The Best Deflecting Hardtear Build - Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

[@borisdragosani7584]

THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THIS AT 5:06. I kept telling people that Black Steel Great hammer just wasn't scaling the guard counter damage like it should have. And people just kept telling me "no, it's just better..." you just aren't using it right. I finally don't feel like an insane person.

[@cridus_]

not only that, but in pvp there's also the fact that the curved sword talisman doesn't boost the holy damage portion of the guard counters. not sure if the deflecting tear does.

[@funguy398]

I am very spooked right now, i fought Radahn a last few days in exactly this dragon armor with the exact fire knight helmet, and i used blacksteel hammer and shield and deflection tear. ARE YOU WATCHING ME FROM THE WALLS?

[@Chrightt]

🙈

[@Jblank1016]

2:39 The part about Guard Counters having Hyper Armor that kills me is they also have an extra unique 0.5 Poise Multiplier, so you can actually get staggered from things you could tank with a normal R1. Thankfully they also get the incoming poise damage reduction buffs from Patch 1.10 because trying to trade with a Colossal Guard counter before then was *rough* lol.

[@ZeriocTheTank]

@Jblank1016 Well that's unfortunate to see. So much for my 100 poise protecting me.

[@glinteastwood]

Arriving right on time as usual to help me refine to perfection a build I just happened to be goofing around with today. This has happened quite a few times. I love this channel.

[@brad5204]

I wonder what fuels Chrightt’s hatred of the sewer omens

[@ClubbingSealCub]

marika's lore

[@subject8776]

@@brad5204 Proximity

[@OGSynGaming]

Marika's bed chambers

[@haitianxu]

“You can also use some of those materials you're just collecting dust with to craft some" As someone with 999 inventory + 500+ storage on most crafting mats I feel personally attacked.

[@Chrightt]

🤣

[@PuddleWaterIsTheBestWater]

I opened this comment as I got to that part of the video lmao

[@Silverstar114]

But what if I need those thin beast bones later...

[@Ytinasniiable]

Mine never get that bad because I frequently trade in masses of materials for an extra few rune to buy ammunition or upgrade materials You'd be surprised how often a few hundred extra runes is all you need, particularly in the first half of the game

[@SSNebula]

Tell me you’ve launched a mod/save file or had a dupe drop without telling me! 😂

[@TwizslurD]

This is _perfect_ for the Dragonslayer Armor build that I've been planning.. for over a year now 😅 I was leaning towards Executioner's Axe w/ Lightning Slash AoW, Crucible and Lightning incants, and a shield (still don't know which one) But now.. I don't need the shield, and I can keep the aggressive playstyle. I didn't even consider the Deflecting Tear. I saw Gaius in the DLC and went "yup, that's the build" without any further thought..

[@Homiloko2]

Backhand blades counter is such a joy to pull off, very rewarding. Hope they flatten out the bugs soon.

[@XZero151]

Despite really loving the Martial art weapons. I got fed up with consort Radahn. I changed to a Sekiro tear build around the GS of Solitude. Definitely made the fight more fun and manageable. Love this thing.

[@shane9287]

This but cold giant-Crusher with RKR did the job for me

[@ghoulbuster1]

It's hard but it's possible.

[@mr.dr.prof.patrick3359]

i beat him with a deathbird themed deflect build with the helphen's steeple, very fun

[@kevo300]

From really added such a game changing mechanic for 5 minutes. Imagine how fun this would of been in the base game without the timer.

[@SubmitToTheBiomass]

If only there was a grace pretty much every 5 minutes so you could have this active nearly all the time. Wait a second...

[@connorgonzella1651]

if only from made a whole game centered around deflecting instead of dodging, might be worth a try

[@justabott]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@connorgonzella1651sounds terrible. Could totally never win GOTY or anything….

[@babyyodacamaro]

Thankfully mods are out for this :)

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

​@@SubmitToTheBiomassI'd rather not have to rebuff every five minutes.

