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

[Andnjord]

Just out of curiosity, how many legacy dungeons i have left?

You haven't killed Maliketh yet, right? Then you have two left.

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

Just out of curiosity, how many legacy dungeons i have left?

You haven't killed Maliketh yet, right? Then you have two left.

I'd say 3-4 (he might've cleared the 4th one).

Spoiler

• Crumbling Farum Azula
• Miquella's Haligtree
• Mohgwyn Palace
• Deeproot Depths

 

[Andnjord]

Just out of curiosity, how many legacy dungeons i have left?

You haven't killed Maliketh yet, right? Then you have two left.

I'd say 3-4 (he might've cleared the 4th one).

Spoiler

• Crumbling Farum Azula
• Miquella's Haligtree
• Mohgwyn Palace
• Deeproot Depths

He posted videos of him killing both Mohg and Fortisax, so I stand by my statement.

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

Just out of curiosity, how many legacy dungeons i have left?

You haven't killed Maliketh yet, right? Then you have two left.

I'd say 3-4 (he might've cleared the 4th one).

Spoiler

• Crumbling Farum Azula
• Miquella's Haligtree
• Mohgwyn Palace
• Deeproot Depths

He posted videos of him killing both Mohg and Fortisax, so I stand by my statement.

Then I bow to your superior insight into Lyric's endeavors.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i just checked the first video i posted on youtube and apparently it's been two months since i've been playing this game. Fucking hell lmao.

 

[mediocrepoet]

BTW, i just checked the first video i posted on youtube and apparently it's been two months since i've been playing this game. Fucking hell lmao.

casul noob

 

[mediocrepoet]

This is pretty cool - looking at the full Godwin model and themes. I couldn't figure out wtf was going on with him but was always curious.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i just checked the first video i posted on youtube and apparently it's been two months since i've been playing this game. Fucking hell lmao.

casul noob

Keep in mind a did a ton of co-op. Steam tells me i have 400 hours into the game but that's inaccurate since when i do co-op i alt-tab the game and keep an eye for summons on my second monitor with OBS on, and a lot of times i just forget the game alt-tabbed afterwards so who knows how many fake hours i piled on.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Until now I've been pretty disappointed in bleed. This was because I falsely believed it better to put bleed on light, fast weapons in order to have more chance to proc the move, disregarding the lower base damage. This is bull shit. I just took my +13 flamberge (greatsword with bleed 55) and I put the repeating thrust ash on it with the keen affinity. Then I cast bloodflame blade. I've been proccing bleed all over town. It takes one repeated thrust on most enemies, two on an armored knight. This has to be one of the best ways to do bleed. Maybe not for my build as it makes zero use of my arcane skill (no arc scaling on the flamberge), but it's a no brainer for a faith build.

Not only does the bleed proc, the longer blade makes it easier to land the move and obviously the base damage on a greatsword is relevant even with a weak move like repeating thrust. The move is no slower on the bigger weapon. There are no downsides at all to doing this other than the opportunity cost of other cool greatsword moves like giant hunt.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You can try pure Arc with occult on weapons with native bleed on it, like i did. I have 25 FTH (30 with Godrick rune) which gets the best out of the D scaling on the Dragon Communion seal and you get to use all the breath spells and some other misc stuff.

Arcane is supposed to help with all status effects and there's a variety of ways to apply them, from throwing items to arrows, bolts and darts so i think to get the most out of it you would have to use a variety of tools but i'm personally too lazy to bother all though i suppose throwing a sleep pot to bears or poisoning some annoying enemy with arrows from a distance could be useful. I usually just use throwing knives with bleed on it to get rid of annoying mooks and call it a day.

When i'm helping on bosses in co-op, i do rot first then frost second because of the extra resistance to the same status effect mobs get in this game, and Arc helps with both (or so i assume, i don't know if spells count).

I think the Dex/Arc is popular because of the try hard weaboos and their bleed katanas. Bleed is also pretty devastating in PvP, as your own resistance to it is much lower than that of bosses.

In PvE, bleed is incumbent on how much pressure you can keep on enemies and sometimes it's hard to actually keep any pressure at all. Ever since i switched to heavy weapons like the Flamberge or the Great Stars, i get one proc per boss fight, very rarely i get two, and sometimes i get none at all. Fancy weapon arts can help but it's not always easy to use them on bosses.

If you still don't like it even after going 55 Arc i think you should just drop the stat.

For the record, my build is as follow (currently SL95), numbers in parentesis are with Godrick Rune and Radagon Scarseal:

Virgor: 30 (40)
Mind: 25 (30)
Endurance: 20 (30)
Strengh: 12 (22)
Dexterity: 10 (20)
Intelligence: 7 (12)
Faith: 25 (30)
Arcane 50 (55)

Weapon is at +18.

