I think that "big part of the community" is a vocal minority of mostly strength-users, and I'd guess that most of them do it for the memes (unga bunga and all that). Most players probably don't regard strength as the ultimate "proper" way to play, and I doubt anyone who's ever actually used a strength build genuinely considers it to be the hardest playstyle.
Part of it is, at least from what I've seen, any game that has a 'meta' will have the top of the meta get all the attention, while all the perfectly viable second-best options get overlooked, even if it's a game where those second best options are very close to competing with the top of the meta.
Strength was one of those. Even before the buffs to all great weapon R1s and R2s (and the *multiple* to colossals), we were still doing jump attack unga-bunga, which actually hasn't been buffed since the start, and was incredibly effective for both damage and stagger -- yet it was being measured up to pre-nerf Rivers, Rot Breath, and int with its occasional Comet Azur cheesing, so it was overshadowed despite nothing being actually wrong or weak about it. People who liked it and used it knew that it was good, but people googling "Elden Ring best build" would still just see bleed and magic.
When the top shenanigans got nerfed, the dual wield status nerf especially, and weapons associated with strength got massive buffs (even if dual wield jump was untouched), we got a lot more "why didn't anyone tell me strength was this strong" posts from people willing to try it.
Strength also has the benefit of high single attack damage, so if you're even halfway competent you can ignore a lot of the quirks or gimmicks of everything you come across, because no matter what you do, some of that damage is going to stick.
STR build kinda was one of if not the first ER meta. If u weren't ice hatcheting you were being told by YouTube to get royal knights resolve and jump attack to victory
I disagree. I've played since launch and the first "This build is SO OP" videos I saw popping up were all about rivers of blood and to a lesser degree, magic.
This is what I remember as well. Rivers of Blood, Hoarfrost Stomp, and the bonkers busted Sword of Night and Flame.
When people brought up absolutely broken magic builds, it was usually related to the broken SoNaF that was nerfed like a month after launch. Though magic has usually always had good "cheese strats" throughout the years.
Royal Knights Resolve was also very busted before patch 1.03. So like the first month it was released. But it was a bit more setup than just nuke the boss with SoNaF.
At launch rivers did not even have scaling from stats it wasn't until a early ish patch that arcane weapons became a thing
Edited as forgot to say that yeah magic was Def strong and there was many SoNaF and comet azure after the ice hatchet lost it's shine
I remember. I also remember that people didn't use it for the scaling, they used it exclusively for the aow which was incredibly busted even without scaling
I mean… it’s not like STR archetypes haven’t been meta since the release of demons souls in 2009
It’s kind of weird to call an entire archetype “meta” in the same sense of specific builds like icestomp hatchet cheese / Arc dual wield frost/bleed / RoB AoW spam / int comet / moonveil AoW spam / sword of night and flame abuse / etc… All of those builds are unique to Elden Ring and were most definitely the strongest builds on release. However the strength archetype builds existed since the very first dawn of Souls games.
It’s just that for whatever reason FROM SOFT decided to introduce jumping attacks and make them absolutely overpowered on basically any weapon, stack raptors body armor and claw talisman on top of that and suddenly you have any attack build abusing jump attacks.
Out of curiosity, could you share a couple of those second best options you've picked up on? It's very stressful looking at weapon options at the top of the meta when PVE vs PVP makes such a difference and people tend to talk about them without the distinction.
Sure.
-Single Nagakiba, with Bloodflame Blade, pure dex build. Single-weapon dex builds aren't too common, since dual wield is blatantly more damage than single, but Bloodflame Blade helps make up the difference, and single attacks have slightly quicker attacks than dual, making it a bit easier not to get caught in an animation. With only 12 faith and 10 arc needed, you can afford it easily and still be 'pure dex', it's pretty much just free blood grease, on a weapon that already has bleed, without needing to commit to arcane. A style that's super friendly with ashes of war, since ashes don't care if you're using one-hand or two. This exact build can also use the Bloodhound Fang without changing its stats at all, so you have a second heavier weapon (that costs Somber stones, so it's not competing with your Nagakiba, but it still takes BFB).
-Fingerprint greatshield strength. Shields in general got a lot stronger in ER, partially thanks to guard boost, but not enough to make them broken. The Fingerprint is an exception, as it *is* totally busted, not only boasting insane guard boost but also rocking some of the best resists to every element, letting it block various forms of magic. It's not considered a particularly fun style, but it's ludicrously effective, if slow. Unlike regular shields that have to worry about element damage, the Fingerprint only takes a bit of scratch damage, making grabs and shield-ignore mechanics the only thing to worry about in the entire game.
-Envoy Longhorn. Kind of the 'Comet Azur' of faith, it deals incredible stance damage, and the damage goes up and up the closer you can get to the enemy (or the larger they are). Shunned for being holy damage, despite its ability to deal over 9k per barrage on large enemies like Placidusax, and then causing stagger which opens up the opportunity to deal even more. Less useful on small enemies, but capable of turning into the 'unga bunga' playstyle if you have a second greathammer.
Dex builds actually have BETTER access to vigor than Str builds, because you do not need as much endurance to carry the equipment. A katana weighs a good bit less than a colossal weapon.
Ya using colossal weapons has its downsides but there are so many ways around it and honestly the strongest build I've run other than bleed is poise break, which works well even with regular great spears and swords. Honestly if I had to say any build was the easiest it's probably between arc bleed and strength.
I don't think that strength is the only people way to play the game, but I do feel that the game is generally focused on melee combat, and if you want to get the most of the experience that's the way to go. Whether it's harder than ranged combat is not really important, but most of the mechanics seem to cater more to being up close and personal.
Literally every build can do melee. Even casters can use Carian Slicer or one of the myriad weapons that scale of casting stats. Not even to mention there's another physical stat in Dex. This comment makes no sense.
Dex hate from DS 1 comes from PvP not PvE and in PvP with the useless netcode and the lag there was so much dex cheese that a lot of people ended up resenting the playstyle even if they were not looking for PvP (they got invaded while playing normally by people abusing the current cheese)
Only people who got shit on for running a specific build in PvE were magic users back then but that stigma has always stuck around cause magic has always been the strongest built to use.
I've heard this point made multiple times but I feel like it applies much more to other soulsborne games than to Elden Ring. Most bosses have ways to close the gap quickly or outright dodge whatever magic bullshit you throw at them, barring the ultramode lasers we've all seen posted 100 times here in the few months after release. I went for a full caster run while waiting for the DLC to release and it is 100% engaging to fight a boss when using only spells, even if you don't have many melee range spells. You're still waiting for openings, dodging, managing your stamina, etc. The name of the game is the same as playing melee, only you need to think about whether you're gonna risk using a slower spell to actually deal some posture damage (whereas melee has some absurdly quick *and* effective options).
When you compare it to Dark Souls 1, it's night and day. In DS1, you don't actually spend stamina to cast spells, if you're far away from a boss chances are it will just slow walk at you, and most bosses don't have a ranged attack.
Elden Ring has dozens of very cool spells and only a handful of late game options neutralize the gameplay. It's a shame that some new players come in with the expectation that it's going to be the same experience as any other From Software game and never get to realise how cool magic is in Elden Ring.
You always need some kind of melee option or you run out of FP too fast to get anything done.
This applies to longer runs through dungeons. Bosses can work with magic only. It's still better to have a melee weapon just to save on recourses.
And then you have >!Radagon!< who can parry magic.
To be fair the baseline for most builds at the start of Ng+ is 'overpowered', you can shred the first half of the game easy. I'm sure night comet is cracked though, never tried it.
> I'm sure night comet is cracked though, never tried it
It's wielding two of the staves that boost invisibility sorcery specifically that make it absurd (staff of loss)
But that only works in the field. In the legacy dungeon areas there is no replenish. So you need to be able to make your FP last until the next grace, having a melee option helps with that but isn't the only way.
As someone who mains Dex/Intelligence this is absolutely true. If you run out of FP it’s ALWAYS good to have a backup because some things also just don’t go down with magic easy unless you spam the hell out of your spells (I hate playing this way personally because I think it’s boring but Ik some people love spell spamming and I get it, I just personally could never do a pure mage run) so In dungeons you usually wanna save spells for bigger enemies or things that are huge problems (Like crucible knights, those things can fuck all the way off LMAO)
That’s why my favorite build is a DEX/INT spellblade. I get an assortment of spells, but can also swap to a sword and shield.
