Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@Kyroki "TIME TO JOIN DADDY!" was the bit that got me, haha

I’m playing longsword/shield with supplemental magic, but I already want to play an arcane rogue with poisons/bleeds now that I know the blood aspect scales off arcane. And i want to play a dragon-magic faith build….. games too big for all the playthroughs I want.

So my mate was online last night, so we teamed up for a quick ER session. We headed down to that beach at the beginning where I got assaulted the other day. We realised there was a cave that I'd walked right past, so we popped in for a look. There was another NPC to summon so we thought 'what the heck' and got him involved too.

We then went through the boss door and it was three of us versus two bosses and a ton of minor enemies. It was absolute carnage on a scale I've not seen in a Souls game before. I don't usually use summons until NG+ as a rule to reinforce the feeling of isolation that Soulsborne games do so well, but last night was so much fun that I think I'll probably be a lot more relaxed about that rule. This game is simply superb.

This bit of the game is nuts. I don't want to get spoilery about it because of joy of discovery etc. etc. but this locale is astonishing visually and just another reminder of how absurdly big the game is.

@danlk1ng yep I found my way down there, not fully explored but might be one of my favourite moments in a souls game!

@johncalmc yeah - I figured the name itself isn't particularly spoliery, it just sounds like a run of the mill location - but it's definitely something special

@Gremio108 @Jimmer-jammer That dragon Shrine place, I'm assuming you go back there when you have defeated a dragon, and exchange a dragon heart for one of the powers? Oh and go there at night to activate it.

Finally found a shield with 100% physical damage reduction that I can use with my build. Huzzah! Feels good to have one at last.

I have found the int scaling to not be too meaningful, to the point where I’m going to sit at 15 in for a while. I get 1 damage increase with the weapon buff and similar with glintstone pebble per point of int, as tested at gatefront ruins.

Buffing the staff helps more.

EDIT: I’m playing spellsword not pure mage

@Jimmer-jammer No worries! I just landed in Caelid, after one of those pesky chests transported me there. It is.... quite a bit different to to what I've experienced so far visually! I couldn't a way outta there so fast travelled back to cosy old Limgrave.

Made it to a point to get to the round table, after following a tiny path im sure I would have missed many time. This game is fantastic. Each twist and turn seems to bring you something new.

@velio84 Glad you are enjoying it! I love the sense of exploration and discovery. Not having a gazillion question marks and such pop up on the map helps a hella lot. I think only Zelda BOTW comes close in that respect.

23 hours in and I have my first trophy lol. Decided to finally make my way up to the castle and got to the first grace. Did a bit more exploring and found the dude that sells Ashes of War. And that massive Knight Troll thing that springs to life made me squeal out loud.

Also forgot to mention, I switched my potions and Torrent ring to my pouch, which is accessed in the top right right corner of the menu. Now it is so much easier, as you just press and hold triangle and up on the d-pad to heal. If you do wanna use the quick items, if you press and hold down on the d-pad it will quickly go to the first item.

It's kinda sad. There are so many weapons, so many things to customize, and I'm just never gonna move away from my Uchigatana, or change the Unsheathe ability. So all those weapons and ashes of war are just a waste for me.

Kinda funny. I just realized when I beat Godrick that I completely forgot about that summon spell I have with the wolves. Might've made that fight a little easier.

Stumbled on a teleporter chest, but the fast travel system means I wasn't stunk in the new location, thankfully, although I did manage to find and slay a boss in that area. Some sort of giant golem thing. Thankfully, he's super easy to stagger with Unsheathe.

Also managed to figure out how to access that walking mausoleum thing completely by accident after I noticed you could chip off the rocks around its feet. Although I don't think the function of that location is going to be particularly useful for me.

Found a few magic spells, but still haven't found a staff my dumb-as-rocks character is able to wield, unfortunately.

Played for another five hours today. I have a headache. Might hang it up for a couple of days.

Definitely way more fun than the FS games I've played previously.

