I had seen the use of freezing pots to cancel her waterfowl attack recently, and I wanted to try it myself! Considering I hadn't done a proper magic build, I liked the idea of using the Staff of Loss with the night sorceries (I didn't want to just Azure her).
I had also seen the Glintstone Pebble AoW wreck absolute face in PvP so I wondered how it would do in PvE. It turns out, it's like my most damaging spell! And the follow up also does great damage. This maybe is the chillest Malenia fight I've ever had. I got very lucky in the 2nd phase that she didn't do the spirit rush or waterfowl again, but I'm a little sad also because I would have liked to use more pots against her.
Eitherway, I think that Freezing Pots are the best counter to the waterfowl. Easily farmable and as long as you recover from your attacks fast enough to throw them, this makes the fight so much more enjoyable.
I've gone to maybe having it be my favorite one in the game.!
Nothing too special about the build :
50 vigor and 45 int
Staff of Loss (max)
Cleanrot Knight Sword (Max) with Glintstone Pebble AoW
Shield with No Skill AoW
For talismans I was using Alexanders, Ritual Sword, Magic Scorpion thing, and the Great Dragoncrest Shield for extra resistance.