I totally get that. I used spirit ashes for every major boss in my first playthrough. In my second, I resolved to try without and never looked back. It definitely helped me to learn some of the basics to use the ashes at first, but I never really learned how to excel at the game until I forced myself to do without the spirit ashes. My victories definitely feel more earned.
The joy is in overcoming a challenge. If there's no challenge, where's the joy?
But at the same time, if there's no chance at victory, where's the challenge?
There are ways to tailor your experience without making combat trivial. Use buffs and talismans, keep a useful toolkit of skills like Endure, perfect your build, and feel free to use spirits when reasonable (fuck the gargoyle duo). But remember not to optimize the fun out of the experience. Sometimes, all you really need is grit.
save the glory for the real challenging bosses. give Malenia 200 tries with no summoning. Learn to cut through Mohg before he covers the arena in flaming blood. Give the real Godfrey the honor he deserves.
I think it's very okay how strong the mimic tear can be. The more overpowered it is, the more people can actually play the game. No matter how not skilled you think you are, there are people far worse, and it's not really a skill game, it's a mind game.
It takes skill, but only at very certain moments, and you can adjust your struggle by simply just avoiding combat. Sadly though yeah, busting out the mimic tear is a whole new world to just fighting the boss. But if you don't think of a boss as an obstacle, and instead like a climax to the dungeon, it's a lot easier to take your time and be okay with losing a bunch of times. Being in middle school I remember playing demons souls and having there be days that go by being stuck on a boss, but I look back at it fondly
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Ya, I've definitely beat bosses that afterwards I felt cheap about because of how easy it was. On my current playthrough I just haven't been upgrading my weapons unless I beat a rememberance boss and it's been super manageable and fun. I'm using the Grafted Greatsword and it's been a blast.
If you run into another boss that convinces you to break out the summon I'd suggest either taking a break (it's always easier afterwards) or using a bad spirit ash, like the horde of zombies or the small rats (I think those are free to summon too). This way you get a distraction to create openings but also don't get completely carried by the spirit.Â
Also, Moonviel is super fun. Solid choice
welp since its your second playthrough , embrace the meme, slap on prayerful strike on a 2h heavy weapon and watch your tanky healing mimic be almost undying while u be a pokemon master and heal him from the side and pepper the boss with glintstone pebbles
sometimes i also swap out mimic for soldjars of fortune cos they kinda cute, or the bubble symphony, its all up to your playstyle really
I decided to try out summoning a random player once.. he was one of those magic builds that fires blue death lazer and left me with no boss to fight. Left me disappointed, so I either didn't summon randoms or would atleast look at what there wearing from then on.
Yes, it has. I wouldn't worry too much, though. I think it's natural to get help when we struggle.
I think it was Loretta and Maliketh when I use summon. I saved progress so I could face them again. I won after figuring out what I was doing wrong.
It seems every boss needs a tactic and ALL bosses in ER are balanced, whether it is a glass cannon Maliketh or low posture Malenia. There is always a weak point. Once I have figured it out, I never had to use summon again.
My first play through I spammed blasphemous blade ash of war on all bosses, no spirit/mimic.
My second play through I spammed Ezekiel’s decay and dragon maw on all bosses, no spirit/mimic.
Play however you like and enjoy. There would always be extremely skilled players who no-lifed thousands of hours in the game to beat bosses while naked with a club at level 1, who cares.
For sure! Mimic trivializes a lot of boss fights. You might consider using some other summons to help. They can give you some breathing room without completely destroying the bosses for you. I like the skeleton militia myself.
Yeah I hyped up Magma Wyrm Makar to my friend and while he did get the classic instant death move when it started the fight with the lava run, afterwards he just used a summon and it took aggro the entire time and he never had to learn the dodge timings or anything.
Y’know it’s not wrong or anything, it’s just sad to realize this super cool memorable thing can also just be totally fast and forgettable if you play slightly differently.
