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

[mediocrepoet]

Also:

Her prosthesis isn't long enough. Other than that, this is pretty bad ass.

 

[Dhaze]

Cute that the rot has eaten her tits and vagina away, so she can be nikkid but not really. To be honest i actually find her kinda disturbing and ominous with her rotted flesh and limbs that fell off. Miyazaki and his sick pleasures.

For a couple of weeks now, I've wanted to go troll the shit out of Reddit with some convoluted theory that the Scarlet Rot is actually diabetes.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok, i think i'm starting to get it lul:



My friends are overtly exited about this shit they are novices when it comes to From games so they are WAY too easily impressed hahaha. I have to disappoint them tonight though as i'm falling asleep and tomorrow i gotta wake up early.

So far i actually like her and i don't think most of her moves are unfair, even the healing part, but that flurry attack is too RNG for my tastes. You can see me trying to bait it towards the end of the first phase and she just wouldn't do it. I hate that shit. Every attack at that point was a gamble on whether i was gonna die or not, based on the whims of the AI.

Unless there's a way to survive the first volley but so far i can't see how that's possible unless you have a shit ton of health. Also, unless you learn to get it perfect she is probably impossible for SL1 characters. Waiting for NJClaw video where he probably parries all her shit anyway lmao.

 

[cruel]

It seems I will keep complaining about bosses difficulty. Last major / story bosses I've encountered after Rykard:
- Godrey: 1 try
- Morgott: 2 tries
- Mohg: 2 tries
- Astel: 2 tries
- Commander Niall: 3 tries

WTF? With the last one, I actually expected a challenge, after he killed me pretty quickly with his lightning-kicks, but he fell in 3rd attempt. With Astel, I think I didn't even manage to learn his moveset fully and it wasn't necessary The second phase of Rykard was actually more challenging (Skull Storm + low visibility) than any of the bosses from the list above. Either I played Nioh / Nioh 2 too much, or combination of 40 vigor + high STR + heavy armor + Large Club enables a silent 'easy mode' and nobody talks about it.

I see your discussion about Malenia - I really hope she will kick my ass properly. If not, I will start another playthrough with a 0 poise character just to experience the game properly lol.

 

[somerandomdude]

I thought that all jump attack builds were in bonk category

A real chad's bonk build would be something like dual wield great clubs, do the double hammer slam move. It's actually pretty decent if you put frost infusion on them.

Or, you could get on my level and dual wield 2 Giant Crushers on a character named 'Gigachad', come at me bros, fuck your weeb shit!

 

[Bloodeyes]

Ok, i think i'm starting to get it lul:



My friends are overtly exited about this shit they are novices when it comes to From games so they are WAY too easily impressed hahaha. I have to disappoint them tonight though as i'm falling asleep and tomorrow i gotta wake up early.

So far i actually like her and i don't think most of her moves are unfair, even the healing part, but that flurry attack is too RNG for my tastes. You can see me trying to bait it towards the end of the first phase and she just wouldn't do it. I hate that shit. Every attack at that point was a gamble on whether i was gonna die or not, based on the whims of the AI.

Unless there's a way to survive the first volley but so far i can't see how that's possible unless you have a shit ton of health. Also, unless you learn to get it perfect she is probably impossible for SL1 characters. Waiting for NJClaw video where he probably parries all her shit anyway lmao.

You're playing with a similar playstyle to what I'm doing at the moment. I notice you use a lot of buffs. I don't, but I think I'm going to need to learn about them if I'm going to cope late game. What ones are you using in that fight? Any in particular you'd recommend?

Right now I use electrify armament as my only main buff. Sometimes Order's Blade for undead. Occasionally rune arcs, turtle necks and exalted flesh, but not so often. My physick is the bubbletear and the strength knot. I'm considering going up to 25 FTH for Golden Vow later on. I've used that before and I think I notice some difference.

 

[proxon]

m considering going up to 25 FTH for Golden Vow later on.

You don't need to level faith, there is a rider in first zone that drops that ash of war, and you can use it on a random dagger just to buff up before the fight, that's what I did.

 

[Bloodeyes]

m considering going up to 25 FTH for Golden Vow later on.

