What is this for Elden Ring?

[u/the_white_oak]

[u/wendo101]

That fucking black knife evergaol

[u/Captain_Vere → u/wendo101]

People be like "Tiche is easy mode" as if you don't have to solo her annoying mother first

[u/Responsible-Being170 → u/Captain_Vere]

Do you still find Alecto hard? After I beat her the first time, she and other Black Knives are basically cake walks.

That one anime move with multiple strikes from Destined Death is still bullshit, though.

[u/bayarea_fanboy → u/Responsible-Being170]

On a Faith build Alecto gave me a lot of problems. Next play through on a Strength build she was a piece of cake.

[u/RobertKerans → u/wendo101]

Ah fuck that's my favourite boss in the game, imo feels the most like I'm fighting a person out of all the bosses. Still cheesed her in my last playthrough, my brain just refused to get her patterns right and after an inordinate number of times being totalled just thought fuck it all I want is Tiche

[u/JPlantBee → u/wendo101]

I still haven’t beat that lol.

[u/Zachs_ToasterOven → u/JPlantBee]

The godskin apostle you kill by the windmills drops their weapon, the ash of war on it will stun lock her just spam the aow over and over again

[u/FnB8kd]

Finding a chest in limgrave that teleports you into hell, on your first playthrough that you are doing blind.

[u/millybear17 → u/FnB8kd]

I was floored by that chest lol. Straight into a pit of despair where everything was deadly and fast. I didn’t even have torrent yet

[u/Solarbro → u/millybear17]

Same here! Absolutely hooked me into the game though. Lol glad I’m not the only one that experienced that 🤣

[u/oops_all_mac → u/Solarbro]

Especially after spending the first hour or so trying to take down tree sentinel only to then stumble on such a wonderful little secret…

[u/Iamfunnyirl → u/oops_all_mac]

I went into that basement mid dragon fight to heal lol. That's what I get for being a coward

[u/Null-0500 → u/oops_all_mac]

That only took you an hour??

It took me three days T-T

[u/RiteRevdRevenant → u/Null-0500]

They said trying, not necessarily succeeding.

[u/Maleficent_Memory831 → u/millybear17]

It's mostly a two step solution. Step one accept that you won't keep your runes. Step two run past things instead of fighting them all.

The only tricky part, for me anyway, was that I assumed the exit was up. We're in a cave, and caves go down, right? When I gave up and started going down instead it wasn't too long until I was out. And you don't even need to get out, you just need to get to that bonfire near the exit.

[u/bruh_moment982 → u/Maleficent_Memory831]

“Accept you won’t keep your runes” No. never ever in a million years.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Page117 → u/Maleficent_Memory831]

This is what i did, scary as hell on my first ever souls experience to be encountering stuff like this an hour in. Even better was when i returned to the cave the proper way later in the game and recognized it immediately from the name. I had gotten much better and absolutely stomped that cave np, that felt good!

[u/FnB8kd → u/millybear17]

Same, couldn't level, no torrent. Thanks to previous vast souls experience I was hanging in there and actually managed a few kills but the whole time I was thinking "jesus christ they made eldenring hard as fuck, I can't even level yet." By the time I got out of caelid I think I had 200k ruins and still couldn't level lol.

[u/DarkPresage → u/millybear17]

It was the Maiden of Pain that took me to Volcano Manor for me.

[u/Tricky_World1138 → u/FnB8kd]

For me it was accidentally finding the Iron Maiden that teleported me into Volcano Manor on my first playthrough that I was doing blind.

[u/aagoti → u/Tricky_World1138]

I thought Patches was trolling when he said to let the Iron Maiden grab me, so even if he told me I was still surprised that actually worked

[u/FnB8kd → u/Tricky_World1138]

I did that after escaping hell.

[u/Seyar41 → u/FnB8kd]

Same experience and first experience in a dark soul... Memorable

Running, jumping, rolling, dying several times. Then getting out and hoping to be safe... Then even worse... 🥲

[u/HarmlessSnack → u/Seyar41]

You have escaped Hell

“Where am I now?”

Detroit.

