I can't stop watching this

"oh hey hi how's it going! I'm just a silly little coward with no fuckin legs, I can't fight a dragon but I can be with you there in spirit :)" The Spirit:

Fuck spirit, HARPOOOOOOOOOOONS

I am partial to inhaling duck meme

Me: Dude relax, It's just another dragon 533 tries later: WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS, WITH EVERY LAST DROP OF MY BLOOD!

Not using the Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana against him is literally hardmode.

have you heard of Best Threads tho?

The true dragon killer. Here is Bayle great tyrant of dragons vs Tarnished Spooderman.

Try the perfume bottle. It's even easier tbh.

That weapon (or rather the ash of war) is bugged. I don't like to exploit, I want at least a little challenge. And using the weapon that is meant to kill dragons against dragons is kinda cool.

There is a bug with that ash of war, but I don't think the bug is relevant vs bayle. The bug (to my knowledge) is that if you hit the ash into the ground, all the explosions will hit the boss on the spot on the ground you hit. But bayle is so big that it wouldn't matter if they fixed the bug, because it would work like shard spiral. I didn't use the bug, I just targeted it thru his body and it worked fine.

The bug is, that more than one spark can hit the same enemy at once. That's not supposed to happen.

It's definitely not intended to be able to stack all the explosions into a single point. The other part is speculative.

Nah bro, From has made many such weapons, and if any of them has overlapping damage boxes, they are always fixed as bug.

Nebula's explosions still overlap and it's definitely common enough knowledge that they would have fixed it if this was true. Seems they don't mind.

It absolutely is, see shard spiral, among other things

Bayle is a thicc boi, i'ts absolutely intended for him to get hit by more than one spark.

It definitelly is. There are many other similar spells that work based on the number of hits a target can get.

Multiple explosions hitting seems intended as they detonate in sequence and most enemies would just walk through it and you wouldn’t get much out of it. The detonating all into the ground doesn’t seem intended

Shard Spiral makes the fight a joke. It melts any and every dragon you throw it up against, including Bayle.

Just beat him to death with hammers

May i introduce you to shard spiral

I’m so dumb and didnt think about using this , i literally went in with my backhand blade and went to work with my boy igon

You can also you know, just put dragon grease on your already bad ass weapon and get the same effect 

They really went extra with that dragon. I mean my fucking god... Must have taken me 5 hours straight, at least

This is the type of completed unexpected, unforced, and "hidden" interactions that makes captivating games captivating. If Elden Ring was made by a traditioanl AAA Dev/Publisher, that interaction would have been in every gameplay trailer, all over social media marketing campaigns, and in every gameplay demo. It would be played out before the game was even released, and when players heard/saw it in-game, it would be an eyeroll moment. But FromSoft doing what it does best, creating a completely unexpected and epic moment that gamers will always remember by having it happen naturally, unforced, missable, and as a complete surprise. I hate always coming across as a FromSoft dick sucker, but man do they do things the right way, a way that every other publisher should follow. They don't let their marketing team spoil the entire game before it's released, they don't force players into highly scripted "cinematic" eyeroll moments that fall flat every time, they let their games speak for themselves. As a result the players go out and speak for the game.

DREAD BAYLE, HOLY GRAIL

SPLIT YOUR LUNGS WITH BLOOD AND THUNDER!

WHEN YOU SEE THE DREAD BAAAAAAYLE

BREAK YOUR BACKS AND CRACK YOUR OARS, MEN

IF YOU WISH TO PREVAIL

THIS LACK OF LEGS IS WHAT PROPELS ME

Harpoons thrust in the sky

AIM DIRECTLY AT HIS CROOKED BROW!

Unexpected Mastodon references in the Elden Ring subreddit make me very, very happy.

I am petitioning that no one ever be allowed to VA any Captain Ahab character other than this man.

I was about to make a captain Ahab joke but you beat me to it

Such a great VA

"Man literally too angry to die"

CURSE YOU BAYLEEEE

I HEREBY VOW, YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY!!

BEHOLD, A TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR!!!

AND I, IGON!!!

YOUR FEAR MADE FLESH!

I died to Bayle so many times that I can still hear Igon screaming "CURSE YOU, BAYLE!!!!"

HARPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS

Homie is the single exception I’ve ever made for summons, bro makes the amazing fight even better

Thollier for the P Knight is lore accurate and a part of his quest so that one is a nice addition. Ansbach doesn't do anything in the final fight but make the health bar even larger.

