An Elden Ring player shows off their favorite thing to do once arriving at the Haligtree, which sees them skip approximately half of the endgame region. More than a few helpful tricks, skips, and glitches have been discovered in Elden Ring since its release, including one that involves an unintentional advantage when performing a critical hit.

Not only are both the Consecrated Snowfield and Miquella's Haligtree optional, but access to them is also gated behind exploration and conversation. They continue FromSoftware's tried and true approach to level design, often developing entire regions that the player need not visit nor even know about. If Tarnished do ever reach these locations, they should not expect an experience at all easier than what has come before. On the contrary, Miquella's Haligtree in particular is known as one of the most punishing locations in the Lands Between, as well as the stage for who is arguably Elden Ring's hardest boss. Despite the hauntingly beautiful sights that welcome Tarnished as they traverse the branches of Miquella's domain, navigating into Elphael can become a little tedious on a repeated journey.

RELATED: Elden Ring Player Tricked By Godskin Noble That Did Not Want To Stop Rolling

A video posted to Reddit by WolfLordEdvard demonstrates just how to avoid all of this with the aid of a parry and subsequent critical hit. Just before the Haligtree Town Site of Grace, there is an initially inaccessible elevator that is intended to act as a shortcut for Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree, but the player kites a Misbegotten over to attempt a less orthodox method of travel. After failing to parry the enemy a couple of times and correcting their positioning, the player successfully performs a critical hit that knocks them off the platform's edge.

But they survive a fall that under ordinary circumstances would have meant certain death. The Misbegotten was uninjured too, but quickly dispatched with the Giantsflame Take Thee incantation before the death-defying player celebrated a triumphant exploit while riding back up in the expected elevator. It means that a vast section of the Haligtree was ostensibly skipped, placing the Tarnished a mere few seconds away from the first boss fight of the location.

This was achieved using a technique that is understandably popular with Elden Ring speed runs, given the significant distances, and therefore time saves, that would otherwise be impossible to cross so quickly. It requires the player to position themselves in a manner that would cause the animation of a critical hit to push them off the edge. The invincibility frames that come with such an attack then prevent all damage, even that which would be inflicted by falling, for the duration.

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

MORE: How FromSoftware Revisits Major Themes and Concepts in Every Soulsborne Game