Decided to patch the castle for now and just see how far I can go without doing it. Beat Magma Wyrm Makar instead which was bloody tough but better once I realised I could summon an NPC to help. Thankfully I have both the items to progress as I’d picked them up earlier!

Turns out the progression item I had was actually to go back down the way I came in a big lift. Technically I skipped the academy though!

@Ralizah I feel you re. The Uchi & 'Unsheathe' ability... it is just TOO good to walk away from, and as such it seems that all the other extras/upgrades for weaponry are pretty worthless for my playstyle.

Are you mainly 2-handing? Or do you also use 1-hand with a shield? I got a 100% shield (Heater I think?) from the Roundtable merchant, but am wondering if there exists a lighter/better option around.

Working to tackle Castle Mourn today as an appetiser before attempting Stormveil Castle. Margit wrecked me plenty before I prevailed, and am conscious of levelling up a bit more before SC...

Have you managed to upgrade your Uchi yet so it scales better vs DEX stat? I am still having to work the conventional upgrade path, I think it is +4 now but the scaling doesnt seem to have improved

@CJD87 It's the best weapon for this specific class, and the game hasn't provided any reasonable alternatives that make sense given the stat spread of this class (especially if you lean into a vigor/dex build like I have, with a bit of mind on the side so I can squeeze in a few more unsheathes during boss battles).

I 1-hand whenever I'm not specifically going for Unsheathe spam on an enemy. No reason not to have the shield around to to absorb damage when possible.

I could probably go for lighter armor, since I'm under a mid-to-heavy load at all times, but I like having wiggle room when I screw up, and it's not like this is Bloodborne where my reflexes always have to be lightning.

Castle Morne is a good early game challenge: easier and shorter than Stormveil Castle, but a lot more satisfying than those random little caves you'll find. The boss, also, isn't too horrendously difficult.

Yeah, I haven't seen substantial gains from my Dex build yet in terms of raw damage (+5 on Uchigatana currently), although it still makes more sense for my build than strength. Especially since it supposedly makes it harder to fall off torrent, and I fight on horseback whenever possible.

@Ralizah I agree completely, and unsheathe is just too good to pass up...

I came across something that really helped my build and playstyle - you might have this already, but I'll mention just in case!

Just east of 'Stormhill Shack' is another gracepoint called 'Warmaster Shack'. For 600(?) runes you can buy an Art of War Skill called "no skill". You can then 'equip' this to your shield, and it will negate the auto-skill of parry.

Long story short, if you add that particular Art of War "no skill" to your shield, negating the default 'parry' skill, this then allows you to use Unsheathe when 1-handing the weapon! Of course the damage is not so great vs 2-hand, but it allows you to keep a more conservative playstyle - still using the shield and 1-handing the Uchi... but still having access to unsheathe when just using 1 hand.

On a side-note, I copped a 2nd Uchi earlier and might work to upgrade both and start a dual-wielding playstyle. Will probably get me killed, but just looks so good ha!

@CJD87 @Ralizah Strange, the last thing I did last night just the game was buy that Act of War!

I'm using the Blue-Gold Kite Shield bought from the Nomadic Merchant, who can be found in Limgrave, next to the road between Mistwood Ruins and Fort Haight. I think it is slightly better than the Heater shield as I didn't buy that one. It also fitting at the moment as it has similar colours to the Ukraine flag.

Same with the Unsheath skill, I doubt I will be changing that or the Uchigatana. I'll may swap now if I fancy a change, but that will be my main weapon.

@nessisonett there is actually a path around the outside of the castle that comes out right where you come out when leaving the godrick fight, so you can skip completely

@CJD87 I started as a vagabond and had been using a grand epee blade but I found myself an Uchi in a dungeon and oh my days its amazing! Found a whole bunch of weak foes trailing a carriage being drawn by two trolls past night and destroyed them on horseback using it, it felt so good! Will look out for that shack 👍