Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
I just take the lift bypass in Liurnia. Only takes a few mins to run past everything and get to Altus Plateau.
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ELDEN RING |OT| One Ring To Rule Them All
- Thread starter Black Chamber
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Nankatsu
Member
I suspected as much. Everyone talks about Malenia and I haven't crossed paths with her yet.
Guess I'm still hours away from hanging up Elden Ring
gaming_again
Member
You don't have to do Malenia.
I suspected as much. Everyone talks about Malenia and I haven't crossed paths with her yet.
Guess I'm still hours away from hanging up Elden Ring
However, the Foreskin Duo are not optional.
Soodanim
Member
Beat Rennala with the Grafted Dragon. It makes the 2nd phase a hilarious joke. Once she's knocked down once, by the time you get close and Bear Witness' wind up is done, she's perfectly timed to take another one in the face and get knocked down. She can't summon when she's stunlocked.
I immediately wrote this thing off when I first tried it, as most do. But as long as you're pairing it with something as the game intends, it's an excellent off-hand weapon that makes for some fun moments. Bonus: L1s hit harder and faster than my Mantis Blade, and all those weak-to-fire enemies like the annoying hands drop like flies.
Like I've been saying lately, the game gives you these tools to get through the game. All you have to do is use them. I was so stuck in "Play it like Souls" that I didn't appreciate a lot of the new stuff first time round. There's a lot of fun to be had.
I immediately wrote this thing off when I first tried it, as most do. But as long as you're pairing it with something as the game intends, it's an excellent off-hand weapon that makes for some fun moments. Bonus: L1s hit harder and faster than my Mantis Blade, and all those weak-to-fire enemies like the annoying hands drop like flies.
Like I've been saying lately, the game gives you these tools to get through the game. All you have to do is use them. I was so stuck in "Play it like Souls" that I didn't appreciate a lot of the new stuff first time round. There's a lot of fun to be had.
Nankatsu
Member
Oh really? From reading things here and there I always thought she was like the final boss or something like that.
Is she at the Haligtree? I already unlocked the area, but laughed at its layout and bounce out of there for now.
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gaming_again
Member
Yeah she’s at the Haligtree and she’s entirely optional.
You should explore there eventually. It’s one of the most beautiful and fun parts of the game. It also has some extremely useful talismans.
It’s such an alpha move on Fromsoft’s part to hide it away.
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Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Haligtree is an easy place to farm runes if you need to as well. One sweep of the outside from (I think) the Prayer room nets something like 60k runes. I would do that when I was buying out the inventory from the vendors prior to starting NG+.
NeverYouMind
Member
If you are in no hurry to enter Volcano Manor and Leyndell (without tackling a single boss) the trip to the Altus Plateau is trivial.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Yep. I was blown away by how quickly I got to Leyndell on my NG+ run. I'm just going for the 2 extra ending achievements on this playthrough so I'm bypassing everything non-mandatory. I wound up doing just about everything in my first one. It took 120 hours but was enjoyable the entire time through.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
I’ve called in over 20 players for the Horah Loux fight and almost every single one dies before phase 2. This mage build casts way too slow. Guess I’ll just respec to my old build and do it by myself again.
NeverYouMind
Member
Have you tried the Fire's Deadly Sin incantation (Flightless Bird painting puzzle) with Adula's Moonblade (Ranni's quest dragon boss) sorcery. The ranged ice slash with player on fire is a powerful combination against even the most aggressive foes unless they are immune.
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Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Respec’d and won first try.
ValiantTraveler
Member
Yep, that’s what works when you get stuck. What kind of build did you respec into? Melee?Respec’d and won first try.
