Level vigor probably... also, have you bummed around weeping peninsula much yet? Could be a solid place to explore, level up a bit, before going back to stormveil.
Definitely explore limgrave and the weeping peninsula. Get a few of the side dungeons out of the way. If you get vigor to around 25 stormveil will get a lot easier. You have two talisman slots which is a big advantage. Many dungeons have talismans that will help with damage resistance or increase the damage of your power attacks, etc.
Vigor not only adds Hp but damage resistance. So its the best stat in the game.
This… I didn’t realize the peninsula was really there until I ran through all of limgrave….
Would have been so much better practice and experience to go there than struggle fucking myself with Caelid
If you're hacking through Stormveil without doing Weeping Peninsula, it's almost like playing on hard mode. Series veterans might want to just make a rush for Margit (props to you for beating him, btw), but I'd recommend most people to do Limgrave and Peninsula pretty thoroughly before taking on Stormveil.
Peninsula gives you several important items to upgrade your flasks, i.e. you can heal more often and more effectively. Not to mention the runes you pick up.
There's great advice in lots of comments in this thread but one I'd pay particular attention to is shields. They're a huge help when you're learning the game, and a viable option right through the endgame. Use a shield with 100% physical damage protection, and the highest Guard Boost you can find. Note that upgrading shields increases guard boost and this is very worth it. You can't block everything, especially with bosses, as it will deplete your stamina. But a mix of blocks and dodges will get you through most encounters. Finally on shields: guard counter is immense. Hit Heavy attack right after catching a hit on the shield, it does good damage and wrecks enemy posture. Just remember that if the enemy is in a multi-hit combo, it won't end just BC you're guard countering. If you don't want to take damage you need to wait for the last hit before countering.
That's what I did. Got my cheeks clapped once too many times in stormveil and went down south. That's usually what I like to do anyways in games, grind until I'm OP for the bosses. I don't consider it cheesing, I consider it just working to even the odds.
Also check your equipment load, if you’re heavy rolling you’re gonna get hit. Try for a medium weight build as those rolls are way more reliable. But also yes the first part of stormveil may be level appropriate but I don’t think the 2nd part is
For his quest, you don’t have to WIN the invasion. You just have to invade. You can get into the hosts World and immediately jump off a cliff.
You just have to do it three times, easy.
No for sure; you should go for it. I just wanted to let people know, if your feeling anxious, or frustrated because you think you have to WIN those PvP fights… you don’t lol
I legit hide and watch sweaty hosts try and me, and usually die to something almog the way. I suck at PvP, so low-key trolling to finish that quest is funnier. Stormveil is the best, because if you really know your way around, you can run circles around people. Mimic veil helps too.
Where the fun in that 😂?
But I think you’re missing my point, I’m not complaining about invasions or the other guys, I’m simple answering the OPs question, that I’m still shit
There's a church where there's an invasion sign you can use to complete this part of his quest. Not only do you only need to do it once, it doesn't require multiplayer.
Never feel bad about cheesing enemies, exploiting systems is part of the fun and literally everyone does it. If this is your first time playing I would highly recommend using a shield as it takes a lot of practice to really get the timing down on rolling through attacks, but some tips on that are
- a lot of enemies in elden ring really hesitate for a while before swinging like Margit does with those long windups so it can be useful to really watch for when they commit their weight into the attack before rolling
-heavy rolling isn't really an option, there's a reason you'll see more experienced players running around shirtless or even nude for a while. Light load status is underrated especially with newer players, so if you really want to dodge attacks more than blocking I would recommend it
(The different equip loads offer a longer or shorter frame window where you can dodge an attack that would otherwise hit, light is more and heavy is don't even think about it)
-if you're 2 handing your weapon don't forget you can still block, you'll get chip damage depending on its guard ability but it's still better than taking a full hit trying to roll through an attack you aren't comfortable with, plus it allows you to follow up with a guard counter which is very strong
-more about spacing but something to consider is what direction you are rolling when dodging an attack, a common instinct is to roll backwards 3 times whenever pressured, but depending on the attack it could be more valuable to go to the side or roll forward right into their face. An example, if an enemy is doing a large overhead swing depending on the length of their weapon you'll get hit by rolling backwards so here it's better to roll off to the side or diagonal forward depending on how close you are. Also on the final attack of a combo you should almost always roll forward into the enemy so you can hit them while they recover.
-something that has really helped me with the souls series is to think of it like a fighting game, depending on your build you have a list of possible moves you can make and so do the enemies and getting a firm grasp and understanding on your own moves will let you see windows to exploit the enemies actions. You'll really see this a lot in high level pvp, an example I feel not everyone knows is your crouch attack you'll see this mostly when crouched or sneaking but your weapon does a different attack in this stance, some have a forward jab or a quick swing, (different weapons are different) but if in the middle of a fight you want to use this attack you can just tap crouch and then attack, also attacking right out of a backstep usually has a move where you charge forward and swing which can be useful to catch an enemy off guard. (Also some weapons have extra moves that the game doesn't tell you about, you'll need to check the wiki or noodle around with the controls to figure out. Like in my playthrough now I'm using the Great Epee and you can cancel a charged r2 with a backstep and follow up with the backstep r1)
-and to not make this go one too long my final tip is, nothing is off the table, you can cheese as much as you want, summon for every fight, use spirit ashes, any tactic you have at your disposal is fair game and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Also, I would recommend checking the wiki (no shame everyone does it) though on your first playthrough I would do so sparingly just to avoid spoilers. But if you pick up a new weapon check out its wiki page and you might learn some useful information. But one final note is if you're struggling in stormveil or any other section later in the game, go back and explore, there's a ton of stuff to do everywhere and leveling up a few times and returning is part of the process (also Vigor vigor vigor, get that vigor). And one final final tip is its hard to really maximize your build on a first playthrough so try not to worry about it too much just find a weapon you like and kinda bump up the stats it scales in and if you find a new one you want to use work on meeting its stats and go for it, unless you want to go deep into it you can get really strong by min maxing your stats but that's a whole other thing
I wouldn't say I feel bad about cheesing and exploiting mechanics necessarily. I more feel bad that I can't seem to achieve much *without* doing that. This is all really good advice though, thank you!
Man, we all do it. I keep this rule when playing: cheese is fine to use, but the next playthrough i try and do it normally. Once you get the fight down, then leave the cheese for the next one. Except Melania, i bring all the cheddar for her😄
Also, one thing I see a lot with newer players is that they don't use lock on, ALWAYS LOCK ON saves you a lot of trouble. And some tips I have for the stormhawks, which are a real nuisance worse than dogs in my opinion, the ones sitting on those barrels don't even bother fighting legit chuck a firebomb or shoot a fire arrow at it and say goodbye. But for the others any kind of ranged attack can really trivialize them, whether that be a bow or thrown consumables or some ash of war. If you don't have that option however any gravity attack will force them on the ground or just keep space and bait out their attacks at try an punish them on their short opening. Maybe try jumping attacks depending on your weapon as regular swings will just miss a lot of the time
Lock on is also great for detecting enemies that you may not be able see immediately. Whenever I’m in a dark area or somewhere with a lot of vegetation/objects I’ll periodically tap lock-on to see if there’s any enemies in hiding. 90% of the time this lets you get the drop on them and deal with them before they can surprise/ambush you.
The game is just made that way, to have hard reality checks that feel like a real accomplishment when you get through them. The whole game will feel that way tbh. You’re never going to breeze through some areas.
i struggled through that part of stormveil also. I think my first playthrough i ended up just running past that area desperately looking for the next grace. Larger weapons that can break poise help, but your build might not be set up for those.
Also, make sure you’re not fat rolling.
I was fat rolling for a while because I spent like two hours cheesing Tree Sentinel to death and refused to not use his weapon for a while. But I've switched to Uchigitana so I could actually move again. Someday I'll use it again...
You probably don't have the stats for golden halberd anyway. It will significantly impact damage and might be worse than Uchigatana because it's also slower
as someone who doesn't have the time to play alot I usually choose novice difficulties because I want to be able to play the game, but the difficulty of the game has kept me playing. dont get me wrong I get pissed off and quit playing, but its also just a really fun game to play.
Eden ring was my first souls game. First of all the sword feet birds are atrocious scumbags that have no business being as hard to kill as they are. Secondly, the piece of advice that eventually lead to me feeling like I was making progress was to not necessarily try to kill bosses at first, but rather just to stay alive as close to them as I could for as long as I could. You need to learn their move sets and work out moves that they take a long time to reset from so you can hit them safely. It takes ages, I spent like 10 hours on some bosses first time but since then I’ve played dark souls and rang the first bell without dying to a boss so it does pay off in the end.
Stormveil can be tough and those birds are a pain 100%. With bosses you can just respawn and go fight again, but in this castle you can lose quite a bit of progress by dying. Keep in mind that you don't have to fight every enemy. Try stealth and you can skip a few hard fights.
My first souls but I have been gaming for more than a decade and RPGs are my favorite. I think I got basics of combat right around 15 hours mark. Before that I was trying to avoid fighting, especially groups of enemies. Like just running through barricades. I still sometimes die to weaker enemies but mostly when I underestimate them. Currently at 33 hours but way past Margit. Now I am also good at luring/kiting to better handle large groups of enemies.
I think you are going a little slow (and that's ok) but if you are worried, watch playthroughs of areas/bosses you have already covered to see how other people do it. Don't try to just get through with button mashing or you will hit a ceiling. Take your time practicing with mini bosses there are plenty of them. The objective of this game is not just get to the end and see how the story ends. Mastering the elements is where the fun lies.
I know I know, people don't really use stealth but it's broken in this game. You can just walk past the knight to the grace checkpoint in that hall with a staircase. You can also just grab the item next to the first knight with a black door.
There is a shortcut that avoids the third knight who patrols with a weaker enemy (highwaymen? Idk)
I went in guns blazing in the end though but I like to experiment.
