10 RPG Encounters You Can Win By Thinking Outside the Box

I love a good, straightforward fight in a video game — some games have amazing combat systems that you just want to experience again and again. That said, sometimes it's really cool when you get to explore different kinds of resolutions to encounters. Maybe there's an alternate quest route, or a weird mechanical interaction, or even some seemingly unrelated exploration and lore collection you did elsewhere in the game bears fruit. Sometimes the game itself has unique mechanics.

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Sometimes it's just an exploit, but some exploits are just too funny not to, well, exploit! But whatever the reason, I can't help but enjoy it when an RPG gives me a reason and a way to resolve an encounter that's just a little bit different from the usual "go here and hit this thing until it dies" approach. There's a little bit of that in each of these ten RPG encounters.

10 Poisoning the Draconic Tree Sentinel

Elden Ring

Elden Ring RPG Action Released February 25, 2022 Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s)Bandai Namco Entertainment, From SoftwarePlatform(s)PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X Genre(s)RPG, Action Powered by ExpandCollapse

This one is kind of cheesy, but I like it because it relies on the interaction between a few different mechanics rather than something that's outright broken. And it's definitely an interesting, out-of-the-box approach! The Poison Mist spell is an ordinary spell in Elden Ring, and it inflicts a status build-up rather than direct physical damage.

Since it's not direct physical damage, if you apply it while you're sneaking, the game won't register it as a hostile attack. That means you can sneak and apply Poison Mist again and again until the Draconic Tree Sentinel is dead. This was never patched out, although the devs did make it more annoying to do by adding progressive resistance to status effects. I think that's a fair compromise, personally, and makes this less of an exploit than it could otherwise be.

9 Ceaseless Discharge

Dark Souls

Dark Souls Action RPG Soulslike Adventure Released September 22, 2011 Developer(s)From SoftwarePublisher(s) Namco Bandai FranchiseDark SoulsPlatform(s)Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo SwitchGenre(s)Action RPG, Soulslike, Adventure Powered by ExpandCollapse

Dark Souls's Ceaseless Discharge encounter can be difficult to beat conventionally, but you can exploit its behavior to make it fall off a cliff instead. I think that's pretty funny. Basically, if you run away back to the fog gate, the Ceaseless Discharge can make a last-ditch leap attack towards you... except it overshoots and ends up stuck over the cliff, unable to attack.

If you attack its gripping arm, it falls, and then you can win the encounter. This is obviously not the intended solution, but if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid! Or so they say.

8 Golyat's Eye

The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine Open-World Fantasy RPG Released May 31, 2016 Developer(s)CD Projekt RedPublisher(s)CD Projekt RedPlatform(s)Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series SGenre(s)Open-World, Fantasy, RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

You can absolutely approach this encounter with the typical gung-ho attitude, charging in and beating on the enemy until they die. Arguably, in a lot of games, that's way more fun anyway! But Golyat has a hidden weak point that makes this encounter much simpler.

If you shoot him through the eye opening, he instantly dies, bypassing his health pool and ending the encounter. There's an achievement for doing it this way, so it's not some super secret method, but I like it because I wouldn't ordinarily think to attack a giant with a crossbow. I'm a much more up-close and personal kind of guy, so this solution literally wouldn't have ever occurred to me... even though I probably should expect it from one of the most ambitious open world RPGs.

7 Waiting for The End

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Stealth Action Adventure Released November 17, 2004 Developer(s)KonamiPublisher(s)KonamiFranchiseMetal GearPlatform(s)PlayStation 2Genre(s)Stealth, Action, Adventure Powered by ExpandCollapse

This one is just too funny for me not to include it in this list. In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, you fight a boss called The End. You can fight him, and everything's fun, but that's nowhere near as funny as this other solution. What you can do instead of save the game during the encounter, then close the game.

If you wait at least eight days in real life (or change your console's date), when you load back in, he's dead from old age. I know, I know — Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater isn't really an RPG, but this is just way too exotic not to include it here.

6 Forsworn Briarhearts' Hearts

Skyrim

Skyrim RPG Action Adventure Released November 11, 2011 Developer(s)BethesdaPublisher(s)BethesdaFranchiseThe Elder ScrollsPlatform(s)PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, PS4, PS5, Switch Genre(s)RPG, Action, Adventure Powered by ExpandCollapse

Skyrim's combat isn't exactly inspiring or groundbreaking. We all know that by now, given its many releases and enduring presence across the RPG genre, and the many combat mods designed to make it better. You can kill basically everything by just being a stealth archer, so who cares about alternative encounter resolutions, right?

