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[Mogwai]

Ugh, did the game just throw an bunch of rats at me and consider that a boss fight? Not impressed.

Wait, just wait.

 

[Finalow]

It's fast. If the other person has a delayed reaction (which happens), you can get a good hit in.

It's a good surprise weapon. Pull it out when the other person least expects it, then fire away.

You can't spam it, or just use it as a primary weapon, but it's good for support.



Not really. In PvE I only needed range for one boss. Mastodon Halberd is pretty powerful and Havel's Greatshield is great for defense. You can still substitute another shield though.

Same goes for PvP, though I use the Mastodon Greatsword instead. I win most of my fights. I use the Avelyn to have a range option, but it's not necessary. I've seen people do well with longswords and katanas too.

I know that it's fast but to me it just seemed really easy to dodge, no problem to deal against it. you clearly see it when someone takes it out. it's still probably good in pvp but if the enemy is decent you're going to get punished.
and no, it's not faster than GRS or other top tier spells (assuming you have high casting speed), and that's a case of when you're going to get punished unless it ends in a double death.

tbh, melee only builds are a lot weaker than spellcasting. of course it depends on the skill (also on lag/weird hitboxes*) and everything so you can win duels even with 2 shields but doesn't really change the fact that pvp it's unbalanced, even after this last patch.

*I'm not sure if it's the lag or just the fact that in this game A LOT of weapons have fucked up hitboxes.
I swear to god, in a lot of pvp matches I had the impression of being far away from the strike but I still got hit. I can't really say if it's lag or not but it's happening really often so I'm more inclined to believe that hitboxes in this game are fucked up.
so yeah, protip: always roll, even if the enemy is attacking with his sword from 30m away.

It needs to die so you can progress it still summons non player phantoms to the fight so I don't see the problem with not having players.

??
what are you even talking about. of course it needs to fucking die since it's a boss but what does that have anything to do with what I was saying. I was referring the time the boss summons another human player, during that time, while he is summoning someone, he can get killed. that's what sucks and what happened to me more often than getting killed during the loading screen.

 

[krakov]

I remember when Dark Souls came out after I've played the shit out of Demon's Souls there were moments where I thought it was the biggest pos ever.

So, what didn't you like and why did you change your mind? I quite enjoyed DS2 my first time trough and then some, I'm already getting tired of it though.

 

[Leezard]

Most weapons in this game seem to scale poorly with pure dex, B & A rankings seem to gain 50 / 90 damage (respectively) from 40 dex when fully upgraded. Best dex weapon I've seen seems to be the Blacksteel Katana (fully upgraded, gets S- scaling), which gains +134 extra damage with 40 dex. But that seems to be the exception, since a fully upgraded Spider's Silk also gets an S- ranking in dex as well, but only gains +87 damage.

So not a lot of options for pure Dex, damage-wise.

Indeed. At the moment, Blacksteel Katana or nothing if you want damage (perhaps Curved Dragon Greatsword? It got an S in Dex as well). It's either that or going poison/bleed, since it scales with dex now.

 

[Mistel]

Wait, just wait.

That will be the royal rat vanguard in the grave of the saints that's literally all it is.

??
what are you even talking about. of course it needs to fucking die since it's a boss but what does that have anything to do with what I was saying. I was referring the time the boss summons another human player, during that time, while he is summoning someone, he can get killed. that's what sucks and what happened to me more often than getting killed during the loading screen.

I was talking about you saying that it should be invulnerable as it summons and why it's a bad idea so you don't get summoned but what's the problem with that?

 

[Finalow]

I was talking about you saying that it should be invulnerable as it summons and why it's a bad idea so you don't get summoned but what's the problem with that?

the problem is that it's a nice feature for playing pvp along side with a boss vs an host and some phantoms, it'd be really fun but hey, it doesn't work that well at all.
again, it's a really cool mechanic taken straight from Demon's but adapted to this new boss so it's really a pity that it doesn't work properly.

