Need some Souls Advice!

Hey Duders,

Just some quick questions I'd like to get some answers too (so I dont need to create a reddit account!)

No idea what I'm doing but I've stumbled into what I've heard dubbed as a "Strength/Faith" build?

I started as a Confessor. Basically my Health/Endurance/Strength/Faith are all about 18. I saw someone mention getting Health and Endurance to 20 before focusing on your DPS stats (Faith/Strength)

With the cool new ashes of war thing I've turned my Broadsword +6 into a Faith/Strength weapon using Holy Blade. What kind of stats should I be looking at end game? Ive got the Brass Shield which is pretty dope. Hoping to stay fairly lightly armored (just using starting confessor clothes) and have been blocking/dodging and buffing with Holy Blade and flask of physik for extra dps on boss fights.

Having not much experience I dont really have much vision other then I was trying to play as a "Paladin"

Not sure what my goal should be. Should I put a few more points into mind? Should Strength/Faith end up 40 each? Should one Faith be way higher because it scales better on my weapon or is there a cap somewhere I'll get diminishing returns?

Also is there any point to upgrading my shield? Does that increase the stamina drain of blocking or something? Because its already a 100% damage block shield the only thing I could tell from putting a +1 on it was increasing its damage if I were to main hand it which seems like a waste. I know not every level up is equal though.

Thanks!

I have no direct advice to give you, but I checked out the wiki today, and the Confessor was described very much as a Paladin class in effect.

I was thinking of the Confessor myself. Something different than the Warrior I started out as.

You'll want Str/faith at 40 eventually since I'm pretty sure those are the soft caps for damage stats.

But I wouldn't just start dumping solely into dps stats. Vigor/Endurance to 20 is a good priority but I would continue to throw points into Vigor at least every other level or so just to avoid taking frustrating big hits.

1. In past Soulsborne games, the rule has generally been "get your main stats to the cap for diminishing returns, then enough in everything else to use the gear you want." In past games, the soft and hard caps were somewhere around 40/50, but that might be different in Elden Ring. In terms of scaling, you generally put points into whatever stat had the best letter grade for it. However, with the new Ashes of War, you can swap the stat scaling by putting a new ash on your weapon, so you've got a bit more freedom to play around.

2. I would say no on the shield. Generally what you're looking for on that is the Guard Boost stat. That replaces "stability" from the other Dark Souls games and affects how much stamina you lose when blocking. Generally that doesn't increase much from upgrading your shield. In the past, I've always just swapped out shields for a better one when I find it. I then keep a bunch of shields in reserve that I can swap to for specific elemental damage reductions.

Disclaimer: I haven't played Elden yet, but if my experiences with Demons and Dark 1-3 can transfer over...

Yeah, you kinda want to focus on focus on pumping up your faith stat if you're committing to a faith/Paladin build. Assuming that the upgrade system is similar to previous games, chances are that you'll be able to upgrade a weapon so that it scales with faith (called Divine and Occult in Dark 1), which then you can just increase your strength and dex so that it meats the minimum requirements for using a weapon that you want to use. So for the most part, strength will still help, but not as much as faith. And, I do imagine that there is an eventual soft cap for stats. I don't know what the exact number is for Elden. It's probably 40 like in Demons and Dark 1, but someone else can confirm that.

And as for upgrading shields: I didn't when these games were newer to me due to prioritizing doing more damage and rolling out of the way of damage. But now I do it mainly for the fuck of it; either because there was a boss shield that I wanted for collection purposes, or just for the sake up having an upgraded shield when there was nothing else that I wanted to upgrade. That said, the former is recommended.

Good advice, thanks guys!

Yeah I've gone as far as I can with my weapon, so now I'm upgrading my spell casting focus in the mean time. Figure Ill come into a better shield eventually by the time I have spare stones for upgrading that.

I'm stuck. I can't seem to trigger the festival at Redmane Castle and battle against Radahn. I've beaten the first two demi-gods. I've gotten through the duo boss right before the meeting with the old man sitting in a wooden chair. What else do I need to do? All he tells me is he has no current use for me.

@rubberbabybuggybumpers: This would be a weird oversight but you might actually need to be told about the festival by one of the NPCs taking part in it before it becomes active. Alexander the Pot is up in Stormhill somewhere, or Blaidd which is a wolf man howling around Mistwood. Either one of those tells you about the Festival.

@efesell: I think the pot told me about the festival. I remember something about a festival being mentioned on a marathon 12hr play yesterday. I haven't come across Blaidd.

FWIW I seriously sequence-broke the game and ended up fighting Radahn even before Godrick and Rennala. I had no idea what I was doing, but just walked in and NPCs were standing there and there was a herald guy yelling about a festival. At first I couldn't seem to proceed, then I talked to the herald guy and he asked if I was ready. When I said yes he opened the way to the boss. Maybe that's all you need to do, just talk to that guy? If not, I don't know what to tell you. If I could fight him without first killing the other two demi-gods, not sure why you wouldn't be able to do it.

@atheistpreacher: I've heard talks about this festival from 2 NPCs. I cleared that castle, fought the duo at Redmane Castle, and now only the old man sits on his chair and says there is currently no use for me. I don't have any dialogue options when speaking to him. Maybe it's a progress halting bug. I dunno. I've also gone to Caria Manor. That place was pretty neat. I liked the enemy variety. Those hands were beginning to freak me out. I met with Ranni, spoke to all three of the NPCs, picked up a quest from that pretentious sorcerer, and haven't tried going back to the festival grounds just yet.

@rubberbabybuggybumpers: Just to clarify you mean the guy up the stairs that makes addresses the crowd? If so then I’m not sure what flag is missing. I was directed to Radahn for a side quest but I doubt it’s required..

@efesell: When I beat the dual bosses, I ran into the tower to find him sitting in a wooden chair. He told me I was already a champion in his eyes for defeating the duo. He told me the festival will start when the stars align and he currently has no use for me. Maybe I just need to progress some stuff beforehand since it seems like I jumped the gun quite a bit. I instead was greeted by those two. It's entirely possible I accidentally found an optional double boss fight. I have no idea what I did to trigger it.

@rubberbabybuggybumpers: I think what may have happened is you’ve tangled a few flags by starting Rannis quest line. So I would continue along that which will lead to the festival anyway.

@efesell: There is just the old guy sitting in his chair inside the tower. I didn't actually start Ranni's questline until late last night, many hours after running into the current problem. I started Ranni's line a couple hours after running into Blaidd for the first time.

The issue I'm having is the same as the person who posted and responded to these threads.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1245620/discussions/0/3183486320476547204/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/t4ut3q/redmane_castle_progression_help_slight_location/

@rubberbabybuggybumpers: I’m not sure then. I was in the same situation as you when I did this fight the only difference is that I was directed to the festival in the first place in order to continue that quest line.

@efesell: It's weird. Some of have mentioned they went to Redmane before fighting either of the first two demi-gods. I guess we'll all come to figure out what triggers the fight with the duo instead.

@efesell: Alright, finally figured out the issue. If you go to Redmane Castle BEFORE ever starting Ranni and/or Blaidd's quest you'll end up fighting the duo. Defeat them and you'll end up in the same situation I found myself in until I did some of Blaidd's and Ranni's quest line. You can find one half of that duo at one of those gaols in the wild. I don't remember which one. It's a big guy with a huge shield. He moves slow but hits like a truck.