From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Lyric Suite]

Hahaha, wow Golden Parry is great. Found a perfect mook in the Capital to try it on:

 

[Lyric Suite]

Dragon seal scales better with arcane though, so it should be the other way around. Most optimal i think would be 30 FTH and 55 ARC since those are the soft caps for spells. The highest dragon incantation only needs 28 FTH so.

At that point you should use an occult weapon that has native bleed on it, rather than use bleed ashes.

Yeah I read the wiki page on the dragon seal, I know about the scaling. I want to keep faith high because I use other spells as well and because I want to be able to try all the incantations. The highest prereq is 50 so that's what I'm shooting for. This may be the only FTH character I do so I want to try everything I can FTH related. Sort of like the fellow who collects all the weapons, only with spells.

I can have a 50 in FTH and a 45 in ARC at level 150. All my other stats are done, so any levels I gain post 150 (at endgame or NG+) will go into ARC, eventually making it the high stat.

I'm level 131 already so not far off. My primary weapon is already scaling off arcane. It's Eleonora's Poleblade +7. My arcane is currentlly 31 (I've levelled since my last post) and I'm working it exclusively. I still pack a secondary weapon that uses FTH. Just anything light with sacred blade on it to one shot undead with. It helps out a lot. Even though my stat is low my damage output is higher on the poleblade than on my flame art warpick +12, and that's just the numbers, not taking bleed into account. This thing is going to absolutely rip once I get that arcane up.

God's Speed then.

My plan after i finish this is try a SL1 run after a big break and then go in exclusively as a Golden Order FTH character on NG+. Roal playing for teh win.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Man, the more i see of the Capital the more i'm impressed by it. I wish the whole game had been like this instead of that open world shit, bleh.

 

[Bloodeyes]

This new build is starting to feel like a horrible idea. After an ungodly amount of grinding I've got 40s in both ARC and FTH. I ventured back into the world eager to see percentage based damage in all its glory. I have the Coded Sword as a secondary and the Poleblade as primary. Maybe I just need to upgrade it more or something but the ARC scaling on the pole blade kind of sucks. It seems I'd need a fair whack more DEX to get the most out of it really. It does indeed rip when I do the special attack or the heavy, but the wind up on those keeps getting me killed. I'm not good with it at all.

The damage is good, don't get me wrong, but I'm so high level now I can't level up and because I'm split between 3 high stats (Vigor, FTH and ARC are all 40) I don't actually feel that strong. I need more endurance and a bit more STR so I can have a better shield and armour again. I also had to take DEX to use my new weapon. I'm starting to wonder what goddamn level I would have to be to make this feel as strong as I was a dozen levels ago when I started this fool's errand.

I could either press on, get ARC to 50 and see where I'm at or get a refund on those levels, dump DEX and ARC and put everything into FTH. Of course I could do what LS said and lower FTH but I love my magic too much. I got a new incantation called Frenzied Burst that is basically a sniper rifle. I'll give this a bit more of a chance tomorrow. I'm pretty tired and shitty from all the grinding so I could just be playing badly. But I'm thinking I'll probably dump everything I put into this and go back to my pure faith build. The coded sword is pretty average BTW, the flame art lordsworn's is better. Does more damage and is more versatile and less costly to use. Lordsworn's straight sword, flame art scaling, square off enchant. Best weapon in the game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Just look at the scaling. The Poleblade scales more with DEX than ARC (C scaling for DEX, D for ARC), while the Coded Sword scales with FTH only. Your FTH doesn't do anything for the Poleblade while ARC doesn't do anything for the Coded Sword and is only partially effective for the Poleblade because of that meager D scaling.

Like i said, for a pure ARC build (with max 30 FTH to get the most out of the scaling with the Dragon Communion Seal + all the Dragon Incantations) your best bet is Occult on any weapon with native Bleed on it. If you want to use a Bleed Ash of War, you will have to raise whatever physical stat goes with the weapon along with ARC (usually DEX but there's a few STR weapons as well that will take the Bleed Ash).

