Only thing I can rationalize on the slap vs punch debate is Chris Rock is looking pretty old and in the last second he decides to go for slap. The motion itself is weird as if he was going to go all in and then pulls back half way into it.
It's like Onyxia, you have to figure out which way they're going to go before breath attack. There's also at least one dragon that's "indoors" and you can't use the horse with.
Blocking against bosses early on is pretty tough. As you said, their combo's will completely drain your stamina until you get a shield with good guard boost and upgrade it with smithing. I would go with dodging/parrying early on until you can get a high level of stamina and a better shield.
For fire giant I did phase 1 on foot since it was easier to dodge through his plate attacks where as the horse you had to try to dash away. Then in phase 2 I switched to horse which made it easier to get back behind him after this roll and wack on his ankle. And once you got on his ankle again...
Yeah the upgrade system could use a tweak. You don't get the late game smithing bells until the last two optional zones when there isn't much to the game left. And even then, there's only a limited number of dragon stones for the final upgrade. So unless you've played for awhile and know exactly...
rape bears and giant octopuses work as well. Funny story, found a giant wyrm boss while running around the snowfields while also had a nearby giant octopus agro on me. The wyrm and octopus started fighting and the octopus kepting stance breaking the wyrm so I just stood there and beat on it for...
Anyone still use Radagons Soreseal if they can hit all their softcaps without it? Wondering if its still worth the extra damage you take or should I trade it out for a different talisman
Yup, upgrading to the lionel armor with its massive poise lets me shrug off all kinds of shit. I still take damage, but I don't get knocked to the ground like a little bitch from most basic attacks.
I struggled on Niall too, he'd kill my summon so fast and he hit like a truck. Fire giant was actually pretty easy for me, I was able to identify his move set and a good strat faster than most bosses I've fought. Killed him in maybe 5-6 tries.
Finally found something late game that was weak against my 2h fat boy, bullied the shit out of the assassin that drops black knife tiche ashes. Kept him staggered the whole fight and only had to stop bashing his face in to regen stamina. Felt good man.