Dark Souls II |OT2| Prepare to Vengarl

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you'll have a lot of sin to pay off if you don't want a lot of blue invaders, so be sure to see the pardoner before starting journey 2.

How much would this cost if you
killed every NPC
though? I've only
killed one NPC
and I saw it would cost over a hundred thousand souls to redeem myself.

Though I'm okay with being invaded frequently in a future playthrough, it would suck if it were absolutely constant.
 
So, I can use an ascetic on any of the bosses twice that drop different items in NG++ to get them in NG right? Pretty sure I can, thinking I'll kill
Scorpioness Najka
a couple more times to get the
Southern Ritual Band +2
, but don't want to waste my ascetics if that's not the case.
 
I didn't really want to post in this thread til I was done with the game, mostly because it's a nice sense of relief and also in case of spoilers.

But man.
Shrine of Amana
is total crap for a STR build.

I'm sure there have been many, many people in my position, but its so disappointing to find an area so late in the game that pretty much requires you to have ranged weaponry. (I do have a little bit of magic, but of course they're mostly resistant to it).

Also doesn't help that the run from the bonfire to the boss felt like an annoying slog, which so few have so far in the game.

Anyway, rant over, loving the game otherwise, just needed to yell at a wall for a while.
 
People though the same about Dark Souls 1, but when the PC version appeared, people hacked into the files & were able to view all the levels & they were indeed all connected.
Can't find that video, but it was something like this


I wouldn't doubt Dark Souls 2 is the same, after all, there is no load times whatsoever if you were to walk to all the areas.
Oh I dont doubt they are all connected....I just don't think they portrayed the depth correct to scale when you are viewing far away areas. I can easily get disoriented, but I swear you should be able to see the ocean of majula after simply going through a quick tunnel to the forest, passing the circular area where the white knight is, and then going up some stairs....instead of where there should be ocean when I look back to where I just came from at the 2nd bonfire up high all I see is mountains.....fail.

the video you were recalling is here as I have it bookmarked!
 
How much would this cost if you
killed every NPC
though? I've only
killed one NPC
and I saw it would cost over a hundred thousand souls to redeem myself.

Though I'm okay with being invaded frequently in a future playthrough, it would suck if it were absolutely constant.
It's based on SL...and it ain't cheap!
 
I haven't really had any issues with any bosses thus far until
Smelter Demon.
That fucking piece of shit. It shouldn't be a tough fight but I can't seem to pull out the win. I eventually burned through a ton of effigies with two phantoms to help most of the time and still couldn't do it. I'm down to like one human effigy now because I'm a fucking dumbass. I am pretty sure I can skip this, but the ass kicking I'm getting just makes me want to beat the shit out
Smelter Demon
even more.

On a funnier note, I got invaded last night in the
Iron Keep, right at the entrance
by some Hex / Pyro user and it was a tough fight, but I held out and took him down. Then proceeded to summon that same invader to my game to help me try and take out
Smelter Demon.
We pointed at each other and then bowed, and then tried to kick some ass. It was just kind of funny.

You must EARN the alliance.
 
Took out the last of the Four last night;
Duke's Dear Freja
for me.

Figure I've got all or close enough to all my options on the table now, don't have to make level decisions based on gear I happen to have, can make 'em on the gear I want. Respec time!

But before I embark on tinkering with my dude, I've always been wondering: how do catalysts work? Should I be upgrading them? How does that cast time stat work? The stat screen shows higher numbers in blue when equipping; are higher numbers actually better?
 
He finished DS1, and halfway through DS2 as the review.

Even mentions he needs to go back and play DeS all the way through.

Yeah just watched it and I'm surprised. Like his review of DeS and then how he wrote an editorial about how right he was about it being shit when he got complaints is when I stopped watching his bit. Wounder what got him to actually give the DS a full try.
 
Yeah just watched it and I'm surprised. Like his review of DeS and then how he wrote an editorial about how right he was about it being shit when he got complaints is when I stopped watching his bit. Wonder what got him to actually give the DS a full try.
He did a review on DS1 which explains it - people he knew kept recommending it, DS2 was coming up for review, and most importantly - there was jack all to play at the beginning of this year.

And for what it's worth, I felt exactly like he did when playing DeS, but instead of channeling anger into an internet video I channeled it into the game itself.
 
