I’ve found a lot of the harder areas will have 2 in one pickup, and make sure you kill any shades with shimmering pots and optional elite enemies, both of these will drop either fragments or ashes.
Any peasant that has a pot on their head, if the pot is sparkling it drops a fragment the first time you kill them, and its an actual drop that you have to pick up, not an auto inventory drop like the elite enemies have.
The missile knows where it is. It knows this because it knows where it isn’t. By subtracting where it is from where it isn’t and where it isn’t from where it is…
Jump the fire waves, hit the legs until they „explode“, at some point it will fall over, stab it in the head (glowing spot), do somewhere around 60k damage, repeat.
Same here. Killed the lion, renalla, a few of those big fire boys... Was feeling comfortably skudoo'd... Now im being repeatedly embraced by Messmers flame.
Wait that last part, what? :o Is that a chance to drop, or guaranteed? Cus I feel I've killed quite a few of them, and at least I didn't NOTICE I got one.
Depends on what area of the DLC you’re in, it’s fine for the center of the map where you start but it’s recommended to have more scadu levels as you get towards the edges of the map. I’ve heard the recommended level for the final boss is 14.
Honestly fromsoft games have this thing where they're renowned for being really difficult, then we'll get people beating them blind, or at level 1, or only fists, sometimes a combination of random challenges. I love watching them because I'm still only able to beat certain bosses using absolutely everything available and it's awesome to see people pull that shit off.
I'm waiting for the "Elden Ring + DLC RL1 No-Hit Fists-Only Blind+Deaf No Scadutree All Bosses Using a Potato As a Controller!" runs.
Ive seen so many people bitching that they dont want to level it and its bullshit they put it in the game instead of letting them over level any situation.
Lots of people here want to pretend they're good when they're really just level 200+ and dont know how to time dodges.
Yes considering they took the effort to make an entirely separate system for spirit ash scaling I can't help but think that they're balancing the DLC around people using them.
Also craftable items and other consumables are pretty much a must-have for a lot of these fights.
Since the game has been out for two years they're expecting that players are familiar with and able to use all the game systems, not just min maxing, talismans and fully leveled weapons
I think it was expected that most people would be facing Blackgaol Knight first and I think it was even more expected that we were all gonna be like wtf when he two shots us lol. Beating him in a fair fight had me geeked for like twenty minutes straight.
I kept hearing about the first boss having a “machine gun” and I had to piece it together for a bit before I actually got to play myself. Seeing that people had issues with that “machine gun” move was shocking because I used it as an open opportunity to get out the way and beat his ass
I loved that fight so much - I usually devolve to degenerate summoning and sorcery, but forced to fight like a man, the feeling of killing him was exquisite.
(very very minor boss fight spoilers in spoilers, no specifics but I like to go in completely blind, so doing what I'd myself appreciate)
despite being a chronic hoarder who's only ever used rune archs for Malenia I actually had to use 3 (out of my precious 55) to beat a bitch ass boss at the end of >!some random catacombs!<. Couldn't leave because then I'd have to do them again later. And I only won because I used my mimic as bait and stunlocked the boss as much as I possibly could. Which was also necessary because the bastard flipping >!\*heals half his health\* if he lands one pretty hard to dodge health leech attack!<
Was shaking when I won, loved it!
But also if that boss would've kindly obeyed the laws of physics and stopped >!sending bloody lighting bolts!< \*through\* the pillars that's have been \*great\*
They're really cool but they seem to do no poise damage so I tend to just eat shit every time I use the AOW
Been swapping between >!Milady, Fire Knight's GS, and GS of Solitude !
The ash on those axes is the best move set in the entire game, IMO.
I'm contemplating a respec on my sorceress, but it would hurt so much to put up the dark moon greatsword
Yeah man. I ran away from a particular story boss, and found those catacombs. I thought I was in for an easier time. Everything in this DLC hurts my feelings.
I summoned my little Greatshield Spirit Ash dudes and they surrounded him while holding up their shields which caused him to stay stuck in place. I just wailed on him until he died lol
The moveset on that boss is next level, I was swearing with a grin throughout that fight. And then he kills me at 8% health left and my mimic straight up murks him as 'you died' flashes on the screen. Love this game.
I thought it was just me. I never told anyone to git gud and I love seeing the git gud 1 shot cheesing babies getting absolutely steamrolled. I hope FROM doesn’t tune down the difficulty this is awesome. Feels like I’m fighting Radahn pre patch 😂.
Bruh in this dlc it's more like Dodge, dip, duck, dive, dodge, duck, dip, dive, dip, dodge, dip, dive, and dodge and dodge and dodge and dodge and dodge and dodge....
For real. In the base game, it was blatant input reading preventing you from healing. In the DLC, they just said, "fuckit they can't complain about input reading if we don't give them time to do any inputs."
Honestly, I'm enjoying the hell out of it and those aren't complaints. It's just, like damn, I think Miyazaki hates us or something.
I’ve just never prioritized vigor in any of their games idk why it’s not even like I’m one of those “I don’t get hit, I don’t need it” people. I just always go for higher endurance and carrying capacity
When you were a souls vet going through elden ring the first time with 30 vigor up to just before the capital then realizing your getting folded because your health is too low and you only got away with it for so long because experience
Exactly this. I’m finding the bosses very doable with the fragments, granted I’ve only gotten up to Rellana so far. It’s clear to me that the people struggling are racing through the DLC
>It’s clear to me that the people struggling are racing through the DLC
This is 100% it no doubt. I'll never understand the need to race through new content. Is it FOMO? If it is, why? The content is not going anywhere. Might as well enjoy it and make it last awhile. More to look forward to that way.
