Elden Ring: Why being able to ride Torrent is a game changer for fighting Elden Beast 

While most Elden Ring players are fixated on the new Shadow of the Erdtree content, they shouldn’t overlook the substantial patch 1.12 that was released alongside the DLC. It includes features such as five new character hairstyles, a “Recent Items” tab that makes inventory management easier, and possibly the most game-changing feature of all, the ability for players to summon Torrent during the fight against the Elden Beast. Players can spend the better half of the fight just trying to keep up with the boss on foot, but with Torrent now at their side, the second half of Elden Ring’s final fight makes more sense. 

The Elden Beast boss fight is gigantic in scale 

The Elden Beast boss fight takes place inside the massive Erdtree that looms over The Lands Between. Unlike the humanoid-sized Radagon, who makes up the first half of the final boss fight, the Elden Beast is a behemoth whose attacks encompass a wide area and forces players to constantly move to keep up with it. Moves like Golden Flames, Nebula, and Wave of Gold create projectiles that players have to keep dodging. 

The Elden Beast’s large size makes it an easy target, but it also causes its default movement speed to be more than enough to outswim (or outfly) a sprinting Tarnished. If that wasn’t enough, it has moves like Supernova which allow it to easily relocate to another part of the arena. It can be frustrating to keep dodging all of the Elden Beast’s attacks without getting a single hit in. 

Being able to ride Torrent in the Elden Beast fight feels like it was intended from the start 

The sheer size of the arena and the type of attacks the Elden Beast has all point to the notion that Torrent may  have been an intended core component of the fight from the start. With him, players can move much faster and easily avoid some of the Elden Beast’s nastier moves. Torrent’s double jump makes evading attacks like Wave of Gold and Golden Ring a walk in the park, whereupon he can be spurred on to close the distance between the boss for some quick attacks. Once players have dealt damage to the Elden Beast, they can repeat the process ad infinitum to a much easier degree. 

The Elden Beast is a boss with one of the largest health pools in the game, so players should spend more time dealing damage rather than catching up to it. Torrent alleviates the cat-and-mouse game by a substantial amount, allowing its rider to focus on the fight instead of the commute. With him, the Elden Beast fight may just end up being more fun than it is on foot. Now all we need now is for Torrent to officially fly and things will really get interesting.