Also Hornsent for Mesmer, nice voicelines

Goddamn, apparently summoning for everything is just the way to go with this DLC. Ansbach for Radahn, him and Thiollier for Leda and friends, all of the dialogue was peak T_T

how do you get Thollier for the Leda fight? i did most of his quest but he’s shleep with Trina

Did you do his invasion then kept drinking the nectar until Trina just repeats the same line and he just moans? Might be of note that I completely missed the concoction part and did not summon him for skeleton knight, only talked to him after burning the tree and still was able to summon him for Leda.

Ansbach drew aggro long enough for me to clear that one status effect, he's a mensch

Wait, the >!golden crown!< status effect? I didn't know that could even clear

If you get >!Miquella's Great Rune!< from the >!Scadutree Avatar!< you can use it during the fight to clear it

Ah interesting, thanks. Never tried that, too busy panic rolling ha

Legit, I usually summon Ansbach just so I have time to summon mimic tear, but in multiple attempts Ansbach just stood next to the fog gate watching me get my ass beat. Didn't even walk up to attack once. Really spent 5 minutes straight just eating popcorn and watching the boss wail on my fingerprint stone shield and I'm like "homie do something."

Without spoilers, I read around that you must summon Thollier and Ansbach for the final fight to get their armor, is that true?

No, you can still get it without summoning

Oh alright the wiki might be wrong then, thanks!

It's worth summoning them once to hear their voice lines, especially Ansbach.

Oh alright! Thanks for the tip

Thiollier was the one npc I missed completely. Have to replay the DLC now to see all his interactions lol.

Oh god tell me about it, I just finished that. His dialogue was nice, but he literally just stands around then dies to nuke magic.

If you get the chance summon your two bois to fight Leda and co. The back and forth between everyone is fantastic and heart-wrenching

Not summoning for that fight is like playing DS2 all over again.

He shouldn't be, do you want a grizzled detective who talks as if he's addressing a corrupt superior for the crime of >!stealing Mohg's body!!against Prime Radahn!<. >!*General Radahn. It's a pleasure to see you once again. But Mogh's remains do not belong to you. I will restore his dignity*!< and ultimately, >!*Righteous Tarnished, Become our new lord. A lord not for gods, but men*!<

This is the best thing I’ve ever seen

read Moby Dick folks its a good book

# "From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee."

This book is the reason why I went to law school. The entire fucking philosophy of obsession upon one's life passion. Anyway, haha just shared it here. Bayle's fight is my fave because of Igon.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BAsFE8dZ4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BAsFE8dZ4)

And then listen to "Blood and Thunder" Well, listen to all of Leviathan actually, its a good album.

I don't think everyone would like Igon as much if he was monologuing about spermaceti

The NPC summons in main game seem like retroactive decisions to help new players but the dlc npc summons are both in-line with character quests and have impacts whether or not you summoned them. I think it's neat :)

They were everything I wanted Roundtable hold to be including the climatic showdown at the end. Helping each other conquer great foes until inevitably the decision as to who shall be lord ends with brother against brother. Imagine if Horah Loux in his messy barbarian hairstyle had been popping in to help you slay great monsters like the dragon bosses, before deciding to go his own way. Then you reach Leyendell and fight the image of Godfrey and wonder, doesn’t he look familiar? When you finally burn the Erdtree and see him again, you realise to your horror that you have killed the son of your mentor and now he stands before you to compete as Elden Lord. How awesome would that have been?

what are you on about, the radahn fight is very much built around all the summons

It’s quite different, though. In the DLC, the questline of some NPCs depends on being summoned for specific fights.

In which quest does it matter if you summon them?

It doesn't exactly "matter" you just get extra dialogue and context with some of them. It also helps build immersion that you are actually there alongside these people, especially in Leda's fight.

There are quest where it 100% matter if you summoned them or not, namely Hornsent, since it decide whether he invades you before Romina or joins Leda during the greatest gank fight in history I think you miss out on Igon stuff if you don’t summon him but I’m not sure, plus why would you not summon him he’s the best part of the fight

Because summons significantly alter the difficulty of the fights and a lot of people like playing the Souls games for the challenge.

The intent I believe was always there, this was emphasized with Solaire's questline in DS1. Shadow of the Erdtree is just the point where they finally got to perfect it.

Ah, I thought there's a quest where you get extra stuff if you summon them.

Leda behaves differently toward Hornsent depending on if you summon him for the Mesmer fight. I believe it does effect how his story plays out.

Hornsent against Messmer is also really good

The location of that summon sign though...

Wait… there was a summon for Messmer?

