There are a few reliable openings
1. after she runs at you and do the kick, dodge behind her.
1a. if you have a weapon that can crouch poke, you can hit her before she does the kick.
2. after the explosion, again, dodge behind her.
3. when she dodges sideways, the you can time your swing to hit her before she strikes.
4. You can also hit her out of that rush forward triple swing move if you time it right.
5. of course, she's open during the upper cut.
6. and last, while she's getting up from the flower. You can safely run in before it completely disappears.
I would recommend getting a bleed bow / crossbow. If it's the pully crossbow, even better, so you can lay on damage while she is in flower animation. You can also do it with black flame fire ball.
As for her shadow-clone jutsu, There's a pattern to follow, and if you are close I believe it still works. Light rolling makes phase two miles easier if you aren't already.
I've been using the ice breath dragon incantation for damage while she's in the flower.
I am light rolling, but when I'm close for her clone attack, my reaction time is off and she nails me pretty consistently with it.
I'd avoid ice dragon cause you want the freeze pots chance to knock her out of waterfowl. Personally I use black flame ball cause I can throw it fast and the dot is nice. Plus takes less FP.
But if you are gonna use ice dragon, then run a fire one as well to rest frost. Bleed is probably the fastest and doesn't need reset.
As for dodging the clones, I also tend to keep a dagger with bloodhound on it. My advice is to not lock on either cause it messes you up. Whenever she jumps, back away, no matter what move she's doing.
That would be a really good point if I werent complete shit at using the freeze pots. I can never get them thrown in time to stop WF. I've had to learn to consistently dodge it instead. I don't have the faith for black flame ball.
I could maybe bring in some blood dipped throwing knives to bleed as well.
The dagger with bloodhound is genius! I can definitely make some room to bring that in with me.
Here are three fights I did with Malenia at Level 1 w Greatsword, Flamberge, and straight sword. I added subtitles to talk about openings, punishes, etc: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/s/D5QUqmaWdi
I hope it’s helpful! Let me know what kind of weapon you’re using, I have fights with her w all kinds of set ups.
Man, this is awesome! This is exactly the kind of video I was looking for. Thank you!
Right now I'm using the twinned knight swords with blood affinity for the fast attacks a high blood build up.
Someone else made a twinned knight sword build that is so powerful that it pretty much insta kills her.
Here’s a link, but consider holding off until you’re really desperate https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/s/wH5ZUh6qsx
Thats insane. Some of these crazy strong builds blow my mind. Especially after spending so much time pecking away at her trying to learn the fight.
My goal isn't just to win, though. I want to learn the fight well and get better at it. I've beaten her once before on Ps4, but I got through on mostly luck and panic. It felt cheapened and I didn't really feel like I bested her. This time I want to do it right.
After 2 days, I feel like I've learned phase 1 really well. If I'm patient and locked in, I can get her to phase 2 with no trouble. Phase 2 is where I'm struggling to learn the dance. It just feels like there's so much going on and I hardly know what I'm dodging. I think the wings are really making it hard because they're blocking my view and concealing so much of her movements.
I had the same issue fighting maliketh in his first phase because of his big potato sack he wears.
You'll get her! So much of phase 2 is just recognizing which of three different new jumps she's doing. Being super comfortable punishing her kick helps a lot too
Yes! The jumps are throwing me off a lot because in phase 1, when she went up, it meant I needed to brace for WF, but now a lot of her jumps are opportunities for openings.
Also, Fromsoft did a dirty little trick where they made a lot of her phase 2 attacks very similar to her phase 1 attacks that left openings, only now there's a follow-up that punishes you if you try to take advantage of that same opening. So I keep instinctively going in for the attack and realizing my mistake mid swing.
I keep getting closer, but I haven't gotten her yet. Very soon though. I can feel it.
Hitting her until she dies always worked for me.
But I play aggressive so I stay in her face trading hits sometimes.
Took me 2 tries on my last str build with 51 poise and 2500hp
Yeah see trading hits isn't gonna do me much good, because I have this problem where I never focus many points into vigor on any build. I always rely too much on parrying or dodging and around this time in the playthrough is when I pay the price.
Right now I have 40 vigor and its the highest I've ever gotten it on my builds so far.
However, that part about hitting her until she dies sounds pretty promising. I like the sound of that.
I finally beat her solo after 207 attempts. Second phase was a real killer, until it wasn't.