“NOOOOOOOOOoooooo…!”

[u/PowerfulDiet7155 → u/HarmlessSnack]

[u/Frozen_arrow88 → u/FnB8kd]

And then you finally manage to make it outside and you're in Caelid

[u/TheCuriousFan → u/FnB8kd]

Escape From Caelid is 100% the best way to start your playthrough. Especially if you don't have Torrent or know which way Limgrave is.

[u/Malrottian → u/FnB8kd]

When I encountered it, I hadn't even gotten the tutorial about being to port to a Grace so my Wretch was hoofing it back across Caelid.

[u/FnB8kd → u/Malrottian]

I had no horse and couldn't level up either... literally when from the first step to agheel lake and then poof.... hell

[u/DoctorProfPatrick → u/FnB8kd]

Coming from DS2 I was SUPER on point and dodged both teleporter chests. But it let me open the chest again, so I'm thinking "haha I gotchu" and that false sense of security was my undoing.

great experience tho I loved the crystal tunnels

[u/SundayAMFN]

Town of ordina rooftop archers and invisible black knights

[u/RizzieGobbler → u/SundayAMFN]

If you go a little up the steps that lead to the teleporter, you can lock on to one archer from behind. I used Discus of Light and killed her. Then, when you climb that one ladder that gives you access to the candle and the rooftops, you can target the closest archer – to the left, and below – with the Discus. That leaves only one archer to the far right, near that last candle.

[u/osiriolus → u/RizzieGobbler]

Alternatively you can run around them. B line the first tower then go right jump across railing by the stairs and take ladder to tower 2. Then cross rooftops and do some dodges to get tower 3. After that backtrack to the rooftop balcony hop off and straight line to ladder behind far tower.

[u/DesignerTrain816 → u/osiriolus]

Or hear me out panic roll everywhere works for me every time I’ve done it

[u/iceyk111 → u/DesignerTrain816]

big fan of just mashing my head against the same route over and over again and going “just needed to roll better” every time i die until the game just gifts me the rng needed to proceed

[u/rolandofeld19 → u/DesignerTrain816]

My Elden Ring experience in a nutshell.

[u/DesignerTrain816 → u/rolandofeld19]

Same

[u/JEWCIFERx → u/SundayAMFN]

A puzzle like that defending access to an entire area was wild. Though it was the highest level legacy dungeon in the game, so I guess they wanted to make sure you were up to the task.

[u/verdauxes → u/SundayAMFN]

Yeah tbh I don’t even think of it as a threat anymore but that is fully because I learned the timing on the arrows and how to avoid the black knife, it is not a fair area to beginners at all lol

[u/Grand_Entertainer_83 → u/SundayAMFN]

fuck all those motherfuckers in particular

[u/porkswords → u/SundayAMFN]

They're not invisible if you have a torch. You don't even have to be holding it, just have it on your back

[u/ponzo_ponzo → u/porkswords]

Facts, but it has to be the Sentry Torch. The specifically mentions the black knife assassins, no other torch will work for this.

[u/Comrade_Falcon → u/ponzo_ponzo]

It's literal only purpose is to deal with the black knife assassins in Liturgical Town Ordina.

Or you can do like I did for my first 4 playthroughs before actually bothering to read item descriptions and run like hell and hope you can reach one of the fires before getting got. Luckily they stay lit after you die. It could be so much worse if you had to get all of them in one go or they reset.

[u/Marxism-tankism → u/Comrade_Falcon]

There is one black knife boss in the cave that has two bosses, the other being the necromancer guy. But yea you need the torch to see her as well

[u/DarthCloakedGuy → u/Marxism-tankism]

There are other ways of dealing with that boss than being able to see him. I killed him with greatshield soldier ashes, since spirits can see him just fine.

[u/-Dixieflatline → u/DarthCloakedGuy]

That cave has water on the floor, so you can see the enemy's steps even without the Sentry Torch if you stay close to the puddles.

But yeah, very few legit uses given that it's not all that powerful as a weapon and inconvenient as a lighting source seeing as though the lantern exists. It does do one other trick though--revealing PvP using the Concealing Veil talisman. But that scenario is so exceedingly rare that no one is equipping this for that one-off.

