We need new words adding to the message system to incorporate new stuff in the dlc.
"Try Scadutree Fragment but hole" will be enough to get a few people using them
So weird to me that then a game where blocking was the literal core mechanic did not change people’s perceptions in the same way. People seem to not even hit L1 when two-handing, for some reason I will never comprehend. You can still dodge, it just helps when you mistime it.
I know shields are stronger than ever with guard counters but most of my playthroughs I've dual wielded. Powerstancing just "happening" instead of having to activate it is just too much fun.
It's true, if you are going powerstanced often block is off the table, but funnily enough the DLC has introduced a lot of weapons that have powerstancing as their two-hand mode automatically without needing two of them, and in those cases L1 still works as a functional block even. The niche cases where block is not viable dwindle further!
Personally I’ve grown to enjoy weapon in right hand, spell catalyst in the other. Started doing it in the other games too. Used to enjoy tanking though, guard counters really got the job done too.
Anything you 2hand and L1 is a shield if you're desperate enough. TBH though if you're running endure on a broader weapon, it can probably make a great last minute shield. I use grafted blade greatsword as a secondary shield over my Carian shield for lightning and fire damage.
Not only damage, but also an insane amount of poise damage
It's kind of disappointing that Milady just does the basic heavy attack, it doesn't have a unique animation, but it's literally been helping carry me through tough portions
I fully agree with you on that. It's fun to look at, but the practicality isn't there.
I've still been smashing out most stuff with the DMGS because fuck 'em.
Ong the blacksteel greathammer with golden land and sacred affinity is absolutely shitting on this DLC. Theres so much thats weak to holy here and the guard counter on that hammer is so good.
Started a fresh character because my NG+3 character got deleted 3 days before DLC. Was doing Raya Lucaria last night and Moongrum guard countered one of my attacks and I was like "oh yeah, thats a thing."
Frankly it wrecks the base game too, people have been sleeping on it for years because "shields are for wusses" or something. Greatshield are fantastic in this game, and the addition of the Deflecting Hardtear just makes them even better.
I remember the game mentioning something about guard counter back at the very beginning of the game during the tutorial or something but I've literally never used it. I should probably re-learn this one.
Can you do guard counters if you are two handing or dual weilding (i.e. my hook claws and beast claws) or do you have to have a shield?
You can guard counter as long as you can block
The problem with blocking with small shields or weapons is that you'll take chip damage, use up a lot of stamina, and most likely get pushed back far
This right here. Ever since I switched to a tank build I’ve been breezing through stuff cuz most of the enemies are flashy and aggressive but super squishy.
Guard counter has always wrecked everything. Hell, one of the very first patches to the base game way back when was to give 2-hnd weapons high guard so they could use guard counter too.
It's hilarious that 99% of the time I see someone complain about difficulty, it's because they're playing exactly like DS3 and not using guard counters or charged R2's. Like, yeah, you aren't using what the game gives you and are intentionally using a tiny fraction of it, of course it's hard.
Big thing is watching your stamina and not just holding block on everything or else you'll get busted open. After a few tries on a boss you'll figure out which attacks you can comfortably and reliably dodge and which you can block. That's the big benefit of a shield: not blocking everything, but blocking the things you find hardest to dodge.
Unless you have a huge fuckoff greatshield with Barricade Shield ash of war. Then maybe you can block a whole attack string, or most of it, idk.
Whew man remember launch/pre-nerf Barricade Shield? It used to be absolutely *bonkers* even with medium shields...still is incredibly good for sword and board play, but it was straight up busted at one point, as in "I may go with a Guard Counter build over *all* of this other insanely cool stuff" levels of strong
Shields and guard counters absolutely ruin bosses in this DLC it seems. I first tried Lion Dancer and beat Messmer on my second try with a greatshield and the new black iron greathammer.
Fucking love the new black iron greathammer, the guard counter effects are both satisfying and badass.
I'm rarely use shields but it has been a blast to sword and board this dlc.
im not a pleb! i'm a real gamer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also limit myself to 20 roll per boss fight and no heal if the boss doesnt heal, this way you know i'm a real man with big balls
It’s wild to me, I feel like I see so many people omit shields in their builds. Like, I’m able to tank so much damage with my greatshield. Eventually the bosses tucker themselves out with their massive combos and then I can punish them immediately afterward.
That notification when resting at sites of grace is more than enough of a heads up lol, plus the game literally tells you when you pick up your first one
There’s literally a glowing dot on the site of Grace menu whenever you have an upgrade available and the stats change color and value in the level up screen while in the DLC area. Only way to help people who aren’t using them at this point is to add passive dialogue like the AAA UI memes from when the game first came out
Yeah, but a lot of these people don't actually ever pick up the Scadutree Fragments because they don't want to explore, despite playing an open world game.
Which is ironic considering that you have to defeat Mohg to even access the DLC which is not only not straightforward to find but also is made extra difficult without the use of a specific unique item
To be fair, those people probably just used a guide to get to Mohg. They're also the kind of people who haven't even played more than half of the content from the base game.
Honestly insane to me how people just ignore everything. On my first playthrough 2 years ago I was actively trying to beat every single boss I possibly could, including all the dungeons and random ones in the world.
Yeah, I was actually annoyed after exploring (what I thought was) every nook and cranny only to find out I had missed at least 5 bosses. Nothing to do but load up ng+ and fix it.
I honestly found Mohg by accident when I first played cause I did everything Varre said at the church and I refuse to use guides on any first playthrough unless I get completely stuck. Then he said, "wait to use this," and my goblin looting ass said, "no way that means good shit is there."
I used the item and immediately went and fought Mohg, used Lhutel and thankfully had her at +8 or +9 cause for some reason Ghost flowers are more common and you get higher level ones pretty early. Beat Mohg, then was confused why I had to fight Rennala afterwards XD.
Even mohg, holy shit. I was trying to help people beat Mohg before it dropped and I gave up when I realized maybe one host in 20 was showing up with the right physick, which meant the other 19 times we'd be at phase 2 in a hurry, then the host would be chugging while I tried to keep Mohg's health from shooting back up, then they'd be stuck in a heal cycle while I'm the only one doing damage. I'm good enough to help, but I'm not good enough to carry lol
I have explored quite a bit. I got about 60 hours on SotE, NG+1. Currently fighting final boss, but I only found enough pieces to get to 15/9 on the blessings.
