#Godskin Noble doing that one attack

[the-punforgiven]

Redline-esque movie about going very very fucking fast but instead of a wacky intergalactic raceway it's set in a psuedo-medieval fantasy setting so instead of cars and engines the main character is gathering up all the potions and spells they can in order to supercharge their fucking horse

[marina-the-witch]

Elden Ring Boss Ranking

Hi everyone!

With Elden Ring being my most replayed and almost most played game over all, I think my opinions on the bosses have definitely solidified enough for me to rank them individually. I will do so in this post.

Seeing as I can only attach 30 images and Elden Ring has a plethora of mini-bosses, I'll only be ranking bosses that reward you with achievements for beating them and ones necessary for story progression. Seeing as Godskin Noble and Duo fall under those criteria, I'll also include the Apostle as I would feel weird leaving it out.

Additionally, I won't be ranking the illusion/nerfed version of bosses and instead just lump them in with the real deal. This applies to Margit, Sewer Mohg, Siofra Ancestor Spirit, Godfrey and Carian Knight Loretta.

Remember that these are only my opinions and you're allowed to agree or disagree however much you want.

Bosses will also be put into a bit of a tiering system through colors. Blue means a boss is almost if not entirely perfect in my opinion and is one of Fromsoft's greatest to date. Purple means I do really enjoy a boss but have a handful of gripes with it that drag it down. Pink means i don't feel strongly about a boss one way or the other, either due to them not really being particularly noteworthy or having both really good and really bad aspects. Green means I don't really enjoy a boss but they have enough redeeming qualities for me to still like them a little bit. Orange means I do genuinely dislike a boss but can't bring myself to hate them. Red means they should be nuked from orbit.

With all that said, let's begin.

#1: God-Devouring Serpent/Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy

Rykard and Radahn fluctuate as my number 1 fairly consistently. While I definitely think Radahn has a better fight, I find the comparison a bit unfair seeing as Rykard is designed to be a gimmick fight. Unlike his predecessors like Storm Lord and Yhorm however, Rykard actually manages to stay challenging despite the game granting you the weapon specifically designed to kill him right away. What really makes Rykard so special for me is everything else. He is by far the most disgusting entity fromsoftware has ever produced in my opinion and I could go on about how much I love his design, lore and presentation for hours. I love everything about this fight, from the insanely memorable voice acting and reveal in phase 2, to the demonic rollercoaster of a theme and the symbolism of the chandeliers in his arena, with this grotesque monstrosity still framing itself a noble king. With a spectacular legacy dungeon to boot, Rykard, for me at least, is easily my favorite boss in Elden Ring.

#2: Starscourge Radahn

While I prefer his siblings in almost every other regard, Radahn for me is easily the most fun boss in the entire game and very consistently switches places with Rykard in my overall ranking like I said. With an immaculate battle theme that really emphasises the spectacle of taking down this fierce demigod, Radahn is a challenging and thrilling fight. While far from the hardest fight in Elden Ring, he can still throw me for a loop, especially as I tend to fight him without summons and a purposefully unupgraded weapon. His attacks are imposing and beautiful to look at while never feeling unfair and no boss better captures the feeling of giving a noble warrior a heroic end.

#3: Mohg, Lord of Blood/Mohg, the Omen

Far more controversial than my previous 2 picks, I can definitely understand why people don't really gel with Mohg. Even I used to not really like him, with Mohg the Omen actually making me almost cry out of frustration the very first time I fought him, as I had not yet gotten used to Elden Ring's delayed attack patterns. However, after fighting the real deal at the end of the game and being perfectly trained to evade his wide sweeps, I knew this boss was something special. Mohg is a thrilling, challenging fight, with an absolutely stunning battle theme that I would confidently call my favorite piece of music in Elden Ring and I could not be happier they made the last minute decision of adding him to the main boss line-up.

#4: Morgott, the Omen King/Margit, the Fell Omen

Much like his brother, Morgott is also an extremely thrilling and exciting fight. What makes him a little inferior to me, is that he's not quite as challenging as I think he should be and a few of his longer combos can feel a bit tacky and excessive. While I definitely see a lot of praise for Morgott as a character, I sometimes feel as though his fight and especially theme aren't really talked about enough though. Morgott is a perfect capper for the midgame of Elden Ring, just like how Margit is a perfect beginning, providing an extremely challenging but learnable fight that prepares the player for what's ahead. He, much like Radahn, is a boss worth nerfing myself for.

#5: Malenia,Blade of Miquella/Goddess of Rot

I feel like my placement of Malenia would be controversial no matter what. Understandably, seeing as she is maybe the single hardest boss in Fromsoftware's catalogue, Malenia is quite divisive and it even took me a couple attempts to finally start liking her. But this latest attempt, where I finally managed to best her without summons, was the one. While I do think Malenia can be really unfair at times, I can't deny that the duel with this master swordstress is a one-of-a-kind encounter. With an absolutely gorgeous theme, Malenia has wormed her way into my heart, despite all the trouble I've gone through while fighting her. My only, and obvious, gripe is that I feel as though her heal-on-hit-ability is a bit excessive and could have been substitued with a larger health pool, as I often found myself having a hard time hitting her when she was only a few hits away from death, when a simple mistake quickly undid a lot of my progress.

