Elden Ring (DLC Announced!)

[Dankster Morgan]

Im one of the very few people who didnt dislike the Astel rematch. I mean, we are fighting lots of Fallingstar Beasts and full-grown Fallingstar Beasts while also encountering the "malformed stars" (which look exactly like the Astels, just desaturated) hanging from ceilings underground well before we reach the second Astel. Everything points out to those being stages in a creature's lifecycle, so it is pretty obvious that there is more than a single "Astel" and those are just a species or something. I also read somewhere that the correct translation for "Astel" would be "Aster" instead, because Japanese has that thing with switching Ls for Rs and such. "Aster" is the Greek word for "Star" - its where the "Asteroid" word comes from.

So yeah, the lore implication is that the stars in Elden Ring universe are actually Astels - or at least some of them are. So maybe there are billions of them lol. Radahn is said to have kept the stars at bay with gravity magic - this has a completely different meaning when you factor in that those "stars" might be actual living eldritch abominations from the cosmos. There is some cut animation where supposedly Astel would fall from the sky as a meteorite - I'm pretty sure that was initially planned to be Radahn's phase two.

I like your explanation!

I enjoyed the Astel fight but it did make it feel less special for me, but it was a good fight I didn’t mind running back.

 

[Marinjuana]

So I tried going at Melania, my build seemed to gel well and almost killed her in a few attempts but now that I don't "not know what I don't know" I can't get her down. The charge attack strategy will work! Just not yet

So I moved on to stuff I missed, Volcano manor boss, Morg Blood Lord, realized I can't finish dung eater quest and finishing up random quests including Ranni. I believe I'm at the final bosses door but I want to finish most of the other stuff first.

It can be frustrating, sometimes I turn this game off literally like "fuck this game" but I remember all the cool shit I did and it evens out lol

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

So I tried going at Melania, my build seemed to gel well and almost killed her in a few attempts but now that I don't "not know what I don't know" I can't get her down. The charge attack strategy will work! Just not yet

So I moved on to stuff I missed, Volcano manor boss, Morg Blood Lord, realized I can't finish dung eater quest and finishing up random quests including Ranni. I believe I'm at the final bosses door but I want to finish most of the other stuff first.

It can be frustrating, sometimes I turn this game off literally like "fuck this game" but I remember all the cool shit I did and it evens out lol

I think what helped me with Malenia was actually NOT summoning spirit ashes (in my case, the Mimic Tear). They will more often than not just be a way for her to heal when dealing damage. Bleed weapons also work well against her, if that can be slotted on your build.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

So I tried going at Melania, my build seemed to gel well and almost killed her in a few attempts but now that I don't "not know what I don't know" I can't get her down. The charge attack strategy will work! Just not yet

So I moved on to stuff I missed, Volcano manor boss, Morg Blood Lord, realized I can't finish dung eater quest and finishing up random quests including Ranni. I believe I'm at the final bosses door but I want to finish most of the other stuff first.

It can be frustrating, sometimes I turn this game off literally like "fuck this game" but I remember all the cool shit I did and it evens out lol

Don't let any from soft dorks gaslight you into thinking Malenia isn't bullshit, she's awful, come back when you feel like it. I'd use a bleed weapon or something like blasphemous blade that can get you health back too.

Ranni quest was a blast, I loved volcano manor and Mohg.

 

[Juggs]

Don't let any from soft dorks gaslight you into thinking Malenia isn't bullshit, she's awful, come back when you feel like it. I'd use a bleed weapon or something like blasphemous blade that can get you health back too.

Ranni quest was a blast, I loved volcano manor and Mohg.

