Yumcha

Oh that dungeon was brutal...still the worst because of me getting lost so much and going in circles...

The Spirit Ash I've built up is the Banished Knight Oleg. He is my most reliable one though, in a recent boss fight, I actually ended up not using him after getting my @$$ handed to me too many times because he WOULD NOT ENGAGE. Yeah, WTF. I also upgraded Black Knife Tiche who is my alternate and ended up using her and she worked...still took a few tries to beat that boss (in Consecrated Snowfield dungeon).

And yeah, good stuff running around the Capitol. The Atlus Plateau is big as is the city itself...you will be in here for...a couple of weeks IMO if you play routinely. You have the sewers too which be warned...is brutal because the enemies are just jacked up.

I have unlocked the puzzle that got me to this place called Haligtree. I am not sure if I am ready for this new stage as the snowfield is still not done. I have not found the area mega boss strangely. Unless there is not one? I'll head back to Hoth before I take on the Haligtree.

What level is your tank at now?

Doom878

I think 41 Strength and 42 Vigor. Started upping the Mind to get more FP for summons. Some of these gank squad bosses need distractions. I will check out those Summons. So far I've been using the Academy and Leyndell soldiers. The latter have big shields so they're defense is decent. I just use them for distraction for now. My Executioner's Axe is at +16. I've been too proud to search where to find Level 6 stones. I've been too lazy to fill my pots with the buffs but I'm getting to that point. Still far off from you.

Easily the biggest level I've ever seen in a Soulsborne game. So crazy.

Yumcha

Oh, those will come later. If you're doing what I'm under the impression you're doing, you'll run into those stones soon. +16 is pretty darn high given where you are at...and you haven't finished Caelid yet. Nor finished Volano Manor. So, you'll get lots of upgrades...just be killing enemies and being thorough in your exploring. Just be ready to die lots. I'm into the 100s on death...easy.

And yes, you absolutely need to up your FP so you can summon better Spirits. Oleg is tier 3 as is the Black Knife Tiche. I think your ghosts are Tier 1 or 2?

Doom878

Not sure. How do you determine tier?

Yumcha

Based on their grouping in your inventory.

Oleg, if you have him will be in a '3rd' group. Like the Wolves you start off with, that's the 1st group.



Spent some time playing tonight after skipping yesterday. Curiosity got the better of me and I started to explore Haligtree world...so far, just alot of navigating on a giant tree with branches everywhere. Manageable with nothing overly difficult though I did get killed by either falling off trying to avoid an attack or taking on too many monsters at once.

I see a town down further...try to get to that soon.

Doom878

Gravity is the toughest enemy in the game

Yumcha

Have you ever fallen off a cliff because you can't steer your horse?

I have. A few times.


And I have lost count of times when that drop looks...manageable...and I die.

Doom878

Oh for sure. That horse is a PITA for short walking distances. I'm trying to figure out how to proceed in Mt. Gelmir (w/o cheating) and have been experimenting on big drops.

Yumcha

Mt. Gelmir should not have a big 'drop' unless you intend to jump.

Once you cross out of Atlus to the Gelmir region, you'll know...it's war-torn...death and fire everywhere. Keep an eye out for ladders that climb upwards. Those are it. If you stay at the level you are at, you'll eventually reach a point where you can't advance anymore and have to turn around to find the aforementioned ladder going upwards. The most annoying part of Gelmir are the giant mechanical iron maidens.

You also have a couple of field bosses you need to contend with. So, keep your guard up. When you get the peak of Gelmir, you'll have a mega-boss to deal with too...so, be ready for it. Once you beat it, you can cross a chasm that has two large rock formations jutting out to form a small bridge. Once you cross that, you'll see the Volcano Manor...home of the next Rune Boss. That mansion will take awhile...and because of the name, really make sure your fire damage reduction accessories/armor are ready.

Yumcha

If you're on your way to Gelmir, did you pass the weird windmill area with the psycho-dancing women?

Doom878

I found the first ladder right after the "robots" by the dogs and cleared that area with the wounded soldiers. Found the nearby cave that I think is the fire tomb with the chariot obstacles. I couldn't finish that because of the long stretch of lava inside. I need to go back and explore per your clue and keep working my way up. The bridge past the wolves was too high to clear.

