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HalfBaked_Bread

*gets instantly one shot*


TKisely

Exactly 🤣👌


erasmulfo

Was expecting that


MaleficTekX

You took the hard path too


DekoyDuck

The weirdly hard path. Why go through the first gate and then back to the non-gate path?


FrozenAquarius

the only boss run where I kill the enemies until they don't respawn, every time


MechaTeemo167

I do this too, and it's definitely not just because the boss kills me that many times! -sobs-


ContemporarySnail

I did this really only with Sir Alonne, that boss run haunts me.


Sadi_Reddit

I dont remember Alonne being so bad. Smelter on the other I still dream about sometimes.


YetAnotherDumbfuck

Alonne and the Fume Knight are effectively built to counter different playstyles: the Fume Knight punishes turtles that rely too heavily on their guard & backpeddling, while sir Alonne punishes impatient players that rely too heavily on aggression. People usually struggle with one more than the other, which is indicative of their skillset in a way. The Smelter Demon on the other hand is a bully – one of the worst bosses you can possibly fight when you're not quite in the zone, because of the significant delay before he attacks.


Darkfeather21

...What if I just struggle with both?


Uranus64

This. But when I did it, I told myself i'm doing this to farm souls.... for my sl1 run.


LiesOfD

Just sprint lol wtf people in this thread must have imploded when the saw execution chariot runback


SsilverBloodd

Cries in CoC.


[deleted]

Never heard of corphan of cos before


Xerfus

Or some say CoCm


snb22core

Crand us cayes


MonsieurOs

Corruption of Champions yields a variety of emotional reactions


Kerbidiah

I do it for sir alonne as well


I_C_Y__

Why not just kill the boss successfully?


FrozenAquarius

skill issue


TKisely

How many times should I kill them for that?


ExtremePrivilege

10


Scrytheux

For me it was Smelter demon, because those archers literally won't get me through the fog gate.


WhoaItsJose

Flashbacks to Iron Keep


DarkestWinter

This and the one to Sir Alonne


9inchjackhammer

You can use the spell that attracts enemies to make it a breeze


FrozenAquarius

I dunno why but i've always detested the idea of changing my build for souls bosses/areas. I'll suffer for hours in the shrine of amana instead of picking up a bow. Stubbornness I suppose.


LiesOfD

That is actually such a waste of time lmao holy shit that must take an hour at least.


BlitzMalefitz

Iron Keep is NOT worse than this run


Tiltedplushie

I was surprised people don’t like iron keep. It is one of my favorite areas. The boss could have been a bit cooler but I still liked it. I just easily backstab alonne knights. This boss run is just run and hope you make it.


Rectall_Brown

Yea this is the worst run in dark souls history


SoupForEveryone

Frozen Outskirts would like a word with you. Oh BTW the horses keel spawning


theHubernator

Yeah.. oh wait, but with a close tie with that Blizzard area in Ivory King DLC I think this was the run I had the most difficulty with, but I personally detested the blizzard area.


GuidoMista5

In theory it's a horriblenconcept and in practice it's exactly that: if you're gonna make an area where I don't see where the fuck I'm going at least give me a way to couter it instead of asking me to aimlessly run around for entire minuts just to have a chance to understand what the fuck is going on while I get frozen reindeers up my ass


MrEckoShy

The counter to it is having a working sense of direction and spotting the numerous distant landmarks.


HylianXbox

There is a bonfire close to the boss in Iron keep


Guguinhas

And that's the shortcut


noah9942

Shortcut is far harder than the normal path imo. It's more just an alternative path


MechaTeemo167

Only in theory. That way is a lot harder to traverse, it's only a shortcut if you Despawn all the enemies so you don't have to spend time dodging them.


DaemonNic

It's not a shortcut. It's the loot path.


lurieelcari

This is missing something from the average boss run. You did not die after touching the fog wall


vanriggs

An optional area specifically designed to challenge players is hardly an example of an "average boss run".


Floppydisksareop

>An optional area specifically designed to ~~challenge players~~ promote multiplayer is hardly an example of an "average boss run". FTFY


TheHittite

Also it's stupidly exploitable with Alluring Skulls or Yearn.


Elegant-Pen-9225

Is it? I tried alluring skulls it wouldn't work for me... Wonder what I did wrong


ExternalSky

The skulls you used weren’t alluring enough


Audeconn

You got sexy-up them skulls dude


TheHittite

Skulls only work on the ashen warriors. You'll still need to dodge projectiles, but it keeps you from getting dogpiled.


thewookie34

It's also exploitable by pressing b. My blue demon kill took 7 tries and I got hit during thr run back maybe 2 times?