I didn’t find her awful at all. I think I mentioned it in here, but I beat her on my 3rd ever attempt. This was at lvl 137-138 (can’t remember if I got to my lvl 138 cap yet), and it was 100% solo. Which, every fight at least on my first playthrough is completely solo unless it for some reason HAS to be with someone else, which pretty much never happens. Anyway, this WAS way back before BHS got nerfed. And pre-patch BHS was insanely broken. I mean, it’s still fairly powerful even after the nerfs, but nowhere near as god tier as it used to be. To put it into perspective, the first 2 tries against her I didn’t use BHS. I wanted to try and beat here without it. But considering I had a bet going with some people on me being able to beat her in a certain amount of tries without summoning, overleveling, cheesing, etc, I had to try out BHS and to my surprise I beat her 1st try after equipping that AoW. Even uploaded the fight on YouTube which again, it feels like I’ve mentioned and posted that ITT.

Anyway, that’s not to say she isn’t a difficult boss. She definitely is. I just have been playing FromSoft “Souls” games for well over a decade at this point, and I’m somehow just naturally good at video games. So I’m absolutely an outlier, or an exception to the rule. I actually haven’t faced her since then, and I’m still lvl 138 on my main character and want to try and beat her in NG+ without BHS. Gonna use something else broken… light rolling. Light rolling got super buffed, then got slightly nerfed, but it’s still insanely broken in PvP, and fairly OP in PvE. Not gonna use any other cheese strat like doing insane amounts of damage or anything. Just gonna use light armor and my trusty Greatsword.

Malenia reminds me a lot of the Alecto boss fight, and also similar to the Tree Sentinel. Both of these bosses seem impossible to beat at first. Which is why most players skip Tree Sentinel and come back to him later once they have better gear and are at a higher level. But I’ve beaten The Tree Sentinel now at least 3 times as a Wretch at level 1. Just like with all these bosses, the main thing you have to have is patience. That and the ability to learn movesets, learn when to dodge, when there’s openings, ya know, the standard Souls formula for “getting good” and learning to beat a boss. It was actually the infamous player “Let Me Solo Her” aka “LMSH” that inspired me to start doing this more. I always would try to learn and adapt to the bosses, but I was always way more lazy about it which actually hurt me far more than anything else. Instead of immediately rushing back to the boss and not at all reflecting on what just happened and how I died, I took a minute to treat it like I was learning a fighting game. So, I’d go in fully expecting to die, but I was testing to see how the bosses would react to certain moves, really looking for the patterns, sometimes I wouldn’t even attack I would just see how long I could survive by dodging, and all of these things helped me TREMENDOUSLY. Not just for that boss fight, but for every boss fight. And it’s something I wish everyone could experience but I understand that most won’t. It’s far faaar easier to just overlevel, summon players/NPC’s/Spirit Ashes, and use OP weapons than it is to actually learn the boss and, as I said, “get good”. (I know ppl say “git gud” but that spelling always annoyed the hell out of me for some reason).

Anyway, I feel like I’m drunk and cracked out in this post (I’m not… to clarify), so I’m gonna leave it at that, lol

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I didn’t find her awful at all. I think I mentioned it in here, but I beat her on my 3rd ever attempt. This was at lvl 137-138 (can’t remember if I got to my lvl 138 cap yet), and it was 100% solo. Which, every fight at least on my first playthrough is completely solo unless it for some reason HAS to be with someone else, which pretty much never happens. Anyway, this WAS way back before BHS got nerfed. And pre-patch BHS was insanely broken. I mean, it’s still fairly powerful even after the nerfs, but nowhere near as god tier as it used to be. To put it into perspective, the first 2 tries against her I didn’t use BHS. I wanted to try and beat here without it. But considering I had a bet going with some people on me being able to beat her in a certain amount of tries without summoning, overleveling, cheesing, etc, I had to try out BHS and to my surprise I beat her 1st try after equipping that AoW. Even uploaded the fight on YouTube which again, it feels like I’ve mentioned and posted that ITT.

Anyway, that’s not to say she isn’t a difficult boss. She definitely is. I just have been playing FromSoft “Souls” games for well over a decade at this point, and I’m somehow just naturally good at video games. So I’m absolutely an outlier, or an exception to the rule. I actually haven’t faced her since then, and I’m still lvl 138 on my main character and want to try and beat her in NG+ without BHS. Gonna use something else broken… light rolling. Light rolling got super buffed, then got slightly nerfed, but it’s still insanely broken in PvP, and fairly OP in PvE. Not gonna use any other cheese strat like doing insane amounts of damage or anything. Just gonna use light armor and my trusty Greatsword.

