Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

Went with a warrior and concentrating on building up my Dex with a little of magic. Managed to locate a staff from one of the bosses in the forest but i must confess, when it comes to character building i dont really have an idea what im doing. Ive always found it hard in the DS style games as i dont want to be waisting levels of stuff that doesnt fit my play style. Is there a rule of thumb build guide at all, like pick 3 talents and build in to them etc? Currently using a long sword, a flail and a pants cross bow at lvl 20

I'm loving this game so far but by god am I struggling with it. Haven't found a From game this difficult since I first played Demon's Souls all those years ago. I've encountered a few bosses but I can't seem to beat them just yet. I think it's to do with how I'm building my character. I've gone warrior with the dual scimitar things, but I've been focusing on levelling up health and stamina rather than my attacking power, until I decide whether I want to go down the strength or dexterity route. It's time to make a decision and crack on. I need to git gud, it would seem. All I'm gitting at the moment is my arse spanked.

@Gremio108 have you come across spirit summons yet? IMO they make some bosses/tough enemies much easier to deal with - they basically seem to be Elden Ring's NPC summons (I'm not sure if there are any summonable NPC's in the game). You can (as in, I think you're supposed to) get it really early in the game, but it's pretty easy to miss

@danlk1ng Yeah, I've got the wolf one. I used it against a boss and it provided a nice distraction, but ever since it's been greyed out and I can't use it. I've rested and restoredy FP so it's not that. I think I'm missing something somewhere.

Also, I did encounter an NPC summon before one of the bosses I fought. His name was Sorcerer Rogier and he was all right, but he didn't seem to be a fan of dodging so he soon got walloped.

@Gremio108 yeah that sounds odd, I've not seen the spirit summon grey out and I've used it a few times - not sure what's going on there

@Us2233 The update file downloaded for me when when I turned on my PS5 this morning. Make sure you have updates set download and install automatically from System settings on the console.

@Gremio108 @danlk1ng I've got the Lone Wolf and Wandering Noble spirit summons. I have them equipped but keep forgetting to use them lol.

I got this from Fextralife:

Summoning Spirits will usually consume FP. Only one summoned spirit can be active per Rebirth Monument, before having to reset the count by resting at a Site of Grace, and you won't be able to summon them while in multiplayer.

Spirits may only be summoned in specific locations (Points of Interest on the World Map and almost every boss arena). If you leave the boundary, it will unsummonSpirits may only be summoned once per encounter, so you cannot re-summon them after they die during a boss fight.

@Gremio108 I'm guessing your talking about the boss fight up against Margit the Fell Omen?

Sorcerer Rogier was an absolute disaster for me... honestly felt better off using the Spirit Summons (pack of Wolves).

I finally beat Margit this morning, running a DEX build lv22... managed to upgrade my Katana to Uchitanja +3. Pulled a new strategy which was taking him on solo until I'd reduced his health down to 2/3... and then I summoned the 'Wolf Pack' to distract him during the latter half of the fight, where I found him much more challenging.

By bringing the Spirit Summon in at the beginning, I think I was just wasting this tool really. Also I learnt the hard way to hide behind some of the debris on the bridge when healing, otherwise Margit has a tendency to interupt my flask-gulping by firing lightning projectiles!

Took about 30-35ish tries, but I really enjoyed the challenge. He is actually the first boss I've encountered, so I might go back and explore a bit more around Limgrave until I push ahead!

I started as a prisoner and the magic spell you get is pretty good. Though I'm not fond of the estoc. I'm trying to get a strength/intelligence build going, but I haven't found any good weapons so far.

@nessisonett if you started as wretch, go asap to gatefront ruins, and farm it. You can get everything you need there, including a 100% block kite shield (from the ones carrying it only… ) several good weapons (longsword drops), and a full suit of armor.

@JohnnyShoulder Pretty sure I've stuck to all these rules. It did pop back up briefly before, but mow it's greyed out again. I've only used them a couple of times against that horseback boss guy at the very beginning, but I've been able to use them again since.

@CJD87 Yeah, good fight, this one. I've had a few goes, got him down to about a third of his health left. I'd fancy my chances if I had my pet wolves...

@Gremio108 Strange, although you aren't able to use them everywhere, you should be able to use them during boss fights.

Did you beat that horseback guy from the beginning? I'm too much of a scaredy cat to face him yet.

@JohnnyShoulder Not yet but he's next on my list. I did have a couple of goes but he spanked me. I've just beaten a similar boss, the horseback guy who only appears at night, south-east of the Gatefront, so I feel like the last couple of hours of grinding are going to pay off. Also, I can use a crossbow now!

Anyone else have 1.002.001 re-apply this morning? May have helped framerate too

@Gremio108 I'm gonna have a go at him now, as I've just cleared the Gatefront Ruins. Apparently the Unsheath ability is handy against, which is the skill move you get with the default Samurai weapon.

@JohnnyShoulder I was running in and attacking with both swords, then running around him in circles, in a constant battle to get on the right-hand side of him. I was dizzy by the end!

I may have to re-think dual-wielding. I miss the security of a 100% shield.

I do love how many people are falling for the treasure chest even with the messages warning people. Just proves From still have a few nasty tricks up their sleeves.

@nessisonett In fairness, the game is so littered with troll messages and just... random, meaningless word spam that you never really know what to trust. It's why I don't feel bad at all just playing this offline most of the time.

This really is just big Dark Souls which is what it always looked like so I don't know what I was expecting. I'm a big fan of how the bosses all have bonfires next to them which - coupled with the fast loading - means getting killed by a boss isn't frustrating like it was in previous games. That and the jump button - love it! - are my biggest takeaways so far.

@Gremio108 I got him down to about 1/4 health left. He goes a bit WWE at that point. None of my spirit summons did much as he killed them really easily. The sorcerer one was probably the handiest as he could fire spells from afar. Defo doable though but maybe one for a bit later.