Disclaimer: This was what I used back in May, and subsequent updates might have nerfed/change things.
The main thing I used was Terra Magica, which is a spell that buffs your spell damage by like 35 percent for the next 30 seconds.
My buddy used specific talismans (like Graven-School Talisman) plus staves and armor from like Azur and Lusat, but I didn’t have the resources to upgrade the gear; I’m pretty sure I still used a regular Carian Glintstone staff. My laser was the unlimited FP flask and Terra Magicka – maybe I swapped a talisman.
Sorcery is once you reach a certain point in the game, but it certainly doesn’t start out that way. And then towards the end even with 80 INT I found sorcery to be less than I had hoped. I beat the final boss using a sorcery picked up very early in the game but mostly by using the moonveil sword as a sword.
Sorcery for me was kinda slow and not really a universal kill all. Don’t get me wrong though, for awhile you are a God with it.
Maybe I just have too much of a melee mind set. I have beat the game 3 times now, each time with a different build and each time at a lower level. But much of that is knowing the game.
I finally beat Melania, she stood still long enough for me to get a few damaging spells on her, but I still had to do the last half of phase 2 solo with just the sword. Trying to do magic at that point would have been suicidal. She is just too fast.
So, with everything done it is time to gather things I may have missed and prep for whatever the DLC may throw at us.
Oof. If they want me to play PvP in Elden Ring, good luck. It’s miserable beyond description, and I’m a whack-job who actually enjoyed PvP in some of their previous games.
I never played DS3 but apparently the PvP provided at the Coliseums is very much like that was. 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and up to 6 at a time free-for-all brawls.
I know that they did release a PvP balance patch a couple months ago that, if I remember correctly, just globally reduced damage taken in PvP. I have serious doubts any of this changed the fundamental un-funness of anything, but I am curious if any of our Qt3ers still have Elden Ring installed and are willing to give it a try!
I will be obligated to try out PvP once a full expansion comes out to at least report from the trenches. I just don’t get the urge to download a big file onto my Steam Deck right now when I’m pretty sure I’m going to uninstall it right after.
I saw a summary that talked about how each of the three coliseums allow for different types of PvP. One of them is team-based, the second is one-versus-one, and the third coliseum is free-for-all that allows you to use spirit summons.
I enjoyed PvP in DS3, although I admit my kill to get killed ratio wasn’t very good. It is fun on groups but my problem with ER PvP has been the OP weapons.
So I tried the arenas and they were fun. I went 2-8 in duels, but I didn’t use a special build or anything, I never ran into anyone who did anything crazy, which is good.
My character is a level 164 mage that really isn’t very mage like in PvP, so respeccing would probably be a good thing.
I did get into a 4 player with summons free for all that was fun. It is timed and when you die you get reborn at full health. Pretty crazy couple of minutes.
So I recently finished playing FFXII (I know, like 15 years too late) and I’m looking for my next big RPG fix (JRPG or otherwise). I’ve got Elden Rings and Persona 5 both installed on my Xbox ready to play but I can’t decide which one to dig into first. Any thoughts?
Elden Ring is a large open world game based on the formula put forward by the Dark Souls series. If you are patient and don’t mind dying then give it a chance.
It’s somewhat fun but I wish they put in a damage modifier. I get why in the normal game the damage has to be so high, because there’s so many defense options and too much/too quick healing. But in the arena you don’t have most of that.
Also team battles with spirits are really bad about momentum because when you die your spirit goes too, and there’s no respawn protection so you might die if you try to resummon it right away. Probably works better in free for all but I haven’t tried it yet.
I love both of those games and have played through them both at least 3 times. knowing what I know about them I would suggest this: Play Elden Ring now. Play Persona 5 after.
Elden Ring is the current hotness and some of the fantastic gameplay in that title is online multiplayer. So play now, while it’s hot and it’s winning awards and there are 500,000 potential other players that can join you on your crusade. Then, after a few months of that go play Persona 5, which was the best JRPG I’ve ever played, has great characters, a really good turn based combat system, and no online components to speak of.
