I'm struggling to upgrade weapons at the moment. I thought it would be a good idea to have a small variety of weapons that had different abilities, but I am stuck at requiring certain smithing stones. I have MANY different kinds and amounts, but something like smithing stone 1 (not somber) I only have 2 and can't find any more.

edit: Missing a Bell Bearing. Missing one thing in this game can really slow you down! I played through the dungeon long ago, but missed the boss. Now I can buy the smithing stones I need!

Rob

Got in on order. Finally picked up a PS5. Can’t wait!

I have a feeling I basically did this game on "easy level"? Dual katanas (+25 Nagakiba and +10 Rivers of Blood), and I always summoned my fully upgraded mimic tear - none of the bosses really gave me much trouble at all. Malenia and Maliketh took 2 attempts, Godfrey, Radagon and last boss all went down first try. Are you guys doing bosses solo? I just didn't want the head banging frustration of trying that...

Think the only ones that gave me any trouble were the 2 commanders (Niall and O'Neal). They were gits.

Yes, been doing bosses solo. The further I progress the easier it’s getting. Just went through a few eardtree avatars all on the first try, one of them never even landed a hit on me. Plus a couple mariners as well.

Leveling up helps for sure, but not as much as just getting in the playtime to develop your play skill. I used to be totally confused and losing awareness when fighting bosses, now I can clearly see the moves being telegraphed and dodge more effectively.

Jace, Im with you... my spirit is broken right now too... Im level 159 and struggling.

Doing the same, and yes, sometimes the bosses are easier than getting to the bosses themselves! Hella fun to mow through enemies with Pile of Corpses though. All that red!!!! Had Nagi and RoB, but now I'm using Hand of Melania and RoB). Not as much bleed potential but more DPS with Malenia's.

The crystal miners are very weak to magic, I've been hitting them with Glintstone Pebble and it rips right through them. Like you said, a blunt weapon also does much better. Any kind of sharp weapon will make you stumble.

-Hans

If you plan on using the Moonveil, you'll need 23 INT to use it, which will allow you to use some basic to moderate spells. Jumping or dash attacks (crouch and attack, if not actually dashing) will deal damage dual katanas to the miner enemies. If you have a Thrusting weapon, that'll work as well.

Just started to fight Radagon yesterday...I can beat him fine, it's part 2 that I'm struggling with, same with you? My problem is the guy gets sooooo far away. By the time I get anywhere near him, I'm mostly dead, and when I do, he's moved to the other side again. So frustrating.

I have NO problem beating Radagon... Part Two is the issue with me too, my health and mimic tear are gone by that time...

Do you have Erdtree Heal? It heals you and your mimic if they are nearby. That helped me get through it. There are probably other spells/incantations/items that can do the same thing.

If you can beat Radagon no problem maybe save your mimic tear for the beast. Black knife tiche works well on phase two if you have her.

Yeah same.

The mimic tear baits Radagon (like other bosses) which leaves him open for attacks. Probably why the mimic is dead by the time Radagon is finished. My mimic has probably about 60-80% HP left. But the Elden Beast doesn't really get baited since most, if not all attacks are AoE. The fact that he moves SO far away is frustrating as hell. You can't take advantage of downtime after one of his attacks because you're running a half marathon before you can get there. And if you do manage to get there, you can only get one or two attacks off. So frustrating.

Yes indeed that’s why I’m also suggesting Black Knife Tiche. She has a really devastating ranged attack.

Finally got that MF'r!!!
Now on to NG + lol

CONGRATS!

This game has officially become an obsession. On NG3 at lvl 397 and still finding new places I've never explored. Found a phone app with some hidden spots on it and going to make sure I've done every NPC quest line before finishing with the frenzied flame. After that I reckon I'll give it a break.

Holy crap! I just started NG1 and the early areas are pretty easy still. Do they scale up or will the difficulty slope remain the same?

I found almost all of NG+ pretty easy until the final bosses but they do scale up.
NG++ was a bit harder but I didn’t level up too much while playing NG+.

Finally beat Radahn tonight, took way too many tries. Stupid orbs he throws kept killing me, and if I tried to get close and do any attacks he just swarmed me. I finally was able to get good enough at kiting him and clicking off the NPC summons. Only weapon I had where I could actually contribute damage was the wraith calling bell of all things.

I just finished yesterday... holy crap that last fight was intense... I ended at level 200... heading into NG+... not sure why Im still playing.. I guess I want to finally feel like a bad ass rather than getting my ass handed to me..,LOL.

I beat this guy last night I’m level 86. Totally thrashed him 3rd try summoned pumpkin head and used magma guillotine +6.
I also summoned everything in the area.

I think we're talking about two different guys, and this game is REALLY confusing about this. I fought Starscourge Radhan, the guy in the festival fight where you can't summon any ashes. Sounds like you probably fought Radagon of the Golden Order? (Not to be confused with the Red Wolf of Radagon).

