Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Vorph said:

There's another one? I assumed you were talking about Barbed Staff-spear, but that's just a drop from Jori not a remembrance weapon...


Also, for Faith weapons, don't forget about Magma Blades. It sucks farming a pair but they are well worth it once you get them.

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Yeah thats the one, I am still learning the names of shit. And I know about the Magma Blades, but A) I am mainly playing a Golden Order/Death Staff build for my first run and B) With all the melee hate and AE spam bosses have in this DLC, standing back and firing an Uzi indiscriminately is much safer. Plus the start up and recovery on the spear are actually faster than most melee based arts, to the point where I use it point blank without any more fear than I would a strong attack. It is fucking ridiculous and probably needs some nerfing.

Vinjin said:

For you caster types, I came across an Incantation called Multilayered Ring of Light that dropped off the werewolf ghost like dude down in the Fissure area.

Is that useful to you caster types or hot garbage?

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One shots most trash and is good on bosses who dont move a lot and are weak to holy, so basically nothing if consequence. It is very mana efficient for trash clearing, though. At 80 faith and DLC rune level 10 its one shotting just about every trash mob I run into and has medium to long range. Arguably one of the best incantations or spells I have run across in the expansion. Like about half the expansion spells, it also has a fast wind up and recovery. So I guess the idea here is "use our new spells so you might get to cast something against our hyperagro mobs before they skull fuck you from a mile away" or something along those lines. Don't use it on the Putrid Rider, though. He moves too much and Uzi Spear does a lot more damage overall.

Vinjin said:

With regards to the new weapons (at least the ones I've discovered), I really like the Backhand Blade b/c of its quick attacks and Blind Spot special attack. But even though it pretty much overwhelms most regular enemies, it's just not effective enough against most of the bosses I've tried it on.

Similar story with Relanna's light GS. Destroys many mobs you encounter but seems to lack the punch you want against the big bads. The special attack on that one is underwhelming in terms of damage.

I have not tried the Ancient Meteoric Ore GS yet due to lack of strength.Can anyone chime in on that one?

I also have the Death Knight Twin Axes. I haven't tried it yet aside from a few swings to gauge the feel. Kinda unimpressed. But, I'm intrigued by the lightning damage it brings and wonderhow much that might help down the road?

I have Smithscript Dagger, Circue and Spear so far. Haven't tried any of them yet.

Don't know how I feel about the Great Katana.

Repeating Crossbow seems overly complicated for practical use so that's in the chest for now.

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Backhand Blade's are mostly for PVP and little else. They are good in that niche, especially with the PvE shit railroading people into using shields more and more.

Relanna's pair is basically meant to be the MLGS / Nights Flame replacement. Its moveset is vastly superior, but the weapon arts are clunky and slow to use. You can use it to clear trash, but even in that role a M'Lady with (insert relevant affinity ash here) slotted is going to be a better option. The powerstance moves are not really worth dropping a shield and the clunky juggling if you are swapping back and forth with a catalyst/seal.

Twin Axes on a lightning guy I could see being good, but the moveset is meh.

I have the dagger and it is kind of nice, but mainly its a good manaless trash clearing range option. Shockingly, its base damage is higher than the dancer's curved blades in virtually all scenarios. I am curious to power stance them to see if there is a ranged power stance attack like their is for the perfume bottle weapons.

Great Katana is basically really just a greatsword in terms of moveset and reach. The dragon killing one is kind of baller if you have the stats for it and use it in those specific fights, but otherwise unremarkable. Missed design opportunity here, imo.

The crossbows are all gimick trash, except maybe the spread crossbow having a trololololo in arena. No real change in status quo there.

Side note, power stanced perfume bottles are a lot of fun, but not really practical on bosses. With the right stats, they do mow down trash in a ridiculously fun way.

Vorph said:

Edit: Impenetrable Thorns is completely busted if you don't mind respeccing to int/arc and using the new Maternal Staff with it. Not much bleed immunity in the DLC so it works on nearly everything.

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I actually fucked around with the Thorn shit when I was helping my friend out, but the scaling for co-op is so horrendous that it made it almost pointless. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of opening co-op fights with the Malekith spell and the similar dagger weapon art dot, shaving a quarter health and applying a big dot. Lot of shit is not immune to Scarlet Rot either. Percentage based dots seem to be really good, if you can survive the agro response.

Yeah it seems like Rancor/blackflame is the mainstay for a lot of this DLC, which kind of cements the fact that you need to pair Faith in an INT build to be viable. This has more or less been my experience, anyhow. There is a whole lot of "this would have been cool in the early base game, but is completely obsolete now" kind of drops in the DLC as well. The Death Bird spear, Elden Stars, and anything holy/lightning damage based seem to be the main things that are better in the DLC than in the main game.

It's hilarious reading/watching all the little magic coomers bitch about "hyper aggressive" enemies, now that they have to sorta play the game.

It must be real tough to no longer be able to drink your psychik and comet azur bosses to death, before they even get to you. Or just chain poise break with Ancient Death Rancor.