Ollllllll’ Margit.
Maggie, Maggie,
Maggie.
Elden Ring’s premiere gatekeep girlboss is giving people a hard time.
I’m talking newbies, and Souls freaks like me.
Summit1g: Uh-oh, I’m dead.
OHHHH, I tried, dudes!
Wrafferino: Dude, I’m gonna get fuckin DESTROYED.
xQcOW: WHAT??!??!??!
Pat: This crusty old goat is such a problem that he was even trending on Twitter for a while.
So what’s the deal?
Is Margit actually harder than Fromsoft’s other early skill-check bosses?
This isn’t a guide to beating him, but maybe my hands-on research will help you understand
why Margit is so good at putting your foolish ambitions to rest.
Margit: Put these foolish ambitions to rest.
(the sounds of DEATH)
(chill, acoustic guitar music that would be played in a Parisian cafe in a movie)
I started my experiment by rolling a new character.
I went Prisoner, and dallied just enough to put one point each into vigor, intelligence,
and dexterity.
I got on my horsey, and I galloped to the boss arena, and I stepped through that uric curtain.
[male voice: PIIIIIIIIISSSSSS]
Ignore this guy for now.
Let’s just look at the arena.
The fight takes place on a strip of land that slopes upwards away from the entrance.
It’s longer than it is wide, and the sides terminate in deadly drops.
The shape of the arena matters a whole lot.
Space is a precious resource, and in this layout, you don’t get it for free.
Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran, there are going to be times where you wanna
put distance between you and Margit — to heal, cast spells, or just catch your breath.
In a round arena, you could more easily retreat away from the boss.
But here, once Margit gets close, the only way to get this space back is to pass through
the danger zone.
Fromsoftware has done similar things with previous beginner bosses.
The Cleric Beast jumps you on a bridge, and the Taurus demon shows up on a castle battlement
that’s just a few meters wide.
But this time, they took away the bumpers, and that makes a big difference.
[STRANGLED YELLING]
(a faster-paced acoustic guitar powers us through, and is joined by a cheery violin)
After I got the lay of the land, I switched into Margit Observation Mode.
Rather than trying to do any damage, I just focused on his attacks, and jotting down their
properties.
One of the first things I noticed is that he loves to punish your instinct to run away,
especially in a straight line.
To new players, this might be frustrating.
When confronted with something this dangerous and nasty looking, running away is a totally
natural response.
Margit is designed to beat that instinct out of you.
But lovingly; if you’re a new player and you believe you can always roll away,
you’ll spend all of your time retreating from bosses, and never land a hit.
Let’s talk about how dodge rolls work in Souls games.
You hit the dodge button, and after a very short windup, you leap through the air, and
you have a few milliseconds or frames of animation where you’re totally invincible.
Even if an enemy's sword or axe or gigantic golden hammer appears to be intersecting with
your corporeal form, the game says “no.”
Paul Rudd: OH *BLEEP*—
(whirring computer noises)
… I’m okaY.
Pat: But the precise nanosecond those iframes expire, if you’re still touching the ouchy thing,
you get ouchied.
It’s a powerful tool with clear limits, and Margit intends to expose those limits.
He’s got a big old cane with big range, so if you’re trying to use your dodge roll
to get beyond his reach, he’ll still catch you — his cane backhand and overhead will
bop you from a few meters away.
But it’s not just range, it’s timing, too.
Take a look at the double golden dagger swipe.
I roll, dodging the first attack in the combo, but the second attack hits while I’m still
in the recovery frames for my first dodge roll!
This is trash!
But wait!
If I suppress my fearful instincts and roll to Margit’s side instead of away from him,
I exit the effective area of his swipes before my iframes expire, and he doesn’t turn to
track me in time.
And when I get back up on my feet I’m already in range to attack, so all I need to do is…
Oh!
Okay. Bye.
Dodging into attacks is an old Souls strategy, but it’s rare that you meet an early boss
this eager to teach you that.
