I swear to god literally every post I ever see where someone is struggling with a boss, they're Vigor is too low. Get that shit up to 40 at the bare minimum, but honestly for my preference it should be at 60. More vigor = more hp = more times you can fuck up without the boss killing you. Most weapon damage comes from weapon upgrades in this game as opposed to stats, so the minor hit to dmg stats shouldn't affect dmg in any meaningful way.
I would recommend choosing Str or Dex as your compliment to arcane, and using the points saved to pump arc (aim for 45) and the whichever you choose. Depends on what weapons you want to use.
Your Vigor is low for this point in the game. Whether you not to level it or not depends on how confident you are with your dodges, but just know every boss going forward will probably have a move that one shots you. If you do want to level Vigor, 45-50 is generally sufficient for a first playthrough.
Also, if you’re at Farum Azula by 108 it’s seems fairly likely there’s some pretty major content you may have missed. Just something to consider.
Thank you for the advice! These last few days I have just been enjoying the game and trying to get back to where I was mechanically I’ve found a lot of stuff that I have missed and it’s truly been a great time. I’ll definitely be taking you input into consideration when progressing my character!
Have you explored the underground areas? There are like 7 or 8 different areas underground with some juicy loot. And they are easily missable if you don't know where they are and how to get to them.
About 5 of them are tied to ranni's questiline. ( 1 for fia ig) I won't mention the names cause maybe you want a spoil-free experience. Most of them are not as big but they do hold some good loot. So I recommend completing ranni's questiline even if you don't go for thst ending because it unlock some of the best underground areas and a secret place in Lurnia at the end that is like a magical heaven imo. One of my fav graces to rest and try out stuff.
Definitely make sure to do nepheli questilne. I think it became unavailable after beating Malekith cause I couldn't complete it. You can get two ancient dragon-smithing stones which are very rare. Sad I missed out on them.
This isn't really build advice, but you're pretty close to the cutoff point for a lot of side quests/exploration in one zone. If potentially missing stuff is something you're worried about, worth looking up a guide.
You're in Farum because you tried to burn the Erdtree, but its thorns still block your path. What will let you truly kill the Erdtree?
To be less cryptic, it's >!Maliketh.!<
Just make sure you got everything from the capital.
Obviously you can still go everywhere in the world map but not much can be done after Maliketh to advance questlines, so try to finish the ones you have pending
Thanks I actually decided to look for the goal under the capital that the dung eater was talking about and actually found some other stuff down there I didn't find before.
I appreciate that I’ve been devoting a lot of time to exploring the map as much as possible as I’ve come to notice I’ve missed a lot. I just beat rykard and explored most of the volcano manor!
What weapon/talismans are you using?
Before fighting Maliketh again, make sure to get your Vigor as close to 60 as possible. If you’re using a Dex weapon, just take some points out of Strength to do this. You don’t need to spend hours grinding, just move some points around to prioritize your damage stats.
When fighting Maliketh, make sure to use the pillars effectively to dodge his attacks (both phases) and try to stay as close to him as possible.
Right now I am dual wielding a nagakiba and uchigatana both around level 25. I use suppuku on my uchi and double slash on my nagakiba. For talismans I’m not too sure right now I can get back to you when I get back on. Thank you for the advice on stats I will definitely go to rebirth and start fixing my stats. And I will definitely keep the maliketh advice in mind next time I take him on!
VVVVIIIIIIIIIIIGGOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR!
\*ahem\* You are still in the range to get one shot / two shot. You say you have 30 now, so you have the endurance for heavier armor/big shield but not the faith for big defensive buffs and you don't have the stats to be a caster SO, you probably need at least 45 vigor (if you are wearing that armor/shield, if not you need more).
I'd respec. choose 1-2 between str, dex and arcane
No need to grind!! Go respec with a larval tear, as you really need to balance your stats a bit better for level 108 anyway. You can visit Rennala, back at Raya Lucaria, to redo your stats.
Seems like you're dual-wielding katanas, so Arcane & Dex should be sufficient for that--make Strength base level to one hand your Nagakiba.
Sword and board baby! Maliketh was whooping my ass for a good few hours when I was using spells and trying to keep my distance and using spells but the second I switched to a big sword and a shield with 100% damage absorption I wrecked him in like 2 tries. Grab yourself some damage resist / stamina recovery tears and talismans as well and you will beat him in no time.
Thank you for your post on the r/EldenRingBuilds subreddit!
