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[B-Genius]

Can someone explain to me why I'm sitting on 68 cracked red eye orbs earned from duels and still haven't reached rank 1 in the brotherhood of blood?

Man, I only have 15 cracked blue eye orbs and I thought I was doing something wrong...

This is what I was trying to ask earlier. How do you level up in these covenants (BOB and BS)?

Do you get something different for a successful invasion rather than winning a duel?

 

[DracoBlade]

I'm genuinely curious is Dark Souls more popular in the west then Japan? I'm inclined to believe their is of course a following in JP but it seems (aestheics and western inspired settings aside) more geared to the West then domestic audiences. Just curious thought I'd ask you guys .


Really thinking about giving Souls another chance seeing as though I salty quit back in 09 with Demon's as a noob.

 

[Steel]

Man, I only have 15 cracked blue eye orbs and I thought I was doing something wrong...

This is what I was trying to ask earlier. How do you level up in these covenants (BOB and BS)?

Do you get something different for a successful invasion rather than winning a duel?

It's supposed to be 50 duels/invasion kills to rank up once, 150 for 2nd rank, 500 for 3rd(Absurd, yeah). Of course I've won a lot more than 50 duels/invasions since joining the covenant, and yet I still haven't ranked up. I'm afraid to join another covenant till I get the rank up, because I don't know if I'll lose my progress.

 

[Papercuts]

It's supposed to be 50 duels/invasion kills to rank up once, 150 for 2nd rank, 500 for 3rd(Absurd, yeah). Of course I've won a lot more than 50 duels/invasions since joining the covenant, and yet I still haven't ranked up. I'm afraid to join another covenant till I get the rank up, because I don't know if I'll lose my progress.

Have you been giving the items to the covenant leader? I dunno if they all abide by the same rules but the few I've dabbled in worked like that.

 

[Steel]

Have you been giving the items to the covenant leader? I dunno if they all abide by the same rules but the few I've dabbled in worked like that.

He doesn't accept items(Bellkeepers don't either btw). Just keeps giving me the same tired dialogue.

 

[Papercuts]

He doesn't accept items(Bellkeepers don't either btw). Just keeps giving me the same tired dialogue.

Ah, alright. Looking at the wiki it seems like he should give you the item when you talk to him, but I also see that losses apparently count against you...which is fuuuucked up, haha.

 

[Steel]

Ah, alright. Looking at the wiki it seems like he should give you the item when you talk to him, but I also see that losses apparently count against you...which is fuuuucked up, haha.

You gotta be shitting me... I mean if the goals were lower than 50/150/500 I could understand, but as it stands this covenant is bullshit then. I shouldn't have to do many more duels to get rank 1 in that case, but no way am I grinding 150 till they fix this system.

Oh, and thanks for pointing that out. I didn't read that part.

 

[SargerusBR]

Jesus Christ, the

Spoiler

Duke's Freja

on NG+ is a fucking nightmare.

 

[Tirod]

Man. So I started my Sorcerer build earlier yesterday, and just now I upped the bonfire intensity at

Spoiler

Lower Brightstone Cove

to challenge the NG+ version of [Great Soul Boss Spoiler]

Spoiler

The Duke's Dear Freya

and man the weapon you get,

Spoiler

Moonlight Greatsword

, just wrecks EVERYTHING. I've only got it upgraded to +3 as well, with 46 Intelligence. Can't wait to see it at +5 and 50 Intelligence.

 

[theSlacker]

The Sun Sword +10 is incredible with its A/A STR/DEX scaling. Finally found a replacement for my Drangelic Sword +5.

40/25 I believe. I can get 7 hits in with my current stamina which is enough for most dudes.

Couldn't replace my Drangelic Sword even with the Sun Sword. Also how do you get all 7 hits off? Can roll away after every second hit from the Sun sword as it leaves a huge opening I thought.

How good is the Mastodon Sword? The moveset looks pretty awesome.

Mastodon has great scaling and will do a ton of damage, but it has the inferior overhand slash one handed strong attack. If you are fine with that it seems like a great sword.