Malenia reminds me a lot of the Alecto boss fight, and also similar to the Tree Sentinel. Both of these bosses seem impossible to beat at first. Which is why most players skip Tree Sentinel and come back to him later once they have better gear and are at a higher level. But I’ve beaten The Tree Sentinel now at least 3 times as a Wretch at level 1. Just like with all these bosses, the main thing you have to have is patience. That and the ability to learn movesets, learn when to dodge, when there’s openings, ya know, the standard Souls formula for “getting good” and learning to beat a boss. It was actually the infamous player “Let Me Solo Her” aka “LMSH” that inspired me to start doing this more. I always would try to learn and adapt to the bosses, but I was always way more lazy about it which actually hurt me far more than anything else. Instead of immediately rushing back to the boss and not at all reflecting on what just happened and how I died, I took a minute to treat it like I was learning a fighting game. So, I’d go in fully expecting to die, but I was testing to see how the bosses would react to certain moves, really looking for the patterns, sometimes I wouldn’t even attack I would just see how long I could survive by dodging, and all of these things helped me TREMENDOUSLY. Not just for that boss fight, but for every boss fight. And it’s something I wish everyone could experience but I understand that most won’t. It’s far faaar easier to just overlevel, summon players/NPC’s/Spirit Ashes, and use OP weapons than it is to actually learn the boss and, as I said, “get good”. (I know ppl say “git gud” but that spelling always annoyed the hell out of me for some reason).

Anyway, I feel like I’m drunk and cracked out in this post (I’m not… to clarify), so I’m gonna leave it at that, lol

First and foremost, you're obviously much better and more experienced in these games than me, I definitely didn't beat her on my third attempt (more than 10, probably less than 30), and I was probably higher level than you since I don't care to level cap myself for PvP or any other reason - not that there's anything wrong with that.

Secondly, I don't think Malenia is too hard. I think Sekiro's Demon of Hatred, Inner Isshin, and Inner Owl are all harder, and probably Isshin Sword Saint as well. it's the reasons she's hard that bother me.

Obviously someone can learn her attack patterns and memorize everything she does to respond accordingly, but that's the kind of boss that I hate, it's repetitive trial and error and memorizing everything, not intuitively responding to something in the moment. I beat Isshin in my first playthrough in less than 10 tries, despite dying to Genichiro 25 times earlier, who is a much easier boss. The difference is that I learned the game, and without having to memorize his moveset whatsoever, I could intuitively respond to what he was doing in the moment, because I know what a thrust or sweep looks like and the animations are so good I know when to guard. Malenia and some of ER's worse bosses feel borderline turn based, where you are either dodge rolling something you've memorized, or maybe rolling through the first part of a sequence and looking for where they could branch off and do a different attack, then when it's over you smack them a few times or try and build up a posture break, then repeat until death.

Malenia is hard only because of waterfowl dance and the health regen, where as an amazing but still very difficult boss like Isshin is hard because he demands you use every single thing you've learned in the game instead of him having unique "fuck you" mechanics. Dying to Genichiro a bunch, getting through Lady Butterfly, Corrupted Monk, and Owl all made me master the combat system, and by the time I fought Isshin I was expected to use all I've learned to survive. Beating Elden Beast, Radagon, Godfrey, Morgot, and Malekith... None of them prepared me for the next, and certainly not building up to Malenia.

Then because of build variety and all these different factors, whether a player uses the made up set of restrictions on themselves that some dork online made up, without even getting in to summons, you could get told you didn't "really" beat her

 

[Juggs]

Obviously someone can learn her attack patterns and memorize everything she does to respond accordingly, but that's the kind of boss that I hate, it's repetitive trial and error and memorizing everything, not intuitively responding to something in the moment.