I just can't get a rhythm down as a dual wielder.

yeah takes some practice...helps to have fully upgraded weapons though...I started dual wielding a scimitar and falchion at plus 3 and threw out the idea...now that they are both at plus 9 it is more viable. at plus 6 or 7 I could 1 combo Alonne knights:

L1 2 hits
right jab,
stamina recover while they are stunnned for split second (prolly need stone ring)
right jab.

It looks cool and all, but I revert back to the +9 Rickards rapier....3 r1 jabs has less room for error. I still have to upgrade my regular rapiers and try the dual wield double jab with proper upgrading ....looks like it will be deadly once i get enough stats to dual with Rickard's. Need 38 dex I think.

PVP is a tough one though if someone turtles....
 
Does he play it as much as he played DeS? As in quitting before the first boss?

No, but he has been playing DS into NG I think.

His review is spot on with DS2 though with some of the level designs and bosses.
I hate and love warping. I miss DS great map design with its interconnectability and intertwining paths to each area.
 
If I have no interest in magic or miracles or pyromancies, is there any reason I should unpetrify
Straid
and waste one of my branches?

Out of curiosity, has anyone gone with Explorer for their opening class, any advantages to it??
 
So, I can use an ascetic on any of the bosses twice that drop different items in NG++ to get them in NG right? Pretty sure I can, thinking I'll kill
Scorpioness Najka
a couple more times to get the
Southern Ritual Band +2
, but don't want to waste my ascetics if that's not the case.
I have not tried, but pretty sure ENB was rambling about it in his videos as he takes the ascetic as his gift at the start. I have not tried but my guess is that it is a safe assumption.

Wow, the dude wants 141k souls from me to get ride of my sins.

I don't even know what I have done.
I have never been invaded by a blue, but I wonder if covenant killings count? I leveled up to +1 in Rat and +2 with the Bell ringers.

On another note, I started a new Dark Hex character and even though my first character has been playing since launch, the new character caught up in 1 day. I know the speed runs prove how quick you can go if you want but I was doing a tonne of co-op.

Does anyone actually use the time/soul limited hexes? Are they any good....will try and post a review if not. A I the only one that is confused how the staff/chime bonus system works? How the fcuk do I figure out which staff/chime is better? I thought the transgressors staff would be good, but I cant see how it possible beats the starting mage staff....maybe later when bonuses count more? The bonus stats are not displayed the same as weapon bonus are they? So far I upgraded the sunlight staff and archdrake chime. The actual damage goes up when i hit things, but that is all I am going on.
Out of curiosity, has anyone gone with Explorer for their opening class, any advantages to it??


I find it hard not to take explorer every time...the high ADP at the start makes it more like DS1 where you can at least roll around quick at the start. Plus you get a 4000 souls lockstone, bombs, gems, and an item discovery hat.
 
I have not tried, but pretty sure ENB was rambling about it in his videos as he takes the ascetic as his gift at the start. I have not tried but my guess is that it is a safe assumption.


I have never been invaded by a blue, but I wonder if covenant killings count? I leveled up to +1 in Rat and +2 with the Bell ringers.

On another note, I started a new Dark Hex character and even though my first character has been playing since launch, the new character caught up in 1 day. I know the speed runs prove how quick you can go if you want but I was doing a tonne of co-op.

Does anyone actually use the time/soul limited hexes? Are they any good....will try and post a review if not. A I the only one that is confused how the staff/chime bonus system works? How the fcuk do I figure out which staff/chime is better? I thought the transgressors staff would be good, but I cant see how it possible beats the starting mage staff....maybe later when bonuses count more? The bonus stats are not displayed the same as weapon bonus are they? So far I upgraded the sunlight staff and archdrake chime. The actual damage goes up when i hit things, but that is all I am going on.


I think the idol's chime is the best for hexes. There's another one that looks like it scales better with lightning damage.
The archdrake staff seems kind of pointless to me, wish I didn't upgrade it. Should have just waited till I got the Sunset staff.

I use resonant soul and great resonant soul. They're really good, but they take 2 slots each. Don't accidentally try to use them if you don't have any souls! Great Resonant takes up to 500 souls per cast and Resonant takes 100.
 
Am I the only one that is confused how the staff/chime bonus system works? How the fcuk do I figure out which staff/chime is better? I thought the transgressors staff would be good, but I cant see how it possible beats the starting mage staff....maybe later when bonuses count more? The bonus stats are not displayed the same as weapon bonus are they? So far I upgraded the sunlight staff and archdrake chime. The actual damage goes up when i hit things, but that is all I am going on.