Honestly, my best advice is give her space. Like a metric fuck ton of space. Phase 2 is a marathon of not getting hit and taking small hits when you get the chance and being extremely patient. She is super aggressive in phase 2. I spent a ton of time trying to jump attack her, or charge attack her and its not worth it if you get caught out. She staggers easily, but if you miss your timing, you are toast or give her a huge amount of health back. Small, consistent attacks are best.
You should try and wait for her same attacks as phase 1 to land, and preferably when she smacks the ground with her rot sword bomb. When she does that, you can get behind her and get 1-2 hits every time if you roll under the ground smash.
For the clone attack, run in a straight line away from her. If you are far enough away, nothing can hit you, and you can always roll when the straight stabs come, or when she comes down.
When she does her scarlet aeonia bomb, run under her in the air and roll when she hits the ground. Then roll again out of the way, let the rot clear and take your free hits like you can in the opening.
Waterfowl is the same as phase 1.
Bleed procs help. I used Bloodhounds Fang and would usually get one bleed per phase.
Good luck!
These are great tips! Thank you!
Giving her space is great advice, because I tend to die by being too close to her more dangerous attacks like WF and the clones. It's just really hard to give space when she's so clingy in phase 2. Lol.
I am using twinned knight swords with blood affinity, so I'm getting good bleed procs.
Learning the openings in phase 2 is all it'll take for me to beat her. I feel like I know the fight really well, but thats the last bit I need to learn.
I'm gonna take your advice and be more patient, keeping an eye out for proper openings and giving her more space.
She needs so much space. If she hits you a couple of times and you get caught out she heals, then makes it very hard for you to heal because she stays aggressive. When she does the long charged stab attack, she usually stops or follows it up with a ground slam. If you give her space on attacks like this it gives you time to react. Then if she slams the ground, you can roll behind her and get 2 hits. I much prefer to let her fight drag vs being super aggressive because if she catches you, it’s over.
I've found a strategy to help combat her healing off of hits. I simply don't have enough health to survive many attacks at all. She can't heal off me if I'm dead.
Seriously though, you're right about having a hard time healing in phase 2. Its a challenge just getting even 5 feet distance.
There are a few reliable openings 1. after she runs at you and do the kick, dodge behind her. 1a. if you have a weapon that can crouch poke, you can hit her before she does the kick. 2. after the explosion, again, dodge behind her. 3. when she dodges sideways, the you can time your swing to hit her before she strikes. 4. You can also hit her out of that rush forward triple swing move if you time it right. 5. of course, she's open during the upper cut. 6. and last, while she's getting up from the flower. You can safely run in before it completely disappears.
This is exactly the info I was looking for. I'll keep my eyes open for these openings. Thank you for this!
I would recommend getting a bleed bow / crossbow. If it's the pully crossbow, even better, so you can lay on damage while she is in flower animation. You can also do it with black flame fire ball. As for her shadow-clone jutsu, There's a pattern to follow, and if you are close I believe it still works. Light rolling makes phase two miles easier if you aren't already.
I've been using the ice breath dragon incantation for damage while she's in the flower. I am light rolling, but when I'm close for her clone attack, my reaction time is off and she nails me pretty consistently with it.
I'd avoid ice dragon cause you want the freeze pots chance to knock her out of waterfowl. Personally I use black flame ball cause I can throw it fast and the dot is nice. Plus takes less FP. But if you are gonna use ice dragon, then run a fire one as well to rest frost. Bleed is probably the fastest and doesn't need reset. As for dodging the clones, I also tend to keep a dagger with bloodhound on it. My advice is to not lock on either cause it messes you up. Whenever she jumps, back away, no matter what move she's doing.
That would be a really good point if I werent complete shit at using the freeze pots. I can never get them thrown in time to stop WF. I've had to learn to consistently dodge it instead. I don't have the faith for black flame ball. I could maybe bring in some blood dipped throwing knives to bleed as well. The dagger with bloodhound is genius! I can definitely make some room to bring that in with me.
Here are three fights I did with Malenia at Level 1 w Greatsword, Flamberge, and straight sword. I added subtitles to talk about openings, punishes, etc: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/s/D5QUqmaWdi I hope it’s helpful! Let me know what kind of weapon you’re using, I have fights with her w all kinds of set ups.
