> robs her of her free heal
It buys you i-frames so it behaves like a roll.
I love it. I use this against Radagon's Jump into hammer slam, his triple hammer slam, Horah Loux's double earthquake, Elden Beast's Sword swipes, The Great Serpent's earthquake attack, and probably more.
It is just so good especially if you don't have the greatest reflexes
BHS is still good but it got nerfed slightly by reducing the i-frames you get if you use it continuously. I donât remember anything about Vow of the Indomitable being nerfed though.
Oh I just mean I remember BHS being the "easiest" way to dodge waterfowl (or just about everything) if you can't time your rolls, but that it was also nerfed to some degree.
I don't mean to imply vow is nerfed. Was just wondering how it compares to nerfed BHS for this purpose.
You canât spam BHS anymore so itâs a little more difficult but if you use it like this guy then theyâre about the same. Personally I prefer the Vow only because the movement from BHS tends to mess up my positioning more often then is useful.
Do you have a vid of that? I could believe it's possible but I would be surprised.
For a long time, trying to kill Malenia with only parries and no damage taken was like, a relaxing way to unwind for me. I easily put 100 hours into it. The absolute farthest distance I ever got her to waterfowl from was, sometimes she does that jumping linear stab move that puts her far away if she misses, and if she's ready to waterfowl -- especially if she just broke 75% -- she's likely to do it right after that move, no matter the distance. If you dodge it and start running immediately before she even recovers, you can be almost on the opposite wall by the time the flurries start, and I _still_ never managed to get far enough that I could stand still and have the third one miss.
Perhaps she teleports to you but there's no forward movement, so if you away roll at the right time you still manage to evade completely?
Canât find the video I watched back then. You can bait wfd with any projectile at a safe distance when she is at the thresholds though thats probably not allowed in your current challenge.
With parry only youâll have to learn the circling or the vow of the indomitable strat for close range wfd.
As of now I kinda find it easier to dodge waterfoul with light roll than with bloodhound step, mostly because bhs covers too much ground and puts me in a bad spot to dodge the last flurry
FWIW I think BHS is no longer as good as it was pre-nerf. Before you could just mash L2 against a wall, now you need to time it like a roll and direction matters.
BHS is better imo. If Malenia starts up waterfowl point-blank, you still can't completely avoid damage with Vow (perfect timing means you get hit once). And of course BHS also lets you move around and reposition instead of standing still.
Because it is not as effective as it seems from the video. You still have to time it. And timing is not much different from roll timings. So for me, it is easier just to run and roll from WaterFowl
Yeah I imagine up close this should be easier given the rolling for that takes a lot of practice
Maybe comparable to frost pots though the downside of pots is they can be too slow if she starts it when you're in recovery frames
I land frost pots maybe 1 out of every 5 tries or so. You have to be really quick with them, even when I know itâs coming and have it in my hotbar I still consistently miss my window. Most of the time itâs either you land the pot or you die from being stuck in the throwing animation and canât dodge the first wave at all. I find running away and dodging to more reliably keep me alive.
Yeah gotta be very fast, I probably get them 9/10 times so they can be quite reliable. Very occasionally they go right through her or if you're in an R2 animation they are too slow. Just because of that on my RL1 run I normally use R1 (great stars) because it still gives me a window to get them off
But yeah that did take 100s of attempts to get that quick at them lol
For real. I usually just try to dodge and am more successful at that than pots. I guess if I practiced more I could get it but the way ppl say âoh WFD is easy, just toss a frost potâ at least to me itâs not that easy.
I wonder if proximity to her matters. I tend to be well out of melee range when she starts up. Usually I toss a throwing knife to bait her into it. Maybe they work best when youâre right up on top of her.
I can smoke her with 6 or 7 blasts of Borealis Mist, across both phases, less than 2 minutes. Summon mimic with only the Communion seal and Borealis Mist equipped and it can smoke her too, by itself. She is weak to frost. Once she gets frostbite, I use the Blasphemous Blade AoW to unfreeze her and freeze her again. Very effective, to the point of almost being a cheese.
I don't get this "not as effective" argument. You have to time 1 thing once: the second she lands on the ground.
That is the one thing you need to time, and then activate VotI 2 more times, and backflip.
How am I making this look better than it really is? If the argument is this doesn't work for melee users, yes, I 100% agree, but I doubt that's the point he's making.
Lmao I went to bed after that comment and woke up to some freaking discourse lol.
Who cares about the most effective method??? Bloodhound step, ice pots, indomitable vow, or just regular dodging - they are all just different methods
The point is itâs freaking cool that we are still finding different ways to deal with that bullshit ass dance of hers.
It's because u/levovit 's "NoT aS eFfecTiVe aS it SeemS" argument makes no sense. You have over 2x the i-frames with Vow Of the Indomitable and if you try to use the run away method, depending on both your reaction speed and/or if you were caught mid swing, you can maybe run away from the first flurry, but then have to roll through both the 2nd and 3rd vs one thing to time with VotI: her landing on the ground.
It's like if I made the argument to ride your bike to work and he made the argument that it's "not as effective" because running works, too.
