I also just went through that.
Took me about 10 or so attempts I think. At first he was just cleaning my clock, then I realized like you that shield blocking was actively hurting me. Some of the damage was frost I think, so I believe it was penetrating the shield and building up Frostbite, and draining stamina, which means every hit was bad. And THEN he'd pull that double scythe swipe thing, which might be a weapon art and it did ssheeeeeet loads of damage.
So I finally just stopped trying to block. I focused on spacing. But probably the biggest thing I did right was doing a jumping heavy at him every time he came at me, as well as a jumping heavy after waiting out his Blood Briar move.
I'm in some what of a similar position on the guy I'm currently stuck on.
The Evergoal Crucible Knight. Just non-fancy blocked attacks take 80% of my stamina. So blocking is out, and block counters are out. The guy is built like a brick shit house, my straight sword isn't staggering for anything. He's relentless too, making it really hard to heal and gives me about enough time for 2 light attacks, then I gotta roll. I've gotten him down to 50% playing real extra careful, but the longer the fight goes on the better the chance you'll miss a dodge or lose your rhythm. I know I could probably beat him given enough time, but I think I may just come back for him later. A little more everything and he wouldn't be too bad.
Been doing some coop exploring/dungeoneering. Killed
three times with some friends. That fight is a lot of fun, like a lower-key Midir fight.
One question we've been banding about ourselves is, is this game easier than the previous titles? I think ultimately the answer is yes. I kept finding myself saying "Well it's not too hard because I'm a Souls vet and this is all very familiar and the muscle memory is already there etc....but for a NEWBIE, this would be pretty fuckin' hard."
After consideration though, I think you have to subtract out previous experience with the series and just look at the overall design of the game. It's easier by leaps and bounds. My best example is Spirit Summons. When playing solo they can take a tough mini-boss fight (where you're allowed to use them) to trivial. It's not true across the board, some bosses will trash your summons. I can't help but wonder though if Spirit Summons was an executive decision to give people in SP who were struggling a leg up. I often feel guilty about losing in a boss fight, remembering I have summons on the second attempt and absolutely smoking the boss. Beyond that though, the fast travel, the detailed map, the fast overland travel, no invasions pretty much as the default state, crafting on the go....the list kind of goes on. And tbh, I'm totally ok with it. I think it's easy to get carried away with the concept of "punishment = fun" and this more approachable Souls format is jiving with me.
I'm going to post a little somewhat spoiler-y list of core gameplay things you need to get before you set off into Limgrave. I feel the need to post this because after talking 3 other people through their first hour of the game, some of this shit is way too hidden for how central it is to gameplay, or the way they thought people would "inevitably run into it" seems a little flawed.
1. Get the first Site of Grace where you start the game.
2. Proceed to the next Site of Grace at the Church just to the north. Buy a torch.
3. Proceed north-northeast following the guidance of grace to another Site of Grace at the Gatehouse.
4. Rest at the Site of Grace to get Torrent the mount. Some people say it's just "the third Site of Grace that triggers it", but I had a friend running around to different ones for 20 mins before he found and sat at that one and triggered the cutscene.
5. FAST TRAVEL back to the Church. Don't walk, don't ride, fast travel. An NPC will spawn and give you the Spirit Summon bell.
6. Go back to the previous Site of Grace at the Gatehouse, then proceed to the ruins to the immediate east. Amidst those ruins will be a stairway down to a basement. In that basement you'll find a knife-like item that lets you change what Ashes of War you have on your stuff. Even though picking up a new Ash of War IMPLIES you get this object and can start messing around with it, in my experience, you have to find the knife-item before you can do anything.
Lastly, I think the big meta of this game is breaking your foe's posture. By Jumping Heavy Attacks, Block Counters, Charged Heavy Attacks and, of course, parries. I've won so many fights that seemed ridiculous on the HP vs. Damage, Enemy Attack Style side of things. And what I found was just getting in a several jumping heavy attacks is enough to break posture even on large foes. Fully charged heavies also really do a shit load of posture damage. Whenever I'm struggling against an enemy, I start throwing Jumping Heavies. It's obviously subject to a lot of factors, and player-like NPCs seem harder to posture break than a lot of other enemy types. But it's won me fight after fight after fight.
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Topic: Oooohhhhhhh, Elden Ring. Bay12 Group Password: MAGMA. Operation Rescue Miquella. (Read 56567 times)