I’ve been playing Elden Ring (as I do) as a dex build. In my decade+ years of playing FromSoft games, I have never played a dex build or even a hybrid dex build. The reason is pretty prosaic: I’m shit at them. I have tried, mind you. Oh, I have tried. It ends with me either abandonning the run or adding other aspects (usually magicks) until the build could not be considered a dex build.
I will be controversial about it. I don’t like the katanas in the games. At all. One amendment. The great katanas in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC were cool, but they’re more greatswords than katanas. I don’t know why I’m not more enamored of them, but I have tried them in almost every game. I have used Rivern of Blood in Elden Ring, but that’s more for the Skill (Corpse Piler) than the weapon itself.
I have tried to do a dex build in Elden Ring, starting as a samurai. I abandonned that because it got frustrating. This time, I started as a vagabond with two scimitars. I have said many times that one of the reasons I don’t do dex is beacuse you’re expected to play without a shield. Then again, most people seem to play caster without a shield as welll. One reason I don’t like Bloodborne is because there are no shields in it. Well, there is one, but it’s a joke shield.
I have tried. I really have. Playing without a shield, I mean. I’m so glued to my shield, it’s embarrassing. I hold it up way too much. There are times when I realize that I haven’t lowered it in literal minutes. I decided with the vagabond to see how long I could go without using a shield. I struggled from the get-go, but I managed to limp along. You probably won’t be surprised to find out that hitting fast and furious does a sick amount of damage. I power-stanced two daggers (including the blood-letting reduvia) for a bit, which was fun. But I never really got the hang of it.
Then I switched to the halberd+8 that Edgar gives you (after he invades you), infusing it with either Hoarfrost Stomp or Sacred Blade, depending on the situation. For the first time, I’m actually using holy on the undead so they don’t come back–and to deal massive damage to the undead who don’t revive. I will say, it makes a huge difference. I may keep upgrading this weapon specifically for this purpose.
Then I got the Bloodhound’s Fang, which is the classic dex weapon in the base game of this game. Many YouTubers use it for the whole game whereas other YouTubers declare it cheese/pussying out/making it too easy. You know how I feel about this by now. It’s in the fucking game. It’s legit. Period. End of.
Someone in the RKG Discord (on the way FromSoft keeps nerfing anything considered too OP): Who cares if a weapon/incantation/spell is too OP? Why not let people be OP if they want?
I’m paraphrasing, but that was essentially what she said, and I agree. I understand balance to a certain extent, but if there’s a weapon that obliterates everything, you can just choose not to use it. In a game that doesn’t have difficulty modes, I think having some OP weapons/incantations/spells is a good way of offering those of us who have shitty reflexes a way to play the games.
In a single player game, who the fuck cares if therce is an overpowered weapon/incantation/spell? It’s so frustrating to have something that is really fun to use and does a ton of damage, only to find that it’s been nerf because it’s been deemed too good.
But I digress. My point is that in doing this dex build, I became more aware of my limitations. I don’t mean that in a metaphorical sense; I am being literal. I have always known that I had shitty reflexes and that they’ve gotten worse since my medical crisis. What I didn’t know was HOW much worse they had gotten. Or that some of the things I was frustrated with myself about (like dropping things or running into things) were not my fault as I had erroneously thought they were.
Side note: That’s because American society is very much a blame-the-individual society, but that is very much a different post for a different day.
I have mostly remained shield-free in my dex run. I do now carry one, but I only pull it out when I really need it. One weird thing I’m doing in this run is having my seal (for incantations) and wand/staff (sorceries) in my left hand for easy casting. Except on Torrent because you can’t use any of the left-hand armaments when you are on a horse. Which is so fucking frustrating. But very much not the point.
The point is that using the weapon that is considered OP and one of the best (Bloodhound’s Fang) and struggling with it has emphasized to me that I really do have some kind of disability that hinders me from playing these games. This is one reason I will use whatever I can to beat the games (because I love them so much). I’m already playing on ultrahard mode because of my disabilities–
By the way. I keep wanting to call them flaws. That’s how deeply embedded in the consciousness of America the Puritanical mindest is. Also, how much Americans buy into the myth of the might of individual. Anyone can do anything! This is so patently not true, I can’t even debate it without getting impatient.
It’s hard not to feel as if there’s something wrong with me when I do things that other people can do with seeming ease. For most of my teens/twenties, I was clumsy and ran into everything. I tripped over my own feet–literally. And Iran into walls, tables, corners, etc. I thought it was just because I was not paying enough attention to my surroundings.
I also had difficulties doing anything on time. Or rather, I would procrastinate until the last possible moment to do semething. I rarely missed a deadline, but it wreaked havoc on my nerves until I actually finished the thing. It was only until several years later that I made my peace with working that way. I knew I was going to get shit done–so might as well do it the way I did best.
It wasn’t until decades later that I realized this was indicative of ADHD (procrastination). do I have ADHD? No idea. But I’m pretty sure I have some kind of neurotypical thing going on. It wasn’t until after my medical crisis that I learned that running into things is a symptom of autism (not giving you the long story). Plus, from a decade of playing FromSoft games, I have realized that I have spatial issues and depth perception issues. I did not realize how BAD these issues were until after my medical crisis (when they got worse).
Now, I know that I am not clumsy. It’s not that I’m not paying attention to my environment, though that doesn’t help. I literally cannot see things that aren’t directly in front of me. Which makes driving quite the experience, I’ll tell you what.
More tomorrow.