Elden Ring

[thorn warren]

thats a bit pompus

but yes Ive tried most weapons in the game,, using nearly optimal stats, and know about most most weird secret things you can do

[hard arrow]

right now I'm still sort of doing a breadth-first-traversal on the game world

slowly uncovering the map by going around the fog of war

[thorn warren]

well, enjoy. thats one of the best periods of the game.

[bitter spire]

understandable. by the way, if you see a knight in gold armor, and fighting him has him do lightning nonsense, you should do your best to kill him.

[hard arrow]

oh yeah one thing - before playing Elden Ring I saw all the memes about Blaidd and assumed he would have a large role in the game but so far he's shown up exactly once to help me beat up some dude in an everjail?

[thorn warren]

but do ping me if you have questions about something and Ill try my best to answer.

[thorn warren]

..........

do you really want the answer?

or do you wanna keep running around and havin fun?

[hard arrow]

just tell me if I fucked up or missed the next part of the quest

[thorn warren]

oh no

you havent

[hard arrow]

k then

[thorn warren]

he becomes a key character in one of the bigger questlines.

dont worry about it

youll find it or you wont

[hard arrow]

I should probably go back for my biannual "can I kill the tree sentinel at the very start of the game yet?" attempt

[bitter spire]

his next step of the quest involves... some deep exploration. literally.

[thorn warren]

just

shhhhh

let them have their fun

[hard arrow]

I ended up killing another hound night in a cave in liurnia

[bitter spire]

I felt vague enough, there, but okay.

[thorn warren]

bah

[hard arrow]

my disappointment in how soft cotton actually works is immeasurable and my day is ruined

[thorn warren]

[bitter spire]

said everyone ever. treachery at it's highest.

[thorn warren]

we all were.

also just to note

the cats ring in this game sucks ass.

its just

its bad

[bitter spire]

it's permanent soft cotton.

[thorn warren]

which.... points at soft cotton

[hard arrow]

afaict there's a certain "you just fucking die" fall height limit and the only thing "fall damage reduction" items do is reduce the damage you take on falls that are less than that limit

[thorn warren]

yes but the issue there Crem, is that height, is EXTREMELY inconsistent

for basically no reason

[hard arrow]

stares in caelid divine tower

[thorn warren]

hell IIRC theres even just some death planes to prevent you from getting ot semi wacky places

[bitter spire]

there's areas with a death plane at where fall damage would start

[hard arrow]

you just straight up fall like 50 meters with no ill effect in that tower

[thorn warren]

in the DLC there was a way to get to a lower area faster by doing some clever horsey jumps and instead of letting you do that, they just kill you now when attempting it.

[bitter spire]

caelid tower is easily in the top 3 worst parkour bits.

[hard arrow]

(but fuck the spear and shield knight at the end)

[thorn warren]

hah. oh. good times.

anyways

any drop longer than 5ft is presumed instant death

unless you're in caelid

or that one area in stormveil

or like 3 other spots

[hard arrow]

I tried a bunch of times to kill just one of those buff monk dudes with the black flames but gave up and noped out of caelid for now

[thorn warren]

fair

[bitter spire]

yeah, blackflame boys don't mess around

[thorn warren]

to note Ohio is like..... progression wise..... meant to be tackled POST leurnia?

but its right next to area 1

for funzies

cause suffering

[hard arrow]

I actually got to caelid super early twice: once when I found the teleporter to the beast priest, once when I went through the siofra underground zone and took the elevator and it gets you to a completely isolated path in caelid that goes to the pvp colliseum

[bitter spire]

oh no, Ohio is meant post Leurnia and post ||both wells|| spoiler'd for obvious reasons.

[hard arrow]

at that point I was just like "maybe I'll just climb the towersget the map and leave" but uhhh nope

nope nope

[thorn warren]

I mean

you took like

the WEIRDEST ways to get to Ohio

theres literally a road that goes there

you just

can walk to it

[dull tulip]

i accidentally missed all of the smithing dungeons untill i was almost done with dlc 😭

[hard arrow]

yep I tried the road LAST

[thorn warren]

PFFFFFFFTTTTT

I mean

classic elden ring gameplay right there

[bitter spire]

oof, that suuucks, bunkovsky

[thorn warren]

[hard arrow]

which means I ran into the tibia sailor very late and I bullied the crap out of him

[thorn warren]

Tibia Mariners are such a joke

theyre just sad

[bitter spire]

the feeling of being able to obliterate one of those is so cathartic of my first playthrough.

[hard arrow]

summon +3 wolves, proceed to smash

[thorn warren]

I mean

the wolves are kinda

eh?

then again my standards are broken

[hard arrow]

for early game the wolves are almost OP

[thorn warren]

I meannnnn

well

look Crem

[bitter spire]

I blundered into him with a base level fighty man.

[hard arrow]

but I JUST found the kaiden warrior ash

[thorn warren]

you will eventually learn there is 1 summon that is so broken nothing else matters.

[hard arrow]

and that one feels a lil better

[thorn warren]

but

until that day

yes the doggos are nice

[bitter spire]

the greatest summon that has ever been.

[hard arrow]

the wolves certainly seem to be doing much better than the "wandering noble" or the jellyfish

[bitter spire]

oh no, the noble is a meme, you're not supposed to use him.

[hard arrow]

I had to look at the wiki to figure out how to get the spirit tuner to unlock though

[bitter spire]

she's a little convoluted, yeah.

[hard arrow]

freakin game letting important stuff be easily missable, imagine not unlocking Torrent because you didn't go to the damn church

[thorn warren]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

so like

I mean

..........

[bitter spire]

that's not where you torrent, but okay

[thorn warren]

Crem

you get Torrent via a cutscene that can happen in a lot of places

but lets say, hypothetically

you never..... rest at a bonfire.

ever.

you dont get torrent

[hard arrow]

oh right wait you unlock torrent easy enough, it's the spirit summon bell you get at elleh

[thorn warren]

well I mean

eventually you are forced you interact with some bonfires due to some stupid checks that are dumb but Im currently working on routing a minimal bonfire playthrough

[thorn warren]

hah. yeah. and you can miss that

[bitter spire]

or, you could never get the whetstone knife, and think you have to have roundtable to infuse weapons.

[thorn warren]

Im fairly certain anywho

oh and if you decline the maidenless ladies assistence

[hard arrow]

one thing that I'm very sad about - I only just started messing with the multiplayer so I only just now realize what "summoning pools" are. or, in fact, that they EXIST

[thorn warren]

you dont get to level

ever

[bitter spire]

once you miss the bell, it's available with the twin maidens. for a thousand runes

[hard arrow]

which means I've basically skipped past ALL of them

[thorn warren]

eh. summoning pools are kinda meh

[hard arrow]

so I'm gonna have to go around touching them all again

[thorn warren]

oh thats good to know

[bitter spire]

It didn't used to be.

