I've beaten Malenia

[Exhausted Dragon]

So, this is my first fullfleshed playthrough, even tho I preordered the game back then.
It actually happened yesterday, but I felt that I have to share it online here. I've been trying to since Saturday evening and spend half of the Sunday learning her moveset and timings. Could've cheesed her for sure, but I didn't want to. After couple of dozens of tries it became somewhat personal

Some spicy factor was I've been using Gargoyle's Blackblade and STR\Faith build. I COULD use Blasphemous Blade, which does fire damage instead of holy, but... yeah. Those, who know, they know. I felt I had to do it with the cards I've been given. The only changes I made is replacing Radagon's Soreseal with Dragoncrest Shield Talisman so she wouldn't one-hit-kill me with her grab attack, and I bought plenty of throwable daggers to check if she's going flurry
I know for many of you this doesn't really sound like a real achievement, but I am greatly proud that I did it and I did it on my own terms
Malenia, the Goddess of Rot... has finally fallen

P.S. And then I was so happy about it, I totally forgot to sit at the grace after activating it so I died to her Scarlet Rot dot post-fight, lol

[Artek [General]]

Well done!
Yeah, I too fought her with Holy. Had to switch weapon to pure physical. I'm still mad at myself for caving in...

[Exhausted Dragon]

Originally posted by Artek General:

I'm still mad at myself for caving in...

But you still made it, didn't you? This is what matters the most

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Exhausted Dragon:

Originally posted by Artek General:

I'm still mad at myself for caving in...

But you still made it, didn't you? This is what matters the most

I really don't like when bosses make me break RP to have a fighting chance.
Ultimately it just comes down to me not gutting gud enough to compensate the lack of DPS.

I always redeem it in consequent playthroughs though.

[Exhausted Dragon]

Originally posted by Artek General:

I really don't like when bosses make me break RP to have a fighting chance.

Can totally relate to that

[King Of Lolis]

Whats rp? The mana bar?

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

Whats rp? The mana bar?

Role Play.

[nfinite.recursion]

Roleplay.

If you RP a paladin, you'll have a rough time towards the end of the game since most of the major bosses have good holy defense.

[King Of Lolis]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

Whats rp? The mana bar?

Role Play.

...oh
Is it weird i just play this to beat it then?
Im mostly here for the challenge, dont know how others actually play

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

Originally posted by Artek General:

Role Play.

...oh
Is it weird i just play this to beat it then?
Im mostly here for the challenge, dont know how others actually play

Not really. Some people just ignore the aesthetics entirely - the game Is just hitboxes and functions to them.

Personally I try to immerse myself into the world. Create thematic characters with builds dictated by aesthetics, not efficiency. If my character is a hero - then he cannot use "evil" or "ugly" items, etc.

[King Of Lolis]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

...oh
Is it weird i just play this to beat it then?
Im mostly here for the challenge, dont know how others actually play

Not really. Some people just ignore the aesthetics entirely - the game I just hitboxes and functions to them.

Personally I try to immerse myself into the world. Create thematic characters with builds dictated by aesthetics, not efficiency. If my character is a hero - then he cannot use "evil" or "ugly" items, etc.

Fair.
I made the character look like me but then i go by meta gameplay and choose a class and weapon that would never fit me.
I guess im too worried if i go my ways il never beat the bosses

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

Im too worried if i go my ways il never beat the bosses...

There is some truth to this. Some bosses will just inherently counter your build and be more trouble than usual. I just see it as part of the experience.

The solution, however, is always universal - you just do the git gudding.
Every boss fight at its core is a fight of attrition with specified amount of consecutive mistakes allowed.
You die either because you made too many mistakes at once and get obliterated, or you simply run out of heals and get grinded down.
The victory condition is always avoiding the former and getting gud enough where the boss dies before the second scenario happens.
All it takes to get there is just practice and memorization. Living in the boss' headspace, knowing what he's about to do before he does it.
"Oh, the boss is idling at exactly 25m distance from me? Well, then this is the part~ yep there it is - the long range piercing attack. Dodge to the side, smack em with a charged heavy. Works every time".

You just fight the boss until the above scenario is just one continuous process of knowing how the boss does his dance, and you just dance your own counter-dance in return.
The strength of the weapon simply dictates for how long you have to do it for: 3 minutes or 6 minutes.

[King Of Lolis]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

Im too worried if i go my ways il never beat the bosses...

There is some truth to this. Some bosses will just inherently counter your build and be more trouble than usual. I just see it as part of the experience.

