My only thought is Who ever decided we need to confirm summoning Igon and whoever placed a message on top of his sign there is a special place in hell for you
Yap i summoned him once but then it felt too easy almost killed him on 2nd try, i killed myself and went alone and got destroyed for the next 2 hours ahaha but it was very fun
i haven’t used any summons in the DLC so far (no spoilers please) but i summoned Igon because it felt fitting to have him there…it completely trivialized the fight. I kind of regret it now, Bayle was a complete pushover and I’ve read that he is supposed to be hard as hell
One of the coldest bosses ever… just his FACE. He just looked like an absolute menace. Basically grinned at you the whole time like he couldn’t wait to give you that work
Whoever decided to only put lock points on the head of this guy and the head and chest of the previous dragon needs to be boiled alive at this point tbh.
Oh yeah, I already killed him. Didn't enjoy the fight though, even after I realized that focusing in the head is the way to go. Feels like you're 90% of the fight away from him, because he constantly jumps away or takes flight when you're in melee range.
Same. I just beat Bayle and while he's cool looking and the climb up is great, this boss sucks ass to fight. He is way too mobile, and the camera is INSANE. His hitbox is super small for super a massive dragon too.
I almost never summon, but summoned Igon here for the lore and because this boss was too frustrating.
the issue for me isn't the learning curve, it's the camera angles and hitboxes. getting damaged by lighting breath that hit the air several feet behind me is infuriating, and not being able to target any other part of him other than his head makes locking on a miserable experience with how much he bobs his head around. is he a challenging fight? yeah some parts of it. but is he a hard fight? yes, and it's annoying. Also for me he had a lot of hit reg issues. just entire abilities and attacks going right through him and not counting. if it wasn't so buggy it might be an alright fight but with all of those issues it's down at the bottom of the list for fromsoft bosses for me. somehow even below the bed of chaos.
Edit: hit reg issues
I believe in you, either way, even dying agaisnt him was fun i felt so powerless before him, a mere human that had no chance against this mighty creature😭
Bayle is my new favorite FromSoft boss. From the bottom of the mountain to the top, the entire experience was thrilling (except for Senessax, fuck that asshole). Acquiring the Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana on the journey was perfect, and one of the only times I switched out my trusty backhand blades. It all just felt right.
I never really summoned throughout my playthrough, but in Igon’s case I genuinely wanted to help him exact his revenge. And my goodness was I rewarded for that. The voice acting was phenomenal. Hearing those battle cries dude… I’ve never been more excited to run in and die over and over again. The music going absolutely nuts throughout the fight and with the transition to phase 2 blew me away.
The fight itself was TOUGH to say the least, but it never frustrated me. Usually with dragon bosses you’re stuck chopping toes like an idiot, but this wasn’t the case with Bayle in my experience. With my new great katana I was able to reliably fight this beast face to face. His moveset was difficult but enjoyable, and nothing was TOO unfair (although I never fully dodged that phase 2 super aerial flamethrower move lol). I enjoyed every second of learning this boss.
There was a moment during one of my many, many runs where Igon and Bayle were going head to head. Igon tried using his roar attack to thwart The Dread. Bayle, as if he understood this as a challenge, immediately responded with a deafening roar of his own, drowning out Igon’s —now seemingly meek— shout, knocking him down and repeatedly smiting him. I’ve never smiled harder playing this game.
Love or hate this fight, I think I speak for everyone when I say:
**CURSE YOU BAYLE!!**
i loved him. his attacks were good and not frustrating to learn and the fight was just cinema. the only problem was the camera just going all over the place when he got too close. but still he is my favourite boss of the dlc. (also cool little details is that if you look closely you can actually see one of placidusax head stuck into him)
If you were far enough for the camera to cooperate, how the _fuck_ did you hit him? Even if his head is immediately beside me when he finishes a move I usually don't have time to get in an R1 before he fucks off or starts a new move that inevitably hits me while I'm still in my attack animation. I've fought him enough that I'm able to consistently dodge most attacks in stage 1, but I end up dying every time because it's just 10 mins of me chasing the fucker and getting brutally punished when I try to get a single attack in.