[hard arrow]

oh? neat. a thousand runes isn't too big a deal

[thorn warren]

summoning pools are really only helpful if you wanna be used in jolly cooperation. most of the people I recruit from there just instantly die to the bosses I fight

now

I mean

of course

[bitter spire]

used to be if you missed the church, no bell for you.

[thorn warren]

I am dragging people used to maybe at most NG+1 or 2 into NG+7 against endgame bosses

who are 300+ levels below me

but like

thats a them problem

not a me problem

obviously

[hard arrow]

yeah I tried a few times using the "just make me available at any summon pool" option, good times

even beat the boss a couple of times, got me some rune arcs

[bitter spire]

gurm you're summoning NG or NG+2 builds to your deathworld save. of course they dissolve.

[thorn warren]

ye

[hard arrow]

they feel a little too precious to actually USE though

[thorn warren]

jolly cooperation is fun

[thorn warren]

ITS NOT A DEATHWORLD. ITS PERFECTLY NORMAL!

look

if they didnt want the game to be that hard

why did they let me

[bitter spire]

10k damage from one attack isn't normal

[thorn warren]

its not 10K damage

its only like 2700

[hard arrow]

I'm still kinda wondering what the multiplayer icons on the map mean

[thorn warren]

if you have nearly maxed out armour

[thorn warren]

it means people are doing stuff in that area

[hard arrow]

I use the furlcaller remedy, go to the zone the map says has a coop sign on it, and ???

like, does it mean someone dropped a summon sign in that area specifically and I might see it if I'm lucky, or?

[thorn warren]

typically shows where a lot of invasions or summonings are happening

[bitter spire]

that's just saying "hey, there's someone over here, if you use the summoning thing, they might summon you."

[thorn warren]

honestly I have zero idea what its purpose is

most of the jolly cooperation I do is through putting my summon sign down near boss doors

the old fassioned way

[bitter spire]

the way it was meant to be.

[thorn warren]

indeed

with a gold soapstone

I mean furled finger

[bitter spire]

ehh, tomato, orange, they're both fruit.

[thorn warren]

heeeeh

[bitter spire]

I wonder if crembo's found the town of sadness yet.

[thorn warren]

Jarburg is not sad!

its happy!

and fun!

and nice!

except for that one time

[bitter spire]

Jarburg? happy nothing bad ever happens town? no. Albinauric town.

[thorn warren]

or wait are you talking about the one where everyone is being actively murdered

ahhhhh

right

yeah

that town

yes that is a town of sadness

oh wait I remembered a place where legitimately nothing bad has ever happened!

[bitter spire]

also that one time would stop happening if you'd stop chatting up everyone you see.

[thorn warren]

Moonlight Plateau!

literally only happy things go down there.

I got married up there.

[bitter spire]

rule one of Fromsoft, the player's character ruins lives through osmosis.

[thorn warren]

look these days the only NPCs I talk to are those I need items from

Jarburg hasnt had the incident for at least 5 NGs now.

[bitter spire]

in other news, the Jar Bairn item is actually pretty good, makes pot focus builds almost worth it.

[thorn warren]

there are a number of items that buff pots these days

honestly with the DLC adding its new pot types, legitimately, its a good build (for PvP)

[bitter spire]

they really want people to mix pots into their builds.

[thorn warren]

PvE..... ehhhhhhhh..,... less so

[thorn warren]

I mean.... yeah.

crafting was a huge advertised feature in ER..... that is basically never used by anyone

[bitter spire]

the feel of getting a free throw on the basket guys, though. perfection

[thorn warren]

I mean I use it in the early game when doing great bow shenanigains

[thorn warren]

pure dopamine

PUUURRREEEEE

DOPAMINEEEEEEE

I mean Im not addicted I can stop any time

[bitter spire]

mmm, shenanigans. like using repulse on haligtree.

[thorn warren]

bad. no. stop that. I will stab you.

[bitter spire]

in pve, I'm not a monster

[thorn warren]

ohhhhhhhhhh

carry on

yes yess

jolly good

sorry just had flashbacks to some invasions

bad itmes were had

although you did remind me of something though Vieral

[bitter spire]

the look in their eyes when I butt slam them off first was always a fun time.

[thorn warren]

in the DLC ||the enemies on the rafters who use wave of force. that one was NASTY.||

[bitter spire]

ew. ewwww that was pure cancer

[thorn warren]

||died to it like 5 times. cruel.||

[thorn warren]

yeahhhhh.

[bitter spire]

also speaking of DLC, there's no unga bunga feeling like using ||An anvil on a stick in base NG||

inspired me to go back to DS2 and play a greatclub build. aka "Get Stick'd"

[dull tulip]

I kinda wish that some parts of dlc would be accessible early game

bunch of those items are good for start of the game

[bitter spire]

yeah, the requirements for the DLC make sense lore-wise, but are a real bear.

Dryleaf is so worth it though.

[dull tulip]

i wanted to play game with throwables @ smithscript 😄 ( from the start )

[thorn warren]

I meannnnn

so like

[dull tulip]

no mods

😄

[thorn warren]

what?

no.

just have a buddy grab it on some character they have

and then drop it on the ground for your new character ot pick up

thats how we USED to do challenge runs

before all this "modding"

happened

[dull tulip]

Ah, i guess kinda, but i would preffer it its accessible solo

[thorn warren]

.......

well now I cant help you

[dull tulip]

Ye, noone can 😄

But it is what it is

[thorn warren]

indeed

I mean they said it was a post game DLC, sure, fine, but it would have been nice if it had some more interconnectivity to the main game.

oh well

[dull tulip]

while playing the dlc it did feel like bunch of those items were ment for first 1/3rd of the game, statwise and skillwise etc, so would have been neat if you could access certain locations before the actual "entry point".
Kindof would have even been possible i feel like but unfortunately they opted for what they opted

[thorn warren]

I mean. so like heres the thing

not EVERY DLC item could have been an absolute banger

I mean we have items in the base game that are just objectively bad

sure some statting is kinda low on some of them, but arguably to me, thats just them subtly encouraging people to branch out and try more things

"lookie here, a cool new weapon, only needs a few more points in something you havent really invested in"

idk

thats my take

especially on the smithscrips which were way overhyped for what they were.

[dull tulip]

The problem with the whole "im already set in my ways @ last 1/3rd of the game" situation

[thorn warren]

or in my case

"Ive beaten this game 9 times now and have literally every stat I could want well beyond soft cap, why do I need this dinky knife"

[dull tulip]

I liked the new weapon types, but objectively utility wise it would have been nicer if they were accessible the whole time.
some of the new great weapon types - sure imo fine if they are in dlc.
but things that i see more as utility items/weapons ( some of the bows/bowskills, trhow weapons, parfume bottles ) do feel like they would have contributed to base game feeling more full if were made available early, plus seemingly would be more usable vs base game enemies

skills/talismans and such - no beef with, makes sense to only be in dlc for most

[thorn warren]

yeah it..... its kinda messy

but

whats done is done

[dull tulip]

ye, even with that, i happy

[thorn warren]

and supposedly they're basically done with Elden Ring except maybe a handful more of balence patches.

which honestly, with everything we've gotten?

worth it.