That’s literally most FromSoft “Souls” games bosses. You don’t want a boss that’s purely RNG or even has very much RNG at all. The more RNG bosses have, the worse that boss is. The entire point is that you can actually learn bosses patterns and movesets. And it’s not just memorization, but that IS apart of it. The entire idea is that you face these super difficult bosses that seem nearly impossible to beat. But once you settle down and actually pay attention, you learn A LOT. Like how panic rolling hurts far more than it helps, so you have to actually learn to time your rolls & dodges and do them on reaction instead of just spamming the roll button (aka panic rolling lol). You learn that you have to actually space out the bosses for certain punishes, aka whiff punishing. You learn that being patient is the ultimate virtue in these games. If you want a game where you beat bosses by doing cool tricks and combos, FromSoft games may not be for you. Maybe try out the Devil May Cry series if that’s what you prefer.

I beat Isshin in my first playthrough in less than 10 tries, despite dying to Genichiro 25 times earlier, who is a much easier boss. The difference is that I learned the game, and without having to memorize his moveset whatsoever, I could intuitively respond to what he was doing in the moment, because I know what a thrust or sweep looks like and the animations are so good I know when to guard. Malenia and some of ER's worse bosses feel borderline turn based, where you are either dodge rolling something you've memorized, or maybe rolling through the first part of a sequence and looking for where they could branch off and do a different attack, then when it's over you smack them a few times or try and build up a posture break, then repeat until death.

Sekiro seems a lot more difficult than it actually is, especially coming from playing Soulsborne games since they’re so much different. But once you learn you can basically just spam through the entire game, it becomes way less appealing difficulty wise. Yeah you don’t necessarily have to learn many movesets of bosses in Sekiro, but that’s because you can just spam attacks to build the posture meter and then just parry any incoming attacks and dodge/jump the unblockables.

Then because of build variety and all these different factors, whether a player uses the made up set of restrictions on themselves that some dork online made up, without even getting in to summons, you could get told you didn't "really" beat her

People who say that are just weirdos, ignore them.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

That’s literally most FromSoft “Souls” games bosses. You don’t want a boss that’s purely RNG or even has very much RNG at all. The more RNG bosses have, the worse that boss is. The entire point is that you can actually learn bosses patterns and movesets. And it’s not just memorization, but that IS apart of it. The entire idea is that you face these super difficult bosses that seem nearly impossible to beat. But once you settle down and actually pay attention, you learn A LOT. Like how panic rolling hurts far more than it helps, so you have to actually learn to time your rolls & dodges and do them on reaction instead of just spamming the roll button (aka panic rolling lol). You learn that you have to actually space out the bosses for certain punishes, aka whiff punishing. You learn that being patient is the ultimate virtue in these games. If you want a game where you beat bosses by doing cool tricks and combos, FromSoft games may not be for you. Maybe try out the Devil May Cry series if that’s what you prefer.


Sekiro seems a lot more difficult than it actually is, especially coming from playing Soulsborne games since they’re so much different. But once you learn you can basically just spam through the entire game, it becomes way less appealing difficulty wise. Yeah you don’t necessarily have to learn many movesets of bosses in Sekiro, but that’s because you can just spam attacks to build the posture meter and then just parry any incoming attacks and dodge/jump the unblockables.


People who say that are just weirdos, ignore them.

I probably sounded more heated than I actually was so let me clarify a few things about my point of view.

- I do play Devil May Cry! DMC5 is my favorite action game and has the best combat system of all time imo, and on Dante Must Die or even Son of Sparda, you have to be strategic and not just mash, but it just so happens the most effective way to play is what also the coolest looking things you can be doing. Vergil on Dante Must Die is harder than most if not all souls bosses, in terms of how deep into the game you need to get.

- I love the fromsoft souls games, and Elden Ring is either in my top 10 all time or right outside, it’s amazing, when I nitpick a boss it’s one part of a game I’ve put TONS of time into and gotten a lot of joy out of. I certainly don’t judge the entire game off Malenia, an optional boss in the extra dungeon, I think Elden Beast being a boring end is a bigger mark against the game than Malenia.

