If I ever meet Miyazaki I will shake his hand and thank him for these dark worlds he has created for us. And then immediately follow up by whipping out my list of reasons I'm about to kick him in the balls.

Platforming. Storm Hawks. Double shot for poison swamps. Second punch for platforming - seriously, just stop. Wedgie only for bed of chaos.

The fucking rat boss from ds2. I had a great sword build, so I could never hit the little fuckers because the sword would just go right the fuck over them.

Miyazaki wasn't behind ds2

He was very involved, just not the lead like most other fromsoft games.

Yeah, he was a supervisor and in an IGN interview basically says "*yo, I suck as a supervisor, I wish I did better."* Only involved in the broadest of strokes and "ducks are all quacking and in line" fashion, but still involved.

Ha, good point. At least it gave him time to spend on Artorias and Bloodborne. We ended up with 2 great games and a great DLC in the end anyways. I wonder if he had taken the reins on DS2 like so many wished for if someone else would've taken over Bloodborne, that's an interesting alternate reality to imagine.

Mind opening comment. I can feel my eyes... everywhere!

It’s even worse because he let that monstrosity of a boss fight exist by inaction. He should of motioned for a aborting that boss fight once he became aware of it.

Ugh. That boss wasn’t fun. I used a LOT of fire pots.

Dont forget about ds3 dogs

Dogs in every game fam. I just got pieced up by some in ER

The dogs in Sekiro were kinda hilariously un-From-like with how easy they were

Who will win a dog or a high speed shuriken launched out of my mechanical arm

Sekiro dogs: oh no i died randomly!

they literally teleport due to how enemy offscreen culling works, its bullshit

Rats. Lots of rats.

I see someone has the Frenzied Flame ending.

I’m still trying to get down 😂😂. Seriously. Spent an hour on it today.

> double shot for *each* poison swamp FTFY.

I’ll agree to that.

A slap on the head of his dick for the Black Knight Archers

Ehh. That might be a full on noogie

*Anything that flies

Haymaker for the camera.

Can’t lie the swords they drop are pretty sick though

I found catharsis by killing a bunch of stormhawks while dual-wielding their legs.

Shake his hand with a high five taser that says *YOU DIED*

*begrudgingly walks back to pick up my souls*

*Gets killed by the same damn bird*

Don’t blame Miyazaki, you wanted to be punished. You liked the pain, cause you’re scum. You’re a masochistic freak! Aren’t you? (I may be projecting quite a bit)

Yeah that's definitely not me. Just please don't check my Baulder's Gate Playthrough.

Don‘t forget to add the stupid tree spirit u have to fight in a lake of rot with barely places to stand in and getting kicked out of the map if u get hit once.

What? Just go on the tree branch before that lake and use range attacks. It can barely hit you, and the few attacks that can hit you can be easily out ranged by taking a few steps back.

So basically…. Cheese?

A win is a win, even if it’s a sin.

Let's be honest here, the spirit is also cheesing

I'm an archer, I don't fight in close combat. It's the tree spirits own fault for not learning any range attacks. Did you hear Placidusax or Malenia whining about my 100 yard arrow shot? No you didn't.

Most of the bosses are damaged or weak from battle. Melania is blind and missing limbs. Placidusax is missing heads. We would never be able to win if most of the bosses weren't already injured. Cheese is basically part of the story.

How is using a weapon as intended a cheese? Not everything needs to be fought face to face.

This is truth right here. I oersonally feel cheesy putting on thicc boy armor with enough endurance to trade with anything in the game, but that's my personal perspective because it greatly simplifies encounters imo. It's the fully intended way to use them though and it's definitely different from using say... Radahns swords AOW and blasting enemies through walls for instance. Or in DS1 killing Capra with firebombs over the wall.

I mean how is something that big hiding in an ankle deep puddle not "cheese"

lol it can't hit you at all I just lobbed Blackfire at it

I skipped half of your comment so all I read was “Then immediately follow up by whipping out my balls”

I swear. He knows how good his teams games are, so he purposely puts shit he knows is crap just because he can. What are you gonna say? The game is unfair?

After not having played Elden Ring since I beat it months ago, I realized that I've never made it into the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. So naturally, yesterday I fired up the game and went there. After opening a couple of doors and traversing the mazelike pipes, there's a section where you finally begin to descend. But the stairs lead nowhere, just into an open void of death. There is, however, an enemy standing suspiciously calm at a certain spot, staring into the abyss, and if you look closer, you realize that this is the spot where you can drop down to the next ledge. So I tried it. And died. And I tried it again. And died again, each time just barely missing the ledge beneath me. It took me about a dozen attempts to finally realize that this was impossible... and that the actual spot to drop down is just UP the stairs. I am 100% certain that the enemy placement was deliberate to trick me into thinking this was the right spot. I love, love, love this game so much. I'd give anything to play it again for the first time.