#6: Dragonlord Placidusax

Every Souls game needs it secret dragon, and more often then not, these fights end up being some of my favorites in the game and Placidusax is no exception. While I do prefer Midir overall, Placidusax is nothing if not a jaw-dropping spectacle with moves like the thundercloud form and lightning stake nuke. While not particularly hard, Placidusax manages to be fun and challenging regardless due to his robust defenses and high damage output. The only issue I've encountered is that the fight can drag on for a bit, and especially when her health is low, he will start teleporting all over the place, which can be a little annoying. Regardless, Placidusax is an absolute marvel of a boss and fits right in in a game so in love with making its fights cinematic spectacles without the use of cutscenes.

#7: Radagon of the Golden Order

For the purposes of this list, I'll be ranking Radagon and Elden Beast separately, as my opinions on them differ quite a bit. Radagon is an excellent final boss in my opinion, perfectly making use of the core fundamentals of every bosse's kit with a mix of heavy physical hits and ranged incantations. Him being quite challenging is a huge positive for me to, as I often feel as though the final bosses of souls games end up being needlessly easy and almost pathetic for narrative purposes. Additionally, genuinely no final bosse's theme, in any game I've played, has encapsulated the feeling of finality more than his, to the point of literally being called "The Final Battle." Radagon can be a bit unfair at times, but he is the perfect conclusion to your journey as Elden Lord.

#8: Godfrey, First Elden Lord/Hoarah Loux/Lord's Apparition

Godfrey is so effortlessly awesome. With a well telegraphed moveset, kickass presentation in the form of his cutscene and a gorgeous piece of music to accompany his fight, he is one of the most memorable encounters in the game and definitely the most popular boss overall for a good reason. However, I find myself having quite a hard time with him fairly consistently for some reason, which, while not his fault, does obviously impact my enjoyment of his fight overall. That's not too say I dislike it though, as I feel Godfrey's moveset is extremely satisfying to dodge and counter. Hoarah Loux on the other hand.... I don't know really. The fight against Hoarah Loux is too stressful for me to enjoy it long term and I mostly just try to reduce his health as much as I can before this phase triggers. That's not to say it's bad, I just don't enjoy the amount of grabbing going on as a result of Hoarah's very limited moveset. Overall, it doesn't stop me from loving Godfrey though, as Hoarah Loux rarely last very long anyway, and can be quite fun in small doses.

#9: Godrick the Grafted

Godrick is a really entertaining fight. His cutscenes, voice acting and presentation are on point and his mechanics definitely fit for the first shardbearer you'll be fighting on most playthroughs. I, however, often find myself struggling with dodging his moveset and often feel as though my victory is more a result of his fairly weak attack power and health pool. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy Godrick though, as I definitely do. Not only is he a fantastic first boss but I also find it quite fun from a narrative perspective that he's nowhere near as challenging as his.... great uncle? who's guarding his castle. I can't confidently rank him higher unfortunately, since Convergence and Godefroy have taught me that a tanky, high damage Godrick can be quite the piece of work.

#10: Beast Clergyman/Maliketh, the Black Blade

Oh boy, Maliketh. Quite the story with this one. I actually only properly started Elden Ring quite a long while after most of my friends had already beaten it and as such they were all EXTREMELY excited to see my reaction to this guy, especially seeing as his cutscene is a blatant reference to not only my favorite boss in bloodborne, but any game I've ever played, Ludwig. However, their expecations were met with harsh disappointment as Maliketh frustrated me to the point of actual tears and I had to resort to a cheese strategy using the Redmane Flames Ash of War. After giving the game a try or two more though, I've warmed up to Maliketh quite a bit. I do think he can be a little annoying with how mobile he is and don't really like how his fight will often just end up with him stalling and only surviving as long as he does due to you not being able to hit him, especially regarding his tiny health pool. Additionally, I also find Beast Clergyman quite annoying and wish the threshhold for phase 2 was moved up to 90 or 80% max rather than the 70 to 50% it's at currently. However, overall, I do still enjoy Maliketh and think his lore and presentation make up for my many gripes with his fight.

#11: Lichdragon Fortissax

The other major dragon fight of Elden Ring, Fortissax, doesn't hit quite as hard as Placidusax for me unfortunately. Undeniably awesome with his presentation and placed in a real scary arena, Fortissax ends up being quite overwhelming with his combination of deathblight clouds and red lightning. The latter definitely drags the fight down for me quite a bit, as I much prefer Placi's 4 timed strikes with much greater range and damage over Fortissax's constant shower of them. However, while I do have many gripes with this fight, I can't deny the concept of a death-riddled dragon protecting his former best friend is one of the coolest presented by Elden Ring and, lightning aside, Fortissax does show that the ancient dragons are actually really good, whereas every other encounter with them ends up being quite messy due to elevations really messing up their movesets in my eyes.