Well, I think the Forsworn Briarhearts have a pretty neat mechanic. It does rely on stealth too, to be fair, but not stealth archery. Instead, if you have high enough stealth and pickpocketing skills, whenever you encounter a Briarheart, you can pickpocket its heart. Then it just dies. This is harder than it sounds, since Briarhearts have pretty good stealth detection, but it's a genuinely interesting way to resolve these encounters in a game where encounter design is usually not that deep.

5 Bishop Alexandar and the Voidwoken Drillworm

Divinity Original Sin 2

Divinity: Original Sin 2 RPG Released September 14, 2017 Developer(s)Larian StudiosPublisher(s)Larian StudiosFranchise Divinity Platform(s) Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PCGenre(s)RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

During the encounter with Bishop Alexandar in Divinity Original Sin 2, it can be pretty difficult, since Alexandar is with a group. But you can Teleport Bishop Alexandar away from the group to kill him quickly. When Alexandar dies, a Voidwoken Drillworm enters the battle. The Voidwoken Drillworm should appear near the rest of his crew.

If you do that, they'll often attack the drillworm instead of the player. The Voidwoken Drillworm and the Magisters usually just attack each other, so you can sit back and prepare, making this encounter play out a lot easier than fighting a battle on two fronts.

4 Yurgir's Contract

Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 RPG 10/10Released August 3, 2023 Developer(s)Larian StudiosPublisher(s)Larian StudiosFranchiseBaldur's GatePlatform(s)PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, macOSGenre(s)RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

Baldur's Gate 3 has a bunch of fun encounters you can win through alternative means, but I like Yurgir's encounter because it's such a good representation of D&D lore that's it's both funny and satisfying to use. Basically, Yurgir is bound by a contract with a loophole. Characters with the right builds or who can pass the right checks can figure out the loophole in his contract and convince him that actually, the contract means he needs to kill his followers, his pet displacer beast, and then himself.

The contract and Yurgir's song are clues that you can use to figure out the alternative resolution, and I love that. I don't tend to use this resolution myself, but I love that it's in the game and it's a fun lore-based mechanical solution to this encounter. And no, you can't romance Yurgir instead!

3 AntAgonizer

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 Action RPG Released October 28, 2008 Developer(s)Bethesda Game StudiosPublisher(s) Bethesda Softworks FranchiseFalloutPlatform(s) PS3, Xbox 360, PCGenre(s)Action RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

During Fallout 3's Superhuman Gambit sidequest, you can visit Hubris Comics and read a letter about the AntAgonizer's comic-book history. You don't actually have to do this — it's optional — but if you do, it unlocks a special dialogue option that can convince the AntAgonizer to abandon her role as a supervillain without a fight.

There are other options during this quest, like wearing the Mechanist suit to provoke her into an attack or giving her the suit to convince her you've killed her arch-enemy, but the letter-based solution is interesting because it rewards players who don't simply skip from one objective to another but who take the time to read the information presented in the game.

2 Gunther Hermann's Killphrase

Deus Ex

Deus Ex Action RPG FPS Stealth Released June 23, 2000 Developer(s) Ion Storm Publisher(s) Eidos Interactive Franchise Deus Ex Platform(s)PlayStation 2, PCGenre(s)Action RPG, FPS, Stealth Powered by ExpandCollapse

In Deus Ex, during the escape from UNATCO/MJ12, you can ask Jaime Reyes to be a mole. If you succeed, he contacts JC Denton in Paris with Gunther Hermann's killphrase. If you use it later on, you can kill Gunther and completely bypass a normal fight.

It relies on making a deliberate decision to gain an informant that pays off later on, in a completely different location. If you're the type of player who doesn't make use of opportunities like this you might never see this option, but it's a cool example of a seemingly minor interaction that leads to new options much later on. I love when that happens in games!

1 Convincing the Master

Fallout

Fallout RPG Released October 10, 1997 Developer(s)InterplayPublisher(s)InterplayFranchiseFalloutPlatform(s)PCGenre(s)RPG Powered by ExpandCollapse

The mastermind of the original Fallout game — appropriately named the Master — has a suitably evil plan that involves wiping out humanity to replace them with his engineered army of super mutants. He thinks this plan is a perfectly good plan. However, you can find experimental information showing that super mutants are sterile and therefore cannot replace humanity because they can't reproduce at all.

If you have this information, you can make the Master see the inherent flaws in his plans, and he decides it's such a big flaw that he kills himself. Talk about a bad day! This one is interesting because you have to find and keep the evidence from an optional faction quest. There are multiple resolutions possible to the Master encounter, including combat, but I think this one is the most interesting.