 

[Inskipp]

Indeed. At the moment, Blacksteel Katana or nothing if you want damage (perhaps Curved Dragon Greatsword? It got an S in Dex as well). It's either that or going poison/bleed, since it scales with dex now.

CDG has a B- scaling in Str and requires 30 Str to use, so there's also that to consider . It's essentially a quality weapon in 'roids.

Also, why isn't Transgressor's Leather Shield more popular? 53 stability at +10, buckler parry- animation and good overall resistances (92,5 vs Dark!!) for 0,3 weight? Possibly the best stat/weight ratio out of all the shields.

 

[Leezard]

CDG has a B- scaling in Str and requires 30 Str to use, so there's also that to consider . It's essentially a quality weapon in 'roids.

Also, why isn't Transgressor's Leather Shield more popular? 53 stability at +10, buckler parry- animation and good overall resistances (92,5 vs Dark!!) for 0,3 weight? Possibly the best stat/weight ratio out of all the shields.

Oh right, yeah, there's the substantial stat invest unless you want to 2hand it.

I love the Transgressor's Leather shield. I have it Dark infused for 100% Dark resistance. It's the perfect backup shield.

 

[Sullichin]

I kind of feel bad invading for the Looking Glass Knight fight and going after Bernhart if he's there...kind of. Because it was very annoying when invaders did the same while I was going for the trophy, but it's a perfect example of some multiplayer trolling you can only do in this series.

Checked the NPCs quests. It seems that I did only one in my first run.
I had no idea that many of them were based on summoning to battle and keeping them alive :/

Yeah it's the worst. They often make the fights harder, which is ok, but sometimes they don't even make it into the boss fog and keeping them alive can be pretty frustrating.

 

[UnObtainium17]

I was a +9 Great club user with my STR build then respecd to DEX and now wields a +9 BS katana (or a +1 BK halberd).. Boy is my ass getting kicked right now or what. The difference in damage is pretty massive, no bleeding in this katana, poor durability, enemies not getting staggered by my hit. At least Now I dont feel OP at all. Thinking about returning my specs to be a GC user again and just make a separate character as a DEX/INT or FTH build. I wish I started as a deprived and not a knight lol.

Ricards Rapier seems a pretty good weapon too.

 

[Soriku]

I know that it's fast but to me it just seemed really easy to dodge, no problem to deal against it. you clearly see it when someone takes it out. it's still probably good in pvp but if the enemy is decent you're going to get punished.
and no, it's not faster than GRS or other top tier spells (assuming you have high casting speed), and that's a case of when you're going to get punished unless it ends in a double death.

I can deal with it too. I just tank the hits with my greatshield, like I do all ranged attacks But not everyone can.

Some people are good and can roll out of the way, but at that point you don't want to rely on it against that person. It's case by case though, and they can still get surprised. And even if they can roll, they might not be close enough to punish you for using it. I try not use the Avelyn if they're close unless they leave openings all over the place.

The Avelyn is only a tiny bit slower than some spells. The person using the spells will have a delayed reaction if you fire the Avelyn at the same time, and still get hit by it. This can end matches in ties.

Again, you don't want to rely too heavily on it. But it works. If you're a Str build like me, it's nice to have.

 

[GulAtiCa]

I find it a little funny when the invader is the one to run away to heal themselves.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

Maybe B team is harsh but its certainly not the original Souls team. I doubt they communicated much seeing each team is working on a different project.

This B team, you keep mentioning made a better game than anything released in the past 2 years.
This game is so far away ahead of the cut & paste crap being released nowadays it's astronomical.

 

[maomaoIYP]

So I made a mage with high int, and now was starting to dabble in hexes and... I have no idea what I'm doing. xD

My stats are currently 30 ATN (+2 more slots with Southern Ring+1), 45 INT (with +3 from Desert Sorceress Hood and +5 from Ring of Knowledge, so about 37 raw) and 25 FTH.