Yeah I cleared that area already with the rubber band boss. He beat me a couple times but I did that like a week ago.

Yumcha

Cool. Nice work on clearing out the windmill area...

Yeah, Gelmir is basically go horizontal...find ladder...go up...repeat. You know you're on the right trek near the peak if one of them leads you to a merchant. He has some useful wares if I recall.


I've progressed further in the Haligtree stage and I think...I've found Malenia's world. So, I don't try to get any help or look into spoilers but I think this is the boss everyone has been talking about -- one of the most difficult and scary bosses of all videogamedom.

Lord...give me the strength to take her on.

I took on a non-ghost version of the boss I fought at Castle Caria again last night in the Haligtree. And past her is the longest ladder of all-time...and now into a mega-castle/fortification. Found a save point near the start of this castle area and stopped there because I was stressed out.

Doom878

Holy shit. Yeah that's the boss. Get ready dude. Make sure to share it to your YouTube when you beat her

Yumcha

You may raff but...I don't know how to do that.




Let me look it up. But, yeah...Malenia may take all the tricks in the book I have. I actually had to resort to total cheesing yesterday against 2 'regular' field enemies because I was being slaughtered by them non-stop. There are 2 uber-powered mages before the boss I had mentioned in my post aboove (the same one from Caria -- non-ghost/spirit ver.) that are guarding a series of small bridges you need to cross. As they spot you, their Glintstone spells are extremely damaging and then, if you get close, their melee are strong and they then call a giant magical hammer...which takes more then 2/3 health.

You are fighting them -- once off the little bridges (with no railing) on these small circular huts...not much room to roll or avoid...

So, yeah...sprinted across, aggroed them...but since these are circular huts, I circled them until they lost me and lost interest...went back to their spots...and I um...poison misted them to death.

Fark being honorable.

Malenia is going to be interesting to figure out how to cheese her...but, since she's the queen of Rot, my go-to Rot spell won't work, FFS. Dragon's fire breath?

Ice? Thunder?? Holy?!??

Yumcha

Took me about 15 minutes of squating in place and poison misting...waiting for the effects to end, repeat. Boring AF but hey...whatever it takes. This game doesn't play fair and so, I'm not either. Also lost about 200K in Runes when I died before I could get back to my place of death yesterday. VERY annoyed about that last night.

Doom878

Wow that's annoying to lose that many runes. You should be coming up to that one farming place that I've heard about. Starts with an M I think.

I did deal with those hammer mages and they are tanks. Luckily my melee is pretty strong but those spells are powerful. Between that type of magic and the perfume magic, I get wrecked.

Yumcha

Well, the region I am in is a sub-area I think of Haligtree? It's called Ephael Brace of Haligtree...it's a giant castle. Played about 90ish minutes last night after the kid was in bed and explored the first part of it (Grace site to new Grace site). I did accumulate alot of Runes but not sure if it's my go-to farming spot -- at least not obvious yet. The Cleanrot Knights don't go down as easily as the Guardians in Caelid and the lower part of the castle...along the boulevard is rife with those awful multi-armed monsters that teleport -- you've seen a couple already for sure (they are the annoying monsters that have many arms like that boss and one of their attacks is to pummel you with them which is instant death).

Anyways, I dealt with 2 tree-thing guardians too which was not fun...thankfully they were separate and not at the same time.

And oh, there are those crystal-like bosses who are also annoying to fight. So yeah, not really a farming spot.

Doom878

I hate those teleporting guys. Plus they spew a fuck ton of poison.

Yumcha

YES. One of the worst field enemies in the game.

And on that lower level where I'm at, I had to odeal with 5 of them...not at once, thankfully but one after the other. If it were not for my Ash Spirit, I would've been mincemeat...had to call for help after fighting ONE. I was like ANOTHER?!?? And then, the spirit stuck around thankfully that when I triggered the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, it was around to help absorb some of the abuse. But, it died after the 5th one.

He was a good Spirit. Good boi.

Yumcha

I'm just dreading that every advancement in this stage is one step closer to Malenia...the way she's described, it's going to be THE fight of my gaming life to-date.

Yumcha

I think I've found Malenia's door.

I did not fight her last night. I'll block the weekend for what will likely take the weekend to achieve.




