Board 8 > Elden Ring discussion 4 - This topic is INSANELY OP! ONE SHOT BOSSES!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Run towards her and under

The only boss moves in the game in the game I've been at a loss for how to handle are whenever a boss does two very quick attacks in succession that will catch your roll even if you dodge the first one. Maybe I'm supposed to use a shield for that but I don't want to. Margit did this sometimes, and the Misbegotten did it constantly.

I agree, shields are lame.

My strategy for that was having 40 vigor

KamikazePotato posted...

The only boss moves in the game in the game I've been at a loss for how to handle are whenever a boss does two very quick attacks in succession that will catch your roll even if you dodge the first one. Maybe I'm supposed to use a shield for that but I don't want to. Margit did this sometimes, and the Misbegotten did it constantly.

I think the answer is that one of those moves is typically able to be avoided by sidestepping instead of rolling. But I found myself sidestepping a lot less in this game compared to previous Souls games so IDK if that's actually true.

KamikazePotato posted...

The only boss moves in the game in the game I've been at a loss for how to handle are whenever a boss does two very quick attacks in succession that will catch your roll even if you dodge the first one. Maybe I'm supposed to use a shield for that but I don't want to. Margit did this sometimes, and the Misbegotten did it constantly.

I recommend experimenting with the hitboxes a bit, a lot attacks can miss if you're close enough to the enemy. Although I will say the quick follow ups get really annoying and imo are a big flaw with the boss design in ER specifically.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Was that phantom horse the actual boss of Caria manor? That thing was weak.

And where did the dragon go? And why are these towers sealed.

Yes, I think so, at least based upon you getting to those 3 towers and the dragon. The dragon flew away for me too after a while. I might have killed him later at a different location. I don't fucking know though as I've killed so many goddamn dragons.

The northern tower doesn't unlock until you do more of Ranni's quest. The middle one is the important one right now. I don't remember it being locked for me when I got there.

Daily progress: Finished the last 2 "side" bosses I have on my map, which were some fucking dragon outside the church on Moonlight Altar and the Crucible Knight duo in the Hero Grave.

Made more progress in Farum Azula. Beat the Godskin Duo. I keep getting my ass kicked by this one stupid Crucible Knight and I just cannot let it go. You'd think I'd have the timing and pattern down at this point but NOPE!

UltimaterializerX posted...

And where did the dragon go? And why are these towers sealed.

If it's the dragon I'm thinking of it teleported away and you'll fight it again later.

The towers usually have a puzzle in the area to solve that opens them. Some are also tied to quests.

The crucible knights aren't bosses right?

Some are bosses, some are not, and some of those who are not dont respawn after theyve been killed once

UltimaterializerX posted...

Ive been following the steps for Rabbis quest.

Apparently you skip a boss if you direct Blaidd to the festival? Will I lock myself out of a trophy either way? Id rather just fight whatever boss Im supposed to.

No, you don't miss a trophy? If the castle is in festival mode you can come back at a later point to explore it for real, which is what happened to me.

Daily progress: Naturally I beat that Crucible Knight first try tonight. Explored a whole hell of a lot of paths around Farum Azula. That place is a warren of routes. Fuck birds! Fuck dragons! Got to the end boss and he was kind of kicking my ass. Figure I'll try again tomorrow.

Did some research to see if I'd missed anything and it turns out there's an optional dragon boss (naturally!). Also some stuff about Alexander's quest line. Then looking up that quest line and it's talking about a location in Mt Gelmir I didn't know existed! Turns out I missed a path in Altus that winds around the outside. No matter how good I think I searched and explored, I've still missed so much stuff! Found a cave I'd missed along the way. Will clear that out tomorrow.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Some are bosses, some are not, and some of those who are not dont respawn after theyve been killed once

I don't think any of them respawn, actually. Maybe the one through the Four Belfries, who is strangely completely pointless to fight anyway, but there's also no reason to ever return there.

_stingers_ posted...

I had the winged scythe well before astel, so you must've missed it. I believe it was somewhere in the weeping peninsula.

Blasphemous Blade is your best faith weapon late game for sure. You get it from Rykards rememberence

I actually do have the scythe, but for some reason didn't really like it when I tried it out, so it's still completely unupgraded.

Got the Coded Sword recently, which is basically what I wanted from a faith weapon...my starter weapon but with more faith scaling. Now I finally have some semblance of range.

Also finally figured out where to go in Leyndell. It turns out that I had completely missed the drop down from the dragon wing somehow.

Beat Morgott and Rykard. Guess it's time for Giant Mountains.

Malenia beated.

Took around 45 minutes of attempts. My mimic and I could pretty consistently nuke her first phase with us both throwing around bleed and staggering her with dual scythes, but inevitably I'd get got by the flower bomb or waterfowl dance in the second phase.

Started tossing out a Dragonice cast for free damage when she'd WFD the mimic or I'd dodge the flower bomb, but she would always aggro on me immediately as soon as she could move again.

