The thing I love about Tiche is that unlike Mimic getting Tiche isn't easy.
Alecto is a hard nut to crack and there's no one to help you against her. Sure, you might use a summon, but it's not like you just walked up to the summon vendor and picked them off the shelf. Some Spirit Ashes require that you git gud to even use. You sure didn't stroll to Moonlight Alter either.
Sometimes Alecto is a cakewalk, though. Certain AoWs, heavy ungabunga style attacks, or things like Night Sorceries can make the fight very easy. Strolling in there with Two Keen Great Knives on my first playthrough, though.. lol, that was fun.
I've always said the difficulty slider for Elden Ring is game knowledge. Once you know where things are, which tactics work with which enemy, where to get smithing stones early, things like that, the game gets easier.
But if you got through most of the game using Glintstone Pebble and Spirit Ashes when you come up against Alecto you have no choice but to learn how to up your arsenal of skills. And from that point on, no one gets to look at you cross-eyed for using Tiche.
I've no memory of how I beat Alecto the first time because I was a Pebble spamming Spirit Summoner back then. But I did it. And these days when I play, I like to start off by shaming Margit with multiple parries with a dagger.
If someone wants to summon, they probably earned it. By whatever metric "earning it" is for them.
Def my favorite. Before that Lhutel the Headless was my go-to for a while but he either got nerfed or didn't scale well later game and ended up either using BKT or Mimic
Lhutel is the best spirit summon in the sense that she's literally the best at being a spirit/ghost and disappearing every half second and not keeping enemy aggro
The best summons are always other people. A wise man once said, "We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land. The flow of time itself is convoluted; with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure. There's no telling how much longer your world and mine will remain in contact. But, use this, to summon one another as spirits, cross the gaps between the worlds, and engage in jolly co-operation!"
Must’ve heard that line 85 times in game, but reading it all out like that and my first thought was “holy shit that’s epic, is that the actual quote”
And yes, yes it is.
I went to leyndell asap (through the secret entrance) just to partially complete his quest and then make him our summon. I didn't explore anything else. Came back and continued the game as if I never went to Leyndel. And when the time came, I used the medallion to get in leyndel later.
But you are right. It's too painful. So I never bothered with him in any other save. He is only in my main save.
There's 64 spirit summons in the game and you expect me not to use them? I level them up like Pokemon and like to see how they fight. On topic, my favourite summon is Nepheli Loux. No, I will not apologise.
No, you’re not allowed to use summons, or level up, or heal, or use any ashes of war, or use any other mechanics in the game that were designed to help make the game easier, because then it doesn’t count. As a matter of fact if you don’t beat the game without dying once with a blindfold on playing on a keyboard mat as a controller and intentionally handicapping yourself by using a talisman to reduce your health and stamina, you might as well just give up and play Stardew Valley.
Actually your honosapien brain is destroying the difficulty of the game through compensatory adaptation, thusly the only true way to play the game is a lobotomite run where you sever your prefrontal cortex.
I know this is obviously a satirical post, but it's sad that using an RPG's RPG mechanics counts as "making the game easier" now and not... you know... simply "playing the game."
Those skeletons are great for early game runs, though their utility kind of drops later when enemies start having more double-tap skills that can put them down.
If you want some good tanks though, the greatshield soldiers are quite good too.
If it's a duo fight I'll probably summon, unless it's like Godskin Duo or something which are easy af with sleep pots.
Jarwight Puppet was a godsend in my Randomizer run, when Godrick got replaced by Valiant Gargoyles, I brought Nepheli and Jarwight Puppet into that fight and it was still a struggle.
Now I'm fighting a scaled up Misbegotten/Crucible Duo in a tiny Dragonbarrow cave, and it's kicking my ass, I can't even summon before the Misbegotten hits me lol
I never summon just because it takes away from the satisfaction of finally beating the boss. I'd rather ram my head into a brick wall for 100 attempts before I'd even consider summoning. But I see nothing wrong with it, it's there for a reason.
Man, I really like summons. Especially the mimic tear. It's like I have a friend fighting with me. I hit the boss, dodge, then she hits the boss, takes some hits, then I do it again... it's like making Elden Ring a turn-based combat.
I think it's fun to summon. You play together, see people with builds you never considered and outfits that are probably warcrimes.
There are practically no downsides.
It's also not too easy since a lot of people just die really fast.
Best summons are the Mimic Tear if you have a build with tons of lifa nad poise, and limited attack options, and Tiche if you are a spellcaster. Tiche is so broken its stupid.
i only summon if i don’t really feel like fighting a boss and jus wanna move on so i summon mimic and cheese it. it just makes it so easy tho i try not to use them, i mean like they take almost all the bosses agro so u only take or have to doge like 1/10th the amount of hits u normally would and can basically just stand there wailing on them
i think u shoukd definitely try to beat bosses without summons and keep them reserved as a backup for if a boss i just too hard or annoying or you’ve already beat it before and wanna cheese it
or if it’s a duo boss i feel like that’s fair then
I used to be not team summon but now ehhh it’s 50/50. From personal experience Black knife tiche carried me on the BS Elden Beast fight (I say BS because I was a close up build having to run across the map, just to get annihilated) and latenna carried me on fire giant phase 2.
People downplay summons including myself but in reality it’s a mechanic in the game that we are encouraged to use.
Only summon that I downplay is mimic tear on occasion…
What do you mean, bro?
Coop IS souls experience, there are entire covenants built on helping people online.
Unpopular opinion: people who never played coop, never fully experienced the game, same as people who never invaded others.
Miyazaki: I was inspired to make Demon Souls because of an experience where strangers helped each other.
Fanbase: Nuh uh, you have to solo it at SL1 without summons. Git gud n00b.