I do hope that AC6 gets DLC though

pelase

I NEED MORE MECH THINGS

I HAVE AN ADDICTION

IT MSUT BE FED

[dull tulip]

tbh i did not even expect the dlc to be as big as it was 😄 so it exceeded what i expected

[thorn warren]

"it will be about as big as limgrave" MY ASS.

DLC spoilers ||I mean its literally that massive hole in the middle of the map. thats the land of shadow. the ENORMOUS HOLE in the MIDDLE OF THE MAP.||

||theres a whole tower that says "yup this is the center of the lands between" inside of hte land of shadow. in the middle of its map. I just. like how could this man reasonably say this thing was the size of limgrave?||

only good things but man.

Miyazaki is a master of the downplay

[hard arrow]

what's this? "bloodflame weapon" incantation? this sounds pretty good

need two more arc than I have though.. hmm

[thorn warren]

TLDR: flat bleed bonus with a tiny amount of additional bleed over time, .65 incant scaling.

It’s meh. In my opinion. Given how everything you reasonably want to bleed (most bosses) might as well be immune.

No the bleed doesn’t scale with anything

At all

Ever

[hard arrow]

Also I found a crystal dragon (it kicked my ass)

[thorn warren]

was it the one in leurnia?

[hard arrow]

yep

[thorn warren]

ah yeah. probably should kill em.

[hard arrow]

snuck around it while it sleeping to get the item but it woke up anyway

[thorn warren]

oh yeah it does that

[hard arrow]

I do have "kill dragons" on my todo list

but it may take more levelling up

[thorn warren]

I highly reccomend fighting them mounted

[hard arrow]

I tried running towards it while mounted and then hopping off and kicking it in the shin

should I try to stay on the horse?

[thorn warren]

absolutely

also interesting thing about mounted combat: if you are 2 handing a weapon before getting on the horse, you keep your 2 handed status as long as you dont swap weapons

meaning bonus damage

dragons are about being able to move fast and keeping up with them

yes you can fight them grounded but its a whole to do

[hard arrow]

got a bunch more spirit ashes too, no easy to test if they're useless or not though

[thorn warren]

and not reccomended.

similar story iwth the final boss btw. you kinda picked the perfect time to really get into the game after all the QOL was added.

fighting the final boss before they let us ride horses was a god damned nightmare

anywho

have fun.

also most spirit ashes are kinda junk. the good ones are called legendaries or something like that

they require ghost glovewart to level up

the rest have..... mixed use as meatshields

[hard arrow]

the kaiden dude is doing surprisingly well

[thorn warren]

but there is one that stands above all. hidden deep away somewhere in the world. the legend that outshines all others that honestly has no fucking reason to really exist but I thank miyazaki every time I summon it.

[hard arrow]

much better than the only named one I have so far (lhutel the headless)

well, I also got latenna, but I hadn't tried using her since the description says she's immobile and that doesn't sound great for "how long will the summon live to draw aggro"

[thorn warren]

headless dude can teleport IIRC.

[thorn warren]

she shoots arrows. lots of arrows. actually one of the best summons in the game.

[hard arrow]

he can teleport but he's also not nearly aggressive enough to keep aggro and deal damage

[thorn warren]

true enough

all praise the heavenly being.

try out latenna though

she can do good deeps

[hard arrow]

guess I'll give her a try

... not against the dragon though, probably

[thorn warren]

Probably not

[hard arrow]

"land squirt ashes" no.

just no

[thorn warren]

heh

[hard arrow]

divine tower in liurnia is weird. fought a perceptor, got to the top, climbed the beams in the rafters. it's clear I'm supposed to invert gravity somehow, from the corpses stuck on the underside of the beams and the inverted spiral stairway, but uhhhh hooowwww

[dull tulip]

there is a way

the way is related to || progressing ranis questline ||

[hard arrow]

not clicking for now - I hope I can figure this one out myself

I think there's a slot you can place a key item at the start of the area I might need to come back later

[thorn warren]

replace the word "might" with "need" and youre on the right track.

there is no way to progress through that tower in the immediate area around it. no secret chests. no weird teleports. no funky levers.

Im saying this so that you dont waste your time there forever

[hard arrow]

ah. my next guess was that there's a weird power interaction or an item that does nothing when you use it but inverts gravity JUST in that room

or the gravity being a red herring and I need to figure out how to jump higher

[thorn warren]

it is a gravity thing. it is a certain key item. you will probably eventually find it. it just aint in that tower.

[hard arrow]

yep I wandered off. saved in the raya lucaria main gate bonfire and that's enough for today, I'm assuming the thing is like stormveil

[thorn warren]

Rad

[hard arrow]

unless it's filled with those enemies from the academy crystal cave in which case it's a gosh danged cover shooter

[thorn warren]

Yup

[hard arrow]

and I don't have a cover button

[thorn warren]

It’s a legacy dungeon.

[hard arrow]

a what

[thorn warren]

Aka: area akin to the old souls games

[hard arrow]

oh

I was thinking of stormveil more in the vein of a zelda dungeon but sure

[thorn warren]

Stormveil, Academy, etc

All “legacy dungeons”

No I don’t know why that term stuck.

[hard arrow]

circles inside circles inside circles where you gradually open shortcuts

[thorn warren]

Ye

But more squares making circles.

[hard arrow]

other things on my todo list: figure out how to get to the clifftop village above albinauric village, figure out where the map for that is (I'm not seeing the map stele marked on the overworld map for this one?), figure out how to get to the undead asy starting zone that you can see from stormveil

[thorn warren]

That Steele is within the village. That cliff is a quest locked area.

I am telling you this because you will go insane like I did looking for a way up that doesn’t exist.

[hard arrow]

I kept circling it

over and over

also running in the poison swamp

aaaaaaa

[thorn warren]

Be on your horse

Horse doesn’t get poisoned

[dull tulip]

( it did not take that long to figure out blind, you might be oversharing 😅 )

[hard arrow]

I couldn't make my horse walk in the poison swamp that's cru- wait waht

horse is not poisoned?

[thorn warren]

Not poisoned.

[hard arrow]

ffffffffffffffffffffffff

[thorn warren]

I SPENT 3 HOURS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

[dull tulip]

Ok our experiances are different 😂

[hard arrow]

it was at the point where I was thinking I should definitely have unlocked an anti-poison talisman by now, but I don't, and I was wondering if I should go back to limgrave and canvass it for a cave I missed

[thorn warren]

Anti poison talisman….. where were those… hm…

Honestly don’t remember. Never used em.

