Acid Surge, Elemental Damage & Bosses?

Will Acid Surge make Bosses more vulnerable to Elemental Weapons?

Never tried this but, theoretically, for any boss that actually has gear that's "equipped" it should damage it. If damaged enough I would think that all resistances would be lowered. My guess is it might be very limited (which boss, how much difference, etc.). Interesting theory. I know some bosses are susceptible to bleed so my guess is if you tried this every time you'd find one or more where it would work.

I'm hoping it would work. Everything I've read says elemental weapons suck in NG+1 and beyond. I'd prefer to wield an elemental weapon and pump up my Attunement over str/dex/etc.

What weapon are you planning on using? Elemental weapons can get limited very quickly. My +5 lightning broadsword was given up at the end of NG because it lacked enough punch. If you're looking more magic with attunement you can invest some in intelligence and use buffs on your weapons. I used to use the Lifehunt Scythe primarily until I got enough intelligence to use Crystal Magic Weapon. Combined with a +15 Great Scythe this was the new winner.

skarekrow13 wrote:Never tried this but, theoretically, for any boss that actually has gear that's "equipped" it should damage it. If damaged enough I would think that all resistances would be lowered. My guess is it might be very limited (which boss, how much difference, etc.). Interesting theory. I know some bosses are susceptible to bleed so my guess is if you tried this every time you'd find one or more where it would work.

Alright, but what bosses have armor "equipped"? Gwyn and O&S, Right? The rest are demons/dragons

The gargoyles? They have a shield, helm, and halberd that is a weapon and armor of sorts that can be rusted out?

The demons and their weapons? Perhaps you could remove such weapons damage wise.

Iron Golem? An Axe and Iron metal suit. Easily rust able.

You just named all my guesses. I was curious as to what bosses bled and did all of them with the Lifehunt. My only caution with trying acid surge is that it can be hard to pin most bosses to a spot to make this efficient. My bleed results are inconclusive on many bosses as getting enough consecutive hits can be a chore. Might be tough to bait bosses into the cloud. Demon's souls had some nice applications for this though so my guess is it's gotta be a good idea somewhere.

skarekrow13 wrote:What weapon are you planning on using? Elemental weapons can get limited very quickly. My +5 lightning broadsword was given up at the end of NG because it lacked enough punch. If you're looking more magic with attunement you can invest some in intelligence and use buffs on your weapons. I used to use the Lifehunt Scythe primarily until I got enough intelligence to use Crystal Magic Weapon. Combined with a +15 Great Scythe this was the new winner.

I haven't decided yet. I like the Claymore and the Flamberge. I was thinking of carrying a few weapons of different elemental types... maybe a +5 Lightning Claymore and a +10 Fire Flamberge, their requirements and move sets are similar. I'd just use whichever seemed to work better for a given enemy.

I'm thinking that with a 50 Attunement I can soak the **** out of anything with Acid Surge and beat on them with the Claymore or Flamberge.

I would caution putting that much stock in acid surge unless you already have your stats where you want them. From what I understand, Acid Surge is only effective when the opponent has equipment to corrode and enough time in the fog for corrosion to destroy the gear. My guess is many opponents will be completely immune (demons and dragons aplenty) and others too quick (ornstein, Gwyn). Unless you have enough in your other stats to make your weapons of choice effective you may be in a pickle. I forgot to add earlier....with Acid Surge it should also up your physical damage because all resistances due to armor should go away. My guess is when this works it will REALLY work. I know I keep referencing my bleed build experiments but I think it'll be similar. When I attacked stray demon with bleed I took pretty good gouges but bleed build up ripped him apart. Made the fight almost too easy.

Also, I wonder if it would make some enemies attacks completely ineffective. The most likely candidate is the Iron Golem which might be why he has the grab attack. Even if you corrode him he can still get you somehow.

I was hoping the Dragon's scales and the Demon's thick skin could be corroded by the acid

It's possible but a gamble. I really like the idea as I kinda neglected this spell in Dark Souls but definitely have a backup plan. Just remember, you gotta get them to sit in the cloud(s) and live long enough for it to be effective. If you try this on different bosses let us know how it works out.

poison and toxic mist work on s&o as does bleed, the firesage can be poisoned and bled... nito is probably immune to all status effects. 4 kings don't bleed. all others are unknown to me...

Stray loves to bleed. Assume asylum does too but he dies too easily. Even with Lifehunt a lot of other candidates are hard to test (sif, gargoyles, taurus, capra, giant rat, etc) because they either jump away and make you wonder if bleed washed away or they die too fast like asylum. The ones I suspect bleed does not affect are iron golem, nito, seath and centipede demon. I wailed away on those guys with a Lifehunt and nothing. Nito I actually upper my resistance like crazy and killed myself. I bet acid will have similar results. I really wanna test it on iron golem. Slow moving enough to walk right into it and maybe a weakness. Boars might be fun too

Imo, I would say just on other players and AI mobs.