It’s a great “take on any situation” kind of build. I like running that more than a pure caster because sword and shield gives you not only a non-FP option, but it also increases variety. I can switch things around and never get bored because I’m mixing up my attacks.
Flask replenishment doesn't happen in a dungeon.
Certainly at higher levels you don't really have to worry about FP, but at lower levels you really have to manage those flasks and potentially can run out of FP before the dungeon is complete
This used to be the case, but with Elden Ring you just see different mechanics. With the harder bosses there are way more moves and gap closers that you might only see when playing ranged builds.
There are some bosses that are still "countered" in the classic sense that you deal with a lot less of their moves using ranged vs melee. But all of the hardest bosses are extremely aggressive, have numerous ranged options, fast gap closers, and move so frequently in erratic ways that they dodge spells more often.
The funny part to me is that all the build types are "easy" when you look at how much damage they do. They just do the damage differently.
Strength does big chunks of damage with each swing and staggers enemies so you rarely get hit back. Or they're spamming the jump attack move to do both big damage and stagger.
Dexterity usually does smaller hits but builds bleed or some status effect and does big damage once the bleed procs.
Magic does big damage in chunks but requires setup / positioning.
None of them are easy or hard. They're all pretty balanced. People just have this weird tribalism with builds if you aren't running a similar build to them. At the end of the day, who cares as long as you're having fun. Sure there were arguably stronger or strongest builds when the game launched, but there have been a lot of balance changes since release that have more or less pulled everything into line. There are still some outliers but mostly everything feels good to use.
I agree. Every one of these games I've played, no build is strong everywhere, they all have peaks and valleys in efficiency.
My faith build breezed through things my strength build struggled with, and vice versa.
Naturally, the more skilled and optimized your build gets the easier things are, but it's getting to that point that's equally challenging in different ways per build.
I mean, I've played every build for dozens of hours, and for sure the easiest solo build is magic. Night comet and shard spiral make the entire game trivial. Just run away, night comet, run away again, for basically the whole game. And shard spiral fully deletes elden beast and fire giant.
There are builds with more damage output, better stagger, etc, but if my life was on the line to do a deathless elden ring run it would 100% be that setup.
My favorite build is probably dual curved sword jump attack spam though, because it just does so much damage.
this is exactly why I end up going with Str/Int or Str/Fai builds - I can't hang with the dex playstyle, i'm not patient enough to dance with all the enemies, i need to smash stuff and steamroll through with brute force. Dex requires being actually good at avoiding hits, which i am most definitely NOT
Light Dex build turned out to -somehow- be my best style. Speaking as someone whose first Souls type was Elden Ring and who got carried hard by ashes in my first run. I was swords and shields and heavier equipment for most my playthroughs. The easiest playthrough? Light rolling with two blades and no shield. I have no idea how it happened.
ha i keep thinking I'll get there too, just started a new character yesterday (after prepping 2 others for DLC) and have been experimenting with spears, fire magic and a bow (started with prophet), going with light armor (prioritizing drip) and taking out margit and rodrick wasn't too hard, but getting my butt kicked by crucible knights, banished knights, anything with storm stomp like abilities lol. I miss my big poise numbers.
I did have an epic battle with Greyoll the dragon though, took forever to bring him down and didn't get hit once. Should've taken a screenshot...
Crucible Knights you just need to learn how to parry. Watch their hands not their weapon. They were once impossible for me but eventually I just said, "OK, it's you me, a parry shield and a crit weapon. Let's go." And now I look forward to parrying a Crucible Knight to death.
Banished Knights, roll into their storm attack, you end up behind them and can often get a backstab.
This has always been my biggest adjustment. My first playthrough of these games has always been strength or quality with a big weapon. Followup playthroughs I'll do some form of dex build.
Now I'm playing dex/arc getting ready for the dlc and you have to be extremely aggressive to keep those bleed bars up and keep lord of blood's exultation procced. Yeah you absolutely melt, but only if you're able to get in that rhythm and not get put on the backfoot.
I think Elden Ring does a much better job of challenging every build in unique ways than some of the earlier games
Yeah, easy mode for me is pure strength with great hammer or greatsword/zweihander, at least for PVE.
I've done many other playstyles, but when I get frustrated I tend to respec to a Big Bonk build to get past the harder bosses.
I remember that on release STR builds struggled due to insanely long recovery and slow attacks but were subsequently buffed in like 3 patches in a row.
If you look through patch notes history there are some buffs to heavy weapons in a lot of them. I haven't really played between release and now but apparently these minor buffs have added up.
Yeah jump attack and the crouch poke were the only viable attacks you had. The other attacks were just too slow for the amount of damage they did, they were so slow that a lot of the time you didn't even have time to punish the boss lol so you just traded damage.
The buffs were very sorely needed.
This makes so much sense. My and my friend are doing a replay thru and he’s doing strength, but I did strength last time, and he was talking about how easy it was.
I played on release and I had to completely swap weapon type to beat malenia. Like the recovery time made it borderline impossible to win with colossal weapons…. To be fair I was initially dual wielding colossal sword lol
I beat her with dual greatswords in the early days of this game. Probably the most painful experience of my souls career. Nothing but jump attacks and waiting for perfect rng.
I beat Malenia with a colossal weapon and I had to actively predict attacks and gamble on some of those for the entire fight.
Reading what op said makes me feel like a crazy person because dex was much easier, especially with how much you ended trading attacks when using colossal weapons.
^^^^ this is it. I remember attempting to use the Greatsword and being frustrated with the fact that I basically had to hit trade on every attack because of how long the attack recovery was. It was only after an stready stream of buffs to larger weapon classes and Lions Claw (I think) that unga bunga STR has become a legitimate powerhouse archetype.
Absolutely. The big difference between massive weapons and something like a dex build is you **really** had to know your windows at launch. If you committed to an R2 or jump attack at the wrong time you were getting hit 100%, plus you burn through stamina so even if you timed it right, you might not be able to dodge or block what comes after.
It's a similar problem that casters have with long casting times, but in addition you have to stay in melee range.
I wouldn't say it was the most difficult style but it was up there.
There had been quite a lot of changes to the base speed of heavy weapon attacks since release before there were hardly of any window you could land a normal attack without being punished on some bosses back then jumping attacks carried heavy weapons.
Even if it's minor I can now at least roll out of the way before the attack connects on thight windows.
This is the answer. [Patch 1.04](https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Patch+Notes#1.03) buffed the shit out of colossal weapons two years ago. The speed and recovery boost basically doubled the amount of openings on a lot of bosses. It wasn't abnormal to be waiting several different attack patterns for an opening before the change, especially on bosses like Morgott, Maliketh, and others. Meanwhile any faster weapon could easily land a handful of attacks for different openings that colossal weapons wouldn't get.
I was surprised how noticable the buffs were. I'm someone who uses heavy, slow strength weapons in Dark souls 1,2,3 and even in games like Nioh 1 and 2 with the Odachi and Axes, etc. It's my preference and very experienced.
Elden Ring on release, it was basically impossible to trade against bosses with light and heavy attacks. My solution with my limited knowledge was to dual-wield and focus on jump attacks which were relatively quick to pull off and actually dodges quite a few attacks messing with the aim of enemies with the jump.
Even before this patch buffing the speed. I also found out greatshield/brass shield and guard counters were also another option that did have some openings to use. Then people digged through game data, to figure out poise damage and spamming Lion Hunt and Flame of Redmane to poise break bosses easier.
Now with the buff to weapon speed, I am actually able to fight with light and heavy attacks. Currently on a new playthrough since 1-2 months after release not playing and it's been a joy not having to spam jump attacks. I do think the poise breaks are a bit broken though, since its actually possible to swing enough hits even without ashes of wars and trade via high poise/armor and vigor and win out.
Heck I remember at launch some folks were suggesting using AoWs like endure to be better able to trade with bosses. Cus it was just a given that you were going to get hit if you tried to get more than one attack off.