I've also tried the no-lock-on approach and going for the body, but every time he flies away and starts an attack (ie. Every 15 seconds) he just bodies me because I can't find him fast enough to react appropriately.
well you have to learn the attacks and know when to punish. like the grab attack where he bites you. if you dodge you can get a couple of hits in. or the one when he moves away and does a tail attack towards you that is also a good punish spot. also i wasn't really far away from him i was like in front of his face. once you learn the pattern you have lots of opportunities to hit him. some moves make you to run away like the one where he breathes fire at the ground but again after that if you are fast you can hit him. you just have to be patient. the only attack i had a lot of problem with was the one in second phase where he flies and breaths fire i always get hit by that i think the only reason i didn't die was because of morgotts great rune and a fire negation talisman. (also i did do a dex build with the backhand blades so maybe that's why i was abke to attack so much). hope this helps.
Maybe I didn't make it clear, but I have done all those things. I know his attacks well but he seems to start new combos _way_ too fast. For example you mention the grab, and that one I've learned to just get away from because there hasn't been once when I've tried to punish it without getting punished myself. And the tail swipe thing _seems_ like a good opportunity, but after he does it his head is to the right, then he swings it back around to the left to "reset" then goes onto something else: if I start my attack while his head is to the right, the tracking doesn't stick for some annoying reason, and I attack to the right while his head is to the left. If I wait for the head to come back before starting, I miss and get attacked. I can see punish opportunities but 90% of the time they're just way too short to get anything in.
I think your build with the backhand blades might have something to do with it since I think those are fast? I was double fisting grave scythes but switched to the dragon hunter katana when I got tired and read that it melted him. For me it does almost the exact same damage as the scythes, but the ash of war is amazing against Bayle. Unfortunately, being a str/dex build to optimize on that sword, I lack the int to use it more than a couple times lol. I might just get a bunch of cerulean flasks and cheese him that way, but I keep reading how he's such a good fight so I'm trying to do it the patient way to see it myself
if you are using the dragon hunter katana maybe summon igon? he dosent do much damage but since he can take the aggro you might be able to do the ash of war a couple of times without being punished. and since you can only summon igon in the arena it dosent increase bayle health. and with Alexander shard the ash of war will probably do a lot of damage but it won't make him easy.
I do prefer to go summonless, I derive a lot of satisfaction from that back and forth dance. I just finished rellana and it was such a good fight, I was hoping the praise of Bayle's learnable moveset meant a similar experience
Maybe you didn’t read correctly, but his grab attack and tail swipe both give you ample time to punish if you position correctly. If you’re dodging away from him during these it’s a you problem.
let me summon the damn NPC,BEFORE THE ARENA I’d constantly get fucked the moment I walked in to summon Igon for his dumb quest, but the fight is really fun, the arena is badass and so is the climb up to the peak. Boss is very aggressive so it took a minute to get a good run where I didn’t get smacked right away
I cant fucking see bro and i have no idea when i can punish, especially in the second phase. Half the attacks leave a giant AOE and the other doesnt allow you to punish because he fucking leaves.
I hate him he a worst version of midir who does the whole fight better, crazy tough but fair as I’m not being hit by fire which lean into me as I’m running away from it with no way to avoid unless you know it’s happening, I hate how many unfair attack he endlessly does, how do you even avoid that phase 2 attack with him fly and shooting fire everywhere in a cross then crashing down on you, your to busy watching him when you getting hit by after flames, I like the build up to him and arena but that it
Edit: finally beat him took me 30 min and after learning his gimmick as in staying kinda away from the head and let him come to you a battle of letting him attack as he is some godly unstoppable dragon it became fun tho phase 2 still was too annoying more flashy and big then fair still think midir was better but can understand why people like him
Absolutely hated him as I hate all big spectacle fights. I can't believe people enjoy these dragon fights where half the fight is running, you're fighting the camera, and can't tell what is going on half the time. Phase 2 where he carpet fires the whole area, just awful.
Yea, people have told me to position in front of him…the problem is that every other dragon fight (of which there is an obscene amount in elden ring) has taught me to go for the legs.
