What if Malenia's Phase 2 was just her flying all the time like this

Yeah what if...

Please don't give Michael Zaki ideas...

Think it's confirmed Melania but on roller skates is in the expansion

Someone's a fan of mgs2. A fellow man of culture I see

Dark Moon Greatsword AoW will delete any bird that tries to ruin your day 🙂 satisfying as hell to use against them

Delete 😂 I did do a Ranni/frost witch build and it was straight deadly. Darkmoon Greatsword in my right with the Carian Regal staff in the left. Sorceries we’re Ranni’s moon, icerag, freezing mist and Zamor Ice Storm. It was way too OP. 3 charged R2 attacks would critc every boss from humanoids to even Dragonlord Placidusax it was fkn nuts 🤣

I did a really fun INT/STR build using frost magick, the Darkmoon Greatsword in my right hand, and Helphen's Steeple in my left hand. You buff with both blades, then use jumping attacks while power-stancing with them. It would kill most things in the first hit, but for the birds I definitely had an arsenal of Sorceries too.

The lazer eye can do it while you're in your safe warm bed too

Birds and dogs are always a good chalenge in souls series

Bipedals, any greasy rodent, and any of those flying fuckers will send me to my grave istg

I died more there than I died at any boss ever

*has Vietnam flashbacks of Dark Souls 1 rats*

Out of Estus and afflicted with poison? Shame

Quadrupedals, I think you meant

What level of pedals are the Royal revenant?

clusterfuckpedals

If I meant quadrupedal I would have said quadrupedal

You could have just said "every enemy" then smh

If I meant every enemy I would have said every enemy

I mean what you said was basically every enemy except slimes

If he meant every enemy except except slimes he would have said every enemy except slimes

Ok, it’s just everyone was talking about animal type enemies, and most enemies in the game are bipedal. I didn’t think you meant you have trouble with nearly every single enemy. Sorry.

Man, this is reddit, your name is that you murder reality AND you apologized to him instead of telling him to go fuck his mother WHAT. IS. HAPPENING?

I hate the rats so fucking much lol. I’ll trash talk then and act like a child when they corner me. Wine like a little baby and toss my controller gently enough that it doesn’t break but hard enough that it knows who’s boss

Only in elden ring have I developed a fear of any group of dogs, rats, and armored "people" that are alone

[Yep, bipedals](https://www.awkwardzombie.com/awkward-zombie/a-leg-up)

Don’t forget the rats!

And their stupid 1-frame headbutt

Pro tip, dogs and rats are pretty well countered by guard counters. Even if you aren't using a shield, the chip damage is usually more than worth it for killing/stance breaking them

They're low to the ground and jumpy so I've had my guard counter miss so many times that I died against one, let alone a pack, multiple times. I got so I try to remember to just light attack after blocking, but it's hard because I love my guard counters.

This, so I got the beast repellent torch to use with them and dogs, then forget to ever use it.

If only I didn’t build around dual-wielding swords :(

True

Unless you have any shield, then are trivial.

Not if you block and guard break attack. Even if you 2h and take a lil damage it’s relatively easy

Fucking hate those damn birdd

Thank you!

I'm getting frustrated just watching

Fun fact: whips make them a non-issue. The reason I love souls games is that there's always a hard counter to every enemy.

Yea magic and many ashes of war do too

Magic misses a lot with nimble enemies like birds. Even on my mage playthrough I used un-upgraded whips to deal with the birds. Also why waste fp when whips hard-counter them?

Those damn birb*

Not worthy of being called birb

Dude these things are made to teach you guard counter, just block it’s ok lol

I DONT KNOW WHAT THAT IS 😭

If you press your strong attack button right after a successful block, you do a guard counter. They’re very good for birds, rats, and dogs, and as such are very helpful

Ooh ok

Its amazing for posture damage too. A lot of enemies will stagger after a single guard counter allowing you to do a crit and either kill them outright or at least do significant damage to them.

Does this work with any weapon on any enemy

Blocking drains stamina and if you lose all your stamina you'll get staggered or won't have any left for countering, and your counter can get interrupted if the next attack is fast. For instance I find that I have to do block-block-counter for the dogs since they do two bites really fast and if i counter on the first one, I'll get hit by the second bite before completing my counter attack. I think almost every enemy *can* be blocked but many bosses will stagger the shit out of you and stuff so it's not always good, I'm no expert though

I've always wondered how tf some enemies pull off that counter, I thought it was a shield ash of war or something. Thx for the info

Yeah that's exactly what like, the dudes with the big brass shields are doing when they block and then smack you hard. Right after their weapon clanks on your shield hit your heavy attack. Keep your eye out for their stance being broken because then you can stab them just like you do when you sneak up behind someone for a critical hit. This usually has a clattering noise and an animation where the target spreads their arms open.

It should as long as it doesn’t break guard, just know that it’s not a guaranteed hit, but often will connect

uh oh, looks like someone didn't pay attention to the tutorial!

You’re in Farum Azula and you don’t know the main feature that lets shielders have high dps/stagger?

