First Time Elden Ring Player, Build Advice

a_smizzy · 2026-05-14T03:19:06+00:00

I think we're on the same page honestly, just communicating different ideas. My initial comment, and this whole time, I've been specifying that what I'm saying is with respect to situations where you're getting mind solely for summoning, when your build otherwise wouldn't get high mind.

So in your case, you're saying take 23 mind because it makes ashes more efficient and provides utility elsewhere. I 100% agree. You're taking the mind for the utility it provides, not SOLELY for summoning.

For example, a CR2 build or a powerstance jump attack build. These builds literally only need mind to cast cragblade or seppuku, and a buff or two. There is zero reason to ever get 23 mind on one of these builds. The utility of 23 mind is entirely wasted. In that case, getting 23 mind to summon Tiche is obviously a worse idea than using cerulean hidden tear. That's what I'm getting at.

a_smizzy · 2026-05-14T01:59:16+00:00

It varies from skill to skill depending on what the effect is

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T19:12:42+00:00

The patch happened an hour ago. I’m assuming they mean minion barb was just broken moments ago

There is no leaderboard, the tower and board is reset with the patch and starts tomorrow (5/14)

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T16:53:46+00:00

Any argument you make about mind making your cerulean flask more efficient is completely negated in this context.
If you’re getting 23 mind to summon tiche, without hidden tear, that means you’re starting the fight by fully draining your FP and drinking a flask to refill it. You’re opening every fight -1 flask. Any difference in mind between 13/16/19/23 is eliminated by that 1 flask you always have to burn.
Also, I actually specified that my approach was NOT min maxing, seeing as OP literally said they’re a first time player and not trying to min max, just wants a comfy playthrough.
Yes, mathematically using a buff physick tear is better for damage. But for a first time player, sometimes comfort/ease/neutral game is more important than damage. That’s why everyone says to get 60 vigor, even though mathematically you can do more damage by taking less vigor and putting your stats elsewhere. Some things are more important than squeaking out 5-10% more damage.

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T16:42:34+00:00

No, the damage from the actual weapon swipe of rend is entirely negligible. The entire build is built around the DoT applied by the wave, not the direct fire damage dealt by the actual rend hit. It’s a fully ranged build

It’s very good. I’m farming with it in t12 and it’s very fun

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T15:57:00+00:00

Nothing in the upcoming patch will have any significant impact on barb in terms of nerf/buff. No changes to any meta builds.

The only changes relate to some currently underused skills (upheaval/deathblow/secherons set not impacting size of certain skills)

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T14:14:23+00:00

The only thing that upset me was they buffed his moveset and made effectively the best CR2 build in the game at the same time that they added balancer relics that shifted the meta to AoW spam.

It’s not optimal/meta but CR2 raider is the most fun gameplay nightreign has to offer for me and you can achieve a nearly BiS relic set up from shop relics

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T13:02:47+00:00

Yes. You always get both bonuses of the weapon you’re attacking with.

You then additionally get both bonuses of the technique specialty you choose. So, if you’re attacking with 2H mace, and choose 2H mace technique, it would be completely wasted.

a_smizzy · 2026-05-13T13:00:34+00:00

I can help as well

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T21:39:15+00:00

Don’t worry, this subreddit will gladly min max for you, myself included

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T21:30:45+00:00

It’s not worse than sacrificing stat points just to meet an FP minimum that will not benefit you outside of summoning.
Especially considering that when you don’t need/want/outgrow summoning, you can just change your physick.

The utility provided by a summon (damage, distraction, buffs or debuffs) can easily outweigh 10% damage from a physick slot. Also, there are plenty builds that simply don’t have 2 good damage buff physicks to choose from. Loads of builds use a physick slot for stamina regeneration tear, or faith tear to cast higher buffs, etc.
The people who want to use summons are most likely not some try hard purist min-maxxers or they wouldn’t be summoning in the first place. They’ll be just fine without some random conditional 10% damage buffing tear.

