I've heard the sentence "they put a boss from x in y" a few times before, particularly with Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne. Yet since, alas, I don't have access to the latter I could never test their veracity, even if I can somewhat understand where they are coming from. Recently one of the variations of this sentence that I've heard is "they put a Sekiro boss in Elden Ring" concerning Malenia. At first I thought it was just because of her weapons and some of her attacks but having played Sekiro I realized not just how correct that sentence was, but how Malenia would go from a broken boss in ER to possibly the best From boss in Sekiro. Here is why:
i. The cadence of her attacks. Malenia attacks (minus Waterflow) have a very deliberate rhythm to them. They are fast enough to be dangerous, but not fast enough that you can't mostly react to them as they come. Malenia is not simply a game of memorizing patterns to know what attacks you should run away or how much seconds you must wait before dodging a delayed attack, you're always in the moment. This is the same cadence that the best bosses Sekiro have: Isshin(s), Emma, Owl(s), Genichiro...
They are the same picture.
ii. The life steal would work better. Both in Souls and in Sekiro you have basically three ways to defend from an attack (even if they work very differently): parry/perfect deflect; block/deflect; dodge/dodge with less i-frames. In Sekiro perfect deflect and deflect are much more intertwined and are a big part of the gameplay, but they operate in a similar risk reward system that parry/block in the Souls game. The thing is: Malenia's life steal would work much better with that system. Perfect deflect = no life steal; deflect = life steal. You're encouraging the player to improve, yet with a very "harmless" way to hurt them if they don't. There are a lot of mechanics that encourage a perfected timed deflect in Sekiro, this would be one more of top of them. And a special one for a special fight.
iii. Her Waterflow attack would work beautifully. The main reason, in fact, the only reason Malenia fight is broken in Elden Ring is her waterflow attack. It goes against the spirit of the fight and as a result you end up fighting it, rather than Malenia. Transport this to Sekiro and what you have, an absolutely fantastic move. It would be a blast to perfect deflect her entire attack. Not coincidentally, you can see the "precursor" of this attack in Isshin Ashina fight, and you can perfect deflect the "slash orb" by timing your parries. Instead of simply avoiding it like in Souls, in Sekiro Malenia special attack would offer the opportunity for a risk, yet extremely rewarding counter attack.
I couldn't find a fight where the player deflects the attack, but it can be done. And it's fun.
Edit: Found it:
iv. Her second phase would work even better. The biggest differences from Malenia first phase to the second is that in the latter she is way more aggresive, she has some new attacks, does rot damage and some of her attacks leave a small AoE attack in front of her that the player needs to avoid. It's this last difference that I wish to focus because I believe it would be tailor made to Sekiro. In ER its main effect is further decreasing the windows you have to punish Malenia, in Sekiro it would work similarly, yet it would be a more organic fit to the gameplay. Think about it. After perfect deflecting the last attack in a combo, the game would ask you last thing of you before you can attack, dodging out of the way of that AoE. Perfect deflect, then dodge. Two inputs rather than one. And because the dodge in Sekiro is faster, you still have a perfect opportunity to deal some damage. It perfectly matches Sekiro emphasis on parry.
Deflect. Dodge. Punish.
Make no mistake, Malenia is *mostly* a fantastic boss in Elden Ring. I strongly believe if they tweak her waterflow attack even if slightly she would go to a top tier fight (not just in ER but in all Souls), while as it is it hurts the boss immensely. What I tried to show here is that it's outstanding how she would work well in Sekiro.
i. The cadence of her attacks. Malenia attacks (minus Waterflow) have a very deliberate rhythm to them. They are fast enough to be dangerous, but not fast enough that you can't mostly react to them as they come. Malenia is not simply a game of memorizing patterns to know what attacks you should run away or how much seconds you must wait before dodging a delayed attack, you're always in the moment. This is the same cadence that the best bosses Sekiro have: Isshin(s), Emma, Owl(s), Genichiro...
They are the same picture.
ii. The life steal would work better. Both in Souls and in Sekiro you have basically three ways to defend from an attack (even if they work very differently): parry/perfect deflect; block/deflect; dodge/dodge with less i-frames. In Sekiro perfect deflect and deflect are much more intertwined and are a big part of the gameplay, but they operate in a similar risk reward system that parry/block in the Souls game. The thing is: Malenia's life steal would work much better with that system. Perfect deflect = no life steal; deflect = life steal. You're encouraging the player to improve, yet with a very "harmless" way to hurt them if they don't. There are a lot of mechanics that encourage a perfected timed deflect in Sekiro, this would be one more of top of them. And a special one for a special fight.
iii. Her Waterflow attack would work beautifully. The main reason, in fact, the only reason Malenia fight is broken in Elden Ring is her waterflow attack. It goes against the spirit of the fight and as a result you end up fighting it, rather than Malenia. Transport this to Sekiro and what you have, an absolutely fantastic move. It would be a blast to perfect deflect her entire attack. Not coincidentally, you can see the "precursor" of this attack in Isshin Ashina fight, and you can perfect deflect the "slash orb" by timing your parries. Instead of simply avoiding it like in Souls, in Sekiro Malenia special attack would offer the opportunity for a risk, yet extremely rewarding counter attack.
I couldn't find a fight where the player deflects the attack, but it can be done. And it's fun.
Edit: Found it:
iv. Her second phase would work even better. The biggest differences from Malenia first phase to the second is that in the latter she is way more aggresive, she has some new attacks, does rot damage and some of her attacks leave a small AoE attack in front of her that the player needs to avoid. It's this last difference that I wish to focus because I believe it would be tailor made to Sekiro. In ER its main effect is further decreasing the windows you have to punish Malenia, in Sekiro it would work similarly, yet it would be a more organic fit to the gameplay. Think about it. After perfect deflecting the last attack in a combo, the game would ask you last thing of you before you can attack, dodging out of the way of that AoE. Perfect deflect, then dodge. Two inputs rather than one. And because the dodge in Sekiro is faster, you still have a perfect opportunity to deal some damage. It perfectly matches Sekiro emphasis on parry.
Deflect. Dodge. Punish.
Make no mistake, Malenia is *mostly* a fantastic boss in Elden Ring. I strongly believe if they tweak her waterflow attack even if slightly she would go to a top tier fight (not just in ER but in all Souls), while as it is it hurts the boss immensely. What I tried to show here is that it's outstanding how she would work well in Sekiro.
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