Also unrelated to all that, the Llewellyn armor set looks really cool. Only seems to drop from the

Spoiler

statues out front of the mirror knight fight though.

Wish this Mastodon armor set was better since it looks really cool too.

 

[ExiledMarkzmen]

Been moving through the game with ease again. Decided to try some pvp and while I can handle most players. Anyone using magic usually destroys me. Any tips on pvping magic users?

 

[maomaoIYP]

Been moving through the game with ease again. Decided to try some pvp and while I can handle most players. Anyone using magic usually destroys me. Any tips on pvping magic users?

Get up close.
Roll.
Magic parry.

edit: Also, if I'm not wrong the mirror knight's shield reflects magic without requiring you to parry. Don't quote me on this though.

 

[Randam]

You gotta be shitting me... I mean if the goals were lower than 50/150/500 I could understand, but as it stands this covenant is bullshit then. I shouldn't have to do many more duels to get rank 1 in that case, but no way am I grinding 150 till they fix this system.

Oh, and thanks for pointing that out. I didn't read that part.

Dude, the game is out for 2 weeks.



And yeah, dieing in some stupid way, when the boss only needs 1 last hit is awesome.

Wanted to heal against the

Spoiler

spider

to get the last hit, but missed 1 of her little friends.

Second time I was avoiding her laser and went over the cliff.

I don't even get mad anymore.

 

[Steel]

Been moving through the game with ease again. Decided to try some pvp and while I can handle most players. Anyone using magic usually destroys me. Any tips on pvping magic users?

Magic users are easy as hell. Wait for the spell to be cast, then roll when it gets close. Just time it with the sound of casting and you won't be hit most of the time. There's really nothing they can do outside of breaking lock on and manual aiming to prevent you from just dodging every spell.

Dude, the game is out for 2 weeks.

Not saying it's the end of the world, but that's a pretty bullshit way to set up a covenant. I mean, 500 wins to max it out while you simultaneously lose a win every time you lose a battle? Yeah....

Edit:

Roy The Explorer didnt drop shit when I killed him. Anyone knows Why?

No idea, he shoulda dropped his helm, but if you want his armor, creepy shop keeper lady should be selling it. Or wait, are you talking about

Spoiler

Vavlaan

?

 

[Cyborg]

Roy The Explorer didnt drop shit when I killed him. Anyone knows Why?

 

[cpp_is_king]

The only shield I know to work against this boss is a +10 Gyrm greatshield, with about 20 endurance. That's enough to block 2 ticks (you get guardbroken on the second tick but it doesn't matter since you don't take damage from it in this game, as opposed to DS1).

Havel +4 works, just tested. Take damage on both ticks but still survive. Wasn't wearing a flame quartz ring either

 

[Deified Data]

Dude, the game is out for 2 weeks.

I don't get it. Are you saying those advancement milestones are reasonable? There are people who have beaten the game 3 or more times since release - advancing in a covenant shouldn't have to be a lifelong goal, especially when so much of the stuff is already available in-game (

Spoiler

Wrath of the Gods and Bountiful Sunlight can both be obtained from Wellager in NG++

...a hell of a lot quicker than getting 500 PVP kills, unless you're profoundly skillful). I mean why hide those miracles behind such a huge entry barrier when the game just gives them to you later down the line?

 

[ExiledMarkzmen]

Magic users are easy as hell. Wait for the spell to be cast, then roll when it gets close. Just time it with the sound of casting and you won't be hit most of the time. There's really nothing they can do outside of breaking lock on and manual aiming to prevent you from just dodging every spell.

Ill definitely keep trying. Maybe its just bad luck but the magic users I run into manage to keep their distance and roll out of my swings when I do get in close. I must practice more!

 

[Cyborg]

No idea, he shoulda dropped his helm, but if you want his armor, creepy shop keeper lady should be selling it. Or wait, are you talking about

Spoiler

Vavlaan

?

