Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Loser Araysar

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So I have been playing a bow build so far. It's been pretty good. Long bow for big damage pulls and short bow for quick melee shots. Ive killed through Godrick and 10 or so random world bosses.

The down side is it takes a fuck ton of farming for arrows since you can only carry 99 of each kind and you spend a lot of cash buying them.

So I am thinking of taking a dex weapon or something as back up I can really focus on. Any suggestions?

Theres a talisman for unlimited arrows
 
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Chanur

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i was just messin with ya
son of a bitch predator GIF by Ben L
 
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Kaige

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So I have been playing a bow build so far. It's been pretty good. Long bow for big damage pulls and short bow for quick melee shots. Ive killed through Godrick and 10 or so random world bosses.

The down side is it takes a fuck ton of farming for arrows since you can only carry 99 of each kind and you spend a lot of cash buying them.

So I am thinking of taking a dex weapon or something as back up I can really focus on. Any suggestions?

I did an archer build playthrough and the only alternative weapon I used were crossbows. Some of them are pretty good. Pulley crossbow is pretty easy to get your hands on and tears things up.

Since they work on bolts, they use alternative ammo and don't affect your arrow supply.
 
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Chanur

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I did an archer build playthrough and the only alternative weapon I used were crossbows. Some of them are pretty good. Pulley crossbow is pretty easy to get your hands on and tears things up.

Since they work on bolts, they use alternative ammo and don't affect your arrow supply.
Good idea thanks! Did you stick with the short bow and long bow all the way through?
 

Kaige

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Good idea thanks! Did you stick with the short bow and long bow all the way through?

Yeah, no melee weapons whatsoever. It sucked at times and the farming was tedious, but there were some moments I had to get creative.

Black bow I think was my main bow, and I used the serpent bow as well since if you use the serpent arrows with it, the poison build up takes only like...2 or 3 shots?

Make sure to kill the Bell Bearing Hunter that spawns at night sometimes at the Warmaster's Shack. He drops a bell for the twins you can use to buy unlimited bones for custom arrows.

Greatbows and Ballistaes also work alternatively, but I didn't use those that much because they were slower.
 
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Phazael

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So I have been playing a bow build so far. It's been pretty good. Long bow for big damage pulls and short bow for quick melee shots. Ive killed through Godrick and 10 or so random world bosses.

The down side is it takes a fuck ton of farming for arrows since you can only carry 99 of each kind and you spend a lot of cash buying them.

So I am thinking of taking a dex weapon or something as back up I can really focus on. Any suggestions?
Two shots at the Chicken Farm and you fan literally fill up on every type of arrow available to you. If you are heavily invested into Dex, Godskin Peeler, Rapier, and just about any Spear are good choices as a lighter backup mele weapon. Maybe whip, if you want to get fancy.
 
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Chanur

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Two shots at the Chicken Farm and you fan literally fill up on every type of arrow available to you. If you are heavily invested into Dex, Godskin Peeler, Rapier, and just about any Spear are good choices as a lighter backup mele weapon. Maybe whip, if you want to get fancy.
So far ive been most putting my points into Vigor, Mind, and End. Seems like the starter bows dont scale well with dex.
 

Phazael

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Not sure how deep you are in, but Horned Bow is pretty easy to get early, but is more spread between Dex and Int. The Pully Bow is kind of tough to grab early, but scales very well with Dex and is the longest range non-greatbow in the game I believe. I used the Horn Bow with good results on my generalist first play, but the Pully Bow is growing on me on later plays. I think in terms of doing actual damage, Horned Bow might be the best option. I know GBs hit harder and father, but theres zero way to get windows to shoot with them in boss fights. I think the Horned Bow with int to run some buffs might be the best option, especially using the stealth spells to help you snipe.
 

Phazael

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PS Rapiers are solid because they dont take much Dex investment and in the hands of an expert can do great damage without using lots of stamina. My current mage play I am using bucker plus rogiers rapier as my mele option, trying to git gud at parrying, but you could take any generic thrusting sword and level it up with a bleed mod and probably do pretty well.
 

popsicledeath

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So I have been playing a bow build so far. It's been pretty good. Long bow for big damage pulls and short bow for quick melee shots. Ive killed through Godrick and 10 or so random world bosses.

The down side is it takes a fuck ton of farming for arrows since you can only carry 99 of each kind and you spend a lot of cash buying them.

So I am thinking of taking a dex weapon or something as back up I can really focus on. Any suggestions?


I tried multiple times to use daggers as primary weapons, but couldn't stand it for anything but quick applications of poison and/or rot. Daggers or claws would work strategically (and thematically?) with using a bow. Get in close against larger health pools to dot them, then back to ranged. Maybe add in bloodhound step to help with survivability getting to and from range.

Not sure how feasible it is getting poison or rot on daggers or claws early in a new game, though, as I gave up on the closest combat weapons early. Maybe wouldn't need the dots as much until mid game when more weapons and ash of war and whetstones are available. Seems a sound strategy/idea I might have to try though.
 

Phazael

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Bleed is pretty prevalent on early daggers, especially the one that drops from the invasion in the river valley in the first area. The good PvPers I have been ganked by often use some combination of quick step and bleed. I know from expirimenting that dual weilding daggers is pretty damn effective against many mobs, but its very high risk high reward. Plus if you are leveling up the stats for daggers, you may as well use Katanas, since they are about as fast with more reach and damage.

But in the context of a suplimental weapon, I still say a spear or rapier is the best option. Both work well with shields, have minimal stat investments to use, and are great fast zoning weapons. And decent spear options are available at just about every point in the game. Rapiers start strong and kind of fall off after a while.
 
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Adebisi

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I'm a few NG deep and I'm amazed that I'm still finding encounters and areas I somehow missed
 
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Talos

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38 hours in on first playthrough. Slowly went through Limgrave, Stormveil, Siofra via the elevator in the woods. Now working through Caelid and getting my ass kicked by t-rex dogs. No guides.

Excellent game so far.
 
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Phazael

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I'm a few NG deep and I'm amazed that I'm still finding encounters and areas I somehow missed
Same, I basically have one finished run and two side runs going (my wife's melee coop bro and a wizard run) and I still run into shit I never knew existed.
 

Phazael

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38 hours in on first playthrough. Slowly went through Limgrave, Stormveil, Siofra via the elevator in the woods. Now working through Caelid and getting my ass kicked by t-rex dogs. No guides.

Excellent game so far.
Don't forget the Morne Castle area. I would broom that area and most of the Academy areas before tackling Caelid propper.
 
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Utnayan

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38 hours in on first playthrough. Slowly went through Limgrave, Stormveil, Siofra via the elevator in the woods. Now working through Caelid and getting my ass kicked by t-rex dogs. No guides.

Excellent game so far.
There is a great farming spot with the T-Rex dogs and the guards there :) Easy to mop up about 15-20k souls per run by the prayer site next to that tower FYI. Just hop on the hill and watch them all goat it, collect souls, mop up at the end :)
 
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