Warrick is too difficult for me :(

Wicked Feedback
21

Thank you everyone who responded with advice.
I just can’t bring myself to face this fight again right now. I have never struggled so much with a boss before in any other game, ever. If this is meant to be the easiest boss, then this game is not for me - which really sucks, as I was really looking forward to it.
If the devs can take any feedback these would be the things Iwould tweak:

I haven’t done a full vid recording and frame by frame analysis, but I think the timing of his attacks seems to match the timing of the player’s hit reaction animations. Ie, after being hit once, by the time the hit stagger anim completes, there is no time to react avoid the 2nd hit, which knocks you down onto 1 knee.
And then the 3rd attack comes before the player can play the recovery animation.
So any time you take 1 hit, you’re pretty much taking 3 hits and that’s game over.
If the pauses between the attacks were .25-.5s longer, there would be time to recover and react to the follow up combo attacks. If this was the 3rd or 4th boss, then I wouldn’t have as much an issue with the attack times. But as the forst boss in the game, you normally want to be a little more forgiving to the player who is still learning the game.

It’s easier to parry the horizontal attack than the overhead. The overhead attack has a slightly longer anticipation than the horizontal attacks. If the overhead anticipation was maybe .1 to .15s shorter, it would line up with the average person visual reaction time and be a little easier to parry. The actual attack damage window is super quick, so parrying or dodging all xomes down to recognizing and reacting to the anticipation anim.

Dodging is easier than parrying because the dodge anim and invul frame times are longer than the parry anim time. So it’s more forgiving to dodge an atttack because if you start the dodge early, it’s not a big deal. But if you parry too early, you’re screwed. That’s the risk vs reward and it’s fine.

One of his horizontal attacks (I can’t remember which) has a damage area that extends much further around the swing than the other horizontal attacks. It extends so far that it often hits the player after dodging behind Warrick and after the main swing of the attack anim seems over and you think you’re safe.

Maybe I’m wrong about these numbers. They’re a gut feel, from my experience designing and making games for a very long time.

Adding an option for the player to adjust the difficulty doesn’t take anything away from the game. It wouldn’t diminish the game at all, nor would it take away from the accomplishments of players who play on the regular or a harder difficulty. Think of it more as an accessibility option. It would allow more people to experience and enjoy the game, instead of being frustrated and “locked out” by not being able to defeat the first boss.

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22

Fair enough if you need to put it down-

Whoever told you that parrying was the way through gave you awful advice. Parrying boss attacks is difficult, and an advanced technique. There is absolutely no need to parry him, and I certainly didn’t. The window to punish enemies if you connect with a parry also isn’t very good

You just need to roll out of his attacks, and counter him carefully when there’s a moment.

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I agree, assigning triggers for time sensitive actions is spotty, unless one has the ability to set dead-zones and activation-zones, but even so… also, this is compounded by the parry window on some weapons. e.g. double daggers, intuitively I was expecting them to be better (faster, larger time window) than the shield, but I’ve only managed to parry a total of 2 times for the entirety of my time running w/ them (was the weapon I’ve got at the beach so, by far the longest I’ve played w/)

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24

Exact same boat. I’m sick of so many players commenting on how after Warrick the game is easier. I’ve tried everything they’ve said; the dodging, the rolling, no armour, throwables… nothing works. I get maybe 10-15 % of his health down, then BAM, BAM, BAM from Warrick and… I’m dead. Half the time it feels like my character is glued to the ground and utterly unresponsive. Whether he rolls or dodges seems to be at the whims of the RNG gods. I too tried to stick with it and, sadly, no longer eligible for a refund :frowning:

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I really hope they’re gathering telemetry from the early access. I’m betting we’re not alone and there are more of us who are struggling with Warrick.
I wasn’t running in & spamming inputs. I was trying to dodge and/or parry, waiting for openings to attack. But I feel your pain exactly - sometimes it feels like the input doesn’t trigger reliably, and it feels very hard to get the timing right.
And it really sucks to read about and see people enjoying the rest of the game.
I think I’m going to wait for a few more patches / updates and then possibly bring myself back to try again - maybe once co-op mode is in.

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26

You may try running around the boss. This can evade most of his attacks and you have a chance to hit him, too!

27

I had the same issue this past weekend, just to add what many other players are suggesting, here my take:

Start a new toon, when leveling up, place all the points into health, find the dual blade weapons and keep your gear light so that you’re playing with the “fast” mode (or whatever its called??)

Let the Boss come at you first, dodge to one side and stick him, back off, kite him, let your stamina build up and after he lunges at you, dodge to one side again and stick him again. Just keep repeating this, Also, take a drink of that add defense stuff (forget whats it called), its helps a lot.

Good luck

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28

Don’t quit man, I just played Elden Ring and it was my first experience with souls games and it’s an easy one compared to the others but still harder than this. I’m an older dude too and it just takes patience and practice.
Here are some tips that I learned and they apply to this game too.