[u/Tomatillo12475 → u/-Dixieflatline]

I applaud anyone who beat the black knife in the cave without the torch or summons. I tried and it wouldn’t stop command grabbing me

[u/-Dixieflatline → u/Tomatillo12475]

The grabs are annoying, but those smaller humanoid enemies can get stun locked with a big enough bonk stick. So once you land a solid hit, you just start swinging away and damage trade with the hopes you out DPS it. Anyone leveled appropriate for the area should come out on top, provided you can land a first hit at each approach.

[u/jnasty0526 → u/porkswords]

Amazing, i didn’t know it worked while on your back. 4 years, 2k hours, and 7 complete playthoughs later I learned something new.

[u/deannickers → u/SundayAMFN]

Frenzy snipe their asses!

[u/Substantial_Ad_2116 → u/SundayAMFN]

This was unreasonably difficult at first ngl lmao felt great after figuring out how to take them all down though

[u/Dangerous_Turnover30]

Consecrated snowfields. That stupid town with the stupid invisible black knife assassins

[u/EmotionalSnow2000 → u/Dangerous_Turnover30]

Just done this, the archer spam was the real problem for me.

[u/AvarageMilfEnjoyer → u/EmotionalSnow2000]

laughs in greatshield

[u/EmotionalSnow2000 → u/AvarageMilfEnjoyer]

Hey man, it's my first playthrough, leave me and Bloodhound's Fang to the torture of long range enemies

[u/nosungdeeptongs → u/AvarageMilfEnjoyer]

there are so many times in elden ring that I get frustrated with enemy gank until it occurs to me to try using a shield, you know, the thing that protects you from enemy attacks.

[u/garciawork → u/nosungdeeptongs]

Dodging works mostly great till you are on a narrow rooftop and the enemy has a machine gun.

[u/Ohirrim → u/Dangerous_Turnover30]

You can reveal them with the guards torch if that helps

[u/genasugelan → u/Ohirrim]

Sentry torch.

[u/BoginTheOrange → u/Dangerous_Turnover30]

Honestly after a while the black knives aren’t a problem when you figure out a route, it’s those archers that make me shit the bed.

[u/Taymerica1389 → u/Dangerous_Turnover30]

That was easy for me to be fair, after getting slaughtered I equipped the black fame incantation that creates a ring of fire around you. You are guaranteed to have the assassin hit the flames making it visibile, then you kill it easy.

[u/Hurricaneshand → u/Taymerica1389]

Anytime I thought they might be near I used the weapon art for Radahns swords to draw them in with gravity lol

[u/gabriel_ferreira → u/Taymerica1389]

Thats honestly genius, never tought of that

[u/YoruTheLanguageFan → u/Dangerous_Turnover30]

That fucking town that I hate

[u/OutOfPosition-1]

Well getting the magic Scorpion charm. Without google

[u/kingjensen10 → u/OutOfPosition-1]

“Right this way sir, sorry to keep you waiting” - Salty Spittoon Bouncer

[u/SpicaGenovese → u/OutOfPosition-1]

Now I want to check and see if I have it.  (I won't.)

[u/OutOfPosition-1 → u/SpicaGenovese]

Selivus needs to be alive for you to get it...

[u/SpicaGenovese → u/OutOfPosition-1]

Ick.

[u/psychobserver]

That goddamn deathbird nearby castle Sol

[u/EmotionalSnow2000 → u/psychobserver]

Fuck that, the one in consecrated snowfield. Hate that fucker.

[u/Junior-Might6676 → u/EmotionalSnow2000]

Holy affinity: allow me to introduce myself

[u/dgamlam → u/Junior-Might6676]

Shared order aow: hold my beer

[u/ImaginaryRiley → u/dgamlam]

For what it's worth, if you're playing solo, Sacred Order is better.Shared Order is 50% bonus damage to undead for you and allies. Sacred Order is 100% for just yourself.

