Board 8 > Elden Ring Discussion Zone 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I've only a little bit of DS1 and started playing this game. I'm about 38 hours in and was struggling to beat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit at the bottom of Fringefolk Hero's Grave; I basically never got it below half health over the course of 40 tries.

Finally decided to remove my armor and try light load, since I'd been running med load all game.

I beat it first try. What the fuck. Have I just been playing this game entirely wrong?

Fast rollllll

I'm not sure I've run across Fringefolk Hero's Grave...

And then I just read about an NPC in another topic that I hadn't run into and apparently he's found near the Mirkwood Ruins. I heard the damn howl, couldn't figure it out, and let it be!

There's just no way you're doing and seeing everything in this game without looking some stuff up.

fringefolk iirc is the imo statue white gate you pass at the beginning of the game

Seanchan posted...

I'm not sure I've run across Fringefolk Hero's Grave...

And then I just read about an NPC in another topic that I hadn't run into and apparently he's found near the Mirkwood Ruins. I heard the damn howl, couldn't figure it out, and let it be!

There's just no way you're doing and seeing everything in this game without looking some stuff up.

Yep, completely skipped him.

I started checking guides 60 hours in to see where to go to tie up side quests I already started but I honestly think it takes away from a game like this to try to min max it.

I'm torn between cleaning up as much of Limgrave and Liurnia as I can or moving onto Caelid and Altus Plateau. Like I feel a little bad steaming through these remaining parts of them because I'm level 72 and it'll only increase if I decide to move onto the other regions but I suppose if I'm already rolling through them it doesn't matter if I do it more later

Wow RIP to the Blaidd missers

Miguel's haligtree has been unquestionably the hardest area in the game.

Serious sens fortress vibes in terms of deaths per minute at the beginning there

Whoops accidentally killed my first NPC thinking it was an enemy. Googling him (which was hard, had to rely on the location to find out who it was: Palm Reader), and apparently it's just someone who gives you a vision but doesn't have any quest lines or anything. That's a relief

You can bring people back.

The meta right now I believe is to actually kill every shopkeeper in the game to get their bells then revive them, lol.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

You can bring people back.

wait what

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

wait what

Turtle pope is very powerful.

Costs 1 Celestia Dew per NPC.

Turtle Pope at the Church of Vows has your back.

I kind of like going to where the shopkeeps are. They're more homely than the old ladies

Oh okay I thought that was just the standard forgiveness mechanic for if you aggro an NPC. That's pretty wild, and has some weird lore implications!

It's the same cost for deaggro and death, so if you accidentally aggro and NPC there's really no reason not to go all the way.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

You can bring people back.

The meta right now I believe is to actually kill every shopkeeper in the game to get their bells then revive them, lol.

That's fucking sick

I love this game. Finally getting good at this combat and actually upset with myself for being a little overleveled. Did Crucible Knight at 48 and he was a little too easy even for a newbie like me. I'm gonna wipe out all the bosses I've left before they get easier.

I should be clear that the kill every shop keeper is the THEORETICAL meta.. Not in the sense that it could cause a problem, but in that it does require an item so there may be a limit. I have not heard of anyone finding a mob with a Celestial Dew drop potential yet.

Stayed up past 3 AM beating the now second boss that took me just over an hour v_v.

But I wasn't about to just go to bed without beating them!

Malenia, screw that one first phase attack, though I did manage to find a mostly successful way of surviving it after awhile.

(First hour+ was the duo tree sentinels because I went to Atlus early and was stubborn using a shitty build at that time. Was basically still my awful full int mage build who's best spells were still the pebble and I guess Carian sword)

How does a crucible knight dodge magic at fucking point blank range
I call Bullshit

And after all of that, he used his winged angel attack to dive himself of a cliff and die?
What?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uVPK68xwCU&ab_channel=KodaSilverwing

My Malenia winning fight.

Yes OP shield OP OP.