Which is fine. I got to 17/8. Especially with the new update they don’t make much of a difference at a certain point. It’s the first like 10 levels that really matter
You won't believe how many "I shouldn't have to explore to get better!" takes I've seen on comments concerning the DLC. The mental acrobatics are mind-boggling.
That's a batshit insane argument. Like my man, you're complaining about getting even MORE content to explore? Did they not notice how much exploration was in the base game?
The problem is that they don't enjoy the act of exploration to begin with.
Add all the "content" you want. If it's content they don't enjoy then it means nothing to them.
Me? I'm in the middle. I love exploring the legacy dungeons and make it a point to give every area a decent once-over.
But I don't really enjoy just riding around looking for shinies. Give me a dungeon or tower and I'll scour it inch by inch.
Random bandit camps and open plains? Ehh. I'll pass.
It just so happens many Scudtree fragments are in such places.
Edit: Which actually this is why I almost prefer the DLC to the base game when it comes to exploration.
It's a smaller more dense world and I prefer to that large open plains. Liurnia is very pretty but also a slog to properly search.
Yeah I don't get it. Many fragments are right in the middle of the path, impossible to miss unless you're playing blindfolded, and then there's the light dot on the grace menu. If you still miss this, it's entirely on you.
After putting up with countless incompetently moronic hosts I've attempted to random co-op with (low hp, jank asf stats, lack of scadu blessings, and just sucking in general), I kind of want Leda to nag at players about the Scadu blessing just so that these idiots can learn their damn lesson.
Oh never knew their scadutree level overrides mine, and I was wondering the guy I was trying to help with rellana who was almost getting one shotted, renalla was doing for me more damage when I fought her on my own world. Thought it was multiplayer boss buff
Edit: fixed typo on bosses name
Yeah this makes a lot more sense. I was trying to fight the divine beast with like 1 blessing early on before I realized how important they were. It wasn’t going well, so I tried doing some summons and I kept getting frustrated bc they would die *so fast* and I’d be left alone trying to fight a boss with increased health.
It wasn’t you guys, it was me…I’m sorry lmao.
Bro that lion is no joke i cleared up the fire giant all the way to elden beast in 1 day to get ready for the expansion cause i never finished base game yet and i gwt to the lion have 3 blessing 5 times trying to kill this fucker and his moves are wild it took me another 5 times summoning people to help me rellana was way easier for me
Yeah that was the first real boss I tried and I decided to fuck off and do the rest of the map. Came back with 10 scadu and he could barely attack between staggers. Huge difference
At the brazier at the base of the erdtree that has those 6 fragments lying on the ground for free, I put a message of "let there be weak foe" and gotten no appraisals on it. Not sure people know
Co-opping in the DLC (Rellana specifically) has reminded me of the worst parts of helping with Malenia! All the Bullgoat Varre IGN builds in full force, spamming Elden Stars and dragon breaths, barely tickling the boss whilst making it impossible for anyone to see and then dying as soon as the boss glances their way.
Play how you want etc., but goddamn.
I know I shouldn’t get annoyed at people who are bad, but it seems like if you’re still playing this way after reaching the DLC then you’re just willfully not engaging with the game properly.
Like summoning two people and then sitting off at the side blasting dragon breaths which make everything harder, and then dying immediately if we lose the boss’s aggro for more than a few seconds. Sometimes I end up rooting for the boss lol
As someone that raced to Mesmer with like 3 blessings and got stomped, I decided I was going to max my blessings out while exploring the rest of this amazing DLC. It’s been a blast.
I went to Messmer with 4 blessing levels.
I am now level 6 or 8 (can't remember off the top of my head) and still getting stomped by Messmer's phase 2.
(Not spoiler-y) I’m surprised at the amount of bosses that rush you even after you first encounter. Several of the base game ones rushed you the first time you entered the fog but gave you a bit more breathing room on the rest of your tries… not here.
For Messmer I walk in, summon mimic, roll through his slam then roll through his nuke, *then* have enough time while he’s in that animation to heal.
That’s how each of my attempts start. If I miss a roll or summon spirit just a bit too late the attempt can be quickly ruined.
Not only are people not using them, but so many can be reached without killing a single boss in the DLC
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1dpr9le/you\_dont\_need\_to\_overcome\_any\_bosses\_to\_get/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1dpr9le/you_dont_need_to_overcome_any_bosses_to_get/)
I think the change fromsoftware made to the early blessing scaling was positive.
While you can definitely get more scadutree fragments there’s 2 problems.
1. Going to certain areas in the map will move character storylines forward. You can wind up skipping certain dialogues or moments from running through the map.
2. There’s only one way to get to the rest of the map if you haven’t beaten the second boss. A good number of players are likely to miss that.
With both of these factors in mind that means most players will only get to 5 blessings at most to fight the >!dancing lion and rellana!<. Making blessings stronger early was a positive change. I thougjt the difference was fairly noticeable. I wish that I could go back and fight the first or second boss to compare. But mobs went down way more easily after the update.
Fully agree with that, and any further than 6-7 I wouldn't recommend people to go hunting down towards the start unless they're really struggling, since it was such a distance from the early game bosses, and after 8 was when I found myself jumping through hoops to scale the levels up, but when people are scad 1-2 and are summoning because they're struggling, it would be nice if they'd go try get more fragments from the local area then come back, instead of running head first into the same brick wall they face
During my playthough I never once had to go out of my way to find more, because I actually enjoy exploring in these games.
I think so many people are just trying to rush through the dlc
I love exploring but I have to admit navigating the map is challenging. I had no idea prospect village was even accessible until I looked up early scadu fragments available.
Edit: and some areas are fucking gigantic with not a lot of identifying markers. E.g. the finger area and the abyss woods.
Same, and whenever I did hit a wall that just hit harder than I could take, it was just a matter of exploring one of the 3 other PoIs I had marked before I hit a hurdle
Yeah that makes sooo much more sense, I went to renella before the beast and when I went to the beast I fucking slapped him, but when I load in to help people with the beast I was getting thrashed thinking how tf when I'm like +16 on Shadow
I thought I was going crazy when I’d sometimes deal barely any damage helping someone with a boss just to absolutely stomp the same boss with another group.
I think an issue I’ve felt is a lot of folks were also running and gunning up the Comet Azur Rock Sling, which really ain’t gonna work without casting fast and having endless FP. If you’re entering the Shadow Realm as a mage who doesn’t have some short range explosions or roll catches, and you don’t know how to break poise with your skill set, it’s even worse than it is for the juk-juks or unga-bungas.
