The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent
vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums
here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules
document is now in effect.
Behold, [Elden Ring]! Don't Give Up Skeleton! (SPOILER WARNING!)
Posts
For some reason Miyazaki loves doing this. Look up the older dragon covenants of dark souls and groan in despair when you see the goofy ass “dragon helmet.” He just loves loves going “ooh? You want to be a cool dragon? I think not! Now wear this furry lizard suit and dance for me.” The dragon eyes in elden ring are probably the coolest looking the faction has ever been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mQNXzNxA-I
the seal and dragon spells want arcane, the lightning miracles want faith, the dragon weapons are quality or dex
They love dragons so much their symbol is the key to wrecking their shit.
I don't use those spells myself. My character already looks like Zeus too much as it is, flinging lightning spears would get me all the way there.
Well, I mean that's the theme of the series. People trying to become immortal dragons, but then end up looking like these guys
Eh, they get there eventually.
In DS3 it looks a lot like linking the flame nonstop without pause is just bringing about a new Age of Ancients, with people all over the place turning into trees and dragons and everything getting gray.
I'd have a beer with that dude.
Its completely fine.
They saw the horror show from the first game and said fuck that and just turned it into a cool suit of armor.
Once Miyakazki got back in there, he made sure they turned it back into a weird mutant.
(Sir Alonne went down by attempt two, but we already knew Sir Alonne literally can't touch you if you just equip the biggest fucking shield available - I actually died the first time to forgetting this man does not let you drink, if I'd just kept at it I'd probably have onesoht him)
Never did play The Ringed City DLC. That might be the last bit of new Dark Souls content I'll ever get to play.
(RIP DS, Elden Ring will carry your torch for two sequels of its own no doubt)
So my experiment was thus: Golden Order Seal at 55/55 even split Int/Faith. Other Seals tested at 80 Faith. Both Seals maxed (+10 / +25).
Using Giantsflame Take Thee, GOS gets almost 150 more Spell Attack Power than the Giant's Seal. I did some other quick and dirty calculations using the same stat split but different spells and corresponding seals (e.g., lightning stuff and gravelstone seal). Very similar results, getting 100-200 more Spell Attack Power on GOS than the dedicated seal.
Makes sense given the larger stat investment, but I'm surprised by how significant the difference is. Anyway, I don't think I'd run this math before, or if I did I forgot, so I thought it would be fun to share.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I really enjoyed my arc/faith build, though I'll agree that the choices are a bit limited. My weapons of choice were Eleonora's Poleblade and Morgott's Cursed Sword and I exclusively used the "true" dragon spells, which is to say the breath attacks plus claw and bite. Both those weapons are fantastic (and Rivers of Skill is of course also an option) and the breath attacks are basically all great if you can get them off.
You're right about the stats, but if you ignore the dragon cult spells you can get by with fairly low dex and faith. I'd basically consider dragon cult and dragon communion to be different build. The dragon weapons are easier to match with the former, which kind of makes sense. Dragon Communion is about becoming a dragon and directly emulating their power, and doesn't really have any connected weapons. Dragon Cult is about worshipping dragons and uses power borrowed from the lightning dragons, and makes a lot of sense to combine with weapons made from dragon parts.
I tend towards a very balanced stat page, for instance i’m at level 110 and my highest stat right now is Dex at 35 followed by vigor and strength at 30 and most everything else at 20. Trying to build up Faith and Arcane as they’re the low men on the ladder right now. Int gets shortchanged. I try everything as I get it but keep going back to bleed because Bloody Slash is my most consistent damage dealer, and the dragon breath has been great once i figured out tl to use it correctly and not give up when a status effect doesn’t proc on the first blast. And i always use my spirit ashes to distract bosses and get my hits in.
So basically I have a well-rounded character who can’t take too many hits but as long as i manage to stay alive I can take down most bosses fairly fast
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
what's your main weapon?
I try other stuff as I get it but I’m just used to these movesets, and mostly the reason I keep putting points into different things is I go to look at a new weapon and I’m just a little short on one attribute
My original plan was to go quality until both strength and dex were at 40 or so but that hasn’t happened quite yet
Edit: also don’t get me wrong im not complaining; i like playing like this and its worked for me so far for the most part
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
You can also boost up your stats quite a bit with just Talismans, Radagon's Seals etc.
You have 30 Vigor at Level 110? Holy crap. Are you a dodge/parry god? None of my characters have less than 45 at that level.;
Vig 35
Mind 24
End 20
Str 35
Dex 35
Int 10
Faith 25
Arc 18
I dodge a lot, parry usually oniy on accident (i tend to keep a no-skill shield equipped because i prefer to have weapon skills ready to go)
Block-counter I’m getting better at
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
It felt like half the forum at launch found the Bloodhound sword and was just, like, well that's my weapon for the game!
It's amazing.
Only switched to something else because I had been running version 1.0 and when I updated, it now required several more Arcane points than I had
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
so everybody finds this as like, their first big deal weapon in limgrave and it's soo good that almost anyone who's okay with the moveset and has the stats to use it will just use it forever, because why not
I finally put down bloodhound for the blasphemy sword so I could properly do str/fai but I basically did it at the end of the game.
Never knew a single dagger could fuck up enemies that badly in a Souls game. Its putting in serious work to the point not even my hook claws can compete with it anymore.
I went pyro because fire kills almost everything, and in my right hand went a rapier
Burn, poke, repeat until they’re dead. Surprisingly effective for most of the game.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Alternatively,
Which brings me to what Ranni just described which actually sounded like the world as we know it. The moon and stars are physically far away,
and we cannot directly percieve or sense the soul. The divine realm won't be a place people can go anymore.
that's about how I read it as well
i should make a frost guy
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
i'm thinking maybe an edgy ice death dude, so deathbird weapons, maybe a grave scythe with chilling mist or clayman spear with ice spear. was thinking about doing a int/faith setup for death spells but those apparently kind of blow and you get the cool death stuff on weapon ashes anyway. i could probably just do an dex/int split. biggest problem is two of the three deathbird weapons are in the end areas