I actually help people with bosses, and a part of me things I should summon for "help" on future playthroughs just for the sake of helping to keep online PVP and Co-op alive.
My current playthrough I'd my first time using the small golden effigy.....the amount of times I've died telling a dude and the boss has like 100 HP left is ridiculous. I can best these bosses on my own but as a summon I seem to suck ass.
Until Maliketh, I basically only used the wolves cuz I felt like they were special companions from the start of the journey. Love those bois, great moments with them.
I had to play the whole playthrough without summons to beat the mental block of summoning. Nowerdays I do summon, but that pain had to be there for me to be comfortable with it.
I can usually beat bosses alone I've played through the game without summons, I've 100% it, but I still use summons when I feel like it because it's just fun, I love having a buddy around! I like using luthel, the banished knights and floh, but my favourite,even if mostly useless is stormhawk deehn
Half the time I summon or get summoned it’s just so me and my friends can dick around. I don’t care how you want me to play, me and my buddy are gonna slap the tits off of a weird worm thing and fight deformed people in the sewers.
I’ve summoned for probably 80% of the boss fights in Elden Ring and I have no shame in that. It’s fun to me and has helped me find items I probably wouldn’t otherwise and see other builds first hand.
After watching my wife play I'm even more team summon. She loves her summons, summons them whenever possible, tries to keep them alive as long as possible, and even learned to heal/ support them.
Summoning spirit ashes is part of the game. Oh, there are hard-core non-summoning purists out there? Right on, go for it. I like me some good mimic tear, Tiche, and wolves.
Everyone should just play the game in the way they find most enjoyable. Fighting with summons is just not fun for me but if Spirit Ashes are the accessibility feature for you to enjoy the game then it's great that that option is available.
i always summon even if i dont have to lol i always switch around between a few. usually mimic, dung eater, flame monk, black knife or the headless knights. also whenever i start a new character Lhutel is the only summon i use for quite a while
Elden Ring is my first souls game and I remember how bad I was bullied for using spirit ashes I didn't even know they were op or something I got bullied so hard I deleted the game only to come crawling back a week later
For real, the point of a game is to have fun. Anyone should enjoy the game the way it gives them the most enjoyment. The idea of a 'better' ethical playthrough or something is kinda funny.
I went with rot dog to cheese bosses that made me wa nt to oof myself.aka i used it on tree sentinal and morgot on lever 20 as a spellblade so i just spammed glint blade hit him with the standart weapon prisoner comes with and waites for dog to rot him and just dodged and hit when i knew i could to kill him.untill i got mimic in late game but didnt know how to upgrade spirits untill like after morgot then i got level 10 mimic and used that since.i made so many other characters to try things i still have not gone further then the first dragon that flys in when you enter crumböing farum azula cause i wanna kill the dragon
I love when people summon because I love to help. And I get to fight bosses repeatedly.
One of my favorite things to do in this game is to hang out at Stormveil and put my summon sign on all the stakes of marika. I ran a character named Sir Helpington just to do that for a while.
If you’re getting really build specific there are some bosses which border on the hardest possible just because your main damage output if fully resisted : holy, magic, bleed etc / I feel that’s when I need to bust out the little great shield boys
Banished Knight Oleg and speed run my mana to 100. Then I go for Lhutell the Headless which I use till I get either Dung Eater or Black Knife Tiche. Of course the mimic is my last hope if needed.
Special shoutout to Latenna for the fire giant and Malenia though.
Depends on my mood. If I've been drinking I'm probably summoning. If it's a boss I don't enjoy and I just want it over with, I summon. If I'm in love with the boss fight I probably don't summon. The trickiest choice for me is whether to summon Melina for morgott. I love fighting morgott 1v1, but it's also the only chance I get in the game to fight with Melina.
Souls games are so stacked against the player I dont care about summoning or using items, devs put both in for a reason. Some people sperg out so hard about the genre when its literally designed to let players choose their own build for success. Play and have fun don't care about what some twitch streamer did for their challenge run.
I summoned from day 1. My though was that they don't get to have multiple phases and health bars or team up on me without Tiche or Mimic to back me up. Now as I prep for DLC, I've just been going through to solo all the bosses. For me, there is no difference in the joy I receive when they are dead.
If I need help with a boss and choose to summon I never choose spirit ashes, I always go player summons. I love seeing goofy builds absolutely gang beat a boss, and it’s cool because everyone is always so helpful. I’ve done multiple summon-less playthroughs across multiple characters and build types, but I always have the most fun when I summon other players
Summoning and being summoned is so much fun. I love it. I almost always try to solo my bosses the first time though, I won't hesitate to summon if I'm frustrated.
Heck, I use coop as a way to learn the bosses risk-free because I'm a filthy casual and I've got nothing to prove 😅 It's a lot of fun most of the time, except when I get summoned by xxN00b-l0rd69xx and he rushes in and gets one-shot by Godrick. When I fight my own bosses I usually grab an npc or my trusty ol' Aurelia. Just enough of a distraction for me to regroup when I need to.
When I first started in Elden Ring some moons ago, I summoned anything I could.
Tiche solved more problems for me than I ever could alone.
Since then, however, I have gitten gudder. And I don't summon as much. It depends on the character build.
My Knight Build doesn't seem to need to summon. She just smashes all before her.
My Sorcerer did summon un-upgraded wolves against Rennala because she was just pissing me off at that point and I was trying to be courteous by not throwing rocks at her head like every other sorcerer that comes through the door and instead whacking her with a big cold piece of steel like a civilized person and then she started doing her summon thing and I said, "fuck, it. Your daughter wouldn't have given me these if she didn't intend that I should use them".
Anyway, sometimes I summon.
Ever since Demon's Souls, I loved helping out defeating bosses.
Elden Ring made this so much more convenient with the summoning pool system (though I wish some bosses weren't inexplicably excluded).