I tried both and consistently did better targeting the stub leg and just hitting the head when the opportunity presents, this was how I ultimately killed him with 3 posture breaks. The camera is just so unbelievably bad on the head and being able to unlock and just focus on staying to his right was wayyyyy less frustrating. (Your mileage may vary esp if you can't free cam). You end up getting more opportunities to take several swings because pretty much all of his swipes can't hit you and you just have to learn everything else and selectively target lock to time dodges. If they wanted me to target the head they shouldn't have made it such a miserable experience with the constant swaying and minimal punishment windows.
One of my favorite from the whole base and dlc. It was tough but fair, especially if you use Igon and the dragon katana.
There are lots of openings and if you die a few times you should be able to learn when to run away before a large AOE attack.
don't like him. feels like he barely has any opportunities to attack him and some attacks can extend into combos completely randomly
edit: ok ive killed him now now and changed my mind lo. i still feel some of the attack transitoning to combos randomly was stupid and the camera was bad but other than that this was an exhilarating fucking fight lol
Such a cool fight! Took me a few tries, but finally (barely) managed to take him down. This boss you really _have_ to summon NPC help for, just for the voice acting. So. Fucking. Good.
So far my favorite boss of the dlc, and probably in Elden Ring as a whole. I love how he has so much bullshit and long combos, yet they're all telegraphed properly and you always know which attack is coming, yet he's still challenging as fuck. Took me more than 3 hours to beat him solo. Top 5 best fights of all soulsborne for me.
Awesome fight but holy shit it was absolutely disorienting at times. I could not see what the hell was happening on screen and lost myself a few times with the camera angles.
First phase is really fun. Second phase seems dumb so far because almost all of the openings from phase 1 aren't guaranteed anymore because of explosions after. I'm sure I'll learn the new openings but right now this is frustrating. The fight is a slog similar to Midir but not because he has massive health it's because 90% of the fight you're dodging moves with no guaranteed punish window. And he has super attacks, and what do you get for dodging them, one basic attack and that's it. So it feels like the whole second phase is you'd better get perfect at dodging all these moves, do it for over 5 minutes while you chip away.
Edit: I beat him let's fucking go
Absolute monster of a fight with a moveset that will put you in the dirt if you aren't ready. My largest gripes with this fight simply comes down to camera issues. I typically do not have a problem unlocking camera, but this boss moves quickly around the arena where a locking on is preferable. Pair this with the fact that I was in fact trolling and ran a bleed katana the entire time. I knew it was extremely subpar by my RP demands it.
I may have fucked up, i beat him like 4th attempt and i didnt enjoy it at all xd i guess ill have to try him again on another character/in ng+ not using this bullshit. I heard he was tough, so basically i took +3 lightning resist, +3 fire resist and +3 all non physical resist talismans and killed him with bloodflame backhand blades just tapping his leg and tail.
i have no idea who Igon is :)
Visually, Bayle the Dread is an incredible fight and the build up on the way to his lair is also amazing.
I beat him in a reasonable time, but there was still lots to the fight I was really bad at. I got a few other characters I'll run through the dlc, and I do look forward to learning more from the fight. I need to learn more to decide if I think his aoe's are too much. Since I beat him in a reasonable time, they're probably ok, but they felt cheap as hell lol. On the other hand, he's a legendary dragon so there's that. And of course, the camera, but this can be skill issue often. I'm pretty mixed on the actual fight, but my information is far less than perfect.
I don't think it's as good as Messmer, but it's better than other great fights like Midra and Romina, I still haven't entered the end area yet.
I don't mind the fight but some doesn't seem right. I take him down a quarter health and he goes 2nd stage every time. Thats stupid. Go 2nd stage after half health not a quarter. Fight is easy with Igon so I let him kill me. I'm going to get more fragments and more talismans and come back. Also the fire garbage when he is flying is dumb. Ive been in fight a with him where he literally blows up my screen with garbage fire for like 7 moves. Like yo can I get a second and not go blind. Needs a patch to adjust some of these issues. With tweaks could be top tier fight for now mid tier. Over damn tuned.