For the Coded Sword, you could probably go 80 FTH even though you don't get much after 50 just because there's nothing else that helps with that weapon. 80 FTH plus that Scorpion Charm should make it pretty effective probably, albeit from what i understand holy resistance on enemies is quite common (except for the undead guys obviously). Poleblade meanwhile would benefit from maxing DEX first since ARC has a lower scaling.

I don't know if there's any weapons out there that benefit from both FTH and ARC as far as the scaling goes, all though i'm pretty sure there are none. If you must max both FTH and ARC (for the Dragon Communion Seal), i'd keep the Coded Sword and see if you can make it work with the Scorption Charm, but i would ditch the Poleblade and get something with Occult on it.

An alternative is to max out INT/FTH instead. You get a seal that scales with both, and unlike the FTH/ARC combo there IS a weapon that scales with both INT/FTH, and it's a pretty powerful one too, with two broken weapon arts:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sword+of+Night+and+Flame

You'll lose bleed but it should be obvious by now that if you want that you must specialize in it in some way, going pure ARC with Occult or DEX/ARC or STR/ARC with whatever weapon scales with those or if you use a Bleed Ash of War.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Just look at the scaling. The Poleblade scales more with DEX than ARC (C scaling for DEX, D for ARC), while the Coded Sword scales with FTH only. Your FTH doesn't do anything for the Poleblade while ARC doesn't do anything for the Coded Sword and is only partially effective for the Poleblade because of that meager D scaling.

Like i said, for a pure ARC build (with max 30 FTH to get the most out of the scaling with the Dragon Communion Seal + all the Dragon Incantations) your best bet is Occult on any weapon with native Bleed on it. If you want to use a Bleed Ash of War, you will have to raise whatever physical stat goes with the weapon along with ARC (usually DEX but there's a few STR weapons as well that will take the Bleed Ash).

For the Coded Sword, you could probably go 80 FTH even though you don't get much after 50 just because there's nothing else that helps with that weapon. 80 FTH plus that Scorpion Charm should make it pretty effective probably, albeit from what i understand holy resistance on enemies is quite common (except for the undead guys obviously). Poleblade meanwhile would benefit from maxing DEX first since ARC has a lower scaling.

I don't know if there's any weapons out there that benefit from both FTH and ARC as far as the scaling goes, all though i'm pretty sure there are none. If you must max both FTH and ARC (for the Dragon Communion Seal), i'd keep the Coded Sword and see if you can make it work with the Scorption Charm, but i would ditch the Poleblade and get something with Occult on it.

An alternative is to max out INT/FTH instead. You get a seal that scales with both, and unlike the FTH/ARC combo there IS a weapon that scales with both INT/FTH, and it's a pretty powerful one too, with two broken weapon arts:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sword+of+Night+and+Flame

You'll lose bleed but it should be obvious by now that if you want that you must specialize in it in some way, going pure ARC with Occult or DEX/ARC or STR/ARC with whatever weapon scales with those or if you use a Bleed Ash of War.

I'm just going back to pure faith. I'll try a proper bleed build on a future playthrough. I've decided I hate builds that use two main stats generally. I'm sure there are ways to make them work, but for a simple chap like me one high stat is much better. Maybe in NG+ I could add a second string to my bow, I don't know. I'm going back to the Godslayer's seal and dumping ARC and DEX. I've just grabbed myself a Banished Knight's Greatsword and smithed it up to +12 and added piercing fang with the flame art scaling. I don't even care about the damage numbers, I can hit much better with this weapon.

 

[NJClaw]

I've just grabbed myself a Banished Knight's Greatsword and smithed it up to +12 and added piercing fang with the flame art scaling. I don't even care about the damage numbers, I can hit much better with this weapon.

Greatswords are, well, great. They are slow compared to katanas and straight swords, but they almost always stagger regular enemies. For a Faith build, the Gargoyle's Greatsword gets a B scaling with both Flame Art and Sacred, but the moveset is slightly different (and it looks like someone came on the tip of your sword).

 

[Lyric Suite]

Have you tried this one?

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Winged+Scythe

Scales with DEX and FTH and has native bleed on it. No ARC scaling but even if you keep it at 13 for Rotten Breath it should give you some Bleed with basically zero ARC investement, which is pretty good IMHO. Don't forget that DEX increases casting speed for spells so it's not a bad stat to have for a caster build. You don't necessarely have to go STR just because there's a seal that scales with it, all though i don't think the speed bonus you get from DEX is particularly huge.

