A closer look
The developers absolutely knew you were going to panic, and they designed a boss to uniquely punish your lack of emotional control. In Elden Ring, bosses like Margit the Fell Omen utilize delayed attack telegraphs that specifically subvert the ingrained muscle memory of veteran Dark Souls players. Instead of striking at the apex of an animation, Margit hangs in the air, dynamically waiting for the player to input a dodge roll. By exploiting the vulnerability frames at the end of the roll animation, the boss catches the player precisely when they are defenseless, essentially punishing the player's anticipatory fear rather than their reaction time.