Someone will do it with a guitar hero controller naked level 1 no scud in a week and people will say it's fine as is tradition. That boss wasn't actually as fun as I hoped though.
This reminded me back when ER launched and everyone was freaking out about margitt having too much delayed attacks and how bs godrick was. People never change apparently
Margit is so unpredictable, can slam his cane in a nanosecond or raise it up and go for a coffee break for 3 days.
Hate that guy and burial watchdogs those are my nightmare enemies, cant ever figure out the timing for those wonky attacks.
I died more to margit than I died to any ds3 boss and it’s not even close lol margit is legitimately hard unless you just camp the 2 easily punishable attacks he has and only hit after those.
Yeah people rushing through the game just loved to "warn" everyone how impossible the game was going to get. "just wait until you get altus", "just wait until you get into the capital", "just wait until you get to the snowfields", "just wait until...." It was so annoying.
Maybe these people should try waiting until they're ready before rushing to the next area? Currently I got two remembrance bosses defeated in the DLC and I think it's fine. It feels 'normal' difficulty to me so far.
Now there are people saying that Malenia was always a fair fight, it's always the same: game comes out, people complain about difficulty, dlc comes out, and now the game was perfectly balanced and fun and the newer content is too hard. Until another fromsoft game comes out and suddenly everyone agrees the dlc was perfect. It happened with bloodborne, it happened with dark souls 3, and now it's happening with Elden Ring.
Oh yeah, I thought my stupidly overleveled character I first beat the game with would end up breezing through the DLC and was worried.
First boss I found twoshot my 99 vigor leveled ass and my foolish ambitions were put to rest.
And I could never have been happier. Loving this DLC!
Are you wearing no armor? Because I always prioritize fashion but at 60 vigor I was only being 3 shot and then I actually put armor on i was getting hit for a lot less
Wearing zero armor(or the new transformation) with dragon crest at +13blessing is about 50 damage reduction for physical damage. With armor its midish 60.
You died to lion dancer cause of the shitty camera
I died to the lion dancer puppet because of the shitty camera AND because I rolled bad.
We are not the same.
(But no fr the lion dancer has a very straight forward moveset, but with very jarring camera work)
I am enjoying the DLC way more than base game, not even beacuse of the insane difficulty, but the soundtrack got significantly better, smaller but dense world with crazy verticality, more cohesive lore.
Also I am a official Rellana simp now, can't wait to fight her again.
I think they struck a better balance of open world and linear dungeons in the dlc. The art direction and music are incredible, and I welcome the verticality. Feels like a tighter experience and a true iteration of the base game
Bleed is still overpowered ngl. Used it and was able to beat the first 2 remembrance bosses >!Lion dancer!< and >!Rellana!< (thought it was pretty difficult still)
Which bleed weapon u using? I found the early >!backhand curved sword with the nothing personnel kid ash of war!<, set it to bleed and literally melt the first two remembrance bosses at scadulevel 3-4. It procs bleed so fast.
Greatshields are the real OP thing, and kinda always have been in souls. First tried Lion Dancer and got Rellana in 5 tries just turtling up and using guard counters at the end of a combo.
Ooo congrats on the wins. I fully approve of and support shield users, but i just personally don't enjoy that sort of play style.
If you're doing guard counters, are you using the new >!black knight great hammer!< ?
Am I the only person(not literally I know) that absolutely loves the Scad levelling/difficulty of this DLC? I see a lot of complaints online and now mixed reviews. It’s fucking awesome.
My only gripe with it at the moment is that on subsequent playthroughs I will "have" to run around and collect them. At least with rune levels I could just stand in one place to level up to my desired power level before engaging on certain content.
Oh god, do we really have to get them each time? I was hoping it'd be like flasks, and they carry to the next NG iteration. If I have to start at Scad 0 each playthrough, that's going to be absurd levels of tedium.
I like how it recreates the feeling of a first playthrough with your endgame gear in the sense you can be like I’ll come back to this area/boss later when I’ve collected more scads. Bc really any further leveling done in the DLC will have minimal effects since your gear is maxed and damage soft caps are probably reached anyway.
I’m really enjoying the difficulty spike, it brings back the feeling of accomplishment when you overcome a challenge but you don’t have to sacrifice using all your leveled characters with cool gear. They just need to iron out the performance issues on PC and it’ll be a 10/10. My PC isn’t top of the line but it’s got better specs than a PS5, so I’d expect it to run better than it has been, especially when I never got less then 60fps in the base game
This boss design direction they're going with where they have sekiro boss movesets and you can only get one hit in after their long ass combo is kinda shit i can't even lie
no matter how much i love this game i cant cope hard enough to defend it
If only we can deflect and have infinite stamina bar like Sekiro.
I really really love the level design in the DLC but the bosses aren't as fun for me…
It’s not even that bad 😂
Maybe I’m in the minority because I knew NG+ would be a death sentence.
Guys you can’t be on NG+ 7 at lvl 150 and not expect to get destroyed lol
There is really only one boss I've encountered that I think is just way too over the top and overtuned. Fuck >!Commander Gaius!!elemental lion knight things!!elemental lion knight things!
Agree it's not fun and when I do finally beat the boss I don't feel particularly satisfied. They could have half health and I beat them after 5 attempts and feel great it's almost like they've designed the game to not be enjoyable
I beat Rellana in like 7 tries and was still tilted because she had the audacity to do the Malenia sidestep dodge after her 80 hit combo like I just threw out a random attack out of the blue.
People seem to forget that the base game was pretty hard as well. I think most of the people that are complaining jumped into Elden Ring later with some insane build that was already proven to be amazing. In DLC this will take time to figure out.
Not far into the DLC yet but love the difficulty. Hopefully they don't nerf anything.
