Think about, after two grueling waves in Elden Ring Nightreign, you and a few comrades attain the boss on the finish of the second night time and take him head-on, with surprisingly good outcomes. It’s nearing the midway mark of its well being, and earlier than Crucible Knight goes into its aggressive secondary section, one other well being bar populates on the display screen. It’s the hungry, hungry Golden Hippopotamus right here to destroy your scorching streak.
There’s nothing extra demoralizing than Golden Hippopotamus spawning in the midst of an Elden Ring Nightreign boss struggle. The Golden Hippopotamus, a subject boss who first appeared within the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, is a large hippo with the horn of a rhino and the ferocity of a pitbull. It solely has three assaults — Hippo Chew, Hippo Rush, and Fanged Cost — however they’re all relentless, capitalizing on its pace and dimension to drive gamers to constantly dodge. Particularly powerful is the cost assault, which sees gamers get chewed up and spit out in an extended animation that leads to devastating injury.
It hurts merely to see the Golden Hippopotamus seem, which is clearly not good for group morale. All of a sudden, everyone seems to be getting sloppy, all our vigor is gone, and now we’re pressured to take care of a brand-new assault sample from our authentic enemy, alongside a brand-new boss rampaging round us. All the pieces will get immediately tougher, as if the sport sensed issues have been a bit too simple for us and determined to throw a curveball — like The Director mechanic from Left 4 Lifeless or one thing.
Picture: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
This hippo stinks, and I don’t like him, however I’m additionally not alone. Actually, I’ve realized followers have been calling this abomination a nuisance for the reason that Shadow of the Erdtree enlargement (which, full disclosure, I didn’t get round to).
In his authentic type from Erdtree, the Golden Hippopotamus is a problem for fully totally different causes than in Elden Ring Nightreign. For one factor, he greets gamers in a cramped room, one which doesn’t allot practically sufficient sq. footage to gracefully struggle a hippo-sized enemy and keep away from all its large swinging assaults. For one more, because of the tight house and erratic motion, the digital camera additionally turns into an enemy, because it wildly clips into partitions and doesn’t focus too effectively on the locked-on boss. However most of all, the Golden Hippo’s moveset entails spawning golden quills from its again and capturing them at you want arrows. Seems, in Erdtree, this hippo has extra in frequent with a hedgehog or porcupine than a rhino or pitbull. (What’s worse is that different variants of Golden Hippo with out golden incantations present up three extra instances all through the DLC.)
“That is the one boss that doesn’t allow you to breathe, he all the time has you cornered,” one participant mentioned in a YouTube Brief that includes a streamer’s showdown with the Golden Moo Deng in Shadow of the Erdtree. “Hated preventing this boss however felt so good lastly beating it,” one participant mentioned in a remark. “Yeah, simply beat the fats hippo at degree 130, so annoying and I’ve seen 3 of them,” another person vented.
Picture: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco through epicgamejourney
In the meantime, in Nightreign, some have described Crucible Knight and Golden Hippopotamus as “the worst Day 2 boss.” There are even some who’ve expressed frustrations getting the duo after already defeating the Historic Dragon boss, a tough boss battle by itself. “After it dies, a NEW multi boss struggle begins with Crucible Knight + the hippo?? You don’t get your revive bars reset, so it’s fucking brutal for those who misplaced any on Historic Dragon (which individuals will).”
Though gamers may come throughout a Golden Hippopotamus roaming Nightreign by itself, I’ve solely ever seen it present up throughout my fights with the Crucible Knight. But when the tag-team champions of Nightreign have been to ever present up for me after defeating an Historic Dragon? I’m afraid I’d should want my pals luck and briskly run into the storm till I wound up again at Roundtable Maintain.
