Malekith.

[Mr_Blank]

I am expecting nothing but git guds below and I'm okay with that. Malekith is the worst boss in the game past NG+5, and it's not even close. When I say worst boss, I'm taking specifically about his design and overall fight (as in move and ability design, if I was talking about his physical design its awesome looking). Malekith is an incredibly fast paced boss fight that works well with low NG scaling, but becomes near IMPOSSIBLE for most builds by the near end of the game (meaning NG+6-9, you can go to NG+10 but its the same rune and fight scaling as 9.) Most of his moves will one tap you if your around where I am on the vigor scale, being 70, and even if you CAN take a hit, while your drinking he follows it up immediatley after with another bull**** attack. I'm only ranting on this because I've been speedrunning NG 6 through 8 to fight every boss at their hardest in NG+9, and Malekith continues to be the ONLY boss I have an issue with. the move where he spins around and slaps you with his sword twice is enough to kill you if it hits you both times, and if he hits you the FIRST time the SECOND one is literally impossible to dodge. The move where he goes into the air and shoots sword beams at you is fine, but it keeps him up in the air for such a RIDICULOUS amount of time it feels like your not getting anywhere close to killing him. I call him the worst boss because his difficulty makes it nearly impossible to fight him with most builds. I two hand double swords, and my alternative is greatswords, so my build is nowhere near fast enough to hit him more than once pet attack and survive. People always tell me Malenia is the hardest boss in the game. Ummmmm, I've fought her three times now, and it takes me WAYYYYYYYYY less tries to fell her than it does the sworn shadow. The nice thing about malenia is that all in all, other than her waterfowl damage she does way less damage than malekith, and compensates that with her vampirisim. HOWEVER, she becomes so much easier because you can actually KNOCK HER A** DOWN. Malenias poise is unsurprisingly low, considering her smaller stance in comparison to the other demigods, and good GOD malekith is tough to knock down. I find it easier getting Radahn and the ******* ELDEN BEAST stance broken than this guy. ALSO, while malekith doesn't have Malenia's vampirisim, he makes up for it in his insanely damaging attacks, the shutting off of part of your vigor, and the slow but dangerous draining of life after ANY HIT. Fighting him solo after NG+6 requires either a massive amount of experience with bloodhound step, or a let me solo her a** dodge build. And summoning doesnt even matter because of the amount of damage he does. The fight can play out completley different depending on how good ur mimic/other summon is at dodging, and how many bull**** attacks his 1st and 2nd phase throw at you. I only mention ALLLLL of this, because I think it would have been cooler to fight a SPIRIT of malekith (JUST HIS NORMAL FORM) only to then realize that PLACIDUSAX is the real boss (similar to how you fight radagon and then the elden beast). I think placidusax fighting and killing Marikas sworn shadow to keep the rune of death for himself is the PERFECT STORY OF REVENGE for Gransaxx's death, Fortisaxx's inprisonment AND the loss of 3 of Placidusaxs five heads. ALSO, the Placidusax fight is objectively WAY COOLER than the malekith fight, with his crazy attacks actually being able to be read and dodged with practice, unlike Malekith.

I only rant this long because I've fought this guy 3 separate times like this with over 20 failed attempts each at LEAST, and I'm not excited to fight him in NG+9. Feel free to call me maidenless a much as you like, it's true anyway.

I'll leave you with the fun fact that Malekith is incredibly weak to frost, making it a good idea to apply it to a faster weapon for the fight.

[MULTIPASS]

I didn't really read any of that, but yes Maliketh can be a bastard of a fight every time you meet him.

The most surprisingly effective way to fight him that I've found is just using the pulley crossbow with bleed bolts.

[Mr_Blank]

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

I didn't really read any of that, but yes Maliketh can be a bastard of a fight every time you meet him.

The most surprisingly effective way to fight him that I've found is just using the pulley crossbow with bleed bolts.

Thats a good strat considering he takes his sweet time to get back to you after an attack, I'll try this if I get pissed off enough. thanks for the tip!

[John Titor]

Need help? Password?

[Mr_Blank]

Originally posted by John Titor:

Need help? Password?

nah thanks tho i finally got the bastard. Takes luck. I CANNOT solo him, so I rely entirly on how good the mimic is at dodging, and how many bull**** attacks he throws at me. thanks for the offer tho :D

[1100011]

You seem pretty good at the fight to me if it takes you only 20+ attempts at that level. Do you consider the Blasphemous Claw to be cheesy?