#12: Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree/Loretta, Carian Knight

In my opinion the MOST underrated boss in the game. Loretta is awesome, with a gorgeous armor set and a super fun take on the already pretty enjoyable Tree Sentinel moveset. Her greatbow spell drops are some of my favorites in the game to boot. Unfortunately, she does blend in a bit with all the other horse bosses (I blame the five-hundred Night's Cavalry) and ends up never being very challenging, but on paper, her moveset is well telegraphed and fun to dodge. My only gripe is that the Carian Phalanx and Glintstone Stars she begins casting when you move away can be a little bit annoying, but overall, Loretta is easily the best miniboss in the game in my opinion.

#13: Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella

Another boss that I don't really feel gets a good amount of appreciation is the Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella. Ignoring the one in the Lake of Rot, Dragonkin Soldiers are just really cool to me, both in lore and design, as well as their fight. Not only do you fight this one in what might be my favorite arena in the game visually, it also has a surprising and unique phase transition not seen in any of the other soldiers, with the Nokstella soldier sprouting wings and beginning to cast frozen lightning, which is one of the coolest magic concepts Elden Ring provides in my opinion. My only wish is that the second phase would trigger a lot sooner, as the boss is not very hard and often ends up dying before it gets time to shine.

#14: Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon

While I would agree Rennala is the best sorceror fight Fromsoft has provided thus far, I would not say that's a very difficult title to claim, nor is Rennala anything to write home about. Her first phase is quite simple but it is kind of fun to mow down rows upon rows of the juvenile scholars with a big weapon every now and then. Her second phase is fairly alright too, with Rennala not dishing out a ludicrous amount of damage and having a nice variety of sorceries to cast. A bit like Placidusax, I do sometimes find the fight drags on a bit as she stalls and relies on her summons rather than actually fighting you, but considering how easy she is, it's really no big deal. Of course I can't not mention her gorgeous arena, as it immediately made me think back to Bloodborne's Moonside lake, and anything that reminds me of Bloodborne gets a plus in my book.

#15: Commander Niall

Out of the 2 commander bosses, Niall is definitely the more standout one. Banished Knights suck and I hate them, so I'll try to look at Niall on his own, and I gotta say, I quite like him. His hitboxes can feel a bit over the top but that aside I think he's genuinely a really fun fight, and definitely the hardest miniboss the game has to offer in my opinion. His weapon, while absurd, is quite cool and definitely worth a try for those who want to focus on physical stats but still have the benefits of lightning damage, especially seeing as it scales with dexterity anyway. Niall definitely feels like a good pick to be guarding the last thing you need to enter the Haligtree.

#16: Magmawyrm Makar

While I often find myself annoyed with the other Magma Wyrms and their tendency to do little else besides their magma charge, Makar is quite a fun little miniboss in my opinion. The ruin-strewn precipice is a fairly cool little side area and Makar is a very good capper for it and an even better guardian for the Altus Plateau. His reveal is quite funny, but overall, I can't really say much about this boss, as his fight is just okay across the board. Nothing particularly annoying nor amazing to note, really.

#17: Regal Ancestor Spirit/Ancestor Spirit

The Ancestor Spirits are, in my opinion, mostly noteworthy for their gorgeous music and presentation, but their fights end up being quite lacklustre unfortunately due to a fairly limited movepool. They're not hard at all, with the Regal Spirit's only "challenge" coming from the hard to dodge roll it attains after absorbing a boar's soul and the health regen move it pulls out every now and then. Much like Makar, I can't really say I love, nor hate these two, but the Regal Spirit's aformentioned health regen does make it a bit more bothersome than Makar on occasion. Overall, their beautiful design and music do make them worth experiencing even despite their medicore fight.

#18: Godskin Noble

I found myself actually quite enjoying the Godskin Noble as of late, to the point I'd actually say they're a little overhated. The thrusting attacks feel nice to dodge but even better to block and counter but obviously it's far from perfect. Obviously his roll has gained infamy ever since the game came out and understandably so, but other moves such as its powerful thrust can also be a bit tough to work with. Other than that, Godskin Noble is a perfect example of a boss that is so perfectly alright that i don't have much else to praise it for nor complain about.

#19: Elden Beast

While also being kind of undeserving of all the hatred it receives, Elden Beast is very far from being a fun boss in my opinion. For starters, it is WAY too tanky, with half of its fight feeling like a sisyphean effort of slapping its chest until something finally happens. Additionally, its moveset feels very limited, especially for a final boss. Lastly, and most importantly, it does really bother me that in order to even be able to fight this extremely tanky boss, you have to beat another fairly difficult one beforehand every time, so it becomes a kind of unbearable endurance run in hopes of having enough ressources left to beat this fairly underwhelming boss. Its one redeeming feature comes in form of its truly breathtaking design, but otherwise, I can't say I'm a big fan.

#20: Astel, Naturalborn of the Void

Astel used to be in my Top 5 but he quickly fell out of favor after the Honeymoon phase of "Wow, they added a Bloodborne Great One to the end of my favorite character's quest line" wore off. Astel is, for lack of a better word, annoying. His wide range and tendency to fly above a lot of moves with his thin gangly body make him bothersome to approach and a lot of his attacks, such as waves of darkness, meteorite shower and the gravity ring just feel bad to dodge or get hit by. Astel is another boss whose main merit comes from presentation and design, but unfortunately, his fight is quite weak with very few redeeming qualities in my opinion.