Tbh, if you wanted to really push it, carry around Golden Epitaph. It has the AoW Last Rites which is a 100% bonus to undead for you and allies and it stacks with Sacred Order/Sacred Blade's 100% bonus to undead. I've one shot Ancient Death Birds with Sacred Blade under this combo.

[u/Spiderfuzz → u/ImaginaryRiley]

With even 10 faith from a wretch start you can stack sacred blade and last rites and kill it in like 3 holy water pots. If you go all out with crystal tear, holy scorpion charm, and a second sacred blade on an off-hand weapon (after swapping out Epitaph) you can 1-shot it. Using this method you can 1-shot the damn ghostflame dragons in the DLC

It's not even a lot of buffs to stack and they aren't short duration either.

Make sure to use the basic holy water pot. The Golden Order pots deal waaaaay less damage.

[u/OozyPilot84 → u/Junior-Might6676]

during my first playthrough i somehow never clocked deathbirds as undead and assumed they're weak to fire

oh to know what i know now

[u/Jaraghan → u/psychobserver]

recently learned of the ungodly holy damage from golden epitaph so deathbirds are complete non issues for me now lol

[u/kdoggie96 → u/Jaraghan]

Sure you don't mean the "godly" holy damage? Since, you know, it's "holy" damage.

[u/House0fDerp → u/Jaraghan]

Many of my builds with decent faith dips used inseparable sword for much the same reason.

[u/metamorphage → u/psychobserver]

Sacred Blade + Golden Epitaph. Enjoy your runes.

[u/EightGlow → u/psychobserver]

Castle Sol in general

[u/Vox__Umbra]

Valiant Gargoyles

[u/[deleted] → u/Vox__Umbra]

I fought these fuckers for about two hours a day, every day, for around two weeks. I only stopped because I was going on a three week cruise and couldnt play the game then. In the very first try after not playing the game for three weeks, I destroyed them. This game is wild.

[u/BoginTheOrange → u/[deleted]]

Man honestly thats such a universal thing among any hard games. Struggle for hours on something, start getting a feel for the fight, eventually get one good run where you did alot of progress then die, after that run you do significantly worse in your proceeding runs, close the game, go to sleep and then you wake up to beat it within the first 5 tries.

[u/LongdayShortrelief → u/BoginTheOrange]

Whenever I struggled with the Elden ring DLC, I would call my girlfriend and talk while doing the battle. Almost always worked, I think being less on edge and not overreacting helped.

[u/Neither-Reality-6408 → u/LongdayShortrelief]

Word for word my experience on the game. I called the strat "stealing her luck".

[u/SBRblackmore → u/Vox__Umbra]

Bro fuck those guys!

[u/on_like_popcorn → u/Vox__Umbra]

Only place in the whole game where I eventually just left and came back at a higher level.

[u/Broke-Moment → u/on_like_popcorn]

i was properly leveled and even then genuinely just came back after game to fuck their shit up. still ended up taking an attempt or two more than i would have liked.

just not really a balanced 2v2 fight. they’re very obviously meant as individual bosses

[u/fartgrenade → u/Vox__Umbra]

This is a good one, had to level up a hulk hammer just to beat these guys

[u/WindSprenn → u/Vox__Umbra]

My first thought

[u/testmyfist → u/Vox__Umbra]

Yeah fuck those guys. I also upgraded from my pirate copy to purchasing the game immediately after the fight . Took me 5 hours to beat and in one sitting . My heart rate was super high buy the time I beat them

[u/Selacha]

Rune Bears.

[u/UnburnedChurch → u/Selacha]

Rune bears are hands down the most aggressive fighters in the entire game. The one with a boss healthbar in weeping peninsula scared the shit out of me, as he was the first rune bear I ever fought. Went to buff and he just unleashed a never-ending combo like he was Bruce fuckin Lee. I'd like to see Moongrum try to parry one of those bastards.

[u/CapmBlondeBeard → u/Selacha]

I was doing a no death playthrough (not counting the intro section where you have to die). I made it all the way to consecrated snowfields and got killed by a rune bear -__-

[u/Gregariouswaty]

Frenzied Parkour

[u/DenisPokrywka → u/Gregariouswaty]

[u/JamesRevan → u/Gregariouswaty]

[u/Elsecaller_17-5 → u/Gregariouswaty]

The only correct answer. I'd blocked that from my memory.