[hard arrow]

I've got talismen for fire, bleeding, and magic iirc

but not poison

wait no I've got one for focus

[thorn warren]

There isn’t a talisman for just bleed resistance

It boosts bleed and something else

[hard arrow]

I went through a poison swamp cave full of poison flowers and dudes shooting homing poison bolts at me and killed a boss called the cleanrot knight and he did not drop an anti-poison talisman

[dull tulip]

There are things.
i mostly used consumables/spells for that purpose

much more efficient

the most common anti poison thing will be the bulbs i think

[hard arrow]

I can make anti-poison boluses but I don't think I have a ton of the stuff it requires

[dull tulip]

( or what they were called )

yes boluses 😄

[thorn warren]

Honestly, legitimately, don’t bother.

Seriously Crem.

[hard arrow]

also I have some

soap

[thorn warren]

Soap cleans off clinging statuses.

Also not very useful.

[dull tulip]

There is a spell - || flame clense me || - that is located in somewhat early game

that takes care of poison/rot

[hard arrow]

I did find one use for it which was when I accidentally rolled while in a scarlet rot puddle

[dull tulip]

that i liked a lot

[thorn warren]

Ohio is not early game.

[thorn warren]

Yup

Clinging statuses

Anyways serious advice: unless it’s rot or death it’s basically harmless.

[hard arrow]

also may I just say how bullshit it is that imp head (wolf) gives you bonus endurance but it does not lighten your equipment load

fatrolling around >:(

[thorn warren]

I mean

End does boost equip load

[hard arrow]

I can see my equip load max go up, but the game still thinks I'm heavy load

even though I shouldn't be

[thorn warren]

I believe wolf head (at certain times) is an overal net positive

[thorn warren]

Are you at or above 70%

[hard arrow]

before head: above 70%. after head: below 70%

[thorn warren]

Odd

Blame rounding

[hard arrow]

oh well just five more levels or so before I can put points into endurance again

.. also fought a fat guy in an everjail who was shooting REALLY COOL enormous fireball bomb incantation but that one requires 40+ faith ughhhhhhhh

[bitter spire]

Yup. Big spells take massive investment

[hard arrow]

feels like bougie oppression against the proletariat working tarnished but okay

[hard arrow]

"be summoned to aid bloody finger hunter yura [yes] [no]" excuse me what is this

[dull tulip]

Some summon signs bring you to help some NPCs/bring you to duels vs NPCs

[thorn warren]

I recommend clicking yes on that one

[bitter spire]

yup. his story's pretty neat, and certain amounts of progress cut off each NPC's story.

[thorn warren]

Yeah. Classic Fromsoft shenanigans

[bitter spire]

speaking of Fromsoft shenanigans, the well in ds2. so much annoyance. I'm trying to bypass the grave of saints region entirely, and messed up that last jump four. times.

[hard arrow]

from my sporadic meetings with NPCs so far - and I'm assuming I missed TONS because I'm not using a wiki - I get the feeling the "good" option is to just never speak to them at all

because speaking to them advances their story and the story is always a bad end

[thorn warren]

Good times

[thorn warren]

I mean….. yeah. That’s it. You cracked the code.

Don’t interact with anyone and their lives mostly get better

On account of them being alive

Or well

I mean

It’s complicated

Talk to Rani. She makes everything better

[dull tulip]

Progressing locations/interaction with things also sometimes progresses stuff, so not talking with them can cause you to miss out on things also iirc ( and some things die )

[bitter spire]

kind of. oh, and reminder for anyone doing a strength build, you can get large club just south of the darrowil evergaol, just a bit down the cliff and back west. also you can ||totally grab the Great Mace greathammer from the camp just outside the elevator in northern leurnia, by sneaking up on it along the eastern cliffside, thus getting ahold of it without fighting a single thing.|| spoilered cause it mentions something in northern Leurnia. only 19 str to two-hand the spoilered item, too.

[hard arrow]

got avionette and marionette ashes. man the game gives you a LOT of ashes but not many opportunities to test them all out

also I thought raya lucaria was sniping wizard town why am I fighting fp stealing zombies aaaaaaaa hands off my damn fp

[bitter spire]

yup. a lot of them are kinda bad, though.

they just want neck kisses.

fun fact, the zombies' damage is proprtional to your max fp

[hard arrow]

could this be a dog?

[bitter spire]

odd to see the school guarded by a toroise, isn't it?/s

[hard arrow]

exploring around liurnia things are gettin weird

found a jarburg

found a sorcery that requires fai rather than int

found a.. painting?..

[dull tulip]

paintings have a purpose btw 😄

kinda

[hard arrow]

and at long< LONG last, I have 20 fai, and can equip black flaaaame

also a bunch of other flame incantations but not all of them seem all that great?

[thorn warren]

which ones?

theres a handful that look bad but are insane

and some that look insane but are bad

its a lot of trial and error

[hard arrow]

I've got "O Flame!", "Surge, O Flame!", "Whirl, O Flame!" and "Flame, Cleanse Me!". oh and flame swing but that's basic bitch fireball

[lethal cobalt]

Is #4 the flame buff or was that a different incantation?

[thorn warren]

Flame, Cleanse Me! is excellent. defeats scarlet rot, I never unequip it

[hard arrow]

yeah I figured that one

[thorn warren]

O flame is arguably a worse version of catch flame? its.... complicated.

less spammable, but higher direct damage

[hard arrow]

whirl seems.. kinda worthless, and o flame! is very VERY short range and has a casting time

[thorn warren]

and Surge o flame is just sad.

[hard arrow]

flame surge is straight up "fire while you hold the button down and you can circle strafe" it seems nice

[thorn warren]

same with whirl o flame

[hard arrow]

oh? surge is bad?

[thorn warren]

ehhhhhhhhhhh...........

it just

it doesnt scale well

and its an FP hog

[hard arrow]

whirl o flame is like.. massive charge up time, you release a penetrating column of fire and it does no fucking damage

or stagger

[thorn warren]

yeah

I'd reccomend trying out O flame, because it just..... it can do CHUNKS

now it does need a lot of scaling to truly get cracked but well..... I mean tis gonna do gud

[hard arrow]

incantation scaling is purely based off your spell focus, right?

[dull tulip]

"Flame, Cleanse Me!" is top tier

[thorn warren]

yeah the Seals.

or well

yeah the seals for faith

and arcane

and technically everything

also strength

theres some weird seals okay?

but anyways they'll say "incant scaling"

and then each spell has a mult of that for how it does damage

so for Black Flame Blade, its .70 of your incant scaling added to your weapon as damage

Blood Flame Blade is .65

so on and so forth

most non buff spells do more than decimals though

[hard arrow]

wow, black flame enchant weapon does NOT last very long

[thorn warren]

Nope!

But it’s a near instant cast

Use with fast hitting weapons for best results

And enjoy your new god killing buff

I recommend having it in spell slot 1 for fast access

[bitter spire]

if you want a good incant for damage, could always snoop around atop the cliff by jarburg. you'll find someone that can 'help' you

also bloodflame blade is better/worse, depending on resistances. also your melee weapon's speed

[hard arrow]

welp renala beaten first try. feels like raya lucarya was much much shorter than stormveil, doesn't it?