I also don't know if you know this but certain seals give you a damage bonus for certain spells:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sacred+Seals

If you are focusing on pure faith and you notice you have a liking for all the lighting spells you could use the Gravel Stone Seal for instance, which nets you 15% bonus on the Dragon Cult spells.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I've just grabbed myself a Banished Knight's Greatsword and smithed it up to +12 and added piercing fang with the flame art scaling. I don't even care about the damage numbers, I can hit much better with this weapon.

Greatswords are, well, great. They are slow compared to katanas and straight swords, but they almost always stagger regular enemies. For a Faith build, the Gargoyle's Greatsword gets a B scaling with both Flame Art and Sacred, but the moveset is slightly different (and it looks like someone came on the tip of your sword).

Yeah I have that one. I've levelled it and tried it out. I've tried out a ton of weapons the last couple days. I think the Banished Knight's sword with piercing fang suits me best. It's a setup very similar to the Lordsworn's with square off, just a bit heavier. Looks cool too. I can't get over the looks of some weapons. I actually found a reasonable STR and FTH scaling weapon, the scalesword. It did good damage, I was good with it, but it looked like something pulled out of a plug hole. Disgusting. Couldn't get over that. Going with the Banished knight's sword and banished knight's shield. Already done the respec. Faith is at 59 and I have some endurance now as well as 40 mind so I won't need to chug pots as much. Now I'm just going to level FTH for the rest of the game. Simple.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Don't forget to keep an eye on the caps:

https://www.gosunoob.com/elden-ring/soft-caps-all-stats-attributes/

80 FTH is the high as you should go.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Have you tried this one?

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Winged+Scythe

Scales with DEX and FTH and has native bleed on it. No ARC scaling but even if you keep it at 13 for Rotten Breath it should give you some Bleed with basically zero ARC investement, which is pretty good IMHO. Don't forget that DEX increases casting speed for spells so it's not a bad stat to have for a caster build. You don't necessarely have to go STR just because there's a seal that scales with it, all though i don't think the speed bonus you get from DEX is particularly huge.

I also don't know if you know this but certain seals give you a damage bonus for certain spells:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sacred+Seals

If you are focusing on pure faith and you notice you have a liking for all the lighting spells you could use the Gravel Stone Seal for instance, which nets you 15% bonus on the Dragon Cult spells.

Yeah I'm aware of that weapon. I don't have it. I like a sword though. I'm just sticking to my simple build. The whole bleed thing was a side track and I was fixing something that wasn't broken. I'll try more complex builds another time. This is a game I'm certain to return to. I know about scaling. I use a mix of different spells and frequently change them. So I just use the one with the highest overall scaling. For now that's the Godslayer's +20. They aren't all equal because I've been fucking with builds, exploring and grinding so much I still haven't collected all the bell bearings and I ran out of high level sombers a while ago.

Edit: Yeah I'm aware of caps. If I manage to level that high I'll just pump Vigor, Mind or Endurance some more. Whichever feels most lacking. I'm not grinding any more or levelling from exploration as I'm level 141 and only just entered the city. I'll see how I go.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I believe you get 18 Larval Tears by the end of the game. That's plenty and you then get more on NG+ so i wouldn't worry about fine tuning your build to the max just yet. You never know what you gonna find anyway. From what i understand there's a killer FTH greatsword that's only found at the very end of the game for instance, probably useful only for NG+.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Have you tried this one?

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Winged+Scythe

Scales with DEX and FTH and has native bleed on it. No ARC scaling but even if you keep it at 13 for Rotten Breath it should give you some Bleed with basically zero ARC investement, which is pretty good IMHO. Don't forget that DEX increases casting speed for spells so it's not a bad stat to have for a caster build. You don't necessarely have to go STR just because there's a seal that scales with it, all though i don't think the speed bonus you get from DEX is particularly huge.