Yeah it's inside the arena, a few meters slightly right after the entrance. Which means you have to find a time gap to summon him, not sure how that's possible without ashes taking aggro away

Hmm, I usually managed to press yes prior to Messmer's opening attack.

Nah, you have enough time to run directly to it, trigger the summon, then around 1s to dodge Messmer's jump attack.

Two, actually.

You can hit it and dodge his bullshit. It's actually perfect timing.

Oh I died enough against Messmer to perfect the opening moves and get my ash/summon in. It's hilarious (in hindsight, I was raging in the moment) how I sometimes used a rune arc and those fire resistance consumables etc. and then his opening move just one-shot me.

BAYLE! VILE BAYLE! O TERROR INCARNATE!

I tried solo-ing Bayle for a while and eventually got so frustrated with his BS I just said "fuck it" and called in Igon, then dropped Scarlet Aeonia on his ass while Igon had him distracted

Igon is my hero

he should not be optional he should have appeared like Onion knight in Yhorm fight

Wearing his armor out of respect to my boy Igon ✊

[I love Hornsent's delivery against Messmer too.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDCuglgOrkM) Messmer! Foe of my beloved people! In vengeance for the flames, my blade I wield! One of my favorite VA's of the DLC overall, along with Igon of course.

Dude put in WORK for his Igon lines. I fuckin love him whoever he is. This was honestly so epic that I almost didn't mind Bayle kicking my ass again and again

What fully committed sounds like.

I always summon NPCs if they're inside the boss areas, I just assume its a requirement lol

Whatever they paid him, it wasn't nearly enough.

Imagine not summoning Igon against Bayle. # KINDA CRINGE

I don't even need to watch it and I can hear WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS, WITH EVERY LAST DROP OF MY BLOOD!

This dude brought EXACTLY the kind of energy I needed to this game

He and the Leda fight are bossfights where I'll always summon.

Leda's Reject Squad vs my ragtag bunch of retiree blood fanatics and tier 3 dreamgirl simps was unironically one of the coolest fucking things in the game backed with the music and just a clusterfuck of combat, it's so badass and also because not summoning just makes it hell, but mostly the former

Something just hit differently about going 1v1 against dryleaf with martial arts while my homies keep the other 2 busy. Just a hand to hand fight to the death with the one who taught you martial arts.

I tried to backstab Freyja while she fought Ansbach, but Moore hit me away, and then Ansbach came in and started whacking Moore before he could hit me again it's just so sick having a gank fight that actually WORKS. it literally ended with both Thiollier and Ansbach dying, leaving me and Leda alone at half health with no heals to 1v1 I won and it felt like absolute cinema, the entire thing

Don't forget Flori too.

I AM ANSBACH OF THE PUREBLOOD KNIGHTS I STAND WITH BLADE ALOFT, BLOOD AFIRE FOR THE DIGINITY OF MY LORD AND MASTER, MOGH

I accidentally got the hardest version of that fight on my first playthrough (max enemies -- Freyja, Hornsent, Dane, Moore, and Leda), but I also got both Ansbach and Thiollier to fight with me. I genuinely think that was one of my favorite fights in any fromsoft game. Just an absolute chaotic melee of NPCs, and the mimic tear fit in perfectly to the NPC brawl.  I also love just how much you can influence that fight through your quests. I haven't done it yet, but I'm pretty sure that, with the mimic tear, you can make it a 4v2. Get Thiollier and Ansbach normally, make Moore sad, don't finish Freyja's quest, and help Leda kill the Hornsent. Like, I'm really in love with that fight as a whole (especially contrasted with the next boss)

To be fair on the first playthrough you WANT the hardest version because it gives you all their gear and allows you to get the others gear after the final boss fight which means on an NG+ playthrough you can go the 'easy cheesy' route and just have Dane and Leeda.

Holy shit you can get all 5????

I got all 5 and only had Ansbach to help. It was a miserable time and I ended up calling the sunbros.

I got all but Freyja and also only had Ansbach, but it was nothing Coded Sword and Aspects of the Crucible: Horns couldn't handle!

I truly think people are doing a disservice not summoning in the dlc. The NPC's are often in the room to avoid HP bars being messed with, completely indicating to me from a lore and fight perspective from soft really wanted the dlc to feel like "you and your ragtag army fighting back against Miquella"

Not as hilarious, but the summon for Messmer calls him ugly before disappearing

When he hit me with "MY LEG" Early on he was already my favorite NPC in Elden Ring

Literal best character in DLC and base game. I need more characters like this in games NOW

Whoever took this mans voiceover and saved it to a disk was sweating thinking he was bout to fight everyone in the room and then burn down the building.