[bitter spire]

it kind of is, yeah. but also not really? there's some... interesting secret paths here and there.

[hard arrow]

there was a Fun Surprise waiting for me at roundtable hold too

[bitter spire]

ahh, ensha's dead, then?

[hard arrow]

you know if hunchback mchelmet didn't tell me ensha was working for him I wouldn't have made the connection

compared to mad tongue alberich, ensha was a chump

[bitter spire]

yeah, it's a bit sneaky. but so is most from soft lore.

[thorn warren]

Raya is a lot more direct, but has more hidden paths. Think of it like taking stormveils main gate.

Simple straight shot to the end

[bitter spire]

no fingerprint vyke yet, yes? no I will not explain where you find him. other than not at the school.

[hard arrow]

come to think of it, why would putting something in spell slot 1 make it any faster to access? it's all a cycling list anyway

[dull tulip]

"Items (or magic) will jump to the first slot by holding down the ↑ (or ↓) directional button."

[hard arrow]

huh. TIL

[thorn warren]

very useful

[hard arrow]

still awkward with the whole "swap from shield to seal, cast, swap back to shield" because I'm mister "legally changed my name to shield counter" guy

[thorn warren]

shield counters are uhhh....

how to say

a trap

but

have fun

[dull tulip]

shield counters - strong

[hard arrow]

got a medium shield with 100 phys dmg reduction, went hog wild

even when stuff does get through, eh, so be it, I'll take chip damage to stagger you

(and no matter what I just can't "get" parry, it's almost random which attacks are parryable and when the parry window IS)

[thorn warren]

whats the stamina drain like

[hard arrow]

not too bad

[thorn warren]

the stat called guard boost I mean

whats its guard boost stat

[hard arrow]

enough that if someone is flailing hard at me I try not to tank ALL the hits

excellent question (dunno heh)

[thorn warren]

ittle say on the shield in game

[hard arrow]

it says, uhhhh

50

[thorn warren]

hm

acceptable

barely

if you wanna stick with medium shields I reccomend getting a brass shield

its boost stat is the best for its class

[hard arrow]

yeah I got that one, it's just a smidge too heavy

I should boost endurance

[thorn warren]

boost stat being how much stamina damage you take, higher is better

[thorn warren]

probably

I miss the days when we could get 100% guard boost passively

and then just

never take stamina damage again

[hard arrow]

I put the storm parry ash of war skill on it but I haven't gotten it to do anything yet

freakin timing man

[thorn warren]

medium shields suck at parrying

I reccomend using Carian retaliation

gives any shield equipped with it the best parry windows in the game

also can parry spells

and: costs no FP if you arent parrying a spell

[hard arrow]

dunno what carian retaliation is, I don't think I found it if it drops from an enemy or something

[thorn warren]

huh

I..... I thought it..... huh

its apparently only gotten from a kinda hidden shopkeeper

weird

[bitter spire]

block counter? weak? laughs in fingerprint

[thorn warren]

laughs in backstab

https://tenor.com/view/happy-souls-does-a-lot-of-damage-backstab-its-easy-damage-gif-12503713432325953946

[dull tulip]

Q - "How many bosses can be backstabbed"
A - "Not many"

( guard counter also does quite a bit of stance brak buildup iirc, so front stabs opened up )

[bitter spire]

ha, pvp. with my seamless coop mod. ha.

[thorn warren]

oh no I was backstabbing you for using a block counter in PvP

so much endlag with those moves

basically free fodder

[dull tulip]

Hehe, i play 0 multiplayer, so would not be able to backstab me in pvp 👏 😄

The only thing i did in pvp i think was "do the thing for teleport to the blood place" ( not neccessary anymore i think )

[thorn warren]

yeah

[hard arrow]

oh shit I'm out of smithing stone [1]'s

where do I get more of those

[thorn warren]

Buy em

Or did you not find that bell bearing.

[bitter spire]

if you want a hint on it's location, just ask.

[hard arrow]

bell bearing?

took the teleporter at the top of fort gael. got yeeted to a fort at the other end of the zone. dropped 22k runes on the ground

.. yeah that's enough dark souls-ing for now

[thorn warren]

We had this whole talk. It’s an item you give to the twin maiden husks to expand their shop.

[thorn warren]

[hard arrow]

no I meant "where is the bell bearing for infinite smithing stones"

[thorn warren]

Oh that

Happy to help

[hard arrow]

also may I just say that the caelid heavy knights, with the spear and heavy shield? they are bastards

fuck them

[thorn warren]

Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel

Aka: ||run around the base of raya lucaria and look for a stone key door. You’ll find it in there after the boss.||

[thorn warren]

Redmane knights are a bit of a pain.

[bitter spire]

.> that's not where that is. the bell bearing is in the other crystal tunnel. ||Past the giant bell monster along the bottom of the lower cliffs at lake level., in the side of the cliff||

[thorn warren]

What? You sure?

[thorn warren]

Wait. No that’s literally the location I said

||”at the base” meaning at the bottom of the rocks. IE: the lake level||

[bitter spire]

Ohh, thought you'd meant north of glintstone dragon

[thorn warren]

Nooooo

Nonono

[bitter spire]

vague vent here, why is it so hard for people to figure out souls-like rule 4? if there's an area of the boss arena that applies a dot as you stand in it with an accompanying visual effect, what do you do? don't stay in it, that's what.

[thorn warren]

You know, I ask myself this very often. Why do people stand in fire? Truly. I’ve asked. I’ve tried to understand. The main cause I’ve found?

Idiocy, overconfidence, or just not caring enough to learn.

[bitter spire]

in pvp, it's usually the second, then proven to be the first.

seriously. if I've cast a big aoe lightning storm, don't go into it

[thorn warren]

In PvP sometimes people think they can hit you before the spell goes off

About 30% of the time, they’re right

But man that other 70%

[bitter spire]

but he waited until it was almost done casting to rush me.

[thorn warren]

….. what

Okay see that

Is just being dumb

You either go to hit to caster, or play around their range. Commit to one…. I just. Gah.

[bitter spire]

must've been greed, then, cause I was sitting at magic pixel HP.

[thorn warren]

Ohhhh

Yeah

Greed

Absolutely

[bitter spire]

he coulda chucked a knife at me, but noooo, had to get the bop.

[thorn warren]

I’d like to note: this is why in PvP you should always have a quick chip damage tool.

Mine is black fireball.

Knives are great too though.

[bitter spire]

though there's few things more hilarious than seeing someone just eat a thrown lightning-infused smithscript hammer off a bridge.

[thorn warren]

Ya know. That is funny.

Have you seen the pot builds?

[bitter spire]

not yet, but I've heard things

[thorn warren]

Some people have done crazy stuff with the Great Pots straight up one shotting fools.

It’s a gimmick sure, but boy does it HURT.

[bitter spire]

basketball chucking madmen. the lot of em.

[thorn warren]

And I love them.

[bitter spire]

I've died to it exactly once. by panic-rolling to my doom.

