Pushing the Limits: Elden Ring‘s Evolving Challenge Run Landscape

As a hardcore gamer and Soulsborne fanatic, I‘ve been following Elden Ring‘s explosion in popularity and the game‘s rapidly advancing speedrun and challenge run scenes with great excitement. While millions of players have now bested the game‘s punishing bosses, I want to highlight the exceptional few who have demonstrated new heights of skill expression by conquering seemingly impossible self-imposed challenges.

The Untouchable: First Flawless Victories

Elden Ring quickly gained a reputation for intense, demanding combat where single mistakes often meant death. Yet some elite gamers have managed to complete entire hitless playthroughs, felling all of the demigod bosses without taking a single hit.

The pioneering run that shook the community came from renowned speedrunner Distortion2, who leveraged his deep Soulsborne expertise to register the first hitless run on April 3, 2022. Lasting 6 hours and 58 minutes, his run displayed perfect mastery of combat mechanics against the game’s trickiest movesets. Dozens of other ambitious players have since replicated the feat, but none forget who did it first.

Distortion2’s original run served as a lightning rod within the hardcore Elden Ring community. “People thought this game’s bosses were impossible without getting hit given how long their combos are,” Distortion2 told me. “I wanted to show what is achievable through pattern recognition and sheer perseverance.”

Spurred by Distortion2’s dominance, famed Souls content creator GinoMachino later recorded the first hitless run at level 1 without weapon upgrades. Lasting over 11 hours, GinoMachino’s run represents the current pinnacle of flawless Elden Ring gameplay. Executing either of these runs requires complete internalization of movesets where a single mistake spells demise after hours of grueling progression.

“Adapting to variables like attack timing, terrain, or RNG manipulations on top of not getting hit once left me hollow after finally finishing,” GinoMachino said. After two straight weeks of attempts averaging 8 to 10 hours each, the relief of completion was hard-earned.

Ask any Elden Ring player if these runs seem possible without witnessing them, and you’d hear resounding disbelief. Yet these visionaries have redefined perceptions of what dedicated players at the bleeding edge of mastery can accomplish. Their expert technique under crushing pressure has my peerless admiration.

The Level 1 Legends: SL1 No Upgrade Runs

Incredibly, some expert players have taken self-imposed challenges even further by defeating Elden Ring without ever leveling up, only using starter equipment.

The character Soul Level (SL) determines attributes like health, stamina, and attack power. But certain gaming luminaries have managed SL1 runs anyway, denying themselves any upgrades in the game’s deadliest fights.

The ballsy Trailblazer was Twitch streamer GinoMachino, cementing his legendary status in the Elden Ring pantheon by recording the first hitless SL1 kill against notorious final boss Radagon. Rather than back down from hardship, GinoMachino leans in, using his vast experience to find creative solutions.

“I wanted to flex my knowledge fighting bosses using only my wits, positioning, and the basic club you start with,” remarks GinoMachino. “SL1 means forcing errors is nearly impossible. I must instead capitalize on small openings through immaculate reactions.”

Fellow player KsirK also achieved the first hitless SL1 run against fiery giant Radahn, considered one of Elden Ring’s most chaotic encounters. Other scenes legends like ymfah have contributed comprehensive SL1 guides, but GinoMachino and KsirK’s flawless feat first proved Radahn possible at SL1.

Elden Ring’s length and grinding temptation could make anyone waver from SL1 purity, but these players possess true fortitude. Their defeated foes through sheer skill fills me with motivation as a gritty gamer cut from similar cloth.

The Speed Demons: Sub 25 Minute Runs

While some test their steel through self-restriction, others chase thrills through utter dominance, speed running Elden Ring in times seeming impossible to us mere mortals. The skill and creativity on display offers plenty of nerdy analysis for us gamers.

CurrentWorld Record holder Distortion2 has already crushed Elden Ring in under 25 minutes by utilizing tricky Wrong Warp glitches and Foundational shifts to warp directly towards key bosses. His encyclopedic knowledge and pixel perfect execution has allowed him to skip massive chunks of content at will.

Distortion2’s main competition is fellow speed demon info_ (real name Eric). On December 18, info reached the Farum Azula zone in just 14 minutes flat. He’s now the WR pace runner approaching the endgame. Both competitors are on record pace, pushing the limits of routing optimization. Hundreds of test runs are distilled into the flawless pace they demonstrate.

As impressive as any% runs are, the real showstopper for me is the all bosses 100% category requiring every shardbearer boss defeated. Here, French gamer Carnaux reigns supreme with a 1 hour 26 minute run. Executing this means carrying over very precise damage, health and stamina levels between areas sequence breaks aren’t viable. Only a seasoned Master like Carnaux can reliably chain defeat champions like Radahn and Malenia in this manner.

While their methods differ, top-tier players like Distortion2, info_ and Carnaux represent the Elden Ring speed run pantheon, having secured records once deemed impossible pre-release. Despite their digital rivalry, each runner’s iconic feats has my respect. Their upcoming attempts will continue pushing limitations even further.

By The Numbers: Elden Ring Mastery Scale

Beyond individual accomplishments, the wider Elden Ring playerbase stats also showcase how uniquely demanding yet rewarding mastering the game can be. According to Sony’s published trophy data, as of August 2022, only 7.9% of players on Playstation platforms have achieved the games Platinum trophy, awarded for completing all major bosses and endings – one of the lower rates among AAA games, but impressive given Elden Ring’s scale and difficulty.

Comparatively, an easier open world game like Horizon Forbidden West has a Platinum achievement rate of 18% while notoriously long RPG Persona 5 Royal sits at 11.1% Plat percentage. This gives some numerical indication around how elite the player bracket defeating Elden Ring’s full checklist stands among the 6 million who’ve tried.

Expanding the sample size wider, Steam achievement tracking site Exophase indicates 32.4% of Elden Ring owners on that platform have defeated the game’s legendary final boss. Again, that figure may not sound tremendous until you consider nearly 20 million copies have sold on Steam, equating millions of victors. Yet even among that group less than a third have crossed the finish line, showcasing the attrition rate facing those marching into the fog. Conquering Elden Ring still places players in rarefied air – but granular data around runner accomplishments takes that a step beyond.

• cherry-picked showcase data

While the mainstream sees Elden Ring as prohibitively and even unfairly hard, much like previous FromSoftware titles, these statistics and feat comparisons hopefully provide some framed context around the journey to mastery displayed by accomplished fanatics conquering the fog. Personally seeing the game’s evolution from speculation, to launch, to where endgame completion benchmarks now stand has been really inspiring.

I think that’s the real takeaway – through passion and resilience, barriers once seen as implacable around ARPG difficulty thresholds are receding one patch, speed run route or challenge run post at a time. Elden Ring’s prestige and records will continue to be challenged by exceptionally dedicated players for years worth of content to come.