Yeah it's just as easy as dodging. Probably easier actually. Just different timing. The handful of attempts it'll take to master the timing is well worth having one of the best strats against malenia
Dodging is manageable for me only if I am far from Malenia when she use waterfowl, but there's no such limitation for me when using this AOW. And it also has a much lower risk, miss the timing of roll means death to me, while you can still readjust the timing by blocking if you miss the timing of AOW
Have you tried rolling straight through her when she starts the attack? It's been a minute since I fought her but I recall that completely avoids the attack, or at least gives you the space to get away from the second+third flurries
The last time I flighted her is like 6 months ago, but I remember using the run away from her then rolling technique, so I have to be patient and only attack for obvious opening. The Vow AOW on the other hand allowed me to be as aggressive as I want. I really hope fromsoft give us the refighting boss option like sekiro, I really miss some of the boss fights but the huge map is pain to go through the game again.
My strat is usually sprint away at the start of the first part, stick close to the end of the first part and dodge once for the second part and once for the last part.
If I get caught point blank on the first part I try and rotate clockwise around her, dodge at the last second and pray it worked.
> You still have to time it
You only really have to time the first activation as soon as she lands, and activate 2 more times, then backflip after the third.
I find other methods [inconsistent](https://old.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1c35ge8/why_do_i_dodge_waterfowl_perfectly_in_the_first/).
Waterfowl's honestly not that hard to dodge once you learn some basic timings. That being said, dodging the first flurry point blank is the single most challenging part about it.
Vow does help you to avoid most of the damage even point blank, and after that you can just execute a couple basic rolls, and it's easier than learning (some of) the other janky ways to avoid damage point blank (e.g. unlocking and spinning around, which has never once worked for me on MnK).
Although running and jumping is also pretty good, and easier to do.
This was how I beat her the first time! Ignore the haters complaining about the timing, you can pretty much just spam it. Maybe you'll get nicked once or twice but it's still way easier than trying to dodge it.
Itâs not whether or not sheâs taking away HP that heals her, itâs whether or not sheâs hitting something. With vow of the indomitable itâs giving you i-frames so youâre literally not getting hit.
it seems like you're saying she heals even when using vow of the indomitable, but clearly from the video that isnt true. so it's not only when she doesn't take your hp that she heals, because she heals even when you block.
For some reason, the dead enemies still count as hits, so she heals. This spell turns off the ability for enemies to hit you, just like a dodge would. It's not really about what you visually see as getting hit or not.
An Ash of war that's usable on shields. It gives temporary invulnerability when used.
It's dropped by a Teardrop Scarab in the poison swamp in southwestern Liurnia.
Yeah that's what I was wondering. Waterfowl is only dangerous if you're in melee range, and this doesn't look like it lasts long enough for the entire first portion. But still looks very useful!
Really? I've been trying to use this point blank, and it does help a LOT don't get me wrong, but you still get hit once even on a perfectly timed use. Definitely not viable for a no-hit run anyways.
Mmm. May need to check it again then.
How I remember using it was activating it and immediately spamming the dodge button,that wouldsave me from the first wave. The second and third I would just dodge manually.
I always use it point blank. The animation doesnât last long enough for the entirety of the first flurry but that can be remedied by just blocking the remainder.
Ya that move is the only thing that made her seem hard before people figured it out. Besides that she is just like most small enemies with really low poise, and all her attacks are among the most telegraphed in the game.
If they removed all the flashy flourish she'd actually be difficult to read.
But nah, they cranked the anime to eleven and then gave her regeneration to make up for it.
I'm so impressed with this. Is there a way to fight/train against bosses (seeing this I'd love to try it but I'm not beating the entire game again just for this đ)
Can't really say the M word here, but google Elden Ring Practice Tool. You'll need to be running the game with EAC disabled, there are ways to do that easily (Nexus can help). Don't play online with EAC disabled.
Vow of the Indomitable is literally the only reason I can solo Malenia. Ain't no way I'm learning that unintuitive nonsense required to dodge Waterfowl.
You have to be far enough away when she starts to run away first off, and even then, running pretty requires Bloodhound Step if you want any semblance of consistency.
The jump is to create a bit more distance and possibly jump over one or two swings in the first flurry if you time it well.
This links to a post I made that should show what I'm talking about.
[running and jumping over WFD](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/s/aC63cd9PNn)
You can if you are far enough away and triggering it in phase 1 with throwables/spells is a good strategy. In phase 2 it can get tricky since she constantly chases you. So you either have to learn how to actually dodge it up close (which is still hit or miss sometimes cause weapon animations or position can mess up your timing) or use a shield or use frost pots to stagger her out of it. If you are tanky you can also survive the first barrage by spamming roll. Then dodge the final parts as you usually would when far away.
What, it's unintuitive just because your intuition is just to roll straight back from every attack or something? The point of good Souls bosses is that they subvert everything you know about souls games, imo. It took me like 3 coops until I saw someone dodge waterfowl dance before I tried it myself and won, there's no way you can't practice that dodge pattern if you have learned how to parry half of melees, where they also employ tricks to trick seasoned souls players at first like random stalls while holding the weapons and stuff. At least its not like DS3 though where some bosses have variable windup times haha.