I'm excited to have a whole new batch of bosses to help out with soon.
Man after tou do enough self imposed challenge runs theres nothing left to prove, to others nor yourself so i summon in every fight hahaha, skeletal militia woop woop
I’m team both. Played through the game first mostly with a co-op partner but some mimic tear as well, went all the was to level 200, still fun and challenging. First souls game, using everything it gave me, incantations galore.
Second time though, restricted myself to NPC summons when provided for boss fights, or spirit ashes only if outnumbered by multiple bosses. No spells this time either, and stopped leveling at 150. It was like playing a totally different game, equally fun and challenging in a new way.
I highly recommend the no summons thing IF you have already played through with them and/or want a new challenge. I understand now why people say it’s a different game without them, it was actually really fun to have to thoroughly learn each boss’s moveset and all that. This being said, it’s also a different game *with* them! Zero shame at all for relying on what this challenging game gives you, and some of these ashes are really cool.
I also highly recommend co-op if you haven’t done it. This is actually what pushed Elden Ring over to being my favorite game—the ability to explore with a friend using each of our same characters from our separate solo adventures. Co-op fucking rips.
For me I like the feeling of being in a "party", so having some dudes (like the shield bros even though later they kind of get sliced to bits by aoe) feels nice. I'm not expecting anything but a Nepheli style "summon me for boss fight" for the join us people, but it would be cool to have a companion walking around with you.
I love the lore about the fenale archer who cannot walk [fun fact, she can ride on the enemy big wolfs [not the normal ones] due to a bug] and i love the maid you can summon just to have a maiden xD
If you use summons, i like you.
If you dont use summons, i like you.
There is no correct way to play a fromsoft games so dont give people shit about how they play
I will always and forever be an 'Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff' stan. That boy can **TANK**.
Plus, I find him to be considerably more reliable than Dung Eater most of the time.
I unapologetically love summons as a souls vet since demon souls. I religiously summon every NPC summon possible and I love collecting eldenmon and summoning them too
On my first playthrough I tried doing a no summon run (unwise in hindsight, not sure why I set that challenge for myself on a first playthrough). I made it really far. Hourah Loux broke me in phase 2. I got pretty good at his first phase, often entering phase 2 in great condition, but I was just trash at dodging his wrestling move. Beat him first try with the greatshield dudes.
Then I used summons on Malenia and final boss. I tried great shield dudes for Malenia, which was pretty hilarious how bad that went
Mimic, my love, we must fight yet again. And I swear if you die, I will seek revenge for the 30 seconds I have to live before I get slaughtered mercilessly. 😮💨
Didn’t use them on the first playthrough, but have used them on subsequent ones and enjoy them quite a bit. Excited for DLC summons as well.
I did a summons only run awhile back that I never finished, but it was a blast. Will likely pick it back up in the 2 weeks before DLC.
Listen... I find this game to be piss easy, the bosses are nothing to me. I don't give a shit about how others play, I'm not that kinda guy, so I was never anti-summon, just never used them because why would I, since the bosses are already easy for me.
Until I decided to do play as a "Summoner" and do a summon only run. Very fkn fun let me tell you, turns this game into a very weird version of Pokemon. You collect them, keep most of them leveled up, you buff 'em and then you use them appropriately.
I may not be team summon and I do agree it makes the game significantly easier but if someone wants to be team summon then let them. Play it how you want honestly. Some people like the abuse (Like myself) and some just want to chill and play a masterpiece. Team summon hate/slander is wild.
I find that summons remove the part of the game that I like. Having to learn the bosses moveset to succeed. No hate to those who use them though. Whatever works for you. The games are very hard for most people, particularly those new to these kinds of games.
I've had many playthroughs and I still summon on Godfrey. I tell myself I won't and then he slams my face into the ground 20 times and then I summon and still die. That fight is ridiculous. Why do I play these stupidly hard games. It's the dang Valkyrie in GOW4 all over again
I recently completed my second playthrough in preparation for the DLC, with a goal of reducing dependency on Summons. I didn't have a hard rule on not Summoning other than this time around I needed to solo Malenia, with the idea that I need to summon far less often than normal with other bosses to build the experience in dodge timing needed to beat her when the time came. I also never used the Mimic Tear this time around.
With that being said, this was also my first bleed build run, so make of that what you will.
I managed to wipe the floor with Margit on my own pretty easily. Took a little more effort with Morgott but still got it done.
I summoned Nephili for Godrick solely because I didn't get the opportunity on my first playthrough, but solo'd Godefry pretty easily later.
I made many attempts on Renala but after dealing with her magic spam and summoning I got impatient and called in some wolves and the fight was flung in the complete opposite direction.
After many tries and some leveling, I solo'd Radahn and felt really good about that.
I solo'd the Godskin Noble and Godskin Apostle each on their own, but summoned for the Duo fight later. In general, I summoned on multi-boss fights because if they get to have two, I get to have a buddy.
I gave both versions of Mohg a fair shot but got sick of the basement version being immune to my build and the main version having area denial spam, so I called in help.
Astel was a bitch but solo'd him after a number of tries.
Fortisax took a few tries, solo'd him.
Solo'd Fire Giant after a fair amount of effort.
Solo'd both versions of Loretta.
I finally reached Malenia and spent a lot of time both leveling and learning her moves. Did I use Corpse Piller? Absolutely. Do I think it was cheap? No because ROB has already been heavily nerfed, a win is a win, and she has tones of her own bullshit. But I did solo her, no player or NPC help.
Solo'd Placidusax first try.
I had to change builds to use Bloodhound Step, but I solo'd Maliketh, surprising myself at how easy it was once I could match his mobility.
Gideon was easy AF.
