Difficulty

[DonLouboutin]

If you play the game blind (don't use any guides) and avoid using summons (especially mimic tear) the game will be as difficult as any other souls game.

But if you use a guide and summons, you will be able to find items and strategies that are really overpowered and that will let you cheese most of the bosses without having to learn to master the fights.

 

For new souls players :

• Without guide & summons : 9/10
• With guide & summons : 5/10

For souls veteran :

• Without guide & summons : 7/10
• With guide & summons : 3/10

In the end the goal is just to have fun and for the people reading here to get the platinum trophy. So choose what path you want and just have fun  

 

[Finch_III]

The difficulty is highly dependent on the way you want to play: 

• True solo (no summons, no spirit ashes, no guide): Probably an 8/10 difficulty. There are some really tricky bosses in there, you'll need to learn their attack patterns thoroughly and won't be able to rely on cheese. You'll also have to do quite a bit of exploring to make sure you get weapons and armours that suit your build. 
• With support (summons, ashes): Around 6/10, maybe less. Honestly, the Mimic Tear is unbelievably powerful. It makes so many bosses absolutely trivial once it's levelled up. I stopped using it eventually because you end up wrecking bosses in one or two goes, which ruins the atmosphere of the game. That said, there are still a couple of bosses that are difficult. But there are also a lot of cheese tactics out there if you check guides. 

You can also mix and match. Maybe not using spirit ashes, but looking up best tactics/weapons/armour/talismans/items for using on certain bosses. 

 

So it's more of a case of how difficult do you want the game to be? 

 

Edit: Whoops. User above me pretty much said exactly the same thing haha. My bad. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Finch_III

[czDante92]

*no summons, no spirit ashes*
We're slowly reaching "you didn't actually beat the game if you XYZ" territory here. Spirit ashes are major part of the game and by not using them you're crippling yourself. I understand that lot of Soul players like that sort of challenge, but you're on Trophy site and this is like playing on hard difficulty when you don't have to.

[XXIIlII]

On 4/3/2022 at 6:25 PM, Titanomachy_75 said:

The game is not a 7/10 lol its more like a 3.5/10  

I would say 7/10 for the average game and 3.5 for a souls fan

[Titanomachy_75]

On 4/14/2022 at 7:03 PM, Domino_Destructo said:

There are so many cheap ways to kill bosses in Elden Ring that literally anyone can beat this game. So I believe it's 1/10 for the majority of people.

During my invasions in late game areas (level 150) I met players that still had no clue how to play this game. They used some of the strongest weapons (Moonveil and Rivers of Blood katanas) and all they did was just spamming L2 until they eventually died. No light or heavy attacks, no jumping or parrying, no roll-catching - just spamming the same attack over and over again. 

This proves that you don't need to learn the combat mechanics to reach the final boss because you can just cheese the game with overpowered weapon skills.

Anyway, if you don't use any overpowered builds or cheese magic from safe distance and play solo without summoning - It's a 7/10.

 

So true my son never played a souls game … he has no skills with these games and he plat it! Once 

y son beat this game I k ow it’s around 3/10 

[MatThaRiPP3R84]

in souls most bosses are fairly easy once you get them down, dark souls 3 had like 3-4 hard bosses, but they weren't all that bad, only the nameless king was bad and even then, truely awful on ng++ and beyond, otherwise not so bad. 

 

however in elden ring enemies are only challenging if your underlevelled and your weapons are under levelled. if you play a squishy glass cannon build and aren't able to nail all your rolls you'll die allot everywhere. but if you play a pure str build with good armor you'll facetank and faceroll mostly everything. 

 

elden ring is a great big cheesefest, wasn't playtested, has terrible music all the way through the game, but i still really enjoyed it.

[Boorish]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:44 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

I definitely found it easier than Dark Souls and Sekiro

I know this is subjective, but I found Sekiro to be easier than this game. I am not far in Elden Ring, but I am trying to play without summons with a dex melee build (uchikatana), because the souls community recommends that it is the best way to enjoy a souls game. I have to time my dodges and position myself correctly and find openings to attack; any miss and even a mid level mini boss would punish my mistake hard. And this game has weird dodge rolling time, where an enemy will hold back an attack long enough to roll catch my panic dodging.

 

I liked Sekiro's combat because that game can be played reactively. Even if you are not familiar with the bosses attack, you can tap L1 when something's about to hit you, or maybe even spam it and miss time, where the punishment was just posture damage. I can risk miss timing if I haven't taken too much posture damage.

 

I've heard some late game bosses in Elden Ring are even more brutal, where they will one shot you if you miss a dodge. Don't know how much longer I can go with using summons. I am just 40 hours and 2 main bosses in.

[Maverick6146]

On 5/7/2022 at 10:18 PM, boorish_brute said:

I know this is subjective, but I found Sekiro to be easier than this game. I am not far in Elden Ring, but I am trying to play without summons with a dex melee build (uchikatana), because the souls community recommends that it is the best way to enjoy a souls game. I have to time my dodges and position myself correctly and find openings to attack; any miss and even a mid level mini boss would punish my mistake hard. And this game has weird dodge rolling time, where an enemy will hold back an attack long enough to roll catch my panic dodging.