- I agree and disagree on Sekiro, it’s probably the hardest first time play through, but easiest on repeat playthrough (other than Demons’ Souls). Once you get it, you get it though, whether that’s good or bad, who’s to say. I think it’s a tighter, much more satisfying experience, but with that precise combat system you’re giving up a bit of player freedom. You don’t HAVE to learn their movesets but are still rewarded for doing so, if you’re good enough you’ll beat a boss first time you see them, but waterfowl dance will kill you the first time you fight Malenia. But I understand repeating a boss and improving over time is part of the appeal.

- It’s probably unfair for me to compare Isshin to Malenia as a 1:1 objective thing, since it is a matter of preference, and the games are very different in terms of the skills you need to succeed. I feel like I get “cheated” more often in souls games like a trap that was unpredictable, or once again the first time you’ll see waterfowl dance isn’t a matter of not panic rolling, etc. I don’t dislike the “souls” type bosses, Malenia is the exception to the rule for me because waterfowl dance feels lazy to me, I like Morgott, Godfrey, and Radagon a ton. I do recognize that she is still learnable and able to be mastered to the same degree as the Sekiro bosses im praising, as evidenced by people like let me solo her.

- I’m nowhere near your level but I’m not panic rolling and whatnot (unless my brain is completely fried and it’s time for a break), I feel I have a pretty good grasp on these games since starting them with Elden Ring a couple years ago. I was expressing my preferences and shouldn't have phrased it like it was a fact.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Just dropping in (completely uncalled and asked by nobody) to drop some more opinions on Sekiro. For me, it is just as great a game as all fromsoft titles, but the fact it takes a different approach to combat comes both with amazing things and not-so-great ones.

For example, I absolutely LOVED bosses I could just parry their rapid flurries of attacks and then finish them breaking their posture, it felt anime as fuck - examples include the centipede claw man thing (not to be confused with the centipede monks or the centipede coming out of the ape's neck) and those Samurai masters in blue robes. I would beat them first try because the combat against them felt intuitive: parry them properly and they die, simple as that.

On the other hand, as I mentioned previously, the Guardian Ape, the Demon of Hatred and some other bosses absolutely demanded that you use specific prosthetic weapons, barely have any parrying, and most likely would require you to buff yourself with something and/or debuff them with another thing - all of which is neitheir intuitive, nor explained ANYWHERE. This, Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne get right: if you got beat up, just try another one of the thousands of weapons/builds and you are good to go, you dont need to narrow down your playstyle absurdly just to beat that single hard boss - however, that comes at the cost of "some bosses don't prepare you for others later down the road", as @Dankster Morgan mentioned about Malenia and Maliketh for example.

Overall they are great games with different approaches and they come with their particular downsides and upsides.

 

[Marinjuana]

The only mechanic in the Melania fight is the whirlwind blade, everything else is a cutscene

 

[Juggs]

@Dankster Morgan @Felipe_Gewehr

I disagree that Souls games don’t have a natural progression of preparing you for your journey along the way. Yes, Elden Ring (or Soulsborne games in general) doesn’t prepare you for every type of attack you will come across. The goal is to teach you the basics while also teaching patience in order to give you the tools necessary to tackle any unforeseen challenges you may encounter. My issue with Elden Ring is that it doesn’t do this as well as it did in the Souls games. Like you’re not even forced to fight the first boss like you typically are. That and a lot of the changes to Elden Ring compared to Soulsborne games were all an attempt to make the game easier than the Soulsborne games. That was a big goal of theirs with Elden Ring as they correctly assumed that making the game easier would appeal to a larger audience. But the issue is that forcing you to fight a “tutorial” boss without being able to summon anyone or anything, without being able to level up, without being able to obtain new gear at all, etc, is honestly necessary. All of these things are designed to force you to learn a lot of the game’s mechanics without being able to rely on a crutch. And it also shows you that it can be done. This was especially true for the original Dark Souls. The “tutorial” area was so brilliantly designed.

