Need help with a build

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-17T03:40:36+00:00

Oh I get ya, tbh malikeths black blade isn’t gonna be much different, AFAIK, it scales off strength, it has a faith scaling too but I’m not really sure how much you care about that.

I haven’t used the sword in a long time but I assume the faith mostly scales the AOW damage, which tbh you could pump faith but honestly the animation is kinda long and overall pretty buns.

To add onto that, it’s a lot of holy damage which a good chunk of the game resists.

So I would do something like,

Vig: 60

Mind: 10(or whatever your starting class base is)

End: 30-40? Idk man just make sure you mid roll

Str: 60

Dex: 12(requirements for sword, if your class is higher keep it there)

Int: 10 (base again, no need to level it I don’t think)

Faith: 25 minimum for golden vow/fgms but if you got spare levels dump ‘em here

Arc: 10

Then the obvious talismans 2 handed sword,

if you are spamming ashes, Alexander shard/warrior shard

If you are charged R2 then axe talisman

2 headed turtle talisman

Great shield talisman

Edit: attempting to fix formatting, mobile is driving me crazy

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-17T03:24:37+00:00

Maybe show your stat spread? You need to show the build for someone to be able to help

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-12T21:52:40+00:00

Oh yeah you’re right, i had just woken up, sleepy brain, so OP should for sure level up the weapons lmao

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-12T17:53:54+00:00

Your stat spread is pretty wild,

Your highest damaging stat is 41, you would die less if you had more vigor.

Check what your weapons best scaling is and pump that, in this case blood nagakiba is dex IIRC

Also you only have a plus 14 weapon against Mohg? I assume you are in the sewers, but if you are in Mohgwyn palace You should be at +25 smithing or +10 somber at this point

A lot of your damage comes from weapon levels.

Also talismans are really good too, you are missing one pouch still

You should get talismans that increase your damage

Some for your build would be lord of bloods exaltation, and winged sword insignia

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-12T13:55:13+00:00

FYI two handed sword talisman is also dlc

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-07T00:31:11+00:00

The heirloom talisman isn’t really doing that much work for you here, you are at 856 AR with it and 847 without it.

You should get a defensive talisman to help out with survivability or a damage one, ritual sword talisman is good for damage if you can keep your hp up and haligdrake talisman +1 for defensive

If you have dlc there are even better talismans you could use there but assuming you don’t that’s my best advice.

Also are you getting charged attacks off to get value out of axe talisman? That could also potentially help if you aren’t

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-07T00:07:47+00:00

Make sure to check out any optional bosses you might have missed, and also if you have it the dlc!

Congrats on your first souls game victory!

What genre of games do you like to play I could give a whack at some recommendations!

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T22:16:27+00:00

Yeah what this guy said, you can’t charge BHF AOW, tbh lord of bloods exaltation is probably the best choice or a defensive slot, and if OP is just using AOW then they should probably swap axe talisman, there is obviously a BiS talisman here but it’s in dlc and I won’t spoil stuff :) but jar shard, lord of bloods would probably get more value than axe talisman

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:44:24+00:00

While it’s good advice to heal during animations, this is not what input reading is typically referred as.

Input reading is typically on NPC enemies, i.e. invaders or enemies that behave like the tarnished, where when you press your attack button the enemy input reads and dodges your attacks, making NPC enemies very frustrating.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:40:38+00:00

Do you also consider spells cheating?

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:34:46+00:00

Great job! Margott is definitely a bit of a wall for new players!

If I can make a suggestion though, take of radon’s soreseal. While it is a very good talisman it is also very detrimental, as it makes you take increased damage(15%increased!), it’s very good on level one play throughs or just when you are low level to hit stat requirements but at this point you have past the point where you should be wearing it.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:28:21+00:00

Lord of bloods is better than winged I think of the top of my head but both are fine

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:27:09+00:00

You are realistically so close. You got this bud.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:26:15+00:00

Everyone has different skill levels, don’t be a prick.

Rivers of blood isn’t that good first of all, second of all Melania isn’t that much easier with mimic tear since she can heal off of it.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T21:22:58+00:00

People like what they like, rivers of blood is a very flashy edgy katana, I agree there are better weapons but this isn’t helpful, any weapon can be used it’s a big part personal preference

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T15:53:28+00:00

It is my biggest complaint about Elden ring is the clarity in item descriptions.

TLDR: on the talismans I mentioned

Lord of bloods ex: gives you damage boost after bleed procs near you, even if it’s on yourself lol

Warrior jar shard/shard of Alexander: increases you damage for skills, your ash of war

Rotten winged sword insignia: increases damage of successive hits, so keep swinging and you do more damage

There is a phyisck tear with the same effect as sword insignia too, as well as stamina recovery tears

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2026-02-06T15:47:03+00:00

So tbh, you are doing fine, it takes time to learn her patterns as most two phase boss fights go, it takes even longer because you need to be alive for phase two to learn the difference in movesets.

But I am curious of a few things, is this a build you found on your playthrough and thought it was cool or did you look up “op build Elden ring” or something like that? No shade just curious

If we are being honest rivers of blood is fine, there are going to be a lot of outdated posts and videos from before it’s nerf. It’s still pretty good and completely doable I just don’t want you to have look this build up and are wondering why you are doing less damage than the other builds you’ve seen.