I also don't know if you know this but certain seals give you a damage bonus for certain spells:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sacred+Seals

If you are focusing on pure faith and you notice you have a liking for all the lighting spells you could use the Gravel Stone Seal for instance, which nets you 15% bonus on the Dragon Cult spells.

Yeah I'm aware of that weapon. I don't have it. I like a sword though. I'm just sticking to my simple build. The whole bleed thing was a side track and I was fixing something that wasn't broken. I'll try more complex builds another time. This is a game I'm certain to return to. I know about scaling. I use a mix of different spells and frequently change them. So I just use the one with the highest overall scaling. For now that's the Godslayer's +20. They aren't all equal because I've been fucking with builds, exploring and grinding so much I still haven't collected all the bell bearings and I ran out of high level sombers a while ago.

Edit: Yeah I'm aware of caps. If I manage to level that high I'll just pump Vigor, Mind or Endurance some more. Whichever feels most lacking. I'm not grinding any more or levelling from exploration as I'm level 141 and only just entered the city. I'll see how I go.

Just for completion, that list i just linked to fails to point out that for Endurance 25 is the first soft cap for equip load. That's a good place to stop until you think your other stats are at a good place or if you don't care about heavier armors than what you can fit with that.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Have you tried this one?

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Winged+Scythe

Scales with DEX and FTH and has native bleed on it. No ARC scaling but even if you keep it at 13 for Rotten Breath it should give you some Bleed with basically zero ARC investement, which is pretty good IMHO. Don't forget that DEX increases casting speed for spells so it's not a bad stat to have for a caster build. You don't necessarely have to go STR just because there's a seal that scales with it, all though i don't think the speed bonus you get from DEX is particularly huge.

I also don't know if you know this but certain seals give you a damage bonus for certain spells:

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sacred+Seals

If you are focusing on pure faith and you notice you have a liking for all the lighting spells you could use the Gravel Stone Seal for instance, which nets you 15% bonus on the Dragon Cult spells.

Yeah I'm aware of that weapon. I don't have it. I like a sword though. I'm just sticking to my simple build. The whole bleed thing was a side track and I was fixing something that wasn't broken. I'll try more complex builds another time. This is a game I'm certain to return to. I know about scaling. I use a mix of different spells and frequently change them. So I just use the one with the highest overall scaling. For now that's the Godslayer's +20. They aren't all equal because I've been fucking with builds, exploring and grinding so much I still haven't collected all the bell bearings and I ran out of high level sombers a while ago.

Edit: Yeah I'm aware of caps. If I manage to level that high I'll just pump Vigor, Mind or Endurance some more. Whichever feels most lacking. I'm not grinding any more or levelling from exploration as I'm level 141 and only just entered the city. I'll see how I go.

Just for completion, that list i just linked to fails to point out that for Endurance 25 is the first soft cap for equip load. That's a good place to stop until you think your other stats are at a good place or if you don't care about heavier armors than what you can fit with that.

I'm running END 30 for both the stamina and the equip load. I wear the heaviest armour I can for the poise as much as the DR and the looks. I also use the best shield I can and I've got 3 weapons for my right hand - Greatsword, coded sword (Its unblockable ability is situationally very useful) and light crossbow for drawing aggro from groups and cheesing tough enemies. Even with the green turtle talisman and the arsenal charm +1 I felt the loss keenly when I dropped END back to 25. 28 is probably the lowest I can bear with my setup but I'd like 35 or 40 eventually.

 

[Mauman]

I'm just going back to pure faith. I'll try a proper bleed build on a future playthrough. I've decided I hate builds that use two main stats generally. I'm sure there are ways to make them work, but for a simple chap like me one high stat is much better. Maybe in NG+ I could add a second string to my bow, I don't know. I'm going back to the Godslayer's seal and dumping ARC and DEX. I've just grabbed myself a Banished Knight's Greatsword and smithed it up to +12 and added piercing fang with the flame art scaling. I don't even care about the damage numbers, I can hit much better with this weapon.

I just beat the game with a pure faith build dual wielding greatswords (blasphemous blade and inseperable then Golden Order). Enough Strength and Dex for prereqs of course. Oh, and just enough arcane to still use Rotten breath cuz Hell Yeah.

It was fucking great.