If you check my videos you can see how that is panning out.

 

[Dhaze]

This is pretty cool - looking at the full Godwin model and themes. I couldn't figure out wtf was going on with him but was always curious.

When I discovered the one under Stormveil, my first reaction was to whisper "What the fuck..."

Then I climbed the ladder, looking down all the while, and couldn't help but laugh as his face looks like the resulting imprints of using octopus for pressed senbei.

/e: taken from the end of the video: "While initially bizarre, Godwyn's unusual form may start to make some sense when viewed as a part of a recurring theme."

That's fantastic. When any developer reuses the exact same idea from game to game, it's lazy and bad; but when it's FromSoft, it's a 'recurring theme'.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i forgot to mention, but there's two items in the game that gives you a bonus to damage every time you proc a bleed, and they both stack with each other. Worth checking out to see if it makes fast weapons better.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Anyway, i tried to do the invisible nimble sorts in Ordina without the torch. Lmao yeah right. Maybe if they didn't do that grab attack it would have been possible. As it is i weep for the people who don't read item descriptions.

 

[Dhaze]

Even with the torch I hated that part of Ordina, so after much frustration I kept to the roofs as much as possible. And as it turns out I didn't even have to engage with a single assassin.

Also, there is one such assassin fought as a boss in the Sage's Cave, and most of the boss room is under a few centimeters of water, so even if you don't have the torch you can clearly see the assassin's footsteps creating ripples, which is really cool.

I wish they had done that for those in Ordina, but they don't leave any footsteps in the snow. On top of that, though I wear good headphones while playing, I could not hear the sounds of them roaming about the streets. Big missed opportunities right there.

 

[Andnjord]

Anyway, i tried to do the invisible nimble sorts in Ordina without the torch. Lmao yeah right. Maybe if they didn't do that grab attack it would have been possible. As it is i weep for the people who don't read item descriptions.

I far prefer my solution. Scout the place as much as possible before entering the 'gaol', then run around like a madman howling in terror and rushing from one bonfire to the next knowing that death doesn't reset those bonfires.

Spoiler

I had missed that torch

 

[Lyric Suite]

On top of that, though I wear good headphones while playing, I could not hear the sounds of them roaming about the streets.

That's because they aren't roaming, they are just sitting on a spot.

I know this because i caught one before he saw me and was even able to sneak up to it to get a backstab.

And yes, it's total bullshit that they don't leave foot prints on the snow. All you can see is a light puff of smoke but that doesn't help if they do any jump attack.

BTW, speaking of snow effects, i just loved how whenever the bears did a slam attack the screen gets covered in white fog, presumably a cloud of snow, where you can't see shit anymore and can barely make out the next attack. Because bears weren't fucked up enough already lmao.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Reasonable suggestions

Yeah that all makes sense and it's stuff I've considered. I've ultimately decided to stick with arcane and just ignore its effects on bleed. Scarlet rot is my favorite thing ever. I just used it to kill 4 dragons. It's pretty much my answer to everything I either can't deal with or don't want to deal with. So I'll stick with arcane just to help that out. Plus I like bloody slash a lot.

Prior to this playthrough I thought there were only 3 truly good weapon arts in the game: Square off, lion's claw and giant hunt. Now I think there are 4. I'm actually not even sure I prefer giant hunt to it. It has carried me through the game, being applied by the basic rapier from Rountable Hold and cutting down every boss I have seen. It runs on arcane regardless of weapon affinity. So I kind of have to keep arcane with this build or risk nerfing my favorite move.

I did a minor respec just to give me some QOL with equip load and tidy up a few loose stats. Ditched the idea of being light. It was fine but I like having a tool for every job. The flamberge +13 is keen still and can have Order's blade for undead like skeletons and deathbirds as well as bloodflame blade for anything I may need bleed for if that ever comes up. It's got wild strikes on it. Not my favorite ash but it will put bleed on things and also knock around armoured knights. It's a versatile weapon. My rapier +20 has bloody slash for cutting down bosses or anything too dangerous to live long. Between those two weapons I should have the right tool for most everything the game will throw at me. The DEX gives two for one by allowing me to use buffs so I'll keep that too. I have some faith so a falme art Misericorde could be my third right hand armament if I can handle having 3 weapons without finding the swaps too slow. Good art for crowd control and dudes with shields but rotten breath can handle those tasks so I'll probably just keep doing that.