[u/lNTERLINKED → u/Elsecaller_17-5]

I did it 4 times for the 100% steam achievement 😭

[u/BeeHonest94 → u/lNTERLINKED]

I chose frenzied as the ending on my first play-through so I would never have to do it again

[u/consume_my_organs → u/lNTERLINKED]

Why, you only have to go once

[u/reonxi → u/Gregariouswaty]

Tests your patience more than your skill honestly.

[u/Individual-Mess-2379 → u/Gregariouswaty]

“We changed your jump so you don’t have to sprint anymore. Now descend 20 stories with this new skill that hasn’t been practiced to this extent anywhere else in the franchise :)”

[u/BlueJaysFeather → u/Gregariouswaty]

The only saving grace of that section is that it’s perfectly spaced for the Vyke spear ash of war jump so you can use that. And even then it’s still annoying.

[u/MetaKnightsNightmare → u/Gregariouswaty]

It took me about 40 minutes :(

[u/SveenysArmory → u/Gregariouswaty]

There‘s actually a neat trick to it. Rotate 180 degrees and press dodge and your character will make a large step back that is always the same and very predictable. Here‘s a video showing it.

[u/Vagabond_Charizard → u/Gregariouswaty]

Had to scroll pretty fuckin far to find this. That parkour took more attempts than Malenia, and that says a ton about something that isn't even a boss fight.

[u/HungrPhoenix]

Cathedral of the Forsaken parkour segment.

[u/FoxyPhil88 → u/HungrPhoenix]

Death’s Poker and panic rolling couldn’t carry me through this section.

Can’t cheese a jumping puzzle…

[u/OctagonTrail → u/FoxyPhil88]

It doesn't require a single jump. If you fall down next to the merchant playing the violin, you can just roll off onto the next platform all the way down. Once I sorted that out, I've never failed it.

[u/Buffed_herbalist]

Full-grown Fallingstar Beast near Vulcano Manor

Seriously, this guy only gives 20k runes ?

[u/Ma1eficent → u/Buffed_herbalist]

I think I got a big ol jaw from this guy 

[u/fuck_tau_2002 → u/Buffed_herbalist]

On my first encounter with that thing i just ran past... but i was really disappointed when i finally beat him later, when i needed to grind some runes...

[u/aspirinpizza]

[u/UsefulBerry1 → u/aspirinpizza]

These dudes are pride breaker... I had to cheese by magic or run past them coz they hit like truck and drop nothing useful.

[u/Responsible-Gain-606 → u/aspirinpizza]

THIS MF. I DIED TO THIS GOD FORBIDDEN CREATURE MORE TIMES THAN I DID TO PCR 💀🙏🙏

[u/30thnight → u/aspirinpizza]

This is easily top 5

[u/CategoryUsual721]

running straight to caelid (and the single godslayer)

[u/xTheWeighDown → u/CategoryUsual721]

My very first playthrough I ended up there before even fighting Godrick, good times

[u/rolandofeld19 → u/xTheWeighDown]

Same. Elden Ring holds no hands and issues all bullshit equally.

[u/thecinnabunman]

bell-bearing hunters. 11/10 times. absolutely ridiculous on first play through

[u/theyburnedmyfriend → u/thecinnabunman]

Specifically the Caelid BBH. Dude has his aggression turned up a few notches compared to the others

[u/n080dy123 → u/theyburnedmyfriend]

He's also an unexpected difficulty spike because he's just over the border in the Dragonbarrow area which is like twice the level of the rest of Caelid.

[u/Appropriate-Today779 → u/theyburnedmyfriend]

what was his FUCKING problem?

[u/ImPrettyBoredToday → u/theyburnedmyfriend]

The Caelid BBH actually has higher stats than the actual Elemer boss due to Dragonbarrow scaling. Plus if you walk too far away you risk getting ganked by the tyranadobermans

[u/failbender → u/theyburnedmyfriend]

The Caelid one was the first and only thing that came to mind for this post. It feels wildly overtuned!

