The Godskin Duo fight has easily become the lightning rod for the most complaints when it comes to the mandatory bosses in Elden Ring's late-game. On the surface, it can be easy to call this a worse version of Dark Souls' Ornstein and Smough encounter; however on a deeper level, this fight not only draws from even more bosses but succeeds on a mechanical level as an evolution of them.
Unfortunately for the Godskin Duo, this otherwise successful encounter is held off until very late in Elden Ring, where the balance of enemies versus the expected level of the player starts to skew negatively. So, if these two might have appeared as a dual boss anywhere earlier than Crumbling Farum Azula, then the encounter might not have earned as much animosity as it clearly has among the fan community.
Ancestors of the Godskin Duo
Boss fights against multiple enemies are nothing new for developer FromSoftware, as even going as far back as Demon's Souls' bosses includes an encounter against the Maneaters. These fights often put the player on the defensive, forcing them to take care and wait for the few opportunities to punish that reveal themselves when both bosses are recovering from their own attacks. The result is often the most difficult fights in any of these titles, Elden Ring included. That being said, there is one other major aspect to the Godskin Duo that has appeared in earlier Souls games, often leading to some of the most frustrating bosses in the series.
This second aspect of the Godskin Duo is the DPS check, a type of boss design that requires players to deal enough damage in a specific amount of time before being instantly killed or overwhelmed. In the case of previous FromSoftware titles, the two most notable DPS checks come in the form of Darkbeast Paarl from Bloodborne and the Four Kings in Dark Souls. It's the specific type of DPS check from the Four Kings that the Godskin Duo iterates on, dusting off this older mechanic and attempting to help the boss stand out against other multi-enemy encounters like Elden Ring's Commander Niall or the Fell Twins.
The specific check-in question takes the form of requiring players to kill multiple bosses in rapid succession before a second spawns in and overwhelms the player with too many enemies to handle at once. For the Four Kings, this can turn into four or five boss-strength enemies filling the arena with slashing swords and powerful, purple magic. In the case of the Godskin Duo, the clock doesn't start ticking until the first boss is killed, giving only a short time to kill the second while the fight is trimmed to a one-on-one battle until the numbers turn out of the player's favor again. It's a small addition that makes Elden Ring's Godskin Duo entirely unique, even among the game's other dual bosses.
The Worst Case for a DPS Check
It isn't uncommon for a DPS check in any game to come later on in the progression when players are more likely to have access to powerful equipment and high levels. However, the sticking point that makes the Godskin Duo so difficult, and therefore so frustrating, is the fact that it is one of the last few bosses before the end of the game. This specifically grinds poorly against the balance that quickly shifts way out of the player's favor once Elden Ring moves to Crumbling Farum Azula.
The last few areas in Elden Ring are often the source of many complaints from fans, beyond whether or not the bosses are fair or well-designed. When most hits from even basic enemies in locations like Crumbling Farum Azula can kill any player with less than 40 vigor, it can be easy to be frustrated that the game seems to push a specific set of Elden Ring's best builds. This is where the Godskin Duo rubs poorly against the balancing of this location, giving players a difficult DPS check in the area where enemies have the most health and deal the most damage.
Everything about the Godskin Duo fight might succeed in any other dungeon than Crumbling Farum Azula, thanks to the way that the overinflated health and damage of the boss grinds against DPS check. Trading blows isn't as viable in the dual fight as it had been against any of the previous solo fights against either Elden Ring's Godskin Apostle or the Godskin Noble. Additionally, this is the last location to increase the player's own damage, meaning there is little a player can do to improve their build once they've arrived at the Godskin Duo boss arena. It makes for a late-game check on the player's build that simply hadn't been forced from any mandatory boss up until this point.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.