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elden ring is gigantic. The Lands Between is full of things to see such as Clip content that reveals entire quest lines or some of the best drip around. Still, a vocal group of gamers can’t stop clamoring for a little bit of this delicious DLC. That Topic downloadable content comes up regularly in elden ring‘s official subredditalthough FromSoftware says next to nothing about add-on content for its latest version souls-how. And now a player named JPNBusinessman has decided on an odd self-imposed challenge: beating Malenia, Blade of Miquella, with a different build every other day until elden ring DLC is announced.
You may remember Malenia. She is the red-haired goddess both of whom have a starring role elden ring Lore and the Fantasy of Let Me Solo Her, a legendary player who recently defeated Malenia for the 1000th time. Fans love Miquella’s blade. they have made fan art and fan fiction about you. (Of course there is porn.) They debated whether she would win in fights against other FromSoft characters like Sekiro’s protagonist, the wolf. There are even some amazing malenia cosplay out there that really captures her imposing elegance. With all the love for Malenia, Redditor JPNBusinessman also wanted to get in on the action. So he devised a plan to fight them every other day, swapping out his build for something completely brand new each time. It’s pretty wild stuff.
JPNBusinessman, a fifth grade teacher in California, was Fight against Malenia since April 25th. But unlike LMSH, JPNB uses an entirely new strategy when entering the game the Elphael Arena to fight the blade of Miquella. He posts about it on the game’s subreddit after each win, sharing all the relevant details (like the build and inspiration) along with video evidence of the evidence.
There are a variety of builds that JPNB has already tried. He did one all around the dreaded Moon Veil Katana and another based on Godrick’s most forgotten yet beloved soldier. He is even asked for suggestions for strategies to try when he runs out of ideas. JPNB tells kotaku Because Rennala Queen of the Full Moon is easy to reach after defeating her, he can quickly change his gear, reallocate his rune points, and attack Malenia again with a fresh new look. This allowed JPNB to uncover some of his favorite weapons as well as builds that just plain sucked.
“My favorite building would be my Sellen because it challenged me to think outside the box of ‘nuke everything’ that spellcasters focus on,” said JPNB. “Instead, I focused on using the game’s vast variety of spells to choose a spell for multiple situations. Least Popular Build would probably be my first which was a simple Rivers of Blood. Back then, I couldn’t no-hit (kill Malenia without getting hit) without relying on Corpse Piler, the weapon skill that basically melts any enemy except a few bleed-resistant ones.”
But it’s the fountain of ideas that’s the most endearing part of his day-to-day struggle with Malenia. As a fifth grade teacher, JPNB interacts with a range of children on a daily basis and learns about their habits and personalities in the classroom. It is these disciples who serve as one of his sources of inspiration elden ring builds.
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“When choosing builds, I think about their personality and what kind of character or archetype in the game would suit them,” JPNB said. “For example, I have a college student who likes to fend off praise with sarcasm and keeps friends at a distance. So I made a build where you parry Malenia with a large golden shield and push her away from you with a heavy thrusting sword. I have another idea based on a student doing nothing during group projects and just bossing kids around (but they end up doing well). It would be a build where you call up a series of summonses and then hide in the corner while they fight Malenia for you. They don’t know I imagine they’re defeating a demigod.”
Ouch. Talk about being read for dirt, but it’s all just for fun. JPNB said his students “would probably think it’s great and want to learn more about the game and the builds based on it.” But being a teacher can be tiring work, and while he doesn’t give a lot of homework, he does give tests quite often away. JPNB said he “caught me grading between deaths.”
But not only his students have inspired him. JPNB credited both LMSH and credit Editor Atijohnwho fought Sekiro‘s last boss every day until elden ring dropped, like other inspirational numbers for this challenge. He himself emulated LMSH’s build with a single sword twistwho says the goat player “helps offset the toxicity that comes from the competitive part souls Games.” However, he wouldn’t want to be LMSH because what he’s doing “takes twice as long” compared to what JPNB is trying to do here.
So for the time being he will only play Malenia solo until it goes on elden ring content is revealed. He’s already on his fourteenth day and has more building ideas in a spreadsheet he accesses on the way to work. As far as DLC ideas go, he’d like the usual: bosses, lore, weapons, things like that. But beyond that, there’s something more specific that JPNB hopes FromSoft is working on.
“I think it would be nice to have a lore-friendly co-op scenario that ties into the game seamlessly,” JPNB said. “Something like a level where you have to call in a helper from the internet or an NPC when playing offline. In general, the multiplayer experience could be a little more seamless. I know modders are working on it, but FromSoft could do more work there too.”
You and me both, JPNB.