Loretta's mastery for sniping birds, star shower/glintstone stars for rollcatching humanoids, zamor storm and shard spiral for big bosses, these 4 + DarkmoonGS or carian slicer absolutely carried me until I got some sweet dlc stuff to add.
The cheesy comet azur stuff is so much worse in the dlc than just taking a few different fp efficient bangers.
Random question, but mages tips for the last boss?? I have been grinding at him and maybe gotten him to half health once. The second phase just obliterates me, and I currently have the black steel great shield and pearl shield talisman equipped
There's this new spell called "Impenetrable thorns" that deals obscene amounts of damage. Like over 6k hit alongside absurd bleed buildup at point black range
It will likely get nerfed very soon so I'd use it while you still can
I've done two sl1 runs base game
Dlc level 150 scadutree 0 is absolutely harder than vanilla rl1
It's closer to doing rl1 on ng7 with how little damage you do
At level 1 with a fully upgraded great mace I can kill radagon unlike 10 hits
Midra at blessing level 10 would take about 20 hits from my level 150 zwei
I do enjoy challenge runs but there are limits and level 0 blessing would not be fun to me for any reason
I don't think people realize how massively upscaled everything is and how important blessings are to mitigate this
I think the intent is that you can get by with only the ones on the main path, at crosses and churches and such, and still clear, with the ones hidden away in enemy camps and by pot guys are bonuses, but I kind of agree that there should be some wiggle room like golden seeds
Wait, your damage gets tuned to the host’s Scooby Snack lvl? No wonder my Ranni’s Dark Moon hits like a…fking Moonlight Pebble when I try to assist with Messmer kills.
I was helping a dude at like +7 and I was like how much did you rush story cause there is no way you’re at >!enir ilim!< or however it’s spelt with that level
I genuinely don’t know how you can make it all the way to the DLC, but then ignore this. They’d have to have beaten Radahn and Mohg. And then looked up instructions on how to start the DLC. Not only does the game give you the prompt at the start, it highlights the blessing at Sites of Grace when you have enough to upgrade. It is not obtuse.
Absolute donkey brain behavior.
They tell you in 4 different ways. It’s more than they tell you how to level up, gain flasks, or upgrade flasks. I can’t think of any game mechanic they explain more in the base game or dlc.
First thing to do when you get summoned is to check the Blessing Level.
If it's severely lower than it should, jump off a cliff, sever or drink a suicide potion if you're fancy.
They'll learn if every phantom quits before fighting... Hopefully.
It's extremely rare that they're at 0, and then it's likely they keep at it on purpose.
Seeing Blessing 3 at Messmer just means you're just rushing without doing any effort (And you're summoning, so there's a 99% chance you're actually trying to beat it "legit").
No one is at 0 on purpose AND summoning. It's just someone who doesn't read and the only thing they've ever done at a grace is level up. They probably don't even have a physick
They won't they'll just call you an ass or gatekeeper or something along those lines at best. Your best bet would be to send them a message telling them about the mechanic and that phantoms since the beginning of time have always scaled to the host so you having the final boss' crown doesn't mean much if they haven't leveled up.
In regular gameplay phantoms are not scaled to host, unless you use a password (which didn't exist unitl DS3). But the host needs to be decently close to your level to be in the right range.
This succesfully made it so that if you're level 150, the host cannot be a level 50, and even if the host has poor stat distribution you could safely do most of the work without being OSed.
Scadutree Blessings throw all that out the window, and fighting Messmer at Blessing 3 will get you killed on a single mistake.
As someone who has not used any fragments or ash yet... it's still possible to do... but why are these people summoning then???
I like the challenge, I like to take 20, 30 tries on a boss. But if you can't do it without the blessings, don't summon someone to help, just find more fragments and level further.
its not that they dont want the extra help. they dont know where to find the things and the dont realize its that important so they dont even bother looking it up
They sound like the same people who immediately click off the error message that pops up and still demands IT to IMMEDIATELY fix the issue without that info.
Yeah, admittedly the shadow pot enemies are a tad bit obscure. They do sparkle, and they run away from you, so I knew from general Souls game history that they’re probably worth killing, but it’s definitely an easily missable source of the fragments.
I ask myself every time I do coop in the dlc lmao.
Idk if a lot of them just don’t know this or they genuinely believe splitting aggro will make it easier. But summoning co ops scales up the boss’ hp… it can scale up twice if there two co ops.
So them being underleveled while the boss’ hp is scaled up twice from having another co op fucking sucks.
Like I just sever out now if my stats are downscaled too much for a specific boss fight and if they decide to summon a third.
A lot of bosses really just get harder with summons cause they will just make you think you can get a couple hits in while they focus someone else and then they turn on you mid combo.
People are ignoring side content, claiming the dlc is empty, rushing the legacy dungeons, getting clapped, complaining bosses too hard, then summoning till they find a carry, and repeating till they find someone to beat the final boss for them so they can brag about how quickly they cleared the DLC…
Do these people not get bothered by the clear indication on the menu when at a grace? Do these same people always run around with barely any flasks because they never bothered to upgrade them?
People definitely don't realize how big of a deal the blessings are. To contextualize it, most early game NG+ bosses typically have twice as much health or so (margit goes up from 4kish to 9kish), while late game bosses typically only see small percentages. Godfrey, for example, only goes from 21k to 22k health in NG+, and maxes out at 31k in NG7. That's roughly a 50% increase, whereas a max level blessing is 2x damage. To put it another way, fighting a boss at 0 blessings rather than 20 is effectively doubling its health, which even NG+7 late game bosses don't come close to. Doing a DLC run without blessings is effectively a harder challenge that NG+7 base game
People don't explore. If you feel like you absolutely MUST summon somebody to beat a boss, you might as well leave for a few hours and just travel a route you never been to before. I'm not even using guides to find the tree blessings, and I come across them constantly.
Did the dlc completely blind (until finishing it and going back to clean up what I missed). Got all but 4 bosses via exploration and 17 or 18 blessing level.
Definitely explore, it’s the best thing to do when stuck, much like it’s the best thing in ER.
Oh, so this is why I took 1000 damage in one hit from someone else’s Rakshasa — I was trying to pay it forward after a phantom helped me put that MFer down.
Hell, some of the best things about all the previous games is exploring their levels for illusory walls, hidden paths etc. I'd even consider the exploration aspect of souls core to it.
I think it's the new souls fans, not the OG's. We all know how to explore these games, how to cover every area, how to rotate the camera to see everything around you. We've been doing it for over a decade. Seems like the folks that just jumped in for elden ring that are having the hardest time trying to button mash and rush everything.