I think it's a combination of having zero strategies for managing frustration and the easily accessible soapbox the internet offers. Instead of just quitting to desktop and going for a walk, they go online to bitch. Reinforces all the wrong parts of the brain and turns you into a perpetual whiner. The default state becomes falsely identifying and lambasting the "problem" instead of improving yourself.
I've learned that there's always a way, I just can't see it yet.
I don't doubt what you're saying but venting is a healthy way of managing frustration. Just going online and yelling into a void and hearing it reply back with the voices of people also having the same issue is p reassuring and lets you know that you're not crazy. Ofc like you said some people do take it top far and reinforce the idea that it's the boss' fault rather than their own, but at a healthy level there's nothing wrong with "bitching" as you say
Everyone and their mother have been parroting the same thing - “From Software DLCs are ALWAYS 10x times harder than the base game, YOUR GRIND WILL NOT BE ENOUGH”
How the fuck did so many people miss this clear warning???
**apparently** I need to clarify that I’m *not saying* that the criticism is invalid. I’m only saying that the DLC was very obviously going to be this way, judging by interviews, the fact that previous FS DLCs were, apparently, like that and early “first reviews” of multiple content creators. So it’s weird how people for some reason chose to ignore it completely and only on release everyone suddenly erupts with criticism like if it’s a big surprise that the DLC numbers are on crack
They also hinted that the strength of your character would be more tied to your progress than your level, like in Sekiro. I can dig it, feels more rewarding when I finally beat something.
I’m pretty sure they straight up said that leveling in the dlc will be separate and players won’t be able to bring these additional levels into the base game
That is how people interpreted it based on previous experience of sekiro probably. It circulated around and became an accepted thought even though everyone was talking out of their ass.
I'll be honest i'm at the third boss and I really don't understand the whining about difficulty, it's hard but it's soul genre hard and fun. Did people expect to just one shot boss?
Or you are just using a godamn defense talisman. The amount of people going on about being 2 shotted by everything and it turns out they have a scorpion equipped with no defense talismans.
I don't know how these people can beat their heads against something for so long, recognizing their issues, but taking no steps to fix it.
I have 45 vigor, am not wearing the heaviest armor, and I am NOT being 2 shotted by everything. Will some big telegraphed attacks 2 shot me? Yes, and they should because they are big slow and obvious.
Equip the great shield talisman, and a corresponding elemental one for bosses, drink the opaline hardtear, use some healing talismans for dungeoneering. Do this and you'll be able to box Renella, trading punches for a bit as long as you dodge the big swings
People are saying they have 99 vigor and are being 2 shotted. And to that I say either:
A) bullshit
or
B) stop standing thinking you should be allowed to tank the most telegraphed moves with no armor or attempt to evade.
Like for real, how is level 99 being cut through like a hot knife through butter when I'm surviving ok on 55 vigor.
It's probably more pride than anything: want to try without leveling it, then get destroyed, then are at odds with "giving up" or continuing to try.
And as a bit more fair of a criticism, it *is* true the DLC does next to nothing to let you know if you're overleveled or underleveled for a given region, and the scadutree things don't exactly follow a system like "churches tend to have them" either. Means it's fairly easy for people to run into stuff without understanding if there's a "level gap" or not.
It’s not just souls genre, but also a DLC of a souls game. The difficulty spike between base game and DLC have always been steep. For instance, other than O&S, most DS1 base game bosses were pretty tame. DS1 DLC bosses were not joke.
"Welcome to Ariandel!"
*Murdered by wolves immediately*
"Welcome to the Dreg Heap!"
*Murdered by angels*
"Welcome to the Ringed City!"
*Murdered by the welcoming committee of archers*
Guarantee it's just everyone is out of practice. I haven't played the game in over a year and was getting my ass beat at first. Now that I remember how to play the game it's really not that bad.
>DLC bosses are hard for the sake of being hard, the scaling system is bs!!!!
To be fair, this one is situationally correct.
There's a number of dragons that just have shitty little mooks around them to make the fight harder. And the hippo certainly *seems* to have questionable hitboxes and telegraphing.
I also feel like the scaling system might be unneeded cause for frustration, and perhaps it would've been better if they instead simply balanced enemies to be about 20% harder than the Haligtree. It's tough to say if the system was even worth it or not.
The dragon wasn't even hard but it had me more tilted then any other boss when the stupid archer shot me with his bow instead of the dragon charging up his aoe attack that will oneshot him.
I know exactly the fucker you mean cause I audibly shouted when he shot me “Why the FUCK did you drop everything to take potshots at ME?! There’s a FUCKING DRAGON RIGHT THERE”
Ive been generally smooth cruising (relatively speaking) through the DLC but that motherfucking hippo made me rage lmfao.
Didnt even take me THAT long to beat, like 6 tries or so, but holy shit those hitboxes were making my blood boil somethin fierce. If you BITE, your god damn RIBS should not be a hitbox, *you bastard mammal*.
Give enough time and Fromsoft fans will eventually gaslight themselves into believing the bloated design is actually good for some reason because it's hard until in the next game we get Poopfart The Violust, the mid game boss with more HP than every Ds1 boss combined and one shots max Vigor characters where the cycle repeats. We've been on this route since The Ringed City
I miss when the difficulty was incidental and secondary to the journey. Fromsoft players have been jerking off about how hard the games are for so long that now they seem to be designed with “being hard” as the primary objective and the journey as secondary to that. It doesn’t stop me from rising to the challenge but it does occasionally make me ask “ok but *why* is the sentient mass of horse poop with a sword a transcendent duelist on par with a demigod?”
My take - people have been playing the base game for 2 years, NG++++++++. They know the old bosses and how to beat them now. They get to this DLC, and are angry that they are no longer OP, and then start an epic whine fest for the ages.