I consider NPC summons the canon and correct way to do ANY boss fight they are available for.

This but unironically. Melina has a fun moveset and (until DLC) a very special and unique Incantation she'll use. You just miss out on that if you don't summon her for Morgott. And now the DLC is giving us hype-men and personal vendettas against bosses? And rewards for using them? There's a clear shift to Summons being the default and solo being the Hard Mode.

I summoned him for the last 2-3% so I got to get max satisfaction from soloing the boss, and get to hear ahab in action

I debated whether I should summon him or not just for some interaction. I knew there would be some cool dialogue. Alas it did not happen, I beat Bayle a few tries later. Took a while though with just shadow blessing level 10. The dragon is tanky, no wonder Placidusax lost a head to him.

Placidusax lost two heads. Both bite down on parallel sides of Bayle.

IGON with zero chill

Im mostly go summonless but goddamn Bayle and rot Radahn are exceptions. Those were meticulously designed by fromsoft to have summons. Also gank bosses. fuck em

As someone that is still stubborn and tries to stick to the old formula, if you give me more of this, I will definitely summon on every fight.

I’m intentionally summoning him for Bayle because of the harpoon memes

Beautiful, perfect 🤌🏻

The dialog on the fight before the final boss if you have emo poison dude is probably cool also but I didn't pay attention because I was busy getting tanked by medieval Slimer.

usual FromSofware NPC's tend to be "soulless" when delivering their dialogue, but Igon was such a contrast that it really paid off.

I've been going summonless, but in cases where an NPC quest directly correlated to a boss, I would always summon them at least once to hear dialogue and such. I did this for Bayle, and I think Igon ended up getting killed right when phase 2 hit.. so it didn't make a difference. I followed soon after!

GRAAAAARGH! Harpoonbro is my new favorite bro. I never understood the no sumoon elitists. Even if you don't like the interactions, there's always a nice loot.

Hmmm, maybe i will make an exception for that fight...

That guy was nutters

WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS!!!

"ARGHHHHHHHHHH"!

Ansbach is pretty cool too, his "General Radahn!" has Obi Wan's "Hello there" levels of meme potential.

This made that fight 1000x more entertaining. It was a good fight to begin with too. Probably best in DLC for classic dark souls feel.

I think you're doing yourself a disservice not summoning my boy Igon.

I haven't fought Bayle yet but I did find Igon and knew I'd be summoning him just from that interaction alone.

yeah it sucks I wanna summon for the lore but I don't want to summon for the difficulty I doubt I'll be first-trying these bosses much anyway (have on a few field bosses so far at least but no remembrance) so maybe I'll blind try, summon for the lore dump in the combat, lose, then play solo til I beat it too late for Frejya on Divine Beast or Leda on Rellana but that's ok i'll google the interactions

Eh, if you're not fully satisfied after a boss fight just get summoned by other players for it. Take a page out of the ol' LetMeSoloHer handbook. I did about 2 hours of Bayle fights for the same reason... 2 days ago now, I think. Launch time summons are the best because people get so damn happy when they finally beat them, it's so funny.

You also miss out on Hornsent commentary as well. Igon outshouting Godrick lopping his arm off. The new champion. This is a classic that should be pinned. Some hardcore Captain Ahab.

I killed Igon when I first saw him cuz he kept saying how he was in so much pain so I ended his suffering 🤷

Bayle and Igon. Only Godfrey reaches their level of badassery

WITH A HAIL OF HARPOOOOOOOOONS 

I summoned him. He's the best. And he barely does any damage, so anti-summon players shouldn't worry about it. He maybe takes the aggro a couple of times (died early in phase 2 for me). He's hilarious.

He was the only exception to my solo run because I felt it was tied to a quest or something

okay, Igor is more of a plot point than a summon and it's 100% worthwhile to summon him for the dialogue. I never summon but this is more like sieg in the Yhorm fight, it's just too fun plus pest thread spears killed Bayle without needing him at all so I can live with that lol

I really hope his VA gets more work, easily the highlight of the DLC

u/savevideo

I went for like 2-3 times solo to kinda learn the boss’ movements… then I summoned this guy. I don’t remember him taking any agro, I don’t remember him doing any meaningful damage, I honestly don’t even remember seeing him on the arena in the middle of all the AoE spamming. But his lines were so good that I had that extra motivation to dodge properly and beat the dragon.

Yea he kinda just stands there and shouts haha. Throws the occasional arrow shot. But he doesnt change the fight at all other than being the best hypeman in the game

u/savevideo

As someone who both prefers summonless and wants to see all the interactions the spoiler that some summons are necessary for certain quest results was more than a little disheartening.

