Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

Most of the furnace golems you just need to hit the legs until they fall down. The ones with the armored legs are the only ones you need the pots for. I think only 2 or 3 require pots.

On my 2nd dlc playthrough trying for an intelligence build but so far the new weapons and spells have been underwhelming. Faith seems to get all the good stuff!

Most of the furnace golems you just need to hit the legs until they fall down. The ones with the armored legs are the only ones you need the pots for. I think only 2 or 3 require pots.

― ColinO, Wednesday, 17 July 2024 12:59 (forty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Easy for you to say - I was whacking its legs for ages and it did fall down eventually, right when I was at the end of my health. Died shortly after

I do think a partial function of the DLC was to get the die-hard committed players to admit that they actually aren't shit in PvE. Some of these bosses, wow, I cannot imagine beating them without a truckload of buffs, and yes I am summoning for a few of them

I don't remember where I read it (probably Reddit) but I can't stop thinking about a guy who, while bothering a PvP victor over PSN chat, kept saying "you use summons" as an insult. "Whatever, you use summons". I always think about that line.

The challenge of these games is a factor in my enjoyment, but it's very low down the rankings of reasons I enjoy them or think they're remarkable. Of course I'm going to summon

I think it's a very old school Demon's/Dark Souls mentality, where the reputation of the games was 'hard and unforgiving', among other things. Except they're not really that hard, they just stood out from other games at the time that were heavy on tutorials and making sure you saw all of their expensively-produced content no matter what.

That said of course the challenge and pvp IS most of the appeal for me, which is why it's great that you can choose to summon, buff, 'cheese', or go solo at rune level 1 if you want. The difference between a boss having their attention on you the entire time vs only some of the time is huge, although in some cases I feel like that actually makes it harder! Meaning when you have summons and you're attacking a boss from behind, it's way less predictable when they're going to swing around and smash you.

And personally I feel like I've cheated myself out of the full experience of a boss if I don't figure out how to beat them on my own by learning all their moves. But also some bosses don't feel compelling enough to put in that time (like the hippo).

Btw I went back to the church district and sure enough, that one hallway I remember not going down before draining the water was indeed the entrance to the Specimen Storehouse. So now I've accessed it from the front and back entrances, and I'm working on going up and up and up and up. Loving the Grand Archives feel of the area, and I feel bad whacking the shadow dudes who are just trying to read their books.

Haha yeah I defo felt bad killing those poor fellas. I did a small grind just to get to a new level near Moorth Ruins recently and felt bad just hacking down all those groaning shades.

On the difficulty stuff, I like to just experience the game, this was my first Souls game and my big fear was I'd have wasted money if it was too hard. I'm not very good at games really, generally.

Been surprised how much I've taken to some of the difficulty. I love the fact some of the fights take a lot of efforts and you do get a good rush when you beat a difficult one.

That said I'm prob like DL here really, I just love how big it is and exploring the world. Sad I'm almost near the end of this expansion.

Those Shades in the Storeroom are annoying in that only some of them are aggressive, but you kind of have to kill all of them to be sure. Plus so many of them end up getting aggroed through collateral damage anyway

Ok Commander Gaius, damn

Yeah he's a dick

He feels p broken tbh, like every third or fourth attempt he'll just kill you in the first three hits.

Don't think dodging really works for him and I have spent the entire game and DLC dodging. Got him first go using a greatshield. IME impossible if your summons die before him too.

I must have done it about thirty times where my summon died with him on about 30% of his health, the exact same amount each time, then he just killed me in two shots or with that horrendous huge field of stones thing he does.

Also I saw people saying you can dodge his initial charge but I never managed to dodge it once and when I tried it often did even more damage.

i'm so far behind. ;_; just been happy wandering around the cerulean coast, going bonk-bonk on a few things, killing a few glinstone dragons and furnace golems. Got killed by some red prawns. Been up a few steps, killed a few initial mobs in the Shadow Keep. I'm happy. I don't ever need to even meet Commander Gaius. Dick name imo.

I'm still away from home so haven't played in a minute, but I am happy there's a whole other area to explore so I can procrastinate on fighting him until I have to. I feel he might be the kind of boss you need to stay closer to and avoid running from to beat.

I still haven't killed any of the golems. Might give that a go soon.

re: Storehouse / Grand Archives - I love these uncanny "seems familiar" moments where there'll be moment of almost deja vu from a previous game. Some might say it's FromSoft rehashing old ideas. I see it as a feature and an asset

I had a momentary revelation when I realized that you can use the horse during the Gaius fight, and thought 'Aha, they finally made a jousting match!' But unfortunately that made it even harder (well, I could jump over his initial charge, but couldn't fight him on horseback very well after that).

That charge is indeed frustrating, I can dodge it but the window is super tight and it's maddeningly inconsistent. Tried all directions, jumping, etc. So I started using the deflecting hardtear to block it and otherwise try to stay close (but not behind him!), and I can see a path to victory.

If you're using summons, multiples are better against him than mimic. The greatshield soldiers work p well. I think also using a shield just is far more effective, the area of his attacks is unsociable. I think that's why I found him so hard, as I dodge and never block as a style throughout this game, and you can't block most of his attacks.

Haha, autocorrect changed that to "unsociable". His behaviour is anti-social in the extreme! Commander Rude more like.

fuckit im going to go into the shadow keep to meet some unsociable characters.

ok specimen storehouse is amazing.

Commander Dingus

I haven’t seen him yet (I don’t think?) I don’t know what I’m doing any more. There’s too much map below map.

Isn't there a buff that gives you more attack power when a summon dies? So you can summon the skeleton ashes (which can come back to life) and every time they die you get more and more OP?