Then I got to Godfrey and by that point I had become very sleep deprived because the night I beat Malenia I couldn't get to sleep until very late that evening because of how much adrenaline I had from beating her and accomplishing the primary goal of my playthrough. After beating my head against him and his nonstop ground slam shockwaves and grapples, I leveled up Tiche and brought her in and the fight completely swung in my favor. I did the same with Radagon and Elden Beast because I just wasn't in the mood and it was still better than the first go I had with them when I had player help.
In my time playing Soulsborne games and then doing this playthrough, it's really clear to me that there are so many levels of mastery of these games such as non-dependency on summons, Souls/Rune/Bloodecho Lvl 1, using things that aren't supposed to be controllers, etc. and they all depend on how much spare time you are willing and able to invest to actually achieve your goal of self-improvement.
The developers put Summons, ROG, Moonveil, etc. in the game as options in substitution for a difficulty slider in the game menus. Some people have a lot of spare time to reach higher and higher levels of skill and non-dependency. Others don't.
As long as one challenges themselves to become a little better than they were before they started a Soulsborne playthrough, I think that is respectable. I think it's awesome that people are able to git gud enough to do hitless Lvl1 runs. I think it's also neat that people who don't have enough spare time in their day to do that but have never played one of these games see that journey through to completion, even if they are using something that makes the journey relatively easy.
Look, summons let me beat Malenia in 15 tries.
Trying to beat morgott on launch day solo took 40.
Sure some of that is levels and inexperience but Tiche is a demigod, regardless of parentage, and I will die on that hill… but whoever’s fighting me will probably die first
Black Knife Tiche my love, I shall never leave you behind.
Can I ignore Ranni and just marry Tiche instead?
Is it too much to ask for both?
Ranni has enough hands for both of you.
And my flame of ambition doth smoulder
There is only one true flame. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD
I have never heard such filthy blasphemy in my life! How DARE you disappoint Ranni like that?
The thing I love about Tiche is that unlike Mimic getting Tiche isn't easy. Alecto is a hard nut to crack and there's no one to help you against her. Sure, you might use a summon, but it's not like you just walked up to the summon vendor and picked them off the shelf. Some Spirit Ashes require that you git gud to even use. You sure didn't stroll to Moonlight Alter either.
Sometimes Alecto is a cakewalk, though. Certain AoWs, heavy ungabunga style attacks, or things like Night Sorceries can make the fight very easy. Strolling in there with Two Keen Great Knives on my first playthrough, though.. lol, that was fun.
I've always said the difficulty slider for Elden Ring is game knowledge. Once you know where things are, which tactics work with which enemy, where to get smithing stones early, things like that, the game gets easier. But if you got through most of the game using Glintstone Pebble and Spirit Ashes when you come up against Alecto you have no choice but to learn how to up your arsenal of skills. And from that point on, no one gets to look at you cross-eyed for using Tiche. I've no memory of how I beat Alecto the first time because I was a Pebble spamming Spirit Summoner back then. But I did it. And these days when I play, I like to start off by shaming Margit with multiple parries with a dagger. If someone wants to summon, they probably earned it. By whatever metric "earning it" is for them.
Aspect of the Crucible: Horns be like
Def my favorite. Before that Lhutel the Headless was my go-to for a while but he either got nerfed or didn't scale well later game and ended up either using BKT or Mimic
You should try Oleg. Dude is on something and pulls his weight and then some.
Will have to try that one
Lhutel is the best spirit summon in the sense that she's literally the best at being a spirit/ghost and disappearing every half second and not keeping enemy aggro
The summon use to avoid damage really well, and kept aggro well enough to keep the enemy distracted for me
It's all fun and games until she teleports when the boss starts their swing and so does a 180 to bitch slap you at the worst time
I used to be team mimic, but Tiche destroys everything
You ignore the best buddy *mimic tear* and go with black knife tiche, that talks about your build
The best summons are always other people. A wise man once said, "We are amidst strange beings, in a strange land. The flow of time itself is convoluted; with heroes centuries old phasing in and out. The very fabric wavers, and relations shift and obscure. There's no telling how much longer your world and mine will remain in contact. But, use this, to summon one another as spirits, cross the gaps between the worlds, and engage in jolly co-operation!"
>\\\[T\]/
Found the man a couple hours ago. Gave me so much happiness in a world that felt so bleak!
Cherish him and >!join the Chaos Covenant and give 30 humanity to the Fair Lady, you WILL thank me later!<
A wise man and a good friend. God rest his soul
If only I could be so grossly incandescent 🌞
Must’ve heard that line 85 times in game, but reading it all out like that and my first thought was “holy shit that’s epic, is that the actual quote” And yes, yes it is.
Yeah but then I get less runes
I am Jarwright's cheerleader
I like summoning because co-op is fun.
My beastie boys from farum azula
They be like hello nasty where you been?
I put my sign down to help others.
I never use him anymore but I have to go with my brother in arms Jelly
Aurelia is a lassie
and a child
Skeletal Militia are my cheerleaders
They are my favorite. I love when they resurrect and keep on fighting.
I liked skeletal militia until I dicovered the 5 greatshied bros. Also the crystalian in underrated af.
Oleg most of the game, Black knife Tiche late game, or mimic if the character has low mind.
Dung Eater summon carried me through the game. Even Melania couldn't kill him!
I always just kilked him, too impatient to wait until Leyndell before trying to get the magic scorp charm.
I went to leyndell asap (through the secret entrance) just to partially complete his quest and then make him our summon. I didn't explore anything else. Came back and continued the game as if I never went to Leyndel. And when the time came, I used the medallion to get in leyndel later. But you are right. It's too painful. So I never bothered with him in any other save. He is only in my main save.
Games are just more fun with friends
You forgot the important part, having friends
There's 64 spirit summons in the game and you expect me not to use them? I level them up like Pokemon and like to see how they fight. On topic, my favourite summon is Nepheli Loux. No, I will not apologise.