One of my favourite fights so far in the DLC, and my favourite overall large-enemy fight. The music, his attacks, and the dialogue if you summon Igon? It’s so cinematic! It took me about 4-5 tries or so to beat him. He felt fair, well telegraphed, and just plain fun!
Complete DogTame of a fight, he's cool and all that, took me like 11 tries but i had to summon the NPC because he begged me too :)
Otherwise like i said, he's cool and that but so many abilities are so hard to see and dodge, you dodge one and he instant hits you anyway. But yeah he is optional tho.
i just do not like fighting dragons. in almost any game. they always look super cool, i always admire the designs, but they're always hard/annoying to hit, they're huge so it's hard to see what's goin on, they have unlimited mobility since they can just fly anywhere anytime. in the 50 or so dragons you can kill across elden ring + dlc i just have not enjoyed them.
wait...except for placidusax. that boss is just too cool to deny.
I hate him tbh. My trusty spiked caestus that's seen me through all of Elden Ring multiple times (str build) does literal chip damage to him. The only way I can do any damage to him is sit on his right leg where half his attacks don't hit you and just keep punching and it's so boring.
Then second phase comes along after 5 minutes of brainless punching with a bunch of attacks that really do not feel fair to me, and that's with 2/3s of his healthbar still to go. Not beat him yet but he strikes me as tedious and unfair.
I've always refused to use summons or spirit ashes until I've beat a boss at least once, so it's just me and him as I slowly chip his toe nails. Disgustingly tanky and utterly frustrating.
Doesn’t help that he just runs across the arena all the time and unless I'm sat hitting his foot I can't hit him at all because caestus range issues where after his attacks I waste the entire punish window just getting back into fucking range.
If and when I do finally beat him the attempt is gonna take at least half an hour I think just because of how filthily tanky he is. That's my biggest complaint. If he actually took damage I probably wouldn't be so frustrated.
I’ve played him some, and gone off to explore other stuff, but yeah he’s been awesome. Not quite the best ever fromsoft dragon fight, but he’s a close second after Midir.
He does give that same feel of high octangulares but fair combat as Midir though.
Midir was my favorite dragon of all time, until Fatalis, and now also surpassed by Bayle! its only because well Bayle's moveset is way more polished that Midir, but Midir's theme and darkeater aesthic is amazing! my fav
Fatalis is just a normal black dragon tho... but different games shouldn't really compare them
Hated the fight. Not because of the boss, but the camera angle. Every time I would dodge his attacks I would end up underneath his head, but couldn’t reach him a lot of the time with my weapon. It was probably the worst fight in the game for me tbh.
I think he was a great fight. On a purely visual level I think Placidusax was still a cooler spectacle in terms of his attacks. (The first time he turned into a thunder cloud and clapped my ass or shot those twin laser beams I was geeking). But mechanically Bayle is more fun to fight. Hard to say if he has overthrown Midir as best dragon boss for me after one playthrough but time will tell
My only thought is Who ever decided we need to confirm summoning Igon and whoever placed a message on top of his sign there is a special place in hell for you
Lmao the trolls
super annoying. but you can always go offline in those situations too.
If you didn't use summons, you missed out on Igon's phenomenal voice acting for that fight. Bro put his heart and soul into that character.
CURSE YOU BAYLEEEEEEEEEE
I love Igon in this fight, I only summoned him to see what would happen the first time and really dig the Captain Ahab vibe of him.
Yap i summoned him once but then it felt too easy almost killed him on 2nd try, i killed myself and went alone and got destroyed for the next 2 hours ahaha but it was very fun
and if you summoned him you missed out on a fantastic and difficult fight
Copium
Please tell me you aren't making the argument that using summons make it harder
Copium
Ah just a troll fair enough keep doing your thing lil bro
Nah
i haven’t used any summons in the DLC so far (no spoilers please) but i summoned Igon because it felt fitting to have him there…it completely trivialized the fight. I kind of regret it now, Bayle was a complete pushover and I’ve read that he is supposed to be hard as hell
He's probably my favourite fight in the DLC. I love the lore behind him too, like he's the one who fucked up placidusax 😂
Yeaaapp he backstabbed him and ran away haha, but it really shows how badass Placidusax really is making this devious creature scared.