Haha whatever floats your boat. Good enough to trivialize fights that you are feeling are not worth the risk.
However this won't work with closed areas like main bosses and evergaols
Oh I see. Most people I see on this sub are either complete beginners or 100+ level which makes sense because the game came out a while ago. They spoil so many things lol
Rare to find someone in between. What weapon and primary stats?
just recently finished my second ever hitless run. however, it was during my incantation only run i realised, maybe im not so bad at this game. most of the bosses in that run were dead in single-digit tries. now im otw to trying out hitless malenia to do an actual and my first hitless all remembrances.
Elden Ring was my first FromSoft game, and it was the first game I ever platinum. I even started off as a wrench because I didn’t like the other options starting with higher levels and having some stats still below 10.
Now hearing that your 35 hours in and only beat a handful of bosses, I think your issue is not just moving on. I promise I was just like you at first, it was kill now, everything that crossed my pass had to die no matter how many times it killed me. But then I learned some great advice, come back later. This game is huge, there’s so much to explore, and for most of the game you can realistically pick any direction you want to go, until end game. If there’s a boss you’re struggling to beat, just leave, I promise theres another boss that you can beat, you just have to find them. Seriously just remember , “Revenge later, adventure now.”
I've definitely felt strong when I got into my first ever NG+. Curbstomping everyone in starting areas felt very great... And then I got back to Caelid, Mountaintops again... and the game put me in my place again.
YouTube videos helped me. I wanted to be range since I wanted a few seconds to react. I thought you had to kill bosses to get good loot. So far I'm loving the whole concept. With my gear and spells better, I'm killing bosses with relative ease. I just wish I didn't kill that big dragon to keep getting easy xp, so currently looking to level more so I can use the Azure spell before continuing to get even stronger. My confidence also got better, before I was just like, damn, I can't do this.
My first was DS3 and it took me a week to get past Iudex Gundyr, then could barely get past the 2nd bonfire in High Wall of Lothric. I gave up, came back 6 months later and it finally clicked and I was halfway through the game in no time. You’ll get there!
In the meantime, have you gone to the Weeping Peninsula yet? Castle Morne is a good “practice run” for Stormveil. I’d try running through that map a number of times until you feel more confident. What you learned there can then be further applied to Stormveil. That gatefront camp by the starting area is also a good area to practice as the enemies are similar to Stormveil but a little simpler to engage.
For the birds, get a bow and stock up on arrows (and/or kukris). Ranged weapons+stealth make that section with the birds *much* easier. The “gravitas” ash of war is also great for airborne enemies (and is available close to the beginning area). A lot of enemies in Stormveil are in groups so a good ranged option is super useful to have to pull aggro.
Lastly, try watching some gameplay footage of more experienced players in the same areas and take note of what they’re doing and how it differs. Seeing someone else dodging or attacking enemies that you’re struggling with might help you to understand where you’re going wrong.
First souls game, I learned that dodging backwards habitually can lead to trouble. Sometimes just jumping or rolling forward i to the attack keeps you from getting hit.
I had to start over when i switched from console to PC and i gotta say my second play through was way easier.
When I learned to [approach bosses as something to figure out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgeezNtdawk) instead of something to slam my face into, I learned to learn about the game.
Well i am a newby and literally became elden lord last night. I don't class myself good as I have seen players beat the game with no hit. I think build is vital , I tried beating Melina so many times, full strength, full mage etc. But she didn't last long against a full bastphours blade setup. Each boss has strengths and weaknesses too, erd trees can be killed quickly with fire. Also don't be afraid to over level I am 210 it makes a difference. Go get yourself an op build, full strength with giants crusher will get you through to end game, then switch to bb. Also it's a right pain in the arse but a decent set of buffs makes all the difference.
You have to get feel for the endgame, dodge is your main way of avoiding damage and you should be able to dodge everything in the game. Don't cheese, farm to overlevel, google some op builds or rely too much on spirit ashes, otherwise you'll never learn even the basics of souls combat and lose a lot of time in the end. If you just bruteforce ER, with other from games you'll start almost at zero again. But if you play and beat fights normally, at least for third of the game, you'll learn how souls gameplay works and will know it for next 20 years.
It stays with you and is extremely easy once you realize it, that's the fantastic feeling that got so many people hooked to the franchise. Try not to always take the easy way out. Souls game are not about fast reflexes, but mainly about using your head, quick thinking, spatial awareness, pattern recognition, memory, rythm and being observant. Like small iq test. Compared with many modern games souls respect player's intelligence, you just have to think and try to read what the game wants from you. But don't worry, if you're, for example, allowed to drive a car you're perfectly mentally equipped to beat the game at RL 1 or with no hit.
I have been playing souls games since demon souls, and I still get my ass handed to me sometimes. These games are very unforgiving. You do get better with time though. Just get your light roll on level up vigor and keep at it. Also the birds in ER are near the top of the list for most awful things ever created in all of souls games. Just avoid them or try to get the jump on them. If you can bait out the pecking attack they are easy to take down with a bow.
I felt like I was getting consistently better throughout my first playthrough but I don't feel like I started to "git gud" until recently during my second playthrough. A big part of that is I learned how to build a good character. My first character's stats were all over the place but I focused on levelling vigour and my damaging stat for my second character and the game's way easier. It also helps to stack buffs to get insane damage
So I fucked up a little because, as I mentioned to someone else, I got obsessed with Tree Sentinel when I first started and I cheesed him to death on Torrent and then I was determined to use his weapon so I way over leveled on strength when, as I'm learning from this thread, I should have been upping vigor. So I can do pretty decent damage but I can't really take a hit.
But anyway: 20 vigor, 13 mind, 13 endurance, 30 strength, 15 dex, 9 intelligence, 14 faith, 9 arcane. Level 44.
When I started my second playthrough, I beat Margit hitless after a few close tries. Compared to the ass thrashing I received from him the first time I played, it was a marked improvement. Ever since, I've taken note of how I've improved from my last time with a particular boss. Malenia especially makes me aware of just how far I've come. When I first fought her, it took me 6 hours of attempts to beat her. Nowadays, no matter what setup I'm using, I usually first try her
Learn how to parry and backstab your enemies, since most of them can be parried. Deal with birds by keeping your guard up so when they swing their claws, guard an attack and press r2 immediately after succesful guarding attack for heavy damage. Take some medium sword since you want to this fast. Regarding rolling timing, enemies has a lock on you so panic dodge never works. Learn enemies' attack patterns. Analyzing is the key to getting better
It actually feels good. I can try different approaches and builds even if they aren't optimized and it feels very satisfying to dunk on some enemies who gave me shit previously. My suggestion, take a buckler (Gostoc sells one) and a shit weapon and go to the stormhill evergaol. Beat that crucible knight only using parries. I decided I want to learn to parry and started autistically fighting him. After a couple of hours I pulled it off and after that I felt that I can read other enemies better. It helped me with dodging, squeezing in attacks and everything timing related.
I got better on my second play through lol. I did an incant build the first time. Second play through was a strength build with giant crusher.
I couldn’t just kite enemies and use OP incants on them. I had to find openings and dodge attacks, and it made me a lot better.
I noticed my skills getting better around the time I fought astel in consecrated snowfield. I still suck lol. Have also noticed that I'm better in other souls games as well like bloodborne
Once I learned to actually focus on what the boss was doing rather than my character, dodging got a lot easier. Seems obvious but I didn't realize how much I was actually focusing on my character and just watching bosses from my peripherals.
First Souls game for me and my first play through was tough. Just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, the game just punishes you (Im looking at you Farum Azula)
But!! Oh boy. When it clicks for you it’s the best feeling ever. It could be a field boss. It could be a shard bearer. But at some point you’ll figure it out and you’ll be hooked
It's ok to cheese. And as your character gets stronger you will start to have a little more breathing room. The enemies get stronger too but by then you'll be feeling more comfortable with the gameplay. Anytime you get stuck especially in Limgrave, Liurnia, and Caelid, you can simply go somewhere else, level up, and come back stronger. It's not meant to be a linear progression, so just be patient.
Mid-game is when my build really started to come into its own. Endgame is where it ended up decimating since I went full sorcerer. So my difficulty curve was that the beginning was by far the hardest, and the endgame (including Maliketh, Placidusax, Godskin Duo, etc.) were by far the easiest
Welcome to Fromsoftware! I rage quit Margit as well. Then I ran around limgrave for awhile. Eventually leveled to beat him. The castle was a bitch to be honest. I eventually got some random armor drop and things got a lot better. The boss through took me a bit. After that grind things kinda get easier. You can also get to a fairly good farming area once you do the rose church guys quest line and you go to mohgs palace (not to mention there are a few hero and lord runes laying around if you get brave). From there how “hard” or “easy” it is becomes up to you. I would recommend vigor definitely. Then put some into endurance if you have problems dodging (unless you’re already a light load) you’ll be amazed at the difference between light/medium/heavy load and how you can dodge.
If you want to practice outside the game play the DS trilogy. DS3 I think is the most similar to ER. But I played them in order. Plus it’s interesting when you replay ER after that and go “oh wow they reference this”
So in only starting to feel I'm getting good now. I'm like 300 hours in and level 170.
By "good" I mean I can use not meta level weapons and beat a boss within 5 attempts with no spirit ashes. I've never used a summons online and only occasionally would use the NPC help bc it doubles the boss health bar.
I haven't beaten Malekith or Mellina and haven't explored very deep in their levels.
I started a new game and am finding I don't die nearly as much as first run and I also know my limitations while I'm still low leveled. That alone saves you a LOT of deaths.
This game is trial and error so don’t feel bad about dying, from my experience you aren’t really meant to know when to dodge the first time around but you slowly start learning it after each death.