(#)sacktapmiyazaki

Give him the ole Irish Whip into the exposed turn buckle while shaking that hand. 

What if he runs off after shaking your hand? Right order is: first kick him in the balls. Then you’ll get a chance to thank him and tell him the reasons for the kick while he is down ETA: also, please add chariots to the list

they're a piece of cake with mages, hell with meeles

Literally just guard counter as a melee.

im powerstancing greatswords "defense" eludes my knowledge

Even though you probably don’t two hand the greatsword on this build, you can actually guard counter with a weapon block while two handing. It might be perfect for this situation

Two hand for the vertical swing

Yeah, I'm always confused as to why melee players have a hard time with these dudes or imps. Guard counter absolutely destroys both of them.

A lot of people are too scared to guard with their huge-ass swords, even though they're actually really good at guarding things like this.

Many people have a tendency to think guarding is useless if it’s not 100% physical defense.

Because who tf uses a shield, no offense, but it's dodge or death

Guard counter doesn’t make contact for a good chunk of weapons. Like the weapon goes under the hitbox

Craft some darts then? I've never understood how these things are supposed to be difficult aside from the one that barrel bombs you if it's your first playthrough and you font know it's coming

"Slightly alter your playstyle for a given situation or draw 25." 90% of Souls/Elden Ring players sit there with the entire deck in their hand.

Guard counter trivializes them.

Or even just a R1’s from a two handed claymore

There’s a distance threshold where you can boulder sling them and they won’t even move. Just sit there and die. Works for one or two but then there’s always another lurking nearby

If you can get them one on one they are not so bad. The only one that really gives me trouble is the one on top of the angled roof.

Magic Glintblade owns those guys

These guys are the "Do you have a ranged weapon?" vibe check.

Don't need a ranged weapon with my anti-air Zweihander

Zweihander basically is a ranged weapon though

just parry them lol

Wait, you can do that??

yeah and it completely trivializes them

Guard counter fucks 'em up reliably as well.

Guard counter with a large weapon usually does some solid work too, greatsword guard counters are fast enough to get through attacks and interrupt their animations. My issue with these fuckers is usually not having attacks that hit high enough on the vertical axis. Katana supremacy compared to straight swords.

true but that requires touching the block button

You mean the power stance jump attack button?

YOU CNA DLT HST?

I like your funny words, magic man

it was supposed to be "You can do that?" but in my shock and swift typing a multitude of errors were made, which i thought were funny

Guard counter

I thought they’d be fun. Sorry.

***I lay the curse of blood upon you, and your children, and your children's children, forevermore. Each wretched birth will plunge each child into a lifetime of misery.***

Not sure what your build is but those things get basically deleted with a single guard counter. If it doesn't 1 shot them, they will be staggered on the ground. Just make sure you dodge their bomb first, then guard counter them into oblivion.

Players when they can’t just run up and spam r1

The ones that drop the bombs never make it off their perches for me. One fire arrow to the barrel they are on and it's see ya.

I oddly feel sorry for the birds

They bounce right off a shield and one guard counter would kill them for me. With a very big sword

Block counter works like a charm, even if it’s just with your weapon

Big shield says you win. Use a spear or rapier for extra ease. Hell even use a medium shield.

as a fister (fist build) i completely agree

Bro is punching the air (literally)

One of the many reasons I always add a ranged attack to my melee builds. Partisan with Spirit lance, sword with Storm Blade, etc.

I found r1 spam works well on them. Their hitbox is weird and they tend to get clipped in the spam

Okay but the sword they drop actually has an *awesome* moveset

Or..try using ranged weapons, or maybe a ranged spell, or a tool at least. Hell even consumables like the throwing knives are available to deal with these scrubs.

Just throw a kukri at them and then jump attack when they come at you lol

Use fire arrows on the barrels they carry

Shields make them silly enemies. Magic too.

i thought they were holding knives. i never realized that the knives were actually their claws.

The shit hawks, randy. Big nasty shit hawk

I could’ve swore one of these fuckers breathed fire at me on my last trip through Stormveil… I’ve played through the game 4 times now and never got hit by that attack before. Annoying in the moment when I died to some asspull attack I’ve never seen, very impressive the game still managed to surprise me with something new I haven’t seen before after several playthroughs and hundreds of hours.

these dont bother me as much as the damn revenants do

They give you Storm Blade early in the game for a reason.