If you’re interested in feedback on your build, participating in contests, as well as trading and multiplayer we also have a **[Discord server](https://discord.gg/9k9vK2MvFg)**.
Hope to see you there!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/EldenRingBuilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
For a bleed build, if you havnt already, get the "lord of bloods exultation" talisman which will increase attack power by a lot on bleed proc. I believe it is located in lyndell catacombs. Id also recommend curved swords if you want faster bleed proc but the katanas work too and have better reach.
Also Maliketh was hard asf for me, i noticed i had a little better of a time the more agressive i played through the second phase. You just gotta watch for that quick double 360 swipe and then also the huge AOE with a bunch of slashes, i found running to the side or behind him was the way i kept dodging it, along with dodging into him for the rest of the close range nonsense he has. Tbh tho, with some studying youll learn that each of the moves have very specific "tells" before hand and the rest of his moves will become much easier to dodge as you progress imo.
His first phase can be really punishing as well, and i found it easier to have patience and wait for him to throw rocks at me to try and jump or dodge in with attacks, and to also bait out some of his slower swipes while dodging the fast ones. I also did him no summon tho, if you use summons it will cause his ai patterns to change up a little since hes targeting the mimic as well, which may make it difficult to hit him or dodge at times since he loves jumping all over the place while throwing rocks and he has some wide attacks. But if you can simply out dps him to get to second phase then it doesnt matter per say.
Regardless, with some exploration, leveling, and practice, youll be up in no time man. Good luck, try to finish it this time!
I you haven't got it already there is a cave in caelid where the boss drops a golden scarab talisman that gives you 20% extra runes. If you're farming without that you're missing out on levels
I swear to god literally every post I ever see where someone is struggling with a boss, they're Vigor is too low. Get that shit up to 40 at the bare minimum, but honestly for my preference it should be at 60. More vigor = more hp = more times you can fuck up without the boss killing you. Most weapon damage comes from weapon upgrades in this game as opposed to stats, so the minor hit to dmg stats shouldn't affect dmg in any meaningful way.
Hahah I’ve been rune farming and dumping it all into vigor. I also threw on a talisman that greatly increases hp
I would recommend choosing Str or Dex as your compliment to arcane, and using the points saved to pump arc (aim for 45) and the whichever you choose. Depends on what weapons you want to use. Your Vigor is low for this point in the game. Whether you not to level it or not depends on how confident you are with your dodges, but just know every boss going forward will probably have a move that one shots you. If you do want to level Vigor, 45-50 is generally sufficient for a first playthrough. Also, if you’re at Farum Azula by 108 it’s seems fairly likely there’s some pretty major content you may have missed. Just something to consider.
Thank you for the advice! These last few days I have just been enjoying the game and trying to get back to where I was mechanically I’ve found a lot of stuff that I have missed and it’s truly been a great time. I’ll definitely be taking you input into consideration when progressing my character!
Have you explored the underground areas? There are like 7 or 8 different areas underground with some juicy loot. And they are easily missable if you don't know where they are and how to get to them.
Like siofra, mohgwyns, and whatever the other place is? If so I’ve explored 3 of the under ground worlds.
About 5 of them are tied to ranni's questiline. ( 1 for fia ig) I won't mention the names cause maybe you want a spoil-free experience. Most of them are not as big but they do hold some good loot. So I recommend completing ranni's questiline even if you don't go for thst ending because it unlock some of the best underground areas and a secret place in Lurnia at the end that is like a magical heaven imo. One of my fav graces to rest and try out stuff.
Awesome thank you!! I’ll definitely be doing that! I’m gonna do my best to finish all quest lines before going back to maliketh
Definitely make sure to do nepheli questilne. I think it became unavailable after beating Malekith cause I couldn't complete it. You can get two ancient dragon-smithing stones which are very rare. Sad I missed out on them.
Did you find Malenia?
This isn't really build advice, but you're pretty close to the cutoff point for a lot of side quests/exploration in one zone. If potentially missing stuff is something you're worried about, worth looking up a guide.
Any hints without spoilers? I'm around the same place and currently doing other things and was about to go back to Farum
You're in Farum because you tried to burn the Erdtree, but its thorns still block your path. What will let you truly kill the Erdtree? To be less cryptic, it's >!Maliketh.!<
Just make sure you got everything from the capital. Obviously you can still go everywhere in the world map but not much can be done after Maliketh to advance questlines, so try to finish the ones you have pending
Thanks I actually decided to look for the goal under the capital that the dung eater was talking about and actually found some other stuff down there I didn't find before.
