Austin drivers will straight-up refuse to pull into the intersection on unprotected lefts. Texas code says you’re allowed to creep in, wait for a gap, and even finish the turn after it goes red… but no, better to just camp behind the line and force everyone behind you to slow to a crawl.
I'd already beaten Rellana, so I walked into this dungeon assuming I could parry my way through it. Turns out you can't parry the Dancing Lion at all. Had to swap to guard counters and jump attacks and just play aggressive, stance break ripostes ended up scratching the same itch. Only took a few attempts, thankfully. Blessing 3.
What's the next fight that's going to force me off parries?
Parries plus Dragonclaw off the Clawmark Seal carried me. I finished this boss without any of the Scadutree blessing. Where should I go next, and what weapon should I be hunting? I've got 44 STR / 41 FTH and I like heavy stuff while parrying with shields. Should I look into Blacksteel Greathammer or are there even cooler options in the DLC to watch out for?
First playthrough. Took me 10 attempts on Radagon before the parries started clicking. Elden Beast went down to the Pickaxe with Cragblade up.
The Erudition timing at the end was complete luck.
Honest question before I start the DLC: does parry/Carian Retaliation on Brass Shield hold up well, or am I about to get humbled? And is it worth swapping the Pickaxe for light greatswords, or should I stick to smashing weapons?
fought him for 30 minutes trying to parry, then realized it and switched to guard counters
Includes betrayal dialogue and Maliketh cut scene:
Took under a minute to beat him with the Pickaxe (could be the fastest anyone's killed him with a pickaxe)
Messing around with the Cragbladed Pickaxe outside Maliketh’s arena when this happened.
Hit the Crucible Knight twice, parried him, went for the riposte… and somehow triggered a second riposte on him mid-animation. I actually laughed out loud.
I guess all that poise damage from the Pickaxe carried over through the parry? Either way, it was hilarious.
Placidusax gave me a lot of trouble with his constant disappearing and teleport combos, but Vow of the Indomitable made it cheesy. I paired it with the Staff of the Avatar for powerful jump attacks
Some other bosses this works great on:
Spent about 3 days doing nothing but parry practice against the Banished Knights in Farum Azula. Once I could consistently make it through a full run without getting destroyed, I took that into Godskin Duo and ended up beating them within a few attempts, no sleep or summons, just parries.
The biggest thing I noticed wasn't that I got better at parrying. It completely changed how I look at fights. Instead of panic rolling every attack, I started paying attention to timing, spacing, and which attacks were actually punishable.
Went back and fought a Crucible Knight afterward and it honestly felt like a different game. Curious if anyone else has had a mechanic or playstyle suddenly "click"