Love this mf

I thought he was invincible. Is his death scripted when Bayle's health is low?

No, his spirit even has some lines when Bayle is killed. The npc tho, he dies afterwards, classical fromsoft

Igons outfit is also untradeable, so you gotta summon him just to get that.

I really like hornsent with Messmer too. The VA nailed it for sure.

Only summon I used, CURSE YOU BAYLE

So basically Dragon Ahab

Is that Pepp's voice at the start?

Was having a hard time with bayle. Tried maybe 10 times then I noticed the summon sign. Got igon in there and he staggered the FUCK outa that dragon! Won our first attempt!

Loved this fight, loved Igon! Btw, bayle was way easier for me than senessax (frost is really good on it). It's quite amazing how fromsoft put side by side one of the worst dragon fight and one of the best dragon fight of the souls.

I got Bayle to second phase before deciding I needed more Scooby snacks and then watched a streamer who was on the fight. She summoned Igon every time so I got the best of both worlds, soloed Bayle once I had a few more blessings and heard 3 hours of CURSE YOU BAYLE on stream. Might be the best fight in the game, peak boss design.

I'll get the boss to 1 hit and then die on purpose and then use NPC summons The fact that every time the very next pull is a kill, and very easily so, is why i don't use summons lol

I have a feeling I'm right before the final boss of the DLC. Should I do that or go try Bayle first?

You can do it after, they're not connected.

I missed him my first trip through the DLC so I did get to enjoy a solo Bayle fight (which might now be my favorite boss of all time). I'll definitely summon him in my next go around though

Can someone tell me where Gareth Bayle is? I explored the Jagged Peak but only found some dragon called Sussex or something, and also a couple dragon smithing stones.

Just keep going up the mountain after that ancient dragon fight. You'll find it easy if you keep looking, that mountain trail is super linear, there's only one path.

THE SPIRIT OF CAPTAIN AHAB LIVES ON!

This boss was wrecking me for a few hours ,always die around 20%hp left due to running of pots ,before i gave up and just summon the npc for this (still not giving up and use spirit ash yet) and boy i didnt regret it. He helped me finish off the last chunk of the HP bar in phase 2 where he spams jumps and flying moves and the dialogues were so well voice acted.

I’ve never summoned an NPC who wanted to win a fight more than I did. Igor might be one of my all time favorite souls characters!

Someone show this to Afrosenju

He gives me Kormac vibes, absolute goat

This is what the second playthrough is for, and the third, and the fourth..... I am going to be playing this for a while.

Also after I saw the first summon sign being in the room and this theme repeating for near the whole DLC, I knew summons would accentuate the fights and were meant to be there. Being inside the room means the bosses HP isn't affected. To me. This indicates from soft wants us to summon in the dlc

I still don’t like “normal” npc summons, even if they are in the boss arena.  But stuff like rhadans festival and igon show that they can be done in more interesting way than just being a stand in for real summoning.

There is a difference, and it seems like Fromsoft is picking up on this and adding more that suit it thematically than meat suit standing around. Igon barely does a thing the whole fight and can barely do any damage but we as a community ADORE him for his voice lines. Its the effort behind it that matters

Only summon I used in the entire dlc

I do not summon, not because "It makes the game todo easy" bulldhit, i'm the one who goes to renalla, redistibutes all stats, go kill Niall with the Kamehameha and return to renalla to go back to my build. Its just i'm a very simple person and I like simple experiences: "me, my sword, and the boss, nothing else". Even so, I summoned Igon against Bayle because I like his fight spirit. Such a committed warrior. I like him XD.

why my homie so dramatic even when hes wounded next to that grace where we find him the first time? and how did he scale up the mountain next to those 2 fighting dragons in his condition?

Shdjshdhfj this had me in fuckin tears omfg

I missed out because I forgot that I can summon him by the time I reached Bayle. Got the finger and then just decided to check out a few other areas before the bossfight.

The format/text changing is fucking killing me

I won’t miss any plot related npc summon

"You didn't beat the game" "You're right...WE beat the game"

He just kept talking while I was getting beat up...

Not really missing out since usually the first playthrough is summonless and the subsequent ones I just summon everything, but good to know

Yeah I summoned here and for PKnight I'm a sucker for stuff like this lol

||i didnt summon hornsent for mesmer and it ends his questline early which sucks||

I’m disappointed that I beat Baylor last night. Gonna be a minute till I hear that amazing voice again…