[thorn warren]

Look if people wanna do silly stuff, go for it. The only people I hate in PvP are those that don’t respect the bow, cheaters, and of course meta chasers.

Bow as in the emote not the weapon

[bitter spire]

who dares not do the formal gesture?

[thorn warren]

People I invade sometimes

And some assholes in arena duels

[bitter spire]

rude. one thing I always respect are chuggers.

they down their flasks, show off it's empty, then fight.

[thorn warren]

Oh now that.

Respect

Good stuff

I say: always having erdtree heal on hand in case they ever let me get distance.

[bitter spire]

means you get to fight their build at full power, and they respect you enough not to drink midfight, even by accident.

[thorn warren]

Look I don’t take sippies. If you let me get a healing spell off, you misplayed.

[bitter spire]

yup. those things have decades of uptime.

[thorn warren]

I mean at max dex it’s fairly quick but yeah.

[bitter spire]

thus the quick ranged option. like chucking hammer

[thorn warren]

Yuuup

One of these days I’m gonna try to heal

And I’m just gonna get a hyper mode hammer to the face

[bitter spire]

kinda hard to pray when you've got a facefull of flying brick

[thorn warren]

Yuuuup

Ah well. Back to the metaphor grind.

[bitter spire]

wheeeeeee

how's your ng+too many character, btw?

[thorn warren]

They’re chillin

Goin through the DLC again. Just killed Impailer lad.

[bitter spire]

finally started again from scratch, or going elsewhere?

[thorn warren]

Tough, tough fight. Gets the blood pumping.

[thorn warren]

Nono, ng+sed again.

[bitter spire]

stabby mcsnek is a real rush, yeah.

kek

[thorn warren]

Look difficult caps at 7*

*once clearing DLC it scales up further for each subsequent playthrough.

[bitter spire]

mmm, true, but that's still way too much poise for my builds to... anything, really

[thorn warren]

I use the bloodfiend arm to stunlock most threats

And I try to one shot small fry when I can

[bitter spire]

that triple hit if you time the throwing hammer just right, though

[thorn warren]

Never used it

[bitter spire]

it'd probably not give you the results you'd want, anyway.

[thorn warren]

Probably noooot

[bitter spire]

you currently go for biggerest number ever, yes?

[thorn warren]

I have to be picky. It’s sad sometimes. I just wanna use the cool stuff.

[thorn warren]

Not exactly

[bitter spire]

swing rate, too, then?

[thorn warren]

It’s a balancing act but TLDR: moveset and speed matter more than big number.

Thus my use of the dragon slaying great katana as a chaff killer/ranged weapon, and BF arm as a boss/elite killer.

[bitter spire]

lion's claw on it?

[thorn warren]

Nope

What is it called….

It’s that bash that heals you a ton when it hits

[bitter spire]

O.o forgot that one existed

[thorn warren]

Great bossing ash.

[thorn warren]

Yeah it’s good.

Let’s me do real dumb things and: my spirit also uses it

Which heals itself

[bitter spire]

mmm, healing minion

[thorn warren]

Sure not as strong as it was pre nerf (RIP Estus using friend) but, it’s handy.

[bitter spire]

wait, didn't it also use your physick? as in double kabooming itself to death right away?

[thorn warren]

I think so???

Pre patch it was a weird summon

Real weird

I miss some of its shenanigans but well…. It’s actually mildly balanced these days.

[bitter spire]

just started reading the enemy weakness types page on a whim. hoo boy gravity enemies, they're only vulnerable to eachother's weapons, usually at a 20% bonus.

[thorn warren]

Huh

Neat

Typically I just stab stuff til it’s dead

Occasionally using searing flames.

Wait does that include the boar guy?

[bitter spire]

you'll be shocked to know igon's spears have a 30% uptick of damage to dragons. shocked, I say.

[thorn warren]

Already knew that

Shame that their raw damage continues to be not great

[bitter spire]

nope. boarman's not on that list. his weapon is, though.

[thorn warren]

Huh

Neat.

Man I love Igon

His VA went ham

[bitter spire]

everyone recognises "CURSE YOU BAYLE!"

[hard arrow]

think I might've fucked something up, gave the beast cleric some more deathroot and he was like "hmmm yess good bring more" and the second I went to rest at the bonfire he turned hostile

[dull tulip]

Its normal

Lil fella just a bit cranky

[hard arrow]

he oneshots me with his AoE

guess I need to find whichever enemy drops a snickers

[thorn warren]

yeah he does that

[thorn warren]

yeah you gotta beat some sense into him (not kill though) and he'll chillax

[hard arrow]

I summoned my bestest buddy, kaiden mercenary spirit ash, and he gets pwned too

[thorn warren]

yeahhhhh...... so.........

yeah

[hard arrow]

also man levels are starting to get expensive. 28k runes yikes

[thorn warren]

adorable

[hard arrow]

also also: am I supposed to use rune arcs

they seem like the ultimate "might need it later (therefore hoard and never use)" item

[thorn warren]

they are infintely farmable from rats

they activate your great rune power

TLDR: you dont need them. honestly free money.

they have mixed purpose but essentaily you only really should use them after you find a good Great Rune

no, Godrics Great Rune doesnt count

5 to all stats is not as potent as it sounds

its good for SL1 runs, and little else

[hard arrow]

40 free levels tho

[thorn warren]

40 free levels, spread out across a lot of stats, most of which yo uarent using

Radahns is better

look okay, Godrics great rune is good until like level 20

after level 20 or so..... it just aint great

[hard arrow]

so far I beat godrick and renala

[thorn warren]

then just save or sell your arcs

[hard arrow]

seems like farming rune arcs is the best use of multiplayer rn

[thorn warren]

I mean

so

late, LATE game PvP

is technically

the most efficient soul farm

cause people give souls based off of their level

[hard arrow]

never had interest in pvp, especially not in a game like this :/

[thorn warren]

if you want runes

kill rats

[dull tulip]

i ended up never using them 😅

[hard arrow]

though I did get invaded couple of times summoning duders

[thorn warren]

rats can drop rune arcs

[dull tulip]

felt like a waste to use them if im dying

and i would die at some point

😄

[hard arrow]

what is it with rats in fromsoft and dropping shit they have no business dropping

like humanity sprites

[thorn warren]

I have a full stack and then some. I use them against final bosses.

[thorn warren]

its actually lore accurate

"even the smallest lifeforms can find this"

[dull tulip]

and if im good enough to not die on a boss - no point in using them 😄

self reinforcing non-using loop

[thorn warren]

Bun. just farm more rune arcs

theyre infinite

only use them once you have more than a full stack tho

cause that full stack of 99 looks CLEAN

[dull tulip]

I finished base and dlc without em >.> im too supreme for some silly rune arcs

( well on ng0 ) 😄

[thorn warren]

when you need to eat a consorts big boom blast to the face, on NG+7 DLC+, then you will crumble, and use them.