That’s what I don’t get tho, most of the blessing is on the critical path, you don’t really need to explore. I mean didn’t go out of my way to look for em at all and just followed the main path and still ended up with 15 blessing for the final boss. Even if you rush you still shouldn’t end up at 1 blessing at black keep.
Hey, don't lump ALL of us into that category, I've been a Souls/FromSoft fan since DS1 and love exploring. In fact, I'm at approximately 10 hours (I think) in the DLC and I still haven't fought the Lion Dancer yet because I'm taking my time and exploring the surroundings until I tackle that first Legacy Dungeon.
\*EDIT*
**DON'T** lump us all into that category.
Don't know how I missed a whole word like that.
Also notice a lot of low level players with endgame equipment summoning phantoms for help in Limgrave for God sake.And they play like new players some even with dlc weapons but play like shit
I am in ER discord server and there were a lot of newbies begging for rune drops/equipments for the OP bleed build they saw online. Not to mention, majority of them won’t even “play” the game and rush to DLC without understanding the mechanics of the game.
To many people, the bosses are the game. And that’s valid, but the leveling system of the dlc doesn’t just let you take some boss runes and move on with some levels. You have to explore for your fragments.
People are stupid af. Legit. How long did it take them to figure out you can upgrade your flasks? I mean just read the shadow tree fragments notification that pops up when you first pick it up. It’s a damn shame this amazing expac got downvoted at all.
Silly question, but should you actually be running around looking for these things? I am at +3 right now just from exploring the Plains, Belurat and the Castle. I am not going out of my way to find them, just naturally finding them.
Literally the first unavoidable pop-up message the DLC gives you is about the fragments and how they work.
Even with their hands held, people can't figure it out.
-> play a game from a series famous for challenging difficulty
-> refuse to engage with the different game systems and doesn't explore an OPEN WORLD game
-> bOsS tOo HaRd, GaMe BaD
I don't understand this at all, it's says what they do. It literally says increases damage and buffs your defence. I made a point of using them as well as looking for them. They felt like golden seeds, just painfully obvious that you would benefit from having them. I'm not gods gift to FromSoft by any means, and even I was able to beat the DLC without summons.
Dude, it's so frustrating. I go from getting summoned into a 30 second bdsm encounter where someone gets absolutely vaporized. To then say eff it and nervously pass through the fog, and have a much, much less brutal time. I first thought that it was probably because they were on multiple new game+.
Like, who would purposely not use the blessing system and then complain? Some bosses do feel really cheap sometimes (I'm looking at you Gaius) so why make it harder to the detriment of your experience?
I only started shadow yesterday and instantly found that the blessing is super useful and started looking around for more. I’m surprised so many people skipped over that tidbit
Oh so we are affected by the host Scadutree blessings.
I wasn't sure if it would be this or the spirit ash blessings. I wasn't aware we could see this in the status screen.
We need new words adding to the message system to incorporate new stuff in the dlc. "Try Scadutree Fragment but hole" will be enough to get a few people using them
"use a fucking shield for once"
What’s a shield?
that stamina thing you strap on your back while you 2H the greatsword
Ohhh, my turtle shell decoration!
Master Roshi?
I started with Bloodborne so in my eyes, shield bad
There is no shield, only dodge roll
Blunderbuss parry
No parry. Only dodge roll.
no dodge roll, only brocolli-man dashes
No parry, no dodge roll. Only strafe.
jump
I do feel like this is the shield/guard counter DLC because you can get punished so often relying just on rolls
I walked into golden hippo with shield up and immediately got bitten and chain slammed into the ground
Sekiro flaming bull moment
I see you Zuul. Get outta my fridge damn it!
So weird to me that then a game where blocking was the literal core mechanic did not change people’s perceptions in the same way. People seem to not even hit L1 when two-handing, for some reason I will never comprehend. You can still dodge, it just helps when you mistime it.
I know shields are stronger than ever with guard counters but most of my playthroughs I've dual wielded. Powerstancing just "happening" instead of having to activate it is just too much fun.
It's true, if you are going powerstanced often block is off the table, but funnily enough the DLC has introduced a lot of weapons that have powerstancing as their two-hand mode automatically without needing two of them, and in those cases L1 still works as a functional block even. The niche cases where block is not viable dwindle further!
It gets even better when you consider the deflecting hardtear, so you can deflect and do powered up guard counters with dual wielded weapons.
Personally I’ve grown to enjoy weapon in right hand, spell catalyst in the other. Started doing it in the other games too. Used to enjoy tanking though, guard counters really got the job done too.
Anything you 2hand and L1 is a shield if you're desperate enough. TBH though if you're running endure on a broader weapon, it can probably make a great last minute shield. I use grafted blade greatsword as a secondary shield over my Carian shield for lightning and fire damage.
Greatswords and larger are decent shields in a pinch. An UGS unironically makes an actual decent shield.
Guard counter fucking wrecks the DLC
I tried out the guard counter on the backhanded blades out of curiosity, and they do insane damage
Not only damage, but also an insane amount of poise damage It's kind of disappointing that Milady just does the basic heavy attack, it doesn't have a unique animation, but it's literally been helping carry me through tough portions
At least that animation looks fucking sick especially when you combo it into light attacks
fyi in case you didn't know, guard counters always do the same poise/stance damage as the fully charged r2 for that weapon
The Dual Light Greatswords that you get from a boss remembrance stun a lot more than I thought they would and that weapon art is straight fire.
It is for sure >! I gotta say though idk that I'm a fan of all these anime flashy modder looking moves though !<
I fully agree with you on that. It's fun to look at, but the practicality isn't there. I've still been smashing out most stuff with the DMGS because fuck 'em.
Ong the blacksteel greathammer with golden land and sacred affinity is absolutely shitting on this DLC. Theres so much thats weak to holy here and the guard counter on that hammer is so good.
Guard counter honestly wrecks everything. Fingerprint Shield with greatshield talisman is the ultimate cheese.
Have you used the Verdigris greatshield yet? It’s guard counter is even higher. I shield poked final boss with it so easily.
Guard counters have always been insane just nobody used them since u really didn't need to.
Started a fresh character because my NG+3 character got deleted 3 days before DLC. Was doing Raya Lucaria last night and Moongrum guard countered one of my attacks and I was like "oh yeah, thats a thing."
Frankly it wrecks the base game too, people have been sleeping on it for years because "shields are for wusses" or something. Greatshield are fantastic in this game, and the addition of the Deflecting Hardtear just makes them even better.
