Neutralising Malenia With My Improved Magic Knight (NG+ No Damage)

It's Christmas Day so I wanted to work on something for myself. I've been experimenting with a bunch of build ideas and setups to find proper synergy with my sword-and-shield spellsword; my one true love. The issue I always had was finding a way to integrate the sorceries into active combat to compliment the melee portion. So after testing out a bunch of stuff, support debuffs and turning my straight sword into a wand are my answers. (DS2's Blue Flame is my favourite straight sword/wand.) When I finally get into long-form videos, this build will be what I start with. Freezing Mist and Glintstone Icecrag to debuff at close-range or at a distance. Glintblade Phalanx to trigger Malenia's AI into running at me, shield and straight sword for fast 30 stance guard counters, Glintstone Pebble as my main "spell" for ranged pressure, Terra Magica to boost Pebble when able and lastly, Misericorde for ripostes and FP recovery with Assassin's Cerulean Dagger. Cold infusion for my Longsword for additional frostbite buildup. Magic Downpour and Magic Glintblade aren't needed for Malenia, but they've become a must-haves because they're so much fun. In general, this entire build is so much fun. I ended up going for a STR/INT stat spread for my Cold Longsword and because my spells are primarily used for support and 50 INT is the softcap for INT-scaling ashes. The more I play, the less I feel I need anything past 60 INT. I don't need Swift Glintstone Shard anymore since I have the Pebble skill. My spells are also chosen in terms of FP cost and regen from ripostes on main bosses. I want to spend less time chugging and more time fighting. For regular enemies and mini-bosses, I won't need my support spells at all. Now to finally go to higher NGs to field-test this more. To whomever took the time to read all that, thank you and I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a Merry Christmas! :)

• #gaming
• #elden_ring
• #malenia
• #magic_knight
• #longsword
• #banished_knight_shield
• #academy_glintstone_staff
• #misericorde
• #glintstone_pebble
• #glintblade_phalanx
• #glintstone_icecrag
• #freezing_mist
• #terra_magica
• #no_damage