You're not, I'm in the same boat. But upgrading did make a difference? For sure?
 
For the life of me I cannot find the
Sinners Rise.
I've been up and down the
Lost Bastille
. Beat the
Ruins Sentinels
, beat the
Gargoyles
, and have bonfire access via the
bird nest route
and via
No Man's Wharf
. But, cannot find how to get to SR.

Any advice or hints? I'm going crazy over this!
 
I have
lit the 4 primal bonfires
and now have no idea where to go next. The lady in Majula told me to
look for the castle
but that doesn't give me much direction. Hints anyone?
 
He did a review for a game he didn't finish?
Hey, he gave this game 30 hours. He gave FFXIII Lightning Returns 3 hours.

Anyway.
I Praised the Sun all last evening, got the Sunlight Spear for my first faith build. Never bothered to give it a try in DS1, but it's rocking in this game. Wonder how long before it'll get nerfed.

Every play DS1 unpatched? Good grief what a slog.
 
For the life of me I cannot find the
Sinners Rise.
I've been up and down the
Lost Bastille
. Beat the
Ruins Sentinels
, beat the
Gargoyles
, and have bonfire access via the
bird nest route
and via
No Man's Wharf
. But, cannot find how to get to SR.

Any advice or hints? I'm going crazy over this!

If you have a Pharros stone, go back to the area where there are some dogs and a well you can pull up where zombies come out. Go through the building there, and head to the next area (I think up a ladder), and there'll be a Pharros lock. Use a lockstone and it'll take you on the right path.

I remember another way to get to it, but I think you need a key from a later area.
I have
lit the 4 primal bonfires
and now have no idea where to go next. The lady in Majula told me to
look for the castle
but that doesn't give me much direction. Hints anyone?

Go to the Shaded Woods (from Majula, there is a lady you can unpetrify, and you can get to the Woods then). There is a bonfire down the path and crossroads. Take the left path.
 
Hey, he gave this game 30 hours. He gave FFXIII Lightning Returns 3 hours.

Anyway.
I Praised the Sun all last evening, got the Sunlight Spear for my first faith build. Never bothered to give it a try in DS1, but it's rocking in this game. Wonder how long before it'll get nerfed.

Every play DS1 unpatched? Good grief what a slog.

Sounds more like detailed impressions. Oh well, I don't really watch his reviews anymore. They're pretty one note.
 
Hey, he gave this game 30 hours. He gave FFXIII Lightning Returns 3 hours.

Anyway.
I Praised the Sun all last evening, got the Sunlight Spear for my first faith build. Never bothered to give it a try in DS1, but it's rocking in this game. Wonder how long before it'll get nerfed.

Every play DS1 unpatched? Good grief what a slog.

- Horrible humanity and twinkling drop rates
- fog ring broke lock on
- magic ring shield insanely powerful
- overpowered pyro and lightning weapons
- higher aggro range for izalith dragon butts
- curses stack

Yeah.. I think DS2 is in better shape than the first game was at this point. I think there's plenty of things that can be patched/balanced though, but I'd mostly just like to see soul memory limitations loosened up.
 
For the life of me I cannot find the
Sinners Rise.
I've been up and down the
Lost Bastille
. Beat the
Ruins Sentinels
, beat the
Gargoyles
, and have bonfire access via the
bird nest route
and via
No Man's Wharf
. But, cannot find how to get to SR.

Any advice or hints? I'm going crazy over this!

Do you know where straid is? Should be able to find it from there.
 
Every play DS1 unpatched? Good grief what a slog.

What exactly got changed in the DS1 patches? I platinum'd it in about two weeks after release and didn't play much more until the DLC, but I don't remember many patches other than nerfing the fog ring and a couple other things.
 
- Horrible humanity and twinkling drop rates
- fog ring broke lock on
- magic ring shield insanely powerful
- overpowered pyro and lightning weapons
- higher aggro range for izalith dragon butts
- curses stack

Yeah.. I think DS2 is in better shape than the first game was at this point. I think there's plenty of things that can be patched/balanced though, but I'd mostly just like to see soul memory limitations loosened up.

Holy shit, I remember the shield, you could kill most bosses with 2 or 3 l2 attacks with it, it was so broken.
 
