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Elden Ring’s Mimic Tear boss can defeat itself

Elden Ring bosses are often formidable opponents, but this player has figured out a way of defeating Mimic Tear without having to land a single attack

Elden Ring boss Mimic Tear: A warrior in metal armour and a helmet covering his face holds a bloody sword

Elden Ring is now well over three months old, and with most players having completed their first or second playthroughs already, we now enter the realm of ridiculous mods, challenges, and speedruns. The best bit, if you’re asking us.

The latest revelation in FromSoftware’s game of the year contender revolves around one of the most intriguing Elden Ring bosses – Mimic Tear. For the unaware, Mimic Tear will become a carbon copy of you, the player, and will use your own weapons and abilities against you in combat. One wily player has now come up with a character build that can defeat Mimic Tear without even needing to attack it, as the boss will actually slowly kill itself over time.

In a Reddit post, ‘Going_Loki’ shows off their remarkable, five-minute, hitless encounter against Mimic Tear, whereby the boss’ attacks will slowly chip away at its own health bar, and all that’s left to do is avoid getting smacked yourself with a lot of dodging.

So how does Going_Loki achieve this? Well, they equip a dagger with the Bloody Slash Ash of War, which grants a powerful, bleed-applying slash in exchange for a slither of the user’s HP. When this is then equipped by Mimic Tear, their constant slashing means that, eventually, they will deplete themselves down to a pile of ashes.

It’s yet another example of how Elden Ring’s depth is still not yet fully explored, and an example of how it can even be turned on its own daunting bosses. Who needs the best Elden Ring weapons when you’ve got this expert strat, eh?