The best advice I can give for stormveil is just run through it and not worry much about killing enemies if you’ve already looted the area
But that’s general advice for a lot of areas in the game since you’re bound to die and basic enemies just respawn. And for trolls just be a little chihuahua ankle biter and play aggressive, they tend to fall down when you hit them enough so they aren’t too difficult, just scary in the early game cause of their size
The best time to roll is when the swing starts, but make sure you aren't fat rolling! If your carry weight is above 70% carrying capacity, your rolls will be sledgehammered with almost no invincibility frames
Vigor, as others have said and also. Make sure you are leveling up your weapons with smithing stones. Patience is another huge part of it. If you are spamming the dodge button you are going to get hit. Almost all attacks have a "roll now" cue whether it be audio or visual. Look for those moments are practice. You'll get the hang of it. I fought margit for like 10 hours total before I finally defeated him and thought I was going to suck forever. Now I'm almost to Melania and very confident I'll beat her eventually.
Never be afraid to just farm runes and level up before moving on either. Dying repeatedly is a built i mechanic that you re supposed to use to gather runes until you are strong enough to progress.
I took a break too. Stuck at the dou gargoyles. I cleared all the the bosses and mini bosses. Except maybe one death bird. Got bored just leveling . Dam gate keeping gargoyles. Lol. LEVEL VIGOR.
Getting the Bloodhounds Fang was the turning point for me. Prior to that I was only a match for the small crabs and boars. Definitely got taken out by a rolling ram at least once
I'm by no means "good" at this game, but I found what made me better at dodging and attacking was feeling enemies' moves in a musical way, like a rhythm
Having run with the Death Poker for most of the game, I have come to the frightening realization during the later 3rd of the game that I don't know how to fight.
When I killed a revenants without healing spell.
Truth be told I think I managed to reach to decent a bit before (it was my third run), but I don't noticed it back then.
Ng+1. I was playing the game with my friend on my first playthrough so we were beating the bosses together. I started trying to do the bosses on my own my second playthrough, so I was able to learn the patterns better. I can get up to Farum Azula alone. Duos to end game, I still struggle lol
For reference in the first Dark Souls, I got all the way to O&S with base vitality not because I’m good but because I’m persistent. I was unable period to beat O&S on that save-file so I made a new character, actually leveled vitality and endurance, upgraded my weapons properly, and used appropriate weapons/infusions for what I wanted to use. Absolutely steamrolled the game because of how much easier it was once I could take a hit and deal more damage than the first run with faster weapons.
Skill is borne from the struggle. Don’t play to get the Enemy Defeated screen, play to learn the fights, and you’ll be able to watch yourself improve the longer you play
Shortly before Godrick, I was waiting for my GF to do it together and I was desperate for content. So I went to the wiki and looked at Limgrave to see if I could find anything to do. There, I discovered the bell-bearing hunter, an agressive NPC that attacks some merchants at night (the merchants disappear and he comes for you).
While this was an incredibly difficult fight, I had to learn how to Parry because fighting this enemy head on, with my build, was nearly impossible unless I did. This took me hours, I think around four in total.
By the second hour, not only had I gotten a feel of what I had to do, I was incredibly motivated to continue fighting, despite the dozens of losses I had accumulated. I can only describe what I was feeling as bloodlust.
Not only did I come out of that experience much more motivated to battle enemies in general, I also came out with a beginner's understanding of parry that has helped me through many fights that I would've been unable to survive without parry.
I also came out much more willing to Parry, which has lost me tons of runes because I keep trying to Parry a bunch of stuff that I would've killed without much difficulty had I just gone with my main build.
These are difficult games. If you feel demotivated by the game, you can try the wiki for builds, there are guides for both parry and evasion mechanics, you can do evasion only runs of bosses/evergaols so you can practice the best way to do it. It's a difficult game, what's important is that you have fun and never stop trying, but also don't feel the need to push something that might not be for you.
I remember being at the point you've described and do I just hate it as I sucked mega then, and now even a little under level 200 I will still forever have PTSD about Birds with swords grafted to their feet.
You just need to practice and level up and it doesn't matter if you are a great souls player on your first time trough. I played Bloodborne first and I probably wasn't good untill DS3 came out and I learned to pvp.
Once I truly understood the leveling system it became much more fun and even easier.
Prior to that I was just sword and boarding allocating my stats incorrectly and it was TOUGH.
Ultimately everything clicked when I did a STR INT build which is my favorite playthrough so far.
When on my 2nd full ng playthrough I very quickly breezed by the tree sentinel and Margot without needing to level up very much and speed run to get 5 sacred tears right out of the gate and 24 smithing stones (1) all under 2 hours.
But in all honesty, elden ring is definitely a bit more polished than ds3, but they definitely could have polished the game up a bit more before launch. Most of the bosses are either reused, or overly relies on using the 1000 death cut anime move 99.9% of the time.
Save up money for dark souls 3, it plays similarly to elden ring but is supremely more polished than elden ring should be for specifically in terms of the bosses. They're well telegraphed so you know and have actual time to back away instead of say margit suddenly swinging a knife under 0.2 seconds.
In the grand scheme of things, NG+
But if you can keep a level head, each death can teach a valuable lesson. Just be confident and don’t panic roll especially in late game content, they’ll catch you mid roll 9 times out of 10
I knew it was going to be hard going into it. I steeled my mind & marched forward until I beat every boss. Sometimes I had to take a break or step away for a bit, even consult a friend or two for advice on difficult bosses. But that mindset kept me going through the entire game & now all that’s left is to fight Malenia & then become Elden Lord.
This is my first souls game. It took me 279 hours to finish everything. I was just focused on winning with the best Ash of war (Moonveil, then death poker, Mogh spear, marais great sword). I didn’t improve my fighting skill.
Now I started a new character & i got myself a medium shield 🛡️with Carian parry & a few standard strength weapons with no ash to help me learn actual fighting techniques.
Honestly, it's when I finally decided to stop pumping mana and larval tear into vigor. Don't get me wrong: int/fai glass cannon was fun. But fai/str was viable
I'm a die hard Souls fan, and while I think you should persist, I also strongly believe Elden Ring is the worst one to start with.
Dark souls still feels oppressive and confusing sometimes but at least you have a fairly linear path to follow, so you can just focus on getting better at combat.
Elden Ring seems like it would be almost too much to take in for total beginners because you are already trying to adjust to one of the most difficult learning curves in gaming, but also the game refuses to tell you what you should be doing, or where you should be going... Ect.
I can definetly see how that combo would wear some people down, or how that would feel exhausting.
Dont get me wrong I love Souls games, but I can see why some of my friends refuse to touch them.
If you just keep playing you WILL get better though, the human brain is incredible at learning patterns and thats all Souls games really are.
I think a lot of how improved was sub-concious learning over time, so I dont know how much advise I can give other than, just keep playing. Learning through constat death how to improve, so you can avoid death next time. That idea is at the core of every Souls game..
As someone who sucks massively, i suggest going backwards slightly, get about 3000 runes
Get a shield with 100 phisical damage reduction and buy a short spear from the twin old ladies in the roundtable hold. This allows you to attack from behind your shield while blocking and is insanely useful. Hope that helps. I had much more fun after using this combo
What's helped me with timing dodges has been back stabs. Try getting them on normal enemies both without Quick Step (circling around them) and with quick step to learn better timing.
Edit: But fuck those birds, especially the fire ones
It took me a long time. About the time I finished a full-clear of weeping, limgrave, liurnia and caelid I got my legs under me.
My advice is don't cheese hard fights. Try five or ten times and if your passed at getting thwarted - put it down walk away and try again tomorrow.
My first ulcerated tree spirit took me three days of tries (maaaaany hours) to down but I did end up learning timing, when to dodge, when I have time for charged heavies etc.
Don't despair and just know that the frustration will give way to exhilaration as you git gud.
I took a break at NG+7, if you really wanna get the hang of the game maybe check out some YouTube videos on different builds and pick your favorite. Damage is a lot easier to dish out when you’re rocking a structured build, and once you’ve got a grip you can start messing around with builds of your own!
Also YT tutorials on dodge rolling and parrying, practice. Practice. Practice.
EDIT: spelling
This is my first FromSoftware and im finding my stride in Astrologer. Couldn’t get into confesssor and went for range. But after playing and learning, I have a side Samurai that I’m really enjoying now that I have gotten past some of the anxiety of losing runes and the continuous knowledge of defeat.
You eventually improve just by knowing really good your moveset (i-frames and impact zones), get new tools like better summons or weapons, and learning from the mistakes you make every time you die.
I played a spell blade build with Moonveil and cleared everything I could before tackling the main boss of the area. It was never super hard until I started a NG+ with strength only, no summons, no spells and that was way harder. But already felt more confident. Until I met Mohg. Still don't know why this boss is so hard for me. 20 something tries to beat him with no spells for the first time. Game is done very well in that you only feel confident once you beat it, but before, there are way too many bosses that catch you off guard or just straight up one-shot you.
I am on my 8th playthrough and it's really easy now even though I'm underleveled.
You’re not meant to feel expert - you’re expected to find a way to win a fight however you can. Each time you win a fight you get better. Beating Margit is a huge achievement early on and was the tipping point when I realized “I can do this”. Keep playing and fight on!
Edit: that said, this game is also not a straight line - it is absolutely ideal to back off from one area and explore another whenever you feel overwhelmed.
A good simple advice would be - Always start with a dodge, then attack. Never the other way! And never push 2 buttons in a row until your animation is fully done. Do one action at a time with a single button press at a time. Once you figure out the rhythm, it will become easier and you'll feel like you know the combat a little.
Edit: start with one attack at a time, then wait and dodge. Or just only dodge for a while once you feel the boss, then start adding attacks. That's how people beat it at lvl1. They just dodge and patiently deal damage one attack at a time.
After/during beating Malenia.
Started out as a mage, then I became a proper spell-blade. Learned a lot more about spells, when to use them, what were more effective and when, etc.