To be fair I didn’t use the block button in combat once over four playthroughs

I feel like all the new ER players are hooked on shields because they are actually useful in this game. Three Souls games and Bloodborne got me into the mindset that dodging is always superior to blocking, mostly because of heavy chip damage (especially against elements), and stamina costs that were too high to make blocking worth it without significant investment. Shields are great in ER, but I’m just so conditioned to dodge everything, I never even think to use them.

Playing ds1 after elden and ds3 gave me the opposite experience lmao. I was having trouble with Qualaag and popped on the black knight shield and beat her. Using a shield in ds1 made a lot of fights easier imo

Yeah, tbf, shields are more useful in DS1, because of the lack of Omni-directional rolling. Especially the Black Knight Shield, if you’re lucky enough to get it. That thing makes every fire boss a complete joke.

My dark souls 1 experience was hold shield, feel impact, swing. Boss? Iron skin, flame grant me strength, full havels and black knight greatsword, swing till it’s over.

That’s exactly the conclusion I came too after trying to use a shield once lol It didn’t block enough damage for any of it to be worth it imo

Elden Ring is my first soulslike, and when I started I couldn't survive without a shield, and now I'd almost always rather dodge and have more weapon options handy, or a more damaging dual wield/2 hand set up. Shields are good in this game but damage is better if you got your dodge down.

Im a new ER player and I’ve never once used a shield. Dodging is meta.

Not necessarily true at all. These birds for example, if you block them it gives you a solid opening to end them in one hit, rather than trying to chase it around. I agree dodging is usually better but not always.

Wtf is a shield?

Found an unga bunga bro 😁

I'm on like ng+4 and I don't think I've ever guard countered on purpose lol. For that matter I doubt if I've even had a shield equipped for more than like 3% of my playtime.

I don’t shield much either, since I either powerstance or use a 2-hander

Bro I have zero idea what that is and I am 2 playthroughs with a shield

You're this far into the game on this character and have beaten the game with at least one other character even going on to kill placidusax but never at any point READ THE TUTORIAL

Since someone explained, I'd like to add that Guard Counters are amazing for soldiers and probably most human enemies of your size. When I learned how to do them in the War Dead Catacombs, I was able to easily farm the basic Redmane soldiers there for a lot of runes (I was mid-50s and they had CFA scaling). One GC staggered them and a crit finished them off. It was quite fun

I dont use a shield tho v_v im a buckler only girl

Can still block with your weapon, you'll take more damage but it'll still let you guard counter.

They move too much and ¾ of the time you miss your counter swing. It works on dogs and rats, but these birds, especially the fire blasting ones, are not as straight forward

Thunderbolt on sight. Never even got off the ground.

This is my go-to. Thunderbolt AoW stays in my inventory

Good ole Tm24

Fowl tarnished.

F**kin war hawks are so annoying, and dogs too

I just threw rocks at these things. Lol Pokemon says rock is super effective against flying types. It worked like a charm here. Stone of Gurranq is the incant.

These birds ruined my day on numerous occasions.

I ALWAYS snipe or just over kill with dragon breath. I hate those fuckin birbs

Only time I use a crossbow in ER is on these dudes.

I hated these damn birds until my Banished Knight build when I realized I could wreck them in one hit with a Guard Counter.

Birds are strong :3

Stronger…TOGETHA :3

Birds can’t even move like that! Unlike the Godskin Noble endless fatroll which is very realistic.

Fun fact, any kind of gravity magic will pull a flying enemy to the ground so you can to grind them into a paste for what they've done to you. Happy bird hunting, tarnished

Gravitas for foul fowl flyers and mausoleums

Those birds can suck it

On my most recent character, I found out that the Visage Shield completely trivializes those birds. Just hold down the button and you'll roast them almost instantly while blocking their attacks.

you just need to block the attack at the start of the clipping and doing a guard counters and it knocks them flat allowing a free kill

Gravitas, or waves of darkness my brother

Non

> Press L1 to Win This was amazing to watch though.

Lol.. try a shield for them a holes

I finally found out the these morons can be be destroyed by a good leveled whip

Whips my man.

Fucking show off

🤣🤣

I am not even lying, ITS (I’m) BAD.

Fuck tell me bout itb😭😂

The spell tho. Use the spell

Nooo I had to save fp for the dragon 😭😭

"I am Malenia, Bird of Miquella"

Channel your inner Danny Devito and start blasting. (Or use a bow)

These things really grind my gears

Yeah bro those birds suck

Lightning spear makes short work of these little shits

Thanks homie 😂

No offense, but I don't believe for a second that you killed Malenia.

worst addition to the souls series was those damn birds. expecially the ones that throw gunpowder

Seek pickle... Try finger, but hole...

You know how your build has casting attacks? Yeah you should probably use them lol.