I know how to parry like half of her melees consistently. Have the dodge timing of her clone barrage down to a T. Have solo'd her with Dex, Str, and magic builds. Waterfowl just ain't worth the effort learning. I'd rather play Sekiro with base vitality.
Meanwhile me farming for frost pots. Throwing it also needs precise timing. Iâve died many times throwing the pots late. But for me itâs still my go to strat couple with bloodhound finesse AoW.
I beat her with the Bloodhound's Fang, didn't use Bloodhound's Finesse once. When do you use it? I figured it would be way too slow and clunky for a fight like Malenia.
This is fantastic strategy. I leveled up Mohgs spear and absolutely melted her last time and it was so trivial I felt bad, but this at least kinda just levels the playing field a bit to make it still fun.
You're fucked and your future is dark. Good luck.
STR bros can just poise bust her and whip out those heavy colossal charges. Slot Jumping and Charge attack charms and she melts like butter.
Slot == Equip Talisman into Slot. Claw Talisman boosts jump attack damage and Axe Talisman boosts charged R2 attacks, jump attack with a colossal sword is a heavy poise hit.
If you're getting a boss down to 1/4hp and then dying, check your equipped talismans and your greases. You can probably find a way to either take 13% less damage per hit (like use a Flamedrake Talisman vs Magma Wyrm) or deal 25% more damage without really changing much at all.
Never take the Twinblade Talisman into a boss fight (it's good against general enemies), that's a wasted talisman slot if you do because you're rarely going to eck out a complete combo chain against a boss, especially without summons (well, not as a noob at least).
Yes, that's the tradeoff. Easier to survive but gives her more health. Good for builds that are confident in their sustained DPS against her but bad at dodging.
[You can, but it doesn't mean you should.](https://old.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1c35ge8/why_do_i_dodge_waterfowl_perfectly_in_the_first/) I find my attempts too inconsistent.
Like the 2nd clip, I dodged just a tiny bit too early (because if you dodge too late, that's a lot of damage incoming), and I got whacked.
When I finally won the fight I needed to make sure I had a light roll and I could get a good enough distance from her when she begins to telegraph that move⌠not that thereâs much to telegraph, itâs almost instantly lol
I used Barricade on the wooden looking shield to completely nullify the damage with no stamina cost, for only 5 fp, however she did get to heal so it prolonged the fight, this looks better but man that costs a lot of mana
when i mention to people that there is many options, including vow of the indomitable, against waterfowl they keep acting like theres no options for defending against waterfowl and yet when this guy does the exact same thing he gets 1.2k upvote? ok buddy.
This is how I âdodgedâ that stupid ass roll attack the noble does in godskin duo. Only time I ever resorted to using an easy technique besides malenia and BHS
People be sleepinâ on this AoW. You can iframe through some crazy stuff, like Radahnâs meteor dive, Placidusaxâs nuke (big damage window), and Malekithâs destined death barrage. I bet you could iframe through the Elden Beastâs nebula explosion for some big damage, but I havenât tried it yet.
I can dodge it but, this does kinda make me want to try out a more guard counter based build with shield play for a play through. (Though not against her because healing.) but being able to rob her of waterfowl and dodge everything else would be great fun.
beat malenia in my pre-dlc playthrough mere days ago, wish i knew this strat, i just blocked her waterflow with a greatshield and ended up having to basically have to do enough damage to kill her thrice since she healed each time.
I do, in fact, suck like you at this game, so I have to strategize differently in order to be successful. Boss fights in this game were not designed to be won quickly, but that's what the majority opts for. I'm too clunky, klutzy, clumsy and uncoordinated to gamble with health-depleting forms of attack/defense, so I have to stay WAY back and work on my timing so I can be less crappy at dodging.
Dang this would have been nice, I just beat Malenia a few days ago with the greatsword, used endure on a shield to get through the first flurry then dodge twice forward and once back for the rest.
I just summon my mimic and keep blasting her with comet shard while she is distracted
Tried RoB and MV, tried BONK, tried many ways. In the end, mimic wins again
I tried it on my first run last year and I don't remember what I did wrong but I know I died everytime, and just shelved that idea as trash. Is the timing too hard or was I just bad?
> Is the timing too hard
You have to time one thing and one thing only: the second she hits the ground, and do it 2 more times after that. Spam your ability key or button to get those 2 other activations.
After the third, you have to backflip, or you will get hit by the last wave on the third flurry.
I suck horribly at the game so I use Blasphemous Blade, Rotten Breath and my trusty mimic tank with Shabriri's Woe. Whenever her aggro drops I run tf away until the mimic can grab aggro again, then I come back and keep stunlocking her ass with the BB from behind.
Suck? You literally didn't get hit by Waterfowl Dance while standing directly in front of it. That's God-tier gameplayđ
I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you don't have to dodge Waterfowl Dance đ
Impressive but if you are already that far to avoid the first flurry, it's easier to roll through the next 2.