[dull tulip]

that i dont doubt 😄 would have to use all the tools i have

[thorn warren]

thats what I thought. mhm.

[hard arrow]

flagging a bit because I'm getting into the part of the game where I'm struggling and dyin again

in limsa liurna I ran into a freakin bear

dkjfkdjf

FUCK them bears

I did find the bell bearing for smithing stone 1's and 2's

[dull tulip]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0YtM0Qb33M

[hard arrow]

bears are the epitome of "um. when is my turn to attack."

[thorn warren]

well they are draconic creatures

so

yeah they're kinda assholes

[bitter spire]

guh, bears. also bad news for crembo, it's nearing time to go back to ohio.

[thorn warren]

I mean

Not really?

They could just beat the game

They’ve got 2 runes

[bitter spire]

but the setpiece boss

[thorn warren]

Bah

[hard arrow]

I have to go back to ohio to get the map unveiled because it's bothering me

if nothing else

[bitter spire]

yeah. you're dex/faith, right, crembo?

[hard arrow]

started with a samurai's worth of dex but put all the points (other than hp/fp/equipment weight) into fai

and honestly I'm starting to kind of enjoy the lord sworn's longsword (with a holy weapon ash) more than I am the katana

[bitter spire]

I see. oh, by the way, have you tried going around the north-eastern areas of leurnia?

[hard arrow]

found the cave with the bell bearing for smithin stone 1's and 2's

also trying to figure out if I missed a teleporter or something to get to the start zone

[bitter spire]

as in the very start?

[hard arrow]

my elden ring journey continues! for a lil bit. slammed my head into ohio

the top has a pool with two dragons. the bottom has a dragon just chilling on the roads

whyyyyyyy

[bitter spire]

yup. that's dragonbarrow. spoilers: there's more of those.

[thorn warren]

I mean. They’re children. Stab them.

[bitter spire]

the smaller dragons are in fact way easier than, say, agheel

[hard arrow]

oh. I just went elsewhere. what about the rot dragon

is he "easy"

[bitter spire]

kek

is the second hardest field boss dragon easy? no. you can avoid him, though.

also, how's fighting them rot grubs?

vicious little monsters, those.

[thorn warren]

I mean….. so like…. Compared to what.

To BALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE? Yes.

To other field dragons? No.

[hard arrow]

I don't know if any of the things I've fought are rot grubs

I did fight some sort of man-centipede-cricket things

[thorn warren]

Look at their arms

And weep

[hard arrow]

I found a cool katana! it requires int.

this is the SECOND katana I've found that requires int

[thorn warren]

Cause they only have arms. Dozens of human arms.

[thorn warren]

There’s a few of those yes

[hard arrow]

man am I just not gonna see a fai katana unless I replace unsheathe with another art

[thorn warren]

I don’t think there are faith katanas.

At all

Anywhere

Arcane sure. But faith?

[hard arrow]

oh well, potentials for a different build

also I got insta-killed by a troll with a flaming sword that just sort of poofed into existence while I was graverobbing

ohio, man. just..

[thorn warren]

There is a sword that deals 100% holy damage.

[hard arrow]

I put a holy weapon ash of war on the lordsworn's long sword and it's fun! but that also means that I can't apply blackflame weapon to it

[thorn warren]

Yeahhhhh

[bitter spire]

mmm, that troll gives you a pretty neat item. one could even call it life-changing. ||or build changing||

so I'm looking at dex-ish faith weapons on the wiki. and ohhh nooooo

if you want to waste a lot of time, there's a spot in weeping peninsula that lets you eventually farm out a "bandit's curved sword" that scales pretty good when faith enhanced. problem is, it's basically the same damage as the lordsworn's, just one category higher faith scaling.

[bitter spire]

by the way, if using buff spells, your item must be standard, keen, heavy, or quality. anything else won't be buffable.

[thorn warren]

which it should be noted: those catagories are.... there are numbers behind them meaing even if you are B, you might be on the edge of B, or at the begining.

some dont know that, so thats why Im saying it

[bitter spire]

there's apparently a proper spreadsheet you can go look up, but I don't wanna

[thorn warren]

Yeah

[hard arrow]

fort faroth sucks aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

man screw this I'm going back to liurnia

[bitter spire]

faroth is not the fun. shame it's got some nice shinies in it.

maybe try dealing with the eye of sauron in northern leurnia?

[hard arrow]

I got the other half of the elevator medallion but gave up trying to get the second item I saw (messages say it's some kind of talisman)

also there is a Very Large Dragon in front of the fort and fuck. that.

[bitter spire]

heh. easiest dragon in the game.

get a bleed weapon, put wild strikes or another skill that lets you keep attacking when out of FP on it, then bop the thing in the tail until it dies.

[dull tulip]

Elden lord, do you have no conscience?

( i also popped that piggy bank )

[hard arrow]

I had not considered the possibility that you could bonk it in the tail without it having some sort of tail swipe move that instantly pancakes you

[thorn warren]

Oh my god JUST FIGHT IT NORMALLY

[hard arrow]

I HAVE been able to slay the baby dragons, so I got that going for me

[thorn warren]

No. It doesn’t. Killing all the drakes around it will also kill it

[bitter spire]

but... the kids are tedious. and I've done it legit once already.

[hard arrow]

wait what

[thorn warren]

Bah humbug.

[hard arrow]

I only saw one baby dragon directly next to it

do I have to like. trawl the countryside

[thorn warren]

…… no

There’s like 7 next to it

[bitter spire]

there's more. they've got red eyes.

[thorn warren]

They only get red eyes once she screams

[bitter spire]

oh. nevermind, then

[hard arrow]

Climbed the parapet of castle redmane. Died. Mfw nearest bonfire is all the way before the bridge with the fire trebuchets.

[thorn warren]

…… oh yeahhhh. Castle Redmane doesn’t really have that many bonfires.

Have you tried taking the back route?

[bitter spire]

Redmane's one heck of an adventure, though. totally worth it, too. for reasons

[thorn warren]

if the reasons were happening the castle wouldnt be agressive Vieral

you know this

[bitter spire]

I meant the 'easy' smithing stone on the other battlements.

[thorn warren]

theres a smithing stone on the battlements?

huh

[bitter spire]

with that, you can get all the way to finished with smithing stone 6s before fighting most bosses. on one weapon, but still.

[thorn warren]

bah. why do that when you can use sombers and get up to like.... +8 or something after killing a boss or 2

no seriously on NG runs I almost always use a somber weapon

because they scale so much faster and harder

once going into NG+ is when I start using non sombers

because then you start to outscale

[bitter spire]

.> one word: BONK

in NG bonk is super broken

[thorn warren]

everything in NG is super broken

Vieral

I.... how many times have I had to explain this

Elden Ring is the easiest souls game to be released. EVERYTHING is viable.

as long as its not literally your bare hands.

torches have good options now. BLOODY TORCHES

if you enjoy a weapon, it can be extremely potent. in NG

[bitter spire]

.> noooo? hides the only torch run under the carpet

[thorn warren]

once you move up though, your options me come vastly more limited

[thorn warren]

points at the now on fire carpet

[bitter spire]

I admit nothing.

also open hand isn't entirely unviable

[thorn warren]

oh you can do it

its just

its the difference between being able to play the game normally with any weapon

vs: playing the game as a challenge run

well

okay there is one sword that is just objectively bad because it was put in for lore reasons

and its literally worse than starting weapons

so people would never willingly use it

[bitter spire]

...why can't I remember this thing?