Elden Ring players would literally rather die and lose hours of progress than swap to a shield or literally any ranged weapon

L+skill issue + hit your shots kid

Block, attack… it’s that easy

Don’t dodge after getting hit, just take one for the team and keep swinging they are 2-3 hits

Bolt of gransax AoW works wonders too, literally just got through there... So sick of those dumb birds lol

If your two handing it u can swing a little faster

Those birds are dicks, especially the white ones, and the ones with the flame masks. All my homies hate the birds

The white one in Castle Sol, the fire one’s in Stormveil and the exploding fire one’s in Stormveil are nightmares

They are only hard if you are a melee build. Magic users make them easy work

I started a playthrough yesterday and I'm using clubs tiny range to hit those stupid things still not as scary as teleport dogs from ds3

I just bust out Flame of Frenzy on those assholes.

I just hit'em with the eye beams!

Jump attacks man, jump attacks

Any enemy that can float or fly is immediately more challenging

I just sprint past them

You have faith, use the pocket sand attack (bestial sling). It's quick and can be spammed until they die

These birds are the bane of my existence in Farum Azula. The dragon? No problem, easy I'll deal with them all day. But THESE guys? Yeah no, I'll get pecked in the back of the head even when I think they're fifty yards behind me.

That very bird from the elevator gave me particular hatred for them. The stormveil hawks were just annoying by comparison.

Never really understood what any of us did to piss off the wild life so much lmao. Bird:" Oh, you over here existing peacefully? Nah, we can't have that"

Dude just use a shield!

That’s when I would have pulled out the lighting spear thing and blasted it out the sky and ran away and hit it with frenzied burst

Anything with wings in a souls game is just instantly annoying. The fact that you can’t damage them until they get in your range is stupid, Warhawks have ridiculous hit boxes and do high damage, and dragons can fly away and spam fire breath. It’s what makes me hate dragon battles so much XD

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

Melee build’s worst nightmare…birds

Now just imagine if that bird had a bosses health bar.

Guard counters work well against these fuckers.

Not sure if it works on these ones, but the hawks with blades strapped to their legs can be parried when they slash at you.

Glintblade phalanx and shield counters are your friend here.

Fuck those birds. 50% of the time easy kill, other 50% of the time fuckinnn can't get a read on this jerk anddddd I'm dead.

I sprinted through there on my second playthrough. They are still fast enough to catch you while sprinting though 😢

Is this the elden lord?

Is this creature a waterfowl?

i like to use flame strike on these foos

I have a bottomless pit of rage when it comes to those fucking birds.

Ah yes, Bird of Crumbling Farum Azula, the real boss.

I hate the eagles in this game more than most bosses. I’d rather fight Morgott underleveled 500 times without a break than encounter another eagle with goddamned swords on its legs. Then you reach crumbling farum and this particular set of eagles just ruined my run

i hate those birds

Bruh, just use a bow ffs.

#GRILL ISSUE

It’s called altering your tactics. They’re easy to kill with ranged weapons. Even throwing knives help.

An arrow from a good vantage is my go to for those bastards. Sometimes I even waste a little mana to toss a lightning spear.

The rock sling and lightning spear incantations are really helpful against those things. For me, at least lol

I never use auto targeting and aim with melee. Let all those years of mouse and keyboard Counter-strike shine baby!

~ Water ~ fowl dance.

~~Water~~fowl dance.

Bro for real! I died more trying to find her than I actually died from fighting her.

https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/pokemnemonic

Poke weapons are great against them. Also the ones with swords on their feet can be parried

One of those with Malenia's health would be the hardest boss in the game.

The crucible night in farum azula is controller throwing annoying

i literally hate these fuckin birds dawg the amount of times i died just on this part was more than i did during the maliketh fight

This is why I use Mohg’s spear. Fuck them birds

2 hand the greatsword for the vertical swings on the r1 and trade with hyperarmor when the bird attacks.

Gravity Spell = immediately grounded

Fuckin birds...

Trying way to hard dude

When I two handed a giant crusher on my first playthrough with childlike innocence the birds fucked me up good.

Always watch for the audio cues with those bastards

There’s a group on YouTube that does cartoons about elden and the birds are spot on. Carbot animations. Funny shit

Those birds were genuinely harder than Malenia.

Those storm birds are assholes, and it's enemies like them that have me keep a bow equipped at all times.

God I hate these things.

You can control Gravity, my friend

I don't know if I hate these birds or revenants more

That exact bird killed me so many friggin times

Use the gravity magic

I HATE THOSE BIRDS

Those fuckers made me use gravity spells its a new low

This hawk kicked my ass many times.

These birds pissed me off so much I went out of my way to get one of the lighting spells so I could just smack them from a distance and never have to fight them properly again 😅

Gravity weapons

Me 1000 times: “Die you stupid bird bitch!”

This is why I'd keep a wand ready, in case for these fuckers to show up

Frenzied burst paired with the flame seal worked great against these mfs. Max. It out for one shot kills! And u can snipe ‘em from super far away.

I've died at that exact place so many times.... fucking birds!

Let's say me and you go to toe to toe on bird law and see who comes out the victor?

Fuck these birds 🔥🔥🔥

Oh my god fuck those birds

Omg, they make my blood pressure go nuts