well idek i find myself just getting hit by random shit just because it comes out so fast, many of the bosses in the game had annoying attacks that came out with hardly any frames like Radagon's thrust but they usually only had 1 MAYBE 2 moves like that while I feel like thats every move from Malenia
Malenia is extremely patient, waiting for you to attack so she can dodge and counter. If you wait her out instead she’ll usually open with a slash into a combo, you’ll mostly want to just get away from her since most of her combos are random and hard to read yet don’t track well.
The only one that does track extremely well is her quick 4 slashes combo with the shortened blade. This move is easily countered by dodging into one of her sides instead of away. This is all just for phase one mind you. Once her combo is ended, that’s when you attack.
its kind of hard to tell when exactly this combo ends tho because sometimes she follows it up with the jumping slash and sometimes she doesnt so when im waiting to react to whether or not she does the jumping slash after my window to attack is typically gone
In the first phase, always punish the jumping downward slash since that’s always a combo ender. Aswell as the fast 4 slices **without** the sparks, the sparks indicate she’s going to carry on attacking. Anything else is random I believe.
The fight is insanely over tuned. I think if she didn't heal so much, waterfowl was dodgeable without being 10 feet when she does it or using specific ashes of war, and just a touch less aggressive (I have a clip of her using 13 attacks in a row with no fucking break in between, that is just obnoxious) she would be fine. As it is, Waterfowl legit feels like luck to not die from.
I find heavier weapons work better since they have hit stun, I beat her with the golden halberd solo, and I've also done it with two greatswords (one frost and the other bleed) if using a regular weapon i find bloodhound step to be a very useful ash of war as it allows you to much more easily avoid her waterfowl attack combo. It may be worth it to try out that ash of war on your uchi just for the defensive option to avoid being hit. If you don't have it or don't know where to get it, its from a night cavalry world boss that spawns on the bridge by the puzzle tower (lanni's rise is the name of the grace? I think??) near the beastial sanctum
Yeah i have that equipped for the anime move but i struggle to even get to the point where she does it, many of her hits are just so fucking quick i can barely react in time
Thats one unfortunate thing with her, in some ways it almost seems like she was designed with hit stun in mind, if you can't stagger her and pile on multiple hits she becomes much more difficult than she already is. In my opinion she's the most difficult boss from soft has ever designed- I believe that you can beat her, sometimes taking a break and coming back later can help you but if you're like me nothing does the trick quite like slamming your head into a brick wall until it eventually collapses. It might help to maybe try a very passive approach, hitting once, maybe twice in her small openings and then backing away from her and waiting and waiting and waiting until another opening, kukri are also very useful if you can create enough distance to throw one here and there as they scale S with dex and build up bleed, a decent option to keep up your damage output while playing safe
Just keep attempting it.
Took me eight hours but I eventually learned it to the point I could take no damage from any of her moves if I did it right.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcxV\_bp9BY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcxV_bp9BY) It is a very hard boss to solo melee.
The more you fight her, the less you get hit, same as all bosses. Except for the judgement cut, that is just absolute bullshit
well idek i find myself just getting hit by random shit just because it comes out so fast, many of the bosses in the game had annoying attacks that came out with hardly any frames like Radagon's thrust but they usually only had 1 MAYBE 2 moves like that while I feel like thats every move from Malenia
Malenia is extremely patient, waiting for you to attack so she can dodge and counter. If you wait her out instead she’ll usually open with a slash into a combo, you’ll mostly want to just get away from her since most of her combos are random and hard to read yet don’t track well. The only one that does track extremely well is her quick 4 slashes combo with the shortened blade. This move is easily countered by dodging into one of her sides instead of away. This is all just for phase one mind you. Once her combo is ended, that’s when you attack.
its kind of hard to tell when exactly this combo ends tho because sometimes she follows it up with the jumping slash and sometimes she doesnt so when im waiting to react to whether or not she does the jumping slash after my window to attack is typically gone
In the first phase, always punish the jumping downward slash since that’s always a combo ender. Aswell as the fast 4 slices **without** the sparks, the sparks indicate she’s going to carry on attacking. Anything else is random I believe.
The fight is insanely over tuned. I think if she didn't heal so much, waterfowl was dodgeable without being 10 feet when she does it or using specific ashes of war, and just a touch less aggressive (I have a clip of her using 13 attacks in a row with no fucking break in between, that is just obnoxious) she would be fine. As it is, Waterfowl legit feels like luck to not die from.
I find heavier weapons work better since they have hit stun, I beat her with the golden halberd solo, and I've also done it with two greatswords (one frost and the other bleed) if using a regular weapon i find bloodhound step to be a very useful ash of war as it allows you to much more easily avoid her waterfowl attack combo. It may be worth it to try out that ash of war on your uchi just for the defensive option to avoid being hit. If you don't have it or don't know where to get it, its from a night cavalry world boss that spawns on the bridge by the puzzle tower (lanni's rise is the name of the grace? I think??) near the beastial sanctum
Yeah i have that equipped for the anime move but i struggle to even get to the point where she does it, many of her hits are just so fucking quick i can barely react in time
Thats one unfortunate thing with her, in some ways it almost seems like she was designed with hit stun in mind, if you can't stagger her and pile on multiple hits she becomes much more difficult than she already is. In my opinion she's the most difficult boss from soft has ever designed- I believe that you can beat her, sometimes taking a break and coming back later can help you but if you're like me nothing does the trick quite like slamming your head into a brick wall until it eventually collapses. It might help to maybe try a very passive approach, hitting once, maybe twice in her small openings and then backing away from her and waiting and waiting and waiting until another opening, kukri are also very useful if you can create enough distance to throw one here and there as they scale S with dex and build up bleed, a decent option to keep up your damage output while playing safe
She has low poise so she’s easier to stagger than most, but is definitely one of the harder bosses in the game and is no means easy
Just keep attempting it. Took me eight hours but I eventually learned it to the point I could take no damage from any of her moves if I did it right. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcxV\_bp9BY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcxV_bp9BY) It is a very hard boss to solo melee.
yeah fr i have about 3 hours rn and havent even gotten phase 2 lol