[hard arrow]

... Back route?

(also it doesn't help that I'm playing on my steam deck in the hotel during a work trip and I'm exhausted & lightly buzzed lmao)

[bitter spire]

you've climbed the ladder, yes?

[hard arrow]

Yep

[bitter spire]

gurm might have misunderstood.

[hard arrow]

I saw you could drop down to the left or go down the stairs on the right, and I'm a rule obeyer so I used the stairs

Found one of the knights with a flaming lance and got cornered

[bitter spire]

yup, that's a guard captain.

aka argument 1 for trying to drop onto the top of the stairs below. or just going over the side of his tower, then making your way down the outside, landing on the big staircase so you don't splat.

[hard arrow]

They're pretty vulnerable to guard counters. Unless you mess up

[bitter spire]

yeah, it's not too bad. if your build uses a shield.

[hard arrow]

I tried using sword+ seal and I keep getting WRECKED because of imperfect dodging and "but when is it my turn?"

[bitter spire]

which weapon are you currently rolling with?

[thorn warren]

wait hold on

wait

hm

did you go through the front gate or was it locked?

[hard arrow]

Swapping between the starter katana and the lordsworn's longsword with a holy ash of war

Front gate is locked

[thorn warren]

ah okay so then you had to go around the back. my bad

[hard arrow]

I had to jump to the siege tower, then to a ledge with a trebuchet, then circle around the cliff

It's very tastefully arranged to be obvious while looking as though it's a hidden path

[thorn warren]

I mean I just go right of the locked gate

no need to parkour from the tower

but yeah

its a well designed bit

[bitter spire]

hmm, not much to comment on, weapon-wise, except that katanas are more blood-leaning, and that's arcane, not faith.

getting a nice curved sword that holds holy weapon well could be doable. the best requires farming skeletons with the twin swords, though.

very tedious.

could also go back for winged scythe, if you want. that's somewhere in weeping peninsula, though I won't say where for obvious reasons

[thorn warren]

just invest in quality and the game turns into a meat grinder.

quality being Strength and Dex

I mean sure

you COULD be a spellcaster

but like

why?

just stab the problem

[bitter spire]

bah, quality is only good in NG+2 or higher.

[hard arrow]

I have the winged scythe, I don't have enough fai to use it yet

[thorn warren]

but it scales SO WELL

[bitter spire]

huh. interesting. on a similar note, don't expect the cipher pata to be any good.

[thorn warren]

*after you get 50 in each stat

Vieral

the Cipher weapons are BUSTED.

yes sure, they deal pure holy

and a lot of late bosses resist holy

[hard arrow]

Cipher Pata... Bad?

[thorn warren]

but they scale SO HARD

[bitter spire]

the Pata? the thing with lower reach than the CAESTUS?

[thorn warren]

IT DEALS SO MUCH DAMAGE

[thorn warren]

Cipher weapons = good because pure FTH scaling

[bitter spire]

it's shorter than a vulgar militia's knucklebones

[thorn warren]

Cipher pata = debatably bad because -reach

[thorn warren]

yeah but like

when it hits

it hits like a truck

[bitter spire]

the coded sword, though? peak.

shame it's a mid-late game item

[thorn warren]

208 PURE HOLY damage, A FTH scaling, the cipher pata deals good deeps

[thorn warren]

oh that

that is my beloved

the Coded Sword is great

its special attack too

cleaving in a wide area through shields

mmmhmhm

delicious

[bitter spire]

oh, crembo, have you comitted hatchling murder yet? has the dragon matron died of a broken heart yet?

[thorn warren]

or did you stab her in the butt with a bleed weapon

like everyone seems to do these days

I mean I do too but thats because I aint fighting 8 hatchlings in NG+7 thank you very much

[hard arrow]

I did not, I lost 28k souls in the castle behind her and ragequit north ohio

See you in 50 freaking levels

[bitter spire]

yeah... one does not goe into that castle with any amount of money. you get mugged, otherwise.

[hard arrow]

It's the rats at the end

The ultimate enemy

[thorny oracle]

The rats need that money for Sewer Pizza.

[thorn warren]

I’ve gone in with 2 mil before. It was fine.

[bitter spire]

madman. also 2mil is only half a level for you.

[thorny oracle]

Otherwise known as 2 money.

For Gur, the money has become like Zimbabwe dollars in the meme.

[thorn warren]

Oi! It’s 1 and a bit!

I think

It’s been a while since I checked

Might just have been 1 flat

[thorn warren]

The lands between have been experiencing vast hyper deflation.

Except for my levels

That’s been hyper inflation

[thorny oracle]

2 quintillion runes for a simple slice of bread. Not even a loaf, just a single slice.

[thorn warren]

No hero. All the shop prices have remained the same

When buying from stores my money goes the same

They never inflated costs

Dunno why

[thorny oracle]

Yes, but the stores don't sell bread.

Except that one store, but it only sells moldy Scarlet Rot-ridden bread. :P

[thorn warren]

tasty

[hard arrow]

made it to the one (?) bonfire inside redmane castle and those TWO beasts in the courtyard are maximum nope

[thorn warren]

I think they’re one time kills

Go for it

[hard arrow]

oh. you're right, they don't respawn

.. and there's a dude at the end of the castle saying I'm here too early

welp vOv

at least I finally have enough faith to equip the winged scythe. that thing does a lot of damage

[bitter spire]

ahh, you fought the gym bro and his pet cat, then

there's more to the castle battlements if you get past the kidnap-o-matic, by the way.

[hard arrow]

the whomst?

on the battlements I fought the jarhead and got the flamberge, I don't know if I missed anything else

[thorn warren]

The kidnap-o-matic

Either has 2 giant chainsaws or 2 giant chain blades. Rolls around on an orb. Tries to grab you. Very tanky.

[hard arrow]

oooh. yeah I fought that thing, there was a bit of the castle after it with a chest

don't see a reason to go back though

[bitter spire]

the item I'm asking after is the smithing stone 6 up there.

[hard arrow]

oh and I picked up the fire whetblade

I am once again asking for a holy whetblade

I probably picked up the smithing stone 6? the numbering makes a lot of sense for the upgrade materials but it also means I absolutely don't remember what I have

I need a bunch more smithing stone 3's and 4's for the winged scythe

[thorn warren]

You’ll find it eventually

[hard arrow]

owait the winged scythe is a special weapon, you can't whetblade it

darn

it also means I burned a bunch of sombers on it without thinking lol