I have a Sunset Staff+3, and a Witchtree Branch+10. Right now the Witchtree Branch slightly (very slightly) outdamages the Sunset Staff for sorceries, but for Dark Orb and other hexes, the Sunset Staff is better. In terms of AR the Sunset Staff is higher, but I tested the soul arrows and stuff on the pigs for the actual damage. I am currently in the middle of the Shrine of Amana, and I have very little twinkling titanite.

I haven't used chime hexes much yet. I have the Bellvine Chime and the Caitha chime, both unupgraded, and so far Bellvine seems more powerful. I was told Caitha was the best for hexes but I guess it needs more faith to outdamage the other?

I know the Staff of Wisdom is a monster, but it requires 50 int. So for pure sorcery it seems to be the best, by far. Should I respec as pure int and spend my twinkling on that? I'm starting to think a sorc/hex hybrid isn't all that good. Especially since I also use pyros (glove maxed out), so I might be diluting my powers too much.

Magic experts, what do you think? Should I respec as pure sorcerer and make a dedicated hexer (if so, what's the best early hex chime to get? maybe the one sold by Felkin?), or is a sorcery/hex hybrid viable in the end? I'd rather not level up too high, maybe cap at 150. But I'm also not a big fan of glass canons, and I find my mage rather fragile in late game with only 25 VGR and 15 END. And it's not just about min-maxing but also being able to fully experience the hexer playstyle. So far I feel like I'm wasting my faith investment because I use only Dark Orb. :

Another thing that's annoying about using a mage is that everything seems to require twinkling and it's so damnably rare. >_<

Oh, I should also note I'm a near-pure mage. My str and dex are both at 7, very low, which limits my choice of melee weapon. I use a foot soldier sword+9 as backup, but it's really that, a backup. It's not even infused because I didn't want to waste a magic/enchanted stone, haha. I was thinking of using the Moonlight Sword eventually but that'd mean 18/18, right? So another reason I was thinking of scrapping the faith and putting those points in str/dex for a decent melee backup. Maybe a fire longsword with CMW or something...

Sorry, thinking out loud here. Feel free to give advice or tell me my ideas are bad.

I have both a pure sorc and a pure hexer. In my experience it's ok to go sorc/hex early on because spell ammo is rather limited, but when you hit end game (as your stats show), there's no real point because 1) the best staves tend to favour one over the other (Wisdom vs sunset) 2) both schools have spells that do similar things, and 3) placing points into FAI as a sorc is a waste. The best hex chime is caitha until you get chime of want.

 

[AlimNassor]

How do i walk on the lava in iron keep? I have 900 FDEF, and still die too fucking fast. This is completely stupid. I use flash sweat+orange bur+captain armor and +1 f.quartz ring and i still die almost instantly. I see people manage to do it, but, I die almost instantly. I thought if i used mushrooms I would be able to counter the lava damage, NOPE. I take 15% HP damage every second even with constant healing and by nthe time I get to the chest I'm dead. I use the water and it does nothing even when i;m soaked.

 

[GulAtiCa]

How do i walk on the lava in iron keep? I have 900 FDEF, and still die too fucking fast. This is completely stupid. I use flash sweat+orange bur+captain armor and +1 f.quartz ring and i still die almost instantly.

Hint: Water. Water jugs. Water pool.

 

[AlimNassor]

Hint: Water. Water jugs. Water pool.

I did, but, the amount of damage I get is insane.

 

[Deitus]

How do i walk on the lava in iron keep? I have 900 FDEF, and still die too fucking fast. This is completely stupid. I use flash sweat+orange bur+captain armor and +1 f.quartz ring and i still die almost instantly. I see people manage to do it, but, I die almost instantly. I thought if i used mushrooms I would be able to counter the lava damage, NOPE. I take 15% HP damage every second even with constant healing and by nthe time I get to the chest I'm dead. I use the water and it does nothing even when i;m soaked.

15% per second means you last 6 and a half seconds. Just chug an estus when your health gets low, and another one or two right before you open the chest and you should be good to go.

 

[AlimNassor]

15% per second means you last 6 and a half seconds. Just chug an estus when your health gets low, and another one or two right before you open the chest and you should be good to go.