Anyway, Elden Ring doesn’t really do this. The earliest boss that you’re forced to face that really gives you problems is Margit. And the fact that it was a lot of people’s most memorable boss fight proves a lot of these concepts are something that players may not realize they want, but always seems to prove that they absolutely do. But yeah, I have a ton of issues with Elden Ring and how they handled certain situations and aspects of the game.

I had a lot more typed out but it was way too long winded and I felt it took away from the post instead of adding to it.

Anyway, with all that said, one thing I know for certain is that the DLC in FromSoft’s Soulsborne games are always some of the best content of the entire game. And the fact that Shadow of the Erdtree is going to be the biggest DLC they’ve ever done, and it’s rumored that they had 2 different DLC’s planned and just ended up combining them for SotE has me so unbelievably hyped! As someone who loves both the PvE AND the PvP in this game, this will give me endless hours of more content to enjoy. I’m most looking for not only all the new weapons, armor, spells, etc, but also the completely new weapon classes as well as Ashes of War! June 21st absolutely cannot get here fast enough!

 

[Marinjuana]

Damn I got her I couldn't even believe it. I did end up bailing and using Rivers of Blood, which I had the whole time upgraded to +10 but I got close with Grafted Blade Sword multiple times. I ended up doing phase 1 Grafted then using Rivers of Blood phase 2.

I actually was streaming it by accident because I meant to be recording and after I saw this dude was getting hype in chat for me lmao

Quality is bad because I streamed it

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

@Juggs I don't entirely disagree with your point, but I think we just have to agree to disagree here. No biggie, all fromsoft games are still great in their own way regardless.

Changing the subject, what are your favorite weapons on Elden Ring? For me, without a single nanosecond of hesitation, it's Eleonora's Poleblade. Dex weapon, cool as FUCK animations, does bleed, ludicrous damage, multi-hiting twinblade. It is a thing of beauty.

 

[Juggs]

@Juggs I don't entirely disagree with your point, but I think we just have to agree to disagree here. No biggie, all fromsoft games are still great in their own way regardless.

Changing the subject, what are your favorite weapons on Elden Ring? For me, without a single nanosecond of hesitation, it's Eleonora's Poleblade. Dex weapon, cool as FUCK animations, does bleed, ludicrous damage, multi-hiting twinblade. It is a thing of beauty.

There’s a lot of them that I really like, but my favorite is probably the good old fashioned Greatsword. I was upset when they nerfed the Colossal’s crouch attack, but they eventually made up for it with the hyper armor buff. But yeah, the Greatsword is just too fun; and plus it’s the Guts sword so that makes it that much cooler.


That and the Grafted Blade Greatsword, which is underrated imo. It’s AoW is amazing and has a built in Endure which is one of the most OP Ashes of War in the game.

Another favorite is probably THE most OP weapon in the game right now, the Shamshir. It’s just so ridiculously good, plain and simple.

Speaking of OP, also love the PSGS’. Like the Lances, the Shunter, Mohg’s Spear, etc.

I also really like the fist weapons. The Katar, Spiked Caestus, Star Fist, Cipher Pata, etc are all so much fun to use.

Honorable mentions: Godskin Stitcher, Cleanrot Knight’s Sword, Frozen Needle, Ruins Greatsword, Nagakiba, Uchigatana, man there’s just so many good weapons in this game, lol. I was going to keep going but I’d name like 50% of the weapons lmao

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

There’s a lot of them that I really like, but my favorite is probably the good old fashioned Greatsword. I was upset when they nerfed the Colossal’s crouch attack, but they eventually made up for it with the hyper armor buff. But yeah, the Greatsword is just too fun; and plus it’s the Guts sword so that makes it that much cooler.
View attachment 21623

That and the Grafted Blade Greatsword, which is underrated imo. It’s AoW is amazing and has a built in Endure which is one of the most OP Ashes of War in the game.

Another favorite is probably THE most OP weapon in the game right now, the Shamshir. It’s just so ridiculously good, plain and simple.