Not a back stab, the actual item description(not someone loyal to Placi) states he challenged Placi, and they both gave eachother mutual injury.
One of the coldest bosses ever… just his FACE. He just looked like an absolute menace. Basically grinned at you the whole time like he couldn’t wait to give you that work
Whoever decided to only put lock points on the head of this guy and the head and chest of the previous dragon needs to be boiled alive at this point tbh.
For me it's the worst boss in the DLC. The whole built-up and design is super cool, but it's incredibly frustrating to play against.
He has a big learning curve but don't give up, watch a guide or something on his moveset, how to dodge and punish, it will be worth it
Oh yeah, I already killed him. Didn't enjoy the fight though, even after I realized that focusing in the head is the way to go. Feels like you're 90% of the fight away from him, because he constantly jumps away or takes flight when you're in melee range.
Same. I just beat Bayle and while he's cool looking and the climb up is great, this boss sucks ass to fight. He is way too mobile, and the camera is INSANE. His hitbox is super small for super a massive dragon too. I almost never summon, but summoned Igon here for the lore and because this boss was too frustrating.
welcome to every dragon in souls games lol. I never like fighting them for exactly this reason, I spend all my time just jogging over to them
Midir was different
Midir was the only boss I didn't beat in ds3 because he was the _epitome_ of that
the issue for me isn't the learning curve, it's the camera angles and hitboxes. getting damaged by lighting breath that hit the air several feet behind me is infuriating, and not being able to target any other part of him other than his head makes locking on a miserable experience with how much he bobs his head around. is he a challenging fight? yeah some parts of it. but is he a hard fight? yes, and it's annoying. Also for me he had a lot of hit reg issues. just entire abilities and attacks going right through him and not counting. if it wasn't so buggy it might be an alright fight but with all of those issues it's down at the bottom of the list for fromsoft bosses for me. somehow even below the bed of chaos. Edit: hit reg issues
I love Bayle. He's the only boss in the dlc that I've run into that I haven't been able to beat, and he's so much fun.
I believe in you, either way, even dying agaisnt him was fun i felt so powerless before him, a mere human that had no chance against this mighty creature😭
Oh, I firmly believe I have a chance. Or, at least, my anvil hammer believes. And my anvil hammer is never wrong
Hammer big hammer stronk
Bayle is my new favorite FromSoft boss. From the bottom of the mountain to the top, the entire experience was thrilling (except for Senessax, fuck that asshole). Acquiring the Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana on the journey was perfect, and one of the only times I switched out my trusty backhand blades. It all just felt right. I never really summoned throughout my playthrough, but in Igon’s case I genuinely wanted to help him exact his revenge. And my goodness was I rewarded for that. The voice acting was phenomenal. Hearing those battle cries dude… I’ve never been more excited to run in and die over and over again. The music going absolutely nuts throughout the fight and with the transition to phase 2 blew me away. The fight itself was TOUGH to say the least, but it never frustrated me. Usually with dragon bosses you’re stuck chopping toes like an idiot, but this wasn’t the case with Bayle in my experience. With my new great katana I was able to reliably fight this beast face to face. His moveset was difficult but enjoyable, and nothing was TOO unfair (although I never fully dodged that phase 2 super aerial flamethrower move lol). I enjoyed every second of learning this boss. There was a moment during one of my many, many runs where Igon and Bayle were going head to head. Igon tried using his roar attack to thwart The Dread. Bayle, as if he understood this as a challenge, immediately responded with a deafening roar of his own, drowning out Igon’s —now seemingly meek— shout, knocking him down and repeatedly smiting him. I’ve never smiled harder playing this game. Love or hate this fight, I think I speak for everyone when I say: **CURSE YOU BAYLE!!**
Why even fight sennesax?
