Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
2 
Report this post
They have noticeably more health.
Not only their health is higher but their defenses and resistances too
so you're doing less damage and stance break them less on top of their increased health.
They also do a lot of damage.
Most endgame bosses can one shot with their most powerful attacks.
For level 370 it should not be particularly hard though.
Radahn I poked to death behind a greatshield, he gave me 0 issues, is he that bad in high NGs? Do they deal more stamina damage when you block them too? Or is that based on just their regular damage?
Problem with this game is, compared to dark souls 1 and 3 which ive beaten up to max NG, pretty much half the enemies in this game are HUGE with huge hitboxes that are difficult to dodge, and many of them also have bloody annoying AOE attacks that you either cannot dodge, or I haven't figured out yet how to dodge. Radan 2nd phase I find impossible to do without a shield. He simply annihilates me with his spells and AOE even if I don't ever stop pressing the roll button. So I made a poking bleed build and hit behind a buffed shield and killed him. Malenia I have nuked with spells in NG with my mimic tear by my side, in NG+ I tanked her, died 2 times to her because she would not stop spamming the frantic slashing anime ninja attack she does. Like she did it 3 times in phase 1 and 2 times in phase 2. But I don't think I can tank her anymore above NG++.
Aside from these 2 bosses, which may be problematic, I mostly have trouble with annoying enemies between the bosses. Crucible knights are an absolute nightmare, as well as all the enemies that have greatshields. Somehow when I have a greatshield I get guardbroken, but when they have a greatshield, they grab it from their backs and smash me with it faster than I can even swing my weapon.
Compared to DS1 and DS3 this difficulty feels a lot more cheap and artificial. I'm starting to understand why people go for bleed builds so often.
Well, I imagine then that the moonrythil knight NPC will start oneshoting me at about NG+3 or 4. Maybe If I put vigor to 99 I wont be oneshot but 2 shot for some more NG cycles. Bosses give me less trouble than some enemies between them tbh, except malenia she is quite difficult.
I shield poked Radahn on NG +4 (so far) and noticed he does more stamina damage.
That's where Radahn's Great Rune come in handy :-)
Don't waste points on 99 Vigor unless you have nothing more to spend them on.
I would not go higher than 70 Vigor.
Equip health boosting talisman and damage resistance talismans and you're set.
Faith damage resistance spells are awesome and you can cast them all with just 30 Faith.
Edit: Protection of the Erdtree requires 35 Faith but it is not needed
if you combine Golden Vow with damage resistance spells.
Higher you go in NG + faster weapons become more useful.
Quick weapons allow you to much more easily avoid getting hit
and find opportunities to attack.
Thrusting/Curved/Straight Swords or Stone Club will take care of almost any boss.
Ranged attacks are always useful but even more so in NG + in my opinion.
Simple Storm Blade Ash of War, for example, is very effective against many bosses.
I have so far used bestial vitality and golden vow, then I chug some ironjar aromatic and go to town with the great stars. Problem is, elemental bosses can wreck me, I just beat messmer after getting burned to death twice. It's kind of up to RNG what attacks they do I guess. I've had malenia fights when she never did the anime ninja attack even once and I killed her, other times she does it repeatedly. Problem with ironjar aromatic is that you aren't escaping the anime attack while that is active, so essentially, malenia just heals back to full hp.
I didn't mention, but since my first playthrough was with an intelligence build and darkmoon greatsword supported by spirit summons, I kind of wanted to go a different route, since now at NG+ I have the equipment to do so. Sad to hear that I will have to give this up in favor of different builds, It seems fun so far. Also tried ghiza's wheel, it wrecks NPC type enemies but sucks against anything that moves a lot, plus its way too heavy, even with 99 endurance, I need to equip the favor of the erdtree to stay on med weight. Could drop the fingerprint shield, but I really like it with the no skill ash of war equipped.
Guess i'll try to level int and faith next if I get stuck.
I'm just surprised because with a character at this high level, I didn't have any hardships at all in the dark souls games up to NG+5 or so. They've really cranked up enemy poise and health to 11 in this game.
By the by, since you seem pretty knowledgeable in the game and it's mechanics, how much does 2-3 points of resistance matter? It's how much extra I get in physical when I equip the verdigris discus and overload myself. But I'm not very sure it's worth it tbh.
You mean 2-3 % of damage reduction? Absolutely worthless.
Don't fat roll ever, especially not in high NG +, would be my recommendation.
