Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

despite being 90 hours in and having a faith/incant build, along with decent INT and several sorceries, i've never tried casting a sorcery! for a long time, i just didn't have a staff. i should check it out, but i'm assuming i can't really be an effective dual INT/FTH caster while also being a decent sword/shield kind of fighter, as I am now.

Oh, you know what does help shield-blocking? Upgrading shields. Pretty sure that in this game it reduces the amount of stamina used when blocking ('guard boost').

Also, if you want a very safe setup, use a thrusting sword or lance along with a shield that has 100% physical defense and a lot of guard boost. You'll be able to attack while still holding up the shield, so you're constantly blocking (just watch your stamina - you don't regain stamina while blocking, I'm pretty sure).

yeah you don't, learned that the hard way

shield upgrades are supposed to increase guard boost but it appears to be...very modest? seems dumb that upgrading a shield wouldn't yknow make it better at its job

There's also this:
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Barricade+Shield

How I beat that kitchen spiderydude in Stormveil - stood on the balcony above him and spammed him repeatedly with my staff. Heh.

i was insanely OP when i got to stormveil so i just barraged him with rock sling a few times. this worked on godrick, too, beat him first try

Barricade Shield (Dropped by Night's Cavalry at Weeping Peninsula. )

Welp, forget that then lol.

anyone know if there is any reason to increase STR for a 'swashbuckler' build (aka a bandit with a rapier and a buckler shield that i am running as an alt)? i'm trying to parry (or guard when necessary) and idk if increasing STR is beneficial or if END is better (when you've got to take some lumps)

My rules of thumb: plan to level VIT to 60 by end game, no real need to level END beyond 30. Level STR as far as your gear requirements dictate (~16 for most weapons, ~30 for greatshields), unless you're planning on making it your primary stat.

I think Elden Ring is challenging certain Souls precepts. Hybrid builds are far more powerful and durable than in previous games. Shields are awesome and using a greatshield (in particular) makes the end game feel much more methodical and precise instead of a manic slashing hope-this-works experience

Night's Cavalry isn't as tough as he looks (depending on your build and your level, ofc).

I hit a wall two days ago where playing just didn't feel fun anymore because I was getting my ass handed to me so much (looking at you, Baleful Shadow). Strangely, I broke through and found the fun again in...Caelid, of all places. Was strong enough to clear the Sellia Crystal Tunnel and also figured out how to get to the hill behind Sellia and met Millicent, so I'm feeling more motivated to continue with that quest. A few more levels and I think I'll be good to tie things up with Ranni.

fgti thanks for the tip re: greatshields. My build is a DEX/INT focused spellsword-type, so it's good to know respeccing into STR may come in handy later.

Something worth noting, too... the physick STR-buff gem (one of the first you get) gives you a whopping 10 STR boost for three minutes. It's worth considering that as a regular option, like, if your STR is at 20, you can plan on swapping to 30-requirement greatshield for a few minutes to deal with one of the more chaotic enemies (the kitchen guardian, i.e.)

I can't help but think "man I wish I had Torrent with me, all those times I died to Kalimeet and Midir"

Wow, Volcano Manor was such a great area, so many classic twists and turns. I can't believe I thought it was maybe just an npc hub, and could have easily missed the whole thing.

At one point I had the Taunter's Tongue on and got invaded by 'The Lord of Dreams', a player who used all sleep stuff. Pretty good, although chivalry is dead...I was giving people actual 1-on-1 invasions and we were having a nice fun duel, but when an Abductor Virgin joined the fray they had no problem shanking me. I would have backed off and let someone deal with the enemy in that situation, but I guess all's fair in invasions.

Spent the afternoon careening around Caria Manor after I finally got past the fucking annoying hands (theyre very allergic to fire! which is.... not useful when I have next to no faith so have to rely on greases).

Ive skimmed round and got all the ashes and weapons, but theyre all still too OP for me. And the boss... yeeek. Shes immune to magic and thats all I know! I'll put a pin in that. Feel like I should have put more into faith now.

loretta has magic resistance, but some spells (like rock sling) do physical damage

Tried that, to no avail today :( The bit that kills me is as soon as you go thru the curtain, he comes hammering right at you and it gives me no time to stop and conjure up my spirit ashes.