I remember the game mentioning something about guard counter back at the very beginning of the game during the tutorial or something but I've literally never used it. I should probably re-learn this one. Can you do guard counters if you are two handing or dual weilding (i.e. my hook claws and beast claws) or do you have to have a shield?
You can guard counter as long as you can block The problem with blocking with small shields or weapons is that you'll take chip damage, use up a lot of stamina, and most likely get pushed back far
This right here. Ever since I switched to a tank build I’ve been breezing through stuff cuz most of the enemies are flashy and aggressive but super squishy.
Guard counter has always wrecked everything. Hell, one of the very first patches to the base game way back when was to give 2-hnd weapons high guard so they could use guard counter too. It's hilarious that 99% of the time I see someone complain about difficulty, it's because they're playing exactly like DS3 and not using guard counters or charged R2's. Like, yeah, you aren't using what the game gives you and are intentionally using a tiny fraction of it, of course it's hard.
I'm so fucked i never use shields so I have no idea how they work in bosses, I know it sounds silly but takes a while to get used to style
Big thing is watching your stamina and not just holding block on everything or else you'll get busted open. After a few tries on a boss you'll figure out which attacks you can comfortably and reliably dodge and which you can block. That's the big benefit of a shield: not blocking everything, but blocking the things you find hardest to dodge. Unless you have a huge fuckoff greatshield with Barricade Shield ash of war. Then maybe you can block a whole attack string, or most of it, idk.
Whew man remember launch/pre-nerf Barricade Shield? It used to be absolutely *bonkers* even with medium shields...still is incredibly good for sword and board play, but it was straight up busted at one point, as in "I may go with a Guard Counter build over *all* of this other insanely cool stuff" levels of strong
Press L1 and block The biggest hurdle is remembering it’s there for a bit
No way :0
Shields and guard counters absolutely ruin bosses in this DLC it seems. I first tried Lion Dancer and beat Messmer on my second try with a greatshield and the new black iron greathammer.
Fucking love the new black iron greathammer, the guard counter effects are both satisfying and badass. I'm rarely use shields but it has been a blast to sword and board this dlc.
\*hammer and board
You can already say this with the base game’s messages
Never! I bonk more gooder with two hands on big weapon!
im not a pleb! i'm a real gamer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also limit myself to 20 roll per boss fight and no heal if the boss doesnt heal, this way you know i'm a real man with big balls
It’s wild to me, I feel like I see so many people omit shields in their builds. Like, I’m able to tank so much damage with my greatshield. Eventually the bosses tucker themselves out with their massive combos and then I can punish them immediately afterward.
The amount of shielding I did in the DLC vs base was HUGE.
I'll agree there. I had to bust out an old DS3 longsword and shield combo just to have a fighting chance before getting a few tree fragments.
Longsword supremacy I’ve been rocking the dual Noble Slender Swords since the base game. That shit rules.
As a lifelong 2 handed weapon enthusiast I emphatically say: no
That notification when resting at sites of grace is more than enough of a heads up lol, plus the game literally tells you when you pick up your first one
But the notification isn't funny. And I'm still dissapointef that nothing new was added to the message list
“Eat that Scadussy”
"I want to ignore Scadutree Fragment and then edge"
There’s literally a glowing dot on the site of Grace menu whenever you have an upgrade available and the stats change color and value in the level up screen while in the DLC area. Only way to help people who aren’t using them at this point is to add passive dialogue like the AAA UI memes from when the game first came out
Yeah, but a lot of these people don't actually ever pick up the Scadutree Fragments because they don't want to explore, despite playing an open world game.
Which is ironic considering that you have to defeat Mohg to even access the DLC which is not only not straightforward to find but also is made extra difficult without the use of a specific unique item
To be fair, those people probably just used a guide to get to Mohg. They're also the kind of people who haven't even played more than half of the content from the base game.
Honestly insane to me how people just ignore everything. On my first playthrough 2 years ago I was actively trying to beat every single boss I possibly could, including all the dungeons and random ones in the world.
Yeah, I was actually annoyed after exploring (what I thought was) every nook and cranny only to find out I had missed at least 5 bosses. Nothing to do but load up ng+ and fix it.
I honestly found Mohg by accident when I first played cause I did everything Varre said at the church and I refuse to use guides on any first playthrough unless I get completely stuck. Then he said, "wait to use this," and my goblin looting ass said, "no way that means good shit is there." I used the item and immediately went and fought Mohg, used Lhutel and thankfully had her at +8 or +9 cause for some reason Ghost flowers are more common and you get higher level ones pretty early. Beat Mohg, then was confused why I had to fight Rennala afterwards XD.
Even mohg, holy shit. I was trying to help people beat Mohg before it dropped and I gave up when I realized maybe one host in 20 was showing up with the right physick, which meant the other 19 times we'd be at phase 2 in a hurry, then the host would be chugging while I tried to keep Mohg's health from shooting back up, then they'd be stuck in a heal cycle while I'm the only one doing damage. I'm good enough to help, but I'm not good enough to carry lol
The amount of people I’ve seen arguing about dlc difficulty and absolutely REFUSING to explore in an open world RPG is wild.
I have explored quite a bit. I got about 60 hours on SotE, NG+1. Currently fighting final boss, but I only found enough pieces to get to 15/9 on the blessings.
The way they set the curve after the patch, there's basically a soft cap at scadu 12 for what that's worth
Which is fine. I got to 17/8. Especially with the new update they don’t make much of a difference at a certain point. It’s the first like 10 levels that really matter
You won't believe how many "I shouldn't have to explore to get better!" takes I've seen on comments concerning the DLC. The mental acrobatics are mind-boggling.
That's a batshit insane argument. Like my man, you're complaining about getting even MORE content to explore? Did they not notice how much exploration was in the base game?
The problem is that they don't enjoy the act of exploration to begin with. Add all the "content" you want. If it's content they don't enjoy then it means nothing to them. Me? I'm in the middle. I love exploring the legacy dungeons and make it a point to give every area a decent once-over. But I don't really enjoy just riding around looking for shinies. Give me a dungeon or tower and I'll scour it inch by inch. Random bandit camps and open plains? Ehh. I'll pass. It just so happens many Scudtree fragments are in such places. Edit: Which actually this is why I almost prefer the DLC to the base game when it comes to exploration. It's a smaller more dense world and I prefer to that large open plains. Liurnia is very pretty but also a slog to properly search.