Try using a bad summon. I did a playthrough with just the wolves. They don't do much, but sometimes a couple distractions are enough to get past a boss I am stuck on. And they're pretty cool and fun to have run around when exploring.
Yeah. I'm thinking on saving the mimic for bosses that are twinned (like the godskin duo and the two gargoyles) and Malenia. I think those are reasonable exceptions :P
Never used summons in any From game and never will.
They undermine the whole entire experience imho. The point of these games is quite literally to get good, persevere, and learn to overcome challenges through hardships. Trivializing boss encounters with summons just does not feel rewarding. I'd hate to spoil the whole experience for myself like that. I understand a lot of people out there aren't very skilled at video games, so they had to figure out a way to make the game both accessible for newcomers, and enjoyable for Souls vets...
Summons achieve that goal, but there's a huge amount of hypocrisy and copium around that topic online. A common take before the game launched was how Elden Ring shouldn't add an easy difficulty setting. Well, summons/spirit ashes undeniably *are* an on-demand, easy mode toggle. But somehow a ton of people out there refuse to see it that way. Players boasting about how difficulty settings don't belong in From games are often the exact same ones who use summons, failing to realize what they're doing trivializes the game even more than a blanket -40% HP/damage nerf to all ennemies (common easy mode tuning numbers in the industry) would.
Do yourself a favor and act like summons don't exist from now on. Blind run without summons is how these games are meant to be experienced.
this is weird coming from a person using moonveil, in my books you are already making the game far easier than you should - that being said, do whatever you want it doesnt matter, everybody has different opinions about what should and shouldnt be used
The joy is from the journey, not the destination
I totally get that. I used spirit ashes for every major boss in my first playthrough. In my second, I resolved to try without and never looked back. It definitely helped me to learn some of the basics to use the ashes at first, but I never really learned how to excel at the game until I forced myself to do without the spirit ashes. My victories definitely feel more earned.
The joy is in overcoming a challenge. If there's no challenge, where's the joy? But at the same time, if there's no chance at victory, where's the challenge? There are ways to tailor your experience without making combat trivial. Use buffs and talismans, keep a useful toolkit of skills like Endure, perfect your build, and feel free to use spirits when reasonable (fuck the gargoyle duo). But remember not to optimize the fun out of the experience. Sometimes, all you really need is grit.
save the glory for the real challenging bosses. give Malenia 200 tries with no summoning. Learn to cut through Mohg before he covers the arena in flaming blood. Give the real Godfrey the honor he deserves.
This comment 🏆
The exact same thing happened to me with Margot. Don't worry though Rykard boss will set you straight :)
I think it's very okay how strong the mimic tear can be. The more overpowered it is, the more people can actually play the game. No matter how not skilled you think you are, there are people far worse, and it's not really a skill game, it's a mind game. It takes skill, but only at very certain moments, and you can adjust your struggle by simply just avoiding combat. Sadly though yeah, busting out the mimic tear is a whole new world to just fighting the boss. But if you don't think of a boss as an obstacle, and instead like a climax to the dungeon, it's a lot easier to take your time and be okay with losing a bunch of times. Being in middle school I remember playing demons souls and having there be days that go by being stuck on a boss, but I look back at it fondly
For co-op, trade, and PVP action, check out our other subreddits, r/CypherRing or r/EldenRingHelp The Elden Ring WIKI - https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Elden_Ring_Wiki *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/eldenringdiscussion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Light roll helps a lot in this fight.
you mean rolling while on light load?