#21: Godskin Apostle

This may be a bit of a hot take, but I've found myself struggling with Godskin Apostle a lot more than Noble, to the point I like it a fair bit less. His twinblade combos can be quite a hassle and he feels much more prolific with his usage of blackflame than the Noble. His blackflame tornado and weapon helicopter are also pretty annoying. Overall, I don't really enjoy the Godskin Apostle's fight, but it feels like more of a personal struggle than the boss actually being bad, hence its ranking.

#22: Mimic Tear

I really don't have much to say about this boss. It's hard to consistently judge as how fun or annoying it is entirely depends on how you approach it. Overall though, I do like the concept and it can be quite funny. Due to its inconsistency and me not really caring for NPC invaders in general though, I'll just put it as the cut-off point for bosses I just genuinely dislike.

#23: Godskin Duo

Godskin Duo isn't good, but it's not as bad as people say either in my opinion. Being made up of two pretty average bosses and especially after the balance patch to duo bosses, the Duo ends up just being a kind of whatever fight that can be a bit annoying sometimes. I really don't have much to say other than that. Guess I will use this spot to say how much I love the Godskin theme though.

#24: Draconic Tree Sentinel

I don't like this guy he looks like burnt chicken and waffles. I don't really have much to say about this guy either. His AoEs and Hitboxes can be real weird and annoying and I hate the horse fireball spam you will be subjected to if you even dare try to heal. He's just kind of a necessary evil, not really worth complaining about.

#25: Fire Giant

By far my least favorite remembrance boss, Fire Giant is everything people say is wrong with fromsoft's plethora of giant bosses. Not only do you just spend the entire time slapping its ankles, Fire Giant also has an absurdly massive health pool, and a boss that wastes your time will always annoy me more than one that gets you with cheap bullshit. While having a fantastic and underrated theme and really cool lore, I really don't enjoy fighting Fire Giant at all due to his large health pool and wide range AoEs.

#26: Elemer of the Briar

I can't stand this guy and I can't stand that there's like 8 of him. I really don't see where this "Elemer is the most underrated boss" idea came from, because I personally think Elmo deserves every bit of hate he gets. My girlfriend put it perfectly when she said "Elemer has a punish for you existing", because it really does feel like he can counter everything you do, no matter if you're healing, jumping, casting or attacking. While it's cool that his sleek sword is the reward for fighting him, I really don't enjoy the battle with Elemer at all.

#27: Leonine Misbegotten

Genuinely how do you make Gael, Dark Souls' greatest boss in my opinion, so fucking unbearable. With a non stop barrage of overly staggering sword swings, Leonine Misbegotten is without fail an insanely annoying fight for me. Its arena is really cool but that is about the only positive I can give it. I already don't like Castle Morne, nor the Grafted Blade and Leonine Misbegotten really doesn't help either of their cases.

#28: Valiant Gargoyles

Like I said before, Godskin Duo isn't as bad as actually say. Valiant Gargoyles, on the other hand, might somehow be worse, despite nobody being able to stand them anyway. I really don't have anything of note to add to the conversation about this god awful fight and writing about these bosses I hate is already draining enough, so I'll just move on.

#29: Red Wolf of Radagon

While I do think from a game design perspective, Valiant Gargoyles and Gideon are worse, Red Wolf frustrates me more than anything else. Not only is it a cheap attempt at making Dark Souls fans rejoice by reusing scrapped content from 3 that's obviously reminiscent of one of the most memorable fights in the first game, Red Wolf is also just really annoying, with its overy long combos and tendency to avoid attacks by jumping around aimlessly. The only saving grace is it's tiny health pool, but that still requires you hit it to begin with, which, unfortunately, isn't always a given. Red Wolf just pisses me off in a way I can't really properly describe but at least it's over quick most of the time.

#30: Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing

Not only is Gideon a massive cunt, his boss fight also sucks. Being everything wrong with both NPC invaders and sorceror bosses, Gideon is one unbearable spam sandwich of spells that more than likely will kill you in 2 shots. Gideon has genuinely no redeeming qualities that affect his fight and there is a very good reason everyone uses his admittedly pretty cool monologue to instantly bumrush him the second they pass the fog gate. Gideon's fight really is a huge letdown considering how much of a despicable cunt he is, but I suppose there wasn't really a better way to do it. Regardless, I hate fighting Gideon. It's cheap, annoying, unfair and rewards you with a subpar weapon. If he wasn't mandatory nobody would be fighting this guy.

[commander-snacks]

Hey who IS that husband-man? Is he an elden ring? A dark souls? What’s his whole vibe? Like, what’s he workin with?

