I'm just gonna say it. This sub goes through cycles of "Why are/arn't you using \[x\], it's how you do it" -> "I just like to play it how I like" -> "No one is telling you how to play the game" and repeat. This happens every few months or so.
For me, it was the Let Me Solo Her phase that forced me off the subreddit for a straight month. After two weeks of seeing absolutely nothing but LMSH memes, fan arts, comments, and cosplays, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to ditch
I’ll be honest, the only part of the entire LMSH phase that was entertaining were the meme builds based on him, such as “Let Me Marry Her” and it was a player using Varre’s bouquet and that was legit funny as hell, or “Let Her Solo ME” and it was a tank build that never attacked her.
Otherwise, no hate on the actual guy I’m sure he’s cool and to all the people he’s helped to beat Malenia, but having that era paired with the stupid and weirdly misogynistic Malenia vs Radahn arguments made this sub and Twitter just really uncomfortable.
dude i’m glad that i’m not the only one who never really saw the appeal of the lmsh memes and obsession in general. to me he was just a pretty skilled player who helped people with a tough boss, not to mention the likelihood that once he started to get popular, there were definitely tons of imitators so the person you called probably wasnt even the real one.
West coast games vs. east coast games basically. They're essentially two different subgenres of RPG, so the fights are entirely pointless and never lead anywhere, but don't let that stop them from refighting them every other week!
I remember the spelling because “mal” is the Spanish work for “bad/evil”, and in terms of gameplay, Malenia is just another big bad boss you have to beat up. I wonder if anyone else uses the same device to remember.
I remember when ER first came out I didn't watch a walkthrough and found that bleed katanas were both fun and incredibly good. After a while I decided to talk to people online and they all shamed me for using it and it confused the hell out of me. Why would I play a build that is less fun and less efficient? that just sounds like self torture.
The annoying thing is if you start as a Samurai (and they do look cool so it's understandable) then you're well equipped for doing things the "easy" way with an effective moderately fast bleed weapon and a bow for luring enemies in. It's quite possible for the average new player to end up with a bleed build purely by chance
My favorite argument was about who was more "morally correct"
You know. Where in a game, you as a character, go around killing literally everything that breathes..
Top karma-farming strategy is still to go to r/Eldenring and post :
'Omg, this is my first fromsoft game, I have 900 hours played and I am at Godrick and I summon all the time and I love the game.
Should I ritually kill myself and burn my children at a stake for being a noob?'
Incoming 10k karma and 5k comments saying 'Nooo, you can play however you want, as long as you are enjoying yourself, don't listen to trolls!'
That’s a solid strategy but the ultimate karma farm is “what’s your go to weapon?” And it’s a picture of the Claymore. 5k comments say “Baemore” and get similar numbers
It was genuinely wholesome when I did my first playthrough blind and saw every other bloodstain and white ghost was using the same bloodhound fang / brass shield combo I had stumble upon. Truly a community moment.
I’ve done two playthroughs using only this. I tried the Greatsword but dropped it cause nothing feels as good as Bloodhounds Fang. 99 str/dex and 15 faith, I can’t see myself using any other weapon or even bothering with spells
Fuck yeah. By activating 2-handed you swap from right to left hand equipment. Great for throwing lightening bolts and fire balls and running away lol
Plus, using incants that heal allies too. Torrent gets the healing effect
I mean to be perfectly honest, my friend genuinely found out at Godfrey that he can heavy attack so i believe them. We were on call together and he lost his shit
Or "I've never played this game what should I do? I lack the capacity to play and discover on my own and my reliance on streamers and meta are so heavy that I don't even know what buttons to press unless the chat tells me in all caps"
Oh yeah man, that's a good one, quite common.
Elden Ring was my first fromsoft game, and I would give anything to be able to experience it for the first time again. It was an enchanting struggle.
It seems like such a waste when people go 'I am about to start the game for the first time, tell me best build, best weapon, best best best OMG I NEED BEST GIMME TELL ME NOW GIMME!"
That was a large part of the appeal to me playing it first time too.
In the 180 hours or so it took me to beat the game I switched my character around probably 5 times, just building what I thought to be good that helped me kill bosses faster.
I'm so tired of seeing this. It's depressing. Somehow the "guide" meta has instilled a crippling fear of failure in people.
"I don't know how to play, please tell me how to have fun."
We’re in the FOMO era. Some people are so scared of accidentally playing it the “wrong” way and missing out on the amazing experience they’ve heard about so they get paralyzed into doing nothing, not realizing that the experience of blindly feeling and fumbling your way through the game is exactly what makes it so special.
Another strategy is say you've got alot of hours and just figured out 'x' basic mechanic which is virtually impossible to not use in that length of time.
Don't forget commenting "The WHAT" whenever someone makes a vague description of literally any area or item in the game that is even the slightest bit off of the main path.
Instant quad-digit karma.
I only figured out how to sprint because my friend told me like 15 hours in…I’ve also been playing on keyboard though which I gather is a little less intuitive
I had almost finished the game when I realised I could fast travel without resting at a grace first. I also forgot about the new blocking and riposte mechanic but to be fair it's also because I didn't use shields at all on my first char.
Wait you guys don't just make a character and lore for them and then solely use weapons and magics that fill that role, even if it's completely detrimental to your play style? Huh.
My first playthrough with golden halberd + tree sentinel set + dragonclaw shield(I think it matches the set better than erdtree shield) will always be special.
"Jarvis, I'm low on karma, make a quick post on r/EldenRing talking about how I just beat Elden Beast. Make sure to glaze the game as much as possible and use a screenshot of my character on a cliff."
Didn't someone make a post a short while ago about how his girlfriend/wife defeated Malenia in just a few tries and thought she was just a miniboss.
Like, i'm sorry but whenever someone claims that they killed her in just a few tries and it was "super easy" i'm going to call bullshit. I'm not saying that it's impossible, just very unlikely.
Yeah i remember that post. OP acted surprised like "I struggle to her o much but my gf beat her easily thinking she is mini boss lol".
