u/TheAdventureClub

Most of my fits usually revolve around making one thing i like work. The Fool was all about getting nomadic merchant finery and Heirodos crown together, Tortoise Knight literally existed for the great turtle shell sheild. I had a guy named bug knight.

Anyway this guy exists to make Miquellan knights sword and Smith script sheild work together.

-Tree sentinal helm

-Radahn's Lion Armor

-Crucible legs/arms

I keep my left hand with only the sheild, and my right hand has the sword and a seal- which i use to cast buffs.

I specifically keep minor erdtree slotted in my first spell slot. Its a quick enough cast and smithscript sheild means I get to basically kite any boss or enemy back to my position so I can hunker around it pretty easily. Deflecting hardtear makes up for the low guard boost of the sheild.

The entire reason I love the way these two weapons interact is because of the lunging heavy attack of the sword and how well it plays into the sheild. The problem?

Nothing matches that sheild, and bright ass gold is a difficult thing to match with dull brown. I figured id lean into trees. I gotta tree on my head, I got crucible armor (tree), I cast a tree, and I found my weapon in the haligtree. Figured id work in the old part to give an excuse for having faded/browns in my armor.

Did I make them fit? Any suggestions?

It doesnt suck, its just incomplete. You need to pair it with your good friend deflecting hardtear- and the notoriously not viable primary damaging option greatblade phalanx. When you combine it with those two things, it actually becomes the coolest casting tool in the game 50x over. (My int/dex build ive affectionately named the fool)

A lot of people always said greatblade as a primary is not good because of a lack in FP effeciency, but as it turns out you can actually just easily molly whop everything in the game because it doesnt get to have very many turns to attack back. Oh no I had to use 2 flasks for the fight? ): its stance broke 4 times. The damage isn't crazy- you're not gonna bomb everything to hell and in later NG+ cycles things will actually turn into a pretty long back and forth unless you pump up to the 250's or some shit. But even the bad stuff in this game is actually amazing when you cover its weaknesses.

This build is probably not for a lot of people. It requires 2 dlc items, and the stat requirements to support it are monstrous. Some people dont want to move up to 200 but honestly I think 200 is perfect for ng+ just because it allows you the freedom to top out 2 main stats without too much compromise anywhere else.

This build was created by me for 2 reasons:

1. I like quality of life builds. I like builds with a simple loadout that covers as much as possible. I dont like needing to soft swap, or hard swap, or change my loadout for the situation. I want to explore a dungeon, then fight its boss without resting at a site of grace or making any changes.

2. I am super reliant on str/faith builds for this reason. Access to blessed blue dew + basic heals basically turns out into a perpetual motion machine.

I had tried a magic build when I started, but it didnt speak to me. I dont like cast spam, I like melee fighting- and I dont want to switch weapons to cast. Which means my only option is to offhand a staff- not anymore.

Meet The Fool- a clumsy mess of stat options and choices largely built around my own comfort and aesthetic which exist to cover the inherent weaknesses of each other.

You're keeping Godricks loaded- because a 5 point bump to vigor, mind, intelligence, dex, and endurance still feels a little nice.

Your vigor is at 50, and you're walking around with primal glinstone blade and no poise-

But thats okay. Because you have Miriams vanishing on your primary spell slot, you have carian retaliation on your small sheild ash of war, you've got scholars sheild in slot 8 for your spell, you're light rolling, and you are walking around with the deflecting hardtear. These are all in your immediate reach. You can roll, block, parry, or cast when an attack is incoming without having to switch hands or do any of that jazz. Despite your lack of health or poise- you are a defensive powerhouse.

Your mind is at 25. Thats 13 short for even 1 flask refill- but 2 of your 3 talismans are dedicated FP savers. (Blessed blue dew and primal glinstone.) You are constantly recovering FP and constantly expanding it.

Oh, is this ng+ and you dont feel like doing THIS dungeon again? You've got unseen form and ambush shard.

You want to start off an engagement from way out? Ambush shard, lorettas bow, and glintblade trio for varying degrees of punch, range, FP cost.

Want to hit a group of trash mobs? I use fleeting microcosm cause it looks cool- but pick anything.