Speaking of OP, also love the PSGS’. Like the Lances, the Shunter, Mohg’s Spear, etc.

I also really like the fist weapons. The Katar, Spiked Caestus, Star Fist, Cipher Pata, etc are all so much fun to use.

Honorable mentions: Godskin Stitcher, Cleanrot Knight’s Sword, Frozen Needle, Ruins Greatsword, Nagakiba, Uchigatana, man there’s just so many good weapons in this game, lol. I was going to keep going but I’d name like 50% of the weapons lmao

Those are all great choices indeed. Also to add an honorable mention: wing of Astel is surprisingly good. I love those weird Nox weapons as well. I am hoping in the DLC we might have a twinblade with some sort of Black Flame spinning ash of war - I didn't quite like the black flame tornado on the Godskin twinblade.

 

[Arqwart]

@Juggs I don't entirely disagree with your point, but I think we just have to agree to disagree here. No biggie, all fromsoft games are still great in their own way regardless.

Changing the subject, what are your favorite weapons on Elden Ring? For me, without a single nanosecond of hesitation, it's Eleonora's Poleblade. Dex weapon, cool as FUCK animations, does bleed, ludicrous damage, multi-hiting twinblade. It is a thing of beauty.

Absolutely any Thrusting Sword (Frozen Needle especially) and the Dark Moon Greatsword. Dex/Int and Str/Int are underrated as hell imo. Prisoner is best starter and no one can convince me otherwise. Cosplaying as Blaidd while wielding DMG is peak Elden Ring experience for me, especially when the whole journey up to that point is stabbing people with the Estoc blessed with Frozen Armament or Scholar's Armament. Toss in the occasional Carian Slicer, Carian Piercer, Carian Greatsword, and Adula's Moonblade and you got yourself a wonderful time.

God I love battlemage playstyles.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Absolutely any Thrusting Sword (Frozen Needle especially) and the Dark Moon Greatsword. Dex/Int and Str/Int are underrated as hell imo. Prisoner is best starter and no one can convince me otherwise. Cosplaying as Blaidd while wielding DMG is peak Elden Ring experience for me, especially when the whole journey up to that point is stabbing people with the Estoc blessed with Frozen Armament or Scholar's Armament. Toss in the occasional Carian Slicer, Carian Piercer, Carian Greatsword, and Adula's Moonblade and you got yourself a wonderful time.

God I love battlemage playstyles.

In every souls game I always started with the rapier/estoc mage hybrid and every game I regreted it later, when I saw people getting the katana or drake sword or whatever MUCH better weapon on the low levels and demolishing bosses. Thrusting swords are elegant as fuck but they are only useful for PVP IMO, against bosses they suck ass.

 

[Juggs]

Don’t think I mentioned it in here, but currently doing a fun challenge run until the DLC drops. It’s a challenge run I created aptly named “The Juggernaut Challenge”. It takes some rules from other challenge runs and of course includes some of my own. I wanted to make a challenge run that was difficult, but not something that was ridiculous to the point to where only a handful of players would even want to attempt it. I believe any player who has beaten the game can definitely beat this challenge. Anyway, here’s the rules.
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Rules:

Rule #1:

-Region Locked

*This means you cannot leave a region until you beat the legacy dungeon boss/main boss of that region. This means you cannot even step a foot into another region. The regions include but aren’t limited to: Limgrave (which includes Weeping Peninsula and Siofra River), Liurnia of the Lakes, Caelid, Altus Plateau, Leyndell, Volcano Manor, Deeproot Depths, Farum Azula, Mohgwyn Palace, Mountaintops of the Giants, Haligtree, Consecrated Snowfield, Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, Forbidden Lands, etc etc. Probably a few I’m missing but you get the point
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Rule #2:

-You cannot summon any human players, NPC’s, or Spirit Ashes. This includes the Radahn fight of course.
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Rule #3:

-Level caps (meaning you cannot level up past these caps for these areas)

Limgrave = RL 40

Liurnia = RL 70

Caelid = RL 80

Altus = RL 90

Deeproot Depths = RL 100

Volcano Manor/Mt Gelmir/Lake of Rot = RL 120

Leyndell = RL 130

After defeating Morgott in the Capital, you get the final level cap for the rest of the game. You’re level capped to RL 150. Meaning you cannot level up past level 150 for the rest of the game.