The solution, however, is always universal - you just do the git gudding.
Every boss fight at its core is a fight of attrition with specified amount of consecutive mistakes allowed.
You die either because you made too many mistakes at once and get obliterated, or you simply run out of heals and get grinded down.
The victory condition is always avoiding the former and getting gud enough where the boss dies before the second scenario happens.
All it takes to get there is just practice and memorization. Living in the boss' headspace, knowing what he's about to do before he does it.
"Oh, the boss is idling at exactly 25m distance from me? Well, then this is the part~ yep there it is - the long range piercing attack. Dodge to the side, smack em with a charged heavy. Works every time".

You just fight the boss until the above scenario is just one continuous process of knowing how the boss does his dance, and you just dance your own counter-dance in return.
The strength of the weapon simply dictates for how long you have to do it for: 3 minutes or 6 minutes.

yeah....im most likely gonna ask my ng+8 friend who put all his points in nothing but strenght to beat a boss for me if i die a lot
im not really the type that can learn enemy move set for im the rush in and swing your sword type

[Salami]

Congratulations! Malenia is one of those fights that is very finely tuned and takes real concentration to beat without cheese strategies. Still takes me a few hours of attempts to beat her each playthrough and it's satisfying every time I finally do it.

If you're re-playing anytime soon I recommend learning how to dodge waterfowl. Very satisfying if you can perfect it (I still haven't).

[Salami]

Originally posted by King Of Lolis:

Originally posted by Artek General:

There is some truth to this. Some bosses will just inherently counter your build and be more trouble than usual. I just see it as part of the experience.

The solution, however, is always universal - you just do the git gudding.
Every boss fight at its core is a fight of attrition with specified amount of consecutive mistakes allowed.
You die either because you made too many mistakes at once and get obliterated, or you simply run out of heals and get grinded down.
The victory condition is always avoiding the former and getting gud enough where the boss dies before the second scenario happens.
All it takes to get there is just practice and memorization. Living in the boss' headspace, knowing what he's about to do before he does it.
"Oh, the boss is idling at exactly 25m distance from me? Well, then this is the part~ yep there it is - the long range piercing attack. Dodge to the side, smack em with a charged heavy. Works every time".

You just fight the boss until the above scenario is just one continuous process of knowing how the boss does his dance, and you just dance your own counter-dance in return.
The strength of the weapon simply dictates for how long you have to do it for: 3 minutes or 6 minutes.

yeah....im most likely gonna ask my ng+8 friend who put all his points in nothing but strenght to beat a boss for me if i die a lot
im not really the type that can learn enemy move set for im the rush in and swing your sword type

I find these games tend to punish that kind of playstyle, but if you tailor your build to a boss's specific weaknesses and lean heavily into a single strategy to melt them before they smoke you it can be incredibly fun.

A few bosses are too fine-tuned for that to work, but there's nothing more funny than going hypermode and ending a tough fight in just a few seconds. My personal favourite is the cold greatstars Mogh strategy.

Of course there are also those who find this kind of technical buildcrafting inherently unfun and would rather learn patterns and get good, but the beauty of this game especially is the flexibility in how you approach encounters.

[Exhausted Dragon]

Originally posted by Salami:

Congratulations!

Thank you!

Originally posted by Salami:

Malenia is one of those fights that is very finely tuned

Not really. Most of the time she feels fair, and I don't really suffer from vampiric effect since she's really susceptible to hits with her low poise, but there are moments she's becoming an unfair bish. Sometimes I can get grabbed for no reason, sometimes she's not close enough for my sword to hit her because she's 10cm above me due to the arena shape, and I freaking love that moment when she grabs me fullHP, stabs and then starts her flurry attack while I'm still standing up. So she's about 20% luck, not skill.
But yeah, she's all about concentration and reading her behavior midfight.

Originally posted by Salami:

If you're re-playing anytime soon I recommend learning how to dodge waterfowl. Very satisfying if you can perfect it (I still haven't).

With my current build and midroll I found it really hard to dodge the first flurry wave as I stand way too close to her, and I eventually came up with checking whether she's about to start this attacks with throwing knives. Second and third waves are drastically easier to evade tho
Second phase was pure hell, and I should praise heavens she haven't done flurry attack a single time during it, and I was able to survive her clones attack. And then... she's just as susceptible as ever to the sword hits. I just needed to take less hits so she won't subverse my success with increased vampiric
And... of course, there are stuns. I had to watch really closely to make as many hits as needed to stun her