Staying in front seems to be the best bet as he usually does the fire breath or bite moves, but every once in a while he'll fly up in the air and I'll just start crying. Already have most of the enemies on the way extinct - the first time that's happened throughout the whole game. Is the fire even survivable if I try to boost fire res or is it always autodeath?
It is survivable. I don't know if my armour made the difference, but with 2195 HP (43 VIG, 3rd Dragon Ring, Life+2 Ring, fully human), I survive it with a small sliver left. I can hollow about 2 times and still survive it, but IIRC at the 3rd hollowing I get OHKOed. I stacked fire resistant armour while still remaining light: Agdayne's set is very nice for that (and I wore Alonne Leggings+9), highest fire resistance I could find. Didn't care about physical because his physical attacks always OHKOed anyway.

With Flash Sweat active, the fire breath takes out about half my HP bar. With a Small Orange Burr, it takes about 2/3rd of it, but it still helps me survive. Better yet, it means that chugging 2 Estus will fully recover. Whereas even if I'm human and survive with the sliver left, 2 Estus won't bring me back to full health and the next AOE will kill me (I'd need a 3rd Estus or a lifegems and there's hardly any time to use it).

I found armor & shields useless for this fight. Usually if you get stomped by him or breathed by him, you're dead regardless, even with smelter demon armor.

What I did was... go totally naked, 2 hand your weapon with a stam recovery shield on your back.

- When the fight starts, start running towards him counter-clockwise. Make sure you bait his frontal cone attack before getting too close or else he will probably do the flying attack right away.
- While he is breathing the frontal cone, run underneath him and position yourself on the outer side of his rear right leg.
- Attack his toes a couple times and then wait.
- He will now either try to stomp you or he will crouch briefly and take flight.
- If he tries to stomp you, roll away and then get in a couple more toe hits.
- If he takes flight, right when you see him crouch, start sprinting towards his tail, he might spin a little bit to face you while he takes off, so you may have to run on a diagonal. If you react fast enough, you should be far enough away from the flame.
- After flight, he'll land. Just sprint back to that spot near his leg and rinse repeat.
- Sometimes he will jump in the air and not do a breath attack, but just slam his body on the ground. Running to his tail (don't stand under the tail's shadow, else you'll get slammed) will also avoid this, so just always run to his tail when you see him crouch.
- Don't get greedy on getting hits in on his toes, you'll need all your stamina to run away!

The worst part is making the run from the bonfire to the boss, those big knights are a royal pain.
My strategy was similar (2-handed washing pole and stamina regen ring on my back), but I didn't go naked because I can't consistently dodge the AOE enough so I did need some fire resistance to survive. Sometimes his tail will be too close to the edge and you can't run away far enough. So I needed to survive the fire and be able to heal it back fully. That's where Agdayne's armour and Flash Sweat (and Small Orange Burr when I ran out of casts) came in handy. I always made sure to have some fire resist buff active and that's the time I won the fight.

I hate to break it to you, but the problem is you. All of the scenarios you are describing can be avoided extremely easily by simply playing carefully. You don't have to run into rooms, you don't have to try and fight groups of enemies at once. Throughout all of Sinner's Rise you can pretty much coax those enemies out one by one. I think the only time you have to deal with a group of them is when you open the one gate and there are 3 right behind it around the corner. And even then, you can tag one of them (maybe two) with a long range option to break them away from the group so you can focus on one at a time.

Be careful, look around, and also realize that the enemies are always in the same place. If they get the jump on you once, okay, thats the name of the game. But if you walk through the same room a second time and a guy still jumps at you from around the corner, that's your fault.
Agreed. Another tip against the exploding guys if they're in a group is to use either the spell Yearn (if you're int build, that works WONDERS), or throw Alluring Skulls. The Skulls don't last that long but they all run towards it, which allows you to get free hits or simply run past them. Small wonder these enemies drop Alluring Skulls themselves, it's like the game is trying to tell you something. ;)

What's a good build to take on
Ancient Dragon
? I'm on level 137 and I've tried about a dozen times with little success. I've summoned about 20 different people to help me and none of them seemed to have a clue on the strategy either. I'm just going to use a soul vessel because clearly my currently build isn't getting it done.
See my replies above. I would also strongly recommend that you solo this boss. Even if the phantom knows the strategy, it's very easy to die anyway because of the OHKO, and when that happens to your phantoms you're stuck with a boss with more defense and HP. Not fun. My build was this (from memory), SL 134:
VIG 43
END 30
VIT 10 (? I forget to be honest)
ATT 12 (? whichever gave me 2 spell slots, one of which had Flash Sweat)
STR 16
DEX 40
INT 7 (base, Swordsman)
FTH 5 (base)