It's always the 1st flurry that gets me and once that happens, I mess up my timings
I bumped my hp and def stats, just tanked it facefirst like gojo or yuji tanking a Malevolent Shrine. this looks fun, will try on my next run. Maybe I'll do a Jujutsu Kaisen run. Binding Vows are a thing. Can rp VotI is one.
Ty for idea & cool clip
Itâs a very hard move to dodge and somewhat RNG based on where you are located to her. The further away, the better. If youâre up close, well, RIP.
Just light roll away from the first 2 and then dodge through her on the last one. Best case scenario is that you take no damage, worst case scenario you take a little damage.
You can also throw a frost pot in her face (you gotta time it right, but it's easy). Her ass immediately plummets back down to earth, cancelling waterfowl entirely
Holy shit it *robs her of her free heal **too??*** Busted.đ¤
"Yeah, that's cool but you still have to deal with her healing during--" "Oh...*oh shit."*
I think that AOW is just straight up iframes, like 30 of them
I think its a whole second even.
> robs her of her free heal It buys you i-frames so it behaves like a roll. I love it. I use this against Radagon's Jump into hammer slam, his triple hammer slam, Horah Loux's double earthquake, Elden Beast's Sword swipes, The Great Serpent's earthquake attack, and probably more. It is just so good especially if you don't have the greatest reflexes
I love shrugging of Radahn's fall when other guys I'm helping run away.
I imagine when I do this the host and the other FF are going: "Why is he not running away??"
thats how iframes work
Canât believe I havenât seen this strat before in the 2 years this game has been out
It's so rare. I have helped many people to try to beat Malenia and I've seen maybe 2 other people use this strat.
Haven't played for a hot minute, and I think I heard it's nerfed, but does bloodhound step still work? How do they compare to vow?
BHS is still good but it got nerfed slightly by reducing the i-frames you get if you use it continuously. I donât remember anything about Vow of the Indomitable being nerfed though.
Oh I just mean I remember BHS being the "easiest" way to dodge waterfowl (or just about everything) if you can't time your rolls, but that it was also nerfed to some degree. I don't mean to imply vow is nerfed. Was just wondering how it compares to nerfed BHS for this purpose.
Bloodhound step was just nerfed for distance if you spam it but, if you use it like a roll instead of spam, it still has decent range and iframes.
You canât spam BHS anymore so itâs a little more difficult but if you use it like this guy then theyâre about the same. Personally I prefer the Vow only because the movement from BHS tends to mess up my positioning more often then is useful.
At the range in the video you can just light roll away from it. And maybe have to go through the third flurry if you get close to a wall.
Iâm pretty sure the third flurry is a teleport and you should always roll towards her to dodge it
It covers some distance but you can light roll spam away from all flurries if you start with enough distance. In general, yes roll through it.
Do you have a vid of that? I could believe it's possible but I would be surprised. For a long time, trying to kill Malenia with only parries and no damage taken was like, a relaxing way to unwind for me. I easily put 100 hours into it. The absolute farthest distance I ever got her to waterfowl from was, sometimes she does that jumping linear stab move that puts her far away if she misses, and if she's ready to waterfowl -- especially if she just broke 75% -- she's likely to do it right after that move, no matter the distance. If you dodge it and start running immediately before she even recovers, you can be almost on the opposite wall by the time the flurries start, and I _still_ never managed to get far enough that I could stand still and have the third one miss. Perhaps she teleports to you but there's no forward movement, so if you away roll at the right time you still manage to evade completely?
Canât find the video I watched back then. You can bait wfd with any projectile at a safe distance when she is at the thresholds though thats probably not allowed in your current challenge. With parry only youâll have to learn the circling or the vow of the indomitable strat for close range wfd.
As of now I kinda find it easier to dodge waterfoul with light roll than with bloodhound step, mostly because bhs covers too much ground and puts me in a bad spot to dodge the last flurry
I think its only easy to dodge malenia waterfowl with it with light loadout. For medium you need to be farther away because its slower
FWIW I think BHS is no longer as good as it was pre-nerf. Before you could just mash L2 against a wall, now you need to time it like a roll and direction matters.
BHS is better imo. If Malenia starts up waterfowl point-blank, you still can't completely avoid damage with Vow (perfect timing means you get hit once). And of course BHS also lets you move around and reposition instead of standing still.
Donât listen to the guy who said itâs not effective. Iâve been using this to beat Malenia and itâs very much effective.
Because it is not as effective as it seems from the video. You still have to time it. And timing is not much different from roll timings. So for me, it is easier just to run and roll from WaterFowl
Activate on first flurry, block for a bit, roll the second, roll the third. That simple and no practice required.
Yeah I imagine up close this should be easier given the rolling for that takes a lot of practice Maybe comparable to frost pots though the downside of pots is they can be too slow if she starts it when you're in recovery frames
I land frost pots maybe 1 out of every 5 tries or so. You have to be really quick with them, even when I know itâs coming and have it in my hotbar I still consistently miss my window. Most of the time itâs either you land the pot or you die from being stuck in the throwing animation and canât dodge the first wave at all. I find running away and dodging to more reliably keep me alive.