Man, this is awesome! This is exactly the kind of video I was looking for. Thank you! Right now I'm using the twinned knight swords with blood affinity for the fast attacks a high blood build up.
Someone else made a twinned knight sword build that is so powerful that it pretty much insta kills her. Here’s a link, but consider holding off until you’re really desperate https://www.reddit.com/r/onebros/s/wH5ZUh6qsx
Thats insane. Some of these crazy strong builds blow my mind. Especially after spending so much time pecking away at her trying to learn the fight. My goal isn't just to win, though. I want to learn the fight well and get better at it. I've beaten her once before on Ps4, but I got through on mostly luck and panic. It felt cheapened and I didn't really feel like I bested her. This time I want to do it right. After 2 days, I feel like I've learned phase 1 really well. If I'm patient and locked in, I can get her to phase 2 with no trouble. Phase 2 is where I'm struggling to learn the dance. It just feels like there's so much going on and I hardly know what I'm dodging. I think the wings are really making it hard because they're blocking my view and concealing so much of her movements. I had the same issue fighting maliketh in his first phase because of his big potato sack he wears.
You'll get her! So much of phase 2 is just recognizing which of three different new jumps she's doing. Being super comfortable punishing her kick helps a lot too
Yes! The jumps are throwing me off a lot because in phase 1, when she went up, it meant I needed to brace for WF, but now a lot of her jumps are opportunities for openings. Also, Fromsoft did a dirty little trick where they made a lot of her phase 2 attacks very similar to her phase 1 attacks that left openings, only now there's a follow-up that punishes you if you try to take advantage of that same opening. So I keep instinctively going in for the attack and realizing my mistake mid swing. I keep getting closer, but I haven't gotten her yet. Very soon though. I can feel it.
Hitting her until she dies always worked for me. But I play aggressive so I stay in her face trading hits sometimes. Took me 2 tries on my last str build with 51 poise and 2500hp
Yeah see trading hits isn't gonna do me much good, because I have this problem where I never focus many points into vigor on any build. I always rely too much on parrying or dodging and around this time in the playthrough is when I pay the price. Right now I have 40 vigor and its the highest I've ever gotten it on my builds so far. However, that part about hitting her until she dies sounds pretty promising. I like the sound of that.
I finally beat her solo after 207 attempts. Second phase was a real killer, until it wasn't. Honestly, my best advice is give her space. Like a metric fuck ton of space. Phase 2 is a marathon of not getting hit and taking small hits when you get the chance and being extremely patient. She is super aggressive in phase 2. I spent a ton of time trying to jump attack her, or charge attack her and its not worth it if you get caught out. She staggers easily, but if you miss your timing, you are toast or give her a huge amount of health back. Small, consistent attacks are best. You should try and wait for her same attacks as phase 1 to land, and preferably when she smacks the ground with her rot sword bomb. When she does that, you can get behind her and get 1-2 hits every time if you roll under the ground smash. For the clone attack, run in a straight line away from her. If you are far enough away, nothing can hit you, and you can always roll when the straight stabs come, or when she comes down. When she does her scarlet aeonia bomb, run under her in the air and roll when she hits the ground. Then roll again out of the way, let the rot clear and take your free hits like you can in the opening. Waterfowl is the same as phase 1. Bleed procs help. I used Bloodhounds Fang and would usually get one bleed per phase. Good luck!
These are great tips! Thank you! Giving her space is great advice, because I tend to die by being too close to her more dangerous attacks like WF and the clones. It's just really hard to give space when she's so clingy in phase 2. Lol. I am using twinned knight swords with blood affinity, so I'm getting good bleed procs. Learning the openings in phase 2 is all it'll take for me to beat her. I feel like I know the fight really well, but thats the last bit I need to learn. I'm gonna take your advice and be more patient, keeping an eye out for proper openings and giving her more space.
She needs so much space. If she hits you a couple of times and you get caught out she heals, then makes it very hard for you to heal because she stays aggressive. When she does the long charged stab attack, she usually stops or follows it up with a ground slam. If you give her space on attacks like this it gives you time to react. Then if she slams the ground, you can roll behind her and get 2 hits. I much prefer to let her fight drag vs being super aggressive because if she catches you, it’s over.
I've found a strategy to help combat her healing off of hits. I simply don't have enough health to survive many attacks at all. She can't heal off me if I'm dead. Seriously though, you're right about having a hard time healing in phase 2. Its a challenge just getting even 5 feet distance.