[@zarden3581]

Note about the blade of mercy: Even though many riposte and backstab animations appear to hit twice, most of them only activate the speffect for critical hit talismans on one of the hits, but this is not the case for every crit animation. Some animations do activate the speffect twice, and in these cases, the second hit that usually does the bulk of the damage, will benefit from the blade of mercy. You can see which attacks trigger crit talismans once or twice on Cryptid's Miscellaneous Data spreadsheet. Unfortunately all Greataxe crits only activate the effect once, but a dagger riposte for example will trigger twice vs large enemies and bosses, so a Misericorde would benefit from the blade of mercy. Just wanted to point out that small quirk. Great video as aways!

[@Revision-Harrowed]

I would actually advocate for cragblade when it comes to deflecting hardtear, at least on certain bosses if you know it'll make getting the stagger easier. That way any normal attack will do more stagger as well, you still get a pure physical damage bonus, and you only have to rebuff when the longer buff timer runs out in comparison to trying to fit in a RKR into what would be regular attacking windows. It is worth keeping in mind as an option imo.

[@wbhandy]

Yes! So glad you made this. I misunderstood a lot of the mechanics, can’t wait to optimize my Sekiro build

[@luminousazure]

I just used this tear and the dueling shield to beat Radahn, oh man is it satisfying to hear the little *ting* and see no damage at all from tanking a slab of black iron bigger than your entire body 👌

[@Terminator45845]

One thing I really like about this new Tear is that since it works with anything that guards, you can see the guard counters of all of the weapons when 2 handed without talking a lot of damage. Not that important, but I like it even more for that.

[@periwinkle2486]

build diversity! hooray! 🥳🎉

[@connorgonzella1651]

i love this tear so much

[@AttackLobster]

Something I want to toss out there is potentially using the Greatsword of Solitude as the weapon has such a meaty guard boost and physical res that it makes missing deflects barely punishing. Also, thrusting shields have block frames at the end of the guard counter animation so it can be way less punishing though they can't deflect during these block frames.

[@osmano8498]

Yep, once I discovered this tear and the BSGH I did a similar build, except I used Lion's Claw against bosses and Savage Lion's Claw against common mobs, along with Shard of Alexander and Fire/Holy Scorpion Charm instead of Dagger and Curved Sword talisman. This way your damage isn't locked behind guard counters so it's better for the overworld as I can't see myself using the tear every 5 minutes, and against bosses you also get to abuse the absurd poise damage of the guard counters along with Lion's Claw. Lion's Claw is probably one of the safest AOW to get free damage with since it has infinite hyperarmor along with the 30 poise damage it deals, you basically have a "I'm gonna stance break you" button after 1 or 2 guard counters. You could just get 1 or 2 guard counters in and then input Lion's Claw even if the boss is gonna do an attack. The fact that you have a "infinite hyperamor 30 poise damage" input allows you to stance break bosses more often whereas it'd be a lot harder otherwise to get the stance break and avoid the boss stance damage to reset. Also it fucking pancakes Malenia. Easily one of the best and satisfying build in the game. Then pair it with the Maliketh set + Black Knight Helm for a 51 poise build that looks hella good.

[@poacherthenn]

I enjoy using the lordsworn straight sword for deflections, it has good str scaling when heavy infused, 110 crit modifier, and is overall a good weapon

[@periwinkle2486]

sometimes all you need is good old fashioned r1 machine

[@PRBARNEY100]

Colossal Weapons actually have a special Guard Counter when blocking 2-handed (i.e. not using a shield) that pancakes human-sized enemies. Not a lot of people seem to know about this but it makes Colossal Weapons a strong alternative for this type of build.

[@warshark13]

Amazing data collecting. Thank you for all the time and work that went into this!

[@laflecack]

As an Executioners Greataxe enjoyer since launch I deeply appreciate this video, the entire time this game has been out the Executioners Greataxe has been slept on for its true potential, too many people just slap Lightning Slash on it for the memes.

[@avet4952]

its unironically a top 10 weapon in the game, people just dont realise what a 115 crit greataxe , with good length and damage does to a mf

[@nachalnik5738]

The biggest problem is that you have to farm it, and you may never get it due to rng. I had been killing skeletons in liurnia for 3 hours up until I got the weapon

[@cridus_]

I enjoyed cheesing most of the pve on my last low level character with it. slap on cragblade, the axe talisman and just charge R2s at things.

