If you have the defensive talisman(s) it works cumulatively.  A big hit that took me to 70% hp now does only to 90%. I think it works better for heavy armor builds too. I am serious in saying that before challenges are now simply cakewalks. I almost beat one of the 'hardest' late game bosses in one try. I am glad I didn't though because he is pretty cool, and I wanted to see more of the moveset.

Well, I checked with the full Verdigris set + Dragoncrest and you go from 50% to 75% damage absorption (with Scadu +19!) so tripling your defense unless you use more buffs shouldn't be possible. But let's leave it at that.

OT - So I beat the DLC. Had to resort to greatshield plus bleed-frost procs since that mofo has so much HP.

I went on to fight Malenia and man the difference is so stark to the DLC. Waterfowl can be a bit cheap but she just remembers to breathe, you know? I'm sure I'd get the same feeling even from DS3 bosses or whatever.

Overall I'm glad to be done with the insane anime flying across the screen with infinite AOEs and tedious combo. Don't get me wrong, the DLC is far from bad (mini-dungeons and the world map are a step up from the base game, even) but I doubt I'm going to ever replay a few things here.

The lore payoff was just bad but at least that ties up the story of the last of the demigods.

Insane. I dont even know what hes doing. lol

I also went back to the base game, just to finish it (I'd only killed Maliketh so far in the story). Godfrey fell in the second attempt, Radagon and Elden Beast in the first attempt for the first time ever (yay, Torrent in the Elden Beast arena!!!), and for good measure I returned to the Haligtree and had a go with Malenia; she fell on my second attempt and I only ever used four healing flasks. I didn't understand how relatively hard the DLC is before I returned to the Lands Between, the contrast is massive.

Even if I maxed scadu I'd pop a blood vessel if I tried to complete the DLC.so I've gone back to the base game cleaned up and finally gave in and finished it, Elden Beast was a decent boss, had to learn it cause my bleed build didn't work. Melania and Rellana are the best bosses this game had to offer by far. Fun, fair and just proper balanced difficulty, no camera fuckery or spastic move sets, the arenas were perfectly sized and summons aren't required for aggro if you wanna 1v1. Might do a NG+ and try the DLC again, def going back to fight Rellana at least.

I think the closest thing to the DLC in the main game, waterfowl dance aside, are some of Morgott and especially Maliketh's second phase moves. But chances are you'll get the phase transition when they are really down to 40% or less HP, and they aren't that tanky to begin with, so yeah.

(Another thing to consider in these games is AI RNG. 10% of your attempts will also have 10% of the most beneficial AI moveset being used against you, so have you really powered through the boss, or where you just lucky in a boss that takes that many attempts?)

Also, story-wise for the DLC:

Probably not the right place to ask, but anyone playing on PC? I've heard of stuttering issues but I'm grab the PC version. I'm tired of paying for PSN.

Enemies health and damage output in the DLC go up on NG+. I think it's generally considered more difficult on NG+ than on standard.

Oof. Oh well, at least I'll have a nice fight with Rellana. Base game  so far is ridiculously easy on NG+, I'm practically speed running. 

I've been having issues, it seems to happen regardless of what area I'm in and what I'm doing, and rather run on some form of cycle. For me, it happens every 5-10 minutes, two huge stutters with about 2-3 seconds in between, sometimes there's a third stutter as well. Interiors, exteriors, boss arenas, catacombs, makes no difference, and I can't seem to solve it. New drivers released today, I'm gonna install them and see it there's any improvement!