YES! he is a elden ring :3

But here I can explain pretty much everything we know about him!! He and apostle dont have a ton of lore but what we do know about them is really cool. Ill include some info about the Apostle as well since their lore is interconnected

Generally, the Godskins are a mysterious type of creature (literally how theyre referred to in-game. They only appear human but are far from it). We see two types of godskins in-game, the Apostles (tall n skinny) and the Nobles (my hubby) They once served an as-of-yet unseen character called the "Gloam Eyed Queen". Since their queen was defeated long ago, theyve scattered all around the lands between. Their goal, simply put, is to kill the gods flay them, and wear their skin as a trophy.

More info under the cut!!!

-The godskins are masters of the art of black flame, a flame that was once capable of killing gods. Since death was sealed away by queen Marika however, this power has been lost. Black flame will still fuck you up good though.

-Since this power was lost, they now resort to flaying humans and albinaurics alike.

Unique twinblade wielded by Godskin Apostles characterized by its disturbing design. One end features a sickle for slicing attacks while the other boasts a winding spike for boring into flesh. -Godskin peeler description

-Most godskins seem to still be loyal to the gloam eyed queen even if she isnt around, seeking to unseal death and hunt gods again. However some have found themselves new masters, one Noble found in the volcano manor is believed to now serve Rykard instead

-The nobles are the most ancient of the apostles. Theyre a higher rank than them which is shown by their "seven-faced apron" theyre adorned with. Since the gloam eyed queen was defeated so long ago, we can assume the nobles are hundreds if not thousands of years old.

Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology -Godskin hood item description

-The "assimilated inhuman physiology" is proven by their reptilian features, see their big scaly tails:

-Their bodies are also almost clay-like in nature, able to squash and stretch at will. The apostle can stretch to great lengths, and the noble can expand himself tenfold

-Even though they appear only as a cruel human-slaying cult, theres a consistent theme of parental/maternal love in their origins. The godskin swaddling cloth is an obvious one, but also the fact that a noble is found guarding the serpents amnion (a literal womb)

The Gloam-Eyed Queen cradles newborn apostles swaddled in this cloth. Soon they will grow to become the death of the gods. -Swaddling cloth description

-With this knowledge we know the gloam eyed queen had a very personal relationship with the godskins, possibly even creating them herself.

-The nobles in particular are extremely skilled in swordsmanship, clear in their actual bossfight and also the description for their sword

Elegant piercing sword with a celadon colored blade wielded by Godskin Nobles.

The nobles possess skill with the sword unmatched by any lowborn. Despite its size, successive attacks from this weapon are swifter than the eye can follow. -Description for the godskin stitcher

-They are HUGE!!!!!!! They only look human in their proportions from afar until you get right up next to em. The nobles foot is the size of my whole torso and apostle is so tall its hard to even keep him in frame

-The godskins are unique in the fact that theyre the only mandatory bosses that can be put to sleep. Its unknown why this is, but it sure is cute

Aaaand thats all I can think to add right now!! oh, and theyre also the baldest mother fuckers youve ever seen in your life. Like on god

[chibelial]

Debating on my next Elden Ring Build, please gimme your thoughts!

Under the cut I’ll describe builds I already have, and please in the notes talk about your own builds!

Alright I’ve got a few characters, 2 of which have been rebirthed into a new character/build. Here they are, in the order I made them

1. Veteran Blood Priest - Aegon: this being my first character, it went under a few revisions. I don’t remember exactly what build I was trying to run with initially, but as soon as I defeated Mohg and got the Sacred Spear; everything had to change. I love this weapon, it’s probably my favorite in the game. I revamped my character immediately into a wall of armor and poise, every stat that wasn’t put into stamina for that express purpose was poured into Arcane for max damage. With the Veterans armor and the bullgoat talisman, I could almost always activate the weapon art uninterrupted, and it would even melt bosses who can’t bleed. I went into NG+ and finished near every boss in maybe 12-15 hours and I take these playthroughs SLOW, the trident was just that strong, especially its weapon art. However I leveled this guy to like 170 or 180 and after that I realized you generally wanna stop anywhere between the 90s and the 140s, so I really don’t play him anymore, hence why I have bleed characters and a trident build on my list lol, I’d like to make one within decent leveling parameters. Also, this guy got the Frenzy ending. I found the 3 fingers by accident on my first playthrough and got the most vile ending.

2. Black Flame Knight - Bakura: Night’s Cavalry Armor and all the black flame incantations, maxed out godskin seal and godskin peeler. With Shard of Alexander and some other fire damage buffs, nothing melts bosses faster and more consistently than the black flame tornado, and all the spells are just insanely strong. People who say Intelligence/Dexterity builds are playing in easy mode may not be wrong, but I’d wager the game is almost as easy when you run a proper black flame set up.

Initially this guy was gonna be a death sorcerer, the name Bakura was a Yugioh reference to Bakura who always used occult themed cards and quite famously had destiny board, which I was supplementing as the rancor spells. Like 2/3 way through the game the build was trash. I just didn’t do it right cuz my brother has built a phenomenal death rite sorcerer. Ended up rebirthing and doing a black flame build. Haven’t renamed him yet but I probably will give him something more suiting.