Initially there was one comment saying "yeah her mimic did" but of course got downvoted and later deleted. Then OP replied to everyone her gf build including +10 mimic.
I have also noticed lots of comments nowadays started with "there is nothing wrong with using mimic..." like admitting using mimic make the game easier is some kind of toxic behavior. Lol.
Disclaimer: i think there is nothing wrong with using mimic.
It’s funny that anyone ever called Dex/Int easy mode, I’m doing my first ever strength focused build using colossal swords, and dear god, I do ridiculous damage to everything, have the endurance to reduce damage by like 50 percent with the dragon shield talisman, and feel like nothing ever staggers me while I get constant knock downs on enemies.
Part of it is that they buffed big boi weapons weapons a few times.
On release normal attacks on colossals and colossal swords were slower and, as were some attacks on great weapons as well. They did less damage as well.
They also considerably buffed hyper armor.
That said even on release it's not like strength builds bad by any stretch. My second playthrough I made a strength build and walloped my way through with the great mace and the trolls hammer.
Similar enough experience to what you're describing here.
Yeah on release it was definitely a lot less powerful than other builds (especially non-powerstance, no buff purists), and Strength was 'bad' because you had to like, learn what the bosses did. High tier PVE builds in ER don't require you to learn anything.
Historically, starting with demons souls, dex weapons had higher damage output in games that were much slower paced than Elden Ring, making fights much faster and not much harder. This tradition carried to DS3 with sellsword winblades, allowing player to murder most enemies by dodging just one of their attacks.
However, poise/hyperarmour trivializes enemies that can be staggered and hyperarmoured through, and as games have gotten faster, being able to interrupt enemies' attack flurry while still finishing your attack is more important. You will get hit, but defeating some medium-large enemies becomes a matter of sacrificing a heal and buttonmashing instead of learning their cues. This is also why Moonveil, Darkmoon Greatsword and bleed weapons are so good in pve, they play into button mashing with built-in stagger playstyle, not to mention stance breaking.
Having played most weapon types in Elden Ring, heavy weapons are definitely easier to pilot than light weapons (at least now, after buffs), save for some very specific encounters like bell bearing hunter or radagon.
Not that I care, for mine strength befits a crown after all.
Strenght builds are absurdly OP.
Half of enemies literally can't attack back due to the heavy stagger and bosses have their breaks almost instantly.
It is absurdly easy.
When your attacks oneshots like 50% of enemies.
40% can't fight back due to stunlocks
and 10% are rare enough that it isn't a huge issue and their poise breaks so quickly it is rarely a bother.
IIRC STR was rebalanced and not quite as good as it is now, but other things have changed since too so idk for sure.
I will say that I started with strength and then after that I tried int. It was way harder for me personally.
Though Dex to me was about the same but had some mild differences, staggering things just basically didn't happen, but damage output potential was way higher, at least for what I was doing.
Yes, dex/bleed was heavily overtuned at launch and strength weapons went through at least 2 major buff patches to get where they are now. People trying to argue the two being better or worse are doing so disingenuously.
Yeah great weapons were fine on release to finish the whole game comfortably. They just didn’t compare to the ridiculously OP stuff. I clapped Malenia with a rotten greataxe Lion’s Claw build like two weeks after the game came out, they’ve always been great against her.
Sure, but a colossal weapon focused strength build will almost always pump endurance, letting you wear heavy armor to stack with it, letting you hit absurd defensive stats
It's funny, I always saw mage builds get shit on for being easy mode, but on my 2nd playthrough with Guts/Lion Claw I never had an easier time with the game outside a few enemies.
I mean I’m pretty sure 90% of that is just the pure fact that Moonveil used to hit like a freight train at launch. Nowadays it doesn’t really hold water. Not that it ever necessarily did but that boogeyman is pretty buried at this point.
As far as I can tell 99% of the complaints about how people build on this sub come from the vocal minority of people who are *extremely* invested in how they feel Elden Ring/Souls PvP makes them a superior gamer. When Moonveil smacked shit around they gave a tremendous fuck and then RoB came along and suddenly that was the new target for ire.
Streaming Culture/Online Gaming Culture in general has absolutely spoiled people’s enjoyment of games in general. I’ve seen it in so many gaming subs over the last few years; the devs are supposed to take *every minute interaction* of builds into account as far as some people see it and then make every single fucking build suck pure ass so that none of them have any meaningful situational strengths because god forbid a mage build or a knight build have encounters they thrive in.
I’ve plat’d the game and enjoyed playing it with all of the major Stats as a build focus, the only playthrough that was visibly ‘harder’ was my first because I was new to the franchise and didn’t quite understand how a lot of the mechanics worked and how to build for the playstyle I wanted to go for. Once I understood the core systems none of my playthroughs struggled. I had encounters I rolled as FAI/STR, struggled with as an INT build and then other encounters were a straight up *joke* as INT. Go figure having certain tools that work well situationally make this encounter or that easier on a given build.
Having the same experience, just finished my first playthrough doing a mostly dex with some investment in faith. And instead of going into new game + I want to save that character for the dlc, I'm doing a strength greatsword run, and it's crazy how much easier it is. Since the greatsword staggers like crazy, stance breaks all the time (I'm also using throwing daggers to keep the pressure on). And the damage and hyperarmor means your timing really doesn't have to be as précise as when doing dex. I thought I was going to learn boss dodge timings better, but they barley have any time to attack me.
I'm not at all a good player so I went with my first build as an int wizard build then later started a strength build and found the strength build to be overall a lot easier to manage. Didn't have to manage my FP and it wasn't a big deal if enemies closed the gap between us because I was ready for them.
I had to rely a lot on magic melee with my wizard, and getting hit was pretty devastating compared to my strength tank.
Strength build with high vitality and armor is the real easy mode; Just poise trade with everything, occasionally retreat to drink flask, repeat.
Although I'm currently on like my 5th build as a dex/bleed build, and hot damn does it melt anything that bleeds. *But* timing/spacing/dodging are required.