No that’s who I fought too. I may have been confused and not summons pumpkin head with ashes but there was all kinds of summoning things on the ground to summons warriors, I used those.
I got the remembrance of the starscourge consumable and 70K Ruins for it.

Lol this game has soooooo much stuff in it, it really hard to keep track of it all.

I should check what level I’m at to compare because you’re right, same opponent.

I finally beat it!! Time for new game +

Lol, the fight against the mimic tear was the easiest thing ever once I knew where it was.

I went in naked, only thing equipped was spirit ashes. Since it copies you, it came at me naked as well. The spirit ashes ripped it apart while I re-equipped and honestly I don’t even know if I took any damage.

I respec'd to try faith incantations and I was pretty underwhelmed. I tried all of the higher level dragon incantations and wasn't too impressed. I felt like the INT spells were better overall. Just my opinion.

Weapon-wise, there are fun weapons for both Faith and INT. Either way, you'll be able to re-spec to try both and see what you like more. I've got about 10 larval tears, so plenty of opportunities to try different builds.

Without spoiling, you'll have to beat Renalla.

Raya Lucaria can be difficult; I feel like if you're a ranged player, you'll have a harder time than melee. It's a fun map though, albiet can be frustrating at times. GL!

I decided to retire.... Im level 200 and beat the end bosses...I was going to NG+ but I dont think I have it in me to kill all the bosses again.. 150 hours in... im done.

Don't sound so excited lol.

I'm at around 120 hrs, lvl 175ish. I'm slowing down, but it's fun trying out new builds. Faith is definitely not my preferred stat. I've gone back to DEX, with some INT, but that's a little more of the same. Part of the problem with trying new builds though is not having your weapons leveled up, so things become pretty difficult again with low powered weapons. I guess that's part of it I suppose.

Well done. Hopefully they bring out some dlc in the future.I’m still exploring in ng+ but I’ll put it down to try other games & come back to it every now & then. I refused to play anything else until I got past the end boss.

Maybe one of the best games I ever played... Killing all the bosses was rough, the thought of starting over even with an enhanced starting point.... Im not sure.... LOL

I'm just sending out co-op summons so other players can summon me to help with boss fights and other stuff. It's fun helping others..! Players need to stop rushing in and fighting the bosses in open areas. Seek cover and range if you can. My character is a tank and even then he can still be 1 hit killed if not careful. Ranged attacks for most bosses if possible.... Potions are really limited as a summoned character.

Rob

NG+ with your current stats is pretty easy. Esp at your level. You shouldn't have any problems with any of it. That Tree Sentinel in the opening area will be begging for mercy lol.

So many areas...just when you thought you covered an area, you find a completely new area. I'm still finding new areas and items in my second playthrough.

I was just posting in another forum about this game, how good it was and the impact its had. Since finishing it, I've tried to move on to other things but I just find everything else so unengaging and average and it's basically almost ruined other games for me.

Its such a masterpiece, I can't even begin to describe the admiration I have for the whole team responsible for making it. The time that must have been spent on every little aspect of it from the world and enemy designs, to the artwork, the camera work (how good are those vistas you get to the final dungeon areas eg, when you look out across the lakes and see Raya Lucaria in the distance), the mechanics etc... Everything is just such top quality.

Just hoping they can get some DLC out for it soon, I wanna dive back in - but really to explore a few new areas.

Some hosts will summon 2 additional co-operators and then the host uses 'taunter's tongue' (?) to attract invaders. So it ends up being 3 against the invader. Sucks to be them as invaders I guess eh? But, I have to admit many of the invaders are extremely good players and being outnumbered doesn't seem to be much of a handicap to them.

I have to re-evaluate my character build. Wearing heavy tree sentinel armor with other defensive boosts I am still getting 1 hit killed by some minor bosses AND other players. The other day during a co-op summon I was poked by an invader with a frost weapon which instantly killed me. I thought WTF? I also had one player ask how I got killed so easy (1 hit) during a boss fight. While other players are rushing in and fighting close quarter, if I did that my character would last 5 seconds max. Maybe this is why I am seeing some players not even bothering to wear (much) armor for PvP? The weight just makes you an easier/slower target for fast slashes/pierces and maybe even parries.

Rob

From those of you jonesing for something new after conquering the mighty Elden Ring mountain.
May I suggest V Rising, it is amazing.

Thanks. I’ll check it out tonight.

Just got cyberpunk 2077 the other day and played it for a few hours to have something new...popped Elden Ring back in lol.

Cyberpunk seems like a good game so far, but I'm still itching to explore the Lands Between. Going through Caria Manor right now and I must have just buzzed past it last time because I'm finding a ton of stuff there...man I love this game!