Elden Ring - gamertags on first page

I believe that rather than smelling farts it's a case of dropping the ball. Personally I see two problems here, A) trying too hard to make it hard, and B) rushed release.

To point A, I think Fromsoft are (mostly) great at creating mid-high challenge, but when they're really trying to push it they increasingly resort to bullshit. Malenia is a great example of that. And sadly they wanted the final boss of the DLC to be HARRRD.

To point B, rushed content is a tradition in the series, affecting both areas and bosses. The main game final boss was apparently also rushed before it received a major nerf in an early patch and only now finally got Torrent. The DLC boss feels clumsily designed and I've seen much better players than me criticising poor balance, primitive AI, a near-undodgeable move, bad hit detection, bad arena, bad visibility and so on. This is in contrast to Malenia who outside of the bullshit moves is actually a very complex and imo well designed fight.

I guess point A could also be a result of rushed development, if they tried too late during development to crank up the difficulty.

This is my favourite video on the boss, as I think it's fair criticism with well made points, while also trying to take the toxicity out of the arguing around him: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBa-lY4M8VA

I'm not sure about that because traditionally most of the rushed and broken stuff stays that way forever (unless it's fixed 2 years later). Elden Beast is an exception in this regard, but I chose it as an example because imo it's the clearest example of not being released as intended, with bonus points for also being a final boss.

I don't see all the bosses having the same issues tbh, many of them do have issues for sure but I think the final boss sticks out like a sore thumb even among those for being so messed up on so many levels.

Apparently they improved the hippo by reducing its grab hit box, but that was probably a pretty short and easy fix. If they want to fix the final boss (which they may or may not do), I suspect that's going to take quite some time. But yeah, in the end that's all speculation.

Really enjoyed two epic boss fights last night, firstly Midra, who was without a doubt the toughest boss so far - really great fight, took him down to a slither of health on first attempt but then struggled to get close for the next five attempts. Finally got him with some perserverence.

Then Messmer, which was fucking cool, he has some great moves (and no bullshit) and the mid-fight cut-scene was intense, thankfully with help of Hornsent and my Mimic I did him on the first attempt. Onto the last legacy dungeon and final two bosses then - everywhere else explored and all optional bosses already beaten. Currently at level 212 and 180 hours played across base game and DLC, am going to be sad once it's all over.

Final DLC boss might be it for me, have tried many, many times, and cannot last very long in the second phase at all.

Oh well, it was a good run, and I enjoyed it immensely thus far.

I agree with loto, take a break and try again when you're in a better mood. And keep in the back of your head that if it doesn't work out, with the right greatshield build he can be made easier than any of the bosses you've beaten so far. At least that's what it was like for me, and apparently for a lot of others too.

I think I only tried 1-2 hours with my regular build before I said fuck it and respecced into greatshield. After that, 3 or 4 more tries I think.

Same but I then beat him first go because if I needed to respec, I made sure my build would be absolutely broken just to make sure I kerb stomped him.

I had a few variations of my original build, a few max weapons that I switched in and out but it became pretty obvious that there only way to beat him would be to memorise his move set and then have an almost perfect run which I have neither the time or patience for

Thanks all. Sounds like such a boring way to defeat him though...I'll try and continue with my faith/dexterity build as that's carried me throughout so far. I'm not against respeccing if needs be though.

If you're specced in Faith you could try just letting Taylew the Golem Smith solo him!

No, seriously, with Revered Spirit Ashes as close to +10 as possible (and the summon itself upgraded of course), all you need to do is Heal From Afar whenever Taylew gets a bit too low and keep up some buffs on him (Blessing of the Erdtree, Golden Vow, Lord's Divine Fortification etc), and he can take out the boss entirely on his own... (not that you can't assist if necessary, obviously)

Yeah, they've already overtuned the everloving shit out of the fight to make only a few builds viable unless you're a total god so just fight bullshit with bullshit as far as I'm concerned. If the game's not going to fight fair why should you?

Have you tried a bleed infusion? It's bonkers.

The gap-closing charged R2's you get from certain skills like War Cry or Braggart's Roar take ages to execute but on colossal weapons they massively increase status buildup. Using that on a blood-infused Bloodfiend's Arm procs bleed on Greyoll and Fire Giant in one hit. It's absurd.

Programmed Random Occurrence

Anything with a percentage chance that lands its intended effect.