I’ve cleared most of the Road of Sacrifices in DS3. Got curbstomped by the knight from DS1 pretty hard, but at least I got the items near him. Also I learned I need to buy the 20K key to access the top of the Firelink Shrine… damn that’s expensive… and I also got the curse of the Dark Sigil and my character looks like shit without the helmet on… I heard I must pay a hefty price to have it removed with that soul item or whatever… is there any way to farm souls quickly? Killing the undeads and bugs found after the second bonfire nets me some 3,500 souls and it takes quite a while…
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Yeah I had a bleed dev/arcane build on my first play through. NG+ I went with mage up until the end. I’ve gone back to that build and wrapped up Ranni’s quest again for NG+2. I‘m just outside Leyndell and should get the last 2 achievements tomorrow if all goes well.
I’m excited to have finally 100% my first FromSoft game. Really, really tempted to get the lingering ones I have left on DS1.
My wife beat Godrick today and is just now exploring Liurnia. I’m excited to see how she adapts her mage to Raya Lucaria.
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NeverYouMind
Member
This part of the game is pretty barren for farming. The best at that point is having the dragon on the High Wall of Lothric turn the undead in front of it to ashes. Once you get to the swamp of the Road you are on, on the opposite end is a ladder down to Farron Keep. Deep in there is a bonfire past a bridge with a set of enemies.
I recommend you use the tree jump skip at the Firelink Shrine to get a Covetous Silver Serpent Ring to expedite the process.
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Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Maliketh NG+2 is no joke. I may need to put my foolish ambitions of getting this 3rd ending to rest for the weekend. He hits like a tank and my weapon does nearly nothing to him.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
And only the final boss(es) left. Hopefully time allows to wrap it up this week.
I wound up changing my set-up to Rivers of Blood and Uchigatana for Maliketh. That did the trick. Horah Loux also went down without much issue.
I wound up changing my set-up to Rivers of Blood and Uchigatana for Maliketh. That did the trick. Horah Loux also went down without much issue.
gaming_again
Member
I startled an RL1 run the other day. It’s interesting how it turns some bosses on their head. Ones I breezed through before are now total brick walls and vice versa. And Loretta in the Manor House, whom I found totally uninteresting before, is a total joy to fight at this level.
Also, the depth at which you learn their movesets makes for an incredibly intimate understanding.
I don’t know how far I’ll get with this. Each boss is an entire project. I’m not sure I have the patience to deal with fire giant etc. but so far it’s been way more fun than I expected it to be. Just the equipment and physik selection is a great problem solving layer to the game.
Also, the depth at which you learn their movesets makes for an incredibly intimate understanding.
I don’t know how far I’ll get with this. Each boss is an entire project. I’m not sure I have the patience to deal with fire giant etc. but so far it’s been way more fun than I expected it to be. Just the equipment and physik selection is a great problem solving layer to the game.
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ValiantTraveler
Member
I can't pull this jump off no matter how many times I try, so I bit the bullet and farmed souls until I got 20K and bought the tower's key from the old lady. The 7K I got from killing the Crystal Sage helped a lot. That boss was rather easy thankfully.
So I got to the top section of the Firelink Shrine and found both the Estus shard and the ring that increases the souls gained. Now I just have to get the item for removing the Hollow curse, but the price to pay for this is gonna be steep...
I also reached the bonfire just before the Farron keep. The two dude with huge weapons there (one with a sword and one with a club) were quite hard! I ran away from them and took the ladder down to the bonfire, but I was surprised to see one of them follow me. So I fought him one-on-one and came out on top... only to see the second guy climbing down the ladder! It's like he waited for his buddy to get killed before coming down. Pretty weird, but that suits me. That was a really unexpected and fun moment.
kiiltz
Member
up to ng+7 that dumb dog was the only boss left that still tilted the shit out of me when soloing. I remember one run I did Malenia in a few tries then one shot Fire Giant and Foreskin Duo only to ragequit after spending an hour on Maliketh and his stupid prancing about
gaming_again
Member
The fact that when I beat him I either no-hit him in a two minute flawless victory or just about crawl over the finish line with all my flasks gone and 1HP left leads me to conclude that he has one fucked up moveset.
