Malenia's great rune

[Valkyrie]

So after reading some very upset comments online about the rune being useless, I decided to give it a try and oh my, the expectations were low, but wow! At level 200+, tried to fight one of the golems at the game start, near the beach. Well, I have high defenses and it is a monster from early game. So his attacks are rather weak. And I lost low health. I simply have no time to recover my (very little) HP loss, even if I go full out aggressive, before the timer goes off and the health is lost forever. And we are talking about very little HP portions.

Now imagine a different scenario, where I am fighting something that can actually do serious damage (20-30% on a strike), from which I will recover at max. 5%. One could think, "ok, I mean, during a long fight little HP recovers can turn the tide, right?" - well, very wrong!

That rune also decreases every sort of healing by 30%, not only crimson tears, but also miracles and so on. By equiping that rune, you are always at a loss.

I even tried to use Malenia's hand, since the weapon art strikes a lot of times in a very short window. My inicial plan was to use this rune, with this weapon and the talisman that recovers health per repeatedly attacking. I almost felt like laughing, as the timer ran out before the first hit connected, due to the cinematic wind up before the flurry of hits strike.

Now, I tend to get frustrated very fast, so maybe I am missing some point or situation where this rune is actually effective? If so, I would be happy to hear your thoughts. If not, I will just assume that this is their way of inserting Kalameet's ring into Elden ring...

[s0d0]

I can't see any use of it at all in pve because malenia will most likely be one of the last bosses you fight in the game, if not the last.
Maybe it has some value in pvp, since healing there is much more limited or even prevented by honor code, but idk.
Fun fact I never used any of the runes. :D

[Valkyrie]

Originally posted by s0d0:

I can't see any use of it at all in pve because malenia will most likely be one of the last bosses you fight in the game, if not the last.
Maybe it has some value in pvp, since healing there is much more limited or even prevented by honor code, but idk.
Fun fact I never used any of the runes. :D

In PvP it does not work. Runes are disabled uppon invading. Plus, the window of opportunity to recover your health seems to be something between 2-4 seconds. And you only recover a little per hit. Can you imagine hitting someone 10 times to get your health back in PvP, in case you are the host? Also, most people use tear flasks in PvP anyway.

[s0d0]

Originally posted by Valkyrie:

Originally posted by s0d0:

I can't see any use of it at all in pve because malenia will most likely be one of the last bosses you fight in the game, if not the last.
Maybe it has some value in pvp, since healing there is much more limited or even prevented by honor code, but idk.
Fun fact I never used any of the runes. :D

In PvP it does not work. Runes are disabled uppon invading. Plus, the window of opportunity to recover your health seems to be something between 2-4 seconds. And you only recover a little per hit. Can you imagine hitting someone 10 times to get your health back in PvP, in case you are the host? Also, most people use tear flasks in PvP anyway.

As far as I know it only lets you recover the portion of health you lost from the last hit, like in bloodborne, so yeah, I thought of it in a different type of manner for pvp. But, as you see, I haven't done much elden pvp yet.

[MULTIPASS]

Yeah, it's useless. The great runes as a whole are very disappointing, the only useful ones are 3 versions of basic stat/attribute increases.

[lithops]

This is very very old and sad story about rushed development in From Software games. The only possible solution for useless great runes will be allow us players to transfer them through NG+ and beyond, and make them active in pvp not only for the host himself but for cooperators and invaders too. A very easy fix, that they never gonna implement for some unknown reasons.

[MULTIPASS]

That's not a fix to the runes being boring stat increases.

Malenia's rune could have been the Rottent Winged Insignia effect (replaces talisman), and scarlet rot immunity.

[FafnirChaos]

I can see it being used with a weapon that hits fast, like daggers/fists. Something where if you can actually get hit you can get that back with your multiple hits. Anything else probably wouldn't see a benefit to it. For any other weapon It would be kind of worthless.

I guess the great runes can be used based upon the fight your up against - changing it up before a boss room etc. However just like a health/mind scarabs it just feels like added content or specific use. You won't need them till you start doing runs.

[TyresTyco]

The funny thing is. I can imagine them overtuning miquellas rune in the dlc for something incredibly OP everyone would want to rush to. Not the first time they did something like that.

[s0d0]

I think the whole "great rune" stuff was a bit miscalculated. In the beginning it might sounded like a good idea, but in the end they couldn't be any stronger because it would make the game even easier at the top end, so we end up with an almost completely useless game mechanic. They should have kept the ember principle, if you ask me.

[WumboWise]

Rykard's Great Rune was the most useful for my playthroughs. Just pop a rune arc, get health for every kill. Add the talismans: Assassin's Crimson Dagger
Godskin Swaddling Cloth
Taker's Cameo
Rotted Winged Sword Insignia.

R1 spam for tons of damage and free HP.

Add an ash of war with multiple hits and become unkillable.