Weapons for the fight: RH Washing Pole+10 (two-handed), LH Blossom Kite Shield (stamina regen). With lightning resin I took out between 290-350 per hit, slightly less when the resin expires. In addition to the rings I mention at the beginning of my post, I use Ring of Blades+1 and Chloranthy+1. As lionpants said, don't get greedy, you need that full stamina bar to run.

I have never been invaded by a blue, but I wonder if covenant killings count? I leveled up to +1 in Rat and +2 with the Bell ringers.
Not the Bell for sure. I had tons of invasions under my belt when I first met Cromwell, and he said I had not sinned. Now I'm a sinner apparently, I think for invading the NPC
Licia
, which is kind of dumb, but I haven't been invaded by the blues in NG+ yet.
 
Helping people with Smelter Demon is trying my patience. Sure, it's easy enough to get summoned but between people getting killed by the heat blast and people letting themselves die because they thought having a summon would help keep Lucatiel alive somehow is getting seriously tiresome.

I've managed 3 medals in around 10 summons so far.
 
- Horrible humanity and twinkling drop rates
- fog ring broke lock on
- magic ring shield insanely powerful
- overpowered pyro and lightning weapons
- higher aggro range for izalith dragon butts
- curses stack
Don't forget you couldn't buy Twinkling, souls were far more scarce (as an example, the Gargoyles dropped 1500 souls together, now they drop about 10k together! Ghosts and skeletons in New Londo and the Catacombs didn't drop any either), and of course.... TWoP.
 
Helping people with Smelter Demon is trying my patience. Sure, it's easy enough to get summoned but between people getting killed by the heat blast and people letting themselves die because they thought having a summon would help keep Lucatiel alive somehow is getting seriously tiresome.

I've managed 3 medals in around 10 summons so far.

Earthen Peak is best sunbroing boss. Teach people to burn shit and easy as hell boss fight.
 
I keep hearing people say that sorcery is a bit if a let down this time round? Is that the general consensus?

For me it is a bit of let down. I'll preface this by saying I took a level 36 sorcerer all the way through DKS1 increasing only INT and ATT so I could do low level invasions with no shield and just catalyst and pyro glove on left hand.

I haven't had much of a chance to work with pyro on her yet, seems harder to get going but so I far at level 80-90 with 25 ATT, 40INT and 26 FTH and +9 archmage catalyst and chime I find her sorceries a but underwhelming compared to hexes and regular lightning spears. I'm not all the way through yet though I don't have crystal spells or some of the final hexes.

I'd like to roll a mace(amazing weapon this time) and Faith caster next. I'm also interested in some kind of utility mage maybe with max int of 19 or 28, some of the spells like yearn work suprisingly well for me.
 
I have
lit the 4 primal bonfires
and now have no idea where to go next. The lady in Majula told me to
look for the castle
but that doesn't give me much direction. Hints anyone?

It's in the
Shaded Forest
or whatever it's called. I'm not great at explaining directions, but if you backtracked all the way back from the
Duke's Dear
bonfire, you'd come to a fork in a round tower.
Pate
or
Creighton
hangs out in it at first; forget which one.
 
What exactly got changed in the DS1 patches? I platinum'd it in about two weeks after release and didn't play much more until the DLC, but I don't remember many patches other than nerfing the fog ring and a couple other things.

A lot of items you can acquire easily now had MMO type drop rates.
About a quarter of the enemies in the game didn't even give souls.
Many shopkeepers barely sold anything.
There was no reason to use anything other than elemental weapons because scaling stuff was worse in almost every situation.
People easily doing Ninja Flips while wearing the strongest armours in the game (exacerbated by the elemental issue, as everyone had absurd amounts of health due to there being no need to boost offensive stats).

Among several other things (like what Sullichin mentioned)

I played it through at release like that fine, but in retrospect Dark Souls was kind of mess at release compared to what it became. DS 2's release version is far more polished in comparison, and I have no doubt they'll fix the most glaring issues that come up.
 
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