Someone has completed Elden Ring in two and a half hours without levelling up or taking a single hit.
Unlike some no-hit runners that typically zip through the game quickly by avoiding bosses and entire areas, Streamer Ainrun – who’s admittedly something of an expert at completing From Software games without getting hit – completed his no-hit run and took on the Grafted Scion, the first boss battle that typically requires you to jump off a cliff and die to proceed.
“I’ve been doing no-hit runs and speed runs of From Software games ever since 2020, starting with Dark Souls 1,” Ainrun told Kotaku.
“I personally feel like [skipping the Grafted Scion] breaks a sequence that the developers intended you to go through to progress with the game, so I opt to do the fight.
“I spent a lot of time practising it, looking for openings to take advantage of,” he added. “I was also motivated by the fact that a majority of other players choose to skip this boss. In my opinion, a ‘challenge’ run like what I’ve done is supposed to be challenging, [so] using shortcuts doesn’t really make sense.”
Ainrun pulled off the feat by focusing on a build that staggers the enemy so he can keep his distance when they’re active, and unleash damage when they’re staggered and downed.
Elden Ring is the best-selling game of 2022. According to research firm NPD Group, From Software’s action RPG has “placed first in dollar sales in four of its first five months in market”, is the best-selling game of June 2022, and remains “the best-selling game of 2022 year to date”.
Earlier this week, Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco confirmed reports it had been targeted by hackers, and admitted that confidential information was accessed on its servers. There is “a possibility” this includes customer information, the publisher admitted in a statement passed to Eurogamer.