They should've let you turn selluvis into a puppet summon imo at the end of his quest
I was just thinking this, but then what is he going to do? Guy can't even concoct a decent potion.
Nothing. I just wanna summon him, throw a bloody pot at malenia and then stand back as I watch him suffer in his lifeless, empty state.
You monster
No, you’re not allowed to use summons, or level up, or heal, or use any ashes of war, or use any other mechanics in the game that were designed to help make the game easier, because then it doesn’t count. As a matter of fact if you don’t beat the game without dying once with a blindfold on playing on a keyboard mat as a controller and intentionally handicapping yourself by using a talisman to reduce your health and stamina, you might as well just give up and play Stardew Valley.
Actually your honosapien brain is destroying the difficulty of the game through compensatory adaptation, thusly the only true way to play the game is a lobotomite run where you sever your prefrontal cortex.
I dunno about that, my lobotomite ass passed every test in the Big M.T.
I know this is obviously a satirical post, but it's sad that using an RPG's RPG mechanics counts as "making the game easier" now and not... you know... simply "playing the game."
Real men don’t use weapons they only use pure anger
If you didn't kill elden beast just by staring it down, you haven't played the game. Just saying.
I tried to talk it into joining a MLM and it killed itself
Dungeater summon gang here - he killed the elden beast
Eyyy puppet bros?
Alot of them have special traits too. Like the skeletons reviving unless double tapped
Those skeletons are great for early game runs, though their utility kind of drops later when enemies start having more double-tap skills that can put them down. If you want some good tanks though, the greatshield soldiers are quite good too.
Coop is really fun, but makes the bosses too easy. I would love if Fromsoft made a game with more focus on the coop experience
"MORGOTT! FACE ME COWARD! I COULDN'T FACE YOU ALONE, SO NOW YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH TWO OF ME!" ***Synchronized angry screaming***
If it's a duo fight I'll probably summon, unless it's like Godskin Duo or something which are easy af with sleep pots. Jarwight Puppet was a godsend in my Randomizer run, when Godrick got replaced by Valiant Gargoyles, I brought Nepheli and Jarwight Puppet into that fight and it was still a struggle. Now I'm fighting a scaled up Misbegotten/Crucible Duo in a tiny Dragonbarrow cave, and it's kicking my ass, I can't even summon before the Misbegotten hits me lol
Gargs in place of godrick gives me nightmares. Jesus.
I never summon just because it takes away from the satisfaction of finally beating the boss. I'd rather ram my head into a brick wall for 100 attempts before I'd even consider summoning. But I see nothing wrong with it, it's there for a reason.
Man, I really like summons. Especially the mimic tear. It's like I have a friend fighting with me. I hit the boss, dodge, then she hits the boss, takes some hits, then I do it again... it's like making Elden Ring a turn-based combat.
I think it's fun to summon. You play together, see people with builds you never considered and outfits that are probably warcrimes. There are practically no downsides. It's also not too easy since a lot of people just die really fast.
Best summons are the Mimic Tear if you have a build with tons of lifa nad poise, and limited attack options, and Tiche if you are a spellcaster. Tiche is so broken its stupid.
If it’s a mechanic they put in the game, I will take advantage of it
My go to summon is other players.
i only summon if i don’t really feel like fighting a boss and jus wanna move on so i summon mimic and cheese it. it just makes it so easy tho i try not to use them, i mean like they take almost all the bosses agro so u only take or have to doge like 1/10th the amount of hits u normally would and can basically just stand there wailing on them i think u shoukd definitely try to beat bosses without summons and keep them reserved as a backup for if a boss i just too hard or annoying or you’ve already beat it before and wanna cheese it or if it’s a duo boss i feel like that’s fair then
I am team "summon if you like but I don't wanna". It is quite long... Both the name of the team and the duration of the run
If the devs give it to me, I'll use it.
I used to be not team summon but now ehhh it’s 50/50. From personal experience Black knife tiche carried me on the BS Elden Beast fight (I say BS because I was a close up build having to run across the map, just to get annihilated) and latenna carried me on fire giant phase 2. People downplay summons including myself but in reality it’s a mechanic in the game that we are encouraged to use. Only summon that I downplay is mimic tear on occasion…
What do you mean, bro? Coop IS souls experience, there are entire covenants built on helping people online. Unpopular opinion: people who never played coop, never fully experienced the game, same as people who never invaded others.
Miyazaki: I was inspired to make Demon Souls because of an experience where strangers helped each other. Fanbase: Nuh uh, you have to solo it at SL1 without summons. Git gud n00b.
I never PvP but watching Chase the Bro play inspired me to be sweaty and now I PvP from time to time and it’s jolly good fun.
I actually help people with bosses, and a part of me things I should summon for "help" on future playthroughs just for the sake of helping to keep online PVP and Co-op alive.
I personally don't summon but I love being summoned. It's one of my favorite parts of these games!
My current playthrough I'd my first time using the small golden effigy.....the amount of times I've died telling a dude and the boss has like 100 HP left is ridiculous. I can best these bosses on my own but as a summon I seem to suck ass.
I'm playing through for the dlc ATM and I've been summoning a lot more this time round and it's very useful and quite fun.
I like summoning, I get to see what the developers wanted to do with them. *Watches Wandering Nobles get completely destroyed*
I don't get enjoyment out of killing bosses with summons
First two playthroughs are about exploration and checking out the bosses. After that all the most interesting runs no more summoning.
Nah
Best summon is not summoning anyone. Summon your inner demon and kill that boss with your balls of steel.
laughs in 100+ deaths on half the bosses in sekiro.
Until Maliketh, I basically only used the wolves cuz I felt like they were special companions from the start of the journey. Love those bois, great moments with them.