But I'm not using an OP summon so it balances out!

Screw anyone who gives anyone shit for cheesing Malenia.

Tbh I'm more impressed with how effective your strategy was. In fact, I think you probably had an easier time with lizardman than with the Mimic - Malenia couldn't do anything in the first phase. Even in the 2nd, I'm surprised at how the shield basically just stunlocked her.

It's very difficult for Lizard to get Malenia trapped like that. I'd often try and circle around him and hope that Malenia walks into the lava and then try and lock her into it. I got a bit lucky there with the wallstun + the lava in the first phase. Second phase isn't as hard but I'd only had gotten to it like 4-5 times so I really didn't have much familiarity with the attacks yet.

I'm also not sure if Mimic knows how to use Erdtree shield properly...? I always figured it wouldn't know what to do lol, not that I've tried it, just assuming.

My mimic would sometimes spam hoarfrost stomp along with me and we'd have a first phase similar to yours in the video, where she's stunlocked in that entrance area. Didn't always work that way, sometimes mimic wouldn't use the weapon art much.

So I think it would know how to use your shield and might even spam it sometimes but its not completely reliable.

When I get Mimic maybe I'll try it out and see what happens lol

I also had a shitty wooden shield with Vow of the Indomitable on it for phase two. I thought I had switched to it for it, but I think I canceled the switch since I drank a potion or something. It would have been cool to show off that bit of tech I had planned, but alas.

Just like the fire monster in Sekiro basically being a dark souls boss I think Malenia is so difficult because she's basically a Sekiro boss. She even has a big multi-hit attack that you would multi-parry in Sekiro.

I mean would she even be in the upper half of most difficult bosses in Sekiro? I don't think so

skullbone posted...

Just like the fire monster in Sekiro basically being a dark souls boss I think Malenia is so difficult because she's basically a Sekiro boss. She even has a big multi-hit attack that you would multi-parry in Sekiro.

I mean would she even be in the upper half of most difficult bosses in Sekiro? I don't think so

Pretty much. Her first phase wouldnt even be Genichiro tier

skullbone posted...

Just like the fire monster in Sekiro basically being a dark souls boss I think Malenia is so difficult because she's basically a Sekiro boss. She even has a big multi-hit attack that you would multi-parry in Sekiro.

I mean would she even be in the upper half of most difficult bosses in Sekiro? I don't think so

Exactly this. FromSoft always has one boss that relies on mechanics from an earlier and is ill-suited to the current game.

Friede is a Bloodborne boss who is fought in DS3.
Demon of Hatred is a Dark Souls boss who is fought in Sekiro.
Malenia is a Sekiro boss who is fought in Elden Ring.

None of them would be notable if they were added to the relevant game, but are extra hard because they're not suited to the system.

Which makes me wonder what they could bring back from Elden Ring that would be frustrating in the next game. Dumb ganks maybe? Without spirit summons, some of the lategame ganks would be infuriating.

Solfadore posted...

Which makes me wonder what they could bring back from Elden Ring that would be frustrating in the next game. Dumb ganks maybe? Without spirit summons, some of the lategame ganks would be infuriating.

A boss you should fight on horseback that just keeps running away from you whenever you get close.

Just to confirm, none of the NPC Simmons in ER raise boss health, right?

skullbone posted...

A boss you should fight on horseback that just keeps running away from you whenever you get close.

Let's compromise: the double tree sentinels

Double Loretta or I walk

Also Malenia is extra frustrating for me because I've beat just about every other boss in 1-5 tries for the past 20 hours.

I had more trouble killing the Erdtree Avatar in the courtyard outside Malenia than I had with every boss except Radahn! I had to lure the soldiers up the ladder by the shard and then go around and kill all of the ballista guys just to have a fair fight with that Erdtree Avatar. It took me like 20 tries to not get auto smashed by everyone and the reward was not worth it.

