Elden Ring - Margit, the Fell Omen - Review

Margit, the Fell Omen is finally here everyone. I know some people are very curious on why I've been reviewing smaller insignificant bosses but I love to explore and analyze to see what makes them tick. Anyway this is one of the main bosses in the game so complexity was definitely expected here and it took quite a bit of experimenting to discover what behaviors and i-frames worked to get through without receiving a hit. Unfortunately one of my favorite attacks became rare once I discovered my dominating strategy. It was a jump attack in the first phase which had very satisfying i-frames that allowed me to simply walk underneath without dodging then I could strike twice which would lead into a visceral opportunity after only a few more hits so I had to sacrifice a lot just to have a more solid strategy.

From the beginning when I first saw this boss in previews, I immediately noticed similarities from the other games like Margit's model design looks like the Ghru enemies from Dark Souls 3 with the move set of the Taurus Demon and the arena actually from Dark Souls, except you cant climb one of the towers this time.

Idling is something I mentioned on the Leonine Misbegotten boss and this is the perfect fight to discuss the problems with it but let me explain what it is first just in case someone is unaware of what transpires. Idling is a moment in a boss fight where nothing happens and can continue for an uncomfortable amount of time usually until either the boss snaps out of it or the player takes action. Personally this has happened to me several times throughout the series especially with fights like Artorias and Manus. This is an issue that basically exists with every SoulsBlood game except maybe Sekiro since it's designed to basically keep combat flowing at all times due to the game punishing players wanting to play passively by making the battle longer which is what I did as a new player in Sekiro. While practicing Margit I noticed that there is a major aggression toward using items so I started throwing knives to knock the idling out. It did work for the most part however it left me vulnerable to the little summon daggers that Margit throws so I had to ditch that plan. I eventually just had to wait it out because walking up to Margit also risked the same attack which has a very small animation right before a dagger is thrown plus I had to avoid getting hit by a huge combo that was devastating to get caught in. I'm currently working on a new weapon to help avoid this issue along with this weapon's terribly slow recovery time.

My strategy had to be established around the slow recovery time of my weapon which only allows small moments to attack which is why I'm extremely passive in the second phase of this fight. My biggest challenge was avoiding the double swing of the cane and hammer which had a fairly tight window to dodge through. I couldn't go towards Margit due to the quick recovery attacks so I found a nice window by walking and dodging away. There was also a follow up attack which caught me off guard a lot where Margit launches towards me with a cane sweep however once I started to expect that it was no longer an issue. I really liked this fight and I wish my weapon of choice didn't compromise so much of it. One detail I found intriguing was this wind up attack that added a second swing if you were too far away. This attack was very convenient whenever I was very close because I could strafe and land a nice big charge attack. I actually had to specifically dodge to Margit's left side after the hammer slam to avoid fast recovery attacks if I got caught directly in front because this allowed attacks that I absolutely could not avoid due to once again my weapon's slow animation transition. Another interesting obstacle was the objects on the sides of the arena. At first I thought this would be a major issue for the second phase then I discovered that I can get Margit just far enough to one side so I could walk right by without activating the brutal combo I mentioned earlier. I'm looking forward to learning more about this fight because it's comfort is based on old roots.