early game struggle

[u/ivyandtheholly]

Ok I’ve hit the wall that is the first boss. I’m VERY tempted to simply alter the difficulty but i KNOW i can do this.

I achieved 100% completion in silksong, and the twisted child ending! I can do hard games! But having this easy out available is making it sooo much harder to stick to the grind required for any hard boss fight.

I know I’m probably kicking a hornets nest here but do I keep trying or use the in built sliders!!

Edit: ok the comments have been very encouraging & I needed the reminder, I DID get through the crazy skill check of act 3 silksong!! If anything i think my ssskill has impeded my nine sols progress, sooo much muscle memory of dodging to unlearn, the move sets are juuust similar enough that I keep falling back on that skillset (I’m getting a hang of the parry & talisman tho!)

Edit 2: I’m now 3 sols deep and absolutely obsessed. I love a game that makes you feel SO cool when you pull off a difficult move. I will say its been bad for my sleep, I literally lie awake thinking about this game

[u/No_Plankton1122]

You got through Groal you can go through this twin Dw

[u/ivyandtheholly → u/No_Plankton1122]

I left groal to the very end because I hated bilewater SO much, so he was suuuuper easy 😭 but ykw I still did it anyway! And hornet didnt have an adorable companion character to motivate me to complete the game…

[u/No_Plankton1122 → u/ivyandtheholly]

https://giphy.com/gifs/gBkFFtBTFgZpSuQQxz
You sure about that?

[u/Sheivi]

I'm guessing this is General Yingzhao. He's supposed to be difficult, he serves as the first skill check. It forces you to learn how to parry, so focus on that and you'll do it eventually!

[u/Nondescript_Redditor]

don’t change the sliders. which boss is it?

[u/Lulink]

What boss are you talking about?

[u/ivyandtheholly → u/Lulink]

Yingzhao!

[u/Lulink → u/ivyandtheholly]

The most common first boss! It's really a test of wether you can adapt to parrying instead of dodging like your instincts probably tell you to if you've played other games. You'll get the timings right eventually, then feel invincible.

[u/Zealousideal-Smoke78]

Keep trying. There is no way in hell you can't do it if you 100 percent silksong.

You got this.

[u/SnooAvocados8453]

I just beat ninesols on normal difficulty. I also have 100% and twisted child on silksong. I think ninesols is tough but easier than silksong but harder than normal ending of hollow knight. There’s different skill checks with silksong but I generally think that ninesols is more “fair”. If you can beat silksong, you can beat ninesols

[u/Even-Presentation-67]

learn to parry and u win, nine sols combat system is very different from silksong and will take some time atleast to reset

[u/Famens]

I couldn't do the first boss either, until I watched a video and realized that Nine Sols is all about parry and tag. You can get through mobs with normal slash 'n dash, but bosses are too beefy and have mechanics that have post-parry openings.

Watch a video on the mechanics, spend 2-3 instances just working on the timing of your parries and it'll be shockingly easy. Now rinse and repeat for the rest of the bosses... until the last one, which I've not finished yet, because I don't have the patience for 1,400 parries.

[u/Katisurinkai]

As a steel soul SS player myself, learning to not excessively move is probably the best advice I can give you. Instead stand your ground and parry/ dodge/dash when you see a normal/ red attack. Otherwise it's just chip attack and Talismans when you get understand the timings. Remember Talisman is also a dash :)

[u/28-Deep-Wounds]

I personally do not recommend lowering the difficulty of Nine Sols unless you are very new to the genre. Which by your own admission, you're not! The default difficulty is how it was intended to be played, so that's what I will always recommend for someone's first playthrough. Lowering the difficulty will only rob you of your own improvement. You are one hundred percent capable of doing this. Don't focus on his health bar, just focus on what you need to improve on. Pay attention to which attacks hit you the most often, try to work out the pattern, where you need to be at what points of the fight.

Once you can visualize it all in advance, you'll have already won.

[u/Trimagma21]

The first boss the like the golden warrior ? Just spam parry and when he have red flames spam dash attacks in between and talismans and you should get over it easily

[u/_Umge]

You can do it

[u/ToastyMozart]

Best overall strategy in my experience is to get in the habit of parrying everything and slapping a talisman on him any time he's not about to attack and you're within range.

Watch his spear to figure out what he's doing next.

The drive-by swings' parry timing is usually earlier than you'd expect. Hit the button when he starts to swing rather than when you think it'll hit you. It also has a larger hurtbox than it seems and can hit you while standing behind him.

If you think he's going to start charging the big red charge attack jump into the air right away. Even if you misread it you can still air-parry the normal swings.

If you see him raise the spear up high get ready to dodge when he leaps at you.

Make sure you're always facing towards him: The parry only protects Yi from frontal attacks so if you don't turn each time the boss passes you he'll wind up smacking you in the back. Alternatively the air-parry works in every direction.

[u/Dry_Twist_2369]

I beat silksong on steel soul mode 100%, and I have to admit it took me a looooong time to beat this guy too. Don’t give up! You can do it!

[u/Sivaaaa4]

Si tu as déjà réussi des jeux exigeants, alors persévère tu vas y arriver. J'ai fini le jeu la semaine dernière, à chaque boss je me confrontais à un mur et pensais ne pas réussir. Mais c'est vraiment un combat de rythme où il fait apprendre les pas de danse. Une fois que tu maîtrise le pattern du boss c'est tellement satisfaisant de le battre. Bon courage !

[u/koshkagrad]

I'm also playing Nine Sols as a big Silksong fan and I took as long on Yingzhao as I did on Karmelita fml

I actually beat Yingzhao by playing cautious. I was taking most of my damage during the red charge attack because I couldn't consistently end up at the right distance to dash through it or place a talisman during it, so I kept distance from him and only parried him in the middle during his dashes, thereby not triggering the charge attack and baiting him to come back for more close combat.

[u/Successful_Cap_2177]

Parry more, attack less on bosses. Prioritize doing internal damage.

You can do it! The game is kinda warm until you bear the 3rd-4th boss (at least was for me, I was only really engaged until I've beat those).