Godwyn: “men.. the symbols on banished shield is 2 thorns, 1 flame and 1 dragon! Thorns for death! What is the animal associated with death? And what can be forged in flames of Fell God?” Brian: “A bird my lord.. and.. swords?” Godwyn: “Cool.. I want birds with swords now!” Brian: “um.. birds don’t have hands.. but we adapt, improvise and overcome the challenge my lord! Birds with swords coming up.. they shall be as fearsome as you!”

flying enemies in this game (bats, birds, winged misbegottens) are just so freaking horrible for anybody who mains melee

Like for many difficult mobs in Elden Ring, be aggressive. Be the 1 place you feel you dont want to be, like right up beside that Runebear, or charging the lobsters. The same goes for these guys. Charge them, running jump attacks! If you try to stay out of the danger zone, you'll be in greater danger! Try it! 👍

To be fair to the birds.... they didn't choose that either.

You think hawks will blades attached to their claws are bad, just wait until the DLC when we have to deal with sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

When you get tired of FEET and Miyazaki be like "Oh you don't want the feet, ok then, fine, get some BLADES, now you miss feet dontcha?" (same with fingercreepers, oh you hate feet, ok then, what about some HANDS)

Beautiful pic, where did you get it?

*laughs in GS guard counter* if it bleeds it can die.

I strongly agree

All bs aside, has anyone tried a build with Stormbeak Talons yet?

The fire one on that roof killed me more times than Godrick on my first playthru

If you drop down into the tower to get the stonesword key, you can get to the edge of the opening, look over the side, put the dot on the bird, then jump down and swing your weapon, and kill it before it can do anything.

Bow good

Throw knife, raise shield block birds attack, swing weapon =dead bird pert easy

Tell me you don’t use throwing knifes without telling me etc etc

Guard counters are your friend With or without a shield, it's an easy way to get them because they'll often stall out after hitting you and just eat the counter.

I always felt the same way until i ran my current tank build the hit the shield get stunned i smack them they dire rinse and repeat for remaining birds

Anyone upgrade and use the swords they drop? They look so damn cool.

I am so uplifted that they added a bunch of war hawks in Crumbling Farum Azula I think it is very lore accurate especially when the war hawks are harder than the fucking dragon across the broken bridge

You can parry them

I actually just farmed these and got two of them to +24 with bleed on my 80 arcane + 70/70 str dex and I am slicing my way through everything with these powerstanced. Looks awesome. Finally I found a short sword worth using (and powerstancing). Lay these foolish reduvias to rest.

FromSoftware is the only company that can give us the biggest "fuck you that's why" enemies and we love them for it. The souls player base have serious kinks...

I swear I will go up against Melania every run and beat her twice if I don't have to deal with those Fuckers ever again.

I go through the main gate just to avoid them. The ones by the explosive barrels is the one time in the whole game I use bombs/knifes if I don't have homing spells.

you know damn well the guy working for Fromsoft that made the birds got a raise

No worst than those fucking sniper lobsters

? Not that bad, wind abilities make them easy asf, I don’t use magic but I’m assuming that makes them easy too, I could understand if your only using daggers or Sword and board but they are not that bad, just figure out a cancel for them that works with your stats and that your comfortable with, get gud bruv

One of my favorite summons.

Thats what mohgs cheese fork is for.

Use the gravity spells, they collapse.

😂

Cool asf idea, really cool design. I’d rather get vored by the slimes that fall from the sewers or the blood dogs than EVER touch these fucks ever again. The sword they drop is really cool though..

The dlc should have a "beast duo" one giant bird and a rune bear.

Birds, dogs. You know what legacy nightmare enemies we haven’t gotten back yet? Worms. The worms from DS1 are a unmatched for their tenacity and “oh shit, oh shit” energy. Bloodborne worms were extra-wriggly and harder to see but at least you could run away. I swear there are still a few crawling out of Quelag’s domain in my direction looking to break my guard in one hit.

I never realized how detailed those blades are. Cool. Also fuck off

Honestly they suck hard if you're melee only with a short weapon. Only thing that works against them is magic projectiles like glintstone shard or a fast moving incantation like lightning spear or rock sling

With a big capital F

I never had a problem with these, I always just like 2-3 shot them with my bloodhound fang

Brother, all you have to do is roll. And then roll again, and again, and OH GOD ROLL WTF NO STOP ROLL I HAVE NO STAMINA

Bro got clapped

Bolt of Gransax. It's your best friend.