[@joshualing5667]

For people wondering why executioner's greataxe with lightning slash is a meme, it's a reference to another weapon with a similar design in Dark souls 3 called the dragonslayer greataxe who's weapon art is basically lightning slash but a lot more stronger

[@somersaultinggiraffe1901]

​@@avet4952 top 10 AND the BEST strength weapon. The Guts cosplayers and Giant Crusher fanboys can go f*ck themselves lmao

[@PhantomRed13]

You deserve way more subs. Awesome video as always.

[@Typher_]

Just started using it and love it!! Haven’t watched the video yet but the milady feels the best with it so far

[@paperboat7085]

Deflecting tear is the reason I beat Radahn. Felt so good parrying his garbage spam. Made me want to play sekiro. So good

[@ZeriocTheTank]

Same. A lot of people would've had an easier time with him if they did what we did.

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

Yeah, phase 1 with deflect tear is incredibly fun. I managed to consistently reach phase 2 with all my flasks, but the time the aoe spam f*ck fest begins, I don't last a minute 😅

[@caindis-abel-dhisbrother9601]

same, was a pleasure to deflect radahn with guts greatsword, beautiful fight

[@MilkT0ast]

Gj bro. Thats rly hard to do.

[@laary7589]

​@@user-zp8kj2cl9gyou ca deflect the pillars too

[@nousernameleft999]

just finished my run with this tear, watching for fun and to learn (and maybe apply some of this knowledge in my level 1 run)

[@thegoose8663]

- Give the weapon a unique Guard Counter effect - Instead of it being a bonus nerf the damage of the Guard Counter to compensate for the unique effect What fun...

[@ghoulbuster1]

Genious mijasaki does it again.

[@somersaultinggiraffe1901]

Fucking hell. Fromsoft is fucking trash at balancing

[@nicolasvillasecaali7662]

Kinda sad that the best way to work deflection is not a shield, but its certainly a good way to incentive players to use the block button, because i found that many are allergic to even the idea of blocking.

[@Dragostorm21]

it's just not that fun tbh. Deflecting is much closer to the stuff people find fun (since it is much more high risk/reward).

[@Homiloko2]

Sekiro did it first, with a katana lol. But I was hoping he would mention thrusting shields in the video, and check how effective they are, because it's a logical match

[@Dragostorm21]

@@Homiloko2 thrusting shields don't need the deflecting tear, do they?

[@Corvianly]

@@Homiloko2 Yup, the thrusting shields are busted with the deflecting tear in pve.

[@TheMoonlitFaerie]

If it helps, deflecting with a shield equipped lets you completely destroy bosses that will still gleefully run you out of stamina if you're not using a massive weapon with great (for a weapon) guard boost. I took out rellana with a shield and a rapier because with just a rapier, even perfect deflects still gut your stamina. Plus, if you slightly miss a deflect, you're still getting a good block with a shield. Just because it's a massive boost to your offense doesn't mean it can't also be a massive boost to your defense if you want it to be :)

[@JPJonesBSc]

Dragonbolt blessing gives you tier 2 hardness making it even easier to guard counter. My Build is Executioners great axe (lightning infused ) with lightning slash for extra damage buff (& style). Dragon bolt blessing for easier guard counters (& style). and pearl shield talisman to mitigate the Elemental damage.

[@likeClockwork7]

It's such a cool buff - I only wish it was available via a talisman or something that you can keep on at all times, rather than a once-per-life temporary buff.

[@ShjadeNexayre]

People keep saying this and I really don't understand why. It's clearly way, way too strong for a permanent effect in this game. It's stronger than other physick flask buffs, and those are already stronger than their talisman counterpats (+10 stat knot vs +5 stat talisman, 20% fire vs 12% fire with increased damage taken, etc.), and if they made a weaker version of it on a talisman people would just complain that it's not worth using because it's too weak to be better than damage-stacking.

[@seha7054]

Worse for permanent effect

[@muhammadalifmulkymurtadha4493]

Cool build! *Proceed to run it with nagakiba instead*

[@BlueEnergyCat]

Might try this build! Or at least a variant of it. The beast curved great sword seemed like a great weapon to try with, and maces also have really fast guard counters for trying this with a shield.

[@dorkmoonblade4315]

6:37 Curseblade Cirque has actually incredible guard boost at 49.5, which I think is better than most greatswords. I would definitely agree that other bhb's have bad enough guard boost to make a guard counter based playstyle unoptimal, but the Curseblade's can guard well enough that you can still make it work with them.