These spells do not hit hard. Your casting tool kinda sucks.

Shit barely does any physical damage so your guard counters will barely benefit from counter attack.

But they will benefit some. And the base magic damage will benefit from magic throwing and terra magica, as well as the wombo combo damage buffs your guard counters will stack up. To make up for the light 30 stance danage- youve got great blades ready to cast between stance breaks- finally blade of mercy will activate on your first stance break- and you'll start to see your damage really pop off. You're getting a bunch of buffs from varying sources to cobble together good overall damage, and your breaking knee caps left and right.

I know its weird. I know the carian sorcery sword sucks. I know dedicating 2 talismans to FP effeciency on a build that primarily fights up close is weird as hell, no poise, no HP- and not even doubling down on damage to compensate.

But you get it all. You get killer defense, killer offensive and a varying and engaging kit- without ever having to go dig into your inventory, or storage, or back pocket for a more appropriate piece of gear.

Having spells like terra magica, scholars sheild, and great blade phalanx on a main hand- while also perfect guarding and guard countering is such a freakishly fun way to play

For my strength obsessed deflecting nerds who have run out of shit to deflecting with- try this shit out. Screenshot attached thanks for listening to my rant for my new favorite guy

I am sorry to post this again, I fell so in love with the look I didnt realize a better set for the theme was right in front of me.

All hail the Pumpkin King.

Pumpkin Helm

Nomadic Merchant finery chest

Bullgoat grieves

Bullgoat gauntlet

Iron ball

Idk. The bullgoat pieces just remind me of a thorny vine, and the pointed boots just feel perfect. Forgive the double post- I beg of you. I hate that i wasted the original post on the Lionel sets. I just love him so much.

Just a basic starfist build.

60 vigor

80 health

21 endurance

13 mind

Pumpkin helm

Nomadic merchant finery

Lionels gauntlets

Luonels grieves

Starfist

It actually looks better with the iron ball and I intend to switch over to that, but im low on smithing stone 8's rn

Its a starfist build so it goes without saying there isn't any struggle

This isnt a recent thought. Actually- its now been two years since guard counters became my favorite type of playstyle. Ever since the deflecting hard tear. I have gotten to make some crazy builds that revolve around sheilds and blocking- and i really love the deflecting hardtear mechanic which ultimately solidified the sheild style as my favorite in ER.

Now I primarily used medium sheilds paired with either a light weapon- or a second medium sheild for fun. But you know what spell I always love to keep on hand?

IMMUTABLE MF SHEILD.

It has 1 draw back. 1 awful thing about it, which is that it has a 30 second up time.

But if you like flame grant me strength- this is just better. 100% elemental damage negation through blocks for 30 seconds.

Bayle leading off with flame blast? Who cares.

Loretta shitting magic pebble spam? Not your problem. Pearldrake? Negations? Perfect guards? Why bother, its ALL BLOCKED. If it was any longer than 30 seconds it would be busted.

I just hate that I never see this spell get any love, ive done several playthroughs where it was my ONLY buff. I paired it with sacred blade to go ultimate holy knight. Its always awesome. You want to be the knight of golden carian unity? Magic grease + immutable sheild + glintblades = you look cool as FUCK.

Ever seen a glowing golden sheild use carian magic to parry a projectile and turn it into blue magic blades?? I have. The drip alone is unreal WHY DO YOU PEOPLE NOT LOVE THIS THING? IM STILL BOTHERED 2 YEARS LATER FUCK SCHOLARS SHEILD YOUVE GOT PLENTY OF GUARD BOOST.

/r just loving on my favorite unsung buff. Hopefully you decide to give it a try today

Decided to boot up a new playthrough last night. I've been doing fist build obsession nightreign lately so I had a hankering to do a str ball build. For those who haven't tried it, the years long wisdom is true. Iron ball is stupid dumby easy mode.

Optimized? No point. Build below:

(Started as wretch and have just been glass earthing every location and boss between limgrave and the weeping peninsula)

Popped over to caelid for a tear at one point- strange that I now realize that with no grinding at all, you will end up way over leveled if you just do everything as throw runes as you go. Am I crazy? I feel like I'll blow way beyond 150-200 by completing the game/DLC but am I crazt?