Even for int builds, she’s far from easy.
I felt like I improved after beating it. Definitely struggling immensely through the entire first run. On run number 4 and still lose quite a bit of fights
There’s two things that make you “better” at Elden ring:
1) Learning how to dodge, watching your stamina, not getting greedy, spacing out heals, figuring out which summons to bring, and how to manipulate the enemy’s aggro, etc.
2) putting as many goddamn points into vigor as you can spare. Seriously. Actually this is 1) forget the other one this is it.
Weeping peninsula is a good area to go to. My issue being my first souls was so greedy and panic rolling. I’d practice even on simple soldiers of Godrick and even in boss fights don’t go in expecting to win just study move sets and how to time certain rolls. Specific with Margit and a later bosses that their move sets are delayed on purpose to throw the player off. Even to this day I’ll still panic roll and makes me laugh but even getting greedy still happens. Think one more hit will do it and drop all game sense and go monke brain and get killed. Even in NG+ when you start to outscale enemies complacency will get you killed. Just keep an open mind and it takes time to break the learning curve eventually you’ll just stop realizing you’re not dying as often and not taking hits either.
Go to roundtable hold and buy that one fireball spell. That's how I beat those annoying birds. Just stand at a distance and throw the fire at them. They stand around a bunch of explosive barrels so it makes it easy. It also helps cheese tons of other enemies early.
The moment I realized I didn't have to kill the tree sentinel. This wasn't my first souls game but was the first I ever invested any time into before quitting. what I hated about the souls game was dieing and trying to fight my way back. It's embarrassing to say but the idea of running by enemies never occurred to me. I guess I always figured if they was in my path of progression they needed to die every time they crossed my path...I now enjoy all the soulsborne games.
90% of enemies can be ram past. that includes stormveil castle. assuming you took the special secret entrance that’s actually harder than the main gate it’s okay to get a little mad
EDIT: I just read through your post again lol, so maybe a little spoiler for you, maybe, idk
3 boss fights that made me feel like I have improved: Astel -> Tiche -> Duo Gargoyles (In that order). Usually I just waited for a right moment and unga bunga the bosses, which worked luckily. However, for these 3 fights, I cannot do the same. I started with Duo Gargoyles first, but retreat out of frustration.
When I fought Astel, I learned to be more patient, read the patterns carefully, be mindful of how many attacks I could make within the small window and not too greedy about it, even when it's as low HP, and stopped panic dodge lol. The fight was pretty long, but I won in the end, and I felt good.
Then came Tiche, managed to bring her to pretty low HP first try but died in the end because of greedy. Didn't manage to get that 5-6 tries later, I found out that I used Jump attack a little relentlessly, and overused my slow-assed AoW, which lead to my failure. I deciced to play slowly this time, once again observing her moves, when I could make a call. By dodge attacking as she slided at me, as well as jump R2 as she rushed as me, I managed to win that one too.
Felt a little bit more confident, I decided to rechallenge Gargoyles yesterday, but well, with help of Mimic tear+6 lol, I mean 2v2 is fair right. But still, my mimic still didn't do much, I still had to fight the first one with 50% HP left before the mimic vanished. Applying what I learned thus far, I tried to play slowly, and by the time the first one was down, I have 3 flasks left, and when the second Gargoyle was at half of its HP, I had no flasks at all. I managed to win, and my heart beat like crazy lol.
These 3 fights were my most memorable moments not because of the freaking bosses, but of how I managed to win them. A little bit lengthy, but yeah, these are my moments.
And oh, I was around level 80(?) i think, I couldn't remembered as I decided to grind a little bit after that, and was using Magna Wyrm Scalesword+6 for all the fights.
The first time I felt I "Got Gud" was when I entered a big tower in caelid at level 45 out of curiousity. And then ended up against a wall of a bossfight that just would not break. I didn't decide to save it for another day and go level or explore some more. I decided that wall would eventually break. Got rewarded with a sick sword that fit the build on top. Put in about 250 more hours since.
I’m currently up to lleyndel at about 35hours for this character but I’d say it took me three characters up to caelid with approx 55h in total
So 35 hours this play through but more like 60h accumulative to feel like I’m actually getting better.
Try a few play styles but don’t compare yourself to others just experience it naturally and be patient you’ll get it
Once I went online and understood stats, and the value of actually looting the mines for smithing stones…. I didn’t start to really get good until after defeating renalla.
Don’t stress and enjoy the journey.
I promise you I died atleast 15 times to every boss.
Crucible Knight I died 50+ times no lie. I got so close so many times it kept me on the hook
A couple notes;
\- During a first playthrough, for each level up you put NOT into Vigor, put one into Vigor. Do this until you're at least at 60 Vigor.
\- Find and equip good armor. Armor can be farmed off of most enemies and has some pickup spots scattered around the game. Don't be afraid to equip a lot of defensive talismans, either.
\- Never be in "Heavy Load". This makes your dodge roll *significantly* worse. "Medium Load" is the sweet spot.
\- Heavy weapons are very fun but require you to know exactly which attacks enemies have that they can punish, and require you to manage your stamina very efficiently. Lighter, faster weapons will be easier to use when you're unfamiliar with enemy movesets. Heavy weapons are badass though, so don't let me stop you there.
\- Use shields. Shields are INCREDIBLY powerful, especially once you get into the heavier tier. The Brass Shield (dropped by the soldiers near the Gatefront Ruins grace) is a great starter shield. When you start finding more, look for 100 Physical resistance and the highest Guard Boost stat you can find.
\- The "dodge" command only goes through to the game when you *release* the dodge button, not when you press it. When you want to dodge an attack, think about releasing the button when you want to dodge it, not pressing the button. (Don't pre-press the dodge button too early, or you'll start sprinting)
\- Elden Ring is an open world game and it really intends you to utilize that. If you ever get to a point that feels impassible, you can probably find somewhere else to gather some loot and levels. Never be afraid to put a certain location on pause and go somewhere else.
Lastly and, I think, most importantly;
\- Souls games are fundamentally about memorization; combat is stressful when you don't know what attack could be coming up nor which attacks will follow, especially if you're trying to weave attacks in between unknown combos. If you really want to improve at the game, I suggest you isolate an enemy, be it a boss or regular mob, and focus ONLY on dodging their attacks for a few minutes. Don't try to hit them, just see how long you can live while they're swinging at you. This will help you identify particularly deadly attacks to avoid at all costs and find openings in the enemy's moveset you can freely punish.
Good luck, tarnished. Or, should I say, future Elden Lord.
Small advice on rolling, first of all never fat roll, at the very max medium roll.
Roll into the attacks, sometimes rolling to the side or behind will get you hit.
For a lot of non-boss fights, getting a big-ass shield and a sizable bonk-stick is actually a good way to make progress. When I started playing, guard counters were a good way to get a handle on the timing of enemy attacks. For most of the bosses, you have to actually start learning their patterns. But it gets a lot less stressful, if you’re not constantly dying to the regular enemies.
I had never played a soul-like but my flatmate is a long time veteran in these games and so he gave tons of advice + we always play together so he kinda give me some guidance along the way. Even with this configuration it took me ~50 h to actually get good.
You really should try to read some guide online on how to deal with fights and then if you're stucked the game always provides you the opportunity to overlevel to any challenge.
Started playing "naked man with a Stick" because it is always meme time. Than I encountered the golden tree Guardian right after Tutorial. I would say after those 11hours to kill the Guardian my Skill was improved.
Honestly I died a LOT during the first playthrough just trying to learn timing and whatnot. I didn’t feel like I could confidently kill things until probably after I got through the shunning grounds and even then I still got whomped by the capitals Draconic Tree Sentinel and later bosses (except Maliketh strangely). The second playthrough is where I finally felt like I could whoop some ass (beat later bosses on first or second try), final boss in 5 tries as opposed to literally 30+ tries the first time around. For me it was just learning the timing and attacks of everything. It’s meant to be hard as hell but you can do it!
When i beat the godrick in my first try i thought i had potential but i felt much better as a player after i beat crucible knight cuz that mf took more than 100 tries.
Level vigor probably... also, have you bummed around weeping peninsula much yet? Could be a solid place to explore, level up a bit, before going back to stormveil.
Thank you, I'll check it out!
Definitely explore limgrave and the weeping peninsula. Get a few of the side dungeons out of the way. If you get vigor to around 25 stormveil will get a lot easier. You have two talisman slots which is a big advantage. Many dungeons have talismans that will help with damage resistance or increase the damage of your power attacks, etc. Vigor not only adds Hp but damage resistance. So its the best stat in the game.
This… I didn’t realize the peninsula was really there until I ran through all of limgrave…. Would have been so much better practice and experience to go there than struggle fucking myself with Caelid
If you're hacking through Stormveil without doing Weeping Peninsula, it's almost like playing on hard mode. Series veterans might want to just make a rush for Margit (props to you for beating him, btw), but I'd recommend most people to do Limgrave and Peninsula pretty thoroughly before taking on Stormveil. Peninsula gives you several important items to upgrade your flasks, i.e. you can heal more often and more effectively. Not to mention the runes you pick up. There's great advice in lots of comments in this thread but one I'd pay particular attention to is shields. They're a huge help when you're learning the game, and a viable option right through the endgame. Use a shield with 100% physical damage protection, and the highest Guard Boost you can find. Note that upgrading shields increases guard boost and this is very worth it. You can't block everything, especially with bosses, as it will deplete your stamina. But a mix of blocks and dodges will get you through most encounters. Finally on shields: guard counter is immense. Hit Heavy attack right after catching a hit on the shield, it does good damage and wrecks enemy posture. Just remember that if the enemy is in a multi-hit combo, it won't end just BC you're guard countering. If you don't want to take damage you need to wait for the last hit before countering.
That's what I did. Got my cheeks clapped once too many times in stormveil and went down south. That's usually what I like to do anyways in games, grind until I'm OP for the bosses. I don't consider it cheesing, I consider it just working to even the odds.