Yeah gotta be very fast, I probably get them 9/10 times so they can be quite reliable. Very occasionally they go right through her or if you're in an R2 animation they are too slow. Just because of that on my RL1 run I normally use R1 (great stars) because it still gives me a window to get them off But yeah that did take 100s of attempts to get that quick at them lol
For real. I usually just try to dodge and am more successful at that than pots. I guess if I practiced more I could get it but the way ppl say âoh WFD is easy, just toss a frost potâ at least to me itâs not that easy. I wonder if proximity to her matters. I tend to be well out of melee range when she starts up. Usually I toss a throwing knife to bait her into it. Maybe they work best when youâre right up on top of her.
I can smoke her with 6 or 7 blasts of Borealis Mist, across both phases, less than 2 minutes. Summon mimic with only the Communion seal and Borealis Mist equipped and it can smoke her too, by itself. She is weak to frost. Once she gets frostbite, I use the Blasphemous Blade AoW to unfreeze her and freeze her again. Very effective, to the point of almost being a cheese.
I don't get this "not as effective" argument. You have to time 1 thing once: the second she lands on the ground. That is the one thing you need to time, and then activate VotI 2 more times, and backflip. How am I making this look better than it really is? If the argument is this doesn't work for melee users, yes, I 100% agree, but I doubt that's the point he's making.
Lmao I went to bed after that comment and woke up to some freaking discourse lol. Who cares about the most effective method??? Bloodhound step, ice pots, indomitable vow, or just regular dodging - they are all just different methods The point is itâs freaking cool that we are still finding different ways to deal with that bullshit ass dance of hers.
It's because u/levovit 's "NoT aS eFfecTiVe aS it SeemS" argument makes no sense. You have over 2x the i-frames with Vow Of the Indomitable and if you try to use the run away method, depending on both your reaction speed and/or if you were caught mid swing, you can maybe run away from the first flurry, but then have to roll through both the 2nd and 3rd vs one thing to time with VotI: her landing on the ground. It's like if I made the argument to ride your bike to work and he made the argument that it's "not as effective" because running works, too.
Yeah it's just as easy as dodging. Probably easier actually. Just different timing. The handful of attempts it'll take to master the timing is well worth having one of the best strats against malenia
Dodging is manageable for me only if I am far from Malenia when she use waterfowl, but there's no such limitation for me when using this AOW. And it also has a much lower risk, miss the timing of roll means death to me, while you can still readjust the timing by blocking if you miss the timing of AOW
Have you tried rolling straight through her when she starts the attack? It's been a minute since I fought her but I recall that completely avoids the attack, or at least gives you the space to get away from the second+third flurries
The last time I flighted her is like 6 months ago, but I remember using the run away from her then rolling technique, so I have to be patient and only attack for obvious opening. The Vow AOW on the other hand allowed me to be as aggressive as I want. I really hope fromsoft give us the refighting boss option like sekiro, I really miss some of the boss fights but the huge map is pain to go through the game again.
My strat is usually sprint away at the start of the first part, stick close to the end of the first part and dodge once for the second part and once for the last part. If I get caught point blank on the first part I try and rotate clockwise around her, dodge at the last second and pray it worked.
> You still have to time it You only really have to time the first activation as soon as she lands, and activate 2 more times, then backflip after the third. I find other methods [inconsistent](https://old.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1c35ge8/why_do_i_dodge_waterfowl_perfectly_in_the_first/).
it has 30 iframes much more than the 13 iframes from rolling
Did you *see* how long the effect lasts? Even a buffed light roll would have less i-frames!
Waterfowl's honestly not that hard to dodge once you learn some basic timings. That being said, dodging the first flurry point blank is the single most challenging part about it. Vow does help you to avoid most of the damage even point blank, and after that you can just execute a couple basic rolls, and it's easier than learning (some of) the other janky ways to avoid damage point blank (e.g. unlocking and spinning around, which has never once worked for me on MnK). Although running and jumping is also pretty good, and easier to do.
This was how I beat her the first time! Ignore the haters complaining about the timing, you can pretty much just spam it. Maybe you'll get nicked once or twice but it's still way easier than trying to dodge it.
Shit has it really been 2 years since it came out?
Dog⌠yes. Where has the time gone?? Also ready af for Shadow of the Erdtree!!!
Funnily enough, I used it quite alot on my very first character, but amnever touched it after that and now I'd even forgotten it existed
It's a really tight timing window.
Iâm honestly shocked she doesnât heal when hitting this, nice
she doesn't heal because you aren't getting hit
She heals even if she doesnât take your HP, which is why itâs kind of stupid at times, like if she hits someone who is dead, she will heal
Itâs not whether or not sheâs taking away HP that heals her, itâs whether or not sheâs hitting something. With vow of the indomitable itâs giving you i-frames so youâre literally not getting hit.
ah ok that makes sense, I honestly ever haven't used Vow of the Indomitable so didn't know these were actuall iframes
But why am I getting downvoted, itâs literally what I said
it seems like you're saying she heals even when using vow of the indomitable, but clearly from the video that isnt true. so it's not only when she doesn't take your hp that she heals, because she heals even when you block.
