yeah, that’s my bad, I should have clarified. my build is dex focused but it gradually became more and more int heavy… but now I’m trying to catch dex up so I can try melania’s katana. of course I’m level 162 now so probably won’t happen on this playthrough. and I’m too stubborn to respec!
1 Like
Maybe I can help you and other with that.
It’s part of the lore, I honestly believe all those giant balls of wizard stone heads are actual academy wizards that went through a similar process. You can also screw a character’s life with it.
It is only successful with the player character because he has the great rune that serves as a kind of catalyst in the process. Respec is just like popping up a rune arc. You are the owner of a shard… You are supposed to use your power.
But I hardly use arc runes as well cause I forget they exist =P
1 Like
I beat this last night. There’s a lot of content mentioned in these threads that I never saw! Game is huge. It’s probably as good as a big Fromsoft open worlder can possibly be.
These types of huge open world games by nature induce a kind of fatigue that eventually leads to a feeling of emptiness over a long period. Bravo to them for doing as much as they could to stave that feeing off. I’m weary, but I still want to play more!
The final boss didn’t give me nearly as much trouble as the Skin bois. My build was STR/melee with a side of faith, and I never respecc’d. Props to my clone ash that would do all the cool incantations while I blocked with my fingerprint shield and poked with my gold halberd from the tree sentinel.
1 Like
Bloody hell, Maliketh was a doozy, used up all my rune arcs but finally got him by getting a lucky hit in while he did his AOE and frantically hammered square to heal before the health drain did its thing as he died. Latenna did most of the work though
1 Like
I think I got summoned into a new game + situation last night. The little gargoyle guys were taking a million hits to kill and that cat statue got me in one hit.
I didn’t know it worked like that. Do summons still rely on the +-10% level mechanic?
Maliketh is one of those fake-out “this seems impossible until it’s suddenly pretty easy” fights but unfortunately at a point in the game when I think most people would afford it the minimum patience or goodwill
I wasn’t the biggest fan of them pulling it the way they did
1 Like
Going back to areas of the game I completely missed when I am otherwise standing at the door to the last boss is hilarious. Highly leveled Rivers of Blood is just demolishing things. My clone almost soloed a crucible knight boss. It’s great. It’s gonna be so hard not to play with this silly ass sword at some point, but I will do that.
1 Like
both him and Malenia basically come down to “how do I stack bleed and bait them into not doing this one horrible combo” which is a little too much like facing a Sekiro boss without the tools that Sekiro gives you
it’s really just more that I’m committed to my build and it feels “wrong”. I don’t think it’s rational, and I appreciate that the game lets you do it guilt-free. too bad I can’t do anything guilt free 
6 Likes
Yeah i haven’t really bothered with bleed all that much, which I guess is why some of these later bosses are giving me such grief.
That and trying a STR + INT build, which I rarely ever do
2 Likes
Still so slow with this game.
Made it to the Manor and the Capital and still haven’t passed through half of Caelid.
Going to be playing this forever at the cost of Balan Wonderland.
who up
who feintin
9 Likes
I just figured out that if you hit r2 immediately after blocking something with a shield you do this quick counter attack that can cause one of those crit-able stuns.
Having never played the previous sequels I’m not sure if that’s a new thing or not.
2 Likes
this is also the first one ive paid attention to so sorry if that video is passe i just… havent seen someone moving like that in the videos and streams and friends ive watched
2 Likes
swordfighting games
Balan will always be there for you. And you can read the novelization (do not do this).
2 Likes
Not to me, that’s pretty much new to me. Thanks.
That’s also a pretty much new addition, I use it heavily. You probably have read around the thread about some enemies that need to have their poise broken before you can do decent damage? Remember that skill then, or just jump attack, that also breaks poise very fast.
Since you are using shield (apparently) you are probably not using weapon skills much.
And if you are using a medium shield because of weight I might have a small pro-tip that will make your gameplay easier but also more interesting and fun. I’ll leave it under spoilers in case you don’t wish for help.
There is a field boss south of Castle Morne Rampart site of grace. This is the Site of grace north to the south most castle in the map, in Weeping Peninsula.
This boss only shows at night, so pass some time at the grace, and look south and you will be able to spot the boss immediately.
Defeat that boss, it is pretty hard, it’s a huge black rider in a horse with a black cloth over it. There’s various of those. But that one specifically give your a shield skill called Barricade Shield.
It only last 5 seconds, and it’s not exactly the easiest on your FP. But during those 5 second your medium shield behaves like a heavy shield, and even some minor boss attacks bounce off the shield leaving them super exposed for that counter attack. Since enemies are so aggressive sometimes you can break their poise just during those 5 seconds.
But the absolutely best part of the skill is that reduces the stamina you spend blocking almost exponentially. At first you won’t notice much of a difference, but with a shield by +10 you will see that it’s taking you very little stamina when blocking. By +25 I can basically regen stamina while blocking faster than most enemies can deplete with attacks.
Your gameplay becomes more a matter of timing when you activate that skill right, and makes shield blocking a much more active feature than simply blocking.
Also… I’m in my NG on my PC, and Malenia solo.
Did it with major cheese, using the Rivers of Blood skill as my only means of attack, and fully armored and consuming crab like a maniac. But I’m still pretty much proud of myself.
4 Likes
I am constantly riding the cusp of heavily encumbered with a very heavy shield and that stone cat helmet. But I didn’t know there was a night time guy down there. I’ll investigate!
And now I’ve also taken down Mogh solo. No Spirit Ashes, no anything.
This katana skill has to be nerfed. It is too powerful.
Still, these cheese allowed me to say I defeated every boss in game solo.
Yes, also the dual damn Crucibles… it’s just incredibly tedious to separate them and get an opening, but Barricade Shield does help a bunch there.
Rivers of Blood is the Crissaegrim of Elden Spring and I love it so much.
4 Likes