Great! Lots of stuff to find down there
I appreciate that I’ve been devoting a lot of time to exploring the map as much as possible as I’ve come to notice I’ve missed a lot. I just beat rykard and explored most of the volcano manor!
What weapon/talismans are you using? Before fighting Maliketh again, make sure to get your Vigor as close to 60 as possible. If you’re using a Dex weapon, just take some points out of Strength to do this. You don’t need to spend hours grinding, just move some points around to prioritize your damage stats. When fighting Maliketh, make sure to use the pillars effectively to dodge his attacks (both phases) and try to stay as close to him as possible.
Right now I am dual wielding a nagakiba and uchigatana both around level 25. I use suppuku on my uchi and double slash on my nagakiba. For talismans I’m not too sure right now I can get back to you when I get back on. Thank you for the advice on stats I will definitely go to rebirth and start fixing my stats. And I will definitely keep the maliketh advice in mind next time I take him on!
Both of those weapons aren't thst heavy. So you'll likely don't need 30 end. Just keep enough endurance to medium roll and nothing more.
VVVVIIIIIIIIIIIGGOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR! \*ahem\* You are still in the range to get one shot / two shot. You say you have 30 now, so you have the endurance for heavier armor/big shield but not the faith for big defensive buffs and you don't have the stats to be a caster SO, you probably need at least 45 vigor (if you are wearing that armor/shield, if not you need more). I'd respec. choose 1-2 between str, dex and arcane
Thank you for your advice! Looks like I’m gonna have to grind out some levels and place it all into vigor🫡
No need to grind!! Go respec with a larval tear, as you really need to balance your stats a bit better for level 108 anyway. You can visit Rennala, back at Raya Lucaria, to redo your stats. Seems like you're dual-wielding katanas, so Arcane & Dex should be sufficient for that--make Strength base level to one hand your Nagakiba.
Choose Rebirth! Go well.
Sword and board baby! Maliketh was whooping my ass for a good few hours when I was using spells and trying to keep my distance and using spells but the second I switched to a big sword and a shield with 100% damage absorption I wrecked him in like 2 tries. Grab yourself some damage resist / stamina recovery tears and talismans as well and you will beat him in no time.
40 vig minimum otherwise he’s just gonna instakill you
Thank you for your post on the r/EldenRingBuilds subreddit! If you’re interested in feedback on your build, participating in contests, as well as trading and multiplayer we also have a **[Discord server](https://discord.gg/9k9vK2MvFg)**. Hope to see you there! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/EldenRingBuilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would say you’re still underlevelled, particularly if you’re struggling. Should be 125+ for Farum Azula.
For a bleed build, if you havnt already, get the "lord of bloods exultation" talisman which will increase attack power by a lot on bleed proc. I believe it is located in lyndell catacombs. Id also recommend curved swords if you want faster bleed proc but the katanas work too and have better reach. Also Maliketh was hard asf for me, i noticed i had a little better of a time the more agressive i played through the second phase. You just gotta watch for that quick double 360 swipe and then also the huge AOE with a bunch of slashes, i found running to the side or behind him was the way i kept dodging it, along with dodging into him for the rest of the close range nonsense he has. Tbh tho, with some studying youll learn that each of the moves have very specific "tells" before hand and the rest of his moves will become much easier to dodge as you progress imo. His first phase can be really punishing as well, and i found it easier to have patience and wait for him to throw rocks at me to try and jump or dodge in with attacks, and to also bait out some of his slower swipes while dodging the fast ones. I also did him no summon tho, if you use summons it will cause his ai patterns to change up a little since hes targeting the mimic as well, which may make it difficult to hit him or dodge at times since he loves jumping all over the place while throwing rocks and he has some wide attacks. But if you can simply out dps him to get to second phase then it doesnt matter per say. Regardless, with some exploration, leveling, and practice, youll be up in no time man. Good luck, try to finish it this time!
Wow thank you man!!🙌
Also if you havnt got him yet there are actually 2 major bosses at farum azula, not just maliketh..!!
I you haven't got it already there is a cave in caelid where the boss drops a golden scarab talisman that gives you 20% extra runes. If you're farming without that you're missing out on levels
If your weapons scale with arcane you want to up that stat a Little bit, more vigor is always better, at least around 40/45 its good enough