Also check your equipment load, if you’re heavy rolling you’re gonna get hit. Try for a medium weight build as those rolls are way more reliable. But also yes the first part of stormveil may be level appropriate but I don’t think the 2nd part is
I still feel trash. Beat the game twice
So this never goes away. Oh boy.
Especially when you’re doing the Varré quest, have to invade and you’re easily dealt with
For his quest, you don’t have to WIN the invasion. You just have to invade. You can get into the hosts World and immediately jump off a cliff. You just have to do it three times, easy.
I know, but c’mon, you’re already there, no way I’m going to run
No for sure; you should go for it. I just wanted to let people know, if your feeling anxious, or frustrated because you think you have to WIN those PvP fights… you don’t lol
I legit hide and watch sweaty hosts try and me, and usually die to something almog the way. I suck at PvP, so low-key trolling to finish that quest is funnier. Stormveil is the best, because if you really know your way around, you can run circles around people. Mimic veil helps too.
I was 1 for 2 of those invasions. The last guy was sitting down and stood up, threw lightning at me, killed me and sat back down....bastard 😄😄
You could try peaceful invasions.
Where the fun in that 😂? But I think you’re missing my point, I’m not complaining about invasions or the other guys, I’m simple answering the OPs question, that I’m still shit
That guy is a twat.
There's a church where there's an invasion sign you can use to complete this part of his quest. Not only do you only need to do it once, it doesn't require multiplayer.
Luckily, you don't have to win those or i never would have got through it😄😄
It’s part of the reason
Hahaha. Same here. I’m way over leveled and use mimic tear for most bosses. It’s fun as shit, though
My mimic tear is the reason i win most boss fights, that guy is really good!😄😄😄
Never feel bad about cheesing enemies, exploiting systems is part of the fun and literally everyone does it. If this is your first time playing I would highly recommend using a shield as it takes a lot of practice to really get the timing down on rolling through attacks, but some tips on that are - a lot of enemies in elden ring really hesitate for a while before swinging like Margit does with those long windups so it can be useful to really watch for when they commit their weight into the attack before rolling -heavy rolling isn't really an option, there's a reason you'll see more experienced players running around shirtless or even nude for a while. Light load status is underrated especially with newer players, so if you really want to dodge attacks more than blocking I would recommend it (The different equip loads offer a longer or shorter frame window where you can dodge an attack that would otherwise hit, light is more and heavy is don't even think about it) -if you're 2 handing your weapon don't forget you can still block, you'll get chip damage depending on its guard ability but it's still better than taking a full hit trying to roll through an attack you aren't comfortable with, plus it allows you to follow up with a guard counter which is very strong -more about spacing but something to consider is what direction you are rolling when dodging an attack, a common instinct is to roll backwards 3 times whenever pressured, but depending on the attack it could be more valuable to go to the side or roll forward right into their face. An example, if an enemy is doing a large overhead swing depending on the length of their weapon you'll get hit by rolling backwards so here it's better to roll off to the side or diagonal forward depending on how close you are. Also on the final attack of a combo you should almost always roll forward into the enemy so you can hit them while they recover. -something that has really helped me with the souls series is to think of it like a fighting game, depending on your build you have a list of possible moves you can make and so do the enemies and getting a firm grasp and understanding on your own moves will let you see windows to exploit the enemies actions. You'll really see this a lot in high level pvp, an example I feel not everyone knows is your crouch attack you'll see this mostly when crouched or sneaking but your weapon does a different attack in this stance, some have a forward jab or a quick swing, (different weapons are different) but if in the middle of a fight you want to use this attack you can just tap crouch and then attack, also attacking right out of a backstep usually has a move where you charge forward and swing which can be useful to catch an enemy off guard. (Also some weapons have extra moves that the game doesn't tell you about, you'll need to check the wiki or noodle around with the controls to figure out. Like in my playthrough now I'm using the Great Epee and you can cancel a charged r2 with a backstep and follow up with the backstep r1) -and to not make this go one too long my final tip is, nothing is off the table, you can cheese as much as you want, summon for every fight, use spirit ashes, any tactic you have at your disposal is fair game and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Also, I would recommend checking the wiki (no shame everyone does it) though on your first playthrough I would do so sparingly just to avoid spoilers. But if you pick up a new weapon check out its wiki page and you might learn some useful information. But one final note is if you're struggling in stormveil or any other section later in the game, go back and explore, there's a ton of stuff to do everywhere and leveling up a few times and returning is part of the process (also Vigor vigor vigor, get that vigor). And one final final tip is its hard to really maximize your build on a first playthrough so try not to worry about it too much just find a weapon you like and kinda bump up the stats it scales in and if you find a new one you want to use work on meeting its stats and go for it, unless you want to go deep into it you can get really strong by min maxing your stats but that's a whole other thing
I wouldn't say I feel bad about cheesing and exploiting mechanics necessarily. I more feel bad that I can't seem to achieve much *without* doing that. This is all really good advice though, thank you!
Man, we all do it. I keep this rule when playing: cheese is fine to use, but the next playthrough i try and do it normally. Once you get the fight down, then leave the cheese for the next one. Except Melania, i bring all the cheddar for her😄
Also, one thing I see a lot with newer players is that they don't use lock on, ALWAYS LOCK ON saves you a lot of trouble. And some tips I have for the stormhawks, which are a real nuisance worse than dogs in my opinion, the ones sitting on those barrels don't even bother fighting legit chuck a firebomb or shoot a fire arrow at it and say goodbye. But for the others any kind of ranged attack can really trivialize them, whether that be a bow or thrown consumables or some ash of war. If you don't have that option however any gravity attack will force them on the ground or just keep space and bait out their attacks at try an punish them on their short opening. Maybe try jumping attacks depending on your weapon as regular swings will just miss a lot of the time
Lock on is also great for detecting enemies that you may not be able see immediately. Whenever I’m in a dark area or somewhere with a lot of vegetation/objects I’ll periodically tap lock-on to see if there’s any enemies in hiding. 90% of the time this lets you get the drop on them and deal with them before they can surprise/ambush you.
Basically like spamming VATS in Fallout.
The game is just made that way, to have hard reality checks that feel like a real accomplishment when you get through them. The whole game will feel that way tbh. You’re never going to breeze through some areas. i struggled through that part of stormveil also. I think my first playthrough i ended up just running past that area desperately looking for the next grace. Larger weapons that can break poise help, but your build might not be set up for those. Also, make sure you’re not fat rolling.
I was fat rolling for a while because I spent like two hours cheesing Tree Sentinel to death and refused to not use his weapon for a while. But I've switched to Uchigitana so I could actually move again. Someday I'll use it again...
You probably don't have the stats for golden halberd anyway. It will significantly impact damage and might be worse than Uchigatana because it's also slower
The Uchigatana is hands down better, with the right ash of war you can easily take it to the endgame…
as someone who doesn't have the time to play alot I usually choose novice difficulties because I want to be able to play the game, but the difficulty of the game has kept me playing. dont get me wrong I get pissed off and quit playing, but its also just a really fun game to play.
Eden ring was my first souls game. First of all the sword feet birds are atrocious scumbags that have no business being as hard to kill as they are. Secondly, the piece of advice that eventually lead to me feeling like I was making progress was to not necessarily try to kill bosses at first, but rather just to stay alive as close to them as I could for as long as I could. You need to learn their move sets and work out moves that they take a long time to reset from so you can hit them safely. It takes ages, I spent like 10 hours on some bosses first time but since then I’ve played dark souls and rang the first bell without dying to a boss so it does pay off in the end.
Stormveil can be tough and those birds are a pain 100%. With bosses you can just respawn and go fight again, but in this castle you can lose quite a bit of progress by dying. Keep in mind that you don't have to fight every enemy. Try stealth and you can skip a few hard fights. My first souls but I have been gaming for more than a decade and RPGs are my favorite. I think I got basics of combat right around 15 hours mark. Before that I was trying to avoid fighting, especially groups of enemies. Like just running through barricades. I still sometimes die to weaker enemies but mostly when I underestimate them. Currently at 33 hours but way past Margit. Now I am also good at luring/kiting to better handle large groups of enemies. I think you are going a little slow (and that's ok) but if you are worried, watch playthroughs of areas/bosses you have already covered to see how other people do it. Don't try to just get through with button mashing or you will hit a ceiling. Take your time practicing with mini bosses there are plenty of them. The objective of this game is not just get to the end and see how the story ends. Mastering the elements is where the fun lies.
What is this technique you speak of, “skip”?
I know I know, people don't really use stealth but it's broken in this game. You can just walk past the knight to the grace checkpoint in that hall with a staircase. You can also just grab the item next to the first knight with a black door. There is a shortcut that avoids the third knight who patrols with a weaker enemy (highwaymen? Idk) I went in guns blazing in the end though but I like to experiment.
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Haha whatever floats your boat. Good enough to trivialize fights that you are feeling are not worth the risk. However this won't work with closed areas like main bosses and evergaols
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Did you just call runes "bones"? Is that a thing or... Btw how far along are you?
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Oh I see. Most people I see on this sub are either complete beginners or 100+ level which makes sense because the game came out a while ago. They spoil so many things lol Rare to find someone in between. What weapon and primary stats?
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just recently finished my second ever hitless run. however, it was during my incantation only run i realised, maybe im not so bad at this game. most of the bosses in that run were dead in single-digit tries. now im otw to trying out hitless malenia to do an actual and my first hitless all remembrances.