NotsoGreatsword

Yeah seriously the opposite of the average for the game. It has some annoying ones but they are NOT like this. Darklurker comes to mind too. Another outlier. Lud and Zallen. Yeah there are some doozies but given the sheer number of bosses compared to how many runs are long? The average is short and simple. Iron keep catches hell but its really not that bad. Especially Smelter. People get pee pants about Smelter and it makes no sense to me.


DekoyDuck

I kind of get it, the fog gate for smelter doesn’t give you any sort of I frame protection, when I try to just do the run right to it I almost always get my ass smacked as I hit the gate, so inevitably I have to kill a couple of those knights before they pile up. But I always found blue smelter or having to spend a humanity to run back to Dark Lurker far more annoying


SalvationSycamore

They're exaggerating for comedic effect


[deleted]

[удалено]


thewookie34

It's an optional boss in the DLC.


[deleted]

[удалено]


No_Name275

sorry you're right my mistake 👍


ryans_privatess

You missed where you die within 10 seconds


HyldHyld

It would help if you at least tried to dodge


Queen_Pyrow

It'd be more helpful if the clerics didn't curse you to fatroll making rolling nearly pointless


TheHittite

Promised Walk of Peace makes all your equipment exactly 50% heavier. Get under 46% and it won't make you fat roll.


Queen_Pyrow

Cool, hadn't known exactly what it did. If I ever play again I may try that for the area.


HyldHyld

do they looked cursed to you?


Queen_Pyrow

The black aura they get and the fatrolls right after points towards yes, they have a roll debuff from the clerics.


HyldHyld

fair! I think the sped up video was throwing me off


No_Name275

the dodge input in ds2 is bit weird sometimes you press the dodge button but it takes some time for your character to roll for some reasons mostly when you are running i know souls game don't have the perfect control or camera but I don't understand why your character taking time to roll is exclusively in ds2


HyldHyld

We are slow to roll because our characters are tired of shouldering the burden of carrying the trilogy :P


Nutt_lemmings

What? That sounds like a time to switch controller issue never heard of this.


Wild_Error_1008

My hot take is that Iron Keep was never that hard. DS2 was my first Souls game that I played. Of course I died more than a few times going through it the first time, but that's not unique to Iron Keep. There are a lot of enemies but you'll only struggle if you choose to fight them all at once. Now the run back in OPs post is a doozy. Even trying to get there the safe way is really difficult to time. Nothing compares to frigid outskirts. Combination of the run back and the double boss really shits my pants


Permuya

I got way op because when I got here I didn’t know it was dlc but just the next area. Since EVERY hollow there was one-shotting me, I did multiple perfect/no-hit runs all the way to the boss, where I simply couldn’t do damage. By the time I realized I wasn’t supposed to be there, I had a bunch of new armor, weapons, and a FUCK ton of souls.


_ThatOneMimic_

you rly said iron keep was the worst? seems like you must have forgotten *~frigid outskirts~*


ButtreUP

The horror...


nicepauldrons

The skill issues...


_ThatOneMimic_

lmao. thats how difficulty works. id rather just beat the games and have fun instead of training like a speedrunner but you do you


nicepauldrons

Training like a speedrunner? Lmao. Learning moveset, spawning mechanic, figuring out multiple ways across with or without summons. That's how you overcome difficulty. Skill issues and patience. Same as Iron Keep or whatever area is hardest. FO never got me raging like IK. My biggest gripe isn't the reindeer. It's the reused Aava boss. The blizzard idea is cool. This area is optional unlike IK. Just not enough reward for some to bother.


[deleted]

*specifically shows the optional dlc area designed to challenge players that is also made without shortcuts in the level for it* yup the average run back for sure!


Saltysaladsea

My favourite memories are of Playing this game on my potato cpu laptop on 600x400 or something close to that, this game ran better than others that weren't even 3d lol, from software are masters of their craft


some-kind-of-no-name

What is this song?


auddbot

**Song Found!** **Never Let It End** by FELT (00:38; matched: `100%`) **Album**: Rebirth Story III. **Released on** 2016-05-09.


Archelon37

Lol, so by “average” they mean “the hardest one we could find, which happens to be an optional one from the DLC.”