3. Ranni’s Consort Eternal - Asmodeus: This was meant to be a conglomerate of all the “night” themed magic stuff I could use, and ofc this character did ranni’s ending. I used the zweidander with a magic, and later a frost weapon art, for most of the playthrough, to get myself ready for the Darkmoon Sword. Tried out Blaidd’s as well and loved it, but stuck w the darkmoon for immersion. Sorceries were a mix of night and gravity sorceries. I think I threw in 1 or 2 frost ones near the end just to prock the status more often.

4. Perfumer/Status Build - Carl Weezer: my brother and I were doing Carl weezer (from the show Jimmy Neutron for those unaware) and one night when I was stumped on what to do w a new character, I was like fuck it let’s make Carl. So I used the Godskin Noble armor, with the Albinauric mask, and I specifically made use of breathe and scream attacks. Using talismans to boost those and the perfume items, Carl was a VERY gimmicky tarnished. If you’re confused as to why the scream, breathe, and perfume attacks, it was simple. Carl is always defined by his failing health and his asthma so we decided, the perfume items were his inhalers and the breathe attacks kinda fit too. Scream attacks were based on the fantastic 4 / X-Men episode where his powers are burp based. Sorry to offend asthmatics but I had very little to work with. Carl ended up being such a mess that I rebirthed him with rennala and turned him into the next character I’ll list -

5. Beast Champion: This guy had Bernhal’s full set of armor, except of the head which was the Blaidd mask. Maim focus was just damage with the Beast Claw Hammer, but I ran the claw mark seal and all the beast incantations as well, along with a couple crucible spells. Ran a Cinquedea as well for a speedy option during pvp. I tried to use physical buff items and spells as often as possible to make up for the fact that this build was pure physicality, no damage dealing items weapons or skills unless they dealt physical

6. Lord of Frenzied Flame - Tenebrae: My magnum opus. This tarnished is the best in pvp of any of my builds, and aesthetically he’s so perfect. He’s a balance between faith and arcane, and I have the dragon communion seal in 1 hand and the frenzy in the other. I wear Eleanora’s gauntlets and have the Frenzy seal in the gold hand, and the communion seal in the red dragon scaled hand. I usually cast with the frenzy seal for the buff but in pvp the communion seal builds frenzy super easy on other players. With the gauntlets I just have Morgott’s Robe and the Merchants Headpiece, the headpiece is obv a reference to where the three fingers are found as well as Kalé’s cut questline. I thought morgott’s robe looked so raggedy and worn, it was perfect, plus what a mocking gesture to the golden order and the greater will than to be clad in the robe of Leyndell’s last king. It also was the only piece I could think of that kinda suited the giant flaming head you get during the end cutscene, thing has the watermelon for head size like SpongeBob’s sweater of tears. Ofc I was also running Vykes spear with this guy, but he was mostly a caster.

7. Blood Knight - Belial: I basically wanted to make a bleed character who was super fast instead of super slow and tanky, unfortunately I chose to use Eleanora’s poleblade instead of katanas or reduvia or something. It’s such a cool weapon but I was struggling a bit at the endgame, so I rebirthed this guy to use the trident again, but with a light roll. He’s currently got Mohg’s robe and I switch the other armor around here and there. I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with this tarnished he hasn’t finished the game. Maybe the dlc will give us a twinmace and I can turn him into Ultraman Belial. I think I may just NG+ him into one of the guilds on the poll.

8. Adherent of Rot - Icky Vicky: this character focuses on inflicting rot and poison on strong enemies, while quickly cutting away HP with powerstanced daggers and consecutive damage boosting talismans. Right now she mainly uses 2 scorpion stingers and swaps 1 for reduvia at times. Haven’t NG+ yet but someone gave me a 2nd stinger. I’d like to get a 2nd Antspur rapier, with a poison weapon art both weapons could build rot and poison simultaneously. Character also wears Malenia’s gear with the mushroom crown. I use perfume items a lot and the poison and rot pots.

[official-emerald-herald]

I think I've isolated one of the key issues with magic in elden ring and why it doesn't lend itself to variety as well, and why catch flame and carian slicer are such staples in caster builds.

Back in Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2, enemies were slow. Keeping distance, circling, outspacing without rolling, and just basic beating to the punch with faster attacks was pretty easy for most enemies because the speed of enemies was fairly minimal outside of a few more agile opponents. This made casting fairly straightforward because with sorcery one could thin a crowd with long range, high damage single shot spells. And for miracles or pyromancy, the key was to either pre-empt an attack using high stagger to prevent a trade or use large AOE spells to make up for long casting time. The flow of combat was massively altered from melee strategy but it flowed nonetheless.

Elden Ring, however, is very fast. Not only is it fast, enemies are far more rounded out with their abilities to counter multiple play styles. Nearly every non-fodder enemy can match your run speed, most enemies have gap closing attacks and heal punish moves, a great deal have spell punish moves, and there's just generally a ton of input-reading going on with enemy AI. Add on the fact that a ton of enemies and bosses have ridiculous levels of hyperarmor during a ton of their attacks, and that a lot of spells deal almost no hitstun at all, and it becomes really hard to actually find safe ways to use anything with a long casting time.