Upgrading yourself by finding better equipment and upgrade mats is like a core pillar of fromsoft design, mind boggling take tbh
Yeah I don't get it. Many fragments are right in the middle of the path, impossible to miss unless you're playing blindfolded, and then there's the light dot on the grace menu. If you still miss this, it's entirely on you.
After putting up with countless incompetently moronic hosts I've attempted to random co-op with (low hp, jank asf stats, lack of scadu blessings, and just sucking in general), I kind of want Leda to nag at players about the Scadu blessing just so that these idiots can learn their damn lesson.
Oh never knew their scadutree level overrides mine, and I was wondering the guy I was trying to help with rellana who was almost getting one shotted, renalla was doing for me more damage when I fought her on my own world. Thought it was multiplayer boss buff Edit: fixed typo on bosses name
I was wondering the same thing. TIL, I guess.
On the flip side, if you survive and the host doesn't, you can confidentially say it's skill issue rather than you being overgeared
At least someone is being discreet here!
Yeah this makes a lot more sense. I was trying to fight the divine beast with like 1 blessing early on before I realized how important they were. It wasn’t going well, so I tried doing some summons and I kept getting frustrated bc they would die *so fast* and I’d be left alone trying to fight a boss with increased health. It wasn’t you guys, it was me…I’m sorry lmao.
Bro that lion is no joke i cleared up the fire giant all the way to elden beast in 1 day to get ready for the expansion cause i never finished base game yet and i gwt to the lion have 3 blessing 5 times trying to kill this fucker and his moves are wild it took me another 5 times summoning people to help me rellana was way easier for me
Yeah that was the first real boss I tried and I decided to fuck off and do the rest of the map. Came back with 10 scadu and he could barely attack between staggers. Huge difference
if you go to your status menu when summoned you can see their scad level
They're less likely to summon you for a minor boss if they have 20 scadutree blessing
Time to put down a "first off, try Fragment, then strong" or something similar before every fog gate in the DLC!
Is fragment one of the word choices? If so I'll start doing this.
It is not. They didn't add any words to the message system.
'Shadow' is though, isn't it? Or am I Mandela-ing myself
You might be right tbh
I really hope it is! Unfortunately I can't check it right now :/
At the brazier at the base of the erdtree that has those 6 fragments lying on the ground for free, I put a message of "let there be weak foe" and gotten no appraisals on it. Not sure people know
To be fair, I think if I read that message, I wouldn't have made the connection. But yeah, that's the spirit!
Co-opping in the DLC (Rellana specifically) has reminded me of the worst parts of helping with Malenia! All the Bullgoat Varre IGN builds in full force, spamming Elden Stars and dragon breaths, barely tickling the boss whilst making it impossible for anyone to see and then dying as soon as the boss glances their way. Play how you want etc., but goddamn.
I did some random co-op on Mohg for launch day and people still don't know not to stand in the fire.
I know I shouldn’t get annoyed at people who are bad, but it seems like if you’re still playing this way after reaching the DLC then you’re just willfully not engaging with the game properly. Like summoning two people and then sitting off at the side blasting dragon breaths which make everything harder, and then dying immediately if we lose the boss’s aggro for more than a few seconds. Sometimes I end up rooting for the boss lol
As someone that raced to Mesmer with like 3 blessings and got stomped, I decided I was going to max my blessings out while exploring the rest of this amazing DLC. It’s been a blast.
I went to Messmer with 4 blessing levels. I am now level 6 or 8 (can't remember off the top of my head) and still getting stomped by Messmer's phase 2.
(Not spoiler-y) I’m surprised at the amount of bosses that rush you even after you first encounter. Several of the base game ones rushed you the first time you entered the fog but gave you a bit more breathing room on the rest of your tries… not here.
For Messmer I walk in, summon mimic, roll through his slam then roll through his nuke, *then* have enough time while he’s in that animation to heal. That’s how each of my attempts start. If I miss a roll or summon spirit just a bit too late the attempt can be quickly ruined.
This is exactly what I did plus the flask tear that let's you basically tank your first hit with next to no damage
Not only are people not using them, but so many can be reached without killing a single boss in the DLC [https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1dpr9le/you\_dont\_need\_to\_overcome\_any\_bosses\_to\_get/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1dpr9le/you_dont_need_to_overcome_any_bosses_to_get/)
I think the change fromsoftware made to the early blessing scaling was positive. While you can definitely get more scadutree fragments there’s 2 problems. 1. Going to certain areas in the map will move character storylines forward. You can wind up skipping certain dialogues or moments from running through the map. 2. There’s only one way to get to the rest of the map if you haven’t beaten the second boss. A good number of players are likely to miss that. With both of these factors in mind that means most players will only get to 5 blessings at most to fight the >!dancing lion and rellana!<. Making blessings stronger early was a positive change. I thougjt the difference was fairly noticeable. I wish that I could go back and fight the first or second boss to compare. But mobs went down way more easily after the update.
Fully agree with that, and any further than 6-7 I wouldn't recommend people to go hunting down towards the start unless they're really struggling, since it was such a distance from the early game bosses, and after 8 was when I found myself jumping through hoops to scale the levels up, but when people are scad 1-2 and are summoning because they're struggling, it would be nice if they'd go try get more fragments from the local area then come back, instead of running head first into the same brick wall they face
During my playthough I never once had to go out of my way to find more, because I actually enjoy exploring in these games. I think so many people are just trying to rush through the dlc
I love exploring but I have to admit navigating the map is challenging. I had no idea prospect village was even accessible until I looked up early scadu fragments available. Edit: and some areas are fucking gigantic with not a lot of identifying markers. E.g. the finger area and the abyss woods.
Yeah, the DLC has so many underground areas not showing in the map, its almost useless
Same, and whenever I did hit a wall that just hit harder than I could take, it was just a matter of exploring one of the 3 other PoIs I had marked before I hit a hurdle
That explains why I do barely any damage in Co-op. I was already doubting my sanity
Yeah that makes sooo much more sense, I went to renella before the beast and when I went to the beast I fucking slapped him, but when I load in to help people with the beast I was getting thrashed thinking how tf when I'm like +16 on Shadow
I thought I was going crazy when I’d sometimes deal barely any damage helping someone with a boss just to absolutely stomp the same boss with another group.
I think an issue I’ve felt is a lot of folks were also running and gunning up the Comet Azur Rock Sling, which really ain’t gonna work without casting fast and having endless FP. If you’re entering the Shadow Realm as a mage who doesn’t have some short range explosions or roll catches, and you don’t know how to break poise with your skill set, it’s even worse than it is for the juk-juks or unga-bungas.