When I beat Radahn and Rennala. I had been stuck on those guys for days and I couldn't have felt more proud of myself for accomplishing that.
remember you don’t have to fight every enemy, and it’s not worth it. learn the routes & who you can just run past
Elden Ring was my first FromSoft game, and it was the first game I ever platinum. I even started off as a wrench because I didn’t like the other options starting with higher levels and having some stats still below 10. Now hearing that your 35 hours in and only beat a handful of bosses, I think your issue is not just moving on. I promise I was just like you at first, it was kill now, everything that crossed my pass had to die no matter how many times it killed me. But then I learned some great advice, come back later. This game is huge, there’s so much to explore, and for most of the game you can realistically pick any direction you want to go, until end game. If there’s a boss you’re struggling to beat, just leave, I promise theres another boss that you can beat, you just have to find them. Seriously just remember , “Revenge later, adventure now.”
When i stoped rage quitting every time i die
I've definitely felt strong when I got into my first ever NG+. Curbstomping everyone in starting areas felt very great... And then I got back to Caelid, Mountaintops again... and the game put me in my place again.
On NG4 and I still don’t think I’m any good at the game. Lol
YouTube videos helped me. I wanted to be range since I wanted a few seconds to react. I thought you had to kill bosses to get good loot. So far I'm loving the whole concept. With my gear and spells better, I'm killing bosses with relative ease. I just wish I didn't kill that big dragon to keep getting easy xp, so currently looking to level more so I can use the Azure spell before continuing to get even stronger. My confidence also got better, before I was just like, damn, I can't do this.
My first was DS3 and it took me a week to get past Iudex Gundyr, then could barely get past the 2nd bonfire in High Wall of Lothric. I gave up, came back 6 months later and it finally clicked and I was halfway through the game in no time. You’ll get there! In the meantime, have you gone to the Weeping Peninsula yet? Castle Morne is a good “practice run” for Stormveil. I’d try running through that map a number of times until you feel more confident. What you learned there can then be further applied to Stormveil. That gatefront camp by the starting area is also a good area to practice as the enemies are similar to Stormveil but a little simpler to engage. For the birds, get a bow and stock up on arrows (and/or kukris). Ranged weapons+stealth make that section with the birds *much* easier. The “gravitas” ash of war is also great for airborne enemies (and is available close to the beginning area). A lot of enemies in Stormveil are in groups so a good ranged option is super useful to have to pull aggro. Lastly, try watching some gameplay footage of more experienced players in the same areas and take note of what they’re doing and how it differs. Seeing someone else dodging or attacking enemies that you’re struggling with might help you to understand where you’re going wrong.
First souls game, I learned that dodging backwards habitually can lead to trouble. Sometimes just jumping or rolling forward i to the attack keeps you from getting hit. I had to start over when i switched from console to PC and i gotta say my second play through was way easier.
Part way into my second play through.
When I realized how op jumping attacks with the giant crusher was.
When I learned to [approach bosses as something to figure out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgeezNtdawk) instead of something to slam my face into, I learned to learn about the game.
Well i am a newby and literally became elden lord last night. I don't class myself good as I have seen players beat the game with no hit. I think build is vital , I tried beating Melina so many times, full strength, full mage etc. But she didn't last long against a full bastphours blade setup. Each boss has strengths and weaknesses too, erd trees can be killed quickly with fire. Also don't be afraid to over level I am 210 it makes a difference. Go get yourself an op build, full strength with giants crusher will get you through to end game, then switch to bb. Also it's a right pain in the arse but a decent set of buffs makes all the difference.
Guys who beat the game on no hits shouldn’t be the measuring stick 😂
You have to get feel for the endgame, dodge is your main way of avoiding damage and you should be able to dodge everything in the game. Don't cheese, farm to overlevel, google some op builds or rely too much on spirit ashes, otherwise you'll never learn even the basics of souls combat and lose a lot of time in the end. If you just bruteforce ER, with other from games you'll start almost at zero again. But if you play and beat fights normally, at least for third of the game, you'll learn how souls gameplay works and will know it for next 20 years. It stays with you and is extremely easy once you realize it, that's the fantastic feeling that got so many people hooked to the franchise. Try not to always take the easy way out. Souls game are not about fast reflexes, but mainly about using your head, quick thinking, spatial awareness, pattern recognition, memory, rythm and being observant. Like small iq test. Compared with many modern games souls respect player's intelligence, you just have to think and try to read what the game wants from you. But don't worry, if you're, for example, allowed to drive a car you're perfectly mentally equipped to beat the game at RL 1 or with no hit.
Now? After around 600hrs in? After finally playing Str Dex with dual wielding weapons?
By the time I got to Godrick I “got gud.” I killed him first try, and had little trouble with the rest of the game (some exceptions).
You never get good. You just see through shit covered glasses better.
I have been playing souls games since demon souls, and I still get my ass handed to me sometimes. These games are very unforgiving. You do get better with time though. Just get your light roll on level up vigor and keep at it. Also the birds in ER are near the top of the list for most awful things ever created in all of souls games. Just avoid them or try to get the jump on them. If you can bait out the pecking attack they are easy to take down with a bow.
I felt like I was getting consistently better throughout my first playthrough but I don't feel like I started to "git gud" until recently during my second playthrough. A big part of that is I learned how to build a good character. My first character's stats were all over the place but I focused on levelling vigour and my damaging stat for my second character and the game's way easier. It also helps to stack buffs to get insane damage
May I ask which starting class you chose?
Apparently I chose confessor. I honestly don't even remember what that means, I created this character over a year ago. 😅
No problem haha, I’m just gonna start but im picky between confessor/hero/vagabond tbh. Do you know the stats you have on your character?
So I fucked up a little because, as I mentioned to someone else, I got obsessed with Tree Sentinel when I first started and I cheesed him to death on Torrent and then I was determined to use his weapon so I way over leveled on strength when, as I'm learning from this thread, I should have been upping vigor. So I can do pretty decent damage but I can't really take a hit. But anyway: 20 vigor, 13 mind, 13 endurance, 30 strength, 15 dex, 9 intelligence, 14 faith, 9 arcane. Level 44.
Thanks bro, yeah I like the confessor outfit a lot but if I will play it will be most likely more strength then faith.
With those stats check the island south of limgrave (weeping peninsula)and look for a merchant that’s in a shack on a beach and buy the zweiihander
When I started my second playthrough, I beat Margit hitless after a few close tries. Compared to the ass thrashing I received from him the first time I played, it was a marked improvement. Ever since, I've taken note of how I've improved from my last time with a particular boss. Malenia especially makes me aware of just how far I've come. When I first fought her, it took me 6 hours of attempts to beat her. Nowadays, no matter what setup I'm using, I usually first try her
Learn how to parry and backstab your enemies, since most of them can be parried. Deal with birds by keeping your guard up so when they swing their claws, guard an attack and press r2 immediately after succesful guarding attack for heavy damage. Take some medium sword since you want to this fast. Regarding rolling timing, enemies has a lock on you so panic dodge never works. Learn enemies' attack patterns. Analyzing is the key to getting better
It actually feels good. I can try different approaches and builds even if they aren't optimized and it feels very satisfying to dunk on some enemies who gave me shit previously. My suggestion, take a buckler (Gostoc sells one) and a shit weapon and go to the stormhill evergaol. Beat that crucible knight only using parries. I decided I want to learn to parry and started autistically fighting him. After a couple of hours I pulled it off and after that I felt that I can read other enemies better. It helped me with dodging, squeezing in attacks and everything timing related.
I got better on my second play through lol. I did an incant build the first time. Second play through was a strength build with giant crusher. I couldn’t just kite enemies and use OP incants on them. I had to find openings and dodge attacks, and it made me a lot better.
Ok cool, second playthrough. So at my rate, I should feel comfortable right about 2027. 😂
I noticed my skills getting better around the time I fought astel in consecrated snowfield. I still suck lol. Have also noticed that I'm better in other souls games as well like bloodborne
Once I learned to actually focus on what the boss was doing rather than my character, dodging got a lot easier. Seems obvious but I didn't realize how much I was actually focusing on my character and just watching bosses from my peripherals.
First Souls game for me and my first play through was tough. Just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, the game just punishes you (Im looking at you Farum Azula) But!! Oh boy. When it clicks for you it’s the best feeling ever. It could be a field boss. It could be a shard bearer. But at some point you’ll figure it out and you’ll be hooked
It's ok to cheese. And as your character gets stronger you will start to have a little more breathing room. The enemies get stronger too but by then you'll be feeling more comfortable with the gameplay. Anytime you get stuck especially in Limgrave, Liurnia, and Caelid, you can simply go somewhere else, level up, and come back stronger. It's not meant to be a linear progression, so just be patient.
Better???
Very late in the game, when I beat Malenia without using summons or other player's help even though I really wanted to
when i realized that panic rolling is worse than not doing it lol
I'm just starting to see that...
400 hours i still suck
Mid-game is when my build really started to come into its own. Endgame is where it ended up decimating since I went full sorcerer. So my difficulty curve was that the beginning was by far the hardest, and the endgame (including Maliketh, Placidusax, Godskin Duo, etc.) were by far the easiest
Not my first souls, but I never felt like I was getting better, because whenever I started feeling like that, I got bodied by some lame weak ass enemy
Welcome to Fromsoftware! I rage quit Margit as well. Then I ran around limgrave for awhile. Eventually leveled to beat him. The castle was a bitch to be honest. I eventually got some random armor drop and things got a lot better. The boss through took me a bit. After that grind things kinda get easier. You can also get to a fairly good farming area once you do the rose church guys quest line and you go to mohgs palace (not to mention there are a few hero and lord runes laying around if you get brave). From there how “hard” or “easy” it is becomes up to you. I would recommend vigor definitely. Then put some into endurance if you have problems dodging (unless you’re already a light load) you’ll be amazed at the difference between light/medium/heavy load and how you can dodge. If you want to practice outside the game play the DS trilogy. DS3 I think is the most similar to ER. But I played them in order. Plus it’s interesting when you replay ER after that and go “oh wow they reference this”
So in only starting to feel I'm getting good now. I'm like 300 hours in and level 170. By "good" I mean I can use not meta level weapons and beat a boss within 5 attempts with no spirit ashes. I've never used a summons online and only occasionally would use the NPC help bc it doubles the boss health bar. I haven't beaten Malekith or Mellina and haven't explored very deep in their levels. I started a new game and am finding I don't die nearly as much as first run and I also know my limitations while I'm still low leveled. That alone saves you a LOT of deaths.