You don't need to level faith, there is a rider in first zone that drops that ash of war, and you can use it on a random dagger just to buff up before the fight, that's what I did.

I forgot about the ash. Yeah I already picked that up.

 

[Caim]

I thought that all jump attack builds were in bonk category

A real chad's bonk build would be something like dual wield great clubs, do the double hammer slam move. It's actually pretty decent if you put frost infusion on them.

Or, you could get on my level and dual wield 2 Giant Crushers on a character named 'Gigachad', come at me bros, fuck your weeb shit!

Real chad build is two Heavy Clubs, caveman armor, dancer's charm, jump attack charm, two others to support the build and go full ooga booga.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I see your discussion about Malenia - I really hope she will kick my ass properly.

From some of the videos i've just seen, if you have enough damage you can pretty much brutalize her, or most bosses for that matter. Like all Souls game, you can actually outpace most bosses if you level high enough, at least on normal game.

Honestly though she is only hard because of that flurry attack, and not so much because it's impossible to avoid, but because it seems to be totally RNG. If you don't have the right distance when she jumps, you need to have at least 40 stamina to tank her first volley, and since i don't have that, it's like the AI can just kill me randomly any time it feels like it, which makes it frustrating.

As soon as i come back from work i'll get down to it and we'll see, but i suspect if i kill her it's only because she isn't gonna do the thing at a time where i can't avoid it, which kinda sucks. I'm literally at the mercy of randomness.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok, i think i'm starting to get it lul:



My friends are overtly exited about this shit they are novices when it comes to From games so they are WAY too easily impressed hahaha. I have to disappoint them tonight though as i'm falling asleep and tomorrow i gotta wake up early.

So far i actually like her and i don't think most of her moves are unfair, even the healing part, but that flurry attack is too RNG for my tastes. You can see me trying to bait it towards the end of the first phase and she just wouldn't do it. I hate that shit. Every attack at that point was a gamble on whether i was gonna die or not, based on the whims of the AI.

Unless there's a way to survive the first volley but so far i can't see how that's possible unless you have a shit ton of health. Also, unless you learn to get it perfect she is probably impossible for SL1 characters. Waiting for NJClaw video where he probably parries all her shit anyway lmao.

You're playing with a similar playstyle to what I'm doing at the moment. I notice you use a lot of buffs. I don't, but I think I'm going to need to learn about them if I'm going to cope late game. What ones are you using in that fight? Any in particular you'd recommend?

Right now I use electrify armament as my only main buff. Sometimes Order's Blade for undead. Occasionally rune arcs, turtle necks and exalted flesh, but not so often. My physick is the bubbletear and the strength knot. I'm considering going up to 25 FTH for Golden Vow later on. I've used that before and I think I notice some difference.

I like Golden Vow because it lasts a bit. I despise short lasting buffs and never use them.

 

[Lyric Suite]

m considering going up to 25 FTH for Golden Vow later on.

You don't need to level faith, there is a rider in first zone that drops that ash of war, and you can use it on a random dagger just to buff up before the fight, that's what I did.

The spell is better than the Ash of War version though.

 

[proxon]

I know, but it's a fair trade for builds not focused on faith. That's ten levels more for vigor or dps stat.

 

[Andnjord]

Aaah, what a nice feeling it is to come back to the thread after a few days away from it and seeing many people joining into the noble art of the Bonk! and Lyric Suite finally having reached Malenia and suffering against her for everyone's enjoyment.

Best i could do for now:




I suppose i can at least reach the second phase, but it annoys me i still have to eat her third volley.

Quick tip, spoilered if you want to figure her out yourself 100%

Spoiler

The combo at 2:17 is one of the few attacks in the entire game that can be safely avoided by strafing to her left.

Finishing my bleed bonk run, this build murders everything in a minute.

I must protest! Such elven dancing has nothing to do with the true power of mighty bonk!

The Bonk is to be found in the strength of a mighty weapon, but it can be found in your heart too. Look at how Proxon fought her second phase. Do you see him dancing around her attacks, darting in and out? No, he fearlessly takes the hits with his face, bravely trades with her with nary a thought for his safety. This too is the way of the Bonk.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I know, but it's a fair trade for builds not focused on faith. That's ten levels more for vigor or dps stat.