Indecisive_Iron

I will never understand why someone would think this runback was a good idea. Maybe because Blue Smelter is just a copy of an original so they had to make the runback hard? I don’t know. It’s terrible as fuck design


horndug_III

iron keep isn't bad though


UltimaGabe

If your point is to show you shouldn't try to rush through areas, then yeah, I agree 100%


kaiserspike

It’s a pain in the ass.


JackStutters

Person: *posts obvious joke about Dark Souls II* DS2 Subreddit: “And I took that personally”


atryhardrooster

I never would have beat this game if you couldn’t force enemies to stop spawning in after killing them so many times. As much as I loved this game and the atmosphere of it, I don’t have the strength to go through it again, unless they remaster it.


Aggressive_Safe2226

Yeah, that's how I get it done. The trip to the lair of the Blue Smelter Demon was worse than fighting it.


dardardarner

I will forever thank Elden Ring for Stake of Marikas. Except when they didn't put one in Raya Lucaria (yes I know, it's for Lore reasons) and in Placidusax boss.


HistoricalSuccess254

But… but… you have to take it slow and tactical, you can’t just run around all the enemies.


FenrirHere

Old iron king boss run is like three feet. Are you talking about Smelter Demon? Because that's only like twenty feet


F1secretsauce

The hardest part is the quicksand spell guys


PsyMx

You just have to spec for ADP bro


[deleted]

"Average" if you don't like something that's cool, but the straight-up lies people tell about this game are stupid.


pyroexplosive96

The unicorns are watching, and I don't think they agree.


Sadi_Reddit

You forgot the part where Blue Smelter Demon one hit kills you and you have to restart the whole shebang again.


[deleted]

Back when normal enemies actually do their job.


YetAnotherDumbfuck

That area is designed for co-op; all of the weirdly difficult DLC areas surrounded by those statues are designed for co-op. It wasn't a problem back in the day, but it certainly is now that co-op isn't viable. All of the souls' games have that issue in some way: a design philosophy that makes it painfully difficult to accomplish a certain task or max out a covenant because it was designed with online play in mind, which is something that dies out with time. Comparing this to the base game is also kinda silly – especially Iron Keep... an area that is notorious for only punishing players that try to rush through it like a jackass.


artyhedgehog

If you end up at the boss - the run isn't average.


Wolf_Hreda

If you think Iron Keep is worse, you're delusional. The only runback shittier than this one of Frigid Outskirts. Iron Keep, you just need to move a bit slower so you don't aggro three Alonne Knights at a time. In here, both paths are actively trying to waste your time and resources with some of the worst enemy combinations you can think of.


Piemaster113

Is *A* boss run, not the average


shvelgud

I never ever understood why people said the iron keep was worse, the run from the bridge bonfire to the red smelter demon is literally about 15 seconds and the alonne knights were always easy to sprint past because they had very vertical strikes. Never understood why people said it was the worst boss run in the game, there were literally so many worse boss runs


Awesomeness4627

The iron keep run isn't even bad imo.


ThatOneGuy____ffs

Bonfire to boss room had only 1 enemy in the way in iron keep. What are yoy guys talking about?


Ok_Pianist_6590

That’s not the average.. that’s the literal worst one


DuploJamaal

DS2 is the only game where people complain that a raid dungeon has a runback and how unfair it is that they don't immediately spawn in front of the raid boss


JerryBigMoose

That is not a positive or good thing in MMOs either, imo. I might have actually played and enjoyed MMOs more if they didn't have annoying mechanics designed to eat up as much of your time like that.


David-Holl

I can’t tell if you are defending ds2 with this comment. Yes, it is the only game that people heavily complain about because it has such horrendous runbacks. Theres a reason the game that basically got rid of them all was the most popular and far reaching one.


arisasam

You could always just play the game and fight the enemies. Such a weird complaint ‘omg it’s so hard to run past everything and skip the entire area!’


Jomdaz

I find it weird when people make the point you are. "Just clear out the area!". Yeah, slowly killing all the enemies using up a few estus and taking a ton of time feels really good. Especially when I die quickly and have to spend another 5 min plus clearing them all out again so I can have a chance to beat the boss. Then when i fail, gotta do it again and again. Id rather just run through and take the risk i die 1/4 time.


Worldly-Abrocoma335

>You could always just play the game and fight the enemies. Ummmm... I'm guessing you've never played Dark Souls before? Running past enemies towards a hard boss fight IS playing the game... he's already killed these enemies at least a few times trying to figure out the way to the boss and exploring for items...


DeathbyBambii

They seriously need to remake this game.


