Elden Ring maestro plays a saxophone to style on Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss, wins battle of the bands in 'a dozen attempts'

DrDecomposing yelps in joy as he finally conquers Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss with nothing but a saxophone.

(Image credit: From Software / DrDecomposing on Twitch.)

I've been delightfully proud of (and fearing) the Elden Ring community ever since its first and final DLC released last month. Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss—spoilers, naturally—seems as though it should be a legendarily difficult encounter, sharing a throne with the infamous Malenia (reportedly the blade of Miquella, sources confirm) in FromSoftware's rogues gallery.

I personally lost an entire Sunday trying to put him down, having to swap up my build to equip a greatshield and rock Scarlet Aeonia which was, at least, thematic. So of course, the wider community has proved me scrub-tier by styling on him with parries, getting hit by every attack and surviving, and deploying a bottle of perfume. I should've known spritzing a legendary warrior with cologne was the optimal strategy, silly me.

To add to my wounds, someone's gone and beat it with a saxophone now. Just like Prometheus, the metaphorical eagle continues to peck out my liver on a daily basis.

YouTuber and streamer Dr Decomposing (self-titled Dr Doot on Twitter) has, in a follow-up to his no-hit saxophone run back in August of last year, tackled Promised Consort Radahn with nothing but the power of jazz and a mind-boggling controller setup (thanks, IGN).

Everyone was telling me how utterly impossible the Final Boss of Shadow of the Erdtree was going to be. Outrageous moveset, impossible dodges, etc...It only took me a dozen attempts on the saxophone.THE WORLD'S FIRST (afaik) ALT CONTROLLER DLC RUN HAS BEEN DOOTED!🎷 pic.twitter.com/nUzPmfgsNxJuly 1, 2024

"Everyone was telling me how utterly impossible the Final Boss of Shadow of the Erdtree was going to be," the fine doctor rightfully brags. "Outrageous moveset, impossible dodges, etc … It only took me a dozen attempts on the saxophone."

A dozen attempts. Yep, that stings. In case you're wondering how Dr Decomposing controls his snazzy Tarnished with music, each input (as explained on his Twitch) is mapped to a different note. You can actually hear that play out in the video above as, when faced with Radahn's flurry of phantom strikes, he makes good use of the Deflecting Hardtear to timed-block his way through an otherwise nightmarishly hard attack.

In terms of his build, Dr Decomposing is using the aforementioned hardtear, which basically turns the game into Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for a few minutes, combined with the Carian Thrusting Shield: "The Carian Thrusting Shield has WILD scaling with STR when made Heavy. That + Deflect Tear + Guard Counter Boost talisman makes for an absolute powerhouse of a tank build once you learn the attack timings."

That tracks as a supremely effective strategy with everything I know about this boss from my own brutal experience. While dodge-rolling through everything is possible, it's also extremely difficult—builds that focus on either tanking or parrying him appear to be having far less trouble. Now we just need to see someone kill him with a dance pad.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.