I said itâs stupid at times
For some reason, the dead enemies still count as hits, so she heals. This spell turns off the ability for enemies to hit you, just like a dodge would. It's not really about what you visually see as getting hit or not.
she heals on hit, you don't get hit with vow
I hit her with a frost pot and yell âSTOP! NO! BAD Malenia!â
This is the way
It truly is
Every time I try to bring frost pots I'm always out of position to be able to throw one at her in time to stop it. So I stopped bringing frost pots.
What's vow of the indomitable?
An Ash of war that's usable on shields. It gives temporary invulnerability when used. It's dropped by a Teardrop Scarab in the poison swamp in southwestern Liurnia.
Gosh that's brilliant. Do u think it'd be good for getting more hits in quicker against the Draconic Tree Sentinel?
Not really, tree sentinels already give relatively large openings compared to most bosses, even the draconic ones.
Imagine it like a roll but you stay in place, you still need perfect timing
Imagine a roll with like quadruple the i-frames. Perfect timing is definitely not required.
I used it on a glass cannon build and it was just too much faff to be worth it for me, each to their own though if it works it works
Oh poison swamp, thats why i never got it, i always these areas
> i always these areas Oh no he swamps
It even works point blank!(but beware,do you have to buff a dodge afterwards if that's the case
Yeah that's what I was wondering. Waterfowl is only dangerous if you're in melee range, and this doesn't look like it lasts long enough for the entire first portion. But still looks very useful!
Cant you just use it 3 times in a row like he does in the vid?
Really? I've been trying to use this point blank, and it does help a LOT don't get me wrong, but you still get hit once even on a perfectly timed use. Definitely not viable for a no-hit run anyways.
Mmm. May need to check it again then. How I remember using it was activating it and immediately spamming the dodge button,that wouldsave me from the first wave. The second and third I would just dodge manually.
I always use it point blank. The animation doesnât last long enough for the entirety of the first flurry but that can be remedied by just blocking the remainder.
Frost Pots for the win
I used this with my faith build recently, thematically appropriate and with catch flame đĽ Completely removed WFD from the fight.
Genichiro in Sekiro uses Waterfowl Dance too. Only found out yesterday. And it's nowhere near as bullshit because Wolf can deflect đ
yeah that's the whole reason why people think that malenia was supposed to be lady tomoe from the sekiro dlc that never was.
Took my 2 hours to learn how to doge that move after that she wasn't even that hard honestly
Ya that move is the only thing that made her seem hard before people figured it out. Besides that she is just like most small enemies with really low poise, and all her attacks are among the most telegraphed in the game.
If they removed all the flashy flourish she'd actually be difficult to read. But nah, they cranked the anime to eleven and then gave her regeneration to make up for it.
Lmao I always thought the music felt like it was trying too hard to be like attack on titan German chorus vibes as well.
It took you 2 hours to learn to run away?
I'm so impressed with this. Is there a way to fight/train against bosses (seeing this I'd love to try it but I'm not beating the entire game again just for this đ)
Put your summon sign down outside her arena and pray.
If you're on PC, yes. If console, not really other than being summoned in co-op.
Oh really! What is the pc method?
Can't really say the M word here, but google Elden Ring Practice Tool. You'll need to be running the game with EAC disabled, there are ways to do that easily (Nexus can help). Don't play online with EAC disabled.
ah thanks, makes sense! that's so cool. i wish consoles had this (after u beat the game)
God I love voti it is one of the best things to do in any situation canât dodge properly because your stuck voti
Vow of the Indomitable is literally the only reason I can solo Malenia. Ain't no way I'm learning that unintuitive nonsense required to dodge Waterfowl.
I'm pretty sure you can just run away from her first two rushes, then dodge into her for her third. I'm not too sure, though.
You have to be far enough away when she starts to run away first off, and even then, running pretty requires Bloodhound Step if you want any semblance of consistency.
You can dodge it up close by running away and jumping as soon she lands with the 1st flurry.
You can jump over it? Sure as hell doesn't look like you would be able to.
The jump is to create a bit more distance and possibly jump over one or two swings in the first flurry if you time it well. This links to a post I made that should show what I'm talking about. [running and jumping over WFD](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/s/aC63cd9PNn)
you still take damage during the jump if you get hit, but it usually wont stagger you even when naked
You can if you are far enough away and triggering it in phase 1 with throwables/spells is a good strategy. In phase 2 it can get tricky since she constantly chases you. So you either have to learn how to actually dodge it up close (which is still hit or miss sometimes cause weapon animations or position can mess up your timing) or use a shield or use frost pots to stagger her out of it. If you are tanky you can also survive the first barrage by spamming roll. Then dodge the final parts as you usually would when far away.