(another jaunty little acoustic guitar welcomes us in)
After rolling around in the dirt for a few hours, I had gotten pretty good at evading
Margit’s phase 1 attacks.
So it was time to start hitting him back.
And it’s hard.
Margit inverts the traditional loop of a 1v1 Souls fight.
Normally, the safest time to go in on an enemy is right after they’ve attacked.
But not Margit.
This motherfucker’s got strings.
Confirmable strings.
What I mean is that he has optional extensions to his combos, specifically designed to punish
you for relying on the old Souls roll’n’poke.
These golden daggers don’t come out every time, but you can bet they will if you try
to attack immediately after dodging a cane.
Those same extensions will also punish you for trying to block and counter with your
shield.
Margit’s attack strings are long, and they don’t always follow the same path.
Check this out.
Margit throws a diagonal swipe with the cane, follows up with a two handed backhand, then
a horizontal forehand, then a single golden dagger swipe directly into a retreating backhop
with a mid-air dagger throw.
[dense clown music]
And how about this one?
Double dagger swipe into diagonal cane into single dagger uppercut into two-handed cane
overhead.
Whaddya got, Jailer Demon?
[dense clown music resumes]
[SLAP!]
Even for the strings that aren’t long, Margit can mix things up based on what you’re doing.
If you move in close when he’s charging up like this, he’ll hit you with a massive
overhead.
If you run away, he’ll leap forward with his two-hit spin combo.
He can even switch targets mid-combo, so if you summon a buddy and try to get a bunch
of free backstabs, no!
[SLAP!]
They were truly off the shits when they made this guy.
(guess what, a little acoustic interlude for you, more plucking this time, a little bit... broken rhythm, if you will)
I think the most interesting thing about Margit’s whole deal is how slowly he runs you over.
Austin Powers: MOVE! MOVE!
Vanessa: Careful, Austin!
Guard: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAUUUUUUUGHHHHHH
Pat: It seems like someone at From was determined to dispel the myth that these games are about
twitch reflexes, and they’re using Margit to prove it.
We’ve talked about how long and complicated some of his strings are, but most of them
start with very, very, VERY slow openers.
This cane uppercut is a little hard to react to, but everything else has a loooong, sometimes
coooomically long windup.
And while this may lower the skill requirement to dodge his attacks, it can also throw you
off — especially if you’re used to a snappier rhythm.
In my limited musical experience, keeping time gets harder the slower you go.
How do you count along to this?
Ooooooooone.
Margit is the culmination of a decade of Fromsoft boss design.
He’s got a bigger moveset than all of the other gatekeeper bosses combined.
But he’s also the gatekeeper in a game where “gates” don’t really function like they
have in the past.
As an early boss, Margit is a teacher, and his lesson here is that you’re not gonna
get far unless you’re willing to do whatever it takes – and adapt.
Take it from Bruce Lee:
Bruce Lee: I’m telling you.
It’s difficult to have a rehearsed routine to fit in with…[tapping furiously] broken rhythm.
You see?
Rehearsed routines lack the flexibility to adapt.
(gentle tapping)
Pat: How do you adapt and survive?
Literally any way you can.
Go back to Limgrave or the Weeping Peninsula and hunt for something that will give you
an advantage.
You can buff up your stats, exploring dungeons, finding new weapons, leveling them up, learning
new spells.
You can summon a jellyfish friend to split his attention!
You can practice your parries and cut him off before he even does his fancy knife tricks.
Margit is the most overpowered starting boss I’ve ever seen in a Fromsoft game, but that’s
okay, because you’re the most overpowered you.
You’ll improve, adapt, and overcome.
But god help you if you get to Phase 2.
(a little string flourish as Margit slices you up)
Margit: Put these foolish ambitions to rest.
(Death Knell)
(a more jazzy, syncopated almost-electrojazz song kicks in)
(YEAHHHHHHH THE BEAT DROPS)