Oh and I went back to Siofra and figured out I had to light all those pillars. But then I looked up what the deal is, and it says I have to light 8 and I swear to godI have but the boss doesnt activate, I am going nuts trying to work out why.

You need to interact with the dead reindeer corpse thing in that place to actually fight the boss. They do a good job of making you feel a little sad for doing so.

I went through the Capital and it's a pretty amazing area, I'm going to spend some time here a la Stormveil finding all the crannies I missed before moving on.

Looked a few things up and yeah, the absolute hubris to think that I had pretty much discovered everything my first time through.

I tried to go through it with the Taunter's Tongue on and met some fun invaders, but eventually I had to turn it off and make progress.

just made it to the altus plain! that’s a pretty great moment.

You need to interact with the dead reindeer corpse thing in that place to actually fight the boss

Ya I know, but it doesnt do anything :/ I mean it has to mean Ive missed a torch, but I have counted them all 3 times.

weird! all 8 torches are lit up on the stairs leading up to the reindeer thing?

maybe you are the elden ring! :-o

no not the stairs... arent you meant to run around like a bluearsed fly lighting pillars all over the islands avoiding lightning and mufucking ghost vikings? It was insanely annoying.

haha, yep! i definitely did a lot of running the fuck away, that's for sure!

but there are 8 little fires you have to light around that area, and every time you light one, one of the flames by the stairwell lights up as well. it's an indicator of progress. so if you've lit up 4 fires around the area, there will be 4 flames on the stairwell lit up as well. so make sure all 8 are lit up by the stairwell. if you have 7 out of 8 (or whatever), it means you missed one

OHHHH!

now prepare to die against the boss a million times (if you're me, ha!)

sorry if i should have put that in spoilers and stuff, for you trayce, or anyone else reading!

but everyone else seems so far along in the game. i took a breather the last few days (and also bought Tunic, deeeep sigh, such a good game!), but i haven't the only area i haven't even beaten the second area yet, haven't really taken caelid seriously, etc

Oh I am 80 hours in and I'm still only level 50something and flailing about, only a couple of big bosses defeated.

...I'm a terribly slow open world gamer. I think I did 200-300 hours of BOTW bwfore I finished it, and Ive been playing Skyrim for like 5 years and Im still not done.

I may have bricked my PS5, the HDMI out simply isn’t putting out

Thank god, I think, maybe I’ll dust and vacuum today

trayce you're still ahead of me, i'm like level 36 and just beat godrick this weekend (though i had already explored a fair amount of liurnia and some of caelid before then)

Ha, RIP fgti :/

I feel sufficiently done with the Capital, including those goddamn sewers - I missed the entrance the first time because I dropped down the correct well, but didn't realize you could open the cell door..

Currently throwing myself against Mohg, Lord of Blood version. The first phase is fun and totally doable, the second phase feels insane. Not sure if I should keep going at it or just come back when I'm a bit stronger, although I'm getting on lvl 110 now so it's not going to be that different. Otherwise it's time to finally move on to Mountaintops of the Giants, where everyone says the game gets hard. :)

There is a physick tear that helps significantly with that boss. But it might be a struggle at that level regardless. That was like the last boss I did and I was around 150.

Mohg has a curse stage, where he lays down one, two, three red rings around you, and then butchers you with them. You can defeat this curse by completing Yura's quest line for a particular tear, using it in your physick, and drinking it when Mohg is about to ruin your life

Also, yeah, I'd say the Mountaintops is an easier time overall than Planet Mohg

One thing I didn't realize is that those awful rune bears you run into drop larval tears when you beat them. I avoided them on my run and missed out, I guess. Anyway. There's one on the Mountaintop who is absolutely the toughest fight imaginable. I never beat him in the end

Yep, I do have that physick tear and have been using it! But I still need to figure out my strats for phase 2 when he's at half health. Mostly it's a matter of not getting psyched (or bled) out by all the flaming blood that causes you to bleed all over the arena. My main damage is coming from using Carian Retaliation against the blood he flings at you.

I also have the Mohg shackle, which apparently only works in phase 1, when I don't really need it. But my plan is to try using it just before he goes into phase 2 and see how low I can get him.

I can't believe how quickly people progress through this game. I've put in over 100 hours in and the last big boss I killed was Godrick.

Admittedly I'm trying to only use guides, online help etc if I get very stuck, and also I'm quite fastidious about making sure I scope every area out for hidden items and rooms before moving on. I'm doing a lot of exploring and only rune farm occasionally.