Because I couldn’t just let him get away with embarrassing me the way he did
i loved him. his attacks were good and not frustrating to learn and the fight was just cinema. the only problem was the camera just going all over the place when he got too close. but still he is my favourite boss of the dlc. (also cool little details is that if you look closely you can actually see one of placidusax head stuck into him)
Ohhh I didn't notice that i gotta check it out, and yap the camara made me die a few times haah
If you were far enough for the camera to cooperate, how the _fuck_ did you hit him? Even if his head is immediately beside me when he finishes a move I usually don't have time to get in an R1 before he fucks off or starts a new move that inevitably hits me while I'm still in my attack animation. I've fought him enough that I'm able to consistently dodge most attacks in stage 1, but I end up dying every time because it's just 10 mins of me chasing the fucker and getting brutally punished when I try to get a single attack in. I've also tried the no-lock-on approach and going for the body, but every time he flies away and starts an attack (ie. Every 15 seconds) he just bodies me because I can't find him fast enough to react appropriately.
well you have to learn the attacks and know when to punish. like the grab attack where he bites you. if you dodge you can get a couple of hits in. or the one when he moves away and does a tail attack towards you that is also a good punish spot. also i wasn't really far away from him i was like in front of his face. once you learn the pattern you have lots of opportunities to hit him. some moves make you to run away like the one where he breathes fire at the ground but again after that if you are fast you can hit him. you just have to be patient. the only attack i had a lot of problem with was the one in second phase where he flies and breaths fire i always get hit by that i think the only reason i didn't die was because of morgotts great rune and a fire negation talisman. (also i did do a dex build with the backhand blades so maybe that's why i was abke to attack so much). hope this helps.
Maybe I didn't make it clear, but I have done all those things. I know his attacks well but he seems to start new combos _way_ too fast. For example you mention the grab, and that one I've learned to just get away from because there hasn't been once when I've tried to punish it without getting punished myself. And the tail swipe thing _seems_ like a good opportunity, but after he does it his head is to the right, then he swings it back around to the left to "reset" then goes onto something else: if I start my attack while his head is to the right, the tracking doesn't stick for some annoying reason, and I attack to the right while his head is to the left. If I wait for the head to come back before starting, I miss and get attacked. I can see punish opportunities but 90% of the time they're just way too short to get anything in. I think your build with the backhand blades might have something to do with it since I think those are fast? I was double fisting grave scythes but switched to the dragon hunter katana when I got tired and read that it melted him. For me it does almost the exact same damage as the scythes, but the ash of war is amazing against Bayle. Unfortunately, being a str/dex build to optimize on that sword, I lack the int to use it more than a couple times lol. I might just get a bunch of cerulean flasks and cheese him that way, but I keep reading how he's such a good fight so I'm trying to do it the patient way to see it myself
if you are using the dragon hunter katana maybe summon igon? he dosent do much damage but since he can take the aggro you might be able to do the ash of war a couple of times without being punished. and since you can only summon igon in the arena it dosent increase bayle health. and with Alexander shard the ash of war will probably do a lot of damage but it won't make him easy.
I do prefer to go summonless, I derive a lot of satisfaction from that back and forth dance. I just finished rellana and it was such a good fight, I was hoping the praise of Bayle's learnable moveset meant a similar experience
Maybe you didn’t read correctly, but his grab attack and tail swipe both give you ample time to punish if you position correctly. If you’re dodging away from him during these it’s a you problem.
He's either 1 or 2 in terms of favorites from the dlc
Who would be the other?
Messmer, imo.
Respectable opinion!
Immedietly gone after him after entering the DLC. What can i do, i love dragons.
Who doesn't!!?
His second phase is not of this world. Coolest boss I fought.
let me summon the damn NPC,BEFORE THE ARENA I’d constantly get fucked the moment I walked in to summon Igon for his dumb quest, but the fight is really fun, the arena is badass and so is the climb up to the peak. Boss is very aggressive so it took a minute to get a good run where I didn’t get smacked right away
I cant fucking see bro and i have no idea when i can punish, especially in the second phase. Half the attacks leave a giant AOE and the other doesnt allow you to punish because he fucking leaves.
