A common strategy that’s emerged in Elden Ring competitive multiplayer over the last two weeks sees Tarnished sacrifice their own bodies to destroy their foes.
While Elden Ring obviously features a wide selection of weaponry and spells for dispatching opponents, some of the game’s more treacherous online invaders instead choose to go out in a blaze of glory if it means securing a kill or two. I doubt even the most potent synergies in Elden Ring have the offensive power to reliably take out three human enemies at once. And should those combos exist, there’s still no way they’re as funny as the clip below (h/t Highlight Reel’s Chris Person).
This is all made possible by an item known as the Flask of Wondrous Physick, which can be found after a short trip north from Elden Ring’s starting location. Unlike the Flasks of Crimson and Cerulean Tears, which restore health and magic, this special, single-use consumable can be customized at checkpoints to impart a variety of benefits. It’s like your own portable Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, limited only by the specific Tears you stumble upon throughout the game.
Want a quick faith boost? Drop the Faith-knot Crystal Tear into your Flask of Wondrous Physick and take a swig right before battle to ensure your incantations have some extra oomph. Or maybe I can interest you in the Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear’s ability to convert incoming magic damage to health? That said, when it comes to blowing yourself up, look no further than the Ruptured Crystal Tear. And unlike the vast majority of its counterparts, it has a twin, meaning you can equip both for an even bigger boom.
Things start to get really nutty when you combine a Flask of Wondrous Physick invigorated by two Ruptured Crystal Tears with other equipment.
In the first video in this story, Elden Ring player Solid Hitoshi bolstered their explosion with Royal Knight’s Resolve (a skill that increases your damage output) and then utilized Bloodhound Step (a fast-moving, nearly invisible dodge maneuver) to quickly position their Tarnished between the three marks, scoring a hat trick in the blink of an eye. JellyDiscrete, on the other hand, demonstrated how the gravity powers of the Starscourge Greatswords (massive weapons made from Starscourge Radahn’s soul) can be used to pull unsuspecting opponents into range before going kablooey.
Elden Ring, for all its brooding atmosphere, also manages to be one of the most hilarious games in recent memory thanks to player interactions like these.