I'm closing in on Gaius, I've decided that the fight is all about positioning, and I keep singing POSITION (to the tune of 'Tradition') to myself. You need to get on his side no matter what - any other position (front, distant, behind for sure) triggers attacks that I do not want. It's tempting to attack when you dodge and end up behind him, but far better to reposition to his flank.

@ dog latin isn’t there a new talisman that does this?

Oh I beat Gaius last night. He's weak to Holy! I died three times and beat him the fourth time. Greatshield and sacred great mace took him down. I love fighting Tree Sentinels though so it was very up my alley

Wow, I have died a hundred deaths, for anyone who is under the impression that I'm good at this game (I think my scadutree blessing is still relatively low though?). Greatshield does seem like it would work a treat on him, although I tried blocking some attacks with my giant anvil and it seemed very inconsistent (sometimes the angle of his attacks seemed to just ignore the block).

You need to pin him to the wall of the keep also, you can absolutely destroy him as his horse is so thicc and bad at turning in a tight space. Greatshield essentially gives you time to think, maybe should have used shields more throughout, but for Gaius it really helped.

Also more and more I think avoiding use of the lock on function is better, it forces you to move around bosses in a way that suits the boss more than you. We discussed this above and I have never really fully committed to using it and am now sure it's better not to use it. Even really with smaller enemies, better to ween off it.

After a few duff runs at them, I picked off Bayle, Midra and Messmer in a couple hours today— consulting online resources for combat approaches. Killed Bayle with a light rolling anchor wench

It really does help a lot to think of your character as having flexibility between different approaches, pierce for Bayle, blood for Midra, tanky armour for Messmer. What’s next! Idk!

O I did it! I ended up having a soft spot for Gaius in the end and was very happy with the final run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzTATrKdV1c

Bayle, Midra and Messmer were all like one or two attempts for me, not sure why they were easier. Prob just over-levelled.

Nice video btw, yikes when he walloped you with the charge halfway through. I basically would never win that fight without summons, but you make him look very slow and crap.

Enjoy your scadutree fragments, lol.

Haha I remember my brain momentarily shutting down in that moment, I just...didn't do anything (except facetank the charge). It's not in the video but on other attempts I was able to perfect block the charge using the deflecting tear, and you only lose a little bit of stamina.

My friend said that pre-patch he started much, much closer to you at the beginning of the fight and would charge you point blank.

I tended to wait by the wall as I used the Greatshield Soldiers and they can sort of pin him against it, then you can really go ham on him. I still don't think I'd have managed it without a shield tho. Horrible boss.

Be nice to him, he doesn't have any legs!

for real, really felt for him once I killed him, killed his girlfriend and looted his trousers.

Black iron greaves made for Commander Gaius. A cruel joke, for he could not wear them. Riding atop the boar he called his other half, Gaius was in fact a warrior of albinauric extraction.

iirc I did kind of get him in a corner and it was just me and mimic hitting him with the sunflower, which is serious holy damage. Didn't realise he was weak to that! But in general 100% agree with this:

It really does help a lot to think of your character as having flexibility between different approaches, pierce for Bayle, blood for Midra, tanky armour for Messmer. What’s next! Idk!

Went anti-fire/lightning tank plus pierce on Bayle to finally take him down. Slash/bleed got me Midra in 2 or 3.

Re: lock on, I think it's very situational! Most fights are designed for lock on for both better and worse. You can avoid some attacks that track your more easily, but also can have a harder time seeing their tells and avoiding other moves.

In pvp I rarely lock on though, it's great for keeping multiple opponents in view and staying nimble.

hit commander gaius before either messmer or the scadutree. oddly easy - mainly because maliketh’s black blade special attack absolutely crucifies him, as does maliketh’s black blade spell.

i would absolutely not hit most things if i didn’t lock on. though bosses inc Commander G i don’t.

jori, elder inquisitor was a *dick* an unsociable sort, however.

After switching over to jumpy anchor build, and at Scadu 19 by the end, it wasn’t challenging. I confess I beat final boss first try— there was an “I’m gonna die” combo moment where I was actually saved by a “your message was appraised” prompt. But yeah he died.

I backed up my game just before beating Bayle tho so I reloaded and I’m gonna try the endgame again with a less brain dead minmax situation

ugh i had scadutree down to near zero health on third phase on my second go and and no i’m barely making it into the second. ffs.

now

Ok I found Messmer, getting properly wrecked so far (which is well & good). Got to phase 2 once, the screen filled with snakes, I died, and thought that was a good place to leave it for the evening.

snakes... why did it have to be snakes???

Last night I decided to go back and find all the furnace golems and deal with their fiery asses. I remembered the area at the terminus of the river, where one finds the Electric Perfume, and headed there. But: I clocked the location incorrectly, thinking that it was below the Village Of Flies. I found a new area with dual hippos waiting to be smacked. This map is really quite ingenious.

I have to do Ruah again, as a result of my Time Machine backup. I’m looking forward to it, it’s one of my favourite legacy dungeons. Like, “finally, a legacy dungeon for horses”. Looking forward to the final area, too, the way that it interfaces with a previous area below is breathtaking.

I’m playing dexarc for now, lotta blood, pata and Serpent Bow, attempting bosses again and having a good time.

This DLC is good and I can’t really find any fault with it in its execution, but I also think I’ve had my fill of From’s whole format and I am happy to move on from these games

I don't understand Ruah yet, I accessed it via the teleporter and from the (unexpected!) Shadow Keep connection that brings you out on top, but I haven't explored it yet. Really feel like I haven't scratched the surface of the DLC yet, it feels like there are a million routes I need to go back to.