What game are you playing?

[TedEH]

Not sure if this goes here or the Elden Ring thread, but I've discovered one of my least favourite Fromsoft enemies: The pinwheel skeletons. Just brutal.

 

[wankerness]

Not sure if this goes here or the Elden Ring thread, but I've discovered one of my least favourite Fromsoft enemies: The pinwheel skeletons. Just brutal.

In DS1 they’re ridiculous. They made them a lot easier in subsequent entries. I don’t even attempt to fight them unless I have a good shield (greatshield of artorias is my go-to). Even with that you’re usually dead if you pull more than one or two at the same time. That big room in the bottom of the catacombs is terrible, I always hang wayyy back and slowly attract one at a time. The ones in the painted world are sometimes even worse cause you’re in narrow hallways where they basically can’t miss. If they hit you head-on and without a very good shield and full stamina you’re pretty much dead.

 

[MFB]

Not sure if this goes here or the Elden Ring thread, but I've discovered one of my least favourite Fromsoft enemies: The pinwheel skeletons. Just brutal.

I'm 99% sure I know exactly where you are in the game if you've encountered pinwheel skeletons, but know this: they don't get any better either. Worst part is that they've also spread to other games, Nioh having their own version called Wheelmonks, and they also happen to do fire damage in their wake/spit fire at you; real tedious SOBs that I'm tired of dealing with, and I've only encountered them maybe a handful of times.

 

[wankerness]

The ones in ds1 are still the worst though. Ds2 and 3 they won’t ever 1-shot you unless you have like zero armor and zero points in HP, and they do way less stamina damage if you try and block them.

Wheelmonks are worse in some ways (fire trail, explosion every time they get back up after a knockdown) but are generally much easier to dodge, safer to block, and once you have half decent gear you can usually stun them in like two hits and take them out before they get up.

 

[TedEH]

I've gotten as far as beating the pinwheel boss guy in his little library pit (which was pretty trivial), where you get the mask from him. Then climb up the ladder, follow the glow-y lights to some kind of giants tomb or something, but I never made it out of the dark area. I get stomped by the giant skeletons before getting very far. I normally try to run from the wheel-skellies instead of fighting, but it feels like luck. Sometimes I run through unscathed, other times one gets you from the wrong angle and you're done for. Or they all hit you at once. Feels like a cheap enemy. But then everything from the catacombs area onward feels pretty brutal so far. I think there's a necromancer guy I've missed somewhere because some of the skeletons keep resurrecting still, even though I could have sworn I got them all. Does one of them resurrect? Is there a new one spawned after pinwheel dies?

 

[wankerness]

I've gotten as far as beating the pinwheel boss guy in his little library pit (which was pretty trivial), where you get the mask from him. Then climb up the ladder, follow the glow-y lights to some kind of giants tomb or something, but I never made it out of the dark area. I get stomped by the giant skeletons before getting very far. I normally try to run from the wheel-skellies instead of fighting, but it feels like luck. Sometimes I run through unscathed, other times one gets you from the wrong angle and you're done for. Or they all hit you at once. Feels like a cheap enemy. But then everything from the catacombs area onward feels pretty brutal so far. I think there's a necromancer guy I've missed somewhere because some of the skeletons keep resurrecting still, even though I could have sworn I got them all. Does one of them resurrect? Is there a new one spawned after pinwheel dies?

You must have missed a necromancer. In the catacombs, they only respawn if there's a connected necromancer still alive. That area has a lot of weird paths and hidden areas so it's not surprising. Like, did you find the skeleton blacksmith? I think maybe there's one down by him. Getting to him requires falling off a ledge at the bottom of a thing that looks vaguely like a spiral staircase. I usually die at least once trying to do it. Also if you accidentally lure a bonewheel skeleton towards the entrance to the blacksmith they'll kill him and you're screwed.

Did you beat Ornstein and Smough and then place the lordvessel underground? There's like, a big yellow impassable wall that you'll hit in tomb of the giants if you haven't yet, so you definitely are going to have to backtrack if you didn't. If you have, then yeah, Tomb of the Giants just sucks. I NEVER do it unless I've gotten the flashlight helm (sunlight parasite, I think it's called?) from the shortcut in Demon Ruins (the only way to get it is to talk to that spider lady after quelaag that's behind an illusory wall - first join the covenant and then give 30 humanity to her, and then there's a huge wall that will be open when you get to the area down the path after beating CEASELESS DISCHARGE, the best-named boss in the game). If you don't have that, then you're stuck holding the offhand lantern, which basically nullifies your defense, which is very bad considering you basically need either a huge 2H weapon or a greatshield to be able to deal with those awful dog skeletons that can kill you in the blink of an eye that are everywhere.

 

[MFB]

Did you beat Ornstein and Smough and then place the lordvessel underground? There's like, a big yellow impassable wall that you'll hit in tomb of the giants if you haven't yet, so you definitely are going to have to backtrack if you didn't. If you have, then yeah, Tomb of the Giants just sucks. I NEVER do it unless I've gotten the flashlight helm (sunlight parasite, I think it's called?) from the shortcut in Demon Ruins (the only way to get it is to talk to that spider lady after quelaag that's behind an illusory wall - first join the covenant and then give 30 humanity to her, and then there's a huge wall that will be open when you get to the area down the path after beating CEASELESS DISCHARGE, the best-named boss in the game). If you don't have that, then you're stuck holding the offhand lantern, which basically nullifies your defense, which is very bad considering you basically need either a huge 2H weapon or a greatshield to be able to deal with those awful dog skeletons that can kill you in the blink of an eye that are everywhere.

Seeing all this written out, it REALLY makes me wonder why I've invested so much time in this company's games