I'm a hex user with low HP. By the time I even open the chest I'm dead.

 

[Mafro]

How do i walk on the lava in iron keep? I have 900 FDEF, and still die too fucking fast. This is completely stupid. I use flash sweat+orange bur+captain armor and +1 f.quartz ring and i still die almost instantly. I see people manage to do it, but, I die almost instantly. I thought if i used mushrooms I would be able to counter the lava damage, NOPE. I take 15% HP damage every second even with constant healing and by nthe time I get to the chest I'm dead. I use the water and it does nothing even when i;m soaked.

Try the Smelter Demon armour as well for its fire resistance.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Man, after listening to some songs on Youtube, the soundtrack is fucking awesome. But for some reason it doesn't really come through when I play the game. I should focus more on the music during the boss fights.

I never realized, while fighting them, that the songs for Skeleton Lords, Covetous Demon and Mytha were so awesome.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I have both a pure sorc and a pure hexer. In my experience it's ok to go sorc/hex early on because spell ammo is rather limited, but when you hit end game (as your stats show), there's no real point because 1) the best staves tend to favour one over the other (Wisdom vs sunset) 2) both schools have spells that do similar things, and 3) placing points into FAI as a sorc is a waste.

Yeah, I'm starting to realize this. :\ Shitty that I kind of wasted all that twinkling on the Sunset staff... think I'll respec as int/sorc and build a pure hexer later.

What's the best class for a hexer? Cleric?

The best hex chime is caitha until you get chime of want.

So when does Caitha outdamage Bellvine? With higher faith/lower int, I take it?

 

[AlimNassor]

I don't get it. I roll around in the water, but, I don't get the buff. How do I know when I get it? it still says 120. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, and it's pissing me off. I roll around in the water, I cast flash sweat and then orange burr, and I STILL FUCKING DIE.

 

[Deitus]

I'm a hex user with low HP. By the time I even open the chest I'm dead.

Hey, I was just going by the numbers you provided. I managed to get all the chests just fine as a Swordsman with low HP. A combination of Bone King and Sinner's armor (unupgraded), red quartz ring, flash sweat, and rolling in the water was enough to get the fire damage down to manageable levels.

I don't get it. I roll around in the water, but, I don't get the buff. How do I know when I get it? it still says 120. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, and it's pissing me off. I roll around in the water, I cast flash sweat and then orange burr, and I STILL FUCKING DIE.

There is no "buff" that shows up with the rest of your buffs. But you can check your equip screen, and cycle through to where it shows all of your defenses. Rolling in water ups your fire defense by 200-250 points, and lasts a long time.

Maybe Orange Burr overrides flash sweat. That could account for why you might be having trouble.

 

[djSyndrome]

My lord being a strictly melee build is almost pure suicide pve or pvp

I'm rolling straight melee for NG+ and finding it much easier. Then again, I'm nowhere near the Shrine yet, either.

 

[AlimNassor]

Hey, I was just going by the numbers you provided. I managed to get all the chests just fine as a Swordsman with low HP. A combination of Bone King and Sinner's armor (unupgraded), red quartz ring, flash sweat, and rolling in the water was enough to get the fire damage down to manageable levels.

I don't even know how or when i'm buffed for it. How am I supposed to know when I'm water buffed? The game doesn't tell me, theres no indicator I'm buffed. APparently, it's not working because no matter how many times I go through the water barrels (I roll through them all btw) I', not buffed. it never goes over 120.

 

[LiK]

How do i walk on the lava in iron keep? I have 900 FDEF, and still die too fucking fast. This is completely stupid. I use flash sweat+orange bur+captain armor and +1 f.quartz ring and i still die almost instantly. I see people manage to do it, but, I die almost instantly. I thought if i used mushrooms I would be able to counter the lava damage, NOPE. I take 15% HP damage every second even with constant healing and by nthe time I get to the chest I'm dead. I use the water and it does nothing even when i;m soaked.

