The total Elden Ring death count is well into the billions - and Malenia is responsible for an awful lot of that.
In a new infographic released to celebrate the game's first anniversary, publisher Bandai Namco confirmed "over nine billion" deaths. 69% of those deaths came at the hands of official enemies, with another 29% coming from fall damage and status effects like Blood Loss and Scarlet Rot. The final 2% - still amounting to 180 million deaths - came at the hands of other players.
The infographic also confirms the top five boss attempts - arguably highlighting the five most difficult bosses to overcome. Right at the top is Malenia, who players have initiated more than 329 million fights with. After her, there's Margit, who was an early stumbling block for many players, with 281 million fights initiated. Rounding out the top five are the Limgrave Tree Sentinel, Radagon of the Golden Order, and Starscourge Radahn, with 277 million, 148 million, and 139 million fights each.
Assuming that players like Let Me Solo Her are outliers and that most players beat her once and vowed never to return, my quicks maths suggests that Malenia is responsible for something like 3.5% of all of Elden Ring's deaths.
While the infographic is interesting, it's likely to be pushed out of date when Elden Ring's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, arrives. Announced just after the game's first birthday, we still don't have a release date, but given FromSoftware's penchant for putting its toughest challenges inside its DLC, there could be a whole bunch of extra deaths on the way.
Celebrate a year of Elden Ring with some of our favourite moments from The Lands Between.