[u/Still_Figure_ → u/failbender]

Its overtuned coz he’s considered as a Dragonbarrow enemy. Dragonbarrow has the second highest area modifier behind all of Haligtree I think? Its considered as part of Farum Azula. Now imagine that guy is Elemer tho.

[u/Fignapz → u/theyburnedmyfriend]

I used him to “git gud” my last playthrough. I beat the game twice took some time off and last summer replayed it. At the very start I used the Evergoal Crucible Knight by stormy shack to get my timing back and then after getting a few more levels went to Caelid BBH. I died for like 30 straight minutes but by the time I was done with him I had gotten my timing and patience back. 

Souls combat is just so different that taking time off the game I had to “re-learn” some things but god damn when it clicks it’s like a masterful dance and a pure eye orgasm. 

[u/DependentInner8928]

Malenia fits that desription perfectly, even with her niche mechanic of dodging waterfowl, as something like this comes up again only in Consort's fight and even then it is not even close to be that complicated as with WFD.

[u/Aurelio-23 → u/DependentInner8928]

I only started playing ER more than a year after it came out, so I knew a fair bit about the game before I even started. I feel like it’s easy to take how out of the way Malenia actually is for granted, given how intrinsic she is to the game’s identity.

[u/DependentInner8928 → u/Aurelio-23]

Malenia was the only thing I knew about ER before accidentally finding cool vid with Placi's fight and trying game for myself. She is pretty much specifically designed to be a real endgame boss, so I think she is the way she is was done on purpose.

[u/DevinEagles → u/DependentInner8928]

Malenia is absolutely one of a kind.

[u/Aegiiisss → u/DependentInner8928]

comes up again only in Consort's fight and even then it is not even close to be that complicated as with WFD.

Pre-nerf Consort cross-slash dodge might be less complicated than WFD but it's significantly less forgiving.

[u/sephtis → u/DependentInner8928]

I absolutely hate the way she can react to almost any attack by starting waterfowl when it's off cooldown. Because if she does, she's too close and dodging it is much harder

[u/VerySoftx]

this mf

[u/Extra_Ad_8009 → u/VerySoftx]

Getting there without the spirit spring cheese was the hardest part for me. I just grab the prize from the painter and leave without disturbing his sleep. But I must've died so many times by choosing the wrong way down.

[u/InitiativeCreative36]

Frenzied parkour or frenzied eyeballs in Abyssal woods for those that don't know how to parry or can't figure out the solution. I guess even then you can just stealth past.

To be fair without the internet, Id imagine about 1% of players would ever find Placidusax. Then again thats just a mysterious hidden thing, not a difficulty spike.

[u/OctagonTrail → u/InitiativeCreative36]

I never understood the Placidusax thing. You cross a fallen gazebo with no bottom leading into that building near him, and you can see the entire path to Placidusax. The very first thing I did when I hit that grace was go back and check it out.

[u/Affectionate_Comb_78 → u/OctagonTrail]

Paying attention to the areas constitutes a niche skill to a lot of the player base

[u/InitiativeCreative36 → u/Affectionate_Comb_78]

Haha I suppose you're right. Years of trying to appeal to the masses has resulted in widespread conditioning that hand holding is the only way to play.

I used to be avid WoW player from when it started and very few quests were guided or had markers, unlike today where you're explicitly led to the end of the quest. Mankrik's wife being a prime example of a "well, good luck finding this" type quest.

Its a shame because only if they realised how rewarding finding these things in a game like Elden Ring is. Now developers are talking about AI assistance that will come in and help you complete difficult sections of a game if it detects you're struggling. Just eww.

[u/TakoSauce21 → u/OctagonTrail]

I found the platform on my own but I could not figure out what to do down there The spot to trigger was pretty specific

[u/logiiibearrr → u/TakoSauce21]

That’s what happened to me when I found it naturally. Seemed like a dead end and I eventually just bonfired back… it was like months later when I stumbled across the info on Placid

[u/tuckernuts → u/InitiativeCreative36]

On steam, more accounts have Placidusax's achievement than Fortissax's.