[@Chrightt]

Unfortunately, it suffers from not being an infusable weapon thus losing out on RKR's 80% damage boost.

[@Homiloko2]

Not being infusable sucks, you get locked into a full DEX build too, which has no casting options..

[@thehotwindblowing]

I think with the Deflecting Hardtear and this type of build we finally have a pretty decent sidegrade to Star Fist charged atk build. Neither are as easy as Lion's Claw spam but with a little moveset knowledge are the absolute fastest at breaking boss stance.

[@VolcanoHeadProdution]

Excellent video as alwats!! Love how informative your builds are, its not just a simple build, its learning experience! :D When building around Black Steel Greathammer, would you recommend just making a normal build not focused around guard counters then, Just an added lil bonus to the weapon?

[@Chrightt]

I think the hammer is in a weird spot. If you don't use the guard counter then the hammer is just a high AR stick for faith builds, so I would still use the guard counter. But it isn't as good with the deflect tear so you can think about running it with a shield instead too.

[@VolcanoHeadProdution]

@@Chrightt Thanks :D Luckily im already using a greatshield, mostly for the fashion, but also great for co-op to avoid damage in the chaos. I noticed sacred blade buffs the after shock of the guard counter by quite a lot, a disproportionate amount it feels like, any idea whats going on with it ?

[@McDudes]

Thanks for explaining how it works I've been playing withit but never really understood how many frames it was up for or how the multi hit attacks worked

[@ZeriocTheTank]

Deflecting is something I reserve for bosses or the occasional PvP invasion depending on my build, but when it comes to the latter I don't see myself hitting guard counters that often since the sound effect is a dead giveaway. Really unfortunate since it's hard to land against anyone that's paying attention.

[@MilkT0ast]

You just have to know the frames. There are plenty of moves , if you deflect , that will have less recovery frames than a gaurd counter. Thus will win in a "trade", or straight up beat the recovery

[@Paddy656]

​@@MilkT0ast depends on ping, though, but so does everything.

[@MilkT0ast]

@Paddy656 sure . But what I mean is. If you deflect a two handed greatsowrd "r1" . You can use the counter and it will hit. As long as you time it correctly

[@ZeriocTheTank]

@MilkT0ast Paddy is right about latency though. Even if I know the frames that's not going to be a guarantee. I can see myself getting a deflect off in an invasion if I deflect one person's attack & maybe direct the guard counter on the other, but even that is situational. If that sound effect wasn't audible for everyone then this would be more viable, but it's a very telegraph move.

[@theonlymann1485]

hello. i have a question about guarding and some weapons. apprantly you can apply shield grease on powerstanced(2-handed) perfume bottles weapon. Would this be a decent pick for a pve build as the shield grease would have the highest benefit compared to actual shields? or is this a buggy gimmick that you shouldn't care about? thanks.

[@modsas9309]

ah thanks for the insight and unique build. you should try showcasing your build against some late game or dlc bosses to test their performance against hard enemies

[@joecrawford8810]

I almost deleted the game bc i really started getting bored of it and there is nothing left to do but this video 100% saved it. Thank you talking cat

[@user-zp8kj2cl9g]

Wat

[@leonardo9259]

Yeah this game is very bad on replays simply because most builds start with 3 dead hours collecting basics

[@chaosinfernoid9008]

​@@leonardo9259 Just Play NewGame+?

[@SeeFoodDie]

@@leonardo9259 create a save with the basics for your builds, back it up, have fun. Works on pc and ps5.

[@Homiloko2]

@@leonardo9259 Either make a backup of a starting save with all the basics collected, or just do NG+

[@AlphaSeagull]

It's about time I see someone actually bring up the motion value chart when looking at these things. I was disappointed seeing the damage of Backhand blade too. That said, if they ever fix the bug, I think it'll be the best deflect weapon and it won't even be close, even well past Sword Lance which I covered in my own deflect video. If the guard boost becomes a problem, you can go for Curseblade Cirque instead, which can't be weapon buffed but has a much higher guard stat. What an insane weapon class

[@Chrightt]

You can compare the backhand blades' counter damage to weapons like the Executioner. It isn't that much higher at base. The deflecting hardtear and curved sword talisman are both multiplicative, so you know the exact difference. It definitely will not be better even with the bug fixed. And certainly not worth the massive drop in guard boost or swapping to curseblade losing the 80% damage. You also don't get the hyper armor and it's very inconsistent for landing all 4 hits.

