The real problem with Malenia nobody ever talks about

[JP]

Her wings and butterflies in phase 2. Thats literally it. I die more times because I cant see what she is doing than because of my own fault. doing a RL1 solo run, so im basically doing a no hit parry only build. I can perfectly parry all her attacks and dodge waterfowl dance, yet I keep dying trying to parry an attack that I literally cannot read because her wings are blocking my view. Its blantantly bad design. Its obviously just fan service to get her naked for all the anime weebs. Put her clothes back on and clip her wings and this fight is completely fair, albeit extremely difficult.

edit: I think I am just frustrated with phase 2 and the change in attack patterns. I am gonna try and approach it differently after I get some food in me. Thank to clockwork for the helpful advice.

edit 2: spent another 3 hours fighting her. Same thing. phase 2 is just too much.

[Dollmaker]

I never really had issue with visibility with this fight tbh.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Yes. Your inability to parry her attacks on a RL1 solo no-hit parry build demonstrates a problem with the boss design.

That's the standard to which all things in all games should be evaluated.

[zab]

I don't see how they are a problem

[JP]

Originally posted by Dollmaker:

I never really had issue with visibility with this fight tbh.

I didnt either with my other 3 builds. But trying to parry her in phase 2 really brings this issue to light for me. It feels okay as long as I stay in front of her, but a few attacks create space and leave her facing away from me.

[Nifty]

Yeah I was fighting her just before and noticed that it's hard to see her body because theres some sort of glow happening from the wings which makes her blend in. But my issue with the design of Malenia is that without Waterfowl Dance she is probably among the easier tier bosses.

[JP]

You see the fact that im doing a rl1 no hit implies that I can parry the boss. In fact I can parry the boss perfectly 18 times in a row just to get it to phase 2. Which the exact same attacks that I just parried exist in, plus poor visibility. but you wouldnt know that unless you experienced it honestly.

[JP]

Originally posted by Nifty:

Yeah I was fighting her just before and noticed that it's hard to see her body because theres some sort of glow happening from the wings which makes her blend in. But my issue with the design of Malenia is that without Waterfowl Dance she is probably among the easier tier bosses.

waterfowl dance is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ attack. I wont defend that one. Just because it can be dodged doesnt make it any less terrible. I spent 5 hours alone just learning how to not get hit by that. No matter how many times I watched the videos, it never felt intuitive. It still doesn't to be honest, And every time I fight her I need to relearn it.

Also her life steal hitting through shields is just lazy. If they wanted to break shield builds they should have added more grab attacks and scarlet rot to her weapon.

[Clockwork]

The only thing I can say is, as soon as you see her spin at all, it's time to prepare to dodge and retaliate. She's doing a spin kick (mostly as a counter to your attacking). It's the most likely attack that you cannot see because of her wings too.

[JP]

Originally posted by Clockwork:

The only thing I can say is, as soon as you see her spin at all, it's time to prepare to dodge and retaliate. She's doing a spin kick (mostly as a counter to your attacking). It's the most likely attack that you cannot see because of her wings too.

Yep. Honestly very helpful advice. She basically never pulls her kick out in phase 1 and spams it in phase 2. That is one of the attacks my dumbass will try and parry and get clapped by.

I am going to try and roll through those more on my next playthrough.

[Sonnenbank]

Originally posted by LagggP:

Originally posted by Nifty:

Yeah I was fighting her just before and noticed that it's hard to see her body because theres some sort of glow happening from the wings which makes her blend in. But my issue with the design of Malenia is that without Waterfowl Dance she is probably among the easier tier bosses.

waterfowl dance is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ attack. I wont defend that one. Just because it can be dodged doesnt make it any less terrible. I spent 5 hours alone just learning how to not get hit by that. No matter how many times I watched the videos, it never felt intuitive. It still doesn't to be honest, And every time I fight her I need to relearn it.

Also her life steal hitting through shields is just lazy. If they wanted to break shield builds they should have added more grab attacks and scarlet rot to her weapon.

Strange... once i learned it i never had to re-learn it and it becomes super nice and super consistent flow
There are some key points i wrote down in a video guide i made 6 month ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op2vXzwCeKc

And before people go crazy -> yes this is a practice save made with cheat engine...
Still my dodges in this video are 100% legit
and the description is what works for me

the first method where you stay on her and circle really is just getting a feel for when the camera changes rather than looking at malenia.
after doing it enough you get a feeling when the camera kinda feels like going down and thats when you double jump

[JP]

Originally posted by Sonnenbank:

Originally posted by LagggP:

waterfowl dance is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ attack. I wont defend that one. Just because it can be dodged doesnt make it any less terrible. I spent 5 hours alone just learning how to not get hit by that. No matter how many times I watched the videos, it never felt intuitive. It still doesn't to be honest, And every time I fight her I need to relearn it.

Also her life steal hitting through shields is just lazy. If they wanted to break shield builds they should have added more grab attacks and scarlet rot to her weapon.

Strange... once i learned it i never had to re-learn it and it becomes super nice and super consistent flow
There are some key points i wrote down in a video guide i made 6 month ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op2vXzwCeKc

And before people go crazy -> yes this is a practice save made with cheat engine...
Still my dodges in this video are 100% legit
and the description is what works for me

hey thanks for the video. The one I always struggle with the most is doing it close range when shes practically above your head. Your video covers that well.

your technique is different than others I have seen. I think I like it more than the "unlocked camera" method I use

[Sonnenbank]

ofc it still needs some practice since you need
1.) react super fast
2.) get a feeling for how the camera changes to start dodge rolling at the correct time
3.) circle at the correct speed which can be difficult ... it doesnt work when you are too fast or too slow

i needed ~ 4h on a practice save to get the moves down

Also both techniques were developed by Ongbal
i am just copying it ;)

[JP]

Originally posted by Aerieanei:

She doesn't wear any clothes in Phase 2.

exactly the problem lol. not only does she have wings to block visibility, I cant help but get distracted by that rotten bod

[Sonnenbank]

i gave up parry 0 hitting her .
phase 2 really is pretty horrible in that terms and after i got hit in phase 2 after flawless phase 1 every time i finally called it a day and gave up ;)

i am sure i could have pulled it off just with good rng
but it is honestly not fun doing the parry in phase 2 ;)

overall i dont think its that big of an issue though since its a very niche problem.

How many players are trying to parry -0hit her ?
probably 0,001% of all players at most

[Kasou__]

yeah i had the same problem with the phase 2. i sweared sooo much because of the wings...