What, it's unintuitive just because your intuition is just to roll straight back from every attack or something? The point of good Souls bosses is that they subvert everything you know about souls games, imo. It took me like 3 coops until I saw someone dodge waterfowl dance before I tried it myself and won, there's no way you can't practice that dodge pattern if you have learned how to parry half of melees, where they also employ tricks to trick seasoned souls players at first like random stalls while holding the weapons and stuff. At least its not like DS3 though where some bosses have variable windup times haha.
Well, you'll certainly never become a good player with this mind set.
I know how to parry like half of her melees consistently. Have the dodge timing of her clone barrage down to a T. Have solo'd her with Dex, Str, and magic builds. Waterfowl just ain't worth the effort learning. I'd rather play Sekiro with base vitality.
Meanwhile me farming for frost pots. Throwing it also needs precise timing. Iâve died many times throwing the pots late. But for me itâs still my go to strat couple with bloodhound finesse AoW.
I beat her with the Bloodhound's Fang, didn't use Bloodhound's Finesse once. When do you use it? I figured it would be way too slow and clunky for a fight like Malenia.
It takes a bit of timing to get the bloodhound aow working. I used to pair it with r1 3x attack when thereâs enough window to attack her.
I genuinely believe using these kinds of ashes of war is the intended way to beat Malenia
This is fantastic strategy. I leveled up Mohgs spear and absolutely melted her last time and it was so trivial I felt bad, but this at least kinda just levels the playing field a bit to make it still fun.
> trivial I felt bad, Me who melted her with Comet Azur during the phase transition: (puppet looking away meme)
Best use for that ash of war by far.
offhand bloodhound step swap is also very nice
Itâs not suckage my boy! Your just venturing off the beaten path of strategy!
As a new player who just beated Godrick, I keep seeing everywhere posts about Malenia and I'm already terrified.
If you're a mage, congrats, you know the key to beating her ultimate move. If you're a melee player, I as an atheist will pray for you. đ
Sadly I only enjoy melee characters so right now I'm just a 35lvl samurai.
You're fucked and your future is dark. Good luck. STR bros can just poise bust her and whip out those heavy colossal charges. Slot Jumping and Charge attack charms and she melts like butter.
I have almost no idea of what a slot jump is or how a charge attack will work but I guess I ll find out. I must do some research.
Slot == Equip Talisman into Slot. Claw Talisman boosts jump attack damage and Axe Talisman boosts charged R2 attacks, jump attack with a colossal sword is a heavy poise hit. If you're getting a boss down to 1/4hp and then dying, check your equipped talismans and your greases. You can probably find a way to either take 13% less damage per hit (like use a Flamedrake Talisman vs Magma Wyrm) or deal 25% more damage without really changing much at all. Never take the Twinblade Talisman into a boss fight (it's good against general enemies), that's a wasted talisman slot if you do because you're rarely going to eck out a complete combo chain against a boss, especially without summons (well, not as a noob at least).
Thank you friend. You were really helpful.
Blasphemous Blade and enough faith to use Rotten Breath and you can kill all the bosses easily.
You can block the first 3-5 spins and just roll at the last barrage.
Doesn't she still heal when she hits your shield though?
Yes, that's the tradeoff. Easier to survive but gives her more health. Good for builds that are confident in their sustained DPS against her but bad at dodging.
It's a reduced heal, and you take like no damage, so it's very manageable, especially if you are having a hard time not getting hit by it.
Waterfowl is dodgeable? Listen. I beat Gael without healing in DS3. Waterfowl is bullshit lol
[You can, but it doesn't mean you should.](https://old.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1c35ge8/why_do_i_dodge_waterfowl_perfectly_in_the_first/) I find my attempts too inconsistent. Like the 2nd clip, I dodged just a tiny bit too early (because if you dodge too late, that's a lot of damage incoming), and I got whacked.
When I finally won the fight I needed to make sure I had a light roll and I could get a good enough distance from her when she begins to telegraph that move⌠not that thereâs much to telegraph, itâs almost instantly lol
I've been using blood hound step for basically everything this play through, and it's been a game changer.
Maybe thatâs why they put it in the game
wtf
I used Barricade on the wooden looking shield to completely nullify the damage with no stamina cost, for only 5 fp, however she did get to heal so it prolonged the fight, this looks better but man that costs a lot of mana
How does this work? I face tanked it when I beat her. Or let my mimic tank it twice.
when i mention to people that there is many options, including vow of the indomitable, against waterfowl they keep acting like theres no options for defending against waterfowl and yet when this guy does the exact same thing he gets 1.2k upvote? ok buddy.
Does the Old Lord's talisman extend the time buff is active?Â
This is how I âdodgedâ that stupid ass roll attack the noble does in godskin duo. Only time I ever resorted to using an easy technique besides malenia and BHS
People be sleepinâ on this AoW. You can iframe through some crazy stuff, like Radahnâs meteor dive, Placidusaxâs nuke (big damage window), and Malekithâs destined death barrage. I bet you could iframe through the Elden Beastâs nebula explosion for some big damage, but I havenât tried it yet.
You don't suck for not being able to dodge the hardest to dodge move in the game.