And, as it was full faith, if the takers flame or powerstanced attacks weren't working I could always fall back to spamming spooge shot (pest threads).

Now I'm dicking around ng+ with Sacred Relic Greatsword. Wow that's a weapon.

That being said, I started off as Arcane faith and (especially early on as Rotten breath is WAY strong at the early levels) it was just fine. There's an early dagger that you can get (reduvia's I think it's called) that will allow you to do good melee damage and bleed effects. It's kinda crappy that the occult whetstone is all the way in Nokron (so you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it), but it is what it is.

 

[Vibalist]

+1. Did something very similar. Pure faith builds are fucking awesome.

 

[Bloodeyes]

So I just wandered through the capital and pulverized everything in my path. In grinding to achieve a two stat build then respeccing to a one stat build I've ended up quite OP. I hope the late game is as tough as people say because at level 144 I kind of need it to be.

 

[Andnjord]

So I just wandered through the capital and pulverized everything in my path. In grinding to achieve a two stat build then respeccing to a one stat build I've ended up quite OP. I hope the late game is as tough as people say because at level 144 I kind of need it to be.

For reference, I was around level 75-80 when I first did the the capital, recommended level is apparently 90-110, but it was perfectly doable. So yeah, you really are overlevelled, but don't worry, there will be plenty of stuff ready to kick your ass after the capital :D

 

[unseeingeye]

So I just wandered through the capital and pulverized everything in my path. In grinding to achieve a two stat build then respeccing to a one stat build I've ended up quite OP. I hope the late game is as tough as people say because at level 144 I kind of need it to be.

The late game areas significantly ramp up in difficulty, and although 144 is pretty high, you should still encounter regular monsters that will frustrate. The Mountaintop of the Giants is where it begins; the mid-section is deceptively simple but the opening ruins with a whole bunch of those Zamor bosses are regular enemies gives some idea of what to expect, especially in the back where there are four that can jump you all at once. Getting through the mid-section is simple, but once you start closing in on the top, around the areas where the frozen dead bodies of impaled giants decorate the cliffs, the enemies start to become absurd. I actually found that last stretch even more difficult than any area in the Consecrated Snowfields, but that place is no joke either, nor is the lake section of Mohgwyn Palace. At your level you will breeze through many of those areas, and likely some of the bosses as well, but gone are the days of calmly exploring every cliffside and taking in the scenery, it is a near-constant struggle for life to the top amidst perpetual blizzards. The final area is simple with a few exceptions, though and the Haligtree was my second favorite area of the game after the Sewers beneath the Capital.

I also used the Banished Knight's Greatsword for a while, and even power stance with them, but only upgraded to +18 before switching for others. I find the Claymore at +25 remains the best overall greatsword in the game because of its unique move set and capacity to be buffed or infused with anything. I still use it in new game plus sometimes. The Sacred Relic Greatsword is fucking ridiculous but you don't get it until you beat the game; however, you can beat the boss and fast-travel out of the "point of no return" room and I did just that to do all of my grinding and farming before going into the second journey, and the first thing I did was upgrade the Sacred Relic to +10 and hit "the spot" to use its weapon art, which kills everything before you in a 90deg arc up to like 100 yards or something.

I really do like the basic R1 moves et of the Banished Knights greatsword that it shares with one other, and it has a really cool appearance overall. The Iron Greatsword is the most powerful basic one for Strength, but it looks plain and it took me a bit to get a second copy to power stance them. Honestly my favorite looking sword in the entire game is the basic Bastard Sword! It has the nicest appearance (along with the Claymore), a great move set and a very cool looking sheathe, but it doesn't have the reach of the others. Great swords in general are my favorite weapon class to use and I have to actively force myself to not lapse into the playstyle while using other weapons, because now that I'm in new game + I'm making a concerted effort to beat the game entirely without summons and to use different weapons.

