On April 1st Twitch streamer Seki did something very impressive in FromSoftware’s elden ring. After much trial and error, the veteran player completed what appears to be the world’s first recorded no-hit/no-damage run of elden ring.
Seki’s no-hit/no-damage run lasted just under 3 hours and was made live on stream, posting a picture of his victory shortly after on twitter, excitedly announces the news. In his tweet, Seki claimed that his impressive run was a “world first”. Some people questioned this, pointing to another, previous streamer GinoMachino from March 13th. However, while GinoMachino has completed elden ring without taking hits, this run differs from what Seki has achieved.
“No-Hit/No Damage is harder than a normal no-hit run because the player can’t take [any] Environmental damage such as fall damage/poison etc.” explained Seki igamesnews. “This makes running more difficult as I don’t have access to buffs like Red-Feathered Branchsword that could potentially increase my damage output if I was low on health.”
This means Seki must avoid all kinds of damage, large or small, throughout the run. Think about how many times you’ve played elden ring and have accidentally fallen and taken some fall damage or was poisoned in a swamp. If something like this happens to Seki during his run, he’ll have to start over. This condition turns an already tricky and challenging game into an even harder beast to conquer.
Watching the successful run is wild. see someone completely elden ring in less than 3 hours without her health bar ever going down is very compelling content even if (like me) you have no interest in FromSoftware games or elden ring.
(There’s a moment during the run when Seki equips a special talisman that increases his damage and health. At that moment, his health bar expands and it looks like he’s taken damage, but that’s how the item works. )
According to the streamer who has made similar no-hit runs in other FromSoftware games as Axe, he spent over 130 hours attempting this no-hit/no-damage run. It involved planning, practicing, and lots and lots of tries.
As for the gear Seki prefers when trying to punch elden ring without taking any damage, it’s a base kit with a fan favorite: Moon Veil Katana.
“I’m using a Dexterity/Intelligence build. My main weapon is the Moonveil Katana,” explained Seki. He also uses a spell called Rock Sling to clear mobs in certain areas of the game.
Continue reading: How to get the Moon Veil Katana in elden ring
Sometimes on a run like this you discover that a specific and oddly unexpected part of the game is the hardest to complete, maybe a random section full of toxic enemies or something. But Seki told me that, poetically, the hardest part of this entire run was at the very end.
“By far the hardest part of the run is the final boss: Elden Beast,” said Seki.
“It has a particular trait that’s notoriously unfair: Elden Stars. One of the only ways you might be able to avoid this is to stagger him while he’s casting the spell. This required dozens of hours of precise practice and training to get the timing right.”
So sometimes Seki didn’t fail a run until he achieved that at the very end of the game, having played essentially a perfect game up to that point. And if the boss hit him or did any damage to him at all, he’d have to start the whole thing over again.
After such an impressive performance, some might be content to sit back and take a break. Maybe play the game normally and relax a bit. But Seki didn’t plan that. He tells me his next goal is to work on creating a “All Memories no-hit run, which he describes as a “real test of skill.” He’s also excited about the growing speedrunning and hitless running community of elden ring.
“I can’t wait to see the Hitless community working together to invent new strategies to beat the game.”
Meanwhile, many other people are still trying to just beat the first boss elden ring.