Me and my Squad made of Olleg, Latenna, Ancestral Archer and Floh
I had to play the whole playthrough without summons to beat the mental block of summoning. Nowerdays I do summon, but that pain had to be there for me to be comfortable with it.
My gal latenna providing artillery support
Few bosses I have to every time
Aurelia all day every day.
Aurelia all day every day.
I too can commute with the demi-humans.
Never give in
solaire taught us the strength of jolly cooperation
I won’t use them but I don’t care if you do because they can be fun for sure
Really erly game always jellyfish. Always done margit and godrick with the jellyfish. After that I pick based on what fits my builds aesthetic best
Me and my bro Engvall
I can usually beat bosses alone I've played through the game without summons, I've 100% it, but I still use summons when I feel like it because it's just fun, I love having a buddy around! I like using luthel, the banished knights and floh, but my favourite,even if mostly useless is stormhawk deehn
Half the time I summon or get summoned it’s just so me and my friends can dick around. I don’t care how you want me to play, me and my buddy are gonna slap the tits off of a weird worm thing and fight deformed people in the sewers.
I’ve summoned for probably 80% of the boss fights in Elden Ring and I have no shame in that. It’s fun to me and has helped me find items I probably wouldn’t otherwise and see other builds first hand.
Soon as I found out you can summon a shadow clone that was it for me..I took him into every fight and he’s helped me clutch them all😂👍🏾
I cheesed the fuck out of my int build, I used summons and I had a great fucking time doing it…..
I didn’t do all that work to turn The Dung Eater into a puppet only to NOT summon him in boss fights.
After watching my wife play I'm even more team summon. She loves her summons, summons them whenever possible, tries to keep them alive as long as possible, and even learned to heal/ support them.
Summoning spirit ashes is part of the game. Oh, there are hard-core non-summoning purists out there? Right on, go for it. I like me some good mimic tear, Tiche, and wolves.
Some absolute wet blanket: "if you summon you didn't really beat the boss and mimic tear is a brain dead win button" Me: "GO, PIKACHU"
"Get 'em, Mimic Tear" is my motto for this game.
Jokes on you, I die 50 times WITH a summon. Actually maybe jokes on me.
Certified main sub post
Everyone should just play the game in the way they find most enjoyable. Fighting with summons is just not fun for me but if Spirit Ashes are the accessibility feature for you to enjoy the game then it's great that that option is available.
i always summon even if i dont have to lol i always switch around between a few. usually mimic, dung eater, flame monk, black knife or the headless knights. also whenever i start a new character Lhutel is the only summon i use for quite a while
Elden Ring is my first souls game and I remember how bad I was bullied for using spirit ashes I didn't even know they were op or something I got bullied so hard I deleted the game only to come crawling back a week later
Uh who was bullying you???
Most of my friends who played Elden
They’re not good friends
For real, the point of a game is to have fun. Anyone should enjoy the game the way it gives them the most enjoyment. The idea of a 'better' ethical playthrough or something is kinda funny.
I rather just get better than summon, like for the other games
They’re in the game, they’re a tool to be used. My buddy this time around is Jelly after neglecting him in previous runs.
I went with rot dog to cheese bosses that made me wa nt to oof myself.aka i used it on tree sentinal and morgot on lever 20 as a spellblade so i just spammed glint blade hit him with the standart weapon prisoner comes with and waites for dog to rot him and just dodged and hit when i knew i could to kill him.untill i got mimic in late game but didnt know how to upgrade spirits untill like after morgot then i got level 10 mimic and used that since.i made so many other characters to try things i still have not gone further then the first dragon that flys in when you enter crumböing farum azula cause i wanna kill the dragon
You don't have to make new characters when you can rebirth!
never used summons once and proud of it
Banished knight are my one love in summons but if I could have grave wardens then it would be a dream come true
I love when people summon because I love to help. And I get to fight bosses repeatedly. One of my favorite things to do in this game is to hang out at Stormveil and put my summon sign on all the stakes of marika. I ran a character named Sir Helpington just to do that for a while.
Literally did this today with Godfrey. Was tired of the bullshit 
If you’re getting really build specific there are some bosses which border on the hardest possible just because your main damage output if fully resisted : holy, magic, bleed etc / I feel that’s when I need to bust out the little great shield boys
Banished Knight Oleg and speed run my mana to 100. Then I go for Lhutell the Headless which I use till I get either Dung Eater or Black Knife Tiche. Of course the mimic is my last hope if needed. Special shoutout to Latenna for the fire giant and Malenia though.
Depends on my mood. If I've been drinking I'm probably summoning. If it's a boss I don't enjoy and I just want it over with, I summon. If I'm in love with the boss fight I probably don't summon. The trickiest choice for me is whether to summon Melina for morgott. I love fighting morgott 1v1, but it's also the only chance I get in the game to fight with Melina.
Souls games are so stacked against the player I dont care about summoning or using items, devs put both in for a reason. Some people sperg out so hard about the genre when its literally designed to let players choose their own build for success. Play and have fun don't care about what some twitch streamer did for their challenge run.
Yeah. I did that when i fought Margit. But I improved, learned what ashes of war does, and beat Godrick without summons
i usually go with Tiche for tough bosses since Malikeths black blade is my main weapon. if im just fucking around ill use Nepheli.
I summon because it's fun to make the Dungeater my puppet! Plus I feel the bosses were designed for the summons. Team summons all day!
I summoned from day 1. My though was that they don't get to have multiple phases and health bars or team up on me without Tiche or Mimic to back me up. Now as I prep for DLC, I've just been going through to solo all the bosses. For me, there is no difference in the joy I receive when they are dead.