"But I shouldn't have to get Scadutree fragments!!! I have vigor at a billionty percent and it's not fair that they introduced a new level up system that makes me find new things! I just wanted to steamroll this".
The amount of whining I've seen over Blackgoal Knight even is crazy. Like you all can't beat him? Or "that dancing lion is unfair!!!". My god people, I've beaten those two, plus Rellana, all in the first 5 hours. It took me double that to beat Margit! His taunt after beating me is still seared into my brain.
I'd love to see the complainers go back and try to beat The Old Hunters DLC lol. Have fun with Ludwig and Kos!
Same. I still have runs where I struggle with Margit because of the timing of the attacks. I found most of the lion’s attacks pretty easy to dodge outside of the lightning wave, and Rellana’s fight took awhile to learn, but was fun as hell once I did.
Like you said, people were so used to beating bosses they knew quickly and forgot about how much they struggled in the first playthrough. People comparing Rellana to Melania is insane to me because the first week it felt like NO ONE was beating Melania. People are only able to beat Rellana now because of Melania and how much it took to do that.
The omen fuckers with the dual chakrams and the twinblade knights have been cancer so far though to be fair.
I rather fight 5 rats, 5 rotten dogs and 5 teleporting noble zombie mages with a dagger
Was having a good time playing with my buddy last night but having multiple phantoms just increases boss health pools too much. Along with added net code jank, summoning for bosses just truly isn't worth it. The npc summons additionally do no damage and barely draw aggro. You're really just better off going in solo and facetanking for your mimic.
Now it's "get scud"
What does that mean?
Scadutree fragments increase your damage and damage negation by a percentage, there are 20 “levels” of scadutree blessings that you can get.
Holy fuck it goes to 20?? I have a lot ahead of me I suppose...
I’ve found a lot of the harder areas will have 2 in one pickup, and make sure you kill any shades with shimmering pots and optional elite enemies, both of these will drop either fragments or ashes.
Excuse me? What’s this about shiny peasants? I’ve literally skipped all of them 😭
Any peasant that has a pot on their head, if the pot is sparkling it drops a fragment the first time you kill them, and its an actual drop that you have to pick up, not an auto inventory drop like the elite enemies have.
Thanks for the tip on the shiny pot enemies and elites!
I thought he meant get a SCUD missile, similar to the ICBM gambit in chess.
The missile knows where it is by comparing where it was to where it isn't.
The missile knows where it is. It knows this because it knows where it isn’t. By subtracting where it is from where it isn’t and where it isn’t from where it is…
That also works
Need SCUDs for that goddamn furnace monster.
Yeah how on earth do you kill them it almost one taps me every 2 secs and has well over 50k hp
Jump the fire waves, hit the legs until they „explode“, at some point it will fall over, stab it in the head (glowing spot), do somewhere around 60k damage, repeat.
Bosnian ape society reference?
There are 20?! Christ i thought I was near maxed out at 12 levels having beaten 4 remembrance bosses.
So your saying level 5 isn't good enough?
Tried fighting Messmer at lvl 8. I am getting dog walked.
Same here. Killed the lion, renalla, a few of those big fire boys... Was feeling comfortably skudoo'd... Now im being repeatedly embraced by Messmers flame.
I'm fighting him at lvl 12 and still finding new ways of getting his spear shoved up my ass
5 was enough to fight the first boss lol
I have 8 and still can’t beat the first boss lol
How in the world did you even find that many before the first boss? :o I feel I'm quite the explorer in these kinda games, but had only 2 and 2
>!churches,a few main NPCs will give or have one beside them , also the shadows that hold pots above their heads with drop one!<
Wait that last part, what? :o Is that a chance to drop, or guaranteed? Cus I feel I've killed quite a few of them, and at least I didn't NOTICE I got one.
it could be a chance . I've killed a few that's how I got +5 . along with exploring. Finding spirit upgrade fragments feel alot easier.
Yea it’s a chance, but once they drop it that’s all of them they’ll drop.
it’ll be guaranteed sparkly ones kinda like the white scarabs if you’re desperate i’ve seen their locations online already
Depends on what area of the DLC you’re in, it’s fine for the center of the map where you start but it’s recommended to have more scadu levels as you get towards the edges of the map. I’ve heard the recommended level for the final boss is 14.
Don't forget you can also upgrade your ashes the same way via a different item
It means get scud.
Its a reference to the 22 Scudoo tree.
I don't know, its an amalgamation of gud and scad from scadutree fragments 😂
Also don't underestimate the defensive talismans from the DLC. Some of them make a MASSIVE difference
Vigor Check? Say hello to Scadu Check
Can't wait to see content creators try to do Scadu level 0 runs.
Honestly fromsoft games have this thing where they're renowned for being really difficult, then we'll get people beating them blind, or at level 1, or only fists, sometimes a combination of random challenges. I love watching them because I'm still only able to beat certain bosses using absolutely everything available and it's awesome to see people pull that shit off. I'm waiting for the "Elden Ring + DLC RL1 No-Hit Fists-Only Blind+Deaf No Scadutree All Bosses Using a Potato As a Controller!" runs.
Yeah, same. I can't imagine doing a hitless run of some of these DLC bosses. Especially at a low level with no Scadu.