No I was talking about the dude near the

Spoiler

rat covenant

He didnt drop anything, realy strange

 

[Steel]

Ill definitely keep trying. Maybe its just bad luck but the magic users I run into manage to keep their distance and roll out of my swings when I do get in close. I must practice more!

Key there is to strike them at the end of their roll, or in the middle of a cast(If they're casting and you stagger them it'll cancel the cast). Generally I do a couple false swings to get the caster to start dodging when I get close, then I go in without slashing, right next to them. More often than not they'll think you're about to slash and then roll to dodge, and they're not invulnerable at the end of it.

If distance is your problem, roll toward spells(You'll generally still dodge them). Be wary of people with pyromancy flames though, they'll just pop an aoe around them when you get close(But it's pretty obvious when that happens).

 

[B-Genius]

It's supposed to be 50 duels/invasion kills to rank up once, 150 for 2nd rank, 500 for 3rd(Absurd, yeah). Of course I've won a lot more than 50 duels/invasions since joining the covenant, and yet I still haven't ranked up. I'm afraid to join another covenant till I get the rank up, because I don't know if I'll lose my progress.

Ah, alright. Looking at the wiki it seems like he should give you the item when you talk to him, but I also see that losses apparently count against you...which is fuuuucked up, haha.

Holy balls, is it the same for Blue Sentinels? I've stayed away from the Wiki until now, but I might have to look into this... don't wanna waste my energy on a sub-par PvP build with requirements like that.

I guess we could try and slog it out while the going is good (competition has not yet heated up online; most randoms are pretty easy to figure out). But then there's the issue of needing a Token of Fidelity for every duel. Even if you have a 100% win ratio, that's a lot of defeating bosses/invaders...

Plus I haven't been able to invade a guilty world even once yet. Using the orbs always fails. Ah well. Guess I'll dabble in some other covenants for this playthrough, but I was really hoping to go all out with Team Blue from the start!

Edit:
Checked the Wiki. The rewards for ranking up are

Spoiler

miracles and I'm not even a FAI build =/ There's always the leader's armour but still...

.

I love this game, but damn.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Is the idea of the whip basically that if you can keep the combo going for long enough against a poorly armoured enemy, you're rewarded with a high damage final attack?

Tested it once on a basic Hollow, and the first 4 hits did like 10 damage each, then the final one did about 250

Is it a feasible weapon to use often? Looks fun at least

 

[Steel]

Edit:
Checked the Wiki. The rewards for ranking up are

Spoiler

miracles and I'm not even a FAI build =/ There's always the leader's armour but still...

.

I love this game, but damn.

By the way, you can just get that armor by murdering the covenant leader and buying it from the old creepy lady, Though, you will get hunted by blue spirits everywhere you go afterward(I love it, personally).

Is the idea of the whip basically that if you can keep the combo going for long enough against a poorly armoured enemy, you're rewarded with a high damage final attack?

Tested it once on a basic Hollow, and the first 4 hits did like 10 damage each, then the final one did about 250

Is it a feasible weapon to use often? Looks fun at least

Noticed people using it offhand as a poison weapon in pvp. It's irregular long range attacks makes stacking poison easy. Damage sucks regardless though.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Should FROM have made the covenant rewards clearer, at least in terms of telling you the basics like you need 10 kills for an upgrade item, 20 for a spell, 30 for an armour set etc?

Some of them seem reliant on the game being played by a lot of people, so I'll probably be able to max out 2 covenants at most before summons start to die out. Especially for the Way of Blue, where I didn't get a single summon in about 5 hours of wearing the ring. I'd have been pretty pissed to find the the first 2 rewards are

Spoiler

Faith spells

if I was doing it blind tbh

@above, are sins absolved in NG+? If so, is it worth just going through the areas murdering every NPC to get their sets?

 

[Steel]

Should FROM have made the covenant rewards clearer, at least in terms of telling you the basics like you need 10 kills for an upgrade item, 20 for a spell, 30 for an armour set etc?