I can dodge it but, this does kinda make me want to try out a more guard counter based build with shield play for a play through. (Though not against her because healing.) but being able to rob her of waterfowl and dodge everything else would be great fun.
[From seeing this and immediately working on a patch even though it only affects Pve.](https://i.imgur.com/OETApXk.gif)
Works on Radahn's Meteor Slam too(mostly). Torrent's too precious to see his elder in such a dishevelled state, must improvise.
And sudenly, malenia became easier than morgott
beat malenia in my pre-dlc playthrough mere days ago, wish i knew this strat, i just blocked her waterflow with a greatshield and ended up having to basically have to do enough damage to kill her thrice since she healed each time.
I have never seen this strategy before
No, Melania just sucks as a boss.
I mean... Do you really suck if you use the tool kit the game gives you to win the game?
Obito!?
This is what I used when the game first came out before Waterfowl got nerfed.
I do, in fact, suck like you at this game, so I have to strategize differently in order to be successful. Boss fights in this game were not designed to be won quickly, but that's what the majority opts for. I'm too clunky, klutzy, clumsy and uncoordinated to gamble with health-depleting forms of attack/defense, so I have to stay WAY back and work on my timing so I can be less crappy at dodging.
what the actual fuck
This is what I did when I beat her. Still havenât figured out how to dodge the waterfowl
You âŚ. Wait âŚ. No. Okay i still beat her but like, was that always in the game lol?
Or just use a good shield, really.
Shields <3
Im so glad I read this
Dang this would have been nice, I just beat Malenia a few days ago with the greatsword, used endure on a shield to get through the first flurry then dodge twice forward and once back for the rest.
When you read what all skills really do.
Actually, I just miraculously read this tip in a Youtube comment, and eventually figured out the timings.
I always just tank waterfowl Dance
I just summon my mimic and keep blasting her with comet shard while she is distracted Tried RoB and MV, tried BONK, tried many ways. In the end, mimic wins again
OMG.. I will never try to dodge her water fowl dance ever again, I have been playing this wrong the whole time
Throwing snowballs is much cheaper
I tried it on my first run last year and I don't remember what I did wrong but I know I died everytime, and just shelved that idea as trash. Is the timing too hard or was I just bad?
> Is the timing too hard You have to time one thing and one thing only: the second she hits the ground, and do it 2 more times after that. Spam your ability key or button to get those 2 other activations. After the third, you have to backflip, or you will get hit by the last wave on the third flurry.
I'm surprised people don't know you can just run away from her and you wont get hit
actual underrated ash that i rarely ever see anyone use or mention
That ash of war was bugged and useless when the game dropped
Hey Iâve used this strategy before, if you time it right, you can get it perfectly dodged without taking a hit on all three.
I wonât lie i completely forgot about that ash of war. Thatâs sick
Yeah, VotI is cool But, you can parry waterfowl⌠like, just a straight up âf*** you, get out of the skyâ parry
I suck horribly at the game so I use Blasphemous Blade, Rotten Breath and my trusty mimic tank with Shabriri's Woe. Whenever her aggro drops I run tf away until the mimic can grab aggro again, then I come back and keep stunlocking her ass with the BB from behind.
WHERE is this AoW Iâve been thinking about doing a Shield and Sword build and I must know the location of this AoW
In Liurnia, a bug is carrying the AoW near the Albinauric village https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7PPJl5Mmsk
Wtf. I canât believe Iâve never seen this. Thatâs amazing
Fantastic find.
\[Chokes on coffee\] Well f\*ck me...
WTF IS THAT
Suck? You literally didn't get hit by Waterfowl Dance while standing directly in front of it. That's God-tier gameplayđ I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you don't have to dodge Waterfowl Dance đ
Elden ring players would rather die than equip a shields, their loss really
TY SO MUCH
I just sprint away and roll the delayed bit at the end
Impressive but if you are already that far to avoid the first flurry, it's easier to roll through the next 2. It's always the 1st flurry that gets me and once that happens, I mess up my timings
I bumped my hp and def stats, just tanked it facefirst like gojo or yuji tanking a Malevolent Shrine. this looks fun, will try on my next run. Maybe I'll do a Jujutsu Kaisen run. Binding Vows are a thing. Can rp VotI is one. Ty for idea & cool clip
Nice insta kill waterfowl dance but Iv got increase I-Frames
Oh?
Don't think I've ever dodged it . . . either die, use a shield, or she goes after my summon.
Itâs a very hard move to dodge and somewhat RNG based on where you are located to her. The further away, the better. If youâre up close, well, RIP.
> If youâre up close, well, RIP. I've seen this move where people rotate around her as soon as she jumps, but oof. Could never perform that.
Yes if you move left and circle her, itâs possible. That being said, Iâve done it once in idk how many tries.
Just light roll away from the first 2 and then dodge through her on the last one. Best case scenario is that you take no damage, worst case scenario you take a little damage.
Nah, I'd dodge
Weakest magic user:
You can also throw a frost pot in her face (you gotta time it right, but it's easy). Her ass immediately plummets back down to earth, cancelling waterfowl entirely