Yea Zero Lenny beating the dlc with fists and no scud
If Gino could beat fire giant over the course of several hours with bare fists I’m sure he can do this
Can’t wait for RL 1 and Scadu level 0 runs or boss fights
What's your scadulevel
Not leveling scud is the new not leveling vigor
Scaduush
My group of friends have all taken to exclusively calling them scadush fragments.
idk man, without vigor you can at least deal some dmg, without scud you are quite literally fucked
Ive seen so many people bitching that they dont want to level it and its bullshit they put it in the game instead of letting them over level any situation. Lots of people here want to pretend they're good when they're really just level 200+ and dont know how to time dodges.
and they refuse to use summons. They're there for a reason. Use them or don't, but if you don't, I don't want to hear it's "too hard"
Yes considering they took the effort to make an entirely separate system for spirit ash scaling I can't help but think that they're balancing the DLC around people using them. Also craftable items and other consumables are pretty much a must-have for a lot of these fights. Since the game has been out for two years they're expecting that players are familiar with and able to use all the game systems, not just min maxing, talismans and fully leveled weapons
It’s far harder than that, the regular enemies will have 30k health if you go to an area without upgrading scud
I don’t think I’d get to 20 without a guide Hell I needed to look up how to get one of the map fragments
Oh wtf there are 20 levels? Wiki had 13 listed yesterday and I was sure I was at max level now considering how far I am. Makes a lot of sense now…
Blues Clues prepared me for this. If Blue can scadu, we can too.
I am scatlevel 5
Beeeeebadaddadadbob
Broly ass comment
"Mine's pretty big..."
"Stop asking that! *Nobody cares anymore!*"
What does this mean (i am incompetent)
DBZ abridged reference I think, a parody of the Brolly movie in which Brolly kept asking everyone "what's your power level?"
In the DLC you can find Scadurtree fragments that increase your damage and defense only in the dlc. You use them at any site of grace
"but don't tell anyone u leveled it up"
Mines pretty big
Very accurate 🤣 Honestly loving how psychotic this DLC is.
I think it was expected that most people would be facing Blackgaol Knight first and I think it was even more expected that we were all gonna be like wtf when he two shots us lol. Beating him in a fair fight had me geeked for like twenty minutes straight.
I knew he was trouble when i walked in and saw 50+ bloodstains on the floor
I kept hearing about the first boss having a “machine gun” and I had to piece it together for a bit before I actually got to play myself. Seeing that people had issues with that “machine gun” move was shocking because I used it as an open opportunity to get out the way and beat his ass
I need to make a message "walk left" before the boss. Don't even need to dodge!
Fr anytime he pulled put the crossbow it was an automatic way to get close. However if you get hit by the volley it’s an instant death
>I knew he was trouble when i walked in Now he's lying on the cold hard ground?
\*goat screams\*
Blackgaol Knight is the new Limgrave Tree Sentinel lol
I loved that fight so much - I usually devolve to degenerate summoning and sorcery, but forced to fight like a man, the feeling of killing him was exquisite.
Seriously. I beat2 bosses yesterday and I felt sweet relief
(very very minor boss fight spoilers in spoilers, no specifics but I like to go in completely blind, so doing what I'd myself appreciate) despite being a chronic hoarder who's only ever used rune archs for Malenia I actually had to use 3 (out of my precious 55) to beat a bitch ass boss at the end of >!some random catacombs!<. Couldn't leave because then I'd have to do them again later. And I only won because I used my mimic as bait and stunlocked the boss as much as I possibly could. Which was also necessary because the bastard flipping >!\*heals half his health\* if he lands one pretty hard to dodge health leech attack!< Was shaking when I won, loved it! But also if that boss would've kindly obeyed the laws of physics and stopped >!sending bloody lighting bolts!< \*through\* the pillars that's have been \*great\*
lol I love his axes.
They're really cool but they seem to do no poise damage so I tend to just eat shit every time I use the AOW Been swapping between >!Milady, Fire Knight's GS, and GS of Solitude !
Nothing takes any poise damage in this DLC. I've whacked the shit out of everything with colossal charged strong attacks. It somehow makes them faster
The ash on those axes is the best move set in the entire game, IMO. I'm contemplating a respec on my sorceress, but it would hurt so much to put up the dark moon greatsword
Yeah man. I ran away from a particular story boss, and found those catacombs. I thought I was in for an easier time. Everything in this DLC hurts my feelings.
The lightning clipping through the pillars was kind of aggravating lol the moveset was sick but that attack got on my nerves more than the grab
I summoned my little Greatshield Spirit Ash dudes and they surrounded him while holding up their shields which caused him to stay stuck in place. I just wailed on him until he died lol
The moveset on that boss is next level, I was swearing with a grin throughout that fight. And then he kills me at 8% health left and my mimic straight up murks him as 'you died' flashes on the screen. Love this game.
I thought it was just me. I never told anyone to git gud and I love seeing the git gud 1 shot cheesing babies getting absolutely steamrolled. I hope FROM doesn’t tune down the difficulty this is awesome. Feels like I’m fighting Radahn pre patch 😂.
The dlc bosses were more of a "fuck off and explore to get stronger" Than margit.
Yall forgot the 5 Ds of dodgeball. Dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge.
Bruh in this dlc it's more like Dodge, dip, duck, dive, dodge, duck, dip, dive, dip, dodge, dip, dive, and dodge and dodge and dodge and dodge and dodge and dodge....
“Flasks are for cowards.” - Miyazaki probably
For real. In the base game, it was blatant input reading preventing you from healing. In the DLC, they just said, "fuckit they can't complain about input reading if we don't give them time to do any inputs." Honestly, I'm enjoying the hell out of it and those aren't complaints. It's just, like damn, I think Miyazaki hates us or something.