Some of them seem reliant on the game being played by a lot of people, so I'll probably be able to max out 2 covenants at most before summons start to die out. Especially for the Way of Blue, where I didn't get a single summon in about 5 hours of wearing the ring. I'd have been pretty pissed to find the the first 2 rewards are

Spoiler

Faith spells

if I was doing it blind tbh

I don't think clarity is the biggest issue here. I maxed out both the rat and the bell tower easy, they had very reasonable requirements for leveling up and pretty decent rewards. But then you have blue sentinels and BoB requiring 500 to max for rewards that aren't much better than the covenants that require a fraction of that PLUS taking off a win for every loss and you're left feeling that the designers were schizo.

@above, are sins absolved in NG+? If so, is it worth just going through the areas murdering every NPC to get their sets?

No. They aren't. And I murdered every npc I could think of before NG+. Suffice to say I get invaded 4 times an area, at minimum.

 

[mxgt]

Spoiler

Looking Glass Knight

was disappointingly easy. dispatched first time without any real trouble.

Hoping to get the game finished up this week, although I really don't want it to end. Will probably jump right into NG+

 

[ebullientprism]

So if I upgrade my bow to the poison path, does that mean regular arrows will have poison build up and I dont need poison arrows anymore??

 

[The_Hitcher89]

I don't think clarity is the biggest issue here. I maxed out both the rat and the bell tower easy, they had very reasonable requirements for leveling up and pretty decent rewards. But then you have blue sentinels and BoB requiring 500 to max for rewards that aren't much better than the covenants that require a fraction of that PLUS taking off a win for every loss and you're left feeling that the designers were schizo.



No. They aren't. And I murdered every npc I could think of before NG+. Suffice to say I get invaded 4 times an area, at minimum.

Holy shit, I thought I misread the 500 number and it was actually 50, since the

Spoiler

Bell Keepers

is only 30. 500 is ludicrous.


Does that mean you'll be spending a lot of souls in NG+ if you want to get the NPC-kill rewards like that, without being invaded for sinning?

Does the cost of absolution go up the more times you require it?


Wonder if its actually possible to beat this naked, with just a powerful bow. I imagine the draw time is too long to be able to handle the boss arenas

 

[Orthogonal]

It's supposed to be 50 duels/invasion kills to rank up once, 150 for 2nd rank, 500 for 3rd(Absurd, yeah). Of course I've won a lot more than 50 duels/invasions since joining the covenant, and yet I still haven't ranked up. I'm afraid to join another covenant till I get the rank up, because I don't know if I'll lose my progress.

I think you may need to have the Covenant ring equipped for the win to count, but not sure. That could also be why they aren't counting.

 

[Steel]

Holy shit, I thought I misread the 500 number and it was actually 50, since the

Spoiler

Bell Keepers

is only 30. 500 is ludicrous.


Does that mean you'll be spending a lot of souls in NG+ if you want to get the NPC-kill rewards like that, without being invaded for sinning?

Does the cost of absolution go up the more times you require it?

Dunno. Before I even went on my murder spree I was already at a 150k absolution cost. My guess is that it would cost over a million souls for me at this point. If you're planning to absolve yourself afterwards, I wouldn't bother.

I think you may need to have the Covenant ring equipped for the win to count, but not sure. That could also be why they aren't counting.

Well, the wiki specifically states that the ring is not required. Unfortunately, as someone earlier pointed out, the wiki also states you lose a win for every lost duel.

 

[Raxus]

I dunno if the wiki can be trusted on that account seeing as I have yet to run into one rank 1 in that covenant. I just chalked both PvP covenants as fools errands. You can earn all the spells in the (PvP) covenants in NG++ anyways.

 

[Orthogonal]

Well, the wiki specifically states that the ring is not required. Unfortunately, as someone earlier pointed out, the wiki also states you lose a win for every lost duel.

If that's how it really works, then that is bullshit and bad game design. Only a very small percentage of the player base will be able to get 500 more wins than losses (without cheating).