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gaming_again
Member
It’s pretty much perfect, yeah. I don’t like the gank fights with the drunk guys or those purple monsters (it’s been a while) but that’s pretty much it in the negative column.
kiiltz
Member
Hah p much describes my experience with him. Not that he doesn’t get enough of it but people would bitch waaaay more about if him if he had two health bars.
I only really get irritated with the headless ape gank fight. Made sure to skip that one third time around. By purple monsters do you mean mist nobles? Drawing a blank there.
gaming_again
Member
Those enemies you have to use divine confetti on. There are three or so of them in total.
Soodanim
Member
Were you using Radagon's Icon? It's worth 30 dex in terms of increasing cast speed, and I find it essential for making casters playable.
The casting speed of some of the later spells might be why people favour the basic Glintstone Pebble into the late game. I like to play with a variety to allow for both quick and "big" spells, and sometimes against bosses I have more success with the medium chargeable spells like Night Comet. Or, if I'm going to be up close, Carian Slicer.
kiiltz
Member
Ooh the headless hunters. The underwater ones are boring but they’re not so bad if you have the purple gourd. Tho yeah it does suck that you need to have divine confetti for them.
also that reminds me, my latest run on ng+ is charmless and assdfghjkllak holy hell I got my ass kicked by O’Rin. Always baffles me that she’s a mini boss bcus she’d certainly be a main boss in any other From game.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
I still need to give Sekiro a honest go. I started it but life got in the way.
I honestly can't remember.
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kiiltz
Member
You might need a buffer in between. I tried going back into Sekiro right after Elden Ring and it was freaking weird lol. It’s not like there’s a huge fundamental difference in movement between the games but it was just enough to put me off, kind of like idk drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. It made me understand why there were Soulsborne fans that couldn’t get into Sekiro. Bloodborne happened to be the perfect transition for me because the Old Hunters are basically prototype Sekiro bosses.
Just finished the main story. Enjoyed it thoroughly, the best souls game for me.
Difficulty spike, especially with the bosses, is real during the final stretch. Had to use spirit ashes on each one of them. But I don't mind, I actually play these games for exploration and building my character. Being stuck on a boss was always more of a necessary evil, than a main reason to play.
Btw this has to be the easiest of the souls games. I died much much more on god of war Ragnarok's last difficulty than in this.
Difficulty spike, especially with the bosses, is real during the final stretch. Had to use spirit ashes on each one of them. But I don't mind, I actually play these games for exploration and building my character. Being stuck on a boss was always more of a necessary evil, than a main reason to play.
Btw this has to be the easiest of the souls games. I died much much more on god of war Ragnarok's last difficulty than in this.
Godlikushi
Neo Member
Funny movie to make your day better (my ng+7 experience)
(my ng+7 experience)
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
I felt over leveled by the end of my first run but I also did just about everything before the final boss. I was level 150 or so when credits rolled.
Gravity is the ultimate FromSoft boss.
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I was also probably 10-20 levels above the "recommended" level most of the game (based on fextralife and reddit posts). But I still enjoyed the game immensely. Plus I was playing with a 2H zwei, so killing smaller mobs in 1-2 hits felt really nice and appropriate.
I didn't get the feeling I saw a lot of people playing with purely str based characters had, that the game is much harder as such character. I started with confessor class, used the lordsworn's greatsword since the moment I found it, and then replaced it with zweihander after I was able to purchase it. I spent the rest of the game with 2 handing the zwei, infused it with a heavy scaling, and level vig/str/end exclusively. Once I upgraded it to +25, it was dealing like 700-720 raw dmg, and staggering 90% of the mobs. Even most of the bosses could be stance broken, including the Elden Beast. I still didn't beat Malenia, which seems to be famous as the hardest thing ever, but everything else was perfectly manageable with the zwei.
