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This was not the case at launch, but they buffed pretty much all of the endgame spells in patch 1.04. A lot of the endgame spells were slower and didn't have enough (or any?) hyperarmor, plus simply weren't powerful enough. They buffed almost every incantation besides the most basic ones though. This, of course, was after I'd finished my faith/strength build so I guess I have to go back to play a full-faith build now.I think this game has also mostly avoided the common Souls problem of flashy endgame spells being too unwieldy to use.
Yeah, Faith whips ass now. But so does sorcery! Sorcery is, I think, much more powerful overall, but has a much narrower focus. Being able to spam pebbles/shards/comets at range whips any single incantation's ass in damage, range, efficiency and speed. But incantations have such a wide variety of options that are still more than powerful enough to do the trick, and reward switching around to fit the situation. Even the "main" spells, fireball and lightning bolt (whatever they're called), fill two different niches - one flies straighter, faster and farther, the other gets lobbed and (I think?) is more powerful.Sorceries compensate by being bonkers powerful (and pretty cool in their own right), nd INT weapons and builds are very strong, but there's no question that Faith is super versatile and cool in Elden Ring.
Anyway. I did the Stormveil skip last night and...I was shocked at how easy it was. I'd heard you could skip Stormveil but never looked into how and assumed it was an "unintended" thing and involved double jumping up and down weird cliffs and the like. ...but there's just a road. You can very easily accidentally find your way around Stormveil, despite EVERYTHING pushing you that way. It's pretty wild.
I didn't even do it accidentally, I just explored pretty thoroughly and rode right past. Love it. Open world, baybeeeeeI actually did skip Stormveil by accident on my playthrough just through exploring, but realized I might be getting in over my head and so went back and did it right away.
There's also a quest you can do to get you there as early as reaching Liurnia. It does require being online though, since you have to invade 3 people.There is. In the last big overworld area there's a way to teleport over there.
Open world, baybeeeeeAlso I got a weapon that upgrades with Sombers and got it to +9 without having beaten a single boss (except the Tree Sentinel) and I'm level 40 without having finished a single dungeon
Uhhh, I think I solved Elden Ring
Case in point, my strength build:Elden Ring, of course, allows for a LOT of this. Anything in Limgrave, Liurnia or Caelid that isn't a boss drop can be gotten with persistent enough death runs. Or even just exploration and playing out of order! Hell, you can pretty easily dash for the lift medals and get to Altus too, giving you access to the mountain and plateau as well. The death runs would get harder and killing the scarabs might actually get a bit trickier without leveling, but you still have a ton of stuff you can grab there. And yeah, somber stones up to +9 are included in that (not sure you even need to hit the plateau for that, since you find a couple in Dragonbarrow, an area which seems to exist for no reason at all beyond giving you a late-game-scaled area that can be reached early with no prerequisites).
You're misunderstanding me. There's never not been good stuff locked away in later areas (nor should there be, late areas should have good loot). It's never been about getting everything you want right away, and it's not a problem that there's good gear you can only get later on.I didn't know about until I started researching it but there's a Abductor Virgin in the Academy that can teleport you to Volcano Manor. So for Sombers, you can get real swole REAL early. But FWIW, Elden Ring locks a ton of good items away in end game areas too. The one that is most annoying is Marika's Soreseal. Can you IMAGINE how useful this would be for low level caster builds? But you get it halfway through the optional superboss' area with the toughest enemies in the game, after running a gauntlet of minibosses...literally impossible for a low level to get, but by the time you're strong enough to get it, you don't need it anymore. It's kinda useless, which is wild because it gives you 15 or 20 levels worth of stats.
I'm currently using that sword power-stanced with the colossal greatsword, so I haven't actually done any blocking (I use my face to block), but I keep kinda thinking I should? But also I have greatshields to block if I need to. Maybe I should try 2-handing a single weapon for a bit, see how it goes.I started a Guts cosplay build and cleared out Limgrave as normal, including Stormveil and Godrick, but not before visiting Caelid to get the Greatsword and some smithing stones, and upgrading it to +7 which is roughly twice as strong as the game expects you to be. Then I slingshotted myself up to Mt Gelmir and the Altus plateau and now my Greatsword is locked to +20 until I reach some truly end-game content. And now I'm gonna start exploring Liurnia.
The game cannot handle a +20 colossal weapon at this stage lol. Also wow I didn't expect the buff to Colossal weapon blocking to be so good. It's a different game being able to use this thing to guard-counter without feeling like I ate a full hit to do it.
What ranged attacks do you have? I recommend picking up a bow, crafting some fire pots, and/or getting some throwing knives (crafted or bought). That should help with the birds at least, but also might help whittle down the banished knights (who really are sons of bitches, it's true). The pots especially should be good against them. Dodging is typically better than trying to block through them, though if you go out to the soldiers and try to farm up a brass shield, that might help a lot too; it's the best medium shield in the game.But Stormveil is gving me a hard time. The sword birds give me hell (as do all flying enemies that dart and swoop around constantly) but what I really can't handle are the knights that do the swooshy wind attacks. They are absolutely fucking relentless and it seems like my defensive options are completely useless against them, emptying my stamina bar and knocking me off balance almost instantly. Every time I encounter one I die and feel like I'm making no progress in learning how to fight them.
The last grace I found was to a bridge that goes to a huge locked door. As far as I can tell the path forward is up a stone stairway that's guarded by exploding bolt spammers. If I can even survive them I have to get through the entire gigantic field of crossbowmen and swordsmen to get to the big festering guy with the cleaver and the dog, and then if I get past him, the bird kills me. I can't fight those birds. They just, ignore all my defensive tactics? And I'm all the way back at the beginning of that gauntlet far as I can tell. I've opened the front gate and found the path through the cellar to said gate but like... that doesn't change the fact that I've got hundreds of enemies in my way on the path forward?I'm not sure which set of ballistae-equipped enemies you're having to fight through, but there are ways around both of them that avoid fighting entirely. The castle is also pretty dense with grace sites, so you may have overlooked some. If you're talking about the fortified courtyard area, there's specifically a grace site to the rear of the Omen with the big cleaver.
That being said: once you know the game and the castle better it is super satisfying to just run the gauntlet straight to the boss of the castle in like 2 minutes.Sometimes you have to post to unlock the playing.
But yeah, it sounds like you went in the front gate instead of taking the side route in? Because going in the front gate sucks for reasons you have fully discovered, and isn't really the intended route. You don't have to run that ballista gauntlet or courtyard at all, the routes take you through the walls and over the roofs.
You do lose stamina from sprinting while you're in combat, but not while you're out of it. Sprint past some enemies to aggro them and watch as your stamina starts draining.So, I did beat Godrick, A+ boss design very hideous. And while exploring the lakelands afterward I finally realized while having unconsciously noticed it for a while, that you do not lose stamina from sprinting. Suddenly I'm playing the game more like Sekiro but sword and board style and it's kind of amazing.
Can someone come kill thisddamn giant snake for me
I swear I've spent more time on this dumb ducker.
Can someone come kill thisddamn giant snake for me
I swear I've spent more time on this dumb ducker.
And eventually I beat him the old fashioned way, no cheese or anything, I just had to 'git gud.'Yes. I even looked up cheese methods online and re-speced my character to do it AND I still can't get through the second stage.
Oh, Xbox! And it seems I'm the only one.What platform are you on?
Well that and the Mimic Tear Ashes...And eventually I beat him the old fashioned way, no cheese or anything, I just had to 'git gud.'