People online mentioned better luck with Smelter armor.

 

[nailbombxx]

I'm making an alternate save that's gonna be a dex/faith build. I hate the slow-ass strength weapons. Any tips?

 

[AlimNassor]

Then I have no idea what I'm fucking up. I roll through the water and I dont get buffed. nvm, I wasn't using flash sweat.

 

[Mentok]

I don't get it. I roll around in the water, but, I don't get the buff. How do I know when I get it? it still says 120. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, and it's pissing me off. I roll around in the water, I cast flash sweat and then orange burr, and I STILL FUCKING DIE.

You'll know when the water takes effect by seeing your footprints when you move. I had very low HP (like 10 VIG I think). I put on high fire defense with the Flame Quartz +1 and flash sweat and had no problem. I drank 2 estus flasks, one before opening the chest and one after to go back for the flame seed. The first few times I tried I died super quick, but that was because I just assumed I had the water effect. It wasn't until I walked in a pool when I noticed the difference of leaving behind footprints.

 

[Mistel]

Then I have no idea what I'm fucking up. I roll through the water and I dont get buffed.

Are you sure that your definitely not getting buffed? I rolled through twice and it was fine.

 

[AlimNassor]

Are you sure that your definitely not getting buffed? I rolled through twice and it was fine.

I wasn't :lol I forgot to buff.

 

[ElFly]

I remember when Dark Souls came out after I've played the shit out of Demon's Souls there were moments where I thought it was the biggest pos ever. "Guess Demon's Souls was just a lucky coincidence for From, because they clearly don't know what made that game good judging from this sequel", "Sucks that I waited so long for this junk".
After multiple playthroughs and stuff it became clear that the game was vastly superior to it's predecessor (imo)

Maybe some people are experiencing something similar when they go on about b-teams and shit. I personally don't see it and think DS2 is another step up from DS1.

I lived a similar experience, I didn't like Dark at first, but soon I started seeing the improvements. The only thing that in my initial perception was wrong, and that still find annoying, is that elemental weapons lose their scaling completely in Dark, which was a shock to me coming from demon. Everything else I came around to thinking Dark is superior, vastly in some cases.

However, Dark 2 didn't the same to me. I liked it immediately, outside of the forest areas which in gral are the worse looking ones.

Do not really know how much I will like DS2 in a few months, but for now I am on my third playthrough so I guess it will be ok.

 

[Gr1mLock]

I'm rolling straight melee for NG+ and finding it much easier. Then again, I'm nowhere near the Shrine yet, either.

Mediocre build with lightning sprear> a Decent strength dex build.

 

[Mistel]

I wasn't :lol I forgot to buff.

See now that wasn't so very hard. Was it?

 

[krakov]

I lived a similar experience, I didn't like Dark at first, but soon I started seeing the improvements. The only thing that in my initial perception was wrong, and that still find annoying, is that elemental weapons lose their scaling completely in Dark, which was a shock to me coming from demon. Everything else I came around to thinking Dark is superior, vastly in some cases.

However, Dark 2 didn't the same to me. I liked it immediately, outside of the forest areas which in gral are the worse looking ones.

Do not really know how much I will like DS2 in a few months, but for now I am on my third playthrough so I guess it will be ok.

I could have sworn Dragon (fire) path upgrade scraps the scaling in Demons souls and Magic/Faith-based paths in Dark keep the scaling, but I might be wrong. Never used a dragon weapon in Demons.

 

[AlimNassor]

Why is Twiknling Titanite so hard to find? I've farmed all the Archdrake soldiers using ++ item gear and I still can't find any

 

[Santiako]

Why is Twiknling Titanite so hard to find? I've farmed all the Archdrake soldiers using ++ item gear and I still can't find any

Jesus man, stop complaining about everything oh my god

 

[Leezard]

Why is Twiknling Titanite so hard to find? I've farmed all the Archdrake soldiers using ++ item gear and I still can't find any

Just use bonfire ascetics on 4th Giant Forest bonfire. A couple of guaranteed twinkles and a boss that should not be too hard for you.