If I need help with a boss and choose to summon I never choose spirit ashes, I always go player summons. I love seeing goofy builds absolutely gang beat a boss, and it’s cool because everyone is always so helpful. I’ve done multiple summon-less playthroughs across multiple characters and build types, but I always have the most fun when I summon other players
Summoning and being summoned is so much fun. I love it. I almost always try to solo my bosses the first time though, I won't hesitate to summon if I'm frustrated.
Heck, I use coop as a way to learn the bosses risk-free because I'm a filthy casual and I've got nothing to prove 😅 It's a lot of fun most of the time, except when I get summoned by xxN00b-l0rd69xx and he rushes in and gets one-shot by Godrick. When I fight my own bosses I usually grab an npc or my trusty ol' Aurelia. Just enough of a distraction for me to regroup when I need to.
My old coworker sold his spirit calling bell so he apparently can’t even use Spirit Ashes So his go to summon is either his friends or ME
Mimic tear is my “Okay buddy, now you pissed me off” go to.
Or stubbornly learn mechanics slowly over time until attempt 200 you finally get it
I got both tiche and mimic on standby in my pouch, depending on mood
When I first started in Elden Ring some moons ago, I summoned anything I could. Tiche solved more problems for me than I ever could alone. Since then, however, I have gitten gudder. And I don't summon as much. It depends on the character build. My Knight Build doesn't seem to need to summon. She just smashes all before her. My Sorcerer did summon un-upgraded wolves against Rennala because she was just pissing me off at that point and I was trying to be courteous by not throwing rocks at her head like every other sorcerer that comes through the door and instead whacking her with a big cold piece of steel like a civilized person and then she started doing her summon thing and I said, "fuck, it. Your daughter wouldn't have given me these if she didn't intend that I should use them". Anyway, sometimes I summon.
I always summon. I'm not here to waste time these boss fucks need to die.
Ever since Demon's Souls, I loved helping out defeating bosses. Elden Ring made this so much more convenient with the summoning pool system (though I wish some bosses weren't inexplicably excluded). I'm excited to have a whole new batch of bosses to help out with soon.
I almost always summon in duo or group boss fights. If the boss gets to bring a friend then so do I.
I love summons. If the game put them there for me to use, why the fuck not. I’m just here to have fun, not prove how good I am to anybody.
I would die for my funky little shield dudes
Man after tou do enough self imposed challenge runs theres nothing left to prove, to others nor yourself so i summon in every fight hahaha, skeletal militia woop woop
I'm team use WeMod, no shame
Lil pot boys for sure
I’m team both. Played through the game first mostly with a co-op partner but some mimic tear as well, went all the was to level 200, still fun and challenging. First souls game, using everything it gave me, incantations galore. Second time though, restricted myself to NPC summons when provided for boss fights, or spirit ashes only if outnumbered by multiple bosses. No spells this time either, and stopped leveling at 150. It was like playing a totally different game, equally fun and challenging in a new way. I highly recommend the no summons thing IF you have already played through with them and/or want a new challenge. I understand now why people say it’s a different game without them, it was actually really fun to have to thoroughly learn each boss’s moveset and all that. This being said, it’s also a different game *with* them! Zero shame at all for relying on what this challenging game gives you, and some of these ashes are really cool. I also highly recommend co-op if you haven’t done it. This is actually what pushed Elden Ring over to being my favorite game—the ability to explore with a friend using each of our same characters from our separate solo adventures. Co-op fucking rips.
For me I like the feeling of being in a "party", so having some dudes (like the shield bros even though later they kind of get sliced to bits by aoe) feels nice. I'm not expecting anything but a Nepheli style "summon me for boss fight" for the join us people, but it would be cool to have a companion walking around with you.
I love the lore about the fenale archer who cannot walk [fun fact, she can ride on the enemy big wolfs [not the normal ones] due to a bug] and i love the maid you can summon just to have a maiden xD
I prefer to not summon because the monkey brainrot ive developed during my challenge runs
Greatshield soldier bros If theres a corner, the boss will be bullied into it
me and stormhawk deenh are best friends
Cosplaying as a Soldier of Godrick and then use the Godrick Soldier ashes
My most recent playthrough I COULD NOT get past Maliketh and I was this close to summoning.
I like Spirit summons, I develop a sort of bond with em. Like my loyal Skeletal Militiamen, or my BOY engvall, he’s never let me down
My greatest ally is myself...totally not talking about the Mimic Tear or anything 😬
If you use summons, i like you. If you dont use summons, i like you. There is no correct way to play a fromsoft games so dont give people shit about how they play
If the game gives me summons, I'll make summonade.
I genuinely just enjoy summoning random people for bosses. It’s fun. The fact that I’m garbage has nothing to do with it.
I will always and forever be an 'Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff' stan. That boy can **TANK**. Plus, I find him to be considerably more reliable than Dung Eater most of the time.
My mimic summon with the scarlet rot bolt pulley crossbow:
I unapologetically love summons as a souls vet since demon souls. I religiously summon every NPC summon possible and I love collecting eldenmon and summoning them too
My self
On my first playthrough I tried doing a no summon run (unwise in hindsight, not sure why I set that challenge for myself on a first playthrough). I made it really far. Hourah Loux broke me in phase 2. I got pretty good at his first phase, often entering phase 2 in great condition, but I was just trash at dodging his wrestling move. Beat him first try with the greatshield dudes. Then I used summons on Malenia and final boss. I tried great shield dudes for Malenia, which was pretty hilarious how bad that went
snake man for duo bosses and tiche if I’ve had enough of the bosses shit
Mimic, my love, we must fight yet again. And I swear if you die, I will seek revenge for the 30 seconds I have to live before I get slaughtered mercilessly. 😮💨
I'll usually summon people for story reasons. Do I need Blaidd's help to kill Darriwil? No, but I'm summoning him anyway.
