Someone has decided to mod Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree so that one of the hardest bosses in the game is now even harder, because why not I guess. Souls players do love a challenge after all.

“Inner Serpent” is a new mod over on Nexus from mod author thebluehood35 that’s aiming to make the Messmer boss fight even harder, for some reason.

So, how is it harder, exactly? Well, for a start, his combos are just longer. According to the mod author, this is “especially evident with combos that last for only two hits like the delayed swipe to the spinning stab or the retreat flame swipes”.

Also, Messmer now has a whole new moveset by the sounds of things. He can now fight without the user of his spear, at which point he’ll just give you the old left, right, goodnight with his bare hands.

Oh, and, also “Base Serpent Messmer now starts the fight just above 75% HP instead of half health.” Sure, why not?

However, it’s not designed to be unfair, as the mod author has promised that it’s more than possible to beat the Inner Serpent boss fight “without getting hit with a medium roll setup”.

The comments over on Nexus seem extremely positive too, although a couple do reference a bug that has (supposedly) since been fixed by thebluehood35.

“Just played it. In addition to how amazing the mod is gameplay wise, it makes Messmer’s death even more tragic,” replied user noahop5000, “Phase three and it’s end pretty much turns Messmer’s own words against him.”

“Absolutely amazing mod and an extremely well done overhaul to an already amazing boss,” commented user divinteae, “I will say though his AI can break in phase two sometimes but overall excited to see future updates to the mod if any do come.”

Can’t wait to see all the Elden Ring content creators struggle with this boss fight for the next few weeks.