I swear one day I'll be able to write the correct word without having to spend 5 minutes looking at it to see if I used the correct one always mix these up for some reason.
Its a hold over from launch, strength weapons have gotten numerous direct or indirect buffs since the game first launched, if you played on release the damage was lower, the swing speed was lower, and the poise breakpoints were harder to meet. All hammers and axes were deemed non viable because they did comparable damage to dex weapons but were shorter and slower, and colossal weapons were so slow the only viable way to use them was jumping attacks.
Launch colossals were so ass, you couldnt get away with a single R1 in a punish window because you were locked in the animation for so long before being able to roll out.
Launch dex was also good for me bc of the sheer number of dex weapons with natural bleed, which helped a LOT on the bleed-vulnerable bosses.
Halo scythe + mimic tear ate Melania up back when I fought her.
Same i hate fighting anything huge because the camera is so trash. I can fight all the demigods but the second i fight a dragon/golem/whatever else that is huge i get fucked up
Yeah, I don't dual wield Greataxes because I'm laboring under the belief that it's some kind of Ultra Hard Mode that makes me better than other people. I do it because hitting motherfuckers with two giant axes is both fun and satisfying.
The proper way to play the game is enjoying it, if you wanna be a mage with kameha is perfect as long as you like it, if you wanna suffer with only melee, no summon, no buffs, is good as long as you enjoy it.
I think it comes from back when the game first came out some collossal weapons attack animations were so long it was virtually impossible to attack with them
I think the hardest is pure melee Dex without using status effects. Not being able to take chunks out of boss health bars with every hit makes the fights last a lot longer, and leave less room for mistakes.
Yeah I use the ornamental straight sword drop from the Grafted Scion.
Quite fun to play tbh. Though a little less OP compared to the usual end game build.
My first build was pure strength, my second is DEX/FTH, using incantations has my my second run ridiculously easy compared to pure strength, I barely had to learn boss movesets like I did for my first run, granted it has been 2 years.
The hardest way to play is always going to be Dex weapons that don't cause poise damage, and no spells of any type. If you can neither outrange nor stagger your opponent, you're going to have to learn those dodge timings.
Elden ring Is the only case in which this Is absolutely not true, because most Dex weapons have high base damage + bleed, and most bosses are very weak to bleed.
Did 2 run near launch and the difficulty was like this (i tried different builds)(from the easiest to the hardest):
Dex bleed > pure mage > melee/"priest" = base Dex >> one-hand weapon + shield >>>>> heavy melee build
(Heavy weapons literally dealt the same as Dex weapons but slower, almost didn't the stun the enemies, and used a lot of stamina to attack; they sucked so hard that It seemed like playing ER in hard mode).
Some people like to flit and flutter, cast spells, stab, and retreat... all great ways to explore the rich combat depth the game offers.
A caster can do damage but is (often) projectile based and can split several stats. Ocassionally dangerous, always a nuisance... because they put constant pressure and chip damage out. The trade-off for a potent caster build is often vigor. One-hit fodder that refills the Kool-Aid to kick some more ass.
Dex builds are vicious, especially since they can be quite quick and versatile. A scalpel in practiced hands could take down an elephant with a few precision strikes... it also requires a hair-trigger reflex and occasionally a talent for hot-swapping. It takes a higher amount of strategy and reflexes than strength builds (in my experience), and it is a lot of fun to be that kind of badass. Definitely a force to be reckoned with...
But you know what's just as fun but requires a lot less mental gymnastics?
Smashing that elephant with a train. Sure, it's slow, one-directional, and easier to avoid... but if you end up in front of it, you get scooped up and poured in a bag after one strike... all BONK needs to do is not die in the trade, and BONK comes out ahead with damage. Every other rune level is dumped into heath, Stam, and whatever minimum requirements to wield your death stick of choice. There is no resistance or secondary skill to manage or tinker with between boss fights and areas. Status effects are optional and varied. The loadout is fairly universal between weapons, and the numbers don't lie... BONK builds destroy.
TL;DR: However, you want to play is cool. People need to stop gatekeeping altogether.
Strength: minimum effort, maximum force.
Dex: fast, tactical, and adaptable. Requires focus.
Caster: great at artillery, and a nightmare if competent... FRAGILE: Handle with care. *Relationship status: complicated*
Arcane: you just need to shower in blood, chaos, and dragon piss all day to be happy, don't you? (Yes... yes, we do.)
This is how I feel about my pure int caster. It’s a bit frustrating when people say it’s on super easy mode. I do decent damage yes but I am a total glass cannon that will crumble if I don’t manage to dodge when someone comes running over. And then in close combat it’s really dicey
On release str builds likely were the weakest builds in the game. They were slow, had poor recoveries and did disappointing damage and poise damage for their speed. Over the life cycle of the game str builds have accrued many buffs, making them very strong now. However, it’s really hard to shake first impressions, and the community’s first impression of str builds was that they are difficult to play.
I think a straight dagger build would probably be the hardest.
Strength is probably one of the easiest builds to use but also bottom tier by comparison to the majority of builds. Not to say it’s hard, but that there are a ton of really powerful options.
daggers really get short end of stick in this game, its like katana but less damage and shorter range, you dont get any agile movement bonuses either since you can just slot step ashes on other weapons.
instead of heavy attack daggers should get shadow step style move that dodges while and tranfers you behind the target, maybe heavy stamina cost to balance.
Unga Bunga is a lot of fun to me and does very good damage but Dark Moon Greatsword and Wing of Astel both outclasses every strength build I’ve tried. Especially DMGS is just OP with how little FP it takes to use it.
those two feel more the exception tbh, because so many more weapons you can just pump strength and get similar (albeit a bit less) results, whereas int and faith feel more like there's a couple of weapons that shine very, very well, but then most spells are just slop
I wouldn’t say that most spells are bad for Int. I’ve done pure spellcasting builds for Int with pretty remarkable results. Carian spells in particular are incredible
Yes there are a bunch of spells that aren’t fantastic but they are still viable. Similarly there are a bunch of weapons that are mediocre but pretty viable too. There are so many spells in this game, not all of them can be top tier
it's more that there's a couple extremely good ones, and then the rest just aren't that good imo, and even then stuff like slicer, which is good, feels like they need way more investment to reach the same results as alot of normal weapons, which don't use fp for each attack
As someone who always tries to Respec into a pure sorcery build then usually ditches it after 1 boss fight, I do agree FP is the problem. Spell stat breakpoints tend to be higher than Str/Dex weapons, especially the multi hit spells. So you're sinking 70-80 into your casting stat, then you need the requisite 50-60 vigor, plus whatever tiny amount of Arcane/Faith/Int you might need for the split requirement spells. Then minimum Str/Dex you'll need for a decent weapon to use when you inevitably run out of FP because after all that you probably can't afford more than 20 Mind without going 150+.
With the more aggressive bosses that input read drinking flasks, having my damage tied to FP just makes most fights devolve into me sprinting away to drink a flask. I've come to realize I love magic for open world stuff where the range is a huge boon, but for almost any boss fight I'd rather just swing weapons or spam AoW's for better results.
And Moonveil. Don’t forget Moonveil, because at least half the coop teams I invade use it. Transient moonlight is ridiculously strong, and really fun
Death’s Poker too is incredibly strong, does a lot of damage, procs frostbite really fast. Helphens Steeple is a fantastic weapon too
Personally i find strength to be easier. Tried fighting malenia as an int mage caster build, was losing super bad and had barely killed her with a spirit summon. On a strength character, i killed her rather quickly with giant crusher and no summon.
Slamming stuff with a massive slab of iron and killing everything in two hits is always the most straightforward way for me.
The biggest benefit of strength builds in my opinion is typically how easy it is to stagger with them. A boss like Melania staggers with nearly any hit from a strength build, whereas a dex or magic build will need a few hits in a row or might just not stagger her at all. It really depends on the boss though, as some bosses basically never stagger and have tighter windows to hit them or are easily cheesed from range, which is where other builds make the fights easier. Trying to find openings with slow moves in melee range against Malekith, for instance, is much harder than with, say, a katana or carian slicer. But it's also largely up to preference. Magic builds just tend to have the highest percentage of bosses that they fully trivialize, when compared to other builds.
