WhileElden Ringplayers are working tirelessly to reduce The Land Between’s population to zero (only to have most of them come back to life upon resting at asite of grace), they might have come across some of the game’s many status effects. These range from buffs to health and stamina to debuffs like poison, frostbite, and the ever-infamous scarlet rot.
Debuffs in particular are special, as they are the only status effectsElden Ringplayers would wish to impart on the game’s enemies. They also provide some of the best ways to defeat opponents. If a boss has too many hit points, applying the Hemorrhage status ailment can cause them to bleed out some of that excess health. If an invader moves too fast, inflicting Frostbite will not only damage them, but slow them down and reduce their stamina recovery rate. However, while players themselves can see their own status effect build up-bar, the same cannot be said when they are trying to build up the same detrimental effects on their opponents.
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A Status Build-Up Bar Would Give Players Much-Needed Information
To this end, it would be in everybody’s best interest if FromSoftware added a visible status build-up barforElden Ring’s enemies. Players aiming to inflict status effects would not only know how far off they are from activating said reaction, but it would also help them get a better idea of whether their opponent is vulnerable to it or not. With this currently missing from the game, it can be incredibly difficult to find enemies weaknesses and predict when status effects will kick in and start having an impact.
Certain enemy types, such as ghosts and skeletons,are completely immune to Hemorrhage(this ties into the fact that these enemies don’t have blood to begin with). Likewise, Poison Flowers cannot be afflicted by the same status ailment they inflict. These status ailment immunities will obviously, seem like common sense when players actually take the time to think about them, butElden Ringdoesn’t always allow its community to stop and smell the scarlet rot mid-fight.
FromSoftware Has Done Something Similar Before
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicehad something similarto this. FromSoftware’s previous game featured a combat system that revolved around breaking an opponent’s posture, with a visible posture meter implemented that can be found hovering near each locked-on enemy. It wasn’t so intrusive that it would block the player’s view, yet it clearly projected vital information which helpedSekiroplayers make snap combat decisions. Seeing an enemy with their posture meter almost full would incite players to be more aggressive, whereas an almost empty posture meter would cause them to back off and think of other ways to approach the situation.
Adding a similar system toElden Ringwould not only help PvE players get a handle on the game’s many enemies, but it would also aid PvP players when fighting againstothers with differentElden Ringbuilds. A heavy armor-wearing invader might be weak to poison. Inversely, a poison user could be weak to sleep. Considering how manyElden Ringplayers there are, there can be no end to the creativity of the game’s player base.
No matter if players play PvE or PvP, they can all benefit from having a status build-up bar.Elden Ringis already cryptic enough as it is, so some extra information can definitely go a long way toward understanding and succeeding within FromSoftware’s newest world.
Elden Ringis out now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S
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