Something does feel odd that the bosses in the area that opens after you beat Radahn are incredibly easier than him.

skullbone posted...

I had more trouble killing the Erdtree Avatar in the courtyard outside Malenia than I had with every boss except Radahn! I had to lure the soldiers up the ladder by the shard and then go around and kill all of the ballista guys just to have a fair fight with that Erdtree Avatar. It took me like 20 tries to not get auto smashed by everyone and the reward was not worth it.

I snuck around to the grace behind him and lured him in through that way.

htaeD posted...

Something does feel odd that the bosses in the area that opens after you beat Radahn are incredibly easier than him.

Been wondering about this too, they also drop less souls. Is there a way to get there without going through him?

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I snuck around to the grace behind him and lured him in through that way.

I tried that a few times but fighting in close quarters was auto death if he ever did his jumping rot attack. Also the soldiers would sneak in too and I'd be fighting 2 or 3 of them in close quarters.

htaeD posted...

Something does feel odd that the bosses in the area that opens after you beat Radahn are incredibly easier than him.

You say that, but I had a harder time with the Gargoyle fight than with Radahn. Radahn, I managed within 3 tries once I realize you could summon everyone without increasing his health (I was obstinately trying to do it solo before and kept failing in phase 2). Gargoyle boss took me a solid 10-12 tries, and the victorious run was a very narrow affair that could have gone either way.

Solfadore posted...

You say that, but I had a harder time with the Gargoyle fight than with Radahn. Radahn, I managed within 3 tries once I realize you could summon everyone without increasing his health (I was obstinately trying to do it solo before and kept failing in phase 2). Gargoyle boss took me a solid 10-12 tries, and the victorious run was a very narrow affair that could have gone either way.

I mean, were you summoning for that boss? That is not a solo fight either.

I would say they're roughly comparable fights (I'd give the edge to Radahn), but even still that boss fight is an outlier compared to the rest of the area.

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

I mean, were you summoning for that boss? That is not a solo fight either.

No, I did it solo. I was still living under the grand delusion that this game was well balanced for solo fights, before the endgame robbed me of my optimism.

If you use summon spirits for both, then yeah, they help way less against Radahn than for the other fight (especially since you don't yet have access to Mimic Tear for Radahn).

i think the idea is that radahn is a local peak of difficulty

but yeah, the fact that you can just spam summon the NPCs repeatedly after they die during the fight makes it somewhat trivial

UltimaterializerX posted...

Where am I supposed to go first? Ive explored a lot but Im not really understanding it. Is Tree Sentinel the first boss?

Thats kind of the point. There are specific areas that are required but a lot of them can be completely bypassed until later. I would just go wherever and dont try too hard to kill something that kills you easily

I'd recommend going to Weeping Peninsula early once you start having leveled Vigor and/or Mind up a bit, because you can find a good many Sacred Tears there and you can go there basically immediately.

Moving on in the story is often following the path the sites of grace points you towards though some of them are also towards optional places. The first actual boss you have to fight is Margit and Godrick is the first main boss.

But yeah, the point of the game is that there is no right answer. Only that some areas that are only available after clearing some specific places.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Where am I supposed to go first? Ive explored a lot but Im not really understanding it. Is Tree Sentinel the first boss?

The biggest skill you can bring to early game Elden Ring IMO is the gut instinct of knowing whether something is too hard for you, or just right. You've played other FromSoft games before, and so should have a sense of the usual level of difficulty.

If something seems way harder than what you're used to from other games, that usually means you're meant to go do something else. If something seems on par, or way easier, then good - you can probably figure your way around it, overcome your foe, and (usually) get something nifty out of it that you can incorporate in your build - even if that thing is just the runes you get from beating the foe or clearing out the dungeon.

Oh hey its Melania

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1503909077457506304

You LOVE to see it

Made it to Deeproot Depths.. , for such a deeply hidden its huge! And it has flying ants! That second sentence wasnt excitement, this is a nightmare!