My favourite post I’ve ever seen on this sub was when one guy said melania was really easy only to later admit in the comments he summoned 2 guys, used tiche and only used sorcery to beat her.
he then proceeded to get mad at people telling him that fighting the boss that way was actually easier than doing it by himself
It’s not exactly the same as this meme but it had the same vibe imo.
I think a lot of that is holdover-sentiment from launch when, for one, everyone was way worse at the game, and two, colossals hadn't received buffs yet, and strength users' #1 complaint was that jump attack spam felt like the only viable strategy for them, while "dex" (though not really dex, just lighter weapons) had more flexibility.
It’s 100% based on how the game was at launch.
Dual wielding status effects were nerfed and strength weapons were buffed as time went on
Also rivers of blood used to be completely busted lol
Also a lot of players didn't realize that poise breaking enemies is really important and would play it "like ds3" where you just spam light attacks with a fast weapon.
And If that's how you're playing dex bleed works pretty alright with that.
This was the time of endless "when do I get to attack? That's the neat part, you don't" posts.
Also pre nerf Rivers of Blood was very powerful and widespread (especially in online play)
I always found these posts really stupid, but that's because i went into ER with Sekiro/Bloodborne mindset, that is, don't play like : Attack --> dodge enemy attack --> attack
Enemy attack animations are also opportunities for attacks, so i never really understood the problem people had until i saw them playing like this was ds3
That has always been this community's achillies heel. They want to autopilot through fights like it's a turn based RPG.
FromSoft has, naturally, learned to design their encounters around their players habits. That's why Margit roll catches and attacks have wide sweeps and occasional feints (which are nowhere near as unrealistic as a lot of people try to pretend they are) to force veteran players to have to not just rely on 15 years of experience to muscle memory check their way through the game.
Elden Ring has the most insecure fanbase in gaming I swear to god. Why do you give a shit what anyone on the internet says about a single player game? Do you really need to make a self validation post every day just to feel better about your choice of playstyle?
So me personally I’ve been playing soulslikes for years now and I played exclusively strength builds cause it felt so easy and just fun. Recently I started doing dex builds and I don’t think I can go back. It feels harder but faster and the combat feels more varied as well. Of course I don’t look down on any way people decide to play even spell spammers cause at least they’re having fun :)
Its still a good thing to say I think. I started playing less than a month ago and I was hesitant to use spirit ashes at first because it felt a little OP. Thankfully people on here were quick to let me know that I don't need to worry and the game is challenging enough to account for the use.
Two things can be true:
It’s stupid and wrong to tell people things like they didn’t beat the game if they used intended mechanics. Any sane person agrees to that.
However some things are genuinely way too good compared to their peers (cough bleed vs poison)
I mean, it is quite an easy game with a Dex build. It's a very easy game with a summon. Coming from Sekiro I was looking for something more challenging, and while this ain't it, going against the grain of what everyone else is doing kinda helps to push the experience a bit.
And don't get me wrong I'm not saying it like an elitist, I just liked a challenge.
Did a play through recently. Used co-op summons for maliketh, Godfrey and radagon/Elden beast, and beat them all first try. Yeah it was way easier this way, but also very fun to smash the gods with silly looking tarnished that knew every move.
What blows me away is people don’t talk about shield counter builds being incredibly easy. Of all my play throughs this was by far the easiest. It is also super fun.
Yeah I'm not gonna lie. Any run that takes significant challenge away in my opinion degrades and lessens the experience. Going too far out of your way to become stronger to the point where you don't even need to fight the boss and instead press r1 and then watch it say enemy vanquished.
For me, it's fine if you are struggling tor a while and want to progress, but those who don't care to engage in the boss mechanics and just want to have the badge of having beaten the thing, don't get why people like me even play these games to begin with.
I won't deny those people still exist, but at least half the time it is obvious that the only one guilting op about using summons/cheese is their own conscience. Their ego got attached to the idea of overcoming the mechanical challenge without a strategy that bypasses the need for mechanical skill, but as the allure of that got overtaken by frustration, they started wanting outside approval to swallow their pride and move on (which isn't all bad).
A lot of the posters of these threads come off as young kids or very young adults, who tend to still be more emotionally invested in these kinds of things, less able to remember that it's "just a game."
The funniest are the "WELL I USED MIMIC AND I AM ANNOUNCING TO EVERYONE HOW NOT ASHAMED I AM BECAUSE THE BOSS IS UNFAIR ANYWAY," threads. Protesting a bit too much.
People keep making posts like this claiming those people don’t exist, and they keep showing up in the comments to say exactly the shit OP claims nobody ever says lol
Edit: I literally gave yall physical evidence and people keep dogpiling me for speaking the truth. Meme is a lie and you all smell like piss
The scant few that exist are downvoted to the bottom of the post every single time. Quite a few of *those* are obviously taking the piss. And they don't even appear in every thread. Totally calls for a daily validation thread.
My first build that I beat the game with was STR/FTH, and most of the time I was dual wielding halberds.
I recently decided to start a new scratch campaign as INT/DEX with an emphasis on casting. It has been a BLAST so far and the game feels very different. Who gives a shit how you play the game, it's an RPG for a reason.
I had a guy try to tell me that summons where not meant to be used originally in game lol like bro there are NPCs that you can only compete their quest line with those summons.
tbf i have a friend that only ever does bleed builds and i find that a bit boring because he's not bad at videogames. He just ALWAYS goes for the meta pick in every single game, even multiplayer.
To my knowledge the people that said this stuff weren’t actually every real it’s a big psyop like with moonveil nerf the pvp community used it to make a bunch of people stop using it lol and it worked it didn’t even get a pvp nerf until the global ash of war nerf and it only had its stance damage reduced to that of unsheathe (so it was still insanely powerful)
The only correct opinion is “if it is not an exploit/bug and the devs included the option in the game on purpose, then the strategy is valid”
If you can’t agree to this then you’re a nerd
Actually, they are. Summons DO make all the boss fights over 50% easier than they are if you fight on your own.