For my build its only 3 extra levels to get to 25. I was going to FTH 22 for Frenzied Burst anyway. 150 target stats have vigor 40 and STR 59. Not really willing to lower those, but I guess I'm willing to level to 153 to get a 15% increase in damage and some DR for the first minute and a half of a boss fight. Plus electrify armament (and all buffs and heals) scales off FTH alone, even if you use a dual scaling seal. So a couple of extra points there will add some to my buffed damage, especially once I can spare a point of endurance to get my left hand finger seal back. Right now I'd need to take my trousers off just to have another seal equipped lol

 

[Andnjord]

I see your discussion about Malenia - I really hope she will kick my ass properly.

From some of the videos i've just seen, if you have enough damage you can pretty much brutalize her, or most bosses for that matter. Like all Souls game, you can actually outpace most bosses if you level high enough, at least on normal game.

Honestly though she is only hard because of that flurry attack, and not so much because it's impossible to avoid, but because it seems to be totally RNG. If you don't have the right distance when she jumps, you need to have at least 40 stamina to tank her first volley, and since i don't have that, it's like the AI can just kill me randomly any time it feels like it, which makes it frustrating.

As soon as i come back from work i'll get down to it and we'll see, but i suspect if i kill her it's only because she isn't gonna do the thing at a time where i can't avoid it, which kinda sucks. I'm literally at the mercy of randomness.

Some more info about her Waterfowl Dance (what you call her flurry attack) in the following spoilers:

Spoiler

During phase one:
-she will only start using it after going down to 70ish% health.
-After that it seems to have an internal cooldown of around 20 seconds.
-She can do it at will but additionally, she almost systematically does it when using a ranged weapon (a throwing dart will be enough) against her or drinking a flask from a certain distance

This means that during phase one if you've noticed she hasn't used it in a while you can back off and trigger it from a safe distance.

Phase 2:
-I think the same rules apply (except that she can use from the very start) but it's obviously a lot harder to create distance as she's far more aggressive.
-On the positive side, once down to around 40% she will start using her scarlet bloom attack (the one she starts the phase with) once again. This is a positive because I'm pretty sure it shares the same cooldown with Waterfowl, meaning everytime she uses it is another 20 seconds where you don't have to deal with Waterfowl.

EDIT:

For the record, i tried a few times in co-op with the double whips and bloodhound step and i can dodge it

It's easier to dodge with Bloodhound, but I've heard From's netcode for whatever reason makes it slightly easier to dodge it as a summon. I can tell because when cooping I can dodge close to 100% of the time even at point blank range, but that's certainly not the case when fighting her solo

 

[Vibalist]

So guys, who, in your opinion, are the most useless enemies in this game? Not the hardest or most infuriating, but merely the most utterly pointless ones. I've been thinking about FromSoft's propensity for always adding at least two or three of these into their games, like:

* The fucking slime things that drop down from the ceiling, who take ages to kill without fire, but who pose no threat whatsoever.
* The fucking fireflies.
* The big, static plants who also take forever to kill and are good for absolutely nothing.
* The jellyfish (although they are cool looking and technically not an enemy, since they don't aggro unless disturbed).

Why are these entities even in the game? To make the other enemies look better? They have to be yet another one of Miyazaki's trolling attempts, right?

 

[Haplo]

To imitate some limited living ecosystem, where not only apex predators exist?

 

[Alrik]

I forgot about the ash. Yeah I already picked that up.

The AoW has a significantly shorter duration than the incantation though.

If you're putting points into faith for buffs you should get to at least 30 for Black Flame's Protection, but at that point you might as well go to the scaling softcap of 50, decrease your STR/DEX to minimum requirements for your weapons and use Flame Art infusions.

 

[proxon]

Here is Radabeast fight, both of them are immune to bleed but that is not enough for swirl weeb bonk(tm).

 

[Bloodeyes]

I forgot about the ash. Yeah I already picked that up.

The AoW has a significantly shorter duration than the incantation though.