Health and Equipment load are super important early on. You shouldnt invest points into dps until you are comfortable with the combat. Upgrading weapons at the smith after the boss gives you way more dmg than 5 str or dex. You just need to start a new character like someone else said…it’s super early in the game.
Dodge forward instead of wildly dodging back and to the side. This is like the best advice I got while playing souls games. The enemies all have weaknesses and usually those are after they use an attack and from behind. Dodging forward puts you behind them during their recovery and you can get a hit in or 2.
Another important thing is dont even try to get a full combo in, just hit 1 time and back out and wait for another opening. Don’t waste your time trying to parry at this stage of your skill. You’ll just get whacked.
Enemies respawn after time so you can farm the beach for crabs and herbs and make an infinite supply of crab soup so you can be ready for the boss.
If you put points into hp and equipment you can wear the highest armor you got and actually soak some hits if you miss your dodges.

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29

My comment to Daniel might help you too, it sounds like you are burning stam super fast though because that’s why your rolls feel like rng. I dont think no armor is good for a new player, that’s something skilled players do in souls games because they never get hit. You are going to get hit if you are new, wear armor, keep medium loadout, roll forward for big enemy hits, run away for enemy combos then use hit and run tactics. I used the claymore for the reach, the rolling attack after dodging the enemy’s last swing is pretty good for getting a hit then moving out.

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30

I’ve beaten him at second try, only because I lagged on my first and fell of the map xD
Here’s how to beat him:
-Prepare some food for healing, it allows You to make mistakes
-Eat food only when distance between You and him is VERY big and he is resting from attack
-The most important: Focus more on dodging than dealing damage. It’s better to have a 20 minutes fight (it’s boss, remember) than have 20 one-minutes fights. When you are avoiding his attacks try to deal damage when u manage to get on his back. It won’t deal more damage, but it will give You more sustain.
-Dodging > blocking, parrying
-Try to loot some bombs and use on him, it will affect his posture, when he is stuned it’s perfect moment for stronger attack (hold X on ur controller) or weapon skill (RB+X for example)

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31

After saving Fillmore(Blacksmith) repairs are free until you defeat Warrick. Enemies and loot do respawn after sometime allowing for leveling up character and making some coppers. Parrying can be hard to pull off consistently, but it generates focus and allows for powerful rune attacks with a claymore, dealing massive damage to Warrick. Invest heavily in stamina and strength, and manage your equip load as the game progresses, avoiding getting overloaded is crucial. If you find yourself on your knees due to stamina depletion or knocked to the ground, mash the dodge button to recover from the staggered state quickly and avoid extra damage. I haven’t allocated any points to health and haven’t had issues with health pool yet. I’ve defeated Warrick using a combination of parries and rolls. Game gets even harder after Warrick. Hopefully, the developers will take a look at the parry mechanics.

32

My advice:

  • Stay behind him as much as possible. Most of his attacks are forward facing, and if he sweep-attacks you have more time to “read” the attack before it hits you.

  • Always wait for him to finish a combo before attacking.

  • Have a healing rune on your weapon. Eleanor sells “Heal Aura”, which is good because you can use it with only 2 focus and will almost full-heal you. This means you won’t have to rely on consumables. Just get huge distance from the boss before using it, because the cast is around 2 seconds.

  • Parrying might seem tricky at first, but can turn a 20 minute fight into a 2 minute fight due to the amount of focus (and therefore runic abilities) it generates.

33

This is after Warrick

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34

Oop. My mistake, I confused it with Darak.

One thing to keep in mind pre-Sacrament: The blacksmith offers unlimited free repairs, so you do not need to waste healing items while exploring the first three areas (Shallows, Mariner Keep, and the Glades). Just let yourself die and repair for free when you need to. If you explore all of the zones and save your healing items you should have at least 40 mushroom soup (and be level 6) by the time you face Warrick.

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If you’re able to record footage of your gameplay, maybe some of us could offer more specific advice.

36

This surprises me. I thought I did everything, and I just got lvl4 before going to Warrick. I cleared a new realm and was lvl5 when I got to him :melting_face:

37

I was playing on Saturday evening, but it sounds like I didn’t get an update. Repairing items after death was definitely not free. It got to the point where it almost seemed better to go in with only a sword, because the repair costs were cheaper for a single item than having to repair all my armour too. I think I must have burned through a good 20 or so crab / mushroom soups, and all my potions & bombs.
I may give it another go this weekend, if I can find the time.

38
  1. If repairs aren’t free before Warrick you should make a bug ticket, as it’s intended to be free
  2. Personally I prefer to just wield my weapon and no other gear, since you get fast rolls and can roll way more often/easier stamina management :+1:
39

I totally get your frustration. I struggled a bit on Warrick too. If at 58 I can do it, I am sure you can with practice if you still want to play the game.

Regardless of any other tips, I suggest trying to stay behind Warrick. He has these super aggressive attacks and he over commits forward. I found that rolling in a strafing direction toward his back got me out of harms way and was able to get a couple of hits in.

I died A LOT. But eventually it clicked and I was able to get into Sacrament. The only time I have died more was the first boss in Wo Long and I literally spent DAYS trying to get past it. When I did the rest of the game was really fun. Challenging for sure, but fun. Getting past Warrick was worth my time, blood, sweat and tears. I hope that will be the case for you too,.

I really hope you get past him because the game is super enjoyable in my opinion.

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40

Since you are early in the game you may want to create a new realm on the latest patch. Repairs at Warrick are DEFINITELY intended to be free. Actually they are free until you enter Sacrament so you can really explore and get an idea of combat techniques on less punishing encounters.

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