Gaming Elden Ring - Fromsoftware

the scudatree avatar can get tae f*ck
Blasphemous blade is very useful against him if you've got that weapon. I just beat him today using that.

Won't spoil it but an optional boss around that area is reputed to be one of the hardest in the game and I just beat him after about 15 deaths, and this was after getting stuck on Messmer for over a week. A lot of the difficulty in this DLC is about when you encounter the bosses and how many of the fragment things you have to actually do damage.
 
Having finished the game with both characters I had prepared and started the slog of a normal playthrough, I think it was a mistake not to make the DLC accessible earlier. Not only is it essentially locked behind 30+ hours of gameplay, but it makes a replay of the base game feel more boring by taking away all the cool new weapons and abilities that the DLC introduces.

At the very least they could have done what they did with Baldur's Gate 2 Throne of Bhaal, where they let you choose to either import your existing character, or make a new one that starts with loads of XP/runes to allocate. If items/weapons/spells from the base game are important, put them put up for sale somewhere in the DLC. And if they're not important, leave them out and let them be a bonus for people willing to import a character.

Even better would have been to have 3 entrances into the same DLC, one accessible early, one mid game and one late game. Do a Grand Lift of Rold type trick to stop people getting into the later parts of the DLC too easily. That way you could access some of the DLC early on, and even better, bring weapons and spells out from the DLC and play the base game with them.

While Im enjoying playing through the base game again, I'd love to go through the DLC several times over with different builds and there's no way Im spending 100hrs+ in the base game just so I can try out 3 or 4 different builds in the DLC.
 
Having finished the game with both characters I had prepared and started the slog of a normal playthrough, I think it was a mistake not to make the DLC accessible earlier. Not only is it essentially locked behind 30+ hours of gameplay, but it makes a replay of the base game feel more boring by taking away all the cool new weapons and abilities that the DLC introduces.

At the very least they could have done what they did with Baldur's Gate 2 Throne of Bhaal, where they let you choose to either import your existing character, or make a new one that starts with loads of XP/runes to allocate. If items/weapons/spells from the base game are important, put them put up for sale somewhere in the DLC. And if they're not important, leave them out and let them be a bonus for people willing to import a character.

Even better would have been to have 3 entrances into the same DLC, one accessible early, one mid game and one late game. Do a Grand Lift of Rold type trick to stop people getting into the later parts of the DLC too easily. That way you could access some of the DLC early on, and even better, bring weapons and spells out from the DLC and play the base game with them.

While Im enjoying playing through the base game again, I'd love to go through the DLC several times over with different builds and there's no way Im spending 100hrs+ in the base game just so I can try out 3 or 4 different builds in the DLC.
It's actually very easy to get to the dlc. Radahn can be done quickly, and then you can do that one quest to get to Mohg before you even do the Raya lucaria academy.
 
Blasphemous blade is very useful against him if you've got that weapon. I just beat him today using that.

Won't spoil it but an optional boss around that area is reputed to be one of the hardest in the game and I just beat him after about 15 deaths, and this was after getting stuck on Messmer for over a week. A lot of the difficulty in this DLC is about when you encounter the bosses and how many of the fragment things you have to actually do damage.
Try as hard as I can, no weapon is anywhere close to the blasphemous blade and it really trivialized the game. Any time I get stuck on a boss with any other build, switching to this gets me through it so quickly
 
You can also have other players mule/dupe dlc items for a new character. Ive just done it and started a sword of night build but im not proficient with builds like this. It just looks cool but im struggling too much with bosses i usually stomp.

I do it over the main discord

Grinding smithing stones and ghost cloveworrs really suck though.
 
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It's actually very easy to get to the dlc. Radahn can be done quickly, and then you can do that one quest to get to Mohg before you even do the Raya lucaria academy.

Yes and no. I followed this guide the other week (he originally posted his route as a google doc) and I got there in about 2 hours, which at first I thought was great.

But... you get there at level 70-odd, with just a +10 bloodhoung fang and minimal gear, which isn't remotely enough to tackle the DLC. As well as needing to find another 50+ levels, you need to go back to the base game and grab golden seeds, sacred tears, physick tears, talismans, the smithing bells, stat boosting gear plus all those key spells and AOWs like golden vow, flame grant me strength, golden parry etc etc. So yes, you can physically reach it quickly, but you're not really ready to go into the DLC if you do.
 
The last boss of the DLC looks like a nightmare already and even more irritating than Messmer. I can get him down to around half of his health but his second form is just too much at the moment. I can't be bothered to find the remaining three levels of shadow tree fragments (i'm at level 17 which should be enough to beat the final boss).
 
The last boss of the DLC looks like a nightmare already and even more irritating than Messmer. I can get him down to around half of his health but his second form is just too much at the moment. I can't be bothered to find the remaining three levels of shadow tree fragments (i'm at level 17 which should be enough to beat the final boss).
Yes and no. I followed this guide the other week (he originally posted his route as a google doc) and I got there in about 2 hours, which at first I thought was great.