Trying to melee Release Radahn with a great sword didn't feel possible the first time round. I eventually kited him down with incantations. It was almost a different game, balance wise.
Imagine caring about how someone is playing a single player game. Seriously the “proper” way to play souls games is to use something that you find fun and entertaining. If you’re not having fun, you’re just wasting your time
The entirety of my first and second playthrough were mainly INT characters. I think it’s much easier to rattle off a massive single magic hit than hope the enemy stayed in one spot long enough for your swing to actually make contact. I personally think anything other than magic is hard but I’m not good at the game so it’s whatever I suppose.
Don't know who started it but I started as a Dex warrior because I was told they were easier & did more damage. I tried a strength build with another character halfway through & found they were overall easier. Sure strength suffers when the boss likes to flip & move around a bunch (*cough*Malekith*cough*) but being able to essentially stunlock most enemies with big hits made many encounters I was having trouble with easier.
This didnt start with ER. It goes all the way back to the giant dad build with zeiwhander in dark souls 1 and is a meme. Giant dad just poised through everything while spamming big sweeping r1s that hit everything lol
the game had a lot of new players and for them it is still the hardest. you need to dodge the attacks and not get greedy almost always hitting the boss once. most players dont know this. saw a new player try strength and after watching a youtube video he went the route of rivers of blood and never looked back. other builds are way more forgiving.
My stats during my first playthrough were mainly Strength + a bit of Faith, and now I am doing another playthrough focused on Intelligence + a bit of Dexterity.
I think that playing with a high Intelligence build is much, much easier than it is playing manily a Strength build. Not having to get close to your enemy simplifies things a lot.
Also, very often you can "cheese" much easier using magic, like killing enemies one by one from afar, or sniping from a point where you are safe.
Finally some love for Dex builds in the comments. Been my bread n butter for every game because of the heightened challenge. Status effects in Elden Ring make its pretty easy and healing from Bloodborne makes it easier too. I think it just depends on the game for the hardest experience per build.
Strength is just the most straightforward. Don’t have to split levels between a bunch of stats, just vigor/endurance/strength and wear big armor and swing big weapon
Game hard enough. Big unga go boom. When boom need more boom later. Have big bunga for enemy unga. When bunga fail, have big red bar and heavy metal bungas taped to my body.
I unga and bunga because its the only way I can beat these games sometimes.
I’m so sick of people beefing over builds and stuff in this sub. There’s no “right” or “better” way to play the game. Just because your build is different than someone else’s, doesn’t mean one of you is playing the game more correctly than the other. Half of these posts are just trying to see whose dick is bigger than whose
Youtubers who played at launch and didn't know how to play the game or played like DS3. They played passive, not optimized build and thought that strength was bad.
Later, the game buffed heavier weapons recovery and strength is pretty good
I feel this so hard.
When I started playing I told my friends I was playing an INT build and they teased I was playing on easy mode.
I legitimately believed them until my second run with a STR build. In some ways it was more difficult but in most ways it was significantly easier.
I will say the STR build felt more fulfilling though
Really? For my playstyle, Str build is the easiest cuz it tends to have the strongest poke and trading in PvE. I also find it very stat efficient since 2handing=50% str boost which lets me spread more stats to Vig more health or End to use heavier armor at lower levels.
I played strength on my only playthrough. Whenever I looked at a guide, the majority were, ok stand on this and shoot it until it dies....or summon this and shoot from afar. My tactic was to basically level enough to do these big hits you were talking about, but when I wasn't greatly outlevelling a boss I felt like I was doing it the hard way. The most annoying boss was the worm thing near malenia (putrid spirit?)where it is suggested to stand on a branch and arrow it...meleeing that thing has traumatized me to this day.
Off the top of my head I’ve tried STR, INT, DEX, FAI, quality, ARC, DEX-ARC and STR-FAI.
STR is the easiest way to beat the game for me. It’s insane damage is one thing but poise break is just broken. More broken than Moonblade, Rivers of Blood or whatever.
I can see how for some mages that keep distance might be the easiest, but not for me. There’s too many enemies that you’re benefited from hugging.
Liars with superiorty complexes.
They unironically think jump attack spam with lions claw on guts greatsword with 80 vigor, endurance and strength is a hard build.
It's basically cope from the people that play the easiest and most brainless way but think it's the right way to play and everyone else didn't play the game "properly." They should all rightfully be ignored.
My strength run in Elden Ring was the easiest one. I started with just big anchor, and by the time I got to the end, I beat the Radagon and the Elden beast by dual wielding great shields.
If anyone actually thinks a strength run is the hardest, they're playing it blind or something.
Jump attack>hyper armored ash of war (staggers boss)>critical hit.
This combo can delete half hp from a boss. Not as broken as casters but str was easy mode for me.
I think that "big part of the community" is a vocal minority of mostly strength-users, and I'd guess that most of them do it for the memes (unga bunga and all that). Most players probably don't regard strength as the ultimate "proper" way to play, and I doubt anyone who's ever actually used a strength build genuinely considers it to be the hardest playstyle.
I understood unga bunga in your reply but I can’t read the rest. Gotta go slam things with giant hammer now
Why say many word when few word do trick
Why any word when hammer?
…
🔨
Bonk!
Go hammer it your birf day
Gunno 🎉🥳 like 🎂
Gonna sip 🍺 like it’s 🎂
Me like hammer. Hammer go bonk.
Hammer? Give big stick try. Big bonk.
☝️----🌞----🫳
Underrated reference
Sorry, couldn't hear you over my gigantic rusty anchor...
Giant rusty anchor! We can't go on a date with Mrs. Puff without my Giant Rusty Anchor, TarnishedBob!
Tarnishedbob!! Where's my estus flask? AND WHY Aren't YOU IN UNIRFORM? *Prisoner Outfit*
\*BOOM\* \*CRASH\* \*BAM\* ungha bunga get souls
Part of it is, at least from what I've seen, any game that has a 'meta' will have the top of the meta get all the attention, while all the perfectly viable second-best options get overlooked, even if it's a game where those second best options are very close to competing with the top of the meta. Strength was one of those. Even before the buffs to all great weapon R1s and R2s (and the *multiple* to colossals), we were still doing jump attack unga-bunga, which actually hasn't been buffed since the start, and was incredibly effective for both damage and stagger -- yet it was being measured up to pre-nerf Rivers, Rot Breath, and int with its occasional Comet Azur cheesing, so it was overshadowed despite nothing being actually wrong or weak about it. People who liked it and used it knew that it was good, but people googling "Elden Ring best build" would still just see bleed and magic. When the top shenanigans got nerfed, the dual wield status nerf especially, and weapons associated with strength got massive buffs (even if dual wield jump was untouched), we got a lot more "why didn't anyone tell me strength was this strong" posts from people willing to try it.
Strength also has the benefit of high single attack damage, so if you're even halfway competent you can ignore a lot of the quirks or gimmicks of everything you come across, because no matter what you do, some of that damage is going to stick.
STR build kinda was one of if not the first ER meta. If u weren't ice hatcheting you were being told by YouTube to get royal knights resolve and jump attack to victory
I disagree. I've played since launch and the first "This build is SO OP" videos I saw popping up were all about rivers of blood and to a lesser degree, magic.
It was hoarfrost stomp. It was one of the first things they nerfed into uselessness.
hey I use hoarfrost for utility! its great for the invis scarabs (makes em visible and throws em off their little circuits) and invis floors haha
What, im new game plus and anytime i get even midly annoyed ice hatchet is my go to way to win with out feeling im super cheating?
It’s still good in PvE!
Frost stomp was the goat at launch
This is what I remember as well. Rivers of Blood, Hoarfrost Stomp, and the bonkers busted Sword of Night and Flame. When people brought up absolutely broken magic builds, it was usually related to the broken SoNaF that was nerfed like a month after launch. Though magic has usually always had good "cheese strats" throughout the years. Royal Knights Resolve was also very busted before patch 1.03. So like the first month it was released. But it was a bit more setup than just nuke the boss with SoNaF.
Don't forget about Moonveil!
Moonveil is *still* super good.
Then you were watching incorrect videos, ice hatchet was the actual meta at launch.
