Have you ever been walking through a swamp and suddenly heard an annoying hissing sound? Well, chances are you’re stuck in aSoulsbornetitle, and you’ve just been poisoned! Yes, even through those boots.
Status Effects are a staple in every single Soulsborne title, and they’re great when you can use them to your advantage. Of course, when they’re being used against you, it can be twice as annoying.
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It doesn’t feel great when you die because of something that isn’t the main attack of the boss. Or when you’re just about to reach that bonfire, and succumb to the poison that’s racing through your hollowed veins. Back to the start of Blighttown with you.
This list will cover some of the most aggravating and annoying status effects in Soulsborne titles. So keep these in mind when you start your next playthrough. I know it won’t be long.
Don’t Trust The Green Goop
As mentioned previously, poison can be a bit of a pain to deal with, as it lasts a long time and it can be found all over the place.
Luckily, while it may have a long duration, the damage it deals is pretty minimal, and by the time you get inflicted, you should have something to heal yourself.
If you’ve played through any Soulsborne title,you’ll be used to Poisonous Swamps, whether it’s Blighttown, Farron Keep or even the Valley of Defilement.
Trekking through this odious ooze will become second nature, maybe you’ll even come to enjoy it one day… Maybe.
In any case, wherever you go, bring some moss clumps and remember, don’t roll in the mud.
I Have A Plaster For That
You’re walking through a new area, and suddenly the infamous red bar starts building up. What’s making you bleed? Who knows, but you’ve just taken a huge hit to your health, and you’re still bleeding. Maggots, my friend, maggots.
Whip out your torch, you’ll be fine. Bleed can be found in many places, from disgusting leech monsters, to vicious killer flies and humanlike beings with particularly sharp swords.
Bleed can build up pretty fast, and stack on top of the damage that you’re already taking, which makes it particularly annoying.
If you’ve played PVP inDark Souls 3, you may be particularly familiar with the Carthus Curved Sword players, who plague the Irithyll Fight Clubs. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, you might as well join ‘em.
Something On Your Mind?
When was the last time you found yourself with a giant soul-sucking (literally) egg attached to the top of your head? Never? Well, you should give it a go sometime. It’s great for your blood pressure, I’ve heard. That’s what Einygi said at least.
But fear not, while this thing may suck away half of your souls, and won’t let you equip a helmet, at least you get a cool new kicking animation! No? Not enough?
Well, simply chow down on an egg vermifuge, and you’ll be right as rain before you know it.
Next time you see a parasite-ridden crawler, perhaps it’s wise to give it some space.
7Frostbite
I Can’t Feel My Toes…
Frostbite can be especially annoying due to the sheer amount it crops up in Soulsborne titles. There are so many cold areas, like Irithyll and the Mountainous Areas ofElden Ring, places where you’ll have to get through.
In addition, bosses love to spew ice all over the place and freeze you in your tracks.
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Frostbite will generally take off a good portion of your HP and reduce your stamina regeneration, while making you more susceptible to enemy attacks. A bit of everything really.
Bosses likeSister Friede, the Death Rite Bird and the Divine Beast Dancing Dragonall put this mechanic to good use, so watch out, and keep some frost resistance items at hand. And a jacket, maybe.
6Petrification/Terror/Deathblight
Death by Status Bar
What’s worse than something that just drains your HP over time? Well, maybe something that just outright kills you. Yeah, that’s pretty bad.
While I may have put 3 different status effects here, they all pretty much do the same thing. When the status bar starts filling up, you better run and hide, or get your dodging finger ready, because once it’s full. Well, that’s game over.
This effect is prevalent in a lot of the Souls titles, and it isn’t particularly fun to play around with. Why they couldn’t have thought of something different than “Kills you” is beyond me.
Perhaps Petrification could reduce movement speed, or terror could reduce attack and defense? Outright death seems cheap compared to some of the other more interesting status effects.
May Chaos Take The World
While many of the status effects in this list are annoying because of the damage you take, madness is more of a pain due to the huge stagger that hits you once the status bar is full. Anyone who has fought Midra later on in the Elden Ring DLC will know what I mean.
While the stagger may only be a few seconds long, in games like this, seconds can feel like hours as you’re waiting for your character to get back in the fight.
In addition, this can fill up really fast. If you’ve run up the hill to the madness-infested tower near the Grand Lift of Dectus, you’ll have experienced this first-hand.
To make matters worse, madness isn’t even that great when you use it yourself. So, keep yourself sane, Tarnished. And watch out for those yellow eyes.
There Goes My Back Again
Is there anything worse than realising you’re getting old, and your body doesn’t quite work the same? Well, probably a lot of things, but I don’t need a video game reminding me of my impending doom.
Enfeeble is a horrible status effect only found inSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. You lose a huge amount of your vitality, you can barely move, you can’t swim, and your attacks become worse than slapping your enemies with a wet noodle.
The final nail in the coffin: you can’t resurrect either. If you ever find yourself enfeebled, simply try and wait it out, kill the one who enfeebled you or just return home.
Here we have poison’s big brother. This is where the damage really starts to ramp up. Our prime example here isDark Souls, where toxic can be a real pain to deal with.
It’s mainly inflicted by those little dart-blowing dudes in Blighttown, and it will have you constantly chugging your flasks in desperation as you wander around blindly.
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What’s more is that this one isn’t as easy to deal with as normal poison. You’ll need to find a blooming moss clump, which is significantly rarer, or use a divine blessing, which is limited in quantity.
And even if you cure yourself, you’ll probably just get the effect again. Best run as fast as you can and grab the bonfire before the sickness claims you.
The Eyes… They Stare Into My Soul
70% of your Max HP as damage! Need I say more? While you might think something insta-killing you is worse, frenzy inBloodborneis truly just more frustrating.
You don’t even need to be hit to be afflicted with frenzy, and it will keep building up even when you take the first batch of damage. I think we all remember running up that hill trying to avoid the gaze of the Brain of Mensis.
Best keep a bunch of sedatives at hand, or you’re going to have a bad time. The thing is, frenzy ties in brilliantly with the lore of Bloodborne, so I can’t hate it too much. I would go mad if I were dealing with monstrous Old Gods, too.
What’s even more interesting is thatthe more insight you have, the more susceptible to frenzy you are. And while it’s annoying, thematically it’s very fitting, as by understanding more of the world, you comprehend reality more, and thus go mad faster.
My HP! Where Did It Go?
The number one spot couldn’t really be anything else, could it? I think we all remember being cursed in Dark Souls 1. It’s one of those first core Soulsborne memories that sticks with us. Curse is particularly cruel as it sticks with you even after death.
Picture this: you’re new to the Souls formula, and you’ve stumbled into a vast sewer network. You’re beating down big rats and exploring tight corridors when suddenly you fall down a drain.
Quickly, you’re swarmed by horrific monsters with huge (fake) eyes spewing gas at you. You take them out and a blind panic, but it’s too late, you’ve been cursed.
You wake up miles away, half of your health bar is missing, and you have no idea how to cure it. Yes, this happened to me and I thought it was a bug.
Of course, if you know what you’re doing, you’ll come prepared and bring a purging stone or two from the Female Undead Merchant, but that’s not obvious. On the bright side, at least you can kill those annoying ghosts in New Londo now… so that’s cool.
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