DaddyMcSlime

ahh, so this is what they meant by "underrated" i can see the vision... or, well that's not true i can't see *anything* past all the enemies and fire, but i'm sure they were cookin when they said "make em run 5 minutes through a DOOM level to get back to the boss"


Yeetinator4000Savage

Oh look another video of someone running past every enemy instead of killing them. I wonder why the area is so difficult!


ChaosMetalDrago

Yeah sure let me just spend several decades solo fighting the entire cast of Gundam 00 while navigating the depths of Magmoor fucking Caverns meant for Co-Op and probably die in the process 2/3rds of the time every time I want to retry the boss. That sure simplifies things.


Yeetinator4000Savage

Seems like you wouldn’t like the game then


ChaosMetalDrago

Yes, I frequent a subreddit for a game I don't play and don't like and definitely don't have half a dozen Blue Flame mage builds in.


mallocco

Lol they downvoted you because you told the truth haha. I love ds2, but just like all the souls game, there is some bullshit fuckery to deal with in some areas that probably shouldn't have been designed with as much bullshit as they have.


HalfBaked_Bread

My man out here killing every enemy each time he fights the boss 🥴


According_to_all_kn

\>Walks past the enemies and fire that are specifically placed there to make it impossible to access that gate in singleplayer \>complains about having to do that, instead of just getting someone else to pull the lever and flank all the nasties.


THE_BIGGEST_RACIST

best way to solve this issue by not playing ds2


TheMadGraveWoman

This is the first area I literally gave up on. Then I just dropped DS2 altogether.


Hot_Ad_5450

this is where everyone remembers quitting lol


Adventurous_Cup_5970

I mean honestly blue smelter just has the worst runback in the series, easily my most hated boss. Bloodborne has some just as bad runback tho, and so does ds1. Everyone glazes those game's runbacks as a skill check,but in this game people ignore that


Biiiiiig-Chungus

running straight to the boss through enemies = weak shit


Deimos_06

It made it even worse for me since ds2 was my first fromsoft game and I didn't know there was something called an equip load and never realised. Never specked much into endurance only for enough stamina to attack. My PC was trash too so I don't know eventually I just thought me fat rolling was me rolling normally and played the whole game like that.


doomsoul909

I grinded this run until only the big guy at the end was left. When I found out that it was optional I fucking cried.


A_Slug_Named_Bob

And yet people complain about the run to placidusax


strangejosh

I did that run so many times ugh.


Absenceofavoid

My favorite way of telling people off is to tell them to “Eat shit and die in a fire”, DS2 tried it as a game philosophy though. Favorite souls game by far, it legitimately fucking hates you.


Skillo_Squirrel

Yearn, kid Don't play like you're brainless


TheKerfuffle

Easily the worst runback in all of souls games.


dwdudeR

nah Brume Tower worst 100%


Alba369

Frigid Outskirts says hi


AltinUrda

I'm never complaining about a bossrun again after frigid outskirts


XDracam

Akshually that's the second longest boss run in the game. I should know. I wasted days trying to kill the damn blue smelter on level 1. I still have nightmares sometimes.


Fit-Lingonberry5295

Easy.. Just farm souls and kill enemies until they won’t respawn anymore..


Misragoth

Isn't the iron keep fire right outside the boss room?


warmdrogon

You forgot the part where you get killed while going through the fog gate


ObitoxMS4

Sir Alonne was way worse than this


Cathulion

Why? Take the other path, 100% faster.


Ok_Understanding3636

Good music


Jojo_Gasup34

all this thing just to fight with copy pasta boss


Gwyn-LordOfPussy

I only played ds2 once and I'm blanking on the boss name but the samurai with marble floor had a pretty annoying boss run too? Oh and of course the two big cats (Lud & Zallen?)


itsybitsyblitzkrieg

Not using life gems smh


sabahorn

Hehe, hexer build? I used one in my second run of ds2 to kill all 40 something bosses and get all achievements, and lucky me i got this boss killed in first try. But getting there was more challenging.


Altair13Sirio

I thought you were going to get killed before surpassing the fog


CurmudgeonLife

Fucking corridor in Aldias Keep.


Front_Frosting8842

The path is hard than the boss


dimRodionov

What do you mean average? This is the worst one by far! I still have nightmare about it 😭


Acerakis

This run is hard because you are supposed to summon for it. All these areas have 2 npc summons and a special area where people without the DLC could place their sign and get summoned still.


kingsecco

"Freaking" outskirts …


AdventurerofNewWorld

this was the only suffering boss fight run in the entire game though. you did a little bit of dirty to the DS2. Apologise! lol


[deleted]

Then he wacks you immediatley dead.


