I'm one of those stubborn idiots who beat Elden Ring without summons or spirit ashes. Malenia was an exercise of frustration for me, but in the end i beat her and it felt like an accomplishment.
Will the dlc hand me my ass as much as that woman? Anyone else here trying to solo?
What level range should my character be for a solo run on the dlc?
Yeah, this is me, and probably why I'm not as high on the DLC as a lot of people are. I absolutely insist on learning a boss until I can whip it all on my own completely solo, and then I'll drop co-op signs until I can twiddle the boss around like a basketball. This goes for all the Souls games, and a whole clutch of Soulslikes (which is something it seems like you have to say).
For me, it's always been the most fun way to approach their games, but I'm not sure if it's really the most fun way to approach this one. The people who seem to be having the most fun are either breezing through with summons or making crunchy tweaks to their build, and that's just not for me - I want to win because I solved the puzzle, broke the pattern. And you can do that here, but there's an awful lot standing between you and getting there. Which some people love. It's a little past me.
Folks have already noted that the bosses hit like trucks and have massive health pools, so I won't re-litigate that. I want to note, though, that I swear the bosses don't just have two phases, but something like three or four phases that amps/alters their aggression and moveset the farther into the fight you get. I can't prove this, so I could be wrong, but I swear that, on Rellana at least, I'd find a dodge opening that worked fine at 90% health that suddenly would get me thumped around 75% health because another move came out - and that makes cracking the boss puzzle complicated to the point that some might find it an engaging challenge, but I just happen to find rather tiresome.
This is combined with the fact that on certain bosses the camera does the classic From thing of flipping its shit, so that on top of the challenge of precisely locating where the hitboxes are (because we're well past swords at this point, a magical AOE is going to blast out somewhere), you have to deal with a camera having an autism freakout. Or the boss will rear up to a point where you can't even see what's coming, until you're a pancake on the floor. Again, there's the obvious response of learning when to unlock the camera, and sure that's part of the fun for some people, but I get my satisfaction from fighting a monster, not mechanics.
Honestly, level hardly matters. I'd say 150 at a minimum, with the more critical thing ensuring you're between 50 and 60 vigor. There's supposed to be a unique leveling system in the DLC based on collecting items, but some of them are hidden up a ghost's invisible asshole and - again, I'm just going off impression - I swear they don't do jack fucking shit. I wouldn't be surprised if an early patch raises their impact, because I keep an eye on my damage output, and going up five levels and returning to a boss I could barely see an impact. Crunchy youtubers will figure this out and break the math down, I'm sure, but that's my impression, at least. And the generally underwhelming itemization takes a toll on the exploration.
So you've got to look over all this and decide whether or not it's for you. I was elated when I whipped Melania too, but I'm taking a break from the DLC because I'm finding too often that I'm muttering "....the fuck just happened" or "where is the boss, the fuck is it doing now ... oh I'm dead, nice" or "where was the fucking hitbox on that thing."
And then when I do pull off that solo victory, I don't want to hang around and co-op, I don't want to relive the victory and push for greater mastery, I don't want more of it, I don't feel elated. I just feel relieved that it's over, and that's when I know it's not working for me, that I'm burnt out and need to just chill and take a step back, let my energies recharge.
So that's one person's report. Take it as one voice among plenty. It's gorgeous and lavish and I want to love it as much as other people do (legacy dungeons and catacombs frequently deliver), and maybe one day I'll learn to. But I've always enjoyed besting their challenges and, in this one, single, humble person's take, it's an odd feeling to look at the icon on my desktop, one I've waited years in eager anticipation for, and just a few days in just think "....nah."