[@AlphaSeagull]

Well this comment aged well

[@TechNinjaSigma]

This reminds me of the Blackguard Build

[@FuriousFear]

hey @Chrightt, love your videos. I wanna do this on my max level character. I'm guessing Quality Executioner's would win out with 99 stats, is that correct?

[@Chrightt]

Yep!

[@FuriousFear]

@@Chrightt thank you good Sir, have a nice day!

[@grayve4027]

Yep, i'm trying this one

[@Poptartpug]

Another win for the Executioner's Greataxe! 💪

[@simonappel2599]

Beast claws also hit 4 times on their 2h gc, and twice 1h just like bhb. The claws also duck which can avoid some followup attacks. The smithscript dagger and claws of night get a really cool gc 1h and 2h that ducks similarly but also creates distance

[@hypnotic_o]

common chrightt w

[@AnotherComputer]

This is pretty much the exact build I swapped my STR/FTH guy to, except with a couple differences: - I don't use Golden Vow because it didn't fit thematically with the build, so instead I use Stormhawk Deenh whose war cry increases my physical, stamina and poise damage by 20% for 30" - I use a mix of collosal swords and colossal weapons and while I did enjoy RKR for the big damage, I found Cragblade a more enjoyable buff. Sure, it's not 80% more damage on the next attack, but it is 15% more physical damage and 10% more stance damage for a whole minute. And yes, I do use Blade of Mercy.

[@pgh3316]

Second build I brought into dlc was a deflecting/parrying executioner greataxe build on a heavy infusion with drawstring greases. Purely because we got the string bell bearing. Rkr's a better idea tho

[@mandrake6486]

i found the anchor to be quite good for this type of build aswell

[@amberhernandez]

Thrust weapons on guard counter builds are goated (do people still say that? lol). If you need that extra oomph, bait a certain boss combo and put the _counter_ back in guard counter, baby! Be sure to keep the Spear Talisman for Anchor builds, too; every bit of damage helps!

[@ekul2k3]

You released this video at perfect timing, let’s go I will try this for sure. Tho I really don’t like the esthetics of the weapon you chose, would you have any alternative, maybe not that effective but still good?

[@TeamKhandiKhane]

the talisman that affects elemental resist while blocking should work with this too.

[@albegade]

Any thoughts about fallingstar beast jaw for this. doesn't have the critical multiplier of the executioner's greataxe or royal knight's resolve which is huge for this ik but it's a colossal weapon and deals pure pierce. maybe a simpler style.

[@WalTub]

Can you do a detailed breakdown of the Milady? I would appreciate if you were able to grace us with your knowledge on how to approach this weapon.

[@jellydamgood]

Ill stick with blackhamma as the followup explosion causing a poise break is about as euporic as it can get.

[@yeetgrenade7492]

Have you tried RkR with light greatswordss? Ive noticed rhat if you only hit with the first attack of the 2-hit moves the effect stays on sometimes

[@DooDoo-f4v]

I noticed that for great spears on the running two hand heavy attack. The first two ticks don't take it away.

[@cian.horgan]

Did they change the blade of mercy? Lilaggy did a deflect focused run on twitch a couple of weeks ago and it seemed to buff the second hit of multi hit crits for him. He tested it a couple of tines and came back to two hit crit weapons for that reason

[@cian.horgan]

In your video the buff aura doesn't show until after the 2nd hit, but it did for him on a few weapons (misericorde was the first I can remember). He tested back to back and confirmed for those weapons on that patch that the bonus damage is added for the second hit of the crit. I'm not sure if it's a patch change or if it's always been inconsistent with which weapons it applies to

[@solivagrey1707]

same question

[@harrybenson6731]

When guard countering with a great spear, the character ducks during the counter animation and it dodges a surprising amount of enemy follow up attacks

[@TheSleyar]

Did u test the tear on dual wielding enemies? Do we guard twice if the enemy swings both weapons at the same time ?