Very damn difficult to enjoy, NGL. I don't remember anything as bad in any of the souls games.
You will need to adapt weapons and defenses better for bosses you fight.
I don't think it is anywhere near as hard as you make it out to be.
Having 25-30 Faith is really helpful so you can cast Golden Vow,
Lord's Divine Fortification, Barrier of Gold, Flame Protect Me or Black Flame Protection.
Black Flame Tornado shreds Elden Beast regardless of NG + cycle.
I don't know how to say this without it appearing as bragging
but I just finished NG +4 DLC at Scadutree 11 with very little trouble.
Once you learn how to fight DLC bosses and prepare defenses against
damage they deal they are not that bad.
With possible exception of Promised Consort
who I still don't fancy fighting without greatshield.
Ashes of War like Bloodhound Step, Raptor of the Mists and
Vow of Indomitable help a lot with difficult to avoid, high damage boss' moves.
I've so far used bestial vitality + golden vow + flame give me strength, since the tank build will no longer cut it on NG++ I just wen't with the star fists, also I didn't use any spirit summons so that might be on me. Also I tried to take the bosses on without any ranged spells and tools, as in previous dark souls games I wen't to max NG by melee fighting, but maybe this game is just not designed for that, or you need to play perfectly in order to be able to do that, idk.
The bosses are not too terrible aside from messmer and his AOE attacks which I haven't figured out how to dodge, if they are dodgeable at all.
The other thing I noticed is that enemies attack a lot faster. With melee enemies that isn't a huge problem, especially if you can stun them, but with bosses like the elden beast that spam AOE attacks from over the map, it's pretty damn hard to dodge 2 of them happening at the same time. Yeah I know I can just use spells to annihilate it in seconds, but that and being literally godlike shouldn't be the only viable way to win that fight.
This is your biggest mistake. Ranged attacks can turn many bosses to pushovers.
Fighting Dancing Lion in melee will be hundred times harder than hitting
them with ranged attacks for example.
Their lightning phase (and to lesser extent frost phase) is awful in melee.
If you're referring to Messmer's Assault (multi hit attack with spear)
it is dodgable but I rarely dodge all hits and usually get hit with at least some attacks.
I did dodge it without taking any damage at medium load numerous times though.
Anyway this is why Flame Protect Me and fire protection talisman are useful here.
With them you can afford to make more mistakes.
Also fighting Messmer's second phase with melee only will be exercise in frustration.
Quick ranged attacks like Storm Blade AoW will help immensely.
Edit: Just to add
Rot, especially from spells or Hefty Rot Pots is very effective against bosses.
I see. It is then as I suspected, although, I hoped I was wrong. The game wasn't designed to be beaten with melee only. I guess I should start using spells as I did in my first playthrough. If a player of your experience says so it's probably true. I'm nowhere good enough to become part of the 1% that can do no hit runs and whatnot.
The messmer fight for me was mostly like, fire everywhere I stepped, and occasionally a spear or two up my ass. He was just throwing fire everywhere non stop.
The radagon AOE attacks I also found hard to dodge, I tried delaying and got hit, I tried dodging sooner and got hit too. He was only stomping on me in the first 2 playthroughs, I legit thought that stomping is his only moveset alongside a hammer strike or so. The elden beast also never shot more than one ranged spell at a time, so I had time to dodge. Not anymore I guess...
Game is designed to be beaten melee only.
You just correctly assert it will be much harder than combining it with ranged attacks.
Especially on high NG +.
Messmer is relentless but if you dodge towards him and stay close
most of his attacks are easy to avoid. He is vulnerable to frost, rot and bleeding btw.
Use fast weapon against him, thrusting sword, dual curved swords or backhand blade.
For Radagon and Elden Beast it is good idea to use holy resistance talisman and spell.
Most of Radagon's attacks are easy to avoid if you dodge toward his sides and back.
Stay close to him and take advantage of his vulnerability to strike damage.
Great hammer or hammer like Stone Club will squash him in no time.
If you don't want to use AoWs or spells against Elden Beast
you can just hit him with whatever melee weapon you please.
It will just take a bit longer since he has a lot of health and he is immune to statuses.
There are plenty of opportunities to hit him in melee.
You just need to be patient and wait for your turn
when he stops gliding and diving around.
If you're unlucky and he decides to combine Elden Stars with Wave of Gold
you'll be glad to have holy resistance talisman equipped :-)