I just beat Malenia and hoo-boy... it was basically an anime fight from both parties.
Only took me a couple of tries to beat her first form, but I had to change how I played completely... I got the read on how to dodge all her attacks with one big exception... when she goes fucking anime swordsman and murders you with seemingly no way to get out of it. What I needed was to get out fast and luckily I had just been using the bloodhound step to speed through the rot pools and since my primary attack is throwing lightning I had no issue just switching my rapier out for the bloodhound claws. Whenever she went in the air I instantly spammed step backwards to just GTFO, and even still she zipped so fast the last charge always had me stepping into her because of the the lock-on camera. Problem is, if she caught me with low FP and did that BS I was doomed, so for the first time all game I grinded about 4 levels to spend on mind so I could drink when I still had like 1/5th of my FP left as a safety net not to be caught unprepared. On top of that, I changed out one of my glass cannon trinkets I've used the whole game for the one that raises physical defense immensely I got in the tree earlier... usually my damage negation is in the negatives, but I couldn't afford to let her hit me for 90% of my health and fucking recover off it and I had to allocate another health flask to mana since it was so intensive and necessary and I also used a great rune (Godrick's) for the first time ever just so I could get some extra FP and HP. This is the only boss I've ever changed my play-style for.
Phase 2 is just a nightmare, sometimes she just barraged attacks over and over again with no break to even recover FP, let alone get off a single attack... and boy is it disheartening to see her health go up 25% when she combos you and you somehow don't die. It's a good thing she starts out with some health gone and in a vulnerable phase where you can hit her like 5-6 times. Almost all my damage came from when she repeated that big attack with end vulnerability and the very occasional moments she walked instead of constantly attacking. When I finished the fight I had gone through all 8 mana flasks and all 6 health flasks when usually bosses rarely take 3 mana ones with my usual 7/7 split.
I really don't wanna think about how a heavy melee weapon user with no FP to use bloodhound step would even being to deal with her BS... maybe she gets staggered and stance broken enough where it's not an issue but if that's not the case I just don't see how you'd have the tools to deal with the crazy sword combo in either phase. Heck, I don't know how my build would if bloodhound step didn't exist. Regardless of whether or not she's designed in a way that may be impossible for some builds, it was for sure a very thrilling and nail-biting encounter. Was really a spectacle with her zipping about all over and my constant "nothing personal, kid" teleports. I don't think I ever want to do it again, though... or maybe if I do I'll use a spirit since on my first play-through I have a no main-boss spirits policy. Although... would she just recover all her health wailing on the spirit...? That'd be cruel irony.