So far, despite all my hype a few pages back about the Nights Calvary armor and Royal Knight Greaves &c I ended up going with a loadout that I've enjoyed throughout most of the weekend: I wear the Fell Omen Cloak, the one you get from beating Morgott, the Gold Bracelets from Goldmask set, and the Lionel Greaves because the cloak is one of the few good looking armors that doesn't shrink down Lionel's gear to fit with. I also wear the Aristocrat Headband, or the Commoner's Headband (Altered) or nothing, because I like the look of my characters hair and the way the cloak has the collar and hood pulled up high which gets lowered with most helms. For weapons I've mainly used Godskin Stitcher +25 power stance with Great Epee +25, one with Bloodhound Step and the other with Giant Hunt, and for quick-slot backups a Clawmark Seal or Frenzied Flame Seal and a Icon Shield +10 in the offhand, with either an Albinauric Bow or fully upgraded Arbalest on the main hand. Sometimes I switch up to power stance with the Hand of Malenia and the Nagakiba in the offhand, but I find that I don't actually enjoy the katana move sets as much, or I'll use Godfrey's Axe or Giant Crusher for fun.

I'm loving new game plus and have surpassed the 300 hours mark, and now that I am soft capped in my main stats (Vigor, Endurance, Strength, Faith) and have 50 Dexterity, I am moving on to level up Intelligence with a Marika Soreseal to boost my Arcane to 20. Getting to use the staves and spells is fun but I'm realizing I don't enjoy it enough to dedicate a play through, so I'll likely never run a full mage type character. My Intelligence with the Soreseal is 28 so I can use the Meteorite Staff and stuff like Rock Sling, Loretta's Greatbow, a bunch of others. I also max upgraded the Bloodhound Claws and eventually would like to go for a minimalist build carry weight and see what its like to use the Claws; maybe even just use the armor and make an actual Bloodhound Knight build? As I was settling on the Fell Omen Cloak, it occurred to me that the equipment is there to pretty much roleplay or make a build mimicking a significant number of bosses and demigods; for instance I could wear that same cloak and wield Morgott's Cursed Sword (which I have a +9), or I could like I said make a Bloodhound Knight build using the Fang, &c. Just some ideas for the future.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

 

[Lyric Suite]

How big an area is there left in the Capitcal after the Godfrey yellow ghost?

If we don't count Shunning Grounds (haven't gotten there yet, but from what i gather it's this game's version of Blight Town), i'm not entirely sure this is larger than Stormveil. The first section was 10/10 but the second portions of the city was somewhat simpler (and what's with the replica of the Roundtable Hold? What's the story there?).

Still one of the best areas in any From game's i've played.

BTW i gave the book i found to the Goldmask dude and he is STILL telling me it's the work of heresy. Is there ANY book he doesn't say that for lmao. Still waiting for that to have any kind of effect though.

I'm also going to say this game offered the best co-op experience out of all the other From titles. I just helped a guy through basically the whole thing. Took so long we got invaded twice. Did Erdree dude, the Gargoyle, helped him with the Ulcerated faggot and then we went to Godfrey and beat his ass lmao. None of the other From titles offered something like this, not even Dark Souls 2 which allowed you to co-op in regular areas and not just outside boss fogs but i rarely got summoned for that (except the area before the first Pursuer a couple of times).

BTW, i assume the Godfrey ghost is just a powered down version of the real thing, right?

 

[Wunderbar]

How big an area is there left in the Capitcal after the Godfrey yellow ghost? If we don't count Shunning Grounds (haven't gotten there yet, but from what i gather it's this game's version of Blight Town), i'm not entirely sure this is larger than Stormveil.

yellow ghost of Godfrey and the next story boss is pretty much the end of Capital. You'll have to leave it for the next open world section shortly after.

BTW i gave the book i found to the Goldmask dude and he is STILL telling me it's the work of heresy. Is there ANY book he doesn't say that for lmao. Still waiting for that to have any kind of effect though.

it's a generic line, there are no non-heretical books in the game.

 

[Nathir]

BTW, i assume the Godfrey ghost is just a powered down version of the real thing, right?

Yes. You won't meet the real one until much later.

 

[unseeingeye]

it's a generic line, there are no non-heretical books in the game.

There is one actually, the Golden Order Principia. It is the one you find in the Erdtree Sanctuary that enables you to learn the Law of Regression.

 

[NJClaw]

The Iron Greatsword is the most powerful basic one for Strength