 

[Cannon Goose]

Magic users aren't necessarily a problem online, like in the first game the attacks are all fairly easy to dodge. My only problem is that all the mages I've come across so far in PVP use a large variety of magic so I've been caught off guard several times.

Also, one guy I fought had this massive block of a sword. It reminded me a bit of the Dragon Bone Smasher from DeS but more proper. It was fatter than the Greatsword I think. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[B-Genius]

By the way, you can just get that armor by murdering the covenant leader and buying it from the old creepy lady, Though, you will get hunted by blue spirits everywhere you go afterward(I love it, personally).

Hmm. I'm not that desperate for it, tbh. Kinda defeats the point of being a goody-two-shoes as well.

Ah well, maybe I'll keep my first character as an honest BS trooper anyway. I do enjoy the duelling to be honest, and if there are other ways to get those spells (for a proper FAI character), I'll have another character for that later.

Perhaps my guy will betray his leader and steal his armour at the end of my first playthrough... then he'll absolve and look the part for NG+ when hopefully Blue invasions will be easier.

 

[Raxus]

Magic users aren't necessarily a problem online, like in the first game the attacks are all fairly easy to dodge. My only problem is that all the mages I've come across so far in PVP use a large variety of magic so I've been caught off guard several times.

Also, one guy I fought had this massive block of a sword. It reminded me a bit of the Dragon Bone Smasher from DeS but more proper. It was fatter than the Greatsword I think. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Soul Greatsword is the only 'melee' spell mages have and yes, it is very difficult to dodge up close.

 

[batbeg]

So what's the deal with Vengarl? I've

Spoiler

met him, killed his body, and have had him tell me he will assist me in battle in the future.

Is there anything special about him though? Just confused by his presence in the OT title.

 

[Footos22]

New game plus makes you feel like superman. everything drops like flies.
the walk up to blue catherdral from majula was amazing. Red phantoms everywhere, an extra knight or 2 to deal with as well. unfortunatley once you cleared it out once they dont respawn at all. The boss fight in the cathedral. took me just one chaos storm and a stab with my mastadon halberd. same with the other boss in that area. its aweosme lol

Spoiler

Ruin sentinels

pffft

I hope pyromancy doesn't get nerfed. I'm melting everything.
Next up is

Spoiler

Lost sinner

will see how that goes lol

 

[Dyna]

I am at L

Spoiler

ost

S

Spoiler

inner

in New Game+ right now, this is a nightmare! What's the best way to deal with

Spoiler

the pyromancers

? And how the hell am I supposed to

Spoiler

keep Lucatiel alive through it

?!

 

[catashtrophe]

Beat both bosses in the

Spoiler

Huntsman Corpse (Chariot Boss and the 3 Skeleton Necromancers)

area and not sure where to go now, I opened up

Spoiler

Harvest Valley

but there’s poison lakes (gas) everywhere so is there anything that can protect me from it?

I also

Spoiler

jumped down the hole in Majula and got to the Grave of Saints

but just saved at the bonfire.

Any recommendations of which area to progress through?

 

[Orthogonal]

Beat both bosses in the

Spoiler

Huntsman Corpse (Chariot Boss and the 3 Skeleton Necromancers)

area and not sure where to go now, I opened up

Spoiler

Harvest Valley

but there’s poison lakes (gas) everywhere so is there anything that can protect me from it?

I also

Spoiler

jumped down the hole in Majula and got to the Grave of Saints

but just saved at the bonfire.

Any recommendations of which area to progress through?

Either of those area's should be fine to progress, just made it through there myself actually.

Spoiler

If you have a few poison moss clumps you'll be fine in Harvest Valley. Also, you can easily run through there without getting poisoned but if you do, just pop a Lifegem and/or an Estus and you're fine because it wears off fairly quickly.

 

[batbeg]

So that one guy in the wheelchair you see from time to time? I swear I've seen him three times now, but I'm at

Spoiler

Drangleic Castle and is saying this is the second time we've met. Did I screw anything up here or miss out on anything cool?