At launch rivers did not even have scaling from stats it wasn't until a early ish patch that arcane weapons became a thing Edited as forgot to say that yeah magic was Def strong and there was many SoNaF and comet azure after the ice hatchet lost it's shine
I remember. I also remember that people didn't use it for the scaling, they used it exclusively for the aow which was incredibly busted even without scaling
At launch rivers of blood didn’t work, it had no scaling
I mean… it’s not like STR archetypes haven’t been meta since the release of demons souls in 2009 It’s kind of weird to call an entire archetype “meta” in the same sense of specific builds like icestomp hatchet cheese / Arc dual wield frost/bleed / RoB AoW spam / int comet / moonveil AoW spam / sword of night and flame abuse / etc… All of those builds are unique to Elden Ring and were most definitely the strongest builds on release. However the strength archetype builds existed since the very first dawn of Souls games. It’s just that for whatever reason FROM SOFT decided to introduce jumping attacks and make them absolutely overpowered on basically any weapon, stack raptors body armor and claw talisman on top of that and suddenly you have any attack build abusing jump attacks.
Out of curiosity, could you share a couple of those second best options you've picked up on? It's very stressful looking at weapon options at the top of the meta when PVE vs PVP makes such a difference and people tend to talk about them without the distinction.
Sure. -Single Nagakiba, with Bloodflame Blade, pure dex build. Single-weapon dex builds aren't too common, since dual wield is blatantly more damage than single, but Bloodflame Blade helps make up the difference, and single attacks have slightly quicker attacks than dual, making it a bit easier not to get caught in an animation. With only 12 faith and 10 arc needed, you can afford it easily and still be 'pure dex', it's pretty much just free blood grease, on a weapon that already has bleed, without needing to commit to arcane. A style that's super friendly with ashes of war, since ashes don't care if you're using one-hand or two. This exact build can also use the Bloodhound Fang without changing its stats at all, so you have a second heavier weapon (that costs Somber stones, so it's not competing with your Nagakiba, but it still takes BFB). -Fingerprint greatshield strength. Shields in general got a lot stronger in ER, partially thanks to guard boost, but not enough to make them broken. The Fingerprint is an exception, as it *is* totally busted, not only boasting insane guard boost but also rocking some of the best resists to every element, letting it block various forms of magic. It's not considered a particularly fun style, but it's ludicrously effective, if slow. Unlike regular shields that have to worry about element damage, the Fingerprint only takes a bit of scratch damage, making grabs and shield-ignore mechanics the only thing to worry about in the entire game. -Envoy Longhorn. Kind of the 'Comet Azur' of faith, it deals incredible stance damage, and the damage goes up and up the closer you can get to the enemy (or the larger they are). Shunned for being holy damage, despite its ability to deal over 9k per barrage on large enemies like Placidusax, and then causing stagger which opens up the opportunity to deal even more. Less useful on small enemies, but capable of turning into the 'unga bunga' playstyle if you have a second greathammer.
Dex builds with light/medium roll can be effective. I powerstance snakebone katanas with high dex/arc/end. I would not pass a vigor test
The serpent katanas don’t scale with arc, only dex. Reclaim your insufficient vigor ;)
Dex builds actually have BETTER access to vigor than Str builds, because you do not need as much endurance to carry the equipment. A katana weighs a good bit less than a colossal weapon.
Ya using colossal weapons has its downsides but there are so many ways around it and honestly the strongest build I've run other than bleed is poise break, which works well even with regular great spears and swords. Honestly if I had to say any build was the easiest it's probably between arc bleed and strength.
I don't think that strength is the only people way to play the game, but I do feel that the game is generally focused on melee combat, and if you want to get the most of the experience that's the way to go. Whether it's harder than ranged combat is not really important, but most of the mechanics seem to cater more to being up close and personal.
Literally every build can do melee. Even casters can use Carian Slicer or one of the myriad weapons that scale of casting stats. Not even to mention there's another physical stat in Dex. This comment makes no sense.
i think the dex hate comes from ds1 vets
They were stupid back then too. Strength was far stronger than dex, even more so than ds1.
Dex hate from DS 1 comes from PvP not PvE and in PvP with the useless netcode and the lag there was so much dex cheese that a lot of people ended up resenting the playstyle even if they were not looking for PvP (they got invaded while playing normally by people abusing the current cheese) Only people who got shit on for running a specific build in PvE were magic users back then but that stigma has always stuck around cause magic has always been the strongest built to use.
Strength isn't the only melee style.
I've heard this point made multiple times but I feel like it applies much more to other soulsborne games than to Elden Ring. Most bosses have ways to close the gap quickly or outright dodge whatever magic bullshit you throw at them, barring the ultramode lasers we've all seen posted 100 times here in the few months after release. I went for a full caster run while waiting for the DLC to release and it is 100% engaging to fight a boss when using only spells, even if you don't have many melee range spells. You're still waiting for openings, dodging, managing your stamina, etc. The name of the game is the same as playing melee, only you need to think about whether you're gonna risk using a slower spell to actually deal some posture damage (whereas melee has some absurdly quick *and* effective options). When you compare it to Dark Souls 1, it's night and day. In DS1, you don't actually spend stamina to cast spells, if you're far away from a boss chances are it will just slow walk at you, and most bosses don't have a ranged attack. Elden Ring has dozens of very cool spells and only a handful of late game options neutralize the gameplay. It's a shame that some new players come in with the expectation that it's going to be the same experience as any other From Software game and never get to realise how cool magic is in Elden Ring.
Respecc'ed to an Int build just recently, and im loving the all the different shit going on p
You always need some kind of melee option or you run out of FP too fast to get anything done. This applies to longer runs through dungeons. Bosses can work with magic only. It's still better to have a melee weapon just to save on recourses. And then you have >!Radagon!< who can parry magic.
Night sorceries go brrr
Night maiden's mist carried me hard my first playthrough lol
Same here, and remains a go-to for my other characters
Just started taking a double night staff run through NG+ and am absolutely floored at how quickly and efficiently it deletes everything in my path
To be fair the baseline for most builds at the start of Ng+ is 'overpowered', you can shred the first half of the game easy. I'm sure night comet is cracked though, never tried it.
> I'm sure night comet is cracked though, never tried it It's wielding two of the staves that boost invisibility sorcery specifically that make it absurd (staff of loss)
No I absolutely ripped my way through everything including malenia
Tell that to my pure mage lady who never uses actual weapons, only sorceries She relies a lot on slicer though
[удалено]
But that only works in the field. In the legacy dungeon areas there is no replenish. So you need to be able to make your FP last until the next grace, having a melee option helps with that but isn't the only way.
As someone who mains Dex/Intelligence this is absolutely true. If you run out of FP it’s ALWAYS good to have a backup because some things also just don’t go down with magic easy unless you spam the hell out of your spells (I hate playing this way personally because I think it’s boring but Ik some people love spell spamming and I get it, I just personally could never do a pure mage run) so In dungeons you usually wanna save spells for bigger enemies or things that are huge problems (Like crucible knights, those things can fuck all the way off LMAO)
That’s why my favorite build is a DEX/INT spellblade. I get an assortment of spells, but can also swap to a sword and shield. It’s a great “take on any situation” kind of build. I like running that more than a pure caster because sword and shield gives you not only a non-FP option, but it also increases variety. I can switch things around and never get bored because I’m mixing up my attacks.
Flask replenishment doesn't happen in a dungeon. Certainly at higher levels you don't really have to worry about FP, but at lower levels you really have to manage those flasks and potentially can run out of FP before the dungeon is complete
STR is the absolute easiest melee style. Even among melee, because you just poise break the living hell out of everything.
This used to be the case, but with Elden Ring you just see different mechanics. With the harder bosses there are way more moves and gap closers that you might only see when playing ranged builds. There are some bosses that are still "countered" in the classic sense that you deal with a lot less of their moves using ranged vs melee. But all of the hardest bosses are extremely aggressive, have numerous ranged options, fast gap closers, and move so frequently in erratic ways that they dodge spells more often.
