"Elden Ring" - Crumbling Farum Azula Quiz

Answer: Nothing

Melina is either dead or has abandoned the player by now. She either had to sacrifice herself to burn the Erdtree and give the player the ability to even get to Crumbling Farum Azula, or she abandons the player when they inherit the Frenzied Flame and are able to do this without her. Either way, by the time the player has arrived at Crumbling Farum Azula, Melina is gone for good.

Answer: A dragon

A massive dragon wielding multiple different types of lightning attacks appears to attack the player. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually drop anything when defeated, not even a Dragon Heart. Due to this combined with how tanky the creature is, it is justifiable if the player wanted to try and just run past it.

Answer: A bell bearing

Specifically, the bell bearing in question would be the Grave Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearing (3). This will allow the player to purchase infinite amounts of (7)s, (8)s and (9)s, enabling them to level any non renowned Spirit to just one level before the max at +9.

Answer: Crucible Knight

Fortunately, the area the Cruclble Knight is patrolling is wide open, giving the player the opportunity to strike pre-emptively with a ranged attack should they have the option. It doesn't actually drop anything on defeat, unfortunately.

Answer: Godskin Noble and Godskin Apostle

While the two share the same health bar, they can individually be slain before the fight is over. Their collective health bar must be drained, and this is facilitated by having them randomly respawn after being killed until the collective health bar hits zero. In total, the player will have to defeat roughly 3.5 of them.

This fight is unfortunately well known for being arguably the most poorly designed fight in the game. The reasons for this are numerous, but are mainly centered around the boss room and boss concept,

The boss room is poor because it is too small to properly handle a conflict where as many as six different combatants can take the field. Moreover, if the player decides to fight the duo by themselves, the boss area doesn't offer much to help the player perform crowd control. There are destructible pillars the duo can throw projectiles over once they're destroyed, plus the Noble can potentially just roll through them after destruction.

Finally, both the Noble and Apostle share one major issue that makes this fight a poor idea from the get go. Both have been created and initially balanced for solo encounters, as the player will fight both Noble and Apostle elsewhere, and they're by themselves during these fights. When mashed together, there is a tendency for the two to use attacks which completely overlap and cover the other one, making it impossible for the player to get in a hit without getting hit in return, which is almost never advantageous against a boss.

A good gank fight generally involves the two or more enemies operating at different speeds, and sometimes even specializing in different types of attacks. For example, the Twin Demons of "Dark Souls 3" embody this concept perfectly, as there will always be one demon getting right in the player's face, while the other one hangs back and shoots toxic magic at the player. This forces the player to still keep the more passive demon to kind, but it doesn't suffocate the player out of being able to do anything and makes for a much more fair and engaging fight. Again, against the Godskin Duo, there are frequently instances where the player cannot afford to try and attack because the chances of being punished even on successfully hitting are just too great. Plus, the two tend to move at close to the same speed, creating no separation and making the act of splitting them up even more cumbersome.

Answer: Knight Bernahl

Despite the title change, this is actually a familiar face. This is the same man the player met at the Volcano Manor, who sold them Ashes of War and potentially assassinated someone on a Volcano Manor quest. Here, he goes by the name "Recusanr" Bernahl.

Answer: Alexander the Warrior Jar

Alexander has spent the entirety of the game trying to get stronger. Believing to have reached his peak, Alexander will request a duel with the player to essentially redeem himself after failing to meaningfully contribute to the Radahn Festival. The player unfortunately must kill him here, as he will never forfeit at any point during the battle.

Answer: Greatly increase damage dealt by Ashes of War

The Shard of Alexander is a massive damage boost to any Ash of War the player uses. Such a simple, broadly useful Talisman would unsurprisingly end up being among the best in the entire game.

Answer: Dragonlord Placidusax

Essentially, just before entering the building housing the elevator, the player should do a direct 180 degree turn at the front door. From there, they should walk until they're just in front of what looks like a long, lethal fall. Peering over the edge will reveal a tiny portion of platform the player can jump onto. From there, the path is straightforward, but triggering the boss fight is not.

Answer: Lay down

Specifically, there is a small, empty and clear patch of sand which does somewhat stand out on a large, stony platform. When the player walks to it, the game will simply give them a button prompt to 'Lay Down'. Pushing this button will cause a cutscene to play, revealing that the character lies down and, as they do so, it seems the very flow of time hastens greatly for a while.

When it stops, the player's character will sit up and spot Dragonlord Placidusax looking down on them, wings wrapped around its body like a bat. Walking towards Placidusax will allow the fight to finally begin.

Answer: No

Interestingly, despite the fact that other dragons have as Decaying Ekzykes or Borealis the Freezing Fog also got dedicated spells which do count as Dragon Communion spells, Placidusax is an outcast. Unfortunately, this means Placidusax's Ruin will not receive the boost from the Dragon Communion Seal.

Answer: Draconic Tree Sentinel

The Draconic Tree Sentinel here performs just as it did last, with the only differences coming in the sentinel's stats, as they've predictably been buffed since the last time the player faced the sentinel. When defeated, the sentinel will drop its entire armor set, the Malformed set.

Answer: Beast Clergyman

If the player completed Gurranq's questline prior to fighting him, he will greet the player with shock and a sense of being betrayed, before shaking it off and informing the player that he will fight them regardless.

Answer: Malekith the Black Blade

Malekith gets a completely brand new moveset, and he will make sure to put it to use. Malekith is extremely agile and hits like a truck, allowing him to put immense pressure on the player and very quickly. While he has an incredibly small health bar, he can prove difficult to kill due to his relentless aggression and high mobility.

As such, he is unsurprisingly thought of as one of the hardest bosses in the game.

Answer: Temporarily reduces their max HP

Destined Death is a wickedly powerful mechanic capable of dealing extreme amounts of damage. It will remove 10% of the target's maximum HP for 15 seconds, which can be refreshed by reapplying Destined Death before it wears off. As such, the mechanic will get stronger the deeper into the game the player goes and the higher HP their enemies have.

In addition to temporarily removing some max HP from the target, Destined Death will apply a damage-over-time which functions exactly like Blackflame in being based off the target's max HP.

Malekith's Rememberance gives the opportunity to either receive the Black Blade incantation or the Malekith's Black Blade colossal weapon. The former simply applies Destined Death when used, while the latter's Ash of War is literally named 'Destined Death' and does exactly what you'd think.