That said, I spent almost all day yesterday doing little more than exploring the rooftops and crannies of Raya Lucaria. It took me ages to kill that Red Wolf boss. He was OPing me the second I walked in the door, I barely had time to summon spirits, and then for some reason on my 20th go I killed him easily in under a minute. Don't feel like I did anything different - he just seemed to take more damage and went easier on me.

My partner (who admittedly is following a few more guides) said she beat him first go and got through all of Raya Lucaria in a morning, including Renalla which is kind of mindblowing to me. Guess I just need to git gud!

what level is your character DL? I've just reached Mountaintop of the Giants and it is significantly more difficult than what has come before, a real step-change, having just breezed through Volcano Manor.

Trayce, it sounds like you've progressed further than me in the game and I'm level 67. Still dweebing around Lirunia and haven't got to Renalla yet! Need to fight that annoying Knight in Raya Lucaria with the big marble that squashes you before you fight him.

I also found another very tough enemy after negotiating the rooftops there. Luckily there's a shortcut ladder you can trigger but it doesn't help much as there are a ton of scholar-sorcerors and marionettes who come after you before you can get to him.

I reckon I've found almost all the items in RL though. I think my favourite thing about this game is just navigating architecture, looking for hidden rooms, trying to reach items in weird places, getting to a concealed ledge and realising you're looking down on somewhere you were fifteen minutes before etc. The architecture in this is mindblowing

I'm around Level 67. I haven't been able to level up naturally for a while now, so admittedly when I end up with more than about 5000 runes and I know I'm likely to die, I go to the Great Farum runefarm. It's not helping me though. I didn't really understand the concept of "builds" (still find all these stats a bit confusing TBH) when I started playing, so my character is a bit of a shitshow. Started with Vigor and Strength, but then my partner told me about katanas and bleeds, so I've been putting more into INT/DEX. I've got the Moonveil now but I can't seem to upgrade it because I can't seem to find any lower-level smithing stones any more.

I think I need to revisit Raya Lucaria, sounds like there's lots more to explore there. It's worth having a look for some Bearing Bells if you're struggling with Smithing Stones as they can open up the shop options with the crones at the Table of Grace.

I haven't found any of those yet. Don't you get those from killing NPCs?

Like Castle Stormveil, Raya Lucaria is ENORMOUS but I think it's easy to get through if you play linearly. I'm definitely going back to all the big dungeons again once I'm nicely leveled to double check I haven't missed anything else

You might get some from killing merchants, yes, but otherwise they are found in similar ways to other types of loot, i.e. tucked away all over the place.

Is that the same thing when it says "give a bell offering"? hmmm, nope don't think I've found any yet and I scope most places out. I think there's a way for me to get one from Sorcerer Thop now I've given him a key to Raya Lucaria (I checked a guide)

DL it sounds as if it’s possible you may have an odd balance of stats. On a positive note, once you beat Renalla you’ll be able to re-allocate your stats (using the limited item “larval tear”).

Comparatively I flew through the game (all the while playing like a completist) largely because I chose a widely-regarded-as-OP weapon (Bloodhound Fang) and statted my character around it, funnelled my resources into it

It might be wise for you to beat Renalla and then do some guide consulting about building a Moonveil-oriented character? I never used it myself but people seem to love it

I'd played Bloodborne before, but never really paid a huge amount of attention to builds - it's not really a game with lots of magic or ranged weapons. Strength and Vigor seemed to be the most essential stats by far in that game.

So it surprised me that people seemed to be starting out with a fairly good idea of what character they were going to choose and what build they were going to go for (and FFS how all these stats and attributes seem to work with each other), unless of course they were swotting up on guides before they even played the game? I feel like I missed the first day of school sometimes. I only just worked out how the scaling attributes work and that A is better than E (but I don't know what S signifies?? Argh!). Just explain it a tiny bit FromSoft, I'm just a man!

I got an insane mental block on Rennala and just could not get my head round dodging the death ray in the second phase properly at all. It must have taken me at least 20 attempts, dying of embarrassment as all the guides say she's one of the easier big bosses. I probably did Ornstein and Smough faster

S is the only thing better than A scaling, which was weird to me when I started these games, but apparently has to do with the Japanese grading system in schools?