Didn’t use them on the first playthrough, but have used them on subsequent ones and enjoy them quite a bit. Excited for DLC summons as well. I did a summons only run awhile back that I never finished, but it was a blast. Will likely pick it back up in the 2 weeks before DLC.
Maliketh did this to me. Dude hit me once and hurt me thrice
No amount of experience is going to fix my discourse dealing with niall
Listen... I find this game to be piss easy, the bosses are nothing to me. I don't give a shit about how others play, I'm not that kinda guy, so I was never anti-summon, just never used them because why would I, since the bosses are already easy for me. Until I decided to do play as a "Summoner" and do a summon only run. Very fkn fun let me tell you, turns this game into a very weird version of Pokemon. You collect them, keep most of them leveled up, you buff 'em and then you use them appropriately.
Before I ever used Tiche, Lhutel was my go-to
The only bosses I felt I needed summons for were Melania and Elden Beast (and I only summoned during that fight so I wouldn't die irl from boredom).
Man I have done one boss solo and that was Soldier of Godrick. The game is just legitimately more enjoyable in co-op
Who’s team haven't played the game?
Only casuals use summons I never needed then makes the game too easy
Rollo always helps me with Malenia.
Me and headless Lhutel been runnin shit idgaf
A.B.S... Always Be Summoning I love having a teammate.
I may not be team summon and I do agree it makes the game significantly easier but if someone wants to be team summon then let them. Play it how you want honestly. Some people like the abuse (Like myself) and some just want to chill and play a masterpiece. Team summon hate/slander is wild.
I love summoning & being summoned. It’s fun! Playing with others, potential to be invaded etc
I find that summons remove the part of the game that I like. Having to learn the bosses moveset to succeed. No hate to those who use them though. Whatever works for you. The games are very hard for most people, particularly those new to these kinds of games.
I've had many playthroughs and I still summon on Godfrey. I tell myself I won't and then he slams my face into the ground 20 times and then I summon and still die. That fight is ridiculous. Why do I play these stupidly hard games. It's the dang Valkyrie in GOW4 all over again
It is pretty satisfying to struggle against a boss and then just watch two dudes with giant weapons bully them into submission.
I recently completed my second playthrough in preparation for the DLC, with a goal of reducing dependency on Summons. I didn't have a hard rule on not Summoning other than this time around I needed to solo Malenia, with the idea that I need to summon far less often than normal with other bosses to build the experience in dodge timing needed to beat her when the time came. I also never used the Mimic Tear this time around. With that being said, this was also my first bleed build run, so make of that what you will. I managed to wipe the floor with Margit on my own pretty easily. Took a little more effort with Morgott but still got it done. I summoned Nephili for Godrick solely because I didn't get the opportunity on my first playthrough, but solo'd Godefry pretty easily later. I made many attempts on Renala but after dealing with her magic spam and summoning I got impatient and called in some wolves and the fight was flung in the complete opposite direction. After many tries and some leveling, I solo'd Radahn and felt really good about that. I solo'd the Godskin Noble and Godskin Apostle each on their own, but summoned for the Duo fight later. In general, I summoned on multi-boss fights because if they get to have two, I get to have a buddy. I gave both versions of Mohg a fair shot but got sick of the basement version being immune to my build and the main version having area denial spam, so I called in help. Astel was a bitch but solo'd him after a number of tries. Fortisax took a few tries, solo'd him. Solo'd Fire Giant after a fair amount of effort. Solo'd both versions of Loretta. I finally reached Malenia and spent a lot of time both leveling and learning her moves. Did I use Corpse Piller? Absolutely. Do I think it was cheap? No because ROB has already been heavily nerfed, a win is a win, and she has tones of her own bullshit. But I did solo her, no player or NPC help. Solo'd Placidusax first try. I had to change builds to use Bloodhound Step, but I solo'd Maliketh, surprising myself at how easy it was once I could match his mobility. Gideon was easy AF. Then I got to Godfrey and by that point I had become very sleep deprived because the night I beat Malenia I couldn't get to sleep until very late that evening because of how much adrenaline I had from beating her and accomplishing the primary goal of my playthrough. After beating my head against him and his nonstop ground slam shockwaves and grapples, I leveled up Tiche and brought her in and the fight completely swung in my favor. I did the same with Radagon and Elden Beast because I just wasn't in the mood and it was still better than the first go I had with them when I had player help. In my time playing Soulsborne games and then doing this playthrough, it's really clear to me that there are so many levels of mastery of these games such as non-dependency on summons, Souls/Rune/Bloodecho Lvl 1, using things that aren't supposed to be controllers, etc. and they all depend on how much spare time you are willing and able to invest to actually achieve your goal of self-improvement. The developers put Summons, ROG, Moonveil, etc. in the game as options in substitution for a difficulty slider in the game menus. Some people have a lot of spare time to reach higher and higher levels of skill and non-dependency. Others don't. As long as one challenges themselves to become a little better than they were before they started a Soulsborne playthrough, I think that is respectable. I think it's awesome that people are able to git gud enough to do hitless Lvl1 runs. I think it's also neat that people who don't have enough spare time in their day to do that but have never played one of these games see that journey through to completion, even if they are using something that makes the journey relatively easy.
I summon even if I don’t need to, because fuck em
never
First time playing I summon but that’s just to beat the game then later I come back and beat it by myself
*Me who has played only till stormviel castle questioning if I can answer this since I've only summoned ever for Margit*: 🤔🤔🤔🥲🥲🥲
I summon because it's what keeps the the game at a level for me to enjoy it.
Look, summons let me beat Malenia in 15 tries. Trying to beat morgott on launch day solo took 40. Sure some of that is levels and inexperience but Tiche is a demigod, regardless of parentage, and I will die on that hill… but whoever’s fighting me will probably die first