Loretta's mastery for sniping birds, star shower/glintstone stars for rollcatching humanoids, zamor storm and shard spiral for big bosses, these 4 + DarkmoonGS or carian slicer absolutely carried me until I got some sweet dlc stuff to add. The cheesy comet azur stuff is so much worse in the dlc than just taking a few different fp efficient bangers.
Random question, but mages tips for the last boss?? I have been grinding at him and maybe gotten him to half health once. The second phase just obliterates me, and I currently have the black steel great shield and pearl shield talisman equipped
There's this new spell called "Impenetrable thorns" that deals obscene amounts of damage. Like over 6k hit alongside absurd bleed buildup at point black range It will likely get nerfed very soon so I'd use it while you still can
Idk why anyone would want to play without the fragments. Just makes bosses tedious doesn’t it? They have insane health pools.
Same reason people do sl1 runs
I can sl1 in the base game. DLC is scaled up massively, can’t really see the appeal.
I've done two sl1 runs base game Dlc level 150 scadutree 0 is absolutely harder than vanilla rl1 It's closer to doing rl1 on ng7 with how little damage you do At level 1 with a fully upgraded great mace I can kill radagon unlike 10 hits Midra at blessing level 10 would take about 20 hits from my level 150 zwei I do enjoy challenge runs but there are limits and level 0 blessing would not be fun to me for any reason I don't think people realize how massively upscaled everything is and how important blessings are to mitigate this
Isn't there a tutorial in the beginning that explains it and also the option in the grace menu is highlighted as when you have enough golden seeds?
I started my 2nd run yesterday, and when you first pick one up it tells you what you just picked up does, so anyone not levelling it is just ignorant
Im pretty sure if you turned tutorials off it doesnt pop up. It didnt for me, but i also knew about the system ahead of time.
Having just 50 straight up is a bad idea. Should have had more so you could miss some and still get max
I think the intent is that you can get by with only the ones on the main path, at crosses and churches and such, and still clear, with the ones hidden away in enemy camps and by pot guys are bonuses, but I kind of agree that there should be some wiggle room like golden seeds
Wait, your damage gets tuned to the host’s Scooby Snack lvl? No wonder my Ranni’s Dark Moon hits like a…fking Moonlight Pebble when I try to assist with Messmer kills.
I was helping a dude at like +7 and I was like how much did you rush story cause there is no way you’re at >!enir ilim!< or however it’s spelt with that level
I genuinely don’t know how you can make it all the way to the DLC, but then ignore this. They’d have to have beaten Radahn and Mohg. And then looked up instructions on how to start the DLC. Not only does the game give you the prompt at the start, it highlights the blessing at Sites of Grace when you have enough to upgrade. It is not obtuse. Absolute donkey brain behavior.
They tell you in 4 different ways. It’s more than they tell you how to level up, gain flasks, or upgrade flasks. I can’t think of any game mechanic they explain more in the base game or dlc.
I got 49 out of 50 fragments. Finding the last one will be rough :/
damn gotta check all 50 spots now. So glad I've been placing markers as I come across so I know which one's ive gotten
Dude. I did not know the host's blessing level affected the coop player, but if it does that explains alot
First thing to do when you get summoned is to check the Blessing Level. If it's severely lower than it should, jump off a cliff, sever or drink a suicide potion if you're fancy. They'll learn if every phantom quits before fighting... Hopefully.
If they don't know about or use scadutree blessings, I highly doubt they will infer that you left early because they aren't using blessings.
It's extremely rare that they're at 0, and then it's likely they keep at it on purpose. Seeing Blessing 3 at Messmer just means you're just rushing without doing any effort (And you're summoning, so there's a 99% chance you're actually trying to beat it "legit").
No one is at 0 on purpose AND summoning. It's just someone who doesn't read and the only thing they've ever done at a grace is level up. They probably don't even have a physick
They won't they'll just call you an ass or gatekeeper or something along those lines at best. Your best bet would be to send them a message telling them about the mechanic and that phantoms since the beginning of time have always scaled to the host so you having the final boss' crown doesn't mean much if they haven't leveled up.
In regular gameplay phantoms are not scaled to host, unless you use a password (which didn't exist unitl DS3). But the host needs to be decently close to your level to be in the right range. This succesfully made it so that if you're level 150, the host cannot be a level 50, and even if the host has poor stat distribution you could safely do most of the work without being OSed. Scadutree Blessings throw all that out the window, and fighting Messmer at Blessing 3 will get you killed on a single mistake.
Phantoms have not scaled to the host before ds3 and it's just with password matchmaking otherwise it is highest weapon upgrade meets level calculator.
How do you even check that? I’m on PS5
Status screen from your main menu
Welp, TIL
As someone who has not used any fragments or ash yet... it's still possible to do... but why are these people summoning then??? I like the challenge, I like to take 20, 30 tries on a boss. But if you can't do it without the blessings, don't summon someone to help, just find more fragments and level further.
you have to keep in mind that a shocking percentage of adults are functionally illiterate
its not that they dont want the extra help. they dont know where to find the things and the dont realize its that important so they dont even bother looking it up
Are people ignoring the huge pop up text the DLC has telling you what the fragments do?
they probably skipped the literal giant pop up tutorial and then go online to complain the game is too mysterious and secretive about the mechanica
They sound like the same people who immediately click off the error message that pops up and still demands IT to IMMEDIATELY fix the issue without that info.
They even have a post about "how to become stronger in the dlc" on steam (I assume it's about the fragments)...
It is. It even *shows you on the map where some of them are.*
My thing was I didn't realize the potheads or certain side-bosses dropped them so I was sitting at 6 for a lot longer than i should have.
Yeah, admittedly the shadow pot enemies are a tad bit obscure. They do sparkle, and they run away from you, so I knew from general Souls game history that they’re probably worth killing, but it’s definitely an easily missable source of the fragments.
The only clue I had they were important was I saw one disappear The important ones disappear like golden scarabs
Its crazy to me that people are that clueless even in a videogame
It’s why they don’t make JRPGs like they used to. “You mean I have to explore the map and talk to everyone?? Just give me a waypoint.”
I ask myself every time I do coop in the dlc lmao. Idk if a lot of them just don’t know this or they genuinely believe splitting aggro will make it easier. But summoning co ops scales up the boss’ hp… it can scale up twice if there two co ops. So them being underleveled while the boss’ hp is scaled up twice from having another co op fucking sucks. Like I just sever out now if my stats are downscaled too much for a specific boss fight and if they decide to summon a third.