Except for the final attempt, where the second phase started with an almost dead mimic and she didn't even look at me the whole fight, allowing me to just Dragonice her to death while the mimic somehow miraculously survived to the very end and even managed to get a bleed proc.

Yeah Radahn was certainly a spectacle but I can't say I was a fan of the first iteration of that fight. Lot of spam summoning but not much of an opportunity to feel like you could ever participate even with all the crazy going on.

I ended up killing the nerfed version and it was disappointing.

I'm not sure how the current version stacks up.

FU UUUUU CK YOU MALIKETH!

Got that stupid motherfucker down to 2 hits twice. Then I got him down to 1 hit and rather than going for the kill I backed up to heal and got slashed. 20 fucking seconds to run from the grace point back to that fight. Again and again and again.

Then I finally got the magic run where he didn't spam those projectiles at me when he's jumping around like a crazy fucking lunatic. Mimic tear managed to stay alive long enough for me to take him down.

Thank fuck that's over!

Now onward to....whatever's next...

Maliketh is probably the fight I enjoyed least. Even with Malenia, I made an effort to actually learn some of her patterns and felt like I had earned something the two times I've beaten her. Maliketh was mandatory three times for the platinum, and I hated his wild spasms so much that I cheesed him thrice.

CaptainOfCrush posted...

Maliketh is probably the fight I enjoyed least. Even with Malenia, I made an effort to actually learn some of her patterns and felt like I had earned something the two times I've beaten her. Maliketh was mandatory three times for the platinum, and I hated his wild spasms so much that I cheesed him thrice.

Haha, yeah, wild spasms is a good way to phrase it.

With the first phase, I was eventually able to have a decent read on his attacks. But it basically amounted to staying as close as possible with shield up the entire time and get a hit or two during some small windows. Once I could get him down to 60% or so, back away behind a pillar, summon mimic, and heal back up. Then get back in his face, block, and chip him down to half health.

I found it critical to get out the summon BEFORE the 2nd phase, because there's no time once that shit pops off. He attacks harder, does chip damage, and he's got attacks that proc scarlet rot or something similar. Very annoying. Not to mention he jumps around like a lunatic and can launch those fucking projectile slashes. Basically 2 hits to death, even with 1400+ HP. The summon was vital to be able to take the aggro and do some damage. Any time it died early meant I was fucked.

The strategy for the 2nd phase was kind of the same as the first, it was just much harder to get, and stay, in his face. I think on my good run I was maybe a little more judicious with the blocking and not just slashing wildly when I actually got close.

I wouldn't have minded nearly as much if I didn't have to take 20 seconds to run up the ramp every time. A Stakes of Marika would have helped. Just...you know, make one appear after you kill the Draconic Tree Sentinel.

I felt like first phase was doable, but second phase just too many times he would jump too far away or get too high and off-screen. I feel like boss fights in this game become very weak when the boss is super far away and launching projectiles at you.

neonreaper posted...

I felt like first phase was doable, but second phase just too many times he would jump too far away or get too high and off-screen. I feel like boss fights in this game become very weak when the boss is super far away and launching projectiles at you.

Yes, agreed. The frustration came when the target lock would break (because he jumped behind a pillar or something) and then my blocking was usually worthless until I could get it back again.

Definitely gonna beat Malenia today. Ive gotten her real close several times. Main thing in phase two that gets me now is the phantom attack or just plain Waterfowl Dance, her rot explosions rarely get me anymore.

spinny air combo

lmsh make the dodging look easy, but it's actually extremely difficult

Tested out the Blasphemous Blade for the first time against the Black Knife Ringleader. That ash of war is pretty awesome. Not sure I'll end up using the weapon over my Coded Sword, but it helped a lot for that fight. I'm just not used to how much stamina It seems to consume to swing it around. Plus, while my faith is high, my strength and dex is basically just at the min req for it. Anyway I can't use her spirit ashes because I need like 30 more FP and that's probably not happening soon.

Went back and fought the lightning dragon and did Sellen's quest, which basically broke me in terms of looking things up. The dragon just flies off to some random location in Altus Plateau (and I wasn't about to re-explore the whole area), and Sellen's quest I would not have figured out the last few steps (given I never found the secret basement lair). Also the dragon fights continue to be more annoying than interesting.

The twin bosses on the way to Morgott's Divine Tower were strange. I figured that because it was an ambush and the entire area was black that they'd both charge me...instead they just came at me one by one? Very polite of them.

I feel like the days when I play where I'm advancing the main story and doing the main dungeons, I really enjoy the game, but the days where I'm just clearing some random ass catacombs and doing optional tasks like restoring the great runes or quests I enjoy the game a whole lot less. But I feel compelled do do those things because of the 5% chance it gives me something I actually want.

I finished up Sellen's, Alexander's, and the little jar dude in Jarburg's quests yesterday. Absolutely looked all those steps up online, because, like you said, ain't no way I'd do that stuff organically, especially with how (seemingly) late in the game I am.