 

I liked Sekiro's combat because that game can be played reactively. Even if you are not familiar with the bosses attack, you can tap L1 when something's about to hit you, or maybe even spam it and miss time, where the punishment was just posture damage. I can risk miss timing if I haven't taken too much posture damage.

 

I've heard some late game bosses in Elden Ring are even more brutal, where they will one shot you if you miss a dodge. Don't know how much longer I can go with using summons. I am just 40 hours and 2 main bosses in.

Well, I am near the end game now and I can say with some confidence that with proper vigor investment and equipment (i am using Scale Armor set) I didn't have any one-shot situation in boss battles. Didn't fight Malenia though.

 

My point is, spirit summon is THE game changer, it is like playing two different games. I struggled at many mini-boss encounters, tree spirit, tree sentinel or avatar where spirit was not available or killed off quickly. One the other hand in Elden Ring there are so many normal mobs that could deliver a fatal blow in a pinch, hand spider? wormface? oracle envoy? I think this is where Elden Ring gets harder than the others.

 

Personally i felt Sekiro is much harder as I am horrible at reactive fighting, never able to time that block perfectly but there's for another topic.

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Maverick6146

[Alatielko]

So FS games are introducing more and more hidden difficulty options. This trend reminds me how Playstation are starting to lose their exclusives. Loss of charm and exclusivity, it's kinda sad... Hope it's not a trend in case of FS games, especially considering that the previous game from them was Sekiro.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Alatielko

[NoosaHeadz]

I’m not that far in but it’s reminding me of blood borne difficulty wise . Iv just beat Magrit and that was tough . Took me all day lol . It’s definitely a challenge 

[Alatielko]

On 16.09.2022 at 0:02 AM, NoosaHeadz said:

I’m not that far in but it’s reminding me of blood borne difficulty wise . Iv just beat Magrit and that was tough . Took me all day lol . It’s definitely a challenge 

I'm far in, and I've never faced such a challenge again. The game can be as difficult as Bloodborne, or even harder, but now you unfortunately have a choice whether you want it or not.

I wish this game had an optional shortened version, but without the help of assistants. And some additional trophies for that.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Alatielko
little more

[NoosaHeadz]

On 19/09/2022 at 6:46 PM, Alatielko said:

I'm far in, and I've never faced such a challenge again. The game can be as difficult as Bloodborne, or even harder, but now you unfortunately have a choice whether you want it or not.

I wish this game had an optional shortened version, but without the help of assistants. And some additional trophies for that.

I’m a bit further in now and iv changed my mind it’s much easier than blood borne . I picked up the bloodhound fang sword and it makes a joke  of the difficulty . I rip bosses apart in seconds and haven’t been killed by a boss since I found it . I’m actually going to stop using it so the game gives a challenge again 

[CooL_BoY_777]

Very Easy

 

 

[NieSwiety]

Bloodborne 100% was a walk in the park comparing to this game. Impressions like "Very easy", or 3/10 plat are misleading, and - imho - it's just some kind of a brag, since some of you are an experienced gamers. For me PLACIDUSAX was almost unbeatable (mind I easly made 100% in BB). It's hard to react to his attacks since he's so big I don't see half of them. And when he disappears and second later attack you from the back - it's just cheap.

 

This IS a minimum 6/10 plat for a regular player.

Edited December 11, 2022 by NieSwiety

[starcrunch061]

For me, I found this game very difficult in a first playthrough on PS4. I found it difficult to dodge everything, and I tend to go light on HP, so I got pummeled. A single hit could wipe me out.

 

On a replay on PS5, I found it to be mostly a joke. Yes, I know - I knew how bosses worked, I knew the weapons I wanted (well, sort of - I used a club the whole time). But the biggest thing, I think, was that I pumped HP. Lots of HP makes this game a LOT easier, whether you're a warrior or mage.

Edited December 12, 2022 by starcrunch061

[Karlhaus]

Indeed, and as you can farm and farm and farm, difficulty is not really an issue

Edited March 8, 2023 by Karlhaus

[Galserik]

Personally I think this game goes between 4 and 5. There is a lot of options that make combats much much easier, like the summons and horse combat. But also, some builds make bosses a piece of sliced meat. I'm currently playing with a arcane blood build with Eleonora's poleblade and sometimes I just swap the weapon to a 2h Nagakiba or other because the EP absolutely decimate bosses in seconds. Feel like cheating, even xD.

Ofc, difficulty depends in a lot of things. If you go to an area much above your level, your gear/stats, and your experience in this kind of games.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Galserik

[RadiantFlamberge]

The boss difficulty varies wildly. I found Rennala to be a snap especially in the first phase. Now I was using Bloodhound's Fang. That said, I'm wanting to build up Faith to use the Magma Wyrm's Scalesword. (10 now, but it takes 18) After that, I'll level Vigor some more (til about 30) and Endurance for more max equip load. Arsenal Charm be blessed.

 

Altus Plateau does have some fairly good high value enemies if you get there from the Makar fight. Wolves there are around 300 runes which can add up decently if you down a pack, and there's this ogre sort of enemy trhat is worth 1111.

 

One thing I'm glad for is that the collectible trophies don't require you to get all items in a category. Instead you just need the Legendary ones (armament, talisman, ashes, and sorceries/incantations). About 30 in total, versus LOTF's several hundred.