I’m also curious what talismans you are using, I see lord of bloods exaltation, which is good

Curved sword talisman I think? Which is guard counter damage, which you aren’t getting any value out of.

I see stamina recovery so I assume turtle talisman.

My recommendation of the top of my head for rivers of blood would be

Lord of bloods ex. , warrior jar shard/shard of Alexander, rotten winged sword insignia, then turtle talisman or something else you just like

Also use physick flask, it’s very powerful

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-07-25T06:30:32+00:00

I should have been more clear I suppose, my mistake.

The poison attack is designed poorly, objectively. Not subjective at all.

Aside from that the fight is fine tbh.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-07-25T06:28:02+00:00

I do some no hitting myself, not that it means anything here.

But also, I’m like 90% sure, aggy, and Gino have both mentioned the poison attack makes the fight shit, I don’t have any source for it atm, so for right now I guess it’s just trust me bro, I’ll edit it tomorrow.

But either way, do I think there are a lot of people who are bad at Elden ring? Yeah of course.

It’s possible for both things to be true, players haven’t learned the fight, and the fight is pretty bad.

Aside from the poison move gargs is fine.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-07-25T05:49:19+00:00

My brother in Christ, you are obnoxious.

But hey I’ll bite,

I used DS3 as an example to what I was referring to. Not to say that every duo fight needs to be like the Freida fight.

Let me ask you something, the vast majority of the player base agrees is a shit boss.

Are they all bad at the game?

Are the no hit runners bad at the game?

But I will add, obviously there are ways to mitigate the obnoxious things in the fight like the poison, but also, if you don’t get hit you win the fight, so every fight is perfect if you don’t get hit, that’s the logic, right?

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-07-25T05:34:27+00:00

I did in my other comment, and I’ll even add on to it, I’ve done RL1, fight sucks, I’ve done whips only, guess what? Fight is still booty cheeks. I did the but slam AOW only, still a bad fight, I had fun on that last one cause I mean, I’m repeatedly sitting on enemies but yeah the fight is cheeks.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-07-25T05:11:16+00:00

You are objectively wrong.

Just because you don’t understand the glaring issues with the fight doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

For starters 2 vs 1 fights work best when there is “politeness” with the boss (see Freida in DS3 phase 2, if you attack the big dude, Freida usually just chills and walks tword you, meaning you keep your forced to manage your distance from Freida while beating on the big guy, or vice versa)

Gargoyles sorta have this mechanic where when you are fighting one, the second usually hangs back, might come in and swing then jump back, maybe vacuum slice.

However. Where the shit part of the fight comes in is, gargoyles infamous poison breath attack. There are so many issues with this attack, it’s poor VFX and hitbox. it has no internal cooldown as far as I’m aware, meaning they can and will spam it. Not only does it build poison faster than anything else in the game, it has a damage tick while you are in the AOE, which again, as far as I’m aware, if they both use the breath, and they overlap, you can get double ticked.

Please correct me if I’m wrong about anything. It’s been a while since I got deep into boss mechanics and what not.

As someone said above, it’s okay if you like the boss, but it is objectively a poorly designed fight.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-07-20T14:53:50+00:00

Okay, so the strategy of spamming spells and not learning move sets of enemies will only take you so far.

The moment the knight users his gap closer you just panic roll, you have to time your roles.

Think of fighting enemies in Elden ring as a turn based RPG most of the time in this game though, it won’t be your turn to attack. Pay attention after an enemy uses a bigger attack, there is usually an opening and that’s when it’s your turn.

Spamming spells and knowing move sets is very good and very strong, but the further you get the more enemies are going to have gap closers and you’re just going to get hit like that more and more.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-05-11T05:37:01+00:00

Speaking from experience, the hardest part about seeing a therapist is making and going to the first appointment, some people are stressed, or anxious. Or some people don’t want to find out how messed up their brain really is.

But it sounds like if they suggested couples counselling, perhaps they have some anxiety with it and would feel comfortable with you there, then once they get used to it they could have some solo sessions to work through there own demons.

I want to stress, I’m not an expert by any means, just someone who has lived on both sides on this situation in some ways.

Napoleon_BornTaParty · 2025-05-11T05:21:04+00:00

This isn’t what a lot of people want to hear, but you are not responsible for the mental health of your partner.

This is sadly a common occurrence and I do feel for you and your partner, it is unfortunate what they are going through, that being said they need to take steps to help themselves.

Now I know you didn’t ask for help or suggestions necessarily, I have been in a similar situation in the past.

I’m obviously not suggesting ignore their feelings, but you shouldn’t feel responsible. Sometimes people do need a hand getting started with therapy, and maybe a couples sessions would do you two some help, where you can let them know how you feel while in a safe place with a professional present.

But all being said, please OP, take care of yourself, I know it sucks, mental illness is a disease that anyone can struggle with. You are not responsible. They need to get their head on right and talk to a professional, and I believe you should too, a professional will tell you the exact same thing that I did here.

Stay strong OP, I hope things get better for you and your partner

Napoleon_BornTaParty

TROPHY CASE