I think the internet and Souls community is pretty unanimous about Bed of Chaos, haha. Worst fucking boss in the series by far and it's not even close.
Confession time: I don't think I ever beat Bed of Chaos on first try without dying without using the reloading trick. Even with using the reloading trick I tend to die anyway. And I have never, ever managed, to my recollection, to successfully dodge the branch swipe attack. I have no idea how to i-frame through it, or if it's even possible (but then how do you NOT get it by it, if you aren't using a shield?). If you
can i-frame through it, well, I just never ever got the timing. I just always either get pushed in the hole, or if I survive, I stand back up from the annoying knock-back, Estus, and continue moving, and take another hit if I have to. lol.
And fuuuuck the run back to this boss. What a coincidence that the very worst boss of the series, also has the longest run to it from its nearest bonfire? Even using the Izalith shortcut it's a slog (it might actually be slower than the run from that hidden bonfire? I haven't timed it though) and the Titanite Demon on the bridge gets in the way a lot, even running past him he often gets a hit on me from behind. Gah. I might be a Souls vet but I think I died like 4-5 times to Bed of Chaos last night, DESPITE using the reload trick; 1 time on the way to the right-side shield (got pushed into a hole because of course), and the rest trying to make it to the center branch and getting pushed into the pit by that branch swipe... the only time I wasn't pushed was because it did the firestorm attack immediately when I landed instead of the usual swipe attacks, so I ran around the fire pillars and managed to drop down on the branch safely.
Interesting. That's wild. I thought it did. So for Souls only scaling effects damage out, not the stat number itself?
I'm not sure I follow. By "scaling", I refer to how much your stat(s) affect your weapon's attack rating. Every weapon has a "base" attack rating, and most of them, but not all, have additional attack rating bonuses from your stats, which varies depending on scaling. For example, A scaling in dex on a weapon will give a substantial attack boost to it the higher your dex stat is (with diminishing returns usually after 40-50 in that stat). D/D scaling in dex/str will give minor boosts based on your dex and strength stats. S scaling on intelligence means it's probably really good for magic/intelligence builds. And so on.
Some weapons, however, have zero scaling, and
only base damage. The Drake Sword is a good example of that. It has no scaling of any kind, no matter how much you pump your stats the weapon's attack rating (and consequently, the damage dealt, obviously) will always be the same no matter your level. The same is true for elemental weapons; all weapons on the lightning, fire, and chaos upgrade trees do not scale with stats whatsoever. Chaos-path weapons DO scale with your soft Humanity, up to 10, so you will do better damage at 10 humanity than at 0, but fire and lightning weapons don't even have that. They are the same as the Drake Sword. So they are pretty strong at lower levels because their base damage is pretty high, but at higher levels, a weapon that will scale with your main stat is pretty much always a better option.
Sinh is absolutely better than Kalameet. Midir is okay if you stay in front of him, and not trying the tail strategy which brings out the worst in Souls (shitty camera, bad hitboxes etc).
Yes, for sure. Midir is a really fun fight
if you fight him correctly. If you don't, it's hell on Earth lol.