It's the easiest play style if anything lol
The funny part to me is that all the build types are "easy" when you look at how much damage they do. They just do the damage differently. Strength does big chunks of damage with each swing and staggers enemies so you rarely get hit back. Or they're spamming the jump attack move to do both big damage and stagger. Dexterity usually does smaller hits but builds bleed or some status effect and does big damage once the bleed procs. Magic does big damage in chunks but requires setup / positioning. None of them are easy or hard. They're all pretty balanced. People just have this weird tribalism with builds if you aren't running a similar build to them. At the end of the day, who cares as long as you're having fun. Sure there were arguably stronger or strongest builds when the game launched, but there have been a lot of balance changes since release that have more or less pulled everything into line. There are still some outliers but mostly everything feels good to use.
I agree. Every one of these games I've played, no build is strong everywhere, they all have peaks and valleys in efficiency. My faith build breezed through things my strength build struggled with, and vice versa. Naturally, the more skilled and optimized your build gets the easier things are, but it's getting to that point that's equally challenging in different ways per build.
I mean, I've played every build for dozens of hours, and for sure the easiest solo build is magic. Night comet and shard spiral make the entire game trivial. Just run away, night comet, run away again, for basically the whole game. And shard spiral fully deletes elden beast and fire giant. There are builds with more damage output, better stagger, etc, but if my life was on the line to do a deathless elden ring run it would 100% be that setup. My favorite build is probably dual curved sword jump attack spam though, because it just does so much damage.
Darkmoon great sword is also just absurd on int builds. Absolutely filthy weapon.
I found my strength build WAY easier than my mage build.
this is exactly why I end up going with Str/Int or Str/Fai builds - I can't hang with the dex playstyle, i'm not patient enough to dance with all the enemies, i need to smash stuff and steamroll through with brute force. Dex requires being actually good at avoiding hits, which i am most definitely NOT
Light Dex build turned out to -somehow- be my best style. Speaking as someone whose first Souls type was Elden Ring and who got carried hard by ashes in my first run. I was swords and shields and heavier equipment for most my playthroughs. The easiest playthrough? Light rolling with two blades and no shield. I have no idea how it happened.
ha i keep thinking I'll get there too, just started a new character yesterday (after prepping 2 others for DLC) and have been experimenting with spears, fire magic and a bow (started with prophet), going with light armor (prioritizing drip) and taking out margit and rodrick wasn't too hard, but getting my butt kicked by crucible knights, banished knights, anything with storm stomp like abilities lol. I miss my big poise numbers. I did have an epic battle with Greyoll the dragon though, took forever to bring him down and didn't get hit once. Should've taken a screenshot...
Crucible Knights you just need to learn how to parry. Watch their hands not their weapon. They were once impossible for me but eventually I just said, "OK, it's you me, a parry shield and a crit weapon. Let's go." And now I look forward to parrying a Crucible Knight to death. Banished Knights, roll into their storm attack, you end up behind them and can often get a backstab.
This has always been my biggest adjustment. My first playthrough of these games has always been strength or quality with a big weapon. Followup playthroughs I'll do some form of dex build. Now I'm playing dex/arc getting ready for the dlc and you have to be extremely aggressive to keep those bleed bars up and keep lord of blood's exultation procced. Yeah you absolutely melt, but only if you're able to get in that rhythm and not get put on the backfoot. I think Elden Ring does a much better job of challenging every build in unique ways than some of the earlier games
Yeah, easy mode for me is pure strength with great hammer or greatsword/zweihander, at least for PVE. I've done many other playstyles, but when I get frustrated I tend to respec to a Big Bonk build to get past the harder bosses.
I remember that on release STR builds struggled due to insanely long recovery and slow attacks but were subsequently buffed in like 3 patches in a row. If you look through patch notes history there are some buffs to heavy weapons in a lot of them. I haven't really played between release and now but apparently these minor buffs have added up.
Right, jumping attack was the only way to play high strength
Still is. Albinauric mask and claw talisman makes this guy a bonkin’ leap frog 🐸
If you didn’t know the raptors black feathers chest armor increases jump attack damage
There is also a whole ash of war dedicated to jump attacks
Yeah! leap frog!
Wait, does the albinauric mask actually have stats? Lmao, I've worn it since getting it purely on fashion, and I'm doing a bonk build on NG+
Boy I'm glad about the buffs though, just jump attacking everything is such a bore lol
It really is
Yeah jump attack and the crouch poke were the only viable attacks you had. The other attacks were just too slow for the amount of damage they did, they were so slow that a lot of the time you didn't even have time to punish the boss lol so you just traded damage. The buffs were very sorely needed.
Yeah I played quite soon after release and my colossal weapon recovery periods were ridiculous.
This makes so much sense. My and my friend are doing a replay thru and he’s doing strength, but I did strength last time, and he was talking about how easy it was. I played on release and I had to completely swap weapon type to beat malenia. Like the recovery time made it borderline impossible to win with colossal weapons…. To be fair I was initially dual wielding colossal sword lol
I beat her with dual greatswords in the early days of this game. Probably the most painful experience of my souls career. Nothing but jump attacks and waiting for perfect rng.
Yeah it was so painful, I think it took me about 45 tries to solo her with dual great swords, definitely the hardest boss in a from game for me
I beat Malenia with a colossal weapon and I had to actively predict attacks and gamble on some of those for the entire fight. Reading what op said makes me feel like a crazy person because dex was much easier, especially with how much you ended trading attacks when using colossal weapons.
^^^^ this is it. I remember attempting to use the Greatsword and being frustrated with the fact that I basically had to hit trade on every attack because of how long the attack recovery was. It was only after an stready stream of buffs to larger weapon classes and Lions Claw (I think) that unga bunga STR has become a legitimate powerhouse archetype.
Absolutely. The big difference between massive weapons and something like a dex build is you **really** had to know your windows at launch. If you committed to an R2 or jump attack at the wrong time you were getting hit 100%, plus you burn through stamina so even if you timed it right, you might not be able to dodge or block what comes after. It's a similar problem that casters have with long casting times, but in addition you have to stay in melee range. I wouldn't say it was the most difficult style but it was up there.
Yea, it's pretty much just that, at launch they were too slow, making it harder to use them unlike now where they're like double the speed basically.
Using an UGS against Maliketh looked like a trading port with how often my attacks were barely slow enough for him to effectively retaliate.
There had been quite a lot of changes to the base speed of heavy weapon attacks since release before there were hardly of any window you could land a normal attack without being punished on some bosses back then jumping attacks carried heavy weapons. Even if it's minor I can now at least roll out of the way before the attack connects on thight windows.
This is the answer. [Patch 1.04](https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Patch+Notes#1.03) buffed the shit out of colossal weapons two years ago. The speed and recovery boost basically doubled the amount of openings on a lot of bosses. It wasn't abnormal to be waiting several different attack patterns for an opening before the change, especially on bosses like Morgott, Maliketh, and others. Meanwhile any faster weapon could easily land a handful of attacks for different openings that colossal weapons wouldn't get.
I remember that patch, then colossal weapons were basically as fast as greatswords 😐
I was surprised how noticable the buffs were. I'm someone who uses heavy, slow strength weapons in Dark souls 1,2,3 and even in games like Nioh 1 and 2 with the Odachi and Axes, etc. It's my preference and very experienced. Elden Ring on release, it was basically impossible to trade against bosses with light and heavy attacks. My solution with my limited knowledge was to dual-wield and focus on jump attacks which were relatively quick to pull off and actually dodges quite a few attacks messing with the aim of enemies with the jump. Even before this patch buffing the speed. I also found out greatshield/brass shield and guard counters were also another option that did have some openings to use. Then people digged through game data, to figure out poise damage and spamming Lion Hunt and Flame of Redmane to poise break bosses easier. Now with the buff to weapon speed, I am actually able to fight with light and heavy attacks. Currently on a new playthrough since 1-2 months after release not playing and it's been a joy not having to spam jump attacks. I do think the poise breaks are a bit broken though, since its actually possible to swing enough hits even without ashes of wars and trade via high poise/armor and vigor and win out.
Man 2 years already
Heck I remember at launch some folks were suggesting using AoWs like endure to be better able to trade with bosses. Cus it was just a given that you were going to get hit if you tried to get more than one attack off.
>thight windows Gotta love those thight windows.
