In the grim, unforgiving world of Elden Ring, there are no characters that can truly be considered heroes — not even the protagonist. But one community member has risen to fame in the last week: a naked man wearing nothing but a jar on his head who waits outside the door to the game’s hardest boss under the polite request of a name: ‘Let me solo her’.
Let Me Solo Her (who asked in an email to go by either his Elden Ring moniker or LMSH for short) is an unassuming, altruistic player who has been dropping his summon sign outside the boss fight door of Malenia, for the last week or more. Malenia, while not a mandatory fight for finishing Elden Ring, is the culmination of multiple sidequests and has become notorious in the community as one of the most difficult battles FromSoftware has ever designed. So naturally, there are plenty of players who feel they want to finish it for completion, but are struggling to do so. Enter LMSH.
While Elden Ring is largely a solo adventure, players can opt-in to co-op using certain items that will reveal “summon signs” — gold markings on the ground that allow them to call other players (who have opted into being summoned) to their games and work together until a dungeon is completed, a boss defeated, or someone dies. In LMSH’s case, he simply drops his summon sign outside Malenia’s boss door and, once called upon, heads inside the boss chamber and immediately proceeds to wreck Malenia without anyone else’s help. This both allows whoever is hosting him in their game to get the kill and move on with the story, but also provides a hell of a show.
LMSH’s story is a straightforward one: he fell in love with Souls games after playing Dark Souls 3, and has previously been an avid PvP player in other FromSoftware games. When Elden Ring came out, he picked the Samurai class and played through the game like anyone else. He’s on New Game+ at the moment and is currently working to finish all the sidequests.
But as skilled as his battles against Malenia look from the outside, LMSH wasn’t always a Malenia murderer. He tells me his first attempt to kill Malenia in his own game was rough — it took him 242 attempts, and he needed two summons to finish her off. But it was because of that extreme difficulty that LMSH felt motivated to help others.
“I chose Malenia to help others because I fell in love with her design,” LMSH says. “All her attacks are very graceful and she is unforgiving as a boss. Her infamous waterfowl dance is considered to be the [hardest] to dodge moveset from a FromSoft boss to date, so I decided to prove to others that it was not impossible.”
So he started working on his build and practicing. He has around 200 hours total on this character, is level 179, and does not plan on leveling up further. Currently, LMSH wields dual katanas — a Rivers of Blood+9 in his left hand and a Cold Uchigatana +25 with Hoarfrost Stomp. His talismans, for those wondering, are the Green Turtle, Viridian Amber Medallion, Kindred of Rot’s Exultation, and Claw Talisman.
At some point, he stripped naked and donned a pot on his head. I ask him why.
“It is a running tradition of Soulsborne games that the naked players are the most powerful beings in the game,” he replies. “Why wear armor if you don’t plan on getting hit at all? And the pot is a good luck charm from the character Iron Fist Alexander whom I admire.”
Now, with hours of practice, LMSH is a Malenia master. He says he’s become very skilled at reading her animations, attacks, and sound queues with ease. He’s lost count of how many Malenias he’s defeated, but he estimates it’s somewhere between 300 and 400. LMSH doesn’t have a perfect record, though, and admits he’s lost to her “more than I’d like to admit.”
“Sometimes the lag between the host and myself is too much so I get killed instantly sometimes, or miss the crucial dodge timing on Malenia’s waterfowl dance,” he says. “I would like to express my apology to those I have failed.”
One myth he’d like to debunk, though, is that he bails on people who try to help him out. Even though his name explicitly asks players who summon him to allow him to do the fight on his own, LMSH doesn’t dip if others join in. Anyone running around with the same name who leaves at the first sign of cooperation is, apparently, an imposter.
“The ‘Let me solo her’ in that video is not me,” he assures me. “I always wear a jar on my head and I do not bail on any Malenia boss fights. If the host or other summon decides to help, I have no problems whatsoever.”
LMSH has quickly become a legend in the Elden Ring community as a result of his support of so many and unusual appearance. A surge of fanart depicting him destroying Malenia has cropped up in recent days, including a 3D printed sculpture that LMSH says he’s going to get for himself. He’s thrilled by the community support for his unusual endeavor, and the numerous kind words expressed by players who he’s helped.
Though he does eventually want to move onto New Game+2, LMSH says he really enjoys fighting Malenia, especially because dodging her waterfowl dance “feels so satisfying.” He intends to help other players in his spare time for a while longer, and notes that you can find his summon sign outside Malenia’s door on PC, usually between 3:00 and 10:00 PM CST.
“I would like to thank the Elden Ring community for all the support and hype around my character,” he concludes. “My summon sign will always be down for fellow Tarnished in need.”
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.