Thanks I’ll come back to Leyandell later. I was disappointed after working so hard to kill that Giant!
My goal right now is to upgrade my Moonveil to the max, +10. I’m at +5. I somehow have a Somber Stone 8 in my inventory so I assume I need a 6, 7, 9, and 10. I’m only at level 65 or so right now: is that a do-able goal?
Once you get to the Altus Plateau the 5-6-7s become more available but it will be awhile before you find an 9. You do get the somber ones easier than the regular ones, especially since you only need 1 of each per weapon.
The last stone for +10 Moonveil, there are only 8 of them in the entire game (the ability to buy infinite stones via bell bearings only applies up to +9), and they are in endgame regions (5 are in the optional hidden endgame areas!).
I was looking up potentially getting one specific stone in an area that you can try teleporting too, but then I realized it’s inside a fairly difficult dungeon.
My Moonveil was basically stuck at +7 until I hit the endgame.
You should have been able to get numerous 8-9 in either Farum Azula or the Haligtree.
I consider those endgame areas (and the Haligtree is what I was referring to as an optional endgame area), and I believe Jeff is working through Raya Lucaria so I don’t think it’s realistic for him to get to Farum and Haligtree soon.
As I wrote that I thought the same thing.
Well, I just had my Elden Ring ‘moment’. A brush with greatness. Or, an homage to greatness at any rate.
Struggling to finish off Malenia yesterday after a few hours and a few dozen attempts, I began early this morning. In addition to the tried-and-true Blasphemous Blade I’d started to develop a new strategy (more on that in a moment) and I was alternating between just me and my Mimic and summoning usually 2 cooperators. I was surprised by the number I had to choose from at this early morning hour and then delighted to spot a warrior going by the name of “Let Me 1v1 Her”.
I had to laugh. Sure, nothing to lose. Obviously inspired by the legend, he was dressed a bit differently, if still using the two Katanas. We bowed, I buffed us, and the battle commenced.
He was the real deal. I did not lay a finger on Malenia but stood in rapt attention as he whittled her down between acrobatic leaps and bounds. First stage he took absolutely no damage. Second stage I worried the initial rot bomb might have gotten him but he got away and healed quickly. Later in the fight she caught him in a combo and he was under half-health but again got away and healed. But ultimately, it was over before it started. He fucking killed the shit out of her and outside of the videos of “Let Me Solo Her” I had not seen anything like it.
A quick note on what I’ve been experimenting with. With my current character’s play through I’ve been using The Lion Greatbow that you can receive after defeating Radahn a lot. I use it to snipe, I use it to cheese, but I’ve also been having a lot of success with it against bosses (esp. very large ones) when I can set up my Mimic for melee and then switch to the bow and ruin them with the Radahn’s Rain skill. But also, against more human sized opponents, the knockdown ability is strong. So I thought, “Why not against Malenia?” It does an excellent job of knocking her down once you get the timing down and don’t fire until she finishes one of her animations. She’ll only dodge if she’s paying attention to you and not another cooperator or mimic.
He did, at the start, and even hit me twice. But I had enough health to survive.
Big bows can be a lot of fun. But I don’t think I have ever used one in a boss fight.
I thought maybe they had patched that out.
Doesn’t the cooperator who joined and solo’ed Malenia have an even bigger challenge? I thought the bosses have a bigger health pool.
He knew the job was dangerous when he took it.
I did a LOT of “how about this” tweaks as I tried Malenia over and over again, and while this example wasn’t a win, it does corroborate your idea and presents a potential alternate version: Redmane Knight Ogha can also continuously stagger Malenia with his bow. The main things are to A) have her focus on you so he can line up the shots, B) make sure his shots actually hit her and C) be close enough to run in and hit her while she’s down (I was often rolling away and ended up adding too much distance). Ogha’s AI is also super quirky, but When It Works, Ogha was among my top three closest victories (Tiche and Mimic, with Mimic as my actual victory clear).
I feel like it’s a viable strategy. And it’s a given that only a fraction of Malenia attempts will ultimately succeed. But I tend to get repeat summons which makes me think my efforts are being appreciated. And sometimes we do succeed.
Like you said, the other players have to start to trust the process somewhat and not roll away to better take advantage because I’m knocking her down with regularity. Interesting too, since my damage is the least I hardly ever draw aggro.
I was feeling pretty cocky, then I ran into Rennala. I briefly looked at a couple of guides for her, so I know what I am supposed to do. After 5 tries, I’ve gotten decent at only taking a little damage killing the little ones throwing books (I still get hit here and there, and I can get blasted by her big projectile blast if I’m not careful.) And I’m greedy and don’t get away from her when she is down and I’m whacking her with my Moonveil and I get blasted.
But the last couple of times I made it to phase 2. But I find myself just running in circles trying to avoid her attacks, and when I stopped to summon Headless I got killed both times. I assume if I summon her in first phase I won’t have her in the second?
Watched a video, looked a lot easier that what I’m doing, LOL! I’m not even trying my rock sling, etc. at her as I assume she doesn’t take much damage from magic attacks like that. Any tricks or tips?
Assuming your summons survives stage one they’ll be with you in stage two. Never a reason not to summon them first thing imo.
First stage you know to only hunt the glowy kids, right?
Ah, good to know. And yes on the glowy kids. In fact, I saw something that said you don’t have to kill them (if they don’t die on the first hit) just hit them and that stops them.
Since I assume my Meteorite staff and rock sling and other spells won’t effect her much, I’m equipping my Carion shield, as I think that has the most magic protection. I’m not used to using a shield, though, since I’ve usually got the staff in my left hand. I’ve got Moonveil at +5; would I be better off with something else (assuming I’ve got it, haven’t been further north than where I’m at and I’m level 67.)
I would try the Rocks, I think they do physical damage, not magical. You’ll get it and if you don’t check for a coop summons maybe.
Rock Sling is the only spell that hurts her. Her magic resistance for everything else is like 80%.
Conversely, she is especially vulnerable to physical damage where she takes additional damage from physical hits.
From what I remember, I just dodgeroll everything (believe she starts phase 2 with a big magic spell that you can roll to the side to avoid), ignored her summons and just kept pressing her with either Transient Moonlight or regular hits. I think I used wolves or any summon that has multiple units to distract / draw aggro (didn’t need a solitary tank).
There’s a big pause at the end of phase 1 where she’s doing her ‘dying’ animation - this is the ideal time to summon, as your summon carries over into phase 2. As others mention, Rock Sling is good. First priority at the start of Phase 2 is to avoid her beam attack, then you can settle into a rhythm. She doesn’t have many hit points so if you can avoid her summons, you’re good.
She was actually the only boss I summoned another player for, as I just couldn’t be bothered with doing phase 1, and the long run up, every time.