[@williamhutsch851]

I personally use dragonbolt blessing in addition to the hardtear. Keep in mind you lose resistance to lightning, but the description of the spell literally says "attacks become easier to deflect".

[@kaleina_mk]

this might be a silly question, but how long generally does a boss have to be undamaged before they start recovering the poise damage they're taking? mostly just curious on when best to throw out those bone darts to keep the poise damage from decaying

[@Chrightt]

Roughly after 5 seconds it starts regenerating. It does not immediately return to full stance health though.

[@sturmmagnunstein1008]

Just throw it whenever you can. Fan dagger is your friend

[@Paddy656]

Illusory wall has a video on stance that will answer all your questions. Short answer is that stance recovery delay scales between 3-12 seconds according to max stance health. Most bosses will begin recovery in 5 or 6 seconds. Spam the hell out of fan daggers. There's basically no situation where there's a reason not to.

[@yunuss58]

Blacksteel greathammer plus tear carried me trough DLC

[@jackbivy4]

LETS SEE A DEFLECT PLAYTHROUGH

[@ExtraStage300]

Instead of the individual elemental shield talismans or the pearldrake, just swap in the new Pearl Shield Talisman. 20% elemental damager resist while guarding, applies to deflections as well.

[@Chrightt]

I get hit by elemental stuff when I'm NOT guarding though. If I deflect, I don't mind even if it's elemental damage.

[@spookzer16]

At least in PvE I had a lot of success using the claymore. The guard counter makes you lean forward so much it would often dodge attackes.

[@TheJorgemorgo]

Sensei is about to spread more wisdom, listen up kids! 😊

[@nevogolan6505]

I did some testing with the blacksteel hammer When the dlc came out. Back then, weapon buffs affected the aoe disproportionately. You might be able to get a lot more damage out of it with order blade with the right build

[@andydouble07]

in defense of backhand blades, you don’t play them the same way as the others where you stand in the boss’s face and deflect everything to stack the guard counter boost. you put on a bleed infusion, dodge everything except the last hit, and do a ton of status buildup.

[@ShjadeNexayre]

If you're doing that, aren't you better off with the stamina regen tear to maintain a more persistent offense anyway? Why use a flask slot on a tear you're barely using?

[@AshenDust_]

I was just thinking about this earlier today. I came to the conclusion that the Hammer was probably the best weapon for this, so it’ll be interesting to see what someone else’s take on this build is.

[@HuhJuhWuh]

I prefer weapons with faster guard counters

[@AshenDust_]

@@HuhJuhWuh Hammers have pretty fast guard counters. I haven’t seen the frame data on it but it seems quite fast compared to something like a Great Spear and has quite good range because of the lunge forward and the Hammer naturally having the highest range of its weapon type. They also have the 2nd highest Poise damage on guard counters, only beaten out by Colossal Weapons and Great Hammers, which are much slower.

[@ghoulbuster1]

You want a high stance damage weapon so you can quickly break enemy poise.

[@AshenDust_]

@@ghoulbuster1 I agree, which is why I chose the weapon type with the 2nd-highest Guard Counter stance damage and some of the best stance damage on their heavy attacks for how fast they are.

[@HuhJuhWuh]

@AshenDust_ hatchets are usually my go to. Plus i dont spec into strength. I also hate meathead barbarian weapons like greathammers and battle axes

[@Ytinasniiable]

I like the GS of solitude for this tear because it's status as "almost a medium shield anyways" for blocking gives me a bit more leeway on timing Also theres a talisman that boosts elemental block values, which would reduce elemental chip damage while blocking(i dont remember the name or values lol), i wonder if that competes with the crimson seed talisman for a defensive option

[@Tigerbro6]

Does the guarding talisman from dlc work with the deflect too? Would it stack with the damage negation from the tear?

[@SaxSlaveGael]

Can you do a video on how DLC+ works?