I was usually trying to solo bosses for maybe 60% of the game. Then I started using spirit ash summons, as the bosses became a bit harder, and were either too frantic or came in pairs. So again, perfectly beatable with a purely str build (most of the time at least). Malekith broke me, and made me switch from the wolf ash summon which I've been using throughout the whole game to the mimic tear. He was just too fast, and I could barely do one hit per 20-30 seconds in his second phase.
Godlikushi
Neo Member
gaming_again
Member
I find STR characters the easiest of all. Big posture breaks and ripostes make for such clean and satisfying fights.
I guess mage characters are easier but the real fight with them is keeping my eyes open while I back track and spam L1.
It’s Dex/Arc that I find the most challenging. I just can’t judge when the status procs will come so I get slapped around and thrown about while I flail about with my katana.
ValiantTraveler
Member
The bears are one of those few enemies I just never engaged and stayed away from whenever I saw them. They must be harder than many bosses.
There are bears and then there are bears, some are not hard. The hard ones you need quite a high level, Probably about the same as for easier dragons
NeverYouMind
Member
Supposedly, the bears are really weak to sleep.
Soodanim
Member
I don't mind bears half as much as I used to, because for their standard attacks you can stay super close and strafe round them. Their size works against them there. It's when they do that lunge that does me in, I haven't learned to read it yet.
There's one end game area bear in Consecrated Snowfield that I have a particular dislike for, and luckily you have to go out of your way to get him because he hits harder than most bosses. There's another hidden bear in the same area but you have to earn his appearance by killing a man stuck in the snow
I can confirm that bears are very susceptible to sleep, the game even hints at it by having several asleep around St Trina's Lilies in Limgrave. In general sleep is under-utilised in ER except against Godskins where it's a game changer, but really it's a useful status effect for much of the game. There's a reason the ingredients are limited in number!
There's one end game area bear in Consecrated Snowfield that I have a particular dislike for, and luckily you have to go out of your way to get him because he hits harder than most bosses. There's another hidden bear in the same area but you have to earn his appearance by killing a man stuck in the snow
I can confirm that bears are very susceptible to sleep, the game even hints at it by having several asleep around St Trina's Lilies in Limgrave. In general sleep is under-utilised in ER except against Godskins where it's a game changer, but really it's a useful status effect for much of the game. There's a reason the ingredients are limited in number!
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Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
JFC why didn’t I think of this.
Soodanim
Member
You're on NG+, you should have this torch by now so you can infinitely sleep things if you ever feel like it: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/St+Trina's+Torch
Sleep Pots might still be king thanks to being ranged and the cloud that ticks sleep build up over time, but no collecting required for this one.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Rex_DX
Member
I never used sleep until I came across a Beastman of Farum Azula in a random dungeon in the Dragonbarrow. I was extremely underlevelled but very stubborn (describes my entire Dragonbarrow experience). I was determined to beat him/them (I believe it was a duo) but they could one-shot me and are fast.
For once I actually decided to look at all the support stuff I had or could craft (I always save stuff for "later" in From games and never actually use it). Happened upon sleep pots and I won on my next attempt.
Sleep is also how I beat the Godskin Duo on my first try. It trivialized that fight.
But I never thought to use it on those fucking bears ...
For once I actually decided to look at all the support stuff I had or could craft (I always save stuff for "later" in From games and never actually use it). Happened upon sleep pots and I won on my next attempt.
Sleep is also how I beat the Godskin Duo on my first try. It trivialized that fight.
But I never thought to use it on those fucking bears ...
rofif
Member
I am still not sure if it's intended or not.
NeverYouMind
Member
If FromSoftware were to patch it out like the ledge next to the Somber Smithing Stone [7] in Volcano Manor I would be pretty upset...
BadBurger
Is 'That Pure Potato'
I have so many weapons and pieces of armor, yet I still find myself going with a defensive holy build. I've tried some of the massive burst builds, the ones that can take down bosses in seconds, but I just do not find them fun. I also really like to look like some kind of big knight.
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