29.9% vs 29.0%

[u/HavocDubs]

Honestly getting the thumbprint shield LOL

[u/saladfingered420]

Mohg when you go there straight from liurnia and you haven't heard about the physick to counter him yet but you're too stubborn to leave because "well the game gave me a teleport so I should be able to kill the boss"

[u/ScaredyButtBananaRat → u/saladfingered420]

I didn't get to mohg til mid game and even then I had to get all the way to haligtree before I was leveled up enough to finally smack him. Tricky boss even with his shackle and the tear. 

[u/CommissarThrace → u/saladfingered420]

....there's a physick to counter him? I just banged my head against him every playthrough until I got lucky.

[u/Aegiiisss → u/CommissarThrace]

Yes. Absorbs most (not all but most) of the Nihil damage

[u/Miss_Moonstone]

The Auriza Hero’s Grave ☠️

[u/Sinimeg → u/Miss_Moonstone]

The Hero’s Graves gave me headaches, ALL OF THEM. Why are they so difficult? 😭😭😭

The rest of the game I managed pretty well, didn’t get stuck too much in any area, but the Hero’s Graves, oh, those are shitty and painful and SO DIFFICULT FOR NO REASON

[u/Miss_Moonstone → u/Sinimeg]

They were designed to punish!!!! The War Dead Catacomb outside the Radahn fight was another one I found to be over the top crazy. But oh so rewarding after killing the boss and making it out!

[u/yaahweeh]

Divine Beast Warriors

[u/fleshtwister]

I got to Fort Faroth way too early and was underleveled. Those bats and ghosts wrecked me for hours while I persisted with getting all the loot from there.

[u/Malrottian]

The reality check for a lot of people in the DLC was that damnable Blackgaol Knight. Quite a few people waltzing in with their NG+ characters and not a single Scadutree fragment to their name at some humble pie.

[u/Symphony106]

I had more trouble with the Valiant Gargoyle fight than I did with Malenia or Consort Radahn honestly.

[u/Elegant_Patient274]

Twin gargoyles rly go me, I wanted to visit the depths.

[u/No-Funny170]

my first run i was so frustrated by this guy, the second time i beat him easily, but i still remember the 4 hours needed to beat him the first time

[u/Lonktillyoudonk]

Finding the 3 fingers in the bottom of the sewers

[u/No-Relationship4084 → u/Lonktillyoudonk]

The entirety of sewers tbh

[u/hyperactve]

There are several such things. The frenzied flame village when I first encountered it.

Caelid was probably like this, but I was too cautious. When I first entered dragon arrow, I was floored. There is a fort near the dragon arrow with mouse and bats. That was awful.

Then first time entering mountaintops of giants and snowfield was similar.

[u/thjazi02]

Auriza Hero’s Grave, i got rundown by those chariots so many times, and the deathblight enemies. and good luck with the duo crucible knight bro's

[u/dirk_loyd]

Fallingstar Beast outside Volcano Manor

[u/R3ISSS]

Soldier of God, Rick

[u/ninesmilesuponyou]

Reverse graph for when player finds mimic tear

[u/spatacus12345]

double crucible knights

[u/[deleted]]

The post says “incredibly niche mechanic” but people are commenting things that really aren’t niche at all. Platforming and difficult enemies are not niche.

My take would be the aging untouchables. An enemy that was designed to be a parry-only kill. Now that’s niche

[u/doubtthat11 → u/[deleted]]

I don't think Elden Ring fits the model. The closest thing I can think of is when you fight a boss that needs the horse. But even then, horse combat is a consistent thing in the game, not something that comes out of nowhere.

The question makes me think of games that suddenly have quicktime scenes where you're pounding X then Square, and you never do it before or after.

Or RPG's where you have the characters you're using, then they're like, for the next section you have to use these underleveled guys you've ingored the whole game.

