Elden Ring - gamertags on first page

Yeah those somber 7s are definitely meant to be an artificial barrier to upgrading too quickly. You've either got to have killed the Godskin Noble at Volcano Manor or made it to Leyndell to farm the huge Fingercreeper outside Dung Eater's cell to get your first one.

SoN&F is a really fun weapon, but you've really got to invest at least 50 in both Int and Fai to get the maximum out of it. From what I've seen, most people focus on one or the other and just use the weapon skill associated with that stat. I might start a new game and have a play around with it, as I haven't really tried it since a month or two post launch.

Sword of Night and Flame worked well enough for me at base (required) stats tbh. Sure it's expensive if you want to draw out its absolute most but it's still a good and versatile weapon regardless.

rawshark Bloodhound's Fang has Bloodhound's Finesse, but is the slowest of the three (not by too much since they buffed a lot of slower weapon types' attack speed, but could make a difference) and has no elemental damage option unless you buff it. Night and Flame is the most versatile in terms of damage types, but wants the harshest stat investment to get the most out of it. Wing of Astel has interesting ranged options (besides its Ash of War, it also fires a zero-FP cost projectile on heavy attacks, and you can chain multiple heavies or charge them for more projectiles) and no big downsides if you're vibing with curved swords in general.

All three are great weapons and close together in terms of overall performance, though, so I'd say choose whichever one you feel suits your build and playstyle best. If you're comfortable with Bloodhound's Fang it'll serve you well for most if not all of the game, but if you have the stats for Wing of Astel and/or Night and Flame definitely give them a shot. You can always keep one or both as backup options, or even main one of them and only use Bloodhound's for dodging.

(Oh, and level up a blunt weapon too, as loto mentioned. Some enemies all but require one)

Yeah the Morning Star is amazing for that (Stone Club has become my favourite hammer recently, but it has a few downsides). I also use Sacred Blade on them for the holy buff, also found at the very beginning of the game and strike + holy buff just annihilates undead enemies.

I originally platinum the game on release taking around 130 hours and it was such a good experience that I rate Elden Ring as my number one game of all time.
Soon after the platinum I started a new character trying out a mage build which was quite fun and I put about 15 hours in. Then something else shiny came along and I quit.
After DLC announcement I started a new character as my first was in NG+3 I think to mop up trophies, and I thought it would be fun to kill every boss including optionals.
Fast forward to now and I've cleared everything I can up to the last couple in the capital pre mountains. Currently sitting at 60 hours on this character.

Went strength build and using two Great Omenkiller Cleavers specced to use Arcane. 50 strength and around 53 arcane. Boy howdy. These pack a punch and it's fun with power stance!
This game just isn't boring yet at nearly 200 hours in

I wasn’t feeling the Mage/ Int build. Just too squishy and not my style to cast spells from the edges.

So I made a strength build. Initially Greatsword (most expensive thing to upgrade ever), but it kept on whiffing the imps and small enemies. So I ditched it for Great Stars and the claymore which are ace. I’ve got the Fang as a backup for anything weak to slash.
The GStars is a lovely weapon, staggers well, bit of bleed and good damage- it wrecked the vampire gravity large enemies in Yelough tunnel and they gave my Dex build a lot of bother.
Just got to the Haligtree, so I’ll see how I get on…

Lastly, Latenna’s quest is just so well written and voiced. I’d love to meet her voice actor- really gets you in the feels.

rawshark get closer. That's... really kind of it. They nerfed the range on it a while ago and never reverted it AFAIK, it's a good bit shorter than the actual spell

Heavy Great Stars with Wild Strikes is how I beat Malenia \o/

Yeah I’m not sure my choice of talismans was optimal for STR, but I didn’t use charge or jump attacks much to be honest. I think I had the soreseal and the starscourge heirloom to boost my strength even higher than its already ridiculous level- it was basically a race with Melania to smash her before she could land a waterfowl dance or the one with zigzag phantoms, because those would drain 80% of my health if any of them connected.

Got a bit distracted but explored the consecrated snowfield last night after finishing off Castle Sol earlier in the week. Doesn't seem a lot to do here and the snowstorm can fuck off. I think from here it's off to Mohgwyn Palace!

Saying that.. I have been putting map markers down on catacombs and caves through the past couple of areas and think I will go back and complete some now as starting to feel a bit of a struggle.

I actually am still mainly using the Moonveil which I've now got up to +9 (haven't been able to get to grips with the darkmoon greatsword which I'd also upgraded) so I think I'm probably where I should be on upgrades. I'm probably just still not very good after 100+ hours

I believe I got handed an ancient stone when I got into the consecrated snowfields last night so I think I can upgrade the weapon to +10 finally.

I'll go back to that Yelough tunnel to get some +24 upgrade stones though as would be good to try a few other weapons out.

Something else with multiple hits like Golden Land could work well. Wild Strikes, Stormcaller, Prelate's Charge etc.

Alternatively, double up on the heals with Prayerful Strike

Every crucible knight going down is reason for celebration! Well done!

Got to second phase with 8 Estus flask and my mimic tear at 60% and the guy one shots me within 30 seconds with a swiping sword attack when I’m looking the other way as I’m running from the falling stars attack

/screams into the void

Yeah, I don't have much holy resistance stuff equipment, I need to go back and have a look around for some stuff. Been running a quality build so everything has pretty much gone into str/dex/vigor. Thanks for the tips, appreciated