Elden Ring - gamertags on first page

Yeah, there are many annoying bosses that constantly flee so you have to chase after them, but Elden Beast may be the worst of all.

I have a strong feeling that this fight was originally conceived with Torrent in mind like dragons and Fire Giant, you would also be able to ride away from that stupid sparkling ball, and those 4 horizontal sword swing projectiles look suspiciously like something you could double jump over while closing in. Perhaps also those rings you have to jump over which just feels awkward to me on foot. But of course I could be completely wrong about all this.

In an abundance of hubris last night, I started a new character. Pandora the Astrologer will be DEX and INT based, and she’s already got a flail that seems pretty effective. I think there was some chat in here about the Nightrider Flail, not sure how soon I can get it and weild it though.

One surprise is how quick it is to let off glintstone attacks, compared to anything offensive in my previous Faith build. Most trash enemies are going down in 3 hits before they can even reach me, and the arc attack that I started with is great for crowds. I was expecting to have to focus on a DEX weapon early on, but now I’m wondering if I could go pure INT with the right spells.

Thanks- I just looked them up- I finished Ranni’s quests without really meaning to because I was following a 100% guide after I picked it up more recently, and I needed access to Nokstrella (?) anyway. Haven’t done Sellen’s stuff though so I’ll look out for her.

I was slightly surprised the astrologer starts with staff and sword in the right hand, shield in the left. I think my first character had their seal in their shield hand from the start, unless I maybe went rogue and did that myself? It was necessary to buff the right hand weapon, which I did for most boss fights, but switching between weapons and spells while always having a shield ready could work too.

I learned to parry spells at the end of the playthrough I just finished, so I might try doing that more too.

There's a few shield Ashes of War that can do that, yeah. The Erdtree Greatshield was even famously bugged at one point, its Ash was supposed to nullify enemy spells and fire off a golden beam counterattack (the Tree Sentinels can pull it on you IIRC) but there was a spell whose name I forget (Edit: Fire's Deadly Sin) that you could cast and trigger the counter constantly

I actually found spell parries easier than sword parries once I got the hang of it. The Erdtree Greatshield that JuniorFE mentioned got me through some of the late game, and in particular the very last tree sentinel who was giving me grief.

f00b_inc If you want to try parrying spells there's also Thops' Barrier (the Ash of War, but there's also a spell) and Carian Retaliation, both are usable on small and medium shields so you don't have to heft a greatshield

Turning the thread into my ER diary here sorry.

I made it down into Nokron last night! After exploring the depths in Zelda:TOTK and learning to enjoy them I'm finding I am also quite liking these underground segments in ER too. I'm sure something awful will happen again soon to take that feeling away. I think this is where I can find that mimic tear summon everyone talks about?! Quite looking forward to that although if it's a copy of me hopefully it will be better than I am.

I am wondering if I should mix up my Moonveil weapon to play about with the ashes of war a bit. Don't have another decent Dex/int weapon though. I seem to be doing okay with the katana though so maybe if it ain't broke...

So good to be back exploring a From world!

I’m also pondering which weapon to use for my early DEX/INT build. There’s a few at Carian Manor but I’m a ways off there. I’ve just got to Caelid via the lift at the other end of Siofra and I’m looking into whether there’s any loot there I can do a suicide run for - or I might just try for Moonveil if I can beat the boss.

Should probably go back to the proper path North at some point but I’m not done faffing around in the South and East just yet.

Yep, it's absolutely brutal, despite taking a nerf or two.

The Darkmoon Greatsword is worth playing around with as well, I forgot I had soells for a time after creating that

Have they done much rebalancing to the game? I put, surprisingly Magrit and Godrick down on my second attempts on this second playthrough (first time replaying it since launch), but finding the lakes and the academy much harder than I remember (although the lead up to the red wolf was a bit it a pain in the arse). That boss is tough as well.

Can't comment on rebalancing as this is my first run through! I rate it a 10/10 on the difficulty based on a couple of Gargoyles blocking my path.

I worked my way through the Siofra Aqueduct and made it to a couple of hard hitting knights (minor crucible knights maybe?) - I managed to knock one off the edge but the other keeps stomping on me so I'm leaving him alone. I then had a crack at the gargoyles 2-3 times. Nearly offed the first one but my summons were all dead by that point and I was quick to follow. I'm wondering if my Mimic Tear Ash (that I was hoping would enable easy-mode) is crap because a) I'm crap and it's copying me or b) I have light/medium armour so he's just too squishy. Either way fuck those gargoyles for now. I'm about level 70 so might just go farm some runes and go try to find Altus for some fresh air - sounds nice.

Back on Int/Dex weapons I killed a giant bird in Caelid that dropped a 'death poker' which has a pretty nifty explosion weapon art. But I'm not convinced it's actually as effective as the Moonveil as it feels quite a bit slower. Maybe I'll try that Bloodhound Fang instead. I think I've got a bit further to go before I can get the Darkmoon Greatsword.

Sigh. Best I better get “gud” then.

f00b_inc Death's Poker is really good, I never used it myself as I didn't know at the time but it's the weapon of choice for many challenge runs for a reason.

Ghostflame Ignition will deal continuous damage plus frostbite not only with the fire trail it leaves behind (you need to follow charging with a normal attack for the trail, doing a strong attack does the explosion instead), but also while charging up the attack itself if you're close enough. It also scales purely on Int (and upgrade level) so you can focus on only one stat if you don't want to invest too much in Dex

I never knew about Death's Poker at the time, will have to explore when I jump back on this to prep for the DLC release (once I'm done with DD2).