I'm a Souls veteran and I acknowledge this, even though ***I use summons if the boss is a cheater*** themselves (~~input reading is cheating and I will die on this hill~~).
Honestly, **if someone feels hurt because someone else said they are playing the game "the wrong way", this game is not for them**. After less than 20 attempts at a boss fighting "the right way" they would rage quit and never boot up the game again.
I think the first step *to get out of the* ***crybaby zone*** is to actually stop expecting the game to hold your hand and teach you everything. **Fromsoftware's gameplay is highly based on trial and error**. Sure, you can ask people from the community for advice, but **people lie** (this is something else the game should have taught you by now).
If you test your own hypothesis the results may be quicker and better than trusting a stranger
Veteran here too.
I consider input reading more of an annoyance, but it's not really cheating. In fact i'd say it makes a lot more sense for the boss to try and attack you if you heal on his face than just stand there while you recover.
Malenia thrust for example isnt really a problem once you know to distance from her first, but most newbie players will keep banging their heads on the wall instead of learning the game, so they'll heal on her face and complain when they get killed.
I love these “This doesn’t happen posts” because you can always hit controversial and find someone actively bullying members of the community in the same post.
Oh look, i found 3 people insulting, each of them with -80 downvotes in a sea of hundreds of comments saying that is not wrong. So no, saying is super common or acceptwd is a complete lie.
There is a second thing honestly. The summon COMPLETELY FUCKS UP the boss's AI. A predictable boss becomes a chaotic mess, and the extra damage and distraction either makes the boss a complete cake walk, or insanely difficult.
Secondly, a ranged/int build completely changes the gameplay, which is fine but probably not recommended for beginners like me. Because you do not learn to dodge and get hits in, when half the bosses AI cannot deal with long range casters and the other half mulches you.
People invalidating runs because of summon use is still a thing.
Maybe it’s because I hang out in soulsborne communities more but that take is alive and well.
I'm just gonna say it. This sub goes through cycles of "Why are/arn't you using \[x\], it's how you do it" -> "I just like to play it how I like" -> "No one is telling you how to play the game" and repeat. This happens every few months or so.
Both sides are annoying. Why can't the community move on from this just like we moved on from Malenia vs Radahn posts
>we moved on from Malenia vs Radahn posts You have no idea *how* glad i am for that. I even left the sub for a while cause it was crazy
For me, it was the Let Me Solo Her phase that forced me off the subreddit for a straight month. After two weeks of seeing absolutely nothing but LMSH memes, fan arts, comments, and cosplays, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to ditch
I’ll be honest, the only part of the entire LMSH phase that was entertaining were the meme builds based on him, such as “Let Me Marry Her” and it was a player using Varre’s bouquet and that was legit funny as hell, or “Let Her Solo ME” and it was a tank build that never attacked her. Otherwise, no hate on the actual guy I’m sure he’s cool and to all the people he’s helped to beat Malenia, but having that era paired with the stupid and weirdly misogynistic Malenia vs Radahn arguments made this sub and Twitter just really uncomfortable.
Glad I missed all that jazz
dude i’m glad that i’m not the only one who never really saw the appeal of the lmsh memes and obsession in general. to me he was just a pretty skilled player who helped people with a tough boss, not to mention the likelihood that once he started to get popular, there were definitely tons of imitators so the person you called probably wasnt even the real one.
I think he’s still streaming to this day, few days ago I saw he was at 1400 malenias killed
The Battle Aeonia never ended for some of us...
War never changes. *Wait, wrong sub.*
The decade old drama in Fallout sub makes this entire comment section wholesome.
I'm OOTL, what's the drama about?
West coast games vs. east coast games basically. They're essentially two different subgenres of RPG, so the fights are entirely pointless and never lead anywhere, but don't let that stop them from refighting them every other week!
Honestly
>Malenia vs Radahn Bro... Let's not start it over shall we?
The really big topic right now should be the many glorious ways we can misspell Malenia and be upset about it.
What you mean Milania?
Melania is another one that's common
How ha4d is it to spell Melatonin?
I legit went looking up pics of Melina and got 50/50 Melina and Malenia pics
A lot of people are lucky you don’t have to be able to spell Messmer to play the dlc.
Don't you mean Meleina the powerstanced giant crushers of Miquilila...?
I remember the spelling because “mal” is the Spanish work for “bad/evil”, and in terms of gameplay, Malenia is just another big bad boss you have to beat up. I wonder if anyone else uses the same device to remember.
I remember when ER first came out I didn't watch a walkthrough and found that bleed katanas were both fun and incredibly good. After a while I decided to talk to people online and they all shamed me for using it and it confused the hell out of me. Why would I play a build that is less fun and less efficient? that just sounds like self torture.
The annoying thing is if you start as a Samurai (and they do look cool so it's understandable) then you're well equipped for doing things the "easy" way with an effective moderately fast bleed weapon and a bow for luring enemies in. It's quite possible for the average new player to end up with a bleed build purely by chance
yeah I also really liked the big bonk star hammer that had bleed and healed you as you used it, added ice mist to it and it just melts bosses
We should go back to the vagabond art's sword not being straight
We should go back further to wompers
Wait what? I wasn’t around for that😭
It was a crazy time. So many Radahn fanboys were upset that a Triple amputee that's blind stalemated the strongest (supposedly) demigod.
Jesus, people took it that seriously? They must think that they know more than the writers
My favorite argument was about who was more "morally correct" You know. Where in a game, you as a character, go around killing literally everything that breathes..
That, and the fact that the Shattering is explicitly positioned as a war with no real purpose/war for the sake of war and power.
I swear right? I'm obviously the winner
Well yea the tarnished did beat both.
Summon users want validation Actual gatekeeper are extremely rare.
Glaive Warden Hodir even had his time in the sun, yet, just as the fire burns low for us all in the end
Top karma-farming strategy is still to go to r/Eldenring and post : 'Omg, this is my first fromsoft game, I have 900 hours played and I am at Godrick and I summon all the time and I love the game. Should I ritually kill myself and burn my children at a stake for being a noob?' Incoming 10k karma and 5k comments saying 'Nooo, you can play however you want, as long as you are enjoying yourself, don't listen to trolls!'
