The original.
The first.
The zero-spoiler run i started on release of the game.
One of the most defining characteristics of this playthrough was how the build came about. During initial playtesting and marketing, the community became aware that in addition to the usual souls-formula Faith and Intelligence stats, there was also Arcane, hearkening back to Bloodborne, a game which i've not played myself but is very interesting to me from an art and storytelling perspective.
So in that time, i make myself two promises:
I'm going to find a summonable bird spirit (spirit ashes being another thing seen in early marketing)
And i'm going to do an Arcane build. Fully having NO IDEA what that would entail.
Turns out, blood! and goddamn Dragons!!!
I did make one concession though. I wanted to do spellcasting in some manner, and if Arcane didn't work out for that (as it turns out it didn't, at least not purely) i would also dip into faith. I tend to mix my caster characters with one of either Strength or Dexterity a lot of the time too, and in this case it was Dex.
I was also planning to use bows more often than i did in the end, they just didn't end up vibing with my play style very well.
But!
Reduvia being an extremely early-game Arcane weapon was a big leg up, between that and i think Storm Blade i was having a lot of fun with chain-castable projectile weapon skills.
Later down the line i picked up the Bloody Helice and Vyke's War Spear, both still favourites of mine, though i find myself leaning more towards faster weapons these days.
Leaning onto faith, of course, gave me a wide variety of spells to deal with a lot of different situations. Or rather, it gave me Frenzied Burst which carried me through like most of the latter half of the game. I can't remember if that particular spell was more powerful in the early days, but it's still a force to be reckoned with and i think that might have smoothed over some of the tougher sections.
But alas. All was not well.
That first promise i made myself?
To find a summonable bird companion?
There's two of those in Elden Ring, one from a painting that can be acquired from the Prophecy painting found in a sideroom in Stormveil Castle, and the other from the Precipice of Anticipation teleporter at the Four Belfries.
Now not having a guide or anything, i knew about neither of these. I think i completed some of the paintings but not that specific one. And when i got to the Four Belfries, i SPECIFICALLY AVOIDED the Chapel of Anticipation because i thought that was Boring because i'd Already Been There. Turns out it's the only goddamn one worth GOING TO if you know what you're doing because the other two have like one talisman each but i DID get an early view of Farum Azula and that was honestly incredible.
But alas, i never found my bird. I would complete the game without Stormhawk Deenh at my side, which freakin sucks because it's a really good summon that i now like a lot and not even just because it's a bird.
One last anecdote from my first run is finishing off the deathroot quest going like "i feel like these item descriptions are implying that maybe Gurranq is Maliketh but naah that doesn't sound right" and then IMMEDIATELY walking smack into his boss fight and finding out I WAS RIGHT!
Fun times.
Fashion:
Mask of Confidence / Raptor's Black Feathers / Maliketh's Gauntlets and Greaves
This was the one I finished the game with. Love the black feathers, though i do wish it had sleeves.
Maliketh's Helmet, Gauntlets and Greaves / Sanguine Noble Robe
Wielding the Bloody Helice
This is just like. The Look™ for this character. I don't really like the pronounced shoulders on Maliketh's Armor, but the rest of the set matches wonderfully with the Sanguine Noble Robe.
Melania's Winged Helm / Drake Knight Armor / Tree Sentinel Gauntlets and Greaves
An alternative fashion i put together after hunting down various bits of gear. I kinda... accidentally massively overleveled my character while trying to beat Melania, they're about level 200 now despite not having entered NG+ yet. Probly gonna like... speed through NG+ and maybe NG++ at some point (picking up the few items i missed the first run) just to get them back to a kinda normal level again.