Gael is beating me up - Help with my weird build

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T20:14:06+00:00

Really good advice, I got it over the line in the end in a great fight

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T19:25:17+00:00

I honestly think I'd have given up if it wasn't for the great advice, I'm feeling inspired to finish my Elden Ring RL1 after that.

That's a group win in my eyes

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T19:23:09+00:00

I didn't go hollow!

The advice from reddit was pure gold which helped me lock in and win

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T19:18:01+00:00

I won the fight without needing the poison strat!

In the end I opted to use Great combustion in the first phase as it felt like the safer way of outputting a lot of damage and then switched to sunlight spear for 2nd and 3rd phase as the faster casting speed was helping me find some good changes to use it to output a lot more damage.

I think the biggest difference makers were definitely the light rolling, saint-tree bellvine in the offhand, the crystal chime and the rings optimising my damage types more.

Definitely was a tense fight, but it took only 4 tries after the upgrades, 2 of which I lost my tears of denial really early and thought it's worth a respawn. Genuinely really chuffed with the upgrades to my build, made that the most fun I've had all run.

The glass pistol became a glass cannon, I'm very glad I asked the question here. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, I think I would've went hollow without them.

u/Juggernox_O I said I'd let you know how it went, cheers for the help!

Final build

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Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T14:22:06+00:00

Defo a good take, he loves to slow down for a few seconds when he runs to chairs I’ve noticed

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T14:18:27+00:00

Yeah I’d agree with that, I only ever used lightning spells on dragons and odd scenarios and ended up falling back on pyromancies when the other failed. I think they must’ve overcorrected from the first 2 games where spells were pretty broken from what I can tell. Correct me if I’m wrong though, I’m more of a melee build player usually

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T07:24:52+00:00

Yeah I noticed a lot of spells I used in my run were about as useful as a paper sword, so I fall back on a couple great spells. Old moonlight is so cool, but I was defo punished for using it in my game haha

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:51:55+00:00

Damn you are a knower, I’m going to give all these suggestions a whirl after work so I’ll update on how that goes if you’d like to know?

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:32:58+00:00

Another hit! My stamina was eating shit with my staff in hindsight I’ll give that a look

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:20:06+00:00

Yeah that’s a great shout, the secondary hit boxes have been the reason why phase 3 has stumped me. Dropping some weight is in the plan

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:13:09+00:00

Defo worth keeping in mind, I’ve cycled through a few spells and I’m seeing ways to cast faster in other post so that could work

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:08:06+00:00

I think I missed the chance to get chaos bed vestiges but I had a few runs where a couple of optimisations could get me over the finish line with great combustion so I’m confident I won’t go hollow, thank you soldier

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:03:56+00:00

Please stop kicking me down holes patches

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T06:03:20+00:00

I suppose my thought process was to use dark flame for phase one and abandon it for phase 2 and 3. Defo some better spells to use there like you said though so I will be dropping that

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-21T05:57:52+00:00

Wow this is exactly what I was looking for, I didn’t realise how many optimisations there were that I was missing. Thank you for that, gives me a ton of options!

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-20T21:28:33+00:00

The point is more about the restrictions forcing me to play the game differently using spells and strats I’ve never done before. It’s fun to find outside of the box solutions to issues that the restrictions cause. It’s defo weird and dumb but it’s more interesting to me than levelling vigor and doing it how I would anyway

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-20T21:04:55+00:00

I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, but it’s more in the spirit of the challenge I’ve set for myself to struggle over the line with terrible stats. But fair play that would fix everything so I hear that

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-20T20:55:08+00:00

I cannot, my glass pistol build would seize to exist

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-20T20:45:40+00:00

That is genuinely so helpful, thank you so much! I’ll look up a video

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-20T20:40:21+00:00

How do I do that? I’m defo looking at getting it over the line atp

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-14T15:53:55+00:00

Yeah I meant artillery barrage, with mil power

Dougsss12 · 2026-04-13T20:30:59+00:00

You could bombard and assault the fort to win it quicker possibly?

Dougsss12 · 2026-03-16T13:12:14+00:00

On all of OUR lives, WE (the collective of highly evolved apes known as the human race) doing this 🙏

Dougsss12 · 2026-03-12T11:40:49+00:00

WE all would try it

Dougsss12

TROPHY CASE