But... you get there at level 70-odd, with just a +10 bloodhoung fang and minimal gear, which isn't remotely enough to tackle the DLC. As well as needing to find another 50+ levels, you need to go back to the base game and grab golden seeds, sacred tears, physick tears, talismans, the smithing bells, stat boosting gear plus all those key spells and AOWs like golden vow, flame grant me strength, golden parry etc etc. So yes, you can physically reach it quickly, but you're not really ready to go into the DLC if you do.

The most tedious thing about starting a new character(already spent 13 hours without being ready for the dlc yet) is finding all or most of the scadutree fragments. That takes ages.
 
Yes and no. I followed this guide the other week (he originally posted his route as a google doc) and I got there in about 2 hours, which at first I thought was great.

But... you get there at level 70-odd, with just a +10 bloodhoung fang and minimal gear, which isn't remotely enough to tackle the DLC. As well as needing to find another 50+ levels, you need to go back to the base game and grab golden seeds, sacred tears, physick tears, talismans, the smithing bells, stat boosting gear plus all those key spells and AOWs like golden vow, flame grant me strength, golden parry etc etc. So yes, you can physically reach it quickly, but you're not really ready to go into the DLC if you do.
Oh yeah I agree with that. I guess what I had in mind was I just started an NG+ when I picked it up so just rushed to beat Radahn and Mohg which is quick and I was already level 160 or so.
 
The most tedious thing about starting a new character(already spent 13 hours without being ready for the dlc yet) is finding all or most of the scadutree fragments. That takes ages.

Part of the problem is that they're not in very interesting places, half of them are just 5 minutes ride away near nothing much of interest. They should probably just have had 10 and made them boss rewards.

On the plus side, post-patch you get steep diminishing returns after the first 12 blessing levels. Level 12 post patch is the same as level level 17 of the day 1 release. So you probably only need to worry about going much past level 12 if you're really trying to eek out every little bit of extra damage & damage reduction.
 
The last boss of the DLC looks like a nightmare already and even more irritating than Messmer. I can get him down to around half of his health but his second form is just too much at the moment. I can't be bothered to find the remaining three levels of shadow tree fragments (i'm at level 17 which should be enough to beat the final boss).
I'm in the exact same spot with level 16. Have resorted to using the mimic tear but I'm still getting my ass handily beat.
 
The last boss of the DLC looks like a nightmare already and even more irritating than Messmer. I can get him down to around half of his health but his second form is just too much at the moment. I can't be bothered to find the remaining three levels of shadow tree fragments (i'm at level 17 which should be enough to beat the final boss).

If you can invest enough faith to use "divine lords fortification" that helps a lot with phsse 2
 
:lol: he’s nothing compared to the rest of it
I can only imagine but he didn't feel fair the way he chained attacks, like there was missing animation frames between them or something.

I said "Feck it" and summoned someone in and we beat the shit out of him in the corner of the room together. Jolly cooperation!
 
Yes and no. I followed this guide the other week (he originally posted his route as a google doc) and I got there in about 2 hours, which at first I thought was great.

But... you get there at level 70-odd, with just a +10 bloodhoung fang and minimal gear, which isn't remotely enough to tackle the DLC. As well as needing to find another 50+ levels, you need to go back to the base game and grab golden seeds, sacred tears, physick tears, talismans, the smithing bells, stat boosting gear plus all those key spells and AOWs like golden vow, flame grant me strength, golden parry etc etc. So yes, you can physically reach it quickly, but you're not really ready to go into the DLC if you do.

You can farm the sleeping dragon multiple times extra runes and levels. Smithing stones are a little slower, especially sombers.
 
If you can invest enough faith to use "divine lords fortification" that helps a lot with phsse 2
I feel i should know this as i am a faith build (55 faith) but i don't know it. Will look into it though, thanks.

Edit- so it decreases holy damage. Will give it a shot at some point.
 
You can farm the sleeping dragon multiple times extra runes and levels. Smithing stones are a little slower, especially sombers.

You can only kill that dragon once. Besides the rune bird farm is quicker. But neither are ideal options. To get from level 70 to level 120 you need about 2.5M runes, that’s a lot of farming.
 
Some beautiful vistas in the DLC's opening area. Fromsoft have mastered making barren, sparse environments interesting to explore.

What they haven't mastered is quality of life shit like that Cross Map. Going into two menu screens to look at a map drawn for ants by a child.
 
Started the DLC. Blackgaol Knight is bullshit.
The armor and weapon you get from him is incredible though. Just respecced to use his full set, the greatsword of Solitude, and the golden Greatshield while still having medium rolling... Beastly build.
 
You guys think you are bad at the game, well don't watch MissMikkaa playing through the DLC controlled only by a dance mat :lol:

Turned out to be too easy, apparently. She's doing two instances of the game at the same time now, one with the dance mat and another with controller.

Edit: too late
 
She's now playing the DLC and all bosses on two games simultaneously. Dancemat on PC, and controller on PS5.