Haligtree has been a gauntlet but, manageable if cautious and with the right weaponry. Hopefully you find the medallions needed to trigger the stage, Doomie. I am going to the blacksmith to upgrade weaponry and etc. in advance for the fight Malenia. I know she is the rot queen so, I can't use Scarlet Rot...maybe fire? Time to upgrade some fire weaponry. And if I die spectacularly, try an upped ice-type weapon.

Yumcha

K...during lunchbreak, with about 20 minutes to spare still, I quickly upgraded some weaponry, swapped out some armor to get more tank-like, changed out spells to more defensive ones, and also adjusted my flask concoction.

First try against Malenia...

So, she is something else. Reminds me of Sephiroth of FF7 in style...fast AF and basically, feels to me like a Black Knife ninja we've encountered in the game...except...with a couple of obvious differences...Malenia's sword is freaken long. The reach is nuts. And...the biggest wrinkle. She steals health as she hits you. So, if you are trading blows, geebus. I also found out my tank-like Spirit Ash is helping her out...because if she attacks him, she restores her health. So, do I not summon my Spirit??!?

I beat her...on phase 1. And that was stressful. On one try -- that's a silver lining. But, not without some nervous moments.

Of course there's a freaking phase 2. Phase 2, I lasted about 20 seconds. She has this divebomb attack that is hard to avoid. She hit it twice and on the second time, I just didn't have enough juice left to recover and I was scarlet-rotted at this point. Her second phase seems even more aggressive on top of that insane speed. She does not back off in this iteration...at all. Phase 1, she does as a defensive posture which allows me time to recover/heal and maybe reset my position. In Phase 2, she is coming at you non-stop. I can't even stagger her but I'm using a katana maxed to +25 with fire ash.

Nothing so far in the game comes close to her speed and well, ability to recover her lifeforce. This plus scarlet rotting, and a nutbar second phase.



I will try again but may consider a heavier weapon to stagger her. Also, maybe change out some talismans...maybe use the strength buffer and dexterity buffer medals...

Yumcha

Oh, and for effect, she literally says this right before the fight: I have never known defeat.

Yumcha

It took 9 tries and different combinations but...I beat Malenia.












<passes out>

Doom878

Forgot to address this. After you defeat someone, hit the Share button. Select the option to save the video clip. I normally choose 5 mins unless I know the fight was long. Then click on the thumbnail, select Edit (scissors), End Trim at the end after the fight, stick to the left to the beginning and select Start Trim. Preview it so that you can bask in your glory. Save it, save over the original unless you want to keep the raw content leading up to the fight. Then upload it to your YouTube (you might have to set this up). It takes like 2 mins to do without re-watching it and is nice to save since these are epic battles.

Dude you beat the Goddess. Holy shit that's amazing. Congrats man!

Doom878

I didn't play it this weekend but man the bosses are getting thicc. This first guy I had mentioned to you but he was in a smaller room and much weaker. I'm sure you recall this fight. This fucker took me a couple hours to get his moves down and to avoid the middle of the arena.


Then this guy I was deathly afraid of but I figured let me swing by after dropping off deathroots. I think I got him on my 6th or so try.


Then I was like, let's clean up this island. I got him on my 3rd try and made sure to leave my pony out of it unless necessary.


So overall I'm at Volcano Manor. I might clean up Caelid first as I haven't gone inside that tall tower yet. I keep finding caves and forts that I had missed even though I've ridden around a lot. It's fun when you're OP and you use like 1 flask a whole cave My Mind is leveled up to like 20 so I gotta check the caps and see what I'm leveling up next as I'm at like 40 for Vigor and Strength. No plans on touching Dex so I might level up some incantations, just gotta see which complements my style. I finally fucked around with crafting and made scarlet rot cure pots. I probably can't play a lot until Wednesday.

Yumcha

Okay, I never knew how to do that. Noted. I'll be playing NG+ probably...only caveat is if my wife will let me and also, if I have it in me to go through another 150 hours...though, I would surmise the second time round will go alot faster with me knowing generally where things are -- if I remember.

