In any Dark Souls-type game there are two types of players: those with shields and those without. If you belong to the first group, you can be one of those who use the shield to perform parries or simply to minimize the damage of the enemy by pressing and holding the button to cover yourself with the shield. But here there are usually loopholes that the rival takes advantage of to consume our resistance… or life.
I am one of those who use shield in Elden Ring, for example. And not only to minimize damage in certain situations, but to perform the second type of counter-attack when the enemy hits you. Throughout my almost 150 hours of play, I’ve tried a lot of shields, like the “wall shield” to heal myself progressively. But if we talk about total protection, the shield of dactylograms has no rival. Although getting it will not be easy, beware…
The Forsaken Abyss hidden in Leyndell
Leyndell is fascinating. And much bigger than it appears to the naked eye. In fact, at the bottom of it is the underground of the marginalized, accessible through two wells located in the central area, depending on how far you have advanced in the story. Yes, even if you have killed the last boss of Farum Azula you will still have unrestricted access to the hidden sewers of Leyndell.
The common link is the Grace of the “Underground Path”, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve run into Maliketh’s surprise… there is only one problem: this region does not have a map and to top it off it is quite labyrinthine in certain sections, so it will help if you have played the Dark Souls to guide you while you unlock all its shortcuts to Grace “Leyndell’s Catacombs”.
your first goal is to unlock the door located in front of the Grace of the Underground Path. And for this you will have to make a significant detour through the interior of endless pipes full of rats, the bug-eyed creatures that cause you instant death and other “friends” to make it difficult for you. So be patient.
From the outset, access is on your left as you leave La Gracia. Go to the bottom and drop down the hole that leads to the pipes. You have to find an exit where you can see some stairs at the end and a heavy enemy. After passing that area you will see later a circular section with some stairs going down. Instead of going that way, drop to the left side and go down.
This other section also leads to another series of pipes with a most labyrinthine design, but there are usually closed paths so you can rule out routes. Your objective here is to activate the elevator seen at the bottom of the gigantic well.
The trouble you can have to get there is getting lost in these other pipes and various rooms, because there will be some that connect with areas that you have previously visited, but at different heights. He will know that you have found the elevator room seeing a lot of Jars They will ambush you, so be careful.
Mandatory Step: Defeat Mohg, the Augur
After going down the elevator and activating the Grace of the Forsaken Abyss, you will see a room at the bottom where you will face Mohg, the Omen. A fairly aggressive boss due to the bleeding that he will apply to us with various attacks, but not nearly as demanding and tough as the one at the end of Mohgwyn’s palace…
It is recommended to summon the cooperator Zampaheces, whose specter you will have seen in the Table of Lost Grace and which you can release precisely in the area of the sewers, shortly before finding the elevator. With his help and the summoning of some ash, Mohg can be defeated without too much trouble if you watch his attacks and don’t rush, with the peace of mind that with him you won’t need the cleansing crystal tear to free yourself from the curse of the Lord of the blood. Because this Mohg is not exactly the same Mohgwyn.
take the talisman Boon of the Golden Tree +1 from the chest at the bottom, which will come in handy by increasing your maximum health points, stamina, and equipment load, and hit the back wall or just roll on it. Because behind the chest there is an invisible wall that gives access to a hidden area of the catacombs and an essential passageway to reach the Chamber of the Frenzied Flame
But the latter does not interest us, but the precious shield…
Get the fingerprint shield… without falling
We reached the desperate zone. As you can see when you enter the back of the Cathedral of the Forsaken, these catacombs are littered with corpses… with some enemies who are placidly playing a tune without being aggressive. And in the middle, a precipice that you must go down, go.
The first section is easy, going down the three planks watching each fall. Things get significantly more complicated from there, as you have to control each jump to land on the protruding tombstones. The trick is to take the third plank as a reference and from there turn left and jump over there to the first tombstone. Then roll to the middle one and so on until reaching the inescapable frenzy.
That highlighted object is the clue that tells us where we should stop, since on this floor we will have on the right hand side, at the bottom, the desired shield of the fingerprints, the best of Elden Ring. Although to get all its juice (like any shield) you will need to improve it and equip yourself properly, of course.
But a comparison is enough to show its enormous difference compared to the rest of the shields: its almost perfect stability. This value indicates the degree of resistance that will be nullified when you protect yourself with the shield. Or put another way, the higher the value, the less stamina consumed when protecting. But it is that it also has the highest values in protection against physical damage, apart from those that come from magic, fire, lightning or sacred. It is bestiality.
So that you have no doubts about the whole process, since the part of the Leyndell catacombs is quite confusing, we leave you this video from Caspahz that sums it up perfectly, especially regarding the deadly jumps of the final part.
How to be totally unstoppable and attack without fear
Having used forgestone to max out the shield and gain those extra 9 points in stability, you still have a few last steps to becoming the perfect tank with the chance to cover and attack at the same time without taking damage.
To start, equip yourself with a trinket that dramatically increases the negation of any type of damage, such as the Dragon Crested Large Shield Charm for Physicians or the +2 Pearl Dragon Charm for non-Physicals. And if it’s about magic, fire or lightning, that’s where the talismans with sorcerer dragon, igneous dragon or blazing dragon come in, respectively, which you will have obtained with total security at this point.
Of all of them, the only talisman that you may have overlooked is the aforementioned large shield talisman with dragon crest, being one of the legendary that are achieved at the end. Specifically, from the Grace “Desaguadero” of the secret area of the Hieratic Tree of Miquella. Go through the branches to the left until you reach the top of the church. Drop down one of the holes and grab the shield guarded by a multitude of enemies. Be careful.
The other talisman with which you maximize the power of any shield and that should not be missing from your team is called “talisman with large shield” and is obtained at the gates of Leyndell, by the Altus plateau. Starting from the Grace “Hill in front of the Golden Tree”, one of the first that you can activate in that area, go down to the enemy camp and pick up this talisman from the caravan on the right.
And did you know that you can attack and cover at the same time? It is one of the often overlooked quirks of shields, in part because this is reserved for any type of spear. So equip yourself with some powerful one, like the vyke’s war spear (with stacking madness and fire damage) or the inquisitor candlestick (with stacking bleed and fire damage), and attack while still protecting yourself with the dactylogram shield. Do damage without taking damagewe go.
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