r/Eldenring 4h ago

Discussion & Info What were they smoking when designing this enemy?

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And why do they only drop a measly amount of runes, with how annoying and strong they are you'd think they would give you a massive reward, it's basically pointless to fight them in melee unless you low profile their 5000 hit combo

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48 comments sorted by

u/Bald-Virus 4h ago

There is this ash of war i'm abusing in my latest playthrough, Endure. Makes me play without brain against such enemies, just ENDURE + hold R2... Most brainless run I've ever done I'm having hard time considering something else lol

u/PowerlineTyler 4h ago

Okay but hear me out my brother in endure. I honestly didn’t read the meta on it before using it on this playthrough as well and I was like okay that could be fun and useful, but then I was like oh my god this is incredible. You do SOMETIMES need to have really good timing to use it properly against some bosses so it does have its own skill in itself. But yeah, absolutely bananas how fun it is. Brainless compared to “learning every boss move” but not brainless alone, just pure awesome tank and bonk. I have also never squeezed R2 so hard in my entire life until I tried this ash.

Stay solid brother

u/Bald-Virus 4h ago

Star Fist + Occult + endure + R2... cake walk

u/Aware-Individual-827 2h ago

Endure is skilled ashe of war, not every attack allow you to poise through, also some attacks deals way too much damage for endure to be used at that moment (like multihit).

As the game progress the ashe of war lose a bit of it's interest I feel like!

u/DinosaurEatingPanda 4h ago

Endure? Someone's doing a Midra build.

u/Bald-Virus 4h ago

Was doing cragblade first, turns out Endure is even easier lol

u/rossww2199 2h ago

Another reminder that after all this time, there are still ashes I haven’t experimented with yet. I get too attached to the ones I like.

u/Acceptable-Mind-101 4h ago

I mean, challenging unofficial miniboss in a dlc clearly designed to give players a skill check by lowering their effective damage stats and resistances?

u/TrevorShaun 4h ago

i think they actually just said fuck it with enemy movesets in SotE

u/uncle_jones 4h ago

i think they’re fun and i really like the sense of danger they add, especially when you’re still at a low scadutree level.

the first guy in gravesite plain who jumps you sets the tone that they’re a legit threat, so whenever they show up from the on out, you know it’s an enemy you need to take seriously.

the one in the ancient ruins that forces you to deal with him before fighting the horned warriors is great. the immediate shock i got when i was locked in on the horned warrior only to have this dude show up out of thin air and absolutely wreck me was actually really fun. like i didn’t love that section of the DLC so i ran past a lot of the enemies there and this guy was like, “ok cool but actually you’re not gonna do that”

u/Void-Cooking_Berserk 4h ago

Lion Claw goes brrrrr

u/Hexxer98 4h ago

Same thing when making Furnace Golems

u/JeebaRock 3h ago

Furnace golems are 100x worse than these guys

u/fffffffuuuuuuuuug 2h ago

I think furnace golems are a mild inconvenience that can easily be taken down with a multi hit weapon and the raptor of the mists ash of war.

Or pest-thread spears if you're ok with jumping.

Even the armored ones aren't too bad once you get the pot throwing angle right

u/SpecialistMap8210 3h ago

Furnace Golems suck imo. They shouldnt have made them AGGRO.

u/Aware-Individual-827 3h ago

Just use strike damage like hammer, or jaw bone axe. 

u/Hexxer98 2h ago

Sure it works but the design is still absolutely dogshit.

u/Aware-Individual-827 2h ago

It's only dogshit because the design is different and the design being different is exactly why it's good design. It makes you think, makes you remember those enemies, punishes your build, etc.

That's also why quality build are the best! You can swap to any weapon to solve the problem ahead. Dragons? Piercing damage. Golem? Strike damage. Low poise and fast combo? Big fat weapon. High poise and fast combo? Parry or fast weapon. 

u/Hexxer98 2m ago

Ah yes this is what Elden Ring glazer looks like int he wild. Their design problem is not that they are different and being different itself does not make it good. Making think & remembering them says more about you and your way of playing than anything else. Punishing specific builds in games like this is also shot design. Having difficulties of your build is unsuited to task is one thing but active punishment is shit design.