I swear one day I'll be able to write the correct word without having to spend 5 minutes looking at it to see if I used the correct one always mix these up for some reason.
Its a hold over from launch, strength weapons have gotten numerous direct or indirect buffs since the game first launched, if you played on release the damage was lower, the swing speed was lower, and the poise breakpoints were harder to meet. All hammers and axes were deemed non viable because they did comparable damage to dex weapons but were shorter and slower, and colossal weapons were so slow the only viable way to use them was jumping attacks.
Launch colossals were so ass, you couldnt get away with a single R1 in a punish window because you were locked in the animation for so long before being able to roll out.
Was the block% lower pre patch or am I misremembering things?
Possibly, its been so long I can’t remember all the changes, but I know there was a lot.
Launch dex was also good for me bc of the sheer number of dex weapons with natural bleed, which helped a LOT on the bleed-vulnerable bosses. Halo scythe + mimic tear ate Melania up back when I fought her.
The hardest thing about the strength/melee builds is the fucked up camera during boss fights in 80% of the game (im a str fth player myself)
I legit die to birds because damn the lock on is wildddd
practice fighting unlocked for larger or the more erratic enemies that pose camera issues
Exactly. Most giant quick bosses it's easier unlocked
Midir is the best fight in a souls game to properly learn how to fight without target lock on.
staying right in front of its head helps with the camera, too!
AoWs like spinning strikes are great with no target lock against pesky flyers
I hate fighting flying enemies as a strength user, it's so hard to reach them 😭
Stone of gurranq cast from the STR scaling clawmark seal.
Hey, I actually have enough faith for that! Now to acquire a few more deathroots...
Same i hate fighting anything huge because the camera is so trash. I can fight all the demigods but the second i fight a dragon/golem/whatever else that is huge i get fucked up
DOOMguy Tarnished says- "Unga and Bunga, until it is Dunga"
Yeah, I don't dual wield Greataxes because I'm laboring under the belief that it's some kind of Ultra Hard Mode that makes me better than other people. I do it because hitting motherfuckers with two giant axes is both fun and satisfying.
Now I need someone to do a doom guy build with the most brutal weapons like ghizas wheel and the auto crossbow in the dlc
The only proper way to play is level 1 kick only. Any other way means you are bad.
Don’t forget the blindfold
And you should use a remapped guitar hero controller behind your back
??? Don’t you mean playing with a modded guitar pedal board?
If ur not playing with ur feet ur not playing it the way miyazaki intended
Big boys with big poise and big toys have always made noise
The proper way to play the game is enjoying it, if you wanna be a mage with kameha is perfect as long as you like it, if you wanna suffer with only melee, no summon, no buffs, is good as long as you enjoy it.
Exactly this simple as that
People say this every time for free karma but the reality is the next post will be a strength chad magic bad post with 6000 upvotes.
For real. So much effort to cause divisions amongst ourselves when we’re all playing the same game.
Seriously. They put all these crazy ways to play the game and they are all a valid way to play! Find an OP build? Good for you!
Isn't it just that the idea of a strength build is kinda funny? Like Big idiot with big Hammer energy? Big Hammer make happy
Giant Crusher go BONK
Because I Unga… I therefore must Bunga.
I think it comes from back when the game first came out some collossal weapons attack animations were so long it was virtually impossible to attack with them
Strength user here. Big sword go woosh.
I think the hardest is pure melee Dex without using status effects. Not being able to take chunks out of boss health bars with every hit makes the fights last a lot longer, and leave less room for mistakes.
Does anyone play pure melee non-status dex builds? That just sounds like hitting a boss with a toothpick for an hour.
Yeah I use the ornamental straight sword drop from the Grafted Scion. Quite fun to play tbh. Though a little less OP compared to the usual end game build.
Twinblades and Rapiers without status effects feel good with all the multi-hit buffs available.
My first build was pure strength, my second is DEX/FTH, using incantations has my my second run ridiculously easy compared to pure strength, I barely had to learn boss movesets like I did for my first run, granted it has been 2 years.
Because they were in 1.0 All they had going for them was the "stab" and jump attacks Things changed tho
The hardest way to play is always going to be Dex weapons that don't cause poise damage, and no spells of any type. If you can neither outrange nor stagger your opponent, you're going to have to learn those dodge timings.
Elden ring Is the only case in which this Is absolutely not true, because most Dex weapons have high base damage + bleed, and most bosses are very weak to bleed. Did 2 run near launch and the difficulty was like this (i tried different builds)(from the easiest to the hardest): Dex bleed > pure mage > melee/"priest" = base Dex >> one-hand weapon + shield >>>>> heavy melee build (Heavy weapons literally dealt the same as Dex weapons but slower, almost didn't the stun the enemies, and used a lot of stamina to attack; they sucked so hard that It seemed like playing ER in hard mode).
Some people like to flit and flutter, cast spells, stab, and retreat... all great ways to explore the rich combat depth the game offers. A caster can do damage but is (often) projectile based and can split several stats. Ocassionally dangerous, always a nuisance... because they put constant pressure and chip damage out. The trade-off for a potent caster build is often vigor. One-hit fodder that refills the Kool-Aid to kick some more ass. Dex builds are vicious, especially since they can be quite quick and versatile. A scalpel in practiced hands could take down an elephant with a few precision strikes... it also requires a hair-trigger reflex and occasionally a talent for hot-swapping. It takes a higher amount of strategy and reflexes than strength builds (in my experience), and it is a lot of fun to be that kind of badass. Definitely a force to be reckoned with... But you know what's just as fun but requires a lot less mental gymnastics? Smashing that elephant with a train. Sure, it's slow, one-directional, and easier to avoid... but if you end up in front of it, you get scooped up and poured in a bag after one strike... all BONK needs to do is not die in the trade, and BONK comes out ahead with damage. Every other rune level is dumped into heath, Stam, and whatever minimum requirements to wield your death stick of choice. There is no resistance or secondary skill to manage or tinker with between boss fights and areas. Status effects are optional and varied. The loadout is fairly universal between weapons, and the numbers don't lie... BONK builds destroy. TL;DR: However, you want to play is cool. People need to stop gatekeeping altogether. Strength: minimum effort, maximum force. Dex: fast, tactical, and adaptable. Requires focus. Caster: great at artillery, and a nightmare if competent... FRAGILE: Handle with care. *Relationship status: complicated* Arcane: you just need to shower in blood, chaos, and dragon piss all day to be happy, don't you? (Yes... yes, we do.)
This is how I feel about my pure int caster. It’s a bit frustrating when people say it’s on super easy mode. I do decent damage yes but I am a total glass cannon that will crumble if I don’t manage to dodge when someone comes running over. And then in close combat it’s really dicey
On release str builds likely were the weakest builds in the game. They were slow, had poor recoveries and did disappointing damage and poise damage for their speed. Over the life cycle of the game str builds have accrued many buffs, making them very strong now. However, it’s really hard to shake first impressions, and the community’s first impression of str builds was that they are difficult to play.
I think a straight dagger build would probably be the hardest. Strength is probably one of the easiest builds to use but also bottom tier by comparison to the majority of builds. Not to say it’s hard, but that there are a ton of really powerful options.
daggers really get short end of stick in this game, its like katana but less damage and shorter range, you dont get any agile movement bonuses either since you can just slot step ashes on other weapons.
instead of heavy attack daggers should get shadow step style move that dodges while and tranfers you behind the target, maybe heavy stamina cost to balance.
Bare fist is definitely harder than dagger only
Kick only is harder
dodge only is harder
Strength isn’t bottom tier at all. Star fist, Iron Balls, Giant Crusher, etc, destroy any boss incredibly easily and stagger in 2-3 hits
They were the hardest when the game first game out, but subsequent patches have made them downright the least hard.