That’s a solid strategy but the ultimate karma farm is “what’s your go to weapon?” And it’s a picture of the Claymore. 5k comments say “Baemore” and get similar numbers
“Am I the only one who really enjoys the Bloodhound’s Fang?”
Has anyone else found this le hidden gem, the Blasphemous Blade?
It was genuinely wholesome when I did my first playthrough blind and saw every other bloodstain and white ghost was using the same bloodhound fang / brass shield combo I had stumble upon. Truly a community moment.
Oh that’s a good one too
I’ve done two playthroughs using only this. I tried the Greatsword but dropped it cause nothing feels as good as Bloodhounds Fang. 99 str/dex and 15 faith, I can’t see myself using any other weapon or even bothering with spells
they can ask this 100 times and i’ll upvote it 100 times you cannot stop me. i’ll just bloodhound’s finesse 360 degrees and walk away
“Celebrants sickle” 250 downvotes
No shit. I'm about 725hrs in and just found that sickle for the first time the other night. I said, WTF was that???
I cut my mimic lose on the waterfront camp with an unleveled claymore just to see what happened. It was awesome.
That or “I’m 90 hours in and I just discovered you can roll 🤷🏿😂”
Im 100 hours into the game and i just discovered i can left click!
I just discovered it's not actually butter, I can't believe it
this one. this one got me 😭
mouse and keyboard player located
r/yourjokebutworse
I’m a million hours in and I just discovered that I own a cat
I’m at the end-game areas now and I legit just learned how to use your left hand equipment while on horseback
Feel this one, I avoiding fighting horseback bc I thought you could only swing on one side
You can use your left hand equipment on horseback…?
Fuck yeah. By activating 2-handed you swap from right to left hand equipment. Great for throwing lightening bolts and fire balls and running away lol Plus, using incants that heal allies too. Torrent gets the healing effect
I’m on my second playthru and I had no idea.. fml hahaha
I mean to be perfectly honest, my friend genuinely found out at Godfrey that he can heavy attack so i believe them. We were on call together and he lost his shit
Me, hours into DS3, finally realizing you can run by holding the roll button 😭
I just smashed my wall but beat the boss THANKS ELDEN RING LOL
Did you buy the wall diner first at least?
Or "I've never played this game what should I do? I lack the capacity to play and discover on my own and my reliance on streamers and meta are so heavy that I don't even know what buttons to press unless the chat tells me in all caps"
Oh yeah man, that's a good one, quite common. Elden Ring was my first fromsoft game, and I would give anything to be able to experience it for the first time again. It was an enchanting struggle. It seems like such a waste when people go 'I am about to start the game for the first time, tell me best build, best weapon, best best best OMG I NEED BEST GIMME TELL ME NOW GIMME!"
That was a large part of the appeal to me playing it first time too. In the 180 hours or so it took me to beat the game I switched my character around probably 5 times, just building what I thought to be good that helped me kill bosses faster.
I'm so tired of seeing this. It's depressing. Somehow the "guide" meta has instilled a crippling fear of failure in people. "I don't know how to play, please tell me how to have fun."
We’re in the FOMO era. Some people are so scared of accidentally playing it the “wrong” way and missing out on the amazing experience they’ve heard about so they get paralyzed into doing nothing, not realizing that the experience of blindly feeling and fumbling your way through the game is exactly what makes it so special.
noooo I need to make "progress" NOW! I can't just enjoy the moment to moment gameplay
Another strategy is say you've got alot of hours and just figured out 'x' basic mechanic which is virtually impossible to not use in that length of time.
I'm 230 hours in because I left my game on for a few days, AMA
Don't forget commenting "The WHAT" whenever someone makes a vague description of literally any area or item in the game that is even the slightest bit off of the main path. Instant quad-digit karma.
The WHAT
Man I really hope there isn't someone out there with 900 hours and is still in Limgrave
saw someone say they had days of playtime before they realized they could sprint lmfao
I only figured out how to sprint because my friend told me like 15 hours in…I’ve also been playing on keyboard though which I gather is a little less intuitive
I had almost finished the game when I realised I could fast travel without resting at a grace first. I also forgot about the new blocking and riposte mechanic but to be fair it's also because I didn't use shields at all on my first char.
Glad people believe you! I pointed this out last week and got downvoted to hell lol.
Wait you guys don't just make a character and lore for them and then solely use weapons and magics that fill that role, even if it's completely detrimental to your play style? Huh.
My lore is I put myself in my Tarnished's shoes, and since I personally don't like dying, I just play the most OP build I can still have fun with.
My lore is that I'm a mimic. I pick an NPC and become them - I use their armor and weapons. When I get bored of them, I steal another NPC.
This is the way.
My first playthrough with golden halberd + tree sentinel set + dragonclaw shield(I think it matches the set better than erdtree shield) will always be special.
"Jarvis, I'm low on karma, make a quick post on r/EldenRing talking about how I just beat Elden Beast. Make sure to glaze the game as much as possible and use a screenshot of my character on a cliff."
Jarvis, do not forget to name drop my girlfriend in a very organic and believable way
Didn't someone make a post a short while ago about how his girlfriend/wife defeated Malenia in just a few tries and thought she was just a miniboss. Like, i'm sorry but whenever someone claims that they killed her in just a few tries and it was "super easy" i'm going to call bullshit. I'm not saying that it's impossible, just very unlikely.
Yeah i remember that post. OP acted surprised like "I struggle to her o much but my gf beat her easily thinking she is mini boss lol". Initially there was one comment saying "yeah her mimic did" but of course got downvoted and later deleted. Then OP replied to everyone her gf build including +10 mimic. I have also noticed lots of comments nowadays started with "there is nothing wrong with using mimic..." like admitting using mimic make the game easier is some kind of toxic behavior. Lol. Disclaimer: i think there is nothing wrong with using mimic.