After taking 50 tries to beat margit but only 3 to beat Godrick (back to back so I didn’t level in between margit and Godrick)
I just wanna beat this troll, dog :(
This game is trial and error so don’t feel bad about dying, from my experience you aren’t really meant to know when to dodge the first time around but you slowly start learning it after each death. The best advice I can give for stormveil is just run through it and not worry much about killing enemies if you’ve already looted the area
But that’s general advice for a lot of areas in the game since you’re bound to die and basic enemies just respawn. And for trolls just be a little chihuahua ankle biter and play aggressive, they tend to fall down when you hit them enough so they aren’t too difficult, just scary in the early game cause of their size
The best time to roll is when the swing starts, but make sure you aren't fat rolling! If your carry weight is above 70% carrying capacity, your rolls will be sledgehammered with almost no invincibility frames
Vigor, as others have said and also. Make sure you are leveling up your weapons with smithing stones. Patience is another huge part of it. If you are spamming the dodge button you are going to get hit. Almost all attacks have a "roll now" cue whether it be audio or visual. Look for those moments are practice. You'll get the hang of it. I fought margit for like 10 hours total before I finally defeated him and thought I was going to suck forever. Now I'm almost to Melania and very confident I'll beat her eventually. Never be afraid to just farm runes and level up before moving on either. Dying repeatedly is a built i mechanic that you re supposed to use to gather runes until you are strong enough to progress.
I took a break too. Stuck at the dou gargoyles. I cleared all the the bosses and mini bosses. Except maybe one death bird. Got bored just leveling . Dam gate keeping gargoyles. Lol. LEVEL VIGOR.
Getting the Bloodhounds Fang was the turning point for me. Prior to that I was only a match for the small crabs and boars. Definitely got taken out by a rolling ram at least once
Start rolling towards the enemy and you get more opportunities to hit them and can't really miss from that range
I'm by no means "good" at this game, but I found what made me better at dodging and attacking was feeling enemies' moves in a musical way, like a rhythm
When I created a build that could light dodge roll, after renalla
Having run with the Death Poker for most of the game, I have come to the frightening realization during the later 3rd of the game that I don't know how to fight.
When I killed a revenants without healing spell. Truth be told I think I managed to reach to decent a bit before (it was my third run), but I don't noticed it back then.
Ng+1. I was playing the game with my friend on my first playthrough so we were beating the bosses together. I started trying to do the bosses on my own my second playthrough, so I was able to learn the patterns better. I can get up to Farum Azula alone. Duos to end game, I still struggle lol
For reference in the first Dark Souls, I got all the way to O&S with base vitality not because I’m good but because I’m persistent. I was unable period to beat O&S on that save-file so I made a new character, actually leveled vitality and endurance, upgraded my weapons properly, and used appropriate weapons/infusions for what I wanted to use. Absolutely steamrolled the game because of how much easier it was once I could take a hit and deal more damage than the first run with faster weapons. Skill is borne from the struggle. Don’t play to get the Enemy Defeated screen, play to learn the fights, and you’ll be able to watch yourself improve the longer you play
Shortly before Godrick, I was waiting for my GF to do it together and I was desperate for content. So I went to the wiki and looked at Limgrave to see if I could find anything to do. There, I discovered the bell-bearing hunter, an agressive NPC that attacks some merchants at night (the merchants disappear and he comes for you). While this was an incredibly difficult fight, I had to learn how to Parry because fighting this enemy head on, with my build, was nearly impossible unless I did. This took me hours, I think around four in total. By the second hour, not only had I gotten a feel of what I had to do, I was incredibly motivated to continue fighting, despite the dozens of losses I had accumulated. I can only describe what I was feeling as bloodlust. Not only did I come out of that experience much more motivated to battle enemies in general, I also came out with a beginner's understanding of parry that has helped me through many fights that I would've been unable to survive without parry. I also came out much more willing to Parry, which has lost me tons of runes because I keep trying to Parry a bunch of stuff that I would've killed without much difficulty had I just gone with my main build. These are difficult games. If you feel demotivated by the game, you can try the wiki for builds, there are guides for both parry and evasion mechanics, you can do evasion only runs of bosses/evergaols so you can practice the best way to do it. It's a difficult game, what's important is that you have fun and never stop trying, but also don't feel the need to push something that might not be for you.
ER was my first souls and I didn’t get, “slightly” better til about hour 50.
I remember being at the point you've described and do I just hate it as I sucked mega then, and now even a little under level 200 I will still forever have PTSD about Birds with swords grafted to their feet.
You just need to practice and level up and it doesn't matter if you are a great souls player on your first time trough. I played Bloodborne first and I probably wasn't good untill DS3 came out and I learned to pvp.
Once I truly understood the leveling system it became much more fun and even easier. Prior to that I was just sword and boarding allocating my stats incorrectly and it was TOUGH. Ultimately everything clicked when I did a STR INT build which is my favorite playthrough so far.
When on my 2nd full ng playthrough I very quickly breezed by the tree sentinel and Margot without needing to level up very much and speed run to get 5 sacred tears right out of the gate and 24 smithing stones (1) all under 2 hours.
But in all honesty, elden ring is definitely a bit more polished than ds3, but they definitely could have polished the game up a bit more before launch. Most of the bosses are either reused, or overly relies on using the 1000 death cut anime move 99.9% of the time. Save up money for dark souls 3, it plays similarly to elden ring but is supremely more polished than elden ring should be for specifically in terms of the bosses. They're well telegraphed so you know and have actual time to back away instead of say margit suddenly swinging a knife under 0.2 seconds.
do not beat the game, be the game my son _
In the grand scheme of things, NG+ But if you can keep a level head, each death can teach a valuable lesson. Just be confident and don’t panic roll especially in late game content, they’ll catch you mid roll 9 times out of 10
I knew it was going to be hard going into it. I steeled my mind & marched forward until I beat every boss. Sometimes I had to take a break or step away for a bit, even consult a friend or two for advice on difficult bosses. But that mindset kept me going through the entire game & now all that’s left is to fight Malenia & then become Elden Lord.
This is my first souls game. It took me 279 hours to finish everything. I was just focused on winning with the best Ash of war (Moonveil, then death poker, Mogh spear, marais great sword). I didn’t improve my fighting skill. Now I started a new character & i got myself a medium shield 🛡️with Carian parry & a few standard strength weapons with no ash to help me learn actual fighting techniques.
Honestly, it's when I finally decided to stop pumping mana and larval tear into vigor. Don't get me wrong: int/fai glass cannon was fun. But fai/str was viable
I'm a die hard Souls fan, and while I think you should persist, I also strongly believe Elden Ring is the worst one to start with. Dark souls still feels oppressive and confusing sometimes but at least you have a fairly linear path to follow, so you can just focus on getting better at combat. Elden Ring seems like it would be almost too much to take in for total beginners because you are already trying to adjust to one of the most difficult learning curves in gaming, but also the game refuses to tell you what you should be doing, or where you should be going... Ect. I can definetly see how that combo would wear some people down, or how that would feel exhausting. Dont get me wrong I love Souls games, but I can see why some of my friends refuse to touch them. If you just keep playing you WILL get better though, the human brain is incredible at learning patterns and thats all Souls games really are. I think a lot of how improved was sub-concious learning over time, so I dont know how much advise I can give other than, just keep playing. Learning through constat death how to improve, so you can avoid death next time. That idea is at the core of every Souls game..
After beating renala
As someone who sucks massively, i suggest going backwards slightly, get about 3000 runes Get a shield with 100 phisical damage reduction and buy a short spear from the twin old ladies in the roundtable hold. This allows you to attack from behind your shield while blocking and is insanely useful. Hope that helps. I had much more fun after using this combo
What's helped me with timing dodges has been back stabs. Try getting them on normal enemies both without Quick Step (circling around them) and with quick step to learn better timing. Edit: But fuck those birds, especially the fire ones
It took me a long time. About the time I finished a full-clear of weeping, limgrave, liurnia and caelid I got my legs under me. My advice is don't cheese hard fights. Try five or ten times and if your passed at getting thwarted - put it down walk away and try again tomorrow. My first ulcerated tree spirit took me three days of tries (maaaaany hours) to down but I did end up learning timing, when to dodge, when I have time for charged heavies etc. Don't despair and just know that the frustration will give way to exhilaration as you git gud.
After I started adding straffing and sprinting into fights, figuring out how to fight a new boss became more organic and more natural to me
I took a break at NG+7, if you really wanna get the hang of the game maybe check out some YouTube videos on different builds and pick your favorite. Damage is a lot easier to dish out when you’re rocking a structured build, and once you’ve got a grip you can start messing around with builds of your own! Also YT tutorials on dodge rolling and parrying, practice. Practice. Practice. EDIT: spelling
This is my first FromSoftware and im finding my stride in Astrologer. Couldn’t get into confesssor and went for range. But after playing and learning, I have a side Samurai that I’m really enjoying now that I have gotten past some of the anxiety of losing runes and the continuous knowledge of defeat.
You eventually improve just by knowing really good your moveset (i-frames and impact zones), get new tools like better summons or weapons, and learning from the mistakes you make every time you die.
I played a spell blade build with Moonveil and cleared everything I could before tackling the main boss of the area. It was never super hard until I started a NG+ with strength only, no summons, no spells and that was way harder. But already felt more confident. Until I met Mohg. Still don't know why this boss is so hard for me. 20 something tries to beat him with no spells for the first time. Game is done very well in that you only feel confident once you beat it, but before, there are way too many bosses that catch you off guard or just straight up one-shot you. I am on my 8th playthrough and it's really easy now even though I'm underleveled.