[s0d0]

Ng+ caps at +7.
And yeah he is pretty insane overall. His 2nd phase basically becomes a no-hit fight.

[XOLiD]

Yeah I got summoned to help someone that was clearly on a high NG for maliketh... The other phantom got oneshot at the start, and then I got twoshot with 60vig+sacred order+black flame protection+dragoncrest greatshield talisman.... Before the boss even had taken any damage.

[Sc0rpiTr0n]

Originally posted by XOLiD:

Yeah I got summoned to help someone that was clearly on a high NG for maliketh... The other phantom got oneshot at the start, and then I got twoshot with 60vig+sacred order+black flame protection+dragoncrest greatshield talisman.... Before the boss even had taken any damage.

Similar thing happened to me few times :-)

Don't forget to protect yourself from non-physical damage as well.
Haligdrake or Pearldrake talismans will help, Opaline Hardtear flask mix too.

In my opinion you don't need Black Flame Protection.

Good armor, Dragoncrest talisman, Opaline Hardtear and Golden Vow
will provide enough physical protection and will not hinder healing.

[Senki]

NG7 was never well balanced in any souls game

They just make numbers go bigger with no extra thought or design decisions put into it. It's a poorly made challenge for whoever wants to play it. You either cheese them or learn their patterns perfectly.

[Mr_Blank]

Originally posted by s0d0:

Ng+ caps at +7.
And yeah he is pretty insane overall. His 2nd phase basically becomes a no-hit fight.

so journey 8.... ok i thought it capped at 9 idk why lol

[Nuriyokan]

Avoid his attacks by hiding behind the pillars then rush him after .

[gungadin22000]

I don't like Mal as a boss, but complaining about him being extremely hard at the hardest difficulty levels seems a bit unfair to the devs. He's top 3 hardest boss in the game, having him be hard at the highest difficulty doesn't seem out of place.

My main issue with Mal's general moveset is the way he keeps dodging out of melee range. Other than that, he's OK, but I'd have preferred not having to face the Clergyman again every time he splats me.

[neO_o_]

I just beat him but honestly I was convinced it would never happen and almost simply gave up. I reluctantly went and farmed for a bit, went up a few stats and suddenly found myself killing both the dragons and the sentinel at the front door.

Killing Malekith came completely out of the blue but somehow I did it (solo) and I have literally never felt so happy about killing a boss before as I found this really HARD.

Now I'm getting my butt whooped by Godfrey in the tree but I'm so close to completing this incredible game! :D

[John Titor]

Originally posted by neO_o_:

I just beat him but honestly I was convinced it would never happen and almost simply gave up. I reluctantly went and farmed for a bit, went up a few stats and suddenly found myself killing both the dragons and the sentinel at the front door.

Killing Malekith came completely out of the blue but somehow I did it (solo) and I have literally never felt so happy about killing a boss before as I found this really HARD.

Now I'm getting my butt whooped by Godfrey in the tree but I'm so close to completing this incredible game! :D

Need help? Password?

[Mr_Blank]

Originally posted by gungadin22000:

I don't like Mal as a boss, but complaining about him being extremely hard at the hardest difficulty levels seems a bit unfair to the devs. He's top 3 hardest boss in the game, having him be hard at the highest difficulty doesn't seem out of place.

My main issue with Mal's general moveset is the way he keeps dodging out of melee range. Other than that, he's OK, but I'd have preferred not having to face the Clergyman again every time he splats me.

Never said the devs did a bad job with malekith, i dont deserve to criticize the fromsoft devs when elden ring was my first experience with a souls title outside of 12 hours in sekiro and 2 in bloodborne, which i know are very different from the DS trilogy and demon souls.

I was complaining because he was one of the two bosses that felt impossible to beat in the NG+s, him and the second astel, who does so much damage because of the scaling. I had more trouble with these 2 than NG+7 malenia, radagon, and mohg.

Devs did an amazing job with malekiths physical design, his voice actings great, and in NG 1-3 he is a decent fight. not one of mm favorites, but by far a standout.

Mainly wanted to see if I was the only one experiencing major difficulty with him in the NGs, and to see if other people thought the idea of placidusax being the mandatory boss and not malekith was a better idea or not.