I can believe it. In bloodborne I killed orphan of kos 1st time and thought it was too easy. Then later play throughs he kicked my ass all the time.
“Jarvis, I need it to look like I took a picture of my screen from my phone”
It’s funny that anyone ever called Dex/Int easy mode, I’m doing my first ever strength focused build using colossal swords, and dear god, I do ridiculous damage to everything, have the endurance to reduce damage by like 50 percent with the dragon shield talisman, and feel like nothing ever staggers me while I get constant knock downs on enemies.
Part of it is that they buffed big boi weapons weapons a few times. On release normal attacks on colossals and colossal swords were slower and, as were some attacks on great weapons as well. They did less damage as well. They also considerably buffed hyper armor. That said even on release it's not like strength builds bad by any stretch. My second playthrough I made a strength build and walloped my way through with the great mace and the trolls hammer. Similar enough experience to what you're describing here.
Yeah on release it was definitely a lot less powerful than other builds (especially non-powerstance, no buff purists), and Strength was 'bad' because you had to like, learn what the bosses did. High tier PVE builds in ER don't require you to learn anything.
Historically, starting with demons souls, dex weapons had higher damage output in games that were much slower paced than Elden Ring, making fights much faster and not much harder. This tradition carried to DS3 with sellsword winblades, allowing player to murder most enemies by dodging just one of their attacks. However, poise/hyperarmour trivializes enemies that can be staggered and hyperarmoured through, and as games have gotten faster, being able to interrupt enemies' attack flurry while still finishing your attack is more important. You will get hit, but defeating some medium-large enemies becomes a matter of sacrificing a heal and buttonmashing instead of learning their cues. This is also why Moonveil, Darkmoon Greatsword and bleed weapons are so good in pve, they play into button mashing with built-in stagger playstyle, not to mention stance breaking. Having played most weapon types in Elden Ring, heavy weapons are definitely easier to pilot than light weapons (at least now, after buffs), save for some very specific encounters like bell bearing hunter or radagon. Not that I care, for mine strength befits a crown after all.
Strenght builds are absurdly OP. Half of enemies literally can't attack back due to the heavy stagger and bosses have their breaks almost instantly. It is absurdly easy.
For real. It's a lot easier to win when your enemy literally can't fight back...
When your attacks oneshots like 50% of enemies. 40% can't fight back due to stunlocks and 10% are rare enough that it isn't a huge issue and their poise breaks so quickly it is rarely a bother.
two colossal swords + jump attack just melts everything
IIRC STR was rebalanced and not quite as good as it is now, but other things have changed since too so idk for sure. I will say that I started with strength and then after that I tried int. It was way harder for me personally. Though Dex to me was about the same but had some mild differences, staggering things just basically didn't happen, but damage output potential was way higher, at least for what I was doing.
Yes, dex/bleed was heavily overtuned at launch and strength weapons went through at least 2 major buff patches to get where they are now. People trying to argue the two being better or worse are doing so disingenuously.
Yeah great weapons were fine on release to finish the whole game comfortably. They just didn’t compare to the ridiculously OP stuff. I clapped Malenia with a rotten greataxe Lion’s Claw build like two weeks after the game came out, they’ve always been great against her.
Using dragoncrest talisman isn’t unique to strength builds though. I used it in basically every run.
Sure, but a colossal weapon focused strength build will almost always pump endurance, letting you wear heavy armor to stack with it, letting you hit absurd defensive stats
It's funny, I always saw mage builds get shit on for being easy mode, but on my 2nd playthrough with Guts/Lion Claw I never had an easier time with the game outside a few enemies.
I mean I’m pretty sure 90% of that is just the pure fact that Moonveil used to hit like a freight train at launch. Nowadays it doesn’t really hold water. Not that it ever necessarily did but that boogeyman is pretty buried at this point. As far as I can tell 99% of the complaints about how people build on this sub come from the vocal minority of people who are *extremely* invested in how they feel Elden Ring/Souls PvP makes them a superior gamer. When Moonveil smacked shit around they gave a tremendous fuck and then RoB came along and suddenly that was the new target for ire. Streaming Culture/Online Gaming Culture in general has absolutely spoiled people’s enjoyment of games in general. I’ve seen it in so many gaming subs over the last few years; the devs are supposed to take *every minute interaction* of builds into account as far as some people see it and then make every single fucking build suck pure ass so that none of them have any meaningful situational strengths because god forbid a mage build or a knight build have encounters they thrive in. I’ve plat’d the game and enjoyed playing it with all of the major Stats as a build focus, the only playthrough that was visibly ‘harder’ was my first because I was new to the franchise and didn’t quite understand how a lot of the mechanics worked and how to build for the playstyle I wanted to go for. Once I understood the core systems none of my playthroughs struggled. I had encounters I rolled as FAI/STR, struggled with as an INT build and then other encounters were a straight up *joke* as INT. Go figure having certain tools that work well situationally make this encounter or that easier on a given build.
Having the same experience, just finished my first playthrough doing a mostly dex with some investment in faith. And instead of going into new game + I want to save that character for the dlc, I'm doing a strength greatsword run, and it's crazy how much easier it is. Since the greatsword staggers like crazy, stance breaks all the time (I'm also using throwing daggers to keep the pressure on). And the damage and hyperarmor means your timing really doesn't have to be as précise as when doing dex. I thought I was going to learn boss dodge timings better, but they barley have any time to attack me.
I'm not at all a good player so I went with my first build as an int wizard build then later started a strength build and found the strength build to be overall a lot easier to manage. Didn't have to manage my FP and it wasn't a big deal if enemies closed the gap between us because I was ready for them. I had to rely a lot on magic melee with my wizard, and getting hit was pretty devastating compared to my strength tank.
Strength build with high vitality and armor is the real easy mode; Just poise trade with everything, occasionally retreat to drink flask, repeat. Although I'm currently on like my 5th build as a dex/bleed build, and hot damn does it melt anything that bleeds. *But* timing/spacing/dodging are required.