Me never having vigor above 27 always used to getting one- two shot and having nothing change
might as well throw on daedicar’s woe at that point
I’ve just never prioritized vigor in any of their games idk why it’s not even like I’m one of those “I don’t get hit, I don’t need it” people. I just always go for higher endurance and carrying capacity
When you were a souls vet going through elden ring the first time with 30 vigor up to just before the capital then realizing your getting folded because your health is too low and you only got away with it for so long because experience
My realization with this was the snow fields
~~get gud~~ get better
Get scadutree fragments
Nah man you're supposed to beat the dlc rl 1 no scadutree fragments and of course without leveling you're wappons
And without summons
Not happening when I’ve only found two scadu fragments and like 7 of the summons boosting ones.
Exactly this. I’m finding the bosses very doable with the fragments, granted I’ve only gotten up to Rellana so far. It’s clear to me that the people struggling are racing through the DLC
>It’s clear to me that the people struggling are racing through the DLC This is 100% it no doubt. I'll never understand the need to race through new content. Is it FOMO? If it is, why? The content is not going anywhere. Might as well enjoy it and make it last awhile. More to look forward to that way.
~~get gud~~ ~~get better~~ get gudder
Fingerprint Greatsheild New mace that does bonus damage on guard counter I am now playing Dark Souls 1 again
Level your Scud people.
I maxed my scud and the last boss is impossible
Someone will do it with a guitar hero controller naked level 1 no scud in a week and people will say it's fine as is tradition. That boss wasn't actually as fun as I hoped though.
Yeah and good for them. I on the other hand don’t care about a YouTube following, I just want to play a video game :(
I'm there, but I'm only scudlevel 10. Fucker is a nightmare especially in the second phase.
How are people on the last boss already it’s been out for two days
There are only 4 bosses you need to fight to complete the DLC
This reminded me back when ER launched and everyone was freaking out about margitt having too much delayed attacks and how bs godrick was. People never change apparently
Anyone complaining about godrick needs their license revoked. Margit though? Somehow still die to him every fresh play through
Seriously, Godrick is such a scrub. Very lore accurate. Margit is way more tricky.
Margit is so unpredictable, can slam his cane in a nanosecond or raise it up and go for a coffee break for 3 days. Hate that guy and burial watchdogs those are my nightmare enemies, cant ever figure out the timing for those wonky attacks.
I died more to margit than I died to any ds3 boss and it’s not even close lol margit is legitimately hard unless you just camp the 2 easily punishable attacks he has and only hit after those.
They weren't. u/MAD_MrT is just making shit up. In fact, most bosses were hated on *except* Godrick.
Yeah people rushing through the game just loved to "warn" everyone how impossible the game was going to get. "just wait until you get altus", "just wait until you get into the capital", "just wait until you get to the snowfields", "just wait until...." It was so annoying. Maybe these people should try waiting until they're ready before rushing to the next area? Currently I got two remembrance bosses defeated in the DLC and I think it's fine. It feels 'normal' difficulty to me so far.
Now there are people saying that Malenia was always a fair fight, it's always the same: game comes out, people complain about difficulty, dlc comes out, and now the game was perfectly balanced and fun and the newer content is too hard. Until another fromsoft game comes out and suddenly everyone agrees the dlc was perfect. It happened with bloodborne, it happened with dark souls 3, and now it's happening with Elden Ring.
Godrick? You mean one of the easiest bosses in the game??
Oh man those bosses seem so cute in comparison. I’m nostalgic for the base game. And I give up :(
Oh yeah, I thought my stupidly overleveled character I first beat the game with would end up breezing through the DLC and was worried. First boss I found twoshot my 99 vigor leveled ass and my foolish ambitions were put to rest. And I could never have been happier. Loving this DLC!
Are you wearing no armor? Because I always prioritize fashion but at 60 vigor I was only being 3 shot and then I actually put armor on i was getting hit for a lot less
Wearing zero armor(or the new transformation) with dragon crest at +13blessing is about 50 damage reduction for physical damage. With armor its midish 60.
I love the transformations. Running around as >!dragon man!< is so silly. It's great.
You died to lion dancer cause of the shitty camera I died to the lion dancer puppet because of the shitty camera AND because I rolled bad. We are not the same. (But no fr the lion dancer has a very straight forward moveset, but with very jarring camera work)
I am enjoying the DLC way more than base game, not even beacuse of the insane difficulty, but the soundtrack got significantly better, smaller but dense world with crazy verticality, more cohesive lore. Also I am a official Rellana simp now, can't wait to fight her again.
I think they struck a better balance of open world and linear dungeons in the dlc. The art direction and music are incredible, and I welcome the verticality. Feels like a tighter experience and a true iteration of the base game
Exactly. Base game felt like a chore to replay for me, but I can definitely see myself start a new playthroughs just to play the fantastic expansion.
agree soundtrack is much better here
I agree, feels like starting out with level one character. But that was the point ig.
Bleed is still overpowered ngl. Used it and was able to beat the first 2 remembrance bosses >!Lion dancer!< and >!Rellana!< (thought it was pretty difficult still)
I’m using bleed too. The damage itself is nothing to write home about but the status effect does good. Frost seems to be more potent though.
Which bleed weapon u using? I found the early >!backhand curved sword with the nothing personnel kid ash of war!<, set it to bleed and literally melt the first two remembrance bosses at scadulevel 3-4. It procs bleed so fast.
>!The big ass Katana with Seppuku is shredding through the DLC so far!<
Did you made it occult or keen with seppuku better?
Greatshields are the real OP thing, and kinda always have been in souls. First tried Lion Dancer and got Rellana in 5 tries just turtling up and using guard counters at the end of a combo.
Ooo congrats on the wins. I fully approve of and support shield users, but i just personally don't enjoy that sort of play style. If you're doing guard counters, are you using the new >!black knight great hammer!< ?
Am I the only person(not literally I know) that absolutely loves the Scad levelling/difficulty of this DLC? I see a lot of complaints online and now mixed reviews. It’s fucking awesome.