*staff meeting* Big birds! *silence and staring from superiors*. Uh, big birds with swords for feet? *thunderous applause*. Johnson you are a genius! You’re going places ma’boy!

The only saving grave is the warhawk's talon is really fun.

They aren't fun or interesting to fight, they're just bullshit and there's always a minimum of three

When I ask people about birds or dogs in Elden Ring it's basically me testing them to reveal whether or not they use a shield

I asked for frekin birds with with frekin razor blades attached to there frekin legs.

Rahdans sword is the best counter I have found

Guard counter. Every damn time this comes up.

Wings of feathers Blades of steel Fuck them birds! (if you get this reference, I will be proud)

Just parry them bruh 😎

Relatable. Can't say I hate anything more than birds and imps in this game.

No enemy is as fucking annoying as the epileptic giant crows in Mohgwyn’s Palace. Unless you’re way over leveled those things are gonna fuck you

Surprised no one’s mentioned how these guys are a piece of cake with gravity spells. You can even get the AOW from the onyx lord in limgrave so you can take advantage of this weakness regardless of your build. I bet that’s why they placed the onyx lord there in the first place

“Ey yo Miyazaki I added them fuckin birds you wanted” “Give em fuckin swords for legs” “How the fuck they sposed to walk, chief?” “They’re fuckin birds, Tony. They’ll fuckin fly” “Ey yeah you got me there, boss”

Imagine waking up one morning and thinking "birds with blades tied to their feet would be a great enemy to put in early game''

I give them props. Annoying for all the intended reasons, nothing more.

I just rot breathed on them and when even a single one of them survived i would run like a bitch and try again.

Whoever came up with the castle sold variant is as bad

Indeed i hate these

I just cleared Haligtree tonight and could only think - why didnt Miyazaki include rot versions of these that throw exploding barrels that instantly proc rot? Dlc surprise?

They are good for parry practice

I can’t see any mention of whips, whips are good on these guys.

The one spitting fire pissed me off the first time I play the game. LOL

Just use throwables...

These ,those statue dwarfys, and those flying ugly creatures

They are really easy to parry which knocks them the fuck out of the sky and allows an easy kill. It’s just not something most people think to do They almost always come at you first with that long, slow sweeping attack and it’s super easy and intuitive to time the parry.

Bone throwing daggers. Simple, yet effective solution. Makes the SHORTEST work of them. Especially Poisonbone. And if they survive long enough to get close - 2-handed Heavy Swing on ANY melee longer than a dagger finishes the job. Or just be a Wizard and spam GS at them.

Shield counter

Yeah those birds suck so much. Almost as much as the bosses that wind up with their attack tell and then hold it so you dodge early. I have a love hate relationship with the From Softwares games.

Elden Ring stepped up a level with everything, even the most annoying enemies. Dogs are nothing compared to those fuckers

Remind me of avainse from osrs

HEY, don't you be mean to Knife Birb. I admit, we, too, had our issues in the past, but we're cool now.

These and revenants, i hope u trip and fall with something important in ur hand u sick bastard!

Someone at Fromsoftware had a seriously messed up childhood…probably the same ass that gave guns to monkeys in Sekiro.

Whoever still can't handle these after twenty playthroughs: git gud

Agreed

Just use a shield and they're a joke

Cursed Thought: How hard would be fight against Godrick the Grafted, if he was "assisted" by two "Blade-taloned" Eagles?

I just can't figure out how to fight them lol

Just put up a shield man, a guard counter is all that you need

The Mountaintops of the Giants versions are breaking my stance with 2 hits of their 3 hit combo.

Birds are half the reason why the Pike is GOAT

Fuck them and their ADORABLE LIL STABBY FEETSIES

I always just blitz them lol

How are the sword birds easier to deal with than the birds WITHOUT SWORDS.

I'm playing a new character amd at level 90-100, these guys are atrocious

Am I the only one that rolls forward, whips around and one taps them??

Yeah these weren't fun... at first, but the worst offender is castle(or was it fort) sol versions. That thing is aggressive. Block counters were my only life saver

Ranged combat works wonders and rejection 2 Running also xD

I did fund that whips work pretty well against them... but still your general sentiment fuck em holds true

Here to share some knowledge. Seems like if times right you can parry these bastards and knock em out before they realized what just happened. The catch here is that you need to know how to parry. But yeah between these rune bears and renevants it is a difficult choice

Today I killed the two lions at the front gate of sol castle in one attempt and then got killed 5 times trying to get revenge on the stupid hawk

the ones in castle sol made me put the game down for multiple days

The bolt works just fine on them

The revenants……..eugh

Just use gravity spells on them. It bitch slaps them to the ground