Yeah, Malenia was one of the most stressful boss fights ever for me...just because of the speed and ferocity she goes at. If I don't dodge or avoid her attacks, all my hard work in taking down her health is for nothing as her connected blows replenish her HP. Insanity. I'm not spoiling anything for you here per se since we're both noobing our way through this dang game: Use fire...from my combos, I thought she didn't do well with fire the most which figures given what she sorta is (semi-undead). Holy was not as effective which I thought would be. After the 6th try, I also stopped using my katanas and went something you would do: a heavy weapon. I slapped on a great sword with fire element...actually, tried out Rykard's Blasphemous Sword (you'll get it when you deal with him later) and found it to be the most effective in keeping her at bay and dealing decent damage when I connected.

The alternate form of the blade -- which was a fire attack -- was also really good when she was at a distance and distracted by my Spirit Ash Mimic who copies my equipment and will dole out similar attacks albeit randomly.

Anyways, I am pretty sure defeating her was partly luck as the 9th fight had her in phase 2 going after my Mimic ALOT.

During this 2nd phase, she seemed to ignore me for chunks of the fight and I was able to -- along with my good-boi-spirit take down her health nearly 75%. When I saw that, I swear, my eyes widened bigger than my kid's in a toy store...I had to beat her. I literally ran in and swung the blade in 2-handed mode like my life (it did) depended on it. By the time she realized and turned her attention to me, she was maybe 2-3 full slashes away from death and with my Mimic still alive, the combination of both our attacks were able to deplete her health faster than her replenishing powers...

Yeah, 480K worth of Runes. I did not have a Golden Scarab armed in this but yeah, feels like the proper bounty for such an insane boss. If you need my build and details of it, I took notes and I'll share when you find her.

Yumcha

Nicely done! What Great Rune are you using? I am basically always using Godrick's -- upping all my stats.

The great dragon fight...that one part where you were an inch of death must've been an oh-shit moment...I also chuckled when you staggered it and could not get around the goddamn wing and just said fork-it, I'll just wail away at the torso.

Good work. Yeah, taking care of that crystal cow basically is the path to Volcano Manor which is in itself a giant dungeon to explore. Per its name...really really ensure you have fire suppressing armor, talismans, and etc. You will need to walk on fire...literally in there. Just roll lots...I find that is faster than walking. But I would agree, finishing off Caelid is probably a good idea...You have not taken on Radahn yet, right? Time to fight the General, sir.

Yumcha

After beating Malenia, I've been on 'break' and did not play the rest of the weekend. I know I still have not advanced the main storyline as the key thing I need to do in the snow-world was not finished. I have not found the area boss yet...so, likely that has to be done.

I'll get that wrapped up this week. I have to guess I'm near the end-game so-to-speak. Has to be, right? What other Great Rune am I missing if I found Mohgwyn's and Malenia's?

Doom878

Same but I think you have to use the Rune Arc to get it to work which I haven't bothered doing. I only have two Great Runes anyways.

Seriously. I don't know how many times I went for the riposte only for the fucker to wake up. Sometimes bosses have strong critical defense and wailing away is ideal anyways.

This name. There is a top farm spot nearby if you look it up. I can't believe you're almost done. Hopefully the DLC comes out soon.

Yumcha

Just Googled it on Mohgwyn and farming...and yeah, apparently 2 ways...I'll have to give them a try soon then. I would not mind upping Dexterity and Strength since I really like Rykard's giant blade now.

Doom878

Definitely need to fight him. Saw that the doors in the Divine Tower are sealed because I have to kill him. No time tonight but i did beat the Godskin Apostle at the base of the tower. No video necessary but he was tough. Leveling up Faith for heal and fire spells and of course poison mist.

Yumcha

Nice. Yeah, Radahn's fight will feel as grand as you can imagine...and it's on a wicked open battlefield -- vast and expansive. Make sure you use Torrent and, also, seek out your ally NPCs...this is not a fight of 'honor' in my opinion and more of attrition and so, you want the NPCs' help. Find their summons, get them to attack...and when they die, their summons will appear again on the battlefield somewhere.

I think you'll enjoy this fight -- I know I did. It's like fighting a mega King Raoh (from Fist of North Star) to me.

Doom878

Well I didn't fight the General yet but I did find a couple of hidden areas like the Four Belfries and easily took out one of the bosses. I have to find keys for the other portals. I did take out the two lions inside the General's castle so I'm primed up for the fight.