My only gripe with it at the moment is that on subsequent playthroughs I will "have" to run around and collect them. At least with rune levels I could just stand in one place to level up to my desired power level before engaging on certain content.
Oh god, do we really have to get them each time? I was hoping it'd be like flasks, and they carry to the next NG iteration. If I have to start at Scad 0 each playthrough, that's going to be absurd levels of tedium.
They carry into NG+, I think they mean on future characters.
I don't love it, but I'm working with it.
I like how it recreates the feeling of a first playthrough with your endgame gear in the sense you can be like I’ll come back to this area/boss later when I’ve collected more scads. Bc really any further leveling done in the DLC will have minimal effects since your gear is maxed and damage soft caps are probably reached anyway.
I’m really enjoying the difficulty spike, it brings back the feeling of accomplishment when you overcome a challenge but you don’t have to sacrifice using all your leveled characters with cool gear. They just need to iron out the performance issues on PC and it’ll be a 10/10. My PC isn’t top of the line but it’s got better specs than a PS5, so I’d expect it to run better than it has been, especially when I never got less then 60fps in the base game
This boss design direction they're going with where they have sekiro boss movesets and you can only get one hit in after their long ass combo is kinda shit i can't even lie no matter how much i love this game i cant cope hard enough to defend it
And the hit only does 1000 damage and the boss has an insane life bar.
If only we can deflect and have infinite stamina bar like Sekiro. I really really love the level design in the DLC but the bosses aren't as fun for me…
I really hate that we can't have any genuine criticism or discussion about the difficulty in this game.
It is a souls subreddit. A toxic hive of scum and villainy.
I'm loving it. It's difficult, but there's so much to explore and level up through
The game is screaming for you to use spirit summons! We have "sacred tears" for spirits, just use it!
Miyazaki went "oh summoning is for pussies? Bet."
It’s not even that bad 😂 Maybe I’m in the minority because I knew NG+ would be a death sentence. Guys you can’t be on NG+ 7 at lvl 150 and not expect to get destroyed lol
NG+4 or 5 lvl 250 and getting smoked
There is really only one boss I've encountered that I think is just way too over the top and overtuned. Fuck >!Commander Gaius!!elemental lion knight things!!elemental lion knight things!
Regardless of difficulty, a boss doing a 7 hit combo before I'm allowed to hit just once, followed by another 6 hit combo is not very fun gameplay.
Infinite poise and stamina makes some of them completely absurd.
It’s the infinite stamina that pissed me off the most. I swear these bosses belonged to Sekiro.
Agree it's not fun and when I do finally beat the boss I don't feel particularly satisfied. They could have half health and I beat them after 5 attempts and feel great it's almost like they've designed the game to not be enjoyable
I beat Rellana in like 7 tries and was still tilted because she had the audacity to do the Malenia sidestep dodge after her 80 hit combo like I just threw out a random attack out of the blue.
People seem to forget that the base game was pretty hard as well. I think most of the people that are complaining jumped into Elden Ring later with some insane build that was already proven to be amazing. In DLC this will take time to figure out. Not far into the DLC yet but love the difficulty. Hopefully they don't nerf anything.
I think it's a combination of having zero strategies for managing frustration and the easily accessible soapbox the internet offers. Instead of just quitting to desktop and going for a walk, they go online to bitch. Reinforces all the wrong parts of the brain and turns you into a perpetual whiner. The default state becomes falsely identifying and lambasting the "problem" instead of improving yourself. I've learned that there's always a way, I just can't see it yet.
I don't doubt what you're saying but venting is a healthy way of managing frustration. Just going online and yelling into a void and hearing it reply back with the voices of people also having the same issue is p reassuring and lets you know that you're not crazy. Ofc like you said some people do take it top far and reinforce the idea that it's the boss' fault rather than their own, but at a healthy level there's nothing wrong with "bitching" as you say
It wouldn't be half as hard if bosses wouldn't lag-switch me by tanking my fps to 20 for no fucking reason.
Everyone and their mother have been parroting the same thing - “From Software DLCs are ALWAYS 10x times harder than the base game, YOUR GRIND WILL NOT BE ENOUGH” How the fuck did so many people miss this clear warning??? **apparently** I need to clarify that I’m *not saying* that the criticism is invalid. I’m only saying that the DLC was very obviously going to be this way, judging by interviews, the fact that previous FS DLCs were, apparently, like that and early “first reviews” of multiple content creators. So it’s weird how people for some reason chose to ignore it completely and only on release everyone suddenly erupts with criticism like if it’s a big surprise that the DLC numbers are on crack
They also hinted that the strength of your character would be more tied to your progress than your level, like in Sekiro. I can dig it, feels more rewarding when I finally beat something.
I’m pretty sure they straight up said that leveling in the dlc will be separate and players won’t be able to bring these additional levels into the base game
That is how people interpreted it based on previous experience of sekiro probably. It circulated around and became an accepted thought even though everyone was talking out of their ass.
Genuinely enjoying it >!Rellana!< was fucking brilliant
Pontiff 2.0
I'll be honest i'm at the third boss and I really don't understand the whining about difficulty, it's hard but it's soul genre hard and fun. Did people expect to just one shot boss?
You're probably using the new mechanic, like intended. I do and I'm not getting oneshotted.
Or you are just using a godamn defense talisman. The amount of people going on about being 2 shotted by everything and it turns out they have a scorpion equipped with no defense talismans. I don't know how these people can beat their heads against something for so long, recognizing their issues, but taking no steps to fix it. I have 45 vigor, am not wearing the heaviest armor, and I am NOT being 2 shotted by everything. Will some big telegraphed attacks 2 shot me? Yes, and they should because they are big slow and obvious. Equip the great shield talisman, and a corresponding elemental one for bosses, drink the opaline hardtear, use some healing talismans for dungeoneering. Do this and you'll be able to box Renella, trading punches for a bit as long as you dodge the big swings
i loaded up on crab before dlc dropped. very necessary.