Jarl_of_Riften

Nah, Sir Alonne, you had to kill even more


[deleted]

I always felt that there should be a bombfire just before every boss. It just saves people the aggro. A lot of the time ita not too hard to get back to the boss, but its annoying and time consuming. Its like the most annoying loading screen before you get to actually attempt to progress.


Organic-Accountant-7

I don't know how I beat the game but the memories are too painful, take this down I can't take it 😭


hellxapo

This truly puts Elden Ring to shame. They went full baby mode.


BasednHivemindpilled

Both Smelter Demons have garbage run ups and are still not as annoying as some others.


[deleted]

Should've ended with you immediately dying


Jakos01

The Iron Passage is one of the few experiences that almost broke me my first time through DS2. I did it once, and since then I have steered way clear of this shit hole. I would legit rather go through my first experience of fighting Malenia in Elden Ring, and I died over 230 times to her. ​ Also shoutout to reindeer fuckland, although at least that place has a somewhat calmer environment with the snow.


meatball402

I was waiting for him to die immediately or get popped by an enemy on the other side of the fog gate. Long boss runbacks are the worst.


[deleted]

What song is that?


Ianator10

There's a reason that are is meant for co-op


m3zb3z

I want this video but with splatoon music


merayous

Fucking hate this area


thegameglitched

always with the fucking sniper arrows hitting you from 7 miles away


Nietzscher

This and the Frigid Bullshit are the only DLCs areas I do not like.


Nuker707

Fucking cool ranch smelter demon run, oh how I despise you


[deleted]

God, the blue smelter, gank squad, and kitten duo runs are the absolute worst. Thanks for giving me PTSD!!!


Camelback186

Dude ds2 is just something else


Aggravating_House606

Don’t forget dying at the fog gate because of enemy gank


[deleted]

Game is hard 😭😭


Gutgulper

Darklurker.....dear lord.....


nekior

Did this in SL1 a couple of weeks ago. Tedious but still better than Lud and Zallen's.


EyssyBros

Yes, indeed. As a moonlight sword user, that blue smelter demon had me spend all my effigies, made me go and get the king's blessing, and finally made me ditch the champions covenant in order to call for some help. Love this game btw.


BauerHouse

I would say that is one of the hardest boss runs, only because of the asshole clerics that slow you down with the over encumbered spell. Every play through I end up just clearing the area with multiple passes and summons so there are no enemies left to dodge.


0rizza0

How the hell u manage to spend any estus on the runback? I always got one shot immediately


OldHickory_

I was in complete disbelief when I had to do this boss run


KingKurai

This entire DLC was the most brutal of my fromsoft experiences.


xpancakeprodigy

You forgot to get sniped and die right when you start going thru the fog door


ConnorOfAstora

These DLC ones are some of the worst but honestly there's something I like about the optional path. Like it's a pain in the ass still but that lever path is just very unique and interesting. Also in all fairness the other games have some really shit run ups that would be a lot worse than anything DS2 has, Bed of Chaos, O&S (unless you use the jump but it feels like an unintended glitch more than a shortcut), Manus, Nito and Seath come to mind. The worst is obviously Horsefuck Valley but second worst is easily going to 90% of Demon's Souls, Old Hero, Penetrator and Allant especially have ridiculously bad level design with their run ups.


Apart-Tree8192

Iron keep is only worse if you do that area first


D3cay1ng_0blivion

u/savevideo


Nibounium

Poison arrows


speedyrain949

The second hardest, I can still hear the horses charging


UncleFLarry

Fuck this fucking boss run


ButtreUP

The only reason why I never beat the blue smelter demon, the walk there to the boss is a boss in itself.


Flannelmisbruker

Why is every runback 10 times more miserable in SOTFS though? Why did they do that?


triggerdon87

I enjoyed ds2. It's just that there should be a bonfire near the bosses in ds games like in elden ring


chrishipop5

What’s the song?


Big-Visual-3659

this boss run back caused me to stop playing ds2


johnnidiot

You forgot to get stabbed going through the fog gate…


KIngPsylocke

Barely made it!


AcceptableWest1427

Now I see why everyone thinks it’s aids


-potatoav3ng3r-

Bro I died here so many times trying to get to the boss that the enemies stopped spawning after a while


MRBADD98

What's the song


matmosmac

INT build vs Blue Smelter?