 

[Steel]

So that one guy in the wheelchair you see from time to time? I swear I've seen him three times now, but I'm at

Spoiler

Drangleic Castle and is saying this is the second time we've met. Did I screw anything up here or miss out on anything cool?

Spoiler

Did you meet him in Black Gulch? Fortunately, it doesn't matter what order you see him in, just that you see the creepy bastard 3 times. He's a covenant btw.

If that's how it really works, then that is bullshit and bad game design. Only a very small percentage of the player base will be able to get 500 more wins than losses (without cheating).

Yeah. Imagine being a player that wins 50-50 and never getting anywhere in the convenant. I'm inclined to believe the wiki in this case though, I've already won about 70 times and I'm not rank 1.

 

[Ardenyal]

No. They aren't. And I murdered every npc I could think of before NG+. Suffice to say I get invaded 4 times an area, at minimum.

Ohhhh, so that's why i've been getting invaded so much. I started NG+ and in Heides tower i can barely kill the first two knights before i get invaded. I summoned some help and got invaded three times on the way to pikachu... The phantoms got tired of fending off the invaders so they just stood back and spammed the "have mercy" emote

 

[Zukuu]

does buffing the bonfire in majula increase actually any enemy? I can only think of the skeleton in the basement, the pigs and maybe the suicide bomber before

Spoiler

gutter

. Anything else?

 

[Robot Pants]

So summoning:
Soul memory comes into play when trying to summon a friend of mine? We are the same level, using the same god on the name engraved ring and we can't for the life of us find each other's signs. It worked earlier in the game but now it's just not at all. What gives?

 

[Arjen]

So what's the deal with Vengarl? I've

Spoiler

met him, killed his body, and have had him tell me he will assist me in battle in the future.

Is there anything special about him though? Just confused by his presence in the OT title.

Spoiler

Alomst everyone wears his armor because it's damn good

 

[Orthogonal]

does buffing the bonfire in majula increase actually any enemy? I can only think of the skeleton in the basement, the pigs and maybe the suicide bomber before

Spoiler

gutter

. Anything else?

Spoiler

Probably all those weird zombie dudes and the basalisk before the entrance of Shaded Woods.

 

[Steel]

So summoning:
Soul memory comes into play when trying to summon a friend of mine? We are the same level, using the same god on the name engraved ring and we can't for the life of us find each other's signs. It worked earlier in the game but now it's just not at all. What gives?

Use this:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Summon+Range+Calculator#.UzPpZIWGiBU

Soul memory only applies in NG, not in NG+. I had a friend summon me several times in NG after we figured out how soul memory works(though when I got too far ahead of him, it became impossible for him to summon me till NG+).

 

[Dresden]

Also, one guy I fought had this massive block of a sword. It reminded me a bit of the Dragon Bone Smasher from DeS but more proper. It was fatter than the Greatsword I think. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Probably the crypt blacksword. Massive dark element damage.

 

[Yaoibot]

Had to stop watching after he beat

Spoiler

Lost Sinner

because he moved on to an area I haven't explored yet.

It's just hilarious to watch him talk at length about how smart a tactic it is to run from everything while he's constantly getting attacked. Had to run back and forth to the bonfire in Sinner's Rise several times because he just couldn't be bothered to kill the enemies before flipping the elevator switch, meaning it took him longer to pull the lever using his method than it would have been to just kill the enemies.

Key there is to strike them at the end of their roll, or in the middle of a cast(If they're casting and you stagger them it'll cancel the cast). Generally I do a couple false swings to get the caster to start dodging when I get close, then I go in without slashing, right next to them. More often than not they'll think you're about to slash and then roll to dodge, and they're not invulnerable at the end of it.

If distance is your problem, roll toward spells(You'll generally still dodge them). Be wary of people with pyromancy flames though, they'll just pop an aoe around them when you get close(But it's pretty obvious when that happens).

This only works if the caster doesn't have Soul Greatsword. Otherwise you could be dead. That spell is smazing against DEX builds or Spear users.