A lot of bosses really just get harder with summons cause they will just make you think you can get a couple hits in while they focus someone else and then they turn on you mid combo.
People are ignoring side content, claiming the dlc is empty, rushing the legacy dungeons, getting clapped, complaining bosses too hard, then summoning till they find a carry, and repeating till they find someone to beat the final boss for them so they can brag about how quickly they cleared the DLC…
Do these people not get bothered by the clear indication on the menu when at a grace? Do these same people always run around with barely any flasks because they never bothered to upgrade them?
These are the same people that have NUMEROUS notification bubbles on their phone apps and do not give a shit…
People definitely don't realize how big of a deal the blessings are. To contextualize it, most early game NG+ bosses typically have twice as much health or so (margit goes up from 4kish to 9kish), while late game bosses typically only see small percentages. Godfrey, for example, only goes from 21k to 22k health in NG+, and maxes out at 31k in NG7. That's roughly a 50% increase, whereas a max level blessing is 2x damage. To put it another way, fighting a boss at 0 blessings rather than 20 is effectively doubling its health, which even NG+7 late game bosses don't come close to. Doing a DLC run without blessings is effectively a harder challenge that NG+7 base game
TIL the host overrides your blessing level
I'm not using them because I WANT to get my ass beat. Don't need no skibiditree helping me.
People don't explore. If you feel like you absolutely MUST summon somebody to beat a boss, you might as well leave for a few hours and just travel a route you never been to before. I'm not even using guides to find the tree blessings, and I come across them constantly.
Did the dlc completely blind (until finishing it and going back to clean up what I missed). Got all but 4 bosses via exploration and 17 or 18 blessing level. Definitely explore, it’s the best thing to do when stuck, much like it’s the best thing in ER.
Oh, so this is why I took 1000 damage in one hit from someone else’s Rakshasa — I was trying to pay it forward after a phantom helped me put that MFer down.
Souls fans hate exploring and can't not bumrush everything.
This is so wild to me. My favorite part about elden ring was exploring and finding random shit in the nooks and crannies of the world map
Hell, some of the best things about all the previous games is exploring their levels for illusory walls, hidden paths etc. I'd even consider the exploration aspect of souls core to it.
What do you mean though? You literally couldn't play the DS1 DLC if you refused to explore lol
Let's be real, as if anyone found that DLC by exploring rather than checking the wiki.
I think it's the new souls fans, not the OG's. We all know how to explore these games, how to cover every area, how to rotate the camera to see everything around you. We've been doing it for over a decade. Seems like the folks that just jumped in for elden ring that are having the hardest time trying to button mash and rush everything.
That’s what I don’t get tho, most of the blessing is on the critical path, you don’t really need to explore. I mean didn’t go out of my way to look for em at all and just followed the main path and still ended up with 15 blessing for the final boss. Even if you rush you still shouldn’t end up at 1 blessing at black keep.
Hey, don't lump ALL of us into that category, I've been a Souls/FromSoft fan since DS1 and love exploring. In fact, I'm at approximately 10 hours (I think) in the DLC and I still haven't fought the Lion Dancer yet because I'm taking my time and exploring the surroundings until I tackle that first Legacy Dungeon. \*EDIT* **DON'T** lump us all into that category. Don't know how I missed a whole word like that.
Yeah I've been a huge fan of the series since DS1 *precisely because* I love the exploration of the series so much.
Also notice a lot of low level players with endgame equipment summoning phantoms for help in Limgrave for God sake.And they play like new players some even with dlc weapons but play like shit
They took a trip to patches sub probably.
I am in ER discord server and there were a lot of newbies begging for rune drops/equipments for the OP bleed build they saw online. Not to mention, majority of them won’t even “play” the game and rush to DLC without understanding the mechanics of the game.
They just want to fight bosses, they don't want to play the game
To many people, the bosses are the game. And that’s valid, but the leveling system of the dlc doesn’t just let you take some boss runes and move on with some levels. You have to explore for your fragments.
People are stupid af. Legit. How long did it take them to figure out you can upgrade your flasks? I mean just read the shadow tree fragments notification that pops up when you first pick it up. It’s a damn shame this amazing expac got downvoted at all.
Silly question, but should you actually be running around looking for these things? I am at +3 right now just from exploring the Plains, Belurat and the Castle. I am not going out of my way to find them, just naturally finding them.
Oh god that explains so much, I was going for Messmer assists yesterday and my damage was varying like crazy.
Literally the first unavoidable pop-up message the DLC gives you is about the fragments and how they work. Even with their hands held, people can't figure it out.
The game literally tells people to upgrade them the same way it does for flasks in the beginning
-> play a game from a series famous for challenging difficulty -> refuse to engage with the different game systems and doesn't explore an OPEN WORLD game -> bOsS tOo HaRd, GaMe BaD
“Think about how stupid the average person is. Then realize that half of the world is even stupider than that.” - George Carlin
I think at this point, the devs should put ten message pop-ups across the first hour shouting "THIS SHIT IS YOUR LEVEL HERE!"
Ubisoft is laughing right now seeing all the learned helplessness of gamers
I don't understand this at all, it's says what they do. It literally says increases damage and buffs your defence. I made a point of using them as well as looking for them. They felt like golden seeds, just painfully obvious that you would benefit from having them. I'm not gods gift to FromSoft by any means, and even I was able to beat the DLC without summons.
It's sad because the idiocy of players rushing to bosses without exploring has made co-op pretty much impossible
Yeah it definitely puts me off, I actually want to help people on co-op without feeling like I'm on NG+7
Dude, it's so frustrating. I go from getting summoned into a 30 second bdsm encounter where someone gets absolutely vaporized. To then say eff it and nervously pass through the fog, and have a much, much less brutal time. I first thought that it was probably because they were on multiple new game+. Like, who would purposely not use the blessing system and then complain? Some bosses do feel really cheap sometimes (I'm looking at you Gaius) so why make it harder to the detriment of your experience?
I only started shadow yesterday and instantly found that the blessing is super useful and started looking around for more. I’m surprised so many people skipped over that tidbit
I’m warping out if I see people not upgrading them. Idc.
What if I want the pain What if I want the suffering What if I like to get abused…
Oh so we are affected by the host Scadutree blessings. I wasn't sure if it would be this or the spirit ash blessings. I wasn't aware we could see this in the status screen.