Current stats are:
Vigor 40
Mind 30
Endurance 25
Strength 15
Dexterity 30
Intelligence 13
Faith 22
Arcane 32

Either by endgame of NG+ I want to hit

Vigor 40
Mind 50
Endurance 32
Strength 15
Dexterity 50
Intelligence 13
Faith 46 (For Black Blade and general spell access)
Arcane 60

That would be a very high level character so I'm shooting for just getting DEX 40 and ARC 45 this playthrough. Maybe get the endurance done with a bit of post game grinding before NG+

 

[Lyric Suite]

I keep forgetting i'm the only one here obsessed with trying not to over level lol.

Yeah if you got levels to spare go to town with your stats.

 

[Dhaze]

That's because they aren't roaming, they are just sitting on a spot.

I know this because i caught one before he saw me and was even able to sneak up to it to get a backstab.

And yes, it's total bullshit that they don't leave foot prints on the snow. All you can see is a light puff of smoke but that doesn't help if they do any jump attack.

Oh one of them was definitely moving before he saw me! It was the one some distance to the right of where you spawn, down in the snow between two buildings. I saw him pacing back and forth, and he could not have seen me since I approached from behind while crouching and under the effect of Assassin's Gambit.

BTW, speaking of snow effects, i just loved how whenever the bears did a slam attack the screen gets covered in white fog, presumably a cloud of snow, where you can't see shit anymore and can barely make out the next attack. Because bears weren't fucked up enough already lmao.

Right? Thank you! I've barely seen anyone mention it, but that visual effect is so annoying.

Now that I'm playing a bit in NG+, Runebears are pretty much the only enemies who can spell trouble. The one in Dragonbarrow Cave is brutal as all hell; if he wanted to, I'd wager he could become the next Elden Lord.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I can fight them reliably now, but i still prefer to rot them because they take too fucking long to kill.

I'll say them and the lobsters are the most dangerous mooks in this game. Fuck the giants they are all pussies.

Speaking of the lobsters, i really loved that trick From did of having one stay there sleeping and when you attack it another one jumps out from some hole in the ground.

All in all the bears are still worse though since you can at least fight the lobsters on the horse and they aren't hard to circle around once you know their shtick. Just don't try to run away as they'll snipe the fuck out of you now matter how far you get. Once you start a fight you better finish it.

All in all though, i have a feeling they came up with the sleep effect just for the bears specifically lmao.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ho yes, i forgot, the giant birds also. Favored move there is when they pretend to fall over and you even get that sound you hear when you stagger an enemy or break their stance and you think time to move for the kill instead its a feint and you get one shot lmao. Nice.

 

[Dhaze]

Oh god, the lobsters. The pair of them down in the sewers below Leyndell were such a pain to fight. I tried to maneuver behind the two or three sections of pipe that lay on the ground (thinking they were put there exactly to offer protection) but the lobsters' attack were clipping through the model, even their pincer grab. I still don't know how I'm supposed to properly fight a lobster, let alone two in a confined space.

And I was so confused by the Crows' feint at first. I love the idea but the sound cue, combined to the animation, made me believe I needed to hit the crow in the leg to really make him topple over. But it didn't work, and I thought that was a bug of some sort.

On topic, I have to say that I really like the Pumpkin Head guys. The way they go crazy under certain conditions, slamming their head repeatedly into the ground then gazing longingly at the sky as if in rapture, is really something different. And their overall design is great. Very grotesque. I think they wouldn't be entirely out of place in a Resident Evil game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You have to get to the lobster near the exit because he aggros no matter what. I made the mistake of fighting the first one a few times and that other one always came to wreck my shit no matter how sneaky i tried to be.

Of course, once you are there you can just walk through the exit and snipe him or rot him from a safe distance so no point to fight him anymore.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I can fight them reliably now, but i still prefer to rot them because they take too fucking long to kill.

I'll say them and the lobsters are the most dangerous mooks in this game. Fuck the giants they are all pussies.

Lobsters have a bug in their AI where if you stand in a precise place to their side, a distance from them, they will glitch out and stop moving. You can then black flame fireball the shit out of them until they die and they won't react. If you dodge roll around them light you can find the spot where they suddenly stop trying to turn and face you and just freeze. It's quite noticeable. Giants die very quickly to blood shot, it's a great time saver. Even a basic dagger with this move works. They are something for which bleed really helps. I will use the cheapest tactics I can find to win this game, so despite my somewhat average RTs I'm good at it in my own way. Efficient.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Did you get your blood eyes doing Varre's quest yet?

BTW, this game has the worst dragon form of them all. You just get dragon eyes that get replaced by either the blood eyes or frenzied eyes and you can't get them back.

Well, ok, maybe DS3 is still worse: