The Shattered Elden Ring Thread: Tarnished Edition - (Shadow of the Erdtree p. 85)

CriticalGaming

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Right, I mean I would like a build that is a dextrous sorceror, you know, small swooshy weapon like a rapier curved sword in the right, and a magic staff in the left, so I know that over all INT and DEX are my two main stats. I'm just wondering for the next 10 - 20 levels, how much to put into VIG and END.
Eh, no big deal, when in doubt, VIG.
You might look into the Moonveil Sword. It is a Katana that scales off Dex and Int, and it shoots lazerbeams.
 

EvilRoy

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Right, I mean I would like a build that is a dextrous sorceror, you know, small swooshy weapon like a rapier curved sword in the right, and a magic staff in the left, so I know that over all INT and DEX are my two main stats. I'm just wondering for the next 10 - 20 levels, how much to put into VIG and END.
Eh, no big deal, when in doubt, VIG.
I found END very useful myself. Being able to equip heavy armor and still roll made a way bigger survivability difference for me compared to vigor. As the game goes on you'll run into more and more dual/multi damage type attacks, and those heavy armors really help save you from a surprise strike/magic damage attack. It's one thing to prep for a boss with specific damage resistances, but these will just be regular-ass dudes with bleeding fire whips or freezing magic clubs. And they will come out of nowhere.
 

Dalisclock

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Still trying to beat up Alecto so I can steal her daughters ashes(that doesn't sound creepy, does it?) and man she is a beast. I've gotten down to half health but she can demolish me easily and since no summons allowed I have to git gud for this. It doesn't help she seems to be immune to fucking everything so even specing for weaknesses doesn't seem to help.

Maybe I'm just used to my weapons taking big chunks off the boss health bars so when I meet someone that doesn't work on it seems so much harder.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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You might look into the Moonveil Sword. It is a Katana that scales off Dex and Int, and it shoots lazerbeams.
Oh, I have. In fact, I use the area where you get it as my farming spot. But defeating the lizard thing to get it is impossible at my current level.

I found END very useful myself. Being able to equip heavy armor and still roll made a way bigger survivability difference for me compared to vigor. As the game goes on you'll run into more and more dual/multi damage type attacks, and those heavy armors really help save you from a surprise strike/magic damage attack. It's one thing to prep for a boss with specific damage resistances, but these will just be regular-ass dudes with bleeding fire whips or freezing magic clubs. And they will come out of nowhere.
Hmm, heavy armor is something I almost always something I avoid in games. And it would mean sacrificing my scaling for power. I will probably put in a few more points anyway because it feels like anything less than 15 for any stat except the magic stuff you don't use seems like asking for trouble.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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lol, yes, impossible for me. Upgraded a weapon to +10, hitting it takes off half a millimeter of health, hugging it for an hour and surviving until I get tired eventually slip up once and get one-shot. No thx.
I know how these games work. I've been disappointed by "just go get this weapon" advice for 6 games now, it's part of their charm.
 

Old_Hunter_77

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It really wouldn’t surprise me if this showed up on Fox News as their latest videogame smear campaign.
Does Fox smear video games? I thought they were too busy with dolls and cartoons and books and legal/academic theoretical frameworks. If anything, it seems to me that video game scares are more the provenance of MSNBC types. But I admit I can't even keep up with the rapid pace of bullshit any more.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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lol, yes, impossible for me. Upgraded a weapon to +10, hitting it takes off half a millimeter of health, hugging it for an hour and surviving until I get tired eventually slip up once and get one-shot. No thx.
I know how these games work. I've been disappointed by "just go get this weapon" advice for 6 games now, it's part of their charm.
I beat it with a pretty piddly SS with Bloody Slash ashes. This was before I even knew how much activating runes helped too.

Ashes help a lot with most stuff for real. I beat a catacombs boss in four hits with Wild Swings on my Morningstar last night.
 
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CriticalGaming

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lol, yes, impossible for me. Upgraded a weapon to +10, hitting it takes off half a millimeter of health, hugging it for an hour and surviving until I get tired eventually slip up once and get one-shot. No thx.
I know how these games work. I've been disappointed by "just go get this weapon" advice for 6 games now, it's part of their charm.
With a +10 weapon this should absolutely not be the case. You must be sinking points into a stat that your weapon does not scale with. There is no reason why a +10 weapon and a level 30+ character should not be able to deal decent damage to the magma wyrm.

My last playthrough was starting with a sam, grinding until level 40, then going to get Moonveil. So something is wrong with your setup.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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With a +10 weapon this should absolutely not be the case. You must be sinking points into a stat that your weapon does not scale with. There is no reason why a +10 weapon and a level 30+ character should not be able to deal decent damage to the magma wyrm.