If you're putting points into faith for buffs you should get to at least 30 for Black Flame's Protection, but at that point you might as well go to the scaling softcap of 50, decrease your STR/DEX to minimum requirements for your weapons and use Flame Art infusions.

Been there, done that. Pure faith is brilliant but I have that on another save. This is a STR build and I'm sticking to that. Plus my minimum requirements are pretty damn high on the Guts Greatsword. 31 STR. 25 is the highest I'd consider going on FTH. I need vigor and endurance too badly. At the moment I'm either one shotting things or being one shot. Ok I didn't one shot Rennala. That took 4 hits but she had extra armour for a couple of them because she was doing a big spell.

 

[mediocrepoet]

So guys, who, in your opinion, are the most useless enemies in this game? Not the hardest or most infuriating, but merely the most utterly pointless ones. I've been thinking about FromSoft's propensity for always adding at least two or three of these into their games, like:

* The fucking slime things that drop down from the ceiling, who take ages to kill without fire, but who pose no threat whatsoever.
* The fucking fireflies.
* The big, static plants who also take forever to kill and are good for absolutely nothing.
* The jellyfish (although they are cool looking and technically not an enemy, since they don't aggro unless disturbed).

Why are these entities even in the game? To make the other enemies look better? They have to be yet another one of Miyazaki's trolling attempts, right?

The poison pods can be dealt with quickly and are usually around as a more or less environmental obstacle that can be cleared and also obscure treasure.

Spirit jellyfish tend to hint at areas to explore like Catacombs and spirit related items.

Slimes have a significant and long history in From games and D&D inspired games in general, you philistine.

Dragonflies... Yeah, fuck dragonflies. But Haplo was right about ecosystem considerations. They also tie in with crafting stuff and also, things like them and the rams can really screw up your day if you're fighting something dangerous and they're around. It's kind of funny to end up dead because of a few bugs.

 

[NJClaw]

Unless there's a way to survive the first volley but so far i can't see how that's possible unless you have a shit ton of health. Also, unless you learn to get it perfect she is probably impossible for SL1 characters. Waiting for NJClaw video where he probably parries all her shit anyway lmao.

Only because you asked for it:



I (think I) know how to parry the single attack I keep dodging over and over, but the execution has to be so precise it's just not worth it for me. I can pull off the right movement and timing roughly 8 times out of 10, but even a single mistake is enough to die and I can't really understand what I do wrong. An important fact about parrying Malenia is that, contrary to every single other boss in the game, you simply can't react in time to all her attacks if you parry when the weapon starts to swing towards you, so you really have to learn her wonky timings. It's not that bad though, for most of her attacks you can parry as soon as she starts the animation. Once you get a hang of how you need to be positioned, parrying her becomes quite easy.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Hahaha, hot damn dude, i knew it.

Ok i'm switching to parry, but i think i need some practice here lol:



At least i sort of learned how to avoid that flurry attack. The first one she does is easy, because you know it's coming so you can avoid it, but after that i just have to tank the first volley (i was supposed to use Barricate there but as you can see i fucked up).

I wonder, i see you used sleep pots in the second phase. Is it because you get rot if you tank it?

 

[NJClaw]

I wonder, i see you used sleep pots in the second phase. Is it because you get rot if you tank it?

Those are frost pots. Each fight you can stagger her out of 2 of her special moves (Waterfowl Dance, Scarlet Aeonia, and the clones attack) with them, then her resistance becomes too high. I did it just to speed things up: rot buildup isn't a problem since you have plenty of time to eat an antacid, but tanking a waterfowl dance lengthens the fight and a longer fights means a higher chance of getting more special attacks. My general plan was to use pots to avoid waterfowl dances and clone attacks to stay safe, but 99.99% of the times you can use them against any two first special attacks and finish the fight quick enough to never see any other special move.

If you're fine with tanking the first flurry, avoiding the dance as I do in the video is easy and straightforward. You just block through the first part, then roll into the next two just before she starts the flurry. To be safe, you should also keep rolling away from her after the second dodge.

In the video I never had a change to use my ash of war (Royal Knight's Resolve), but with it each critical hit deals up to 4k damage.