[@KKKuma]

How much is the extra stance damage of the black steel hammer that it get from the special AOE effect. I can reliably 2 guard counter and poise break Midra with the blacksteel even in coop and people just watching me hitting him. It is a great hammer so it deal strike damage which is good and the recovery is very fast as well. Many of the boss in DLC resist to Slash damage. The charge heavy is usually not that needed because even vs tougher boss you only need 2 guard counter + 1 R1 to poise break them. And the weight only 12. You can even use it with the sacred black steel shield for 100% holy negation at 38 endurance and still hit 51 poise threshold comfortably. 100% holy negation allow you to deflect or just block through all of the bosses holy attack, even the nuke without taking any damage. I am not sure if sacred infuse for the black steel increase the damage of the extra AOE than other infuse or not. In DLC more bosses are weaker to holy so it may not be that bad of a choice even though you get lower AR. I also tried RKR and it worked well. But sometimes the boss attack for a while and it runs out, and there are not enough time between those attack to reapply then buff then guard counter, rather you just guard counter. I think Crag Blade or Order Blade would benefits more as constant buff. And I am helping people a lots so I use deflect tears with Opulent to reduce the element damage taken. So element damage is not that issue, I can go heavy infuse to get the benefit of the guard boost and 2 hand and RKR and have more point in endurance or something to wear even heavier armor A thing about deflecting every boss is that guard counter takes a lot of stamina, you would want stamina regen or the shield talismans to help. Especially in coop when you are likely the tanker and guard counter taking the hit. Prayful Strike is also a good consideration for guard counter build. It will heal you up the cheap element damage or when you miss the deflect and deal quite good stagger and damage, you can replace a guard counter with it to heal back while dealing damage and not wasting time on drinking flask.

[@Chrightt]

It is listed in the video. With the AoE added in, it has same total poise damage as other greathammers.

[@esincorporated6123]

What about the Giant Crusher? It has an absolutely dumb amount of stance damage on it's guard counter and has the highest weapon guard boost, excluding Dueling Shields. It was the main thing that helped me to beat Promised Consort Radahn and destroyed basically every other boss with relative ease, including the janky Commander Gaius.

[@deltawldr]

He chose the axe mainly for the 110 crit modifier.

[@sturmmagnunstein1008]

Its shit. Colossal weapons guard counter is only slightly better than greathammers, (45 vs 42) but you have to contend with an objectively inferior moveset and fewer AoW. Also it blocks your screen. The only thing it has over GH is the damage, but thats of course assuming you can actually hit things with the god awful moveset. t. Inferno crozier, no parry radahn kill.

[@daveb305]

Thanks man

[@DooDoo-f4v]

This thing with Lead Elixer is awesome oh and Howl! I don't really like stacking all those buffs, but I like tossing in Oath of Vengeance as well!

[@iliaskaramanis2884]

Love the build, are you sure tho that you are using fire infusion? As far as I am aware that doesn't scale with faith. I would think you got them mixed up with flame art infusion, but first of all you don't make mistakes like that and you even show a comparison on the vid

[@Chrightt]

I think you misheard me somewhere. I'm running a faith build with sacred/flame infusion in this video. I briefly explained why I went faith over Str build with Fire Infusion.

[@trbajuice8060]

Aaaye lemme get dat 1.12 parry frame data video thoooo

[@cridus_]

what weapon would you use in pvp, since you can't stance break people by hitting them? (unless they're blocking of course) I'd still use something that has hyper armor on the guard counter, of course, but I wonder what would be best.

[@TheHeavyassaulter]

Liked because the executioners ds3 greataxe is truly the best 👍

[@MonkeyNeuronActivation]

Does the spontaneous guard register on frame 1~6? Or is it like 0~5? Is the initial guard animation needed?

[@Chrightt]

Guard registers starting from frame 1, so it is the former.

[@MadSekiro]

At first I was hyped after getting Deflecting Hardtear. After some time, however, I decided that this was not it. Maybe because I didn't have the right build for this style of play.

[@krisjohn4668]

I was thinking about using the Lordsworn Greatsword, but Executioner Axe does look like a better fit.

[@KarthikeyanNagappan]

What affinity works best for executioners axe ?

[@TheOriginalDarkGlitch]

I've been playing around with the Deflecting Hardtear with my Str/Faith Build and it makes so many enemies a joke. I walked through Rellana and staggered her twice during the fight. Only took me 6 tries to get the timing down. I'm gonna fold Mesmer into a little square and put him in my pocket with this build.

[@prpl3p4nda94]

Sooo, Black Steel Greathammer gets more of an AR boost when you imbue the weapon with holy damage i.e Order's Blade, greases, etc. And not as much from infusing it into Sacred, at least from what I've tested. My question is, does using RKR override those types of holy buffs? And if it doesn't, wouldn't the hammer then beat out the Axe in damage potential? Just curious

[@Chrightt]

Yes, RKR overwrites those buffs.

