RL1, NG+2 - Messmer the Impaler (Hitless)

Welcome to my Elden Ring journey to RL1, NG+7! Here are the rules I've set for myself: No Leveling (Obviously) No Summoning (with the exception of NPC gank bosses, ie Fia's Champions or Leda's Allies) Melee Only No inherently broken weapons or Ashes of War (which means no Cragblade, Star Fists, etc.) No Rune Vessels No Consumables No Cheese Here's my ranking of the boss: Deaths to first "Victory": 9 Deaths to Hitless: 57 Total Victories: 4 Difficulty: 8/10 Enjoyment: 10/10 Peripherals: 10/10 Total: 28/30 (S-Tier) Answering some common questions: What's the Peripheral Score? The Peripheral Score covers all the aspects of a boss fight that aren't necessarily part of the difficulty itself. The musical score, arena, lore surrounding the boss, voice acting, general design - etc. It's everything that doesn't neatly fit into the other two scores, basically. How do you rank difficulty? My difficulty rankings are strictly numerical. If I die a set number of times to a boss, it gets the appropriate ranking. The death:ranking ratio is detailed below. 100+ Deaths: 10 Difficulty 50-99 Deaths: 9 Difficulty 25-49 Deaths: 8 Difficulty 15-24 Deaths: 7 Difficulty 5-14 Deaths: 6 Difficulty 1-5 Deaths: 5 Difficulty 0 Deaths: Subjective range from 1-4 Difficulty For Difficulty Rankings 1-4, I give it a score based on threatening the boss felt. If I felt like I might've died at least once if I wasn't careful, it gets a 4. If it felt like it genuinely wasn't capable of even damaging me, it gets a 1. That's the gradient there. Now, because I'm trying to go for Hitless, I do also try to average out how the difficulty of beating the boss with the difficulty of going Hitless with a boss. If I was able to get my First "Victory" in 7 attempts (6 Difficulty Ranking) but it took me 40 attempts to go Hitless in my Final Victory (8 Difficulty Ranking), I'd call that a 7 Difficulty boss. What do you mean by "First Victory" or "Final Victory"? It is my intent to try and go Hitless with as many bosses as I possibly can. If I reach a point with a boss that I'm a one bleed proc away from winning and the run hasn't been hitless, I stop swinging and just start dodging for as long as I can. If I open up enough punish windows to have killed the boss twice with its remaining health, I count it as a "Victory" - just not my final, Hitless Victory. Let me know if you have any questions that I missed! #eldenring #fromsoftware #fromsoft #rl1 #ng+ #challengerun