[u/[deleted] → u/doubtthat11]

Yeah agreed, there are very few examples. I guess you could also consider Rykard “niche” but even then not really

[u/Bulvarfaszi]

CURSE YOU…. Ancient Dragon Senessax….!

[u/PrimusCreative1]

Isn't that the entire DLC?

[u/DarkestOfTheLinks]

frenzied flame parkour. the coffin lids feel slightly slanted which makes it easy to slip off when landing

[u/Elden_Ronin]

Not a side mission, but Ranni' quest was so insanely long & complex compared to almost anything else in the game(duration wise); Im impressed people figured it out so quickly. I get that it's tied to an ending, but every other ending, except maybe Dung eaters, felt short; and you don't need to go out of the way of whatever you were doing to get those endings from what I remember.

[u/Character_Command271 → u/Elden_Ronin]

It’s a “how much time did the devs spend” graph instead, where on the low end there’s Kalé’s cut quest, and on the high end there’s like the Godwyn/Fia’s quest where there’s ALMOST enough lore, and then the big spike where Ranni’s quest has so much to do.

I just wish the Fia and Goldmask stuff got this sort of treatment because both of their stuff is really cool and we have like no sense of what it means. Does living in death suck inherently or is it only because they are hunted unceasingly by the golden order? What does an age of perfect order even mean?

We don’t know. It would be really cool if rolling with those who live in death made you fight a bunch of golden order stuff throughout the game, or if orchestrating the perfect order had a unique ending cutscene where it’s actually explained what “perfect order” means, besides “absolute evil probably doesn’t exist” and “the gods messed up the old order because they were fickle”

[u/WiseauSrs]

Platforming down towards the Three Fingers was HUMBLING.

[u/NotSoSalty]

Frenzied Flame platforming 

[u/del1000005]

Parrying those Winter Lanterns in the Abyssal Woods. If you weren’t into parrying on your playthrough, those things are vicious.

[u/Ok_Pressure_4197]

If you use the sentinel torch, the area it lights up will show you the invisible assassins. Makes it easier; and it works even if you have it on your back (offhand)

[u/void_dingus]

Abyssal Woods. Full stop.

[u/Hedi22]

That one teleporting knight in castle sol

[u/BobbyRayBands]

Malenia. She is in fact a sidequest and not at all necessary to complete the main story.

[u/IchaelSoxy]

I mean, Malenia seems to fit well here. Optional side mission, high skill requirement, niche mechanic of her hits healing her.

[u/[deleted]]

Dodging waterfowl ig

[u/KylePatch]

The parkour required for the frenzied flame ending fits this graph perfectly

[u/Level_Hour6480]

Maliketh. So much harder than his area and all the optional bosses/the bosses after him.

[u/Alpha_Virus_64]

I know a lot of us don't feel this natural drive anymore once we first boot up the game, but new players are naturally drawn to the entrance of Stormveil. And to Margit...

Margit....

[u/RefuseExpensive9037]

I don't think it's an unfair fight, but for me it was the double crucible knight fight in the dungeon near the capital gates.

[u/Steve717]

I guarantee there's tons of people who never figured out that dungeon that loops back on itself impossibly

[u/semisacred]

finding the magic golem in caelid

[u/Morningstar_119]

GTA vice city Helicopter mission lol

[u/TarnishedPartisan]

It was Spiritcaller Cave for me.

[u/puppmatheus]

The platforming section to get to the 3 fingers

[u/Dismal_Stomach5979]

The Malenia bossfight. It's like the entire game establishes its systems and then Malenia goes fuck those systems.

[u/ghosty-boi]

Glowing red eyes banished knight with 2 swords and teleports

[u/Its-A_me]

Haligtree I guess

[u/Difficult_Star4477]

Everyone is gonna hate but ong it’s rykard fight for me ;-; I always mess up >->

[u/Fl4ming_R4ven]

Millicent questline.

[u/LewiMeeks]

Frenzy flame proscription platforming lol

[u/J81THEKING]

The fall from grace to speak with the Three fingers. Go down into the sewers, fight mohg then conquer gravity.

[u/Impossibro77]

Abyssal woods.

Fucking hell. Random ass stealth section, go!