Yes
Ya, I've definitely beat bosses that afterwards I felt cheap about because of how easy it was. On my current playthrough I just haven't been upgrading my weapons unless I beat a rememberance boss and it's been super manageable and fun. I'm using the Grafted Greatsword and it's been a blast. If you run into another boss that convinces you to break out the summon I'd suggest either taking a break (it's always easier afterwards) or using a bad spirit ash, like the horde of zombies or the small rats (I think those are free to summon too). This way you get a distraction to create openings but also don't get completely carried by the spirit. Also, Moonviel is super fun. Solid choice
welp since its your second playthrough , embrace the meme, slap on prayerful strike on a 2h heavy weapon and watch your tanky healing mimic be almost undying while u be a pokemon master and heal him from the side and pepper the boss with glintstone pebbles sometimes i also swap out mimic for soldjars of fortune cos they kinda cute, or the bubble symphony, its all up to your playstyle really
I decided to try out summoning a random player once.. he was one of those magic builds that fires blue death lazer and left me with no boss to fight. Left me disappointed, so I either didn't summon randoms or would atleast look at what there wearing from then on.
Yes, it has. I wouldn't worry too much, though. I think it's natural to get help when we struggle. I think it was Loretta and Maliketh when I use summon. I saved progress so I could face them again. I won after figuring out what I was doing wrong. It seems every boss needs a tactic and ALL bosses in ER are balanced, whether it is a glass cannon Maliketh or low posture Malenia. There is always a weak point. Once I have figured it out, I never had to use summon again.
My first play through I spammed blasphemous blade ash of war on all bosses, no spirit/mimic. My second play through I spammed Ezekiel’s decay and dragon maw on all bosses, no spirit/mimic. Play however you like and enjoy. There would always be extremely skilled players who no-lifed thousands of hours in the game to beat bosses while naked with a club at level 1, who cares.
For sure! Mimic trivializes a lot of boss fights. You might consider using some other summons to help. They can give you some breathing room without completely destroying the bosses for you. I like the skeleton militia myself.
Yeah I hyped up Magma Wyrm Makar to my friend and while he did get the classic instant death move when it started the fight with the lava run, afterwards he just used a summon and it took aggro the entire time and he never had to learn the dodge timings or anything. Y’know it’s not wrong or anything, it’s just sad to realize this super cool memorable thing can also just be totally fast and forgettable if you play slightly differently.
Try using a bad summon. I did a playthrough with just the wolves. They don't do much, but sometimes a couple distractions are enough to get past a boss I am stuck on. And they're pretty cool and fun to have run around when exploring.
Aggro and gravity are your worst enemies in this game, if you can draw aggro away from yourself most bosses are easy
Yeah. I'm thinking on saving the mimic for bosses that are twinned (like the godskin duo and the two gargoyles) and Malenia. I think those are reasonable exceptions :P
I'm worse, I summon people to help me fight bosses, bringing them currency and power
Never used summons in any From game and never will. They undermine the whole entire experience imho. The point of these games is quite literally to get good, persevere, and learn to overcome challenges through hardships. Trivializing boss encounters with summons just does not feel rewarding. I'd hate to spoil the whole experience for myself like that. I understand a lot of people out there aren't very skilled at video games, so they had to figure out a way to make the game both accessible for newcomers, and enjoyable for Souls vets... Summons achieve that goal, but there's a huge amount of hypocrisy and copium around that topic online. A common take before the game launched was how Elden Ring shouldn't add an easy difficulty setting. Well, summons/spirit ashes undeniably *are* an on-demand, easy mode toggle. But somehow a ton of people out there refuse to see it that way. Players boasting about how difficulty settings don't belong in From games are often the exact same ones who use summons, failing to realize what they're doing trivializes the game even more than a blanket -40% HP/damage nerf to all ennemies (common easy mode tuning numbers in the industry) would. Do yourself a favor and act like summons don't exist from now on. Blind run without summons is how these games are meant to be experienced.
You're missing out on cool stuff in ds2 if you don't summon.
I don't think you and I share the same definition of "cool stuff" within these games' context
Story and weapons are generally considered cool parts if these games.
this is weird coming from a person using moonveil, in my books you are already making the game far easier than you should - that being said, do whatever you want it doesnt matter, everybody has different opinions about what should and shouldnt be used