The good news for you is there's definitely no more dragons to fight! ahahahahahahahahahahahahah *cries*

Jar Bairn randomly died without me doing anything to him, I just walked over near where he is and then heard "so that's who you are, coz" and then looked up his dialogue and that's what he says when you kill him. Can't receive absolution for it either even though other people say they were able to revive him when they killed him? Probably another weird bug like how Vyke wouldn't invade, that finally got fixed for me after the last patch

VintageGin posted...

Anyway I can't use her spirit ashes because I need like 30 more FP and that's probably not happening soon.

What I did is used the Cerulean Hidden Tear in the Flask of Wondrous Physick to cast it, since that nullifies FP costs for 15 seconds (not sure if they fixed the glitch where it only lasts 7 seconds yet).

Mac Arrowny posted...

What I did is used the Cerulean Hidden Tear in the Flask of Wondrous Physick to cast it, since that nullifies FP costs for 15 seconds (not sure if they fixed the glitch where it only lasts 7 seconds yet).

Oh I assumed you still needed the amount that it would take to cast it, even though you're not using FP. If it works that way, there's so many summons I could have been using!

Yup, it's pretty handy.

Finished her off! Basically me and my summon were able to keep the pressure on so well she never even got a chance to do any of her good attacks. I did start to consistently dodge the phantoms attack though, and as long as I was able to notice quickly enough and switch to my Bloodhound Step weapon I could dodge almost all of Waterfowl Dance (I would consistently take one hit from the middle of the first barrage and then dodge the rest). I had a bad habit of not switching in time though.

I feel like I played this game wrong when people talk about how hard some of the late game bosses are. Malenia took me...3 tries? I was like level 170+ when I did all the late game stuff. Would have liked an actual challenge. At least Elden Beast took me like 10 tries. By far the hardest boss for me besides early game Margit.

It's cool to get rewarded for taking things slow and exploring everything I could, but...I just like exploring for the sake of exploring, not to get absurdly powerful and put the game in easy mode. It actually over-rewarded me and took away an aspect of challenge I would have preferred on my first playthrough.

But I don't know what the solution would be here for a game as open as this. Oh well.

I was 142

Level ups are expensive enough now that I don't even know how I would have gotten to 170 without grinding, there's only so many bosses that give big rune payouts in the game.

WazzupGenius00 posted...

I was 142

Level ups are expensive enough now that I don't even know how I would have gotten to 170 without grinding, there's only so many bosses that give big rune payouts in the game.

That's the weird thing. I only ever grinded when I was really close to leveling in a dangerous area and wanted to make sure I got to that next level. But once I got the twiggy cracked tear I used it all the damn time. That alone saved me from almost never losing runes and probably helped a lot in being so highly leveled.

I may have been 160 something when I fought her. I don't remember exactly. Buffing my vigor to the high 50s probably helped a ton on these bosses too.

170 seems real high for not doing any grinding yeah. I was 151 going into the final boss and did close to everything.

Didn't get much progress tonight as I was doing some other stuff.

After the events of Farum Azula I was wondering about a particular character from Roundtable Hold and I got my answer. I also used the Haligtree Medallion to start down that path. Did not get too far though.

I'm around level 145 or so. I haven't really done much grinding either, just thoroughly explored because I find that fun. I've seemingly done just about everything that's possible to this point, without literally going down a checklist of every location. I've got a couple more levels possible if I popped all my Golden runes but I haven't felt the need to yet.

I was 150+ something at the very end. But I hardly feel like 10 to 20 levels make much of a difference in the endgame

I was 153 at Malenia, 155 when I finished it.

PS5 plat get. Great game. Really enjoyed eventually ending up with a dumb power stanced scythe setup while playing around with a bunch of different weapons for funsies.

Downloaded the PS4 version for my eventual replay, might as well knock out that plat too. Thinking of going Str/Int since I was Dex/Faith this run.

I got my second character "DLC ready"

- All Sites of Grace visited
- All caves/catacombs cleared
- Nearly all major side quests completed
- Most major items purchased/collected
- Stopped mainline content right after Fire Giant so as to not trigger any points of no return
- Level 144

I'm probably Elden'd out for the year

I'm definitely starting to get a little fatigued of the game but I've only got a couple of areas left. I'm pretty sure I could push through in Leyndell to get to the ending but instead I was exploring the Consecrated Snowfield tonight. Beat a boss, found some grace points, discovered but did not go into a Catacombs and a Tunnel. I'm thinking I've got another week or maybe two left, depending on how much I'm able to play.

Elden Beast more like Elden Bitch because it wont stop running away

It actually runs away far less now.

Explored most of Consecrated Snowfield other than the part in the north that likely leads to another area. Still need to do the Catacombs and the Tunnel.

Took the teleporter to the underground area. That place is just rich with runes! Killed the boss first try, though it was a close thing at one point.

Up to level 153 or so. I must have gotten 6-7 levels just tonight, which is crazy for the advanced level I'm at already. I feel like it kind of hardly matters anymore, and yet I persist in wanting to look in every nook and cranny.

Leyndell Capital is an incredible area.

And today I learned that the map fragments have lore.