On top of all of this, the way enemy attacks work has been changed significantly. The amount of variation between enemy attack patterns that are possible has been exponentially increased in Elden Ring. Malenia is an extreme example but other bosses like the Godskin Nobles and Apostles, Ancient Zamor warrior, the Nox boss and basic Nox enemies, the black knives, and a few more have so many different moves that can chain together with very little visible wind-up that it feels like committing to an attack at any given time just means accepting that you're probably gonna have to trade hits. Trying to find truly safe windows of opportunity to attack against the Godskins is so notoriously tedious that even people insane enough to no-hit the game cheese these bosses with sleep pots lest the entire fight just look like begging to do anything besides dodging.

So yeah, of course most people are gonna use the two spells in the game that deal immense damage on par with colossal swords that chain as fast as daggers. The gulf in skill and endurance required to successfully fight anything in Elden Ring with Catch Flame or Carian Slicer and literally any other kind of spell exclusively is so wide it's actually insane. All of this isn't even mentioning the insanely low FP cost of these two spells compared to the rest of the game's magic.

Variety was a staple of older souls games because, well, those games were simpler. It's easy to have fun using way more spells when actually using them is simpler. Elden Ring magic is super cool and interesting, but the game is so much faster and more complex than its predecessors that those spells are often not convenient enough to justify using unless you want extra unnecessary challenge.

[feartheoldblog]

OI

OPEN UP! I GOT ASKS!

8. What are your 3 favourite areas and why?

16. Who is the most underrated NPC in your opinion?

29. What are your 3 favourite non-boss enemies? (behave)

35. What ingame faction would you belong to?

HELLO BIM I HOPE YOU ARE BLESSED WITH TESCO BAGUETTES ON THIS FINE DAY

8. What are your 3 favourite areas and why?

Okay so in no particular order:

Castle Cainhurst (Bloodborne): I don’t even know if I have to explain tbh it’s a super cool dilapidated vampire castle covered in snow. The lore surrounding it is really interesting as well, as are the enemy types. Also ice pop grandpa is pretty cool 👍

Irithyll of the Boreal Valley (DS3): It has this really uneasy feeling attached to it. The Sulyvahn’s Beast that attacks you on the bridge is ofc the first sign that something isn’t right but the emptiness of it is so unsettling. Until you bump into the knights and get murdered (rite of passage). The lore, once again, is impeccable, and the architecture is magnificent. Furthermore, the little ghosts of the Irithyll people are super eerie but also tragic :’)

Prison Town (Elden Ring): This was a difficult choice because I love the Haligtree aesthetics (hate it’s enemies) but I had to choose PT because I enjoy mostly everything about it. The Godskin Noble is a bit annoying as a boss but they’re easy dealt with with a bit of patience! The view of a literal town semi-submerged in lava is amazing. Rykard, you are a genius. A terrifying one, though.

16. Who is the most underrated NPC in your opinion?

I think everyone in BB gets a decent amount of attention bc there’s like 10 NPCs so I’m gonna have to say Irina from DS3. Her and Eygon’s dynamic is really interesting and I really want to know what she did to get sent there. Of course there’s the firekeeper thing but Eygon seems really perturbed about coming here and insults her specifically. Also she’s just super nice. I can never bring myself to learn the dark incants from her bc it upsets her </3 Also the braille makes her happy.

29. What are your 3 favourite non-boss enemies? (behave)

Life is so unfair when I have to behave 💔💔💔

Okay:

1) Corvian Knights (DS3)

2) Ringed City Knights (DS3)

3) Second Generation Albinaurics (Elden Ring) - my silly little guys

DS3 had the best enemy selection honestly

Do I enjoy fighting most of these? No, because they are evil and destroy me. Are they cool? Absolutely.

35. What ingame faction would you belong to?

Bloodborne: I’d love to be an Workshop Hunter. I feel like you have a great selection of weapons to choose from, the armour is stylish and you’ve got some of the strongest hunters to support you. Realistically though probably the Choir (I am too asthmatic).

Dark Souls: The DS world absolutely terrifies me so I’d hate to be in any of the covenants but if I had to choose I’d probably say the Watchdogs of Farron. I wanna make the dead dog happy :( (also they’re basically DS1 forest hunters. kinda sucks that we don’t get the flip ring though)

[conjoinedpubes]

Adventures of Solis - Chapter 5: Midgame to Mountaintops

Adventures of Solis - Chapter Index Not much changes from last time - combo, stance break, do critical. This chapter discusses how various mid game bosses went. Done between RL 40+8 and 60+12.

The Rennala Wall

Here we run into the first major build issue - how do you handle magic resistant foes? The answer is 'use Status or Rock Sling', but neither are justifiable for the character theme.

For me, the fun of buildmaking is coming up with interesting solutions given the restraints. Thus, I decided to avoid Rennala and go after Radahn as our second Demigod - then return for Raya Lucaria when we come up with an interesting solution.

As with everything in Soulsbourne, you can just ignore the penalty and beat everything with sheer grit and fundamentals - but again, that kind of spoils the point.

Magma Wyrm(s)

Best practice target for various combos. Big body boss, generous timing to prepare spells, charged attacks, land crits etc.

Very easy stun > critical > repeat.