My last playthrough was starting with a sam, grinding until level 40, then going to get Moonveil. So something is wrong with your setup.
Honestly I don't remember if I tried with +10, I definitely did with a +6...
This is where the game's bigness gets to me. So many things to keep track of.
I'm gonna keep going with my current set-up until I get bored or annoyed, I'm enjoying it. This morning while absent-mindedly running around the game while doing other stuff I stumbled into the Queen boss in the Academy. I was doing real good damage, I only lost because I didn't realize there was a second phase and put my controller down. So in terms of actually progressing through the game and holding my own in important fights, I'm good for now. I really like the Grossmesser.
Keeping in the spirit of "you can go back to things later" that is Elden Ring's selling point of the critics, I'm fine with waiting on the Moonlight Katana then.

I know I'm complaining a lot but that is kind of the appeal of these games- that I think about them and care so much about a state and a weapon and a boss.

Yesterday I had a fun moment- I was seeing footage and artwork of those enemies that are like robots on wheels with massive blades whirling about and it also grabs you and eats you. I figured oh man the first time I see one of those it'll kill me. But I encountered my first at the academy and took it out with patience and skill and my upgraded weapon. Felt good. A couple crabs crept up and I took 'em out, and I was feeling from them earlier in the game.

The Academy with its blue color scheme and library vibes reminds me of that Dark Souls area that ends with the dragon fight, I like that. I will fondly remember this nice little area when later on I'm dealing with poison and snow and all that other bullshit I know is coming.
 

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I beat it with a pretty piddly SS with Bloody Slash ashes. This was before I even knew how much activating runes helped too.

Ashes help a lot with most stuff for real. I beat a catacombs boss in four hits with Wild Swings on my Morningstar last night.
The morningstar is really nice for a weapon you can get early in game. Especially since it does Bleed and Strike damage at the same time, so if an enemy isn't vulnerable to one it likely is to the other. The only issue it has such short range.

Then again, I've been using Bloodhounds fang almost the entire way through and it's only been limited by the number of somber stones I can find. Pretty much anything that can bleed gets hurt by it really bad. Like double digit percentages of boss health with each hit.
 
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Dalisclock

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It really wouldn’t surprise me if this showed up on Fox News as their latest videogame smear campaign.
"There's a new game out of Japan where you overthrow the government and Kill God. It was made by Japanese Pagan Communists and it's being sold to children. Is this part of a plot to destroy America? The answer may shock you"-Bucky Tucky, Probably.
 
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Silvanus

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Then again, I've been using Bloodhounds fang almost the entire way through and it's only been limited by the number of somber stones I can find.
Is that the one with Bloodhound's Finesse as the art? If so I used that for about 75% of my first playthrough. Bloodhound's Finesse is badass.
 
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Dalisclock

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Is that the one with Bloodhound's Finesse as the art? If so I used that for about 75% of my first playthrough. Bloodhound's Finesse is badass.
It is. My only issue with it is that you can't switch the weapon art on it but otherwise it's melting most enemies in a couple of hits and it tends to inflict stagger a lot.

Anyway, I've about finished with Mt Gelmir. It does feel like a Traditional Souls Zone moreso the either Castle Redmane or Raya Lucaria Bogwarts Magic School. Not just Volcano Manor but really the entire area is an exercise in trying to figure out just where to go half the time. I did Rya's quest so I got a free ride up there but since I didn't really get to see the area I actually went back to try to find my way in the proper way and that was quite an experience. And then I realized there's a 2nd way to explore the area but you have to find an alternate path around poking around in the South of the Altus Plateau and there's another path that goes to a Briar Castle I'll have to look into later.

Volcano Manor feels like Iron Keep from Dark Souls 2...but, you know, good. It's more interesting to navigate, feels more like a "real" place, lots of secret passages and such. I also noticed that Gelmir looks a hell of a lot like that one shot from the Dark Souls 2 trailer where the PC is being riddled with arrows with a Volcanic castle(implied to be the Iron Keep) in the background.....and I noticed this after some puppets were riddling me with arrows on the climb up the mountain.

I also appreciate how you keep coming across these decrepit army camps along the way and seeing the frankly awful state of Lyndell troops who were ordered to assualt the manor and as one of the sword markers tells you, the campaign was a horrible quagmire that apparently never ended, considering those soldiers are still there and are often seen eating the dead, as well as many of them have been afflicted by the frenzied flame as well. Lyndell apparently just deployed them to Mt Gelmir and forgot about them at some point. To be fair, Assaulting Volcano Manor with an army looks like a goddamn nightmare, even if the bridge weren't out.
 
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