It's hard enough even watching it :lol:

It helps she's quite cute and attractive. Girls and gaming wasnt a thing when i was a teenager.

I know she's not a teenager im a bit jealous of the young folk these days.
 
That girl on the dance mat is insane :lol: Reminds me of that guy playing DS3 on a banana. Also another fella playing it on the Donkey Kong Bongo's.
 
You can only kill that dragon once. Besides the rune bird farm is quicker. But neither are ideal options. To get from level 70 to level 120 you need about 2.5M runes, that’s a lot of farming.

You can kill him multiple times, you just need to rush back to the save point before he disappears.


I do agree its not ideal but I think the like million rune farm where you fall to your death is patched. The bird one is probably more efficient if you have access to the area for sure though.
 
That girl on the dance mat is insane :lol: Reminds me of that guy playing DS3 on a banana. Also another fella playing it on the Donkey Kong Bongo's.

She's amazing beating the game twice at the same time with dance mat for one and controller for the other is exceptional.
 
Rellana, very cool boss. However my build of just equipping all the solitude armor and greatsword, the golden Greatshield and speccing so I have medium roll with that is stupidly strong. Beat her first try with just the mimic tear helping out (to be fair, mimic tear took the lead...).
 
You can kill him multiple times, you just need to rush back to the save point before he disappears.


I do agree its not ideal but I think the like million rune farm where you fall to your death is patched. The bird one is probably more efficient if you have access to the area for sure though.


That got patched years ago.
 
Rellana, very cool boss. However my build of just equipping all the solitude armor and greatsword, the golden Greatshield and speccing so I have medium roll with that is stupidly strong. Beat her first try with just the mimic tear helping out (to be fair, mimic tear took the lead...).

Im doing another run through, this time with a colossal weapon + greatshield, and that build wrecked her. She lacks the poise damage to stagger a greatshield, so I could just wait out her combos and then guard counter. It was very satisfying. Even better I used the Erdtree Greatshield, so when she did her phallanx attack I could fire them back at her.
 
Im doing another run through, this time with a colossal weapon + greatshield, and that build wrecked her. She lacks the poise damage to stagger a greatshield, so I could just wait out her combos and then guard counter. It was very satisfying. Even better I used the Erdtree Greatshield, so when she did her phallanx attack I could fire them back at her.
I also have the Greatshield Talisman where it increases the guarding and the poise talisman so my poise is something like 126, so this build just blocks everything without getting staggered. Never really did the pure tank build but it's fun.
 
I also have the Greatshield Talisman where it increases the guarding and the poise talisman so my poise is something like 126, so this build just blocks everything without getting staggered. Never really did the pure tank build but it's fun.

Thinking about it, you can presumably use the deflecting hardtear in combination with a greatshield. That would block 100% of all damage & stamina usege for the initial hit, then you could just keep the shield raised for following hits. I might try that tonight, that could be really powerful.
 
Thinking about it, you can presumably use the deflecting hardtear in combination with a greatshield. That would block 100% of all damage & stamina usege for the initial hit, then you could just keep the shield raised for following hits. I might try that tonight, that could be really powerful.
Yeah I think I read you can do that, I'm usually not too bothered with doing the short term buffs though so don't usually do the tears or golden vow or that flame buff spell. Kind of a pain to keep doing. But even without it, it's very rare that I get staggered through the shield and poise
 
Rellana, very cool boss. However my build of just equipping all the solitude armor and greatsword, the golden Greatshield and speccing so I have medium roll with that is stupidly strong. Beat her first try with just the mimic tear helping out (to be fair, mimic tear took the lead...).

I surprisingly beat her 1st try with my new character and build which isn't op or cheesy. I know its not really 1st try since this is with my 2nd dlc character, but felt a miffed that i managed it when someone almost soloed her for me on my 1st character.
 
Yeah I think I read you can do that, I'm usually not too bothered with doing the short term buffs though so don't usually do the tears or golden vow or that flame buff spell. Kind of a pain to keep doing. But even without it, it's very rare that I get staggered through the shield and poise

This one lasts 5 minutes, so either you or the boss are probably going to die before it runs out.
 
Every cnuting enemy in this DLC has a 6 hit attack chain. Give me a fecking half second to breath, you thundering bastards.
 
Every cnuting enemy in this DLC has a 6 hit attack chain. Give me a fecking half second to breath, you thundering bastards.
Its why shields are great in the DLC
Barely touched them in the base game, feel essential against every vaguely tough mob in the dlc.

I just picked this up last week. Had a silly arcane, light rolling character at the end of the game so went in with that. I dont love it to be honest.
Made steady progress and nothing has given me too much trouble. Think i'm more or less at the end in Enir Ilum but left that half way through to go explore.
 
Its why shields are great in the DLC
Barely touched them in the base game, feel essential against every vaguely tough mob in the dlc.
I usually dual-wield but I'm gonna have to go with a shield here, and I'm so rusty at parrying too, for feck sake.