Summary
you’re able to find a brand-newCrystal Tearnear the Scorched Ruins inElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreecalled the Deflecting Hardtear. It “Enhances spontaneous guard in mixed physick” for five minutes, which in layman’s terms means that you can deflect attacks like inSekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
It’s an incredibly useful upgrade that can turn the tide in many of the expansion’s faster-paced boss fights, but one fan has found an amazing use for it in the base game.
Malenia, arguably the toughest boss inElden Ring, has an attack called the Waterfowl Dance in which she leaps into the air and unleashes a flurry of swings that are a nightmare to dodge. Your best bet is to run away since blocking will just leave you staggered and vulnerable.
However, as pointed out byone Reddit user, Shadow of the Erdtree’s new Crystal Tear is a godsend for this fight because it lets you deflect every hit from her attack, taking no damage without having to sacrifice nearly as much stamina or distance.
How It All Works
via GIPHY
Having some experience with Sekiro orLies of Pmakes this a lot easier, but if you don’t, here’s a breakdown of what you need to do.
“You have to basically tap it in sync with how many hitboxes come out during the attack (which, in fairness, can devolve to just spamming the block button),” Filegfaron explains. “The first flurry has four hitboxes one after the other. The second has one, then the last has three-to-four, but it spaces her out far from you that you can either just dodge or not bother deflecting.
“You can see it in the video that I could barely get the follow-up guard counter on the last flurry because it spaced her away from me a bit.”
In essence, you’re performing a perfect block in sync with each individual attack within her wider attack pattern. It means mastering Malenia’s moveset to perfection, but with enough practice, this might be the best way to take downElden Ring’s most notorious boss.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
WHERE TO PLAY
Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware’s groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.