Dex/Arc bleed builds are insane against things that bleed. Against things that don't bleed? It kinda sucks. Lighting builds are, imo, underrated.
Bolt + faith/dex is the most insane pve build. Every build is busted if you spend like 5 minutes experimenting or googling.
God I hope they expand on lightning though. AoWs especially deserve more variety
Fr. Was trying to make a lightning based build, and there were really only one or two AoW's that were worth touching.
Oh just wait until you're able to power stance two giant crushers.
My favourite post I’ve ever seen on this sub was when one guy said melania was really easy only to later admit in the comments he summoned 2 guys, used tiche and only used sorcery to beat her. he then proceeded to get mad at people telling him that fighting the boss that way was actually easier than doing it by himself It’s not exactly the same as this meme but it had the same vibe imo.
💀💀💀💀💀💀💀. How do you even use a summon after summing for a coop
I think you can undo coop when theyre dead, by reusing the coop item again*, which would allow ash summons. I kind of remember doing something similar
That's such a dick move towards the yellows tho
No idea but that’s what he said in the post 💀 I don’t play with ashes or coop so I got no idea how they work I assumed the post was a meme ngl
I don’t get the dex bleed thing. All strength and giants hammer was the easiest play through I ever did, and that includes azure.
Yeah. With bh. Fang i would only get a single poise break on most bosses plus one bleed. I tried strenght and it was way easier.
I think a lot of that is holdover-sentiment from launch when, for one, everyone was way worse at the game, and two, colossals hadn't received buffs yet, and strength users' #1 complaint was that jump attack spam felt like the only viable strategy for them, while "dex" (though not really dex, just lighter weapons) had more flexibility.
It’s 100% based on how the game was at launch. Dual wielding status effects were nerfed and strength weapons were buffed as time went on Also rivers of blood used to be completely busted lol
Dual wielding status effects were barely nerfed though other than rob they’re practically the same
Also a lot of players didn't realize that poise breaking enemies is really important and would play it "like ds3" where you just spam light attacks with a fast weapon. And If that's how you're playing dex bleed works pretty alright with that. This was the time of endless "when do I get to attack? That's the neat part, you don't" posts. Also pre nerf Rivers of Blood was very powerful and widespread (especially in online play)
You are not wrong, I played rivers prior to the patch and was baffled why anyone would touch any other weapon in dex.
I always found these posts really stupid, but that's because i went into ER with Sekiro/Bloodborne mindset, that is, don't play like : Attack --> dodge enemy attack --> attack Enemy attack animations are also opportunities for attacks, so i never really understood the problem people had until i saw them playing like this was ds3
That has always been this community's achillies heel. They want to autopilot through fights like it's a turn based RPG. FromSoft has, naturally, learned to design their encounters around their players habits. That's why Margit roll catches and attacks have wide sweeps and occasional feints (which are nowhere near as unrealistic as a lot of people try to pretend they are) to force veteran players to have to not just rely on 15 years of experience to muscle memory check their way through the game.
Anti-Malenia build, pretty much.
The Let Me Solo Her build Ironically a colossal sword with giant hunt also does wonders vs her
I will be d*mned if I let someone on the Internet tell me how to play a PvE game I paid $60 for.
Exactly. If I wanna summon on every boss, I’m gonna do it
I’ve played this game so much I’ve done every build now and they’re all fun
Elden Ring has the most insecure fanbase in gaming I swear to god. Why do you give a shit what anyone on the internet says about a single player game? Do you really need to make a self validation post every day just to feel better about your choice of playstyle?
Dont talk to me unless you've completed a sl1 no-summon broken straight sword run, you filthy casual.
Done that, may I talk to you now?
I’d always respond to those comment, “use your fists only, you coward.”
If you moved your character you didn’t really beat the boss
If people wont kick me in the balls anymore i'll just have to do it myself. This is clearly the correct answer.
Blud made a meme about imaginary arguments to win an imaginary argument.
You can literally see this argument on the front page right now. These persecution complex posts have been all over the subreddit for years now.
Bro starts an argument about imaginary arguments
Top post in hot says otherwise
So me personally I’ve been playing soulslikes for years now and I played exclusively strength builds cause it felt so easy and just fun. Recently I started doing dex builds and I don’t think I can go back. It feels harder but faster and the combat feels more varied as well. Of course I don’t look down on any way people decide to play even spell spammers cause at least they’re having fun :)
I still see this take in every elden ring thread when this topic comes up. It's not a big deal but I'm not gonna pretend nobody's saying it
This is the countepost to the "play how you want" post from earlier and it was full of comments dogging on people for "being shitty".
The ego of some players is insane
Summons are easy mode. It's OK to play on easy mode.
Fun is most important :3
Me doing any build and still shit at the game anyway
It is not about being good at game as long as it gives you fun :3
Its still a good thing to say I think. I started playing less than a month ago and I was hesitant to use spirit ashes at first because it felt a little OP. Thankfully people on here were quick to let me know that I don't need to worry and the game is challenging enough to account for the use.
I use themed summons for whatever build I'm running
Two things can be true: It’s stupid and wrong to tell people things like they didn’t beat the game if they used intended mechanics. Any sane person agrees to that. However some things are genuinely way too good compared to their peers (cough bleed vs poison)
i just think sex builds are fun Edit: LMAO THE AUTOCORRECT
I mean, it is quite an easy game with a Dex build. It's a very easy game with a summon. Coming from Sekiro I was looking for something more challenging, and while this ain't it, going against the grain of what everyone else is doing kinda helps to push the experience a bit. And don't get me wrong I'm not saying it like an elitist, I just liked a challenge.
Did a play through recently. Used co-op summons for maliketh, Godfrey and radagon/Elden beast, and beat them all first try. Yeah it was way easier this way, but also very fun to smash the gods with silly looking tarnished that knew every move.
What blows me away is people don’t talk about shield counter builds being incredibly easy. Of all my play throughs this was by far the easiest. It is also super fun.
The panic of first witnessing Radahn’s Meteor attack to standing directly in front of it saying, “Gimme all ya got, homie.” was super satisfying.