Draconic Tree Sentinel

One of those fights with plenty of prep time. Load up glintblades, wind up that charged heavy - then weave in Impaling Thrust to slide between his moves. Nothing unusual about this fight, but it did reveal another notable issue with Solis.

How do you exploit stuns on bosses that cannot be critical hit?

Here, I chose to flask up and/or prepare more spells. Definitely less explosive and flashy than running in for the massive riposte critical.

Starscourge Radahn

One the hardest enemies to stance break. Still, do combo as per normal, poke with swift shard to keep poise chipping when he starts riding around.

It can be hard to position for a crit, since default position for fighting Radhan puts you behind him - away from where his head will fall when stance broken.

Not much else to say, Radahn has weirdly low hp and is weak to frostbite - very trivial fight even if you dont land the crit.

Loretta, Royal Knight

Suprisingly easy boss. Illusion Loretta is vulnerable to magic damage (as it turns out - most illusions/spirits are). Good place to use Impaling Thrust to close distance - as she has a habit of jumping back.

Like dragon tree sentinel, theres no critical spot for her.

Godskin Apostle/Noble

Maybe the best illustration of what Solis does best - chaining stuns on big human-like foes.

His Blackflame spells are very exploitable; giving ample time to prepare more Glintblade/Phalanx, or simply just lunge under the fireball with Impaling Thrust.

Commander O'Neil

Same as above - stunning 'bigger than average dudes' seems to be a clear specialty of this build.

Only strategy worth noting is to fight outside the main arena, away from his army.

Flesh Dragon(s) - Agheel, Smarag etc.

Dragons are easy to stun - Glintblades to the head, Swiftshard to chip. Heavy attacks to the head when possible.

Smarag runs into the Rennala problem; we have no good answer to natural magic resist. These kinds of fights are just a slow brawl with the default Greatsword moveset, even if they may not be hard.

Morgott, Omen King

The most technical fight so far. He has all the weaknesses this build is good at exploiting - but the fast speed of the fight is the trouble. His tendency to jump around makes this a good fight to practice the 'Swiftshard chipping technique'.

Use his 2 phase changes to prepare Glintblades. The rest is just knowing your openings vs his moveset.

And there it is; the Liurnia - Capital boss arc.

Adventures of Solis

Chapter Index

Next | Previous | Beginning

[goji-pilled]

MK-S: Yeah, the duo fights aren’t the best. The enemies that make up duos just don’t really compliment each other very well. With Ornstein and Smogh, one was fast and agile, while the other was much more slow. It was almost like a dance; do you try to take on Ornstein while keeping an eye out for how close Smogh is? Or do you aim at Smogh, but have to deal with Ornstein quickly coming to his aid?

The Elden Ring duo fights suffer from what feels like each boss trying to do the same thing at once. You can’t really “kite”/lure one further away from the other, to either attack the one you lured, or have a few seconds where the lured one can’t help the slower of the two.

Maybe they’ll get it right in the DLC.

ive seen a bunch of people by now saying ornstein and smough are overrated and werent a good boss and i genuinely dont get why. as you said they compliment eachother during the fight and force you to think about how to go about this fight and keep an eye on your surroundings since one can always sneak up on you suddenly if youre too preoccupied with the other.

but on the other hand they also reside in a pretty big arena with enough space to allow you to hande both of them as well as their second phases

its a genuinely challenging but imo well balanced fight thats nothing short of amazing through the boss design, the music (GOD that theme is so good its wild) and when you finally do beat them it feels so satiesfying, like you really just overcame an amazing foe, such a rewarding feeling. i always remember how happy and euphoric i was when i got them. (also ornstein was the more difficult one to handle imo lol)

ornstein and smough you will forever be my favourite dark souls boss (+ornstein's armor as a reward from the merchant is great its one of my favourite sets in the game)

meanwhile, and although its just a silly sideboss, i always think about that pumpkin head duo in caelid, that fight is unfun to me because they both came at you constantly and the space was cramped and it was just awful... and im SO not looking forward to the day i'll have to fight the godskin duo, since i already fought the apostle as well as the noble on their own which i already didnt like. together? nah man i dont want to ngl 😭

[eldenlord420]

Some things never change, and unfortunately, I'm back with yet another rant. For some unknown reason the wonderful developers at Fromsoft seem to like making cheesy bosses that make your day not so fun. For example, the godskin noble or the godskin apostle. The Noble is a big round boy who despite his appearance moves around VERY fast! By that I mean he rolls around, and he doesn't stop for several seconds, even after he hits you. The apostle on the other hand is tall and lanky and similar to his appearance he is stretchy and uses his inhuman elasticity to stretch his torso out and attack you or my favorite, Spin in a circle with his spear while slowly moving towards you for several seconds. Now both of these bosses are similar in that they are very annoying to fight, especially because they both share one ability that is exactly the same as each other's in which they hurl flaming skulls at you every time you try to heal, these skulls are homing skulls and they do a lot of damage and stagger you. So, I don't know who at Fromsoft thought it was a good idea to put both of these guys in a boss room together for us the players to fight. But whoever you are, I LOATHE you!