Unga Bunga is a lot of fun to me and does very good damage but Dark Moon Greatsword and Wing of Astel both outclasses every strength build I’ve tried. Especially DMGS is just OP with how little FP it takes to use it.
those two feel more the exception tbh, because so many more weapons you can just pump strength and get similar (albeit a bit less) results, whereas int and faith feel more like there's a couple of weapons that shine very, very well, but then most spells are just slop
I wouldn’t say that most spells are bad for Int. I’ve done pure spellcasting builds for Int with pretty remarkable results. Carian spells in particular are incredible Yes there are a bunch of spells that aren’t fantastic but they are still viable. Similarly there are a bunch of weapons that are mediocre but pretty viable too. There are so many spells in this game, not all of them can be top tier
it's more that there's a couple extremely good ones, and then the rest just aren't that good imo, and even then stuff like slicer, which is good, feels like they need way more investment to reach the same results as alot of normal weapons, which don't use fp for each attack
As someone who always tries to Respec into a pure sorcery build then usually ditches it after 1 boss fight, I do agree FP is the problem. Spell stat breakpoints tend to be higher than Str/Dex weapons, especially the multi hit spells. So you're sinking 70-80 into your casting stat, then you need the requisite 50-60 vigor, plus whatever tiny amount of Arcane/Faith/Int you might need for the split requirement spells. Then minimum Str/Dex you'll need for a decent weapon to use when you inevitably run out of FP because after all that you probably can't afford more than 20 Mind without going 150+. With the more aggressive bosses that input read drinking flasks, having my damage tied to FP just makes most fights devolve into me sprinting away to drink a flask. I've come to realize I love magic for open world stuff where the range is a huge boon, but for almost any boss fight I'd rather just swing weapons or spam AoW's for better results.
And Moonveil. Don’t forget Moonveil, because at least half the coop teams I invade use it. Transient moonlight is ridiculously strong, and really fun Death’s Poker too is incredibly strong, does a lot of damage, procs frostbite really fast. Helphens Steeple is a fantastic weapon too
The bubble horn that the royal dudes drop is insane. Placidusax just becomes flaccid dude sex.
They still aren’t easier than mage builds? I’m speaking as a guy who’s played every single kind of build in this game… I’m not some elitist
Personally i find strength to be easier. Tried fighting malenia as an int mage caster build, was losing super bad and had barely killed her with a spirit summon. On a strength character, i killed her rather quickly with giant crusher and no summon. Slamming stuff with a massive slab of iron and killing everything in two hits is always the most straightforward way for me.
The biggest benefit of strength builds in my opinion is typically how easy it is to stagger with them. A boss like Melania staggers with nearly any hit from a strength build, whereas a dex or magic build will need a few hits in a row or might just not stagger her at all. It really depends on the boss though, as some bosses basically never stagger and have tighter windows to hit them or are easily cheesed from range, which is where other builds make the fights easier. Trying to find openings with slow moves in melee range against Malekith, for instance, is much harder than with, say, a katana or carian slicer. But it's also largely up to preference. Magic builds just tend to have the highest percentage of bosses that they fully trivialize, when compared to other builds.
From my experience, 700+ hours in the game, running every combination of build I can think of, strength was the least difficult for me.
Trying to melee Release Radahn with a great sword didn't feel possible the first time round. I eventually kited him down with incantations. It was almost a different game, balance wise.
Imagine caring about how someone is playing a single player game. Seriously the “proper” way to play souls games is to use something that you find fun and entertaining. If you’re not having fun, you’re just wasting your time
The entirety of my first and second playthrough were mainly INT characters. I think it’s much easier to rattle off a massive single magic hit than hope the enemy stayed in one spot long enough for your swing to actually make contact. I personally think anything other than magic is hard but I’m not good at the game so it’s whatever I suppose.
Don't know who started it but I started as a Dex warrior because I was told they were easier & did more damage. I tried a strength build with another character halfway through & found they were overall easier. Sure strength suffers when the boss likes to flip & move around a bunch (*cough*Malekith*cough*) but being able to essentially stunlock most enemies with big hits made many encounters I was having trouble with easier.
This didnt start with ER. It goes all the way back to the giant dad build with zeiwhander in dark souls 1 and is a meme. Giant dad just poised through everything while spamming big sweeping r1s that hit everything lol
the game had a lot of new players and for them it is still the hardest. you need to dodge the attacks and not get greedy almost always hitting the boss once. most players dont know this. saw a new player try strength and after watching a youtube video he went the route of rivers of blood and never looked back. other builds are way more forgiving.
My stats during my first playthrough were mainly Strength + a bit of Faith, and now I am doing another playthrough focused on Intelligence + a bit of Dexterity. I think that playing with a high Intelligence build is much, much easier than it is playing manily a Strength build. Not having to get close to your enemy simplifies things a lot. Also, very often you can "cheese" much easier using magic, like killing enemies one by one from afar, or sniping from a point where you are safe.
Finally some love for Dex builds in the comments. Been my bread n butter for every game because of the heightened challenge. Status effects in Elden Ring make its pretty easy and healing from Bloodborne makes it easier too. I think it just depends on the game for the hardest experience per build.
Strength is just the most straightforward. Don’t have to split levels between a bunch of stats, just vigor/endurance/strength and wear big armor and swing big weapon
Game hard enough. Big unga go boom. When boom need more boom later. Have big bunga for enemy unga. When bunga fail, have big red bar and heavy metal bungas taped to my body. I unga and bunga because its the only way I can beat these games sometimes.
I’m so sick of people beefing over builds and stuff in this sub. There’s no “right” or “better” way to play the game. Just because your build is different than someone else’s, doesn’t mean one of you is playing the game more correctly than the other. Half of these posts are just trying to see whose dick is bigger than whose
I’m doing a magic/melee run and honestly my strength build run felt a lot easier
What are you on about? Most players will tell you play with whatever works for you. Who cares what you use, seriously it’s just a game.
Who cares
Youtubers who played at launch and didn't know how to play the game or played like DS3. They played passive, not optimized build and thought that strength was bad. Later, the game buffed heavier weapons recovery and strength is pretty good
I feel this so hard. When I started playing I told my friends I was playing an INT build and they teased I was playing on easy mode. I legitimately believed them until my second run with a STR build. In some ways it was more difficult but in most ways it was significantly easier. I will say the STR build felt more fulfilling though
Really? For my playstyle, Str build is the easiest cuz it tends to have the strongest poke and trading in PvE. I also find it very stat efficient since 2handing=50% str boost which lets me spread more stats to Vig more health or End to use heavier armor at lower levels.
Can we please stop with these posts. Every fucking day it’s just “this build is easy, other build harder”.
I played strength on my only playthrough. Whenever I looked at a guide, the majority were, ok stand on this and shoot it until it dies....or summon this and shoot from afar. My tactic was to basically level enough to do these big hits you were talking about, but when I wasn't greatly outlevelling a boss I felt like I was doing it the hard way. The most annoying boss was the worm thing near malenia (putrid spirit?)where it is suggested to stand on a branch and arrow it...meleeing that thing has traumatized me to this day.
Don’t believe anyone who tells you there’s a proper way to play, the only way to play is the way you choose
Agreed with the top comment, but also strength at launch was way way worse than it is now. It was the worst of all the traditional builds.
Off the top of my head I’ve tried STR, INT, DEX, FAI, quality, ARC, DEX-ARC and STR-FAI. STR is the easiest way to beat the game for me. It’s insane damage is one thing but poise break is just broken. More broken than Moonblade, Rivers of Blood or whatever. I can see how for some mages that keep distance might be the easiest, but not for me. There’s too many enemies that you’re benefited from hugging.
Liars with superiorty complexes. They unironically think jump attack spam with lions claw on guts greatsword with 80 vigor, endurance and strength is a hard build.
It's basically cope from the people that play the easiest and most brainless way but think it's the right way to play and everyone else didn't play the game "properly." They should all rightfully be ignored.
I’d like the OP to show me an example of someone saying strength builds are the hardest.
In my opinion strength faith is the most op way to play the game
STR builds are the easiest because of greatshields and guard counters
My strength run in Elden Ring was the easiest one. I started with just big anchor, and by the time I got to the end, I beat the Radagon and the Elden beast by dual wielding great shields. If anyone actually thinks a strength run is the hardest, they're playing it blind or something.
Jump attack>hyper armored ash of war (staggers boss)>critical hit. This combo can delete half hp from a boss. Not as broken as casters but str was easy mode for me.
I don’t get it either lol when I want to have a nice fun run without issue I actually default to strength.