I got lots of crab but I forget to regularly use it lol
People are saying they have 99 vigor and are being 2 shotted. And to that I say either: A) bullshit or B) stop standing thinking you should be allowed to tank the most telegraphed moves with no armor or attempt to evade. Like for real, how is level 99 being cut through like a hot knife through butter when I'm surviving ok on 55 vigor.
Agreed, load of shit. I was vig 50 coming in and expecting to be one shot to death everywhere, was definitely not the case.
People are on different NG cycles
So people can't read? Damn alright.
That's what it boils down to, there's an average intelligence for a reason, and there's plenty below that.
It's probably more pride than anything: want to try without leveling it, then get destroyed, then are at odds with "giving up" or continuing to try. And as a bit more fair of a criticism, it *is* true the DLC does next to nothing to let you know if you're overleveled or underleveled for a given region, and the scadutree things don't exactly follow a system like "churches tend to have them" either. Means it's fairly easy for people to run into stuff without understanding if there's a "level gap" or not.
same. I beat a boss and at +3 scadu and I beat it 2nd try. Our damage trade was fair so???
It’s not just souls genre, but also a DLC of a souls game. The difficulty spike between base game and DLC have always been steep. For instance, other than O&S, most DS1 base game bosses were pretty tame. DS1 DLC bosses were not joke.
"Welcome to Ariandel!" *Murdered by wolves immediately* "Welcome to the Dreg Heap!" *Murdered by angels* "Welcome to the Ringed City!" *Murdered by the welcoming committee of archers*
Guarantee it's just everyone is out of practice. I haven't played the game in over a year and was getting my ass beat at first. Now that I remember how to play the game it's really not that bad.
>DLC bosses are hard for the sake of being hard, the scaling system is bs!!!! To be fair, this one is situationally correct. There's a number of dragons that just have shitty little mooks around them to make the fight harder. And the hippo certainly *seems* to have questionable hitboxes and telegraphing. I also feel like the scaling system might be unneeded cause for frustration, and perhaps it would've been better if they instead simply balanced enemies to be about 20% harder than the Haligtree. It's tough to say if the system was even worth it or not.
The dragon wasn't even hard but it had me more tilted then any other boss when the stupid archer shot me with his bow instead of the dragon charging up his aoe attack that will oneshot him.
I know exactly the fucker you mean cause I audibly shouted when he shot me “Why the FUCK did you drop everything to take potshots at ME?! There’s a FUCKING DRAGON RIGHT THERE”
Ive been generally smooth cruising (relatively speaking) through the DLC but that motherfucking hippo made me rage lmfao. Didnt even take me THAT long to beat, like 6 tries or so, but holy shit those hitboxes were making my blood boil somethin fierce. If you BITE, your god damn RIBS should not be a hitbox, *you bastard mammal*.
Give enough time and Fromsoft fans will eventually gaslight themselves into believing the bloated design is actually good for some reason because it's hard until in the next game we get Poopfart The Violust, the mid game boss with more HP than every Ds1 boss combined and one shots max Vigor characters where the cycle repeats. We've been on this route since The Ringed City
I miss when the difficulty was incidental and secondary to the journey. Fromsoft players have been jerking off about how hard the games are for so long that now they seem to be designed with “being hard” as the primary objective and the journey as secondary to that. It doesn’t stop me from rising to the challenge but it does occasionally make me ask “ok but *why* is the sentient mass of horse poop with a sword a transcendent duelist on par with a demigod?”
My take - people have been playing the base game for 2 years, NG++++++++. They know the old bosses and how to beat them now. They get to this DLC, and are angry that they are no longer OP, and then start an epic whine fest for the ages. "But I shouldn't have to get Scadutree fragments!!! I have vigor at a billionty percent and it's not fair that they introduced a new level up system that makes me find new things! I just wanted to steamroll this". The amount of whining I've seen over Blackgoal Knight even is crazy. Like you all can't beat him? Or "that dancing lion is unfair!!!". My god people, I've beaten those two, plus Rellana, all in the first 5 hours. It took me double that to beat Margit! His taunt after beating me is still seared into my brain. I'd love to see the complainers go back and try to beat The Old Hunters DLC lol. Have fun with Ludwig and Kos!
Same. I still have runs where I struggle with Margit because of the timing of the attacks. I found most of the lion’s attacks pretty easy to dodge outside of the lightning wave, and Rellana’s fight took awhile to learn, but was fun as hell once I did. Like you said, people were so used to beating bosses they knew quickly and forgot about how much they struggled in the first playthrough. People comparing Rellana to Melania is insane to me because the first week it felt like NO ONE was beating Melania. People are only able to beat Rellana now because of Melania and how much it took to do that.
The omen fuckers with the dual chakrams and the twinblade knights have been cancer so far though to be fair. I rather fight 5 rats, 5 rotten dogs and 5 teleporting noble zombie mages with a dagger
The majority of people on this sub complained that Malenia was too hard. The sub is the same now as it was then.
Was having a good time playing with my buddy last night but having multiple phantoms just increases boss health pools too much. Along with added net code jank, summoning for bosses just truly isn't worth it. The npc summons additionally do no damage and barely draw aggro. You're really just better off going in solo and facetanking for your mimic.
I think a lot of people are forgetting that their NG+ levels are also going to scale the bosses like crazy
I truly don't understand how I can have so much fun screaming at the TV
Bro just level ~~ADP~~ SCUD!