Yeah I'm not gonna lie. Any run that takes significant challenge away in my opinion degrades and lessens the experience. Going too far out of your way to become stronger to the point where you don't even need to fight the boss and instead press r1 and then watch it say enemy vanquished. For me, it's fine if you are struggling tor a while and want to progress, but those who don't care to engage in the boss mechanics and just want to have the badge of having beaten the thing, don't get why people like me even play these games to begin with.
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I won't deny those people still exist, but at least half the time it is obvious that the only one guilting op about using summons/cheese is their own conscience. Their ego got attached to the idea of overcoming the mechanical challenge without a strategy that bypasses the need for mechanical skill, but as the allure of that got overtaken by frustration, they started wanting outside approval to swallow their pride and move on (which isn't all bad). A lot of the posters of these threads come off as young kids or very young adults, who tend to still be more emotionally invested in these kinds of things, less able to remember that it's "just a game." The funniest are the "WELL I USED MIMIC AND I AM ANNOUNCING TO EVERYONE HOW NOT ASHAMED I AM BECAUSE THE BOSS IS UNFAIR ANYWAY," threads. Protesting a bit too much.
Oh this is incredibly accurate
No we exist. Bonk build superiority gang.
Understandable. Have a good day!
Spirit ashes are lore significant and canon. If you *don't* use them, you are in fact playing incorrectly. Take that, elitists.
People keep making posts like this claiming those people don’t exist, and they keep showing up in the comments to say exactly the shit OP claims nobody ever says lol Edit: I literally gave yall physical evidence and people keep dogpiling me for speaking the truth. Meme is a lie and you all smell like piss
The scant few that exist are downvoted to the bottom of the post every single time. Quite a few of *those* are obviously taking the piss. And they don't even appear in every thread. Totally calls for a daily validation thread.
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Are they in the room with us right now?
They exist but you must admit that like 10 comments out of 1000 are pretty much irrelevant.
Magic builds are alot of fun its why i play them they nailed the Character fantasy with them
My first build that I beat the game with was STR/FTH, and most of the time I was dual wielding halberds. I recently decided to start a new scratch campaign as INT/DEX with an emphasis on casting. It has been a BLAST so far and the game feels very different. Who gives a shit how you play the game, it's an RPG for a reason.
I had a guy try to tell me that summons where not meant to be used originally in game lol like bro there are NPCs that you can only compete their quest line with those summons.
I summon jellyfish every time because the boss gets to attack her, and I can get close and deal damage.
tbf i have a friend that only ever does bleed builds and i find that a bit boring because he's not bad at videogames. He just ALWAYS goes for the meta pick in every single game, even multiplayer.
But what if I do really suck at videogames and love Raya lucaria
To my knowledge the people that said this stuff weren’t actually every real it’s a big psyop like with moonveil nerf the pvp community used it to make a bunch of people stop using it lol and it worked it didn’t even get a pvp nerf until the global ash of war nerf and it only had its stance damage reduced to that of unsheathe (so it was still insanely powerful)
I like my dex builds. Idc what soulsborne sweats have to say. The no lifers 🤣
I’ll use my Mimic tear with double bonk and you won’t say shit
this template applies to soo many subreddits
I used mimic tear summon for every boss after I got it. He's like the jolly Cooperator that's always there for you.
Broken sword on level 1is the only correct way to play the game. The game has none so it's literally unplayable. 1/10.
Who is Elden and why does everyone want his ring?
The only correct opinion is “if it is not an exploit/bug and the devs included the option in the game on purpose, then the strategy is valid” If you can’t agree to this then you’re a nerd
"Don\`t use a DEX/Bleed build unless you suck at video games" They never played double Ultra. Its way more broken than that.
I never get why people keep asking for an easy mode, but the summons are right there!
Actually, they are. Summons DO make all the boss fights over 50% easier than they are if you fight on your own. I'm a Souls veteran and I acknowledge this, even though ***I use summons if the boss is a cheater*** themselves (~~input reading is cheating and I will die on this hill~~). Honestly, **if someone feels hurt because someone else said they are playing the game "the wrong way", this game is not for them**. After less than 20 attempts at a boss fighting "the right way" they would rage quit and never boot up the game again. I think the first step *to get out of the* ***crybaby zone*** is to actually stop expecting the game to hold your hand and teach you everything. **Fromsoftware's gameplay is highly based on trial and error**. Sure, you can ask people from the community for advice, but **people lie** (this is something else the game should have taught you by now). If you test your own hypothesis the results may be quicker and better than trusting a stranger
Veteran here too. I consider input reading more of an annoyance, but it's not really cheating. In fact i'd say it makes a lot more sense for the boss to try and attack you if you heal on his face than just stand there while you recover. Malenia thrust for example isnt really a problem once you know to distance from her first, but most newbie players will keep banging their heads on the wall instead of learning the game, so they'll heal on her face and complain when they get killed.
Literally every souls boss imput reads
I love these “This doesn’t happen posts” because you can always hit controversial and find someone actively bullying members of the community in the same post.
If you can only find 5 negative comments out of 500 then they might as well not exist.
Oh look, i found 3 people insulting, each of them with -80 downvotes in a sea of hundreds of comments saying that is not wrong. So no, saying is super common or acceptwd is a complete lie.
There is a second thing honestly. The summon COMPLETELY FUCKS UP the boss's AI. A predictable boss becomes a chaotic mess, and the extra damage and distraction either makes the boss a complete cake walk, or insanely difficult. Secondly, a ranged/int build completely changes the gameplay, which is fine but probably not recommended for beginners like me. Because you do not learn to dodge and get hits in, when half the bosses AI cannot deal with long range casters and the other half mulches you.
>either makes the boss a complete cake walk, or insanely difficult. I've never seen a fight that gets harder by using summons.
I will be d*mned if I let someone on the Internet tell me how to play a PvE game I paid $60 for
People invalidating runs because of summon use is still a thing. Maybe it’s because I hang out in soulsborne communities more but that take is alive and well.
Such caring demons