These level caps are actually lenient and are a bit higher than the recommended levels for these areas. Since you’re region locked, these areas will be a bit more difficult. And I know I didn’t include every area. Just use common sense for the underground areas and what you think makes sense. And of course for Farum, Haligtree, etc, it’s RL 150.

Keep in mind, you also don’t have to go to these caps. You’re more than welcome to stay under the level caps.
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Rule #4:

-No major glitches and no cheesing bosses.

*And by cheesing bosses I mean something that is obviously cheesing. Like shooting Commander Niall through the wall on another building with a projectile for instance. The point of this challenge is to have a more difficult experience, so cheesing bosses in this way completely defeats that purpose.

That said, you can obviously tweak the rules however you want. This is just my personal challenge run I came up with. If you want to add rules, change rules, take away rules, that is of course up to you.
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Optional Rule:

Along with beating the main boss/legacy dungeon boss for the region, you must also win at least one invasion in each region before you can move on to the next. And winning only counts if the host dies. If they die on their own, like they fall off a cliff or something, that still counts. But if they fog wall that doesn’t count. As far as them DC’ing, that’s up to you. If you feel you were going to win the encounter, you can count it as a win.
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That’s pretty much it. As I said, the purpose or goal of this challenge run is to make the game more challenging. But it’s also of course to have fun. So if you want to add anything or take away anything, feel free. But if you do, it’d be an “altered” version of “The Juggernaut” challenge run.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

There’s a lot of them that I really like, but my favorite is probably the good old fashioned Greatsword. I was upset when they nerfed the Colossal’s crouch attack, but they eventually made up for it with the hyper armor buff. But yeah, the Greatsword is just too fun; and plus it’s the Guts sword so that makes it that much cooler.
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That and the Grafted Blade Greatsword, which is underrated imo. It’s AoW is amazing and has a built in Endure which is one of the most OP Ashes of War in the game.

Another favorite is probably THE most OP weapon in the game right now, the Shamshir. It’s just so ridiculously good, plain and simple.

Speaking of OP, also love the PSGS’. Like the Lances, the Shunter, Mohg’s Spear, etc.

I also really like the fist weapons. The Katar, Spiked Caestus, Star Fist, Cipher Pata, etc are all so much fun to use.

Honorable mentions: Godskin Stitcher, Cleanrot Knight’s Sword, Frozen Needle, Ruins Greatsword, Nagakiba, Uchigatana, man there’s just so many good weapons in this game, lol. I was going to keep going but I’d name like 50% of the weapons lmao

My criticisms of Elden Ring make it sound like I hate the game but I really don’t, I love it, it’s probably the best game released since 2019 and I couldn’t be more pumped for shadow of the erdtree. And I get what you mean that the souls games do prepare you for what’s to come, some times directly, and sometimes just teaching you good habits. I definitely agree when it comes to the first dark souls, at least through Anor Londo.

I love all the Berserk references in this game and Fromsoft in general, instead of just doing a rip off they pay proper respect to their inspirations and still do a lot of amazing original stuff.

In Elden Ring alone, that greatsword is the Dragon Slayer, Lyendell is literally Falconia, the Erdtree is obviously ripped straight from Berserk, Radahn looks very reminiscent of King Gaiseric, the Blasphemous Blade is the Behlit Sword, Ranni has Shierke’s hat, Malenia has Farnese’s helmet, and Miquella and Queen Marika seem pretty referential of Griffith with the egg in Mohg’s arena looking like Femto’s birth scene, and the appearance of both of them having some similarities.

edit: also just remembered the prisoner starting class looks like post torture Griffith and Malekith is very similar to how Guts is depicted in the Berserker armor. There’s tons more but I like those ones a lot too.