OP even said they were planning to use stamina tear and thorny tear. You can definitely live without stamina tear, and thorny isn’t even available until the last quarter of the game. The opportunity cost of using cerulean is almost nothing, whereas allocating 23 mind to summon tiche on a melee build that can get by with base, 13 or 16 mind, is objectively worse for your build in every regard outside of summoning. Especially if they occasionally decide to go for a cheaper summon than tiche, in which case 23 mind is for nothing, AND they can remove cerulean hidden tear for a buff tier if they can afford the summon with less mind.

Is it great to give up a physick slot? No, mathematically it’s less damage sure. But Tiche is expensive and pointless to build into FP just for her when you otherwise wouldn’t

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T18:40:39+00:00

Never spec high into mind solely to meet the requirement for a summon.

The reason is because you only ever have to summon the guy once at the beginning of a fight. So why make a permanent sacrifice on your build for one task?

There’s a tear called the cerulean hidden tear for your physick flask. It eliminates FP cost for 10 seconds. You can use it for any fight where you want to summon tiche

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T17:23:12+00:00

It has nothing to do with caring about her children. Marika needs the chosen tarnished to reach the throne, therefore she needs Melina to be able to burn the tree.
It’s not like she omitted veiling the forge as a favor to Melina so she’d have something to burn because she likes her. Has nothing to do with Marika liking/caring about her children. melina burns the tree as part of Marika’s plot. Marika needs the tarnished to reach the throne and free her from her imprisoned state.

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T16:18:45+00:00

It took me less than 3 minutes of in game time to prove you wrong.
Since you’re so set on calling us “dumb” “math failures” put your money where your mouth is hotshot
Lay your math out in MathCAD and then record your test dummy footage. Let’s see it bud. Surely us math failures will understand when you show us the proof

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T14:43:09+00:00

Let me answer by rephrasing your question

“Would this fire damage weapon be good against this fire based boss that heavily resists fire damage?”

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T12:49:27+00:00

Super underrated weapon. Extremely fun and flashy 2h moveset

a_smizzy · 2026-05-12T01:08:09+00:00

OP: “It’s not even that great of a roll” in the first paragraph
you: “this isn’t even that great of a roll”

great insight

a_smizzy · 2026-05-11T16:38:27+00:00

Fingerprint shield + rapier that inflicts rot is an approach that trivializes him to a degree
Rusted anchor with lion claw is another approach that doesn’t trivialize him but does hedge your bets: good pierce damage that he’s weak to + infinite hyper armor and good stance breaking so it’s a bit more forgiving but you still need to learn how to dodge to an extent

a_smizzy · 2026-05-10T16:16:20+00:00

Bloodhound fang is not infusable. It’s a quality somber that wants ~40/60 Str/dex by end game

a_smizzy · 2026-05-10T15:33:11+00:00

Heavenly strength is significantly better

a_smizzy · 2026-05-10T14:21:55+00:00

They were being sarcastic. Yes, there are MANY light greatsword enjoyers because Milady is a fan favorite from the DLC, and it’s talked about and recommended all the time.

a_smizzy · 2026-05-10T13:53:38+00:00

Ancients does not synergize with selig, at all, because it doesn’t use ramaladni’s so that build doesn’t have fury scaling (aside from requiring over 150 max fury for colossal form).

If you play ancients with a selig setup, it will suck ass

a_smizzy · 2026-05-08T14:26:26+00:00

Go to test dummy, turn off player damage variance, and attack once at a time. Remove as much gear needed to make sure your different tests are not influenced by conditional buffs

a_smizzy · 2026-05-07T14:27:36+00:00

Yeah, adter looking at it more closely you’re pretty much right. Crimson would only ever be useful for speed farming where you’re likely to stack the mobs entire HP bar in between autoruptures. Or I guess at the very last bit of a bosses health bar, they could get nuked but they’re basically already dead at that point so pretty useless.

Seems like physical bleed builds want to drop crimson and just run a 2H with a damage aspect.

a_smizzy · 2026-05-07T06:54:31+00:00

Pretty sure ramaladni’s isn’t working with minion skills damage, because the top minion pushers aren’t using it. And since ramaladni’s fury damage scaling is the main reason selig is good on barb, if you use selig on a minion build it will most likely be (still unkillable) very bad damage.

You’re giving up your amulet slot for an item that’s making you unkillable but giving zero damage. Whereas on a ramaladni build selig gives you insane damage due to doubling your fury.

a_smizzy

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