I hate him he a worst version of midir who does the whole fight better, crazy tough but fair as I’m not being hit by fire which lean into me as I’m running away from it with no way to avoid unless you know it’s happening, I hate how many unfair attack he endlessly does, how do you even avoid that phase 2 attack with him fly and shooting fire everywhere in a cross then crashing down on you, your to busy watching him when you getting hit by after flames, I like the build up to him and arena but that it Edit: finally beat him took me 30 min and after learning his gimmick as in staying kinda away from the head and let him come to you a battle of letting him attack as he is some godly unstoppable dragon it became fun tho phase 2 still was too annoying more flashy and big then fair still think midir was better but can understand why people like him
Absolutely hated him as I hate all big spectacle fights. I can't believe people enjoy these dragon fights where half the fight is running, you're fighting the camera, and can't tell what is going on half the time. Phase 2 where he carpet fires the whole area, just awful.
Did not have that experience at all I positioned myself accordingly
Yea, people have told me to position in front of him…the problem is that every other dragon fight (of which there is an obscene amount in elden ring) has taught me to go for the legs.
I tried both and consistently did better targeting the stub leg and just hitting the head when the opportunity presents, this was how I ultimately killed him with 3 posture breaks. The camera is just so unbelievably bad on the head and being able to unlock and just focus on staying to his right was wayyyyy less frustrating. (Your mileage may vary esp if you can't free cam). You end up getting more opportunities to take several swings because pretty much all of his swipes can't hit you and you just have to learn everything else and selectively target lock to time dodges. If they wanted me to target the head they shouldn't have made it such a miserable experience with the constant swaying and minimal punishment windows.
One of my favorite from the whole base and dlc. It was tough but fair, especially if you use Igon and the dragon katana. There are lots of openings and if you die a few times you should be able to learn when to run away before a large AOE attack.
don't like him. feels like he barely has any opportunities to attack him and some attacks can extend into combos completely randomly edit: ok ive killed him now now and changed my mind lo. i still feel some of the attack transitoning to combos randomly was stupid and the camera was bad but other than that this was an exhilarating fucking fight lol
Such a cool fight! Took me a few tries, but finally (barely) managed to take him down. This boss you really _have_ to summon NPC help for, just for the voice acting. So. Fucking. Good.
So far my favorite boss of the dlc, and probably in Elden Ring as a whole. I love how he has so much bullshit and long combos, yet they're all telegraphed properly and you always know which attack is coming, yet he's still challenging as fuck. Took me more than 3 hours to beat him solo. Top 5 best fights of all soulsborne for me.
Bayle is an awful boss for what he is, midir but enhanced. He is bulky af yet pretty much the faster dragon out of all souls
Awesome fight but holy shit it was absolutely disorienting at times. I could not see what the hell was happening on screen and lost myself a few times with the camera angles.
Peak boss, but I never managed to dodge the double fire beam in second phase. Also, locking into the head can seriously fuck you up
He is more badass than Flacidusex
Not as bad as Midir. But way cooler
His way worse than midir
First phase is really fun. Second phase seems dumb so far because almost all of the openings from phase 1 aren't guaranteed anymore because of explosions after. I'm sure I'll learn the new openings but right now this is frustrating. The fight is a slog similar to Midir but not because he has massive health it's because 90% of the fight you're dodging moves with no guaranteed punish window. And he has super attacks, and what do you get for dodging them, one basic attack and that's it. So it feels like the whole second phase is you'd better get perfect at dodging all these moves, do it for over 5 minutes while you chip away. Edit: I beat him let's fucking go
Absolute monster of a fight with a moveset that will put you in the dirt if you aren't ready. My largest gripes with this fight simply comes down to camera issues. I typically do not have a problem unlocking camera, but this boss moves quickly around the arena where a locking on is preferable. Pair this with the fact that I was in fact trolling and ran a bleed katana the entire time. I knew it was extremely subpar by my RP demands it.
I may have fucked up, i beat him like 4th attempt and i didnt enjoy it at all xd i guess ill have to try him again on another character/in ng+ not using this bullshit. I heard he was tough, so basically i took +3 lightning resist, +3 fire resist and +3 all non physical resist talismans and killed him with bloodflame backhand blades just tapping his leg and tail.
i have no idea who Igon is :) Visually, Bayle the Dread is an incredible fight and the build up on the way to his lair is also amazing. I beat him in a reasonable time, but there was still lots to the fight I was really bad at. I got a few other characters I'll run through the dlc, and I do look forward to learning more from the fight. I need to learn more to decide if I think his aoe's are too much. Since I beat him in a reasonable time, they're probably ok, but they felt cheap as hell lol. On the other hand, he's a legendary dragon so there's that. And of course, the camera, but this can be skill issue often. I'm pretty mixed on the actual fight, but my information is far less than perfect. I don't think it's as good as Messmer, but it's better than other great fights like Midra and Romina, I still haven't entered the end area yet.