[@DBelphegor]

thoughts about using stonebarb cracked tears for the second one?

[@Vespyr_]

I hope they fix the Backhand Blades not working with the tear and the talisman. I I've a feeling stamina will not disappear if the tear was working properly. It doesn't seem like it's affecting it at all.

[@the_best_tate]

Why use flame or sacred on the executioner's greataxe instead of heavy? The AR is higher with heavy at 89str/25fth(for Golden Vow) than with flame at 34str/80fth

[@Chrightt]

2-handed flame exeuctioner's: 359 phys, 480 fire. 839 total 2-handed heavy 89 str/25 faith: 850 physical The difference is not large in base AR, but you get access to elemental cracked tear which you don't for heavy. There's no other good crystal tear for the damage boost.

[@the_best_tate]

@@Chrightt The Bloodsucking cracked tear would give you that 20% boost with no split damage. The self-damage can be mitigated down to around 12 HP/second with Blessing's boon to help survivability as well. Considering the build is based around landing all your spontaneous guards, you wouldn't be taking that much damage anyway

[@ixiahj]

I use this with carian thrusting shield because of how fast the guard counter comes out and the guard counter itself has block frames. Completely negates a boss long combo string.

[@n-dawwg2570]

AlphaSeagull prefers heavy sword lance for guard counters with spear talisman. The criticals do less damage than flame executioner GA but he's running so many other damage buffs that bosses die before the crit anyway.

[@mahirmihda1823]

If you're playing with friends I find guard counter builds frustrating as the boss won't be aggro-d on you. Maybe this be one of the only uses for Shabriri's Woe?

[@Homiloko2]

I don't play coop but I've always wondered how well Shabriri's Woe works, it's an obvious pick if you want to play the tank unless the effect is too weak.

[@disbled]

Thanks

[@apothe6]

Do all weapons have the same damage guard counters? Are there better ones?

[@DooDoo-f4v]

Not all are the same. Some are faster and some slower. Some do thrust and gain the counter pierce multiplier. Some break through stance faster.

[@Reshii_Mu]

Worth noting that the Curseblade Cirques do not have bad guard boost at all (49 at +10, more than quite a few weapons, about on par with a curved greatsword). Still not a great pick for the reasons mentioned. Also, the guard counter itself seems to consume a lot of stamina.

[@johnsandfort8908]

Why not Pearl Shield Talisman (not pearldrake) for a defensive talisman?

[@Sekiro_lover]

The dryleaf dane weapons guard counter deals insane damage because for some reason it hits twice. It requires slightly smarter play than just deflect deflect cause low guard boost, u have to mix both dodges and deflects kinda lame in a deflect base build but damage makes up for it

[@Sekiro_lover]

It only works with danes footwork not the fisting weapon

[@khile5568]

Would it be fine to go strength dex instead of strength faith?

[@modestyblaise4167]

Which is easier, parrying or deflecting? On PS5 with irregular frame rate and input lag parrying is inconsistent for me?

[@Homiloko2]

Deflecting is much easier. It has more frames than the buckler parry, and doesn't have a long windup which is usually the source of confusion

[@IsraTheBlack]

Now I really want to see this in pvp, but who is ever going to eat a guard counter?

[@zwerchau]

You might be surprised, at least in invasions. I've had a lot of success with 2h Milady and Fire Knight's Greatsword.

[@IliumGaming]

Surprisingly a lot of people mash the attack button in your face and will just eat the whole thing. The average ER host/phantom is pretty brain dead

[@leonardo9259]

Well you're in luck BC this game is designed to teach players to spam the same attack

[@sasaki999pro]

Elden Ring Players: "Who the hell eats a guard counter at 3 in the morning??" Also Elden Ring Players: _"OH BOY 3AM!"_

[@sturmmagnunstein1008]

​@@zwerchauwe dont look at bad players and pretend them walking a colossal charged r2 suddenly makes colossals viable, now do we? Any player with a brain cell will see this come out from a mile away, and if they have a weapon that can break you HA (if it can be called that) will just interrupt you for free damage.