Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Araysar said:

Those of you who have gotten good at Elden Ring... how often do you use parries, counters, blocks, ripostes, etc. when fighting vs. just button mashing?

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Depends on the build and how much I plan on playing multiplayer. PvE there are only a few specific fights where parry is worth learning to dominate them (Malenia being the most obvious one) where most of the time guard counters or counterpokes tend to be more universally effective. I still love spear and shield style across the entire series and ER has made it even more effective with guard counters. If you are not good at dodging, the bar for being effective with block is much lower for sure. Ripostes are a staple of any piercing weapon, so if you don't learn them you may as well be unga bunga jump attacking all game. Effective dodging is pretty much the best universal defense, though. Knowing the timing of the I Frames and roll counters really elevates your game.

One thing you did not mention, which is also big are crouch attacks. Being reflexive enough to crouch attack against certain enemy attacks (they tend to have big hit boxes and come out fast) is something a lot of players overlook and especially good when power stancing. A lot of seemingly difficult enemies tend to get dicked over by a combination of quick counterpokes and crouch attacks punishing them during their attack windups. Its fairly effective in PvP as well at certain soul levels, provided you are any good at timing your roll catches against people.

Araysar said:

I gave up playing shortly after beating Queen Rennala because I was starting to get wrecked pretty frequently. I thought that to git gud at melee I needed to learn all that counter moves shit and I suck too hard at that to bother so I stopped playing

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Stat up and go spear and shield (Large Thrusting Sword works here too). Its not the most damaging, but extremely versatile including most of the major attack strategies in their repertoire. And if you are not doing it, start using guard counter. It is really effective with large spears and can be done to most enemies in the game. And with the reach of the larger spears/large thrust swords, the margin of error is much wider on the timing. Plus Pierce damage tends to be one of the less resisted types across the entire game. Finally, there are a lot of good greatspears and large thrusting swords in the game with some pretty fun weapon arts. The only downside is between blocking and attacking, stamina management can be more challenging that two hand unga bunga or power stancing.

Rajaah said:

Level Vigor. A Lot.

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This. Once you have enough to cover the min stats of your mainstay weapon, Vigor and then Endurance should both be raised to 20 at a bare minimum. You will want to have at least 30 and probably 40 by the end of the game. You can rack up a lot of Sacred Chalices early to make flasking still mostly heal you during the mid game.

Phazael said:

Stat up and go spear and shield (Large Thrusting Sword works here too). Its not the most damaging, but extremely versatile including most of the major attack strategies in their repertoire. And if you are not doing it, start using guard counter. It is really effective with large spears and can be done to most enemies in the game. And with the reach of the larger spears/large thrust swords, the margin of error is much wider on the timing. Plus Pierce damage tends to be one of the less resisted types across the entire game. Finally, there are a lot of good greatspears and large thrusting swords in the game with some pretty fun weapon arts. The only downside is between blocking and attacking, stamina management can be more challenging that two hand unga bunga or power stancing.

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Its been like a year since I fired up my saved game but I think I had my points mostly in dex and was power stancing 2 katanas or something like that

Spear and shield sounds fun, but what is the best overall melee build through the whole game?

Once I defeated Redahn, I used the Starscourge Greatsword for everything and all the endings I needed to plat the game.

June 21.

Looks awesome. $40! Easiest $40 I'll ever spend.

Fogel said:

Most easiest and mindless for a first run would be colossal weapon and max out str/vig. Most trash mobs you can just stagger non stop. Than just dodge/smash bosses.

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Nice, going to give this a shot. I think you can respec competely after Renalla.

Well, there we go.

Who's this Messmer guy though? I thought that was Miquella for most of the trailer, as it went on about Miquella and showed quick clips of the guy walking around. But he's actually some dude named Messmer? This mean Miquella isn't actually the big bad of the expansion?

Also wonder who the winged guy he was fighting was. The player maybe?

Obvious thing is for the expansion to have Godwyn and/or Miquella as the antagonist, having some new dude show up wouldn't be my first choice. Either way it's finally announced, this is great.

Araysar said:

Its been like a year since I fired up my saved game but I think I had my points mostly in dex and was power stancing 2 katanas or something like that

Spear and shield sounds fun, but what is the best overall melee build through the whole game?

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I am not into PvP much, so I won't comment on that. But PvE if I assume by best you mean strongest, Two Hander Unga Bunga Full Frontal Male Nudity strength is incredibly effective and easy to do if you can dodge, with a lot of fun weapon options for strong weapon arts. Bleed Builds, with a variety of weapons, can trivialize most of the game bosses but take more execution and there are key bosses that straight up ignore bleed including the final one.

But the easiest playthtough I have had was with a monster Dex build that focused on lighting, eventually rocking the big spear from the capitol plus shield. The weapon art on that thing is absolutely crazy and lightning spells are some of the strongest damage dishers in the game with the right stats and setup. It is also insanely fun and if you face a lightning resistant enemy, its easy enough to temp rock other spear options for those fights. There are spears and large thrusting swords with all sorts of weapon arts and the game hooks you up with them fairly early on, beginning with the Naginata.

Trailer is A+++. I went from not thinking about elden ring in a year to wanting to day 1 this game.

I'm thinking about rolling a fresh character for the DLC. Not sure if I want to roll one on DLC release, roll before, or wait until it's been out for a bit to play.

Whatever I do I'll probably cheatengine myself a ton of upgrade stones and anything else I'd need to farm to try out different builds. I really didn't like how limited respecing was.

PS if you like being a dual weilding samurai, there is a Wakasashi somewhat early in the game that while technically a dagger power stances with a mainhand katana. Reach suffers, but it can be set up with any weapon art you want on it. Using it offhand ramps up the speed of the power stance attack combo by a lot. Not the best build, but fun and shreads enemies pretty good if they are not immune to stagger.

Anyone here going to start a new fresh game? (Or is that even possible without losing your main character in NG+4?) I forgot.

Maybe I'll just run through NG again to get brought up to speed on everything. I was respeccing a lot after I Platted so I will want to respec again back to my greatsword build for the DLC.