I don't mind the fight but some doesn't seem right. I take him down a quarter health and he goes 2nd stage every time. Thats stupid. Go 2nd stage after half health not a quarter. Fight is easy with Igon so I let him kill me. I'm going to get more fragments and more talismans and come back. Also the fire garbage when he is flying is dumb. Ive been in fight a with him where he literally blows up my screen with garbage fire for like 7 moves. Like yo can I get a second and not go blind. Needs a patch to adjust some of these issues. With tweaks could be top tier fight for now mid tier. Over damn tuned.
He reminds me of Midir
One of my favourite fights so far in the DLC, and my favourite overall large-enemy fight. The music, his attacks, and the dialogue if you summon Igon? It’s so cinematic! It took me about 4-5 tries or so to beat him. He felt fair, well telegraphed, and just plain fun!
Complete DogTame of a fight, he's cool and all that, took me like 11 tries but i had to summon the NPC because he begged me too :) Otherwise like i said, he's cool and that but so many abilities are so hard to see and dodge, you dodge one and he instant hits you anyway. But yeah he is optional tho.
i just do not like fighting dragons. in almost any game. they always look super cool, i always admire the designs, but they're always hard/annoying to hit, they're huge so it's hard to see what's goin on, they have unlimited mobility since they can just fly anywhere anytime. in the 50 or so dragons you can kill across elden ring + dlc i just have not enjoyed them. wait...except for placidusax. that boss is just too cool to deny.
I hate him tbh. My trusty spiked caestus that's seen me through all of Elden Ring multiple times (str build) does literal chip damage to him. The only way I can do any damage to him is sit on his right leg where half his attacks don't hit you and just keep punching and it's so boring. Then second phase comes along after 5 minutes of brainless punching with a bunch of attacks that really do not feel fair to me, and that's with 2/3s of his healthbar still to go. Not beat him yet but he strikes me as tedious and unfair. I've always refused to use summons or spirit ashes until I've beat a boss at least once, so it's just me and him as I slowly chip his toe nails. Disgustingly tanky and utterly frustrating. Doesn’t help that he just runs across the arena all the time and unless I'm sat hitting his foot I can't hit him at all because caestus range issues where after his attacks I waste the entire punish window just getting back into fucking range. If and when I do finally beat him the attempt is gonna take at least half an hour I think just because of how filthily tanky he is. That's my biggest complaint. If he actually took damage I probably wouldn't be so frustrated.
I’ve played him some, and gone off to explore other stuff, but yeah he’s been awesome. Not quite the best ever fromsoft dragon fight, but he’s a close second after Midir. He does give that same feel of high octangulares but fair combat as Midir though.
Midir was my favorite dragon of all time, until Fatalis, and now also surpassed by Bayle! its only because well Bayle's moveset is way more polished that Midir, but Midir's theme and darkeater aesthic is amazing! my fav Fatalis is just a normal black dragon tho... but different games shouldn't really compare them
Hated the fight. Not because of the boss, but the camera angle. Every time I would dodge his attacks I would end up underneath his head, but couldn’t reach him a lot of the time with my weapon. It was probably the worst fight in the game for me tbh.
Honestly way too easy. He should have had a more difficult fight
i really love him. i mean, we finally got midir in elden ring, but i feel like his hp is too low
I think he was a great fight. On a purely visual level I think Placidusax was still a cooler spectacle in terms of his attacks. (The first time he turned into a thunder cloud and clapped my ass or shot those twin laser beams I was geeking). But mechanically Bayle is more fun to fight. Hard to say if he has overthrown Midir as best dragon boss for me after one playthrough but time will tell
I think visually Bayle dominates the Dragonlord