Cool story about quality builds not sure if anyone asked

u/Hot-Lunch6270 4h ago

Giant Hunt and Lions Claw. Also, Bleed shreds them.

u/Tenshiijin 3h ago

They were smoking your crystallized tears.

https://giphy.com/gifs/AYMzMAgZIci8IgezfQ

u/totallynotrobboss 2h ago

In my experience shield and spear make them way easier to deal with

u/beardedrabbit 43m ago

Agreed, any 100% block shield trivializes curse blades.

u/NoVa_BlaZing_ 2h ago

Sometjing good, u love fighting them. Finally a non boss challenge

u/colossaltinyrodent 4h ago

I enjoyed them. Any enemy that induces rage or fear is well designed imo

u/No-Molasses3688 3h ago

There is added satisfaction when you kill them

u/baxmanz 4h ago

it's an interesting dynamic though right? Like they are stealth enemies that attack you when you're not expecting it and are very hard to fight. most of the time it's not worth killing them but that's kinda the point; the game almost encourages you to avoid them, that they are 'not worth the risk'. There is no glory in fighting them

if you look at their lore it's very interesting; they are remnants of the horrific trauma that the hornsent went through, both self-inflicted and also at the hands of messmer/marika. they wanted to transform into benevolent guardian spirits to protect the hornsent. Instead they drove themselves mad, and were imprisoned by the hornsent, only to be later released as terrifying weapons of war against Messmer

(Elden Ring Lore - Why Were The Curseblades Shunned?)

u/arindam_mahanta 4h ago

They were smoking symbiotes. Smoking that Whoopee Goldberg South Egyptian Furburger Deluxe Mega Millions scratcher skunk Bubba kush

u/Half-Baked-Acorn 1h ago

That Bhutanese Shadow Grass.

u/YeetOrBeYeeted420 1h ago

That Bhutanese Shadow Garden-grown Dark Evil pack

u/floodsye 2h ago

As to the difficulty, I'd probably say they were going for them being a difficult enemy. But, seriously likely to emphasize that hornsent were no pushovers and had warriors capable of extreme martial prowess. The placement of the first one suggests that they are meant as the first enemy you encounter/avoid and learn that despite being that skilled, they were utterly crushed by Messmer and Marika.

The measly amount of runes is likely due to FromSoft's tendency to balance around lore implications as well as typical gameplay related balance. They are known as "ascetics" by their mask's name. Ascetics are peoples who forsake possessions, oftentimes in the extremes. As such, these guys probably didn't really care for runes, so it wouldn't make sense for them to be caring a lot around.

u/Prudent_Parsley2380 1h ago

they were smoking that death root

u/Half-Baked-Acorn 1h ago

They were smoking the good stuff. I farmed these guys to get their set and weapon. Very engaging enemies. Though the placement caught me off guard.

u/firesyrup 4h ago

SOTE was made to induce maximum rage, so they had to start with this guy and end with PCR.

u/ArbiterNoro2428 2h ago

Classic fromsoft trollage to put one of these mfs right at the start of the dlc

u/Half-Baked-Acorn 1h ago

I found the Beast Claws guy first, then ran into this dude. Got me very aware of my surroundings.

u/GwynLordofInsomnia 1h ago

Compared to the Divine Beast Warriors they're cake walk , but yep perhaps the DLC went a bit too far...

u/GregariousMD 1h ago

Giant Crusher r2 does the job surprisingly well. Or Lion's Claw. Or Giant Hunt. They get splatted easily.

Now the Divine Beast Warriors: those can fuck off.

u/Exciting_Theme_215 1h ago

Crack. Co. Caine

u/already__annoyed 42m ago

they drop lightweight, skimpy armor if that's anyone's thing. The Ascetic Set. Also they drop a unique backhand blade so they're useful for that if nothing else

u/pfelelelep 9m ago

Was feeling the same until I tried the shield. Almost trivialzed them

u/Tough-Ad722 8m ago

Fire Knights with dual daggers is worst imo

u/blaiddfailcam2 4h ago

Kiting them. Staying out of their reach during their combos by running instead of panic rolling makes them a fair bit easier to evade, then punishing them at the end of their attack chains or any time they lunge toward you. Thankfully most of them are fought in open areas.

u/Basic-Warning-7032 4h ago

it's basically pointless to fight them in melee unless you low profile their 5000

Just press L2

u/UWraith 2h ago

Which skill?

u/Basic-Warning-7032 2h ago

Almost every ash of war can stagger those enemies, interrupting their combo

u/DenturedServant1024 3h ago

I usually use great stars and spam R1.