Yumcha

NICE!! Yes, the Four Belfries will lead you to some hidden areas that just get you some nice and/or key items I recall. Be careful of the animal warriors in one of them...that's in a vortex-like world that I'm in right now. The blowing wind doesn't affect you but the floating platforms will make you nervous as you platform from them downwards towards the item below.

I tried out the exploit by shooting the giant chicken from afar and collecting the 13K runes and it's not bad. However, I just realized right behind it is a platoon of those humanoid fish-like people where most are passive with just a few actually aggressive. With the alternate power of my new fave weapon (Rykard's blade) that triggers this fire attack, I can stack up nearly 60K in about 4-5 minutes per run. It's alot more enjoyable than just shooting and resting.

Going to power up a bit just because...why not. I don't fight fair.

Going to try to get a bit more strength, HP, and MP. And also some INT and Faith.

Doom878

And down goes the General. Overall a pretty easy fight considering my level. Almost took him out the first try, got him on my third. No need for help either but I'll def use them next time because co-op is jolly. I also took out the 3 NPC challenge in Caelid. Once the dude with the heavy staff went down, the rest was easy. I fought the harder NPC Squad underground where the hugging chick ends up.


This guy was harder than Radahn


And finally!!!!


I tried a few of the summons (none leveled yet) and the Raya Lucarian once again were the most useful in distraction. This fight was intense and as mentioned below extremely challenging.

Yumcha

Holy mother...FWIW, you're pretty damn good. You basically took on all of those fights without help.

The Tree Spirit, you will deal with more, is actually easier to manage if you stay CLOSE...not far. Roll INTO it when it comes at you. The curvey movements throw you off but it's actually more conduscive for you to roll into it. As for taking on TWO Crucible Knights with your wussy non-upgraded Summon...that's really impressive. I almost always start off with a dosage of Rotten Breath and then, move in for a few swipes if possible. THAT is with the help of a tanklike Summon.

Anyways, impressive Doomie!





Caught a bug so didn't game as much but spent time leveling up this weekend when my headache was bearable to play. I did manage to take out the area boss in the Crumbling Farum Azula stage...but, I remember reading that there was a secret area with an epic boss fight that I had to find out so, I looked online to see how to access it. Speaking of the area boss in the CFA stage...that was a twist. Didn't expect that.

The fight is this Dragon Ball Z-like dual headed mega dragon...who wiped the floore with me after I triggered it's phase 2...I am still figuring out how to beat it as it keeps one-shotting me.

I think I'm very close to the end-game?

Doom878

Thanks man. Tell me I'm good when I'm at a more appropriate level or doing this at NG+. But I will puff my chest for those two Crucible Knights. The reach of the spear one to heal was so annoyingly long, I was trading heals for pokes. He was def the tougher of the two and I was trying to take him out first. He actually is pretty passive when you fight the sword one so I went with that strat.

I've heard of that CFA stage and I know some of the NPC stories cut off when you reach there. Fucked up thing is that I don't think the bosses I've beaten are top 10 in difficulty. I know Malenia is the toughest but then I hear complaints about other characters on the subreddit. I try not to see too much to stay somewhat blind. I def don't remember hearing about a two headed dragon.

Speaking of dragons, I did take out the 5 baby dragons which helps kill off the giant sleeping one in Caelid. That was tough but I still had like 4 flasks left.

Yumcha

Yeah, you get major cred for taking on TWO Crucibles without any help and in hand-to-hand combat really.

Volcano Manor is next for you I think...beat Rykard and check out his weapon when you convert his Remembrance. It's currently my go-to greatsword and it's alternate power is pretty damn good to use.

It was my key to taking out Malenia because of the built-in fire damage. The health-recovery from killing standard enemies is also good thing too. The CFA stage is just loopy and if you saw it already from the Four Belfries, you'll know what I mean...still, not quite the hardest stage as I felt the monsters I had to go through in the Haligtree to Malenia were worse. I guess maybe it's because Haligtree is a secret stage anyways and CFA is part of the linear storyline...?

Have you been upgrading your weaponry? Do you have any Ash of War embedded? If not, it's a good idea to start soon, sir.

Yumcha

Speaking of VM...getting to him is probably harder but Rykard is probably the easiest boss in the game.

He's basically a clone of the Storm King...so, you have to use the magic weaponry needed for the fight...not what you have equipped.