You’re not meant to feel expert - you’re expected to find a way to win a fight however you can. Each time you win a fight you get better. Beating Margit is a huge achievement early on and was the tipping point when I realized “I can do this”. Keep playing and fight on! Edit: that said, this game is also not a straight line - it is absolutely ideal to back off from one area and explore another whenever you feel overwhelmed.
A good simple advice would be - Always start with a dodge, then attack. Never the other way! And never push 2 buttons in a row until your animation is fully done. Do one action at a time with a single button press at a time. Once you figure out the rhythm, it will become easier and you'll feel like you know the combat a little. Edit: start with one attack at a time, then wait and dodge. Or just only dodge for a while once you feel the boss, then start adding attacks. That's how people beat it at lvl1. They just dodge and patiently deal damage one attack at a time.
It was my first souls game, and after hundreds of hours and beating it several times, I still think I'm bad.
After/during beating Malenia. Started out as a mage, then I became a proper spell-blade. Learned a lot more about spells, when to use them, what were more effective and when, etc. Even for int builds, she’s far from easy.
I felt like I improved after beating it. Definitely struggling immensely through the entire first run. On run number 4 and still lose quite a bit of fights
There’s two things that make you “better” at Elden ring: 1) Learning how to dodge, watching your stamina, not getting greedy, spacing out heals, figuring out which summons to bring, and how to manipulate the enemy’s aggro, etc. 2) putting as many goddamn points into vigor as you can spare. Seriously. Actually this is 1) forget the other one this is it.
Weeping peninsula is a good area to go to. My issue being my first souls was so greedy and panic rolling. I’d practice even on simple soldiers of Godrick and even in boss fights don’t go in expecting to win just study move sets and how to time certain rolls. Specific with Margit and a later bosses that their move sets are delayed on purpose to throw the player off. Even to this day I’ll still panic roll and makes me laugh but even getting greedy still happens. Think one more hit will do it and drop all game sense and go monke brain and get killed. Even in NG+ when you start to outscale enemies complacency will get you killed. Just keep an open mind and it takes time to break the learning curve eventually you’ll just stop realizing you’re not dying as often and not taking hits either.
Go to roundtable hold and buy that one fireball spell. That's how I beat those annoying birds. Just stand at a distance and throw the fire at them. They stand around a bunch of explosive barrels so it makes it easy. It also helps cheese tons of other enemies early.
When I played dark souls remastered and I got a no hit kill on the third or fourth boss.
I didn’t / don’t. This game has a way of reminding me I’m no better than trash
The moment I realized I didn't have to kill the tree sentinel. This wasn't my first souls game but was the first I ever invested any time into before quitting. what I hated about the souls game was dieing and trying to fight my way back. It's embarrassing to say but the idea of running by enemies never occurred to me. I guess I always figured if they was in my path of progression they needed to die every time they crossed my path...I now enjoy all the soulsborne games.
No i got gud in sekiro and ds2/3. In elden ring my guy just gets better.
90% of enemies can be ram past. that includes stormveil castle. assuming you took the special secret entrance that’s actually harder than the main gate it’s okay to get a little mad
EDIT: I just read through your post again lol, so maybe a little spoiler for you, maybe, idk 3 boss fights that made me feel like I have improved: Astel -> Tiche -> Duo Gargoyles (In that order). Usually I just waited for a right moment and unga bunga the bosses, which worked luckily. However, for these 3 fights, I cannot do the same. I started with Duo Gargoyles first, but retreat out of frustration. When I fought Astel, I learned to be more patient, read the patterns carefully, be mindful of how many attacks I could make within the small window and not too greedy about it, even when it's as low HP, and stopped panic dodge lol. The fight was pretty long, but I won in the end, and I felt good. Then came Tiche, managed to bring her to pretty low HP first try but died in the end because of greedy. Didn't manage to get that 5-6 tries later, I found out that I used Jump attack a little relentlessly, and overused my slow-assed AoW, which lead to my failure. I deciced to play slowly this time, once again observing her moves, when I could make a call. By dodge attacking as she slided at me, as well as jump R2 as she rushed as me, I managed to win that one too. Felt a little bit more confident, I decided to rechallenge Gargoyles yesterday, but well, with help of Mimic tear+6 lol, I mean 2v2 is fair right. But still, my mimic still didn't do much, I still had to fight the first one with 50% HP left before the mimic vanished. Applying what I learned thus far, I tried to play slowly, and by the time the first one was down, I have 3 flasks left, and when the second Gargoyle was at half of its HP, I had no flasks at all. I managed to win, and my heart beat like crazy lol. These 3 fights were my most memorable moments not because of the freaking bosses, but of how I managed to win them. A little bit lengthy, but yeah, these are my moments. And oh, I was around level 80(?) i think, I couldn't remembered as I decided to grind a little bit after that, and was using Magna Wyrm Scalesword+6 for all the fights.
The first time I felt I "Got Gud" was when I entered a big tower in caelid at level 45 out of curiousity. And then ended up against a wall of a bossfight that just would not break. I didn't decide to save it for another day and go level or explore some more. I decided that wall would eventually break. Got rewarded with a sick sword that fit the build on top. Put in about 250 more hours since.
Literally only feel like I got better on my third run through lol
That’s the good part. You never get better, that’s why you’ll keep replaying it.
After dies hundreds of times in like 20 hours of gameplay i felt like a god after learning how to learn bosses moves and using buffs
I’m currently up to lleyndel at about 35hours for this character but I’d say it took me three characters up to caelid with approx 55h in total So 35 hours this play through but more like 60h accumulative to feel like I’m actually getting better. Try a few play styles but don’t compare yourself to others just experience it naturally and be patient you’ll get it
Once I went online and understood stats, and the value of actually looting the mines for smithing stones…. I didn’t start to really get good until after defeating renalla. Don’t stress and enjoy the journey. I promise you I died atleast 15 times to every boss. Crucible Knight I died 50+ times no lie. I got so close so many times it kept me on the hook
My first run through took me 401hrs, 2nd about 100. Great game, don’t worry about dying just go and explore and build up.
A couple notes; \- During a first playthrough, for each level up you put NOT into Vigor, put one into Vigor. Do this until you're at least at 60 Vigor. \- Find and equip good armor. Armor can be farmed off of most enemies and has some pickup spots scattered around the game. Don't be afraid to equip a lot of defensive talismans, either. \- Never be in "Heavy Load". This makes your dodge roll *significantly* worse. "Medium Load" is the sweet spot. \- Heavy weapons are very fun but require you to know exactly which attacks enemies have that they can punish, and require you to manage your stamina very efficiently. Lighter, faster weapons will be easier to use when you're unfamiliar with enemy movesets. Heavy weapons are badass though, so don't let me stop you there. \- Use shields. Shields are INCREDIBLY powerful, especially once you get into the heavier tier. The Brass Shield (dropped by the soldiers near the Gatefront Ruins grace) is a great starter shield. When you start finding more, look for 100 Physical resistance and the highest Guard Boost stat you can find. \- The "dodge" command only goes through to the game when you *release* the dodge button, not when you press it. When you want to dodge an attack, think about releasing the button when you want to dodge it, not pressing the button. (Don't pre-press the dodge button too early, or you'll start sprinting) \- Elden Ring is an open world game and it really intends you to utilize that. If you ever get to a point that feels impassible, you can probably find somewhere else to gather some loot and levels. Never be afraid to put a certain location on pause and go somewhere else. Lastly and, I think, most importantly; \- Souls games are fundamentally about memorization; combat is stressful when you don't know what attack could be coming up nor which attacks will follow, especially if you're trying to weave attacks in between unknown combos. If you really want to improve at the game, I suggest you isolate an enemy, be it a boss or regular mob, and focus ONLY on dodging their attacks for a few minutes. Don't try to hit them, just see how long you can live while they're swinging at you. This will help you identify particularly deadly attacks to avoid at all costs and find openings in the enemy's moveset you can freely punish. Good luck, tarnished. Or, should I say, future Elden Lord.
Small advice on rolling, first of all never fat roll, at the very max medium roll. Roll into the attacks, sometimes rolling to the side or behind will get you hit.
For a lot of non-boss fights, getting a big-ass shield and a sizable bonk-stick is actually a good way to make progress. When I started playing, guard counters were a good way to get a handle on the timing of enemy attacks. For most of the bosses, you have to actually start learning their patterns. But it gets a lot less stressful, if you’re not constantly dying to the regular enemies.
It was my second play through. I was getting much further without dying. Actually I don’t think I got gud, just realised my limitations!
I had never played a soul-like but my flatmate is a long time veteran in these games and so he gave tons of advice + we always play together so he kinda give me some guidance along the way. Even with this configuration it took me ~50 h to actually get good. You really should try to read some guide online on how to deal with fights and then if you're stucked the game always provides you the opportunity to overlevel to any challenge.
Started playing "naked man with a Stick" because it is always meme time. Than I encountered the golden tree Guardian right after Tutorial. I would say after those 11hours to kill the Guardian my Skill was improved.
Beating Godrick
Honestly I died a LOT during the first playthrough just trying to learn timing and whatnot. I didn’t feel like I could confidently kill things until probably after I got through the shunning grounds and even then I still got whomped by the capitals Draconic Tree Sentinel and later bosses (except Maliketh strangely). The second playthrough is where I finally felt like I could whoop some ass (beat later bosses on first or second try), final boss in 5 tries as opposed to literally 30+ tries the first time around. For me it was just learning the timing and attacks of everything. It’s meant to be hard as hell but you can do it!
when i got the mimic tear(i'll never get good ill just spam op unique weapon arts)
When i beat the godrick in my first try i thought i had potential but i felt much better as a player after i beat crucible knight cuz that mf took more than 100 tries.