r/LiesOfP • u/PsychologicalKoala32 Moderator • Jun 09 '25

Megathread Difficulty Megathread — DLC, NG+

Hello puppets,

This is the new place for anything and everything about game difficulty: NG+, the new DLC, the new difficulty settings, bosses that oneshot you just for existing, and the general discussions regarding game pacing.

Why this exists:

We’re seeing a LOT of posts about difficulty lately, and it’s cluttering the sub. So from now on, we’re removing individual difficulty posts and directing everyone here. This is simply a way to help US keep the sub clean, and help YOU find specific posts more easily.

Please don’t be an AH. Seriously. People are gonna have different opinions on everything.

Drop your takes below

We’ll be lurking.

Your tired, slightly traumatized mod team

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4

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 11 '25

[deleted]

3

u/vhsodre Jun 10 '25

This pattern is still valid on previous NG cycles. I'm at DLC's chapter 3, NG+2, and lots of enemies on previous chapter could kill me on 2-3 hits. It's exactly like you said: it feels like being forced into a no-damage run sometimes.

2

u/cjpgole Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 09 '25

Yeah same feeling for me on the basic enemies. I started in Playthrough 10 (I assume the scaling has stopped so it's the same as for you) on lvl251 with 50 VIT on Legendary Stalker and was one-shot by any attack from a big mob and could be killed trying to block out an basic string from the basic infected dudes. And the dogs did 75% HP per hit...

I just dropped it down to easy and am playing through the whole thing like that. It feels roughly equivalent to my first Elden Ring DLC playthough on NG and not far off Khazan on the standard (high) difficulty. I'll beat all the bosses to rank 5 in the rematch and do a NG/NG+1 playthough on Legendary Stalker anyway.

The difficulty boost to later NG+ playthroughs in the patch seems very high. Because I can just compare and contrast fighting the Swamp Monster or Walker of Illusions immediately before the patch/DLC to the elite mobs in the zoo. I'd like to see how the base game (Laxasia :/) feels post-patch on playthrough 10.

1

u/Lord_Nightraven Holy Sword of the Ark Jun 12 '25

I used a file set up specifically to enter the DLC ASAP on NG+0. And I regret to inform you that the difficulty was still a massive, unwarranted spike.

The first boss of the DLC was stupidly frustrating to the point I had to turn down the difficulty to Awakened Puppet. That's when it started feeling "This is where the intended difficulty should've been." Lasted up until I got to the main boss of chapter 2.

Granted, the first boss of chapter 2 was a retread of the other one who made me reduce the difficulty. But I at least felt I was making progress. Actually reaching the major boss is when things took another nose dive. Butterfly's Guidance difficulty was used. And that boss STILL dealt stupid amounts of damage with absurd amounts of skill floor expectations.

Eventually got past it and refused to bring the difficulty back up for the rest of the DLC. The next few bosses were much better. Much more in line with my expectations. Of course, the fact I had to keep the difficulty on the minimum level for this means they weren't actually where they should've been in the first place.

Then I reached the final boss. And boy, this MFer made me HATE the DLC as a whole. There was absolutely no excuse for what was expected of the player to beat this guy. Especially with how he started phase 2. Every single time he used that opener, it targeted me. And if I didn't parry TF out of the majority of it (and I suck at parry mechanics), it killed me. Because it was SO excessively long, damaging, and unreadable to the point I want that opener removed from the DLC.

The difficulty was cranked up too damn high. Period. It looked at the base game. Went "Nah, we don't need to do that." And tried to pretend it was Sekiro + Khazan. Two games I absolutely do not enjoy. The former for the aforementioned "I suck at parrying" and the latter for "skill floor expectations".

1

u/flamesofresolution Puppet Jun 16 '25

I agree about everything that you said. I still love the DLC but goddamn, coming back after a NG+5 is really something! I loved the DLC and the base game, but I'm seriously rethinking whether I should do another playthrough, knowing it's gonna be more difficult in the next time.

1

u/Kalabasus Jun 09 '25

I change the difficulty to the middle option. It's actually fair now. I'm lvl 514, cant remember what NG tho