avoids Maliketh's attacks, they would take less damage, which is no doubt advice they will hold dear during their next attempt. Maliketh's Destined Death is a notoriously difficult attack to flawlessly avoid unless players are aware of a specific tactic, which is to roll toward him and run past his legs. Not doing this means players are likely to get caught by at least a few frames of the attack, potentially proving deadly when paired with the life drain inflicted by his weapon.

Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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