Iron Flesh is really good

[HypetheKomodo]

I've been messing around with a new character build, focusing on Poise and big weapons, two things that should go hand in hand. To aid with this, I also invested in Iron Flesh, something I never really messed with in Dark Souls 2.

Turns out...it's a fantastic spell. It's great for PvE and PvP, once you know how it works.

The basics:

-+100 Physical Defense and Poise
-+200 Elemental Resist and Status Effect Resist
- Reduced damage taken (Exact formula seems to be unknown but it's greater than the Hex, "Numbness", maybe enhances base defenses drastically)
-+65 Weight (Was once +100 but was reduced)
-Lasts 25 seconds (35 with Lingering Dragoncrest Ring +2, 40 with full Northwarder's)

Compared to Great Magic Barrier, that's a lot more in the way of defenses without any stat investment seeing how it's a Pyromancy.

My SL right now is 108 on this character, and I'm using the real Aurous armor unupgraded. Sitting at 48.1 Poise with all this, and around 400 defense in all catagories. After Iron Flesh, that jumps to 148.1 Poise and 500 defense in all catagories, but I go from a pretty nimble roll to fat rolling due to the weight requirement.

If you don't meet the weight requirement for Iron Flesh, you will be unable to move and you're dead. No amount of defense will save you. However, if you want to tank it up and make a build with enough Vitality to handle the sudden 65 weight boost, and wear some heavy armor on top of it...you're looking at someone who will not be poise broken, let alone hurt.

With my current loadout, I was backstabbed by someone using a Black Knight U. Greatsword, and getting backstabbed by one of those is usually a fatal affair. However, with Iron Flesh, I think I lost, at most, 30% of my health. A lot of attacks were suddenly doing either half or a quarter of what they were once doing to me, regardless of elemental affinity or damage type.

If you decide not to use heavy armor and stick with lighter armor like Northwarder's, you still get 100 Poise and a ton of extra defenses. You just need to make sure that you have the weight requirements to manage it. It's almost as if you suddenly have on a full suit of Havel's.

Heavy weapons very much benefit from Iron Flesh. With hyperarmor and Iron Flesh, you could in theory have over 240 Poise, and enemy attacks doing half Poise Damage, you can withstand almost anything that the game can throw at you without flinching.

Needless to say, Flynn's Ring is not an option if you're wanting to use Iron Flesh.

Still, it's one of those things I don't see people using, and now I really question why. It's a fantastic defense spell for a variety of classes for a lot of situations. I'm having a lot of fun toying with it.

And yes, Iron Flesh significantly helps with walking on the lava in Iron Keep, especially if you roll into water first.

Kinda big post, but I'm loving this spell that I never see anyone use.

[Lynchden]

Have you tried it vs any bosses?

[HypetheKomodo]

Originally posted by Lynchden:

Have you tried it vs any bosses?

Next boss I have is Double Dragonrider, and I think I can do a really effective test there, so I'll have a follow up here in a bit. Should do really well, I'll just be stuck fat rolling.

[TrueArchery]

Tanking will become unviable in some NG+, but playing through NG+ while using Iron Flesh for bosses is like playing through DaS1 with full Havel's.

[HypetheKomodo]

Alright, so messed with Double Dragonriders a bit for some tests. Here's my stats, NG:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812333653

Now I killed the Bow Rider and let the Halberd Rider hit me once with his two hit horizontal combo. Both record damage taken from the first hit.

Without IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812333852

With IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812334016

Looking at those side to side, it's about a 50% damage reduction. I almost want to say it's exactly half.

If the damage reduction of Iron Flesh is percentage based, perhaps it will still be useful in NG+. 'Course I need to get there before that can be tested, but the initial results do show it is a really powerful buff. I do plan on testing it with heavier armor as well, once I acquire it.

Or I could burn an Ascetic, I guess.

[TrueArchery]

Just do another testing later on with Velstadt, his NG+-Ring will at least be a reward for your build lol
Even though I'm not sure whether his split-damage ♥♥♥♥♥ with the calculation...

Anyway, isn't the added damage-reduction just a flat bonus which (obviously) will decrease incoming damage? I don't know about any additional boni of Iron Flesh other than Def- and Poise-value-boosts, plus the flat added weight.
And since phys defense works like a flat bonus, it good in NG but doesn't scale with incoming damage, unlike elemental defense.

You could also test Iron Flesh against let's say... the Amana casters and look whether they'll deal exactly 20% less damage. Or I could. Later.

Edit: Just looked it up on the wiki and I'm currently reading the footnote-link. Okay, interesting stuff. Still reading it

[HypetheKomodo]

Tested with Double DRs again, this time in NG+. Follow up to the follow up!

Indeed, it seems like a flat 50% damage reduction.

Without IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812352959

With IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812353091

Now I know DRs are not exactly hard hitting bosses, but still, that is a significant decrease in damage taken applied to all sources (Although I'll need to verify with magic casting enemies/bosses).

The way I feel it works is that it applies your defenses, and then applies the damage you take with the improved defenses - 50%. That's what it seems like so far, anyway, because I was able to tank a player spamming magic like it was nothing.

Probably the best way to confirm the 50% reduction is Velstadt post-buff, and have him hammer my face with and without IF, but so far it seems to be an extremely powerful spell, if you have the weight to handle it.

I'm digging it, because it mixes it up from lightweight Flynn's Ring cannons, and seems to counteract them, even.

[TrueArchery]

https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls2/58004

I messed up the title/author there but this is a dirty dirty build for ~1mil SM invasions that just came to my mind.
I think I could swap the Black Dragon Warpick for their Straight Sword at these stats, too. And then Lingering Dragoncrest +1 for the Leo.

[HypetheKomodo]

Can't stop, won't stop the flesh of iron. And yeah, Dragoncrest will allow you to Iron Flesh for longer. If you trade with IF, you're the one who will almost always come out on top.

Just verified that it does indeed work with magic damage as well, as an Amana Priestess shot me in the face.

Without IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812371789 (Don't mind the roll, I took the screenshot a bit late and was going to cover to apply IF)

With IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812369284

I imagine with Velstadt it will work the same way.

So, uh, this spell is really good. If you want to tank, you will certainly want to pick this up.

[HypetheKomodo]

Oh, for completion's sake, split damage courtesy of post-buff Velstadt on NG.

Both attacks he's using his slow horizontal swing.

Without IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812386711

With IF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812387115

Doesn't seem to matter how the damage is applied or how it's split, it takes whatever damage is done and splits it to either exactly half, or about half.

...Kinda impressed this little thing only costs 3,500 souls.

EDIT: One more screenshot. Iron Flesh is enough to survive the ogre's fatal grab attack...provided you still have a decent amount of health. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812407459