 

[Inskipp]

Why is Twiknling Titanite so hard to find? I've farmed all the Archdrake soldiers using ++ item gear and I still can't find any

Much easier to farm from the Dragon Shrine, with ascetics. There's a wooden chest that has 3 TT's in it, and it respawns with every use of ascetic.

 

[mickcenary]

How much sin do you cop for killing NPCs, y'all?

Thus far, I've snuffed out

Spoiler

Lucatiel

,

Spoiler

Pate

and

Spoiler

Creighton

.

The last one was completely idiotic. For whatever reason, I thought his armour set gift excluded his helm and I wanted dat helm, so yeah... Now I have two of them; and guess what? It looks totally shit on me. Woo! The rest of his set is amazing, though.

Will I be getting blue invasions up the wazoo in NG+?

 

[goonie]

How much sin do you cop for killing NPCs, y'all?

Thus far, I've snuffed out

Spoiler

Lucatiel

,

Spoiler

Pate

and

Spoiler

Creighton

.

The last one was completely idiotic. For whatever reason, I thought his armour set gift excluded his helm and I wanted dat helm, so yeah... Now I have two of them; and guess what? It looks totally shit on me. Woo! The rest of his set is amazing, though.

Will I be getting blue invasions up the wazoo in NG+?

I think it's one point of sin for every NPC you kill. If you die to an Arbiter spirit, it removes one point. You can also pay for pardoning from Cromwell before moving on to NG+!

 

[jacksepticeye]

He's pretty easy as a sorcerer. Melee gets the short end of the stick since you take damage by being near him. You can stagger him indefinitely by spamming soul vortex and he has enough downtime after combos to use any spell you desire. When you keep your distance, he'll usually do a lunging attack which is easiest to dodge to the right.

Cool thanks my issue is when he goes all flame sword on my ass and I can't even block it fully with fire damage getting through

 

[GulAtiCa]

Keep in mind, Cromwell only gets rid of NPC agro. Not actual sin points.

Also, yes you will be invaded often in NG+/++. By both reds and blues. You can get a lot of souls this way though!

Also, WotG is awesome still .Just killed off an invader with it and another 2 minutes later in co-op. The red invader there tried to block our magic, ran to heal and ran to heal again. Killed him during that 2nd heal.

 

[Mistel]

Is there any NPC other than Licia, Pate and Creighton who I've murdered already worth killing at all?

 

[InfiniDragon]

Indeed. At the moment, Blacksteel Katana or nothing if you want damage (perhaps Curved Dragon Greatsword? It got an S in Dex as well). It's either that or going poison/bleed, since it scales with dex now.

Uh, Chaos Blade owns the hell outta Blacksteel Katana unless you go higher than 45 DEX (read: don't). And even if you do Blacksteel's got crap counter damage which is bad because you counter hit a whole lot in DSII.

Though DEX scaling does need buffs most of the A scaling weapons are still quite good. Espada Ropera, Chaos Blade and even some of the Greatswords (Mirrah Greatsword, Murakumo) scale A in DEX but the base damage makes up for it and still makes them as good as (better in some cases) their S scaled alternatives.

I'm rolling straight melee for NG+ and finding it much easier. Then again, I'm nowhere near the Shrine yet, either.

Pure melee is very doable. Three of my six characters use no bow or spells. Stock Throwing Knives (they're really good in this) and Firebombs for the rare case of needing to blow up an acid pot from a distance or those acid gas mobs and you're good.

Also, don't have rubbish AGL. It very much matters as far as i-frames go, and will save your ass having to roll through stuff. So many bad mages who don't have a backup spell ready die in PvP just trying to walk on you and Soul Spear or hex because they think you have 10 ADP and will die trying to roll through it.

 

[RyudBoy]

I can't beat the big dragon that drops the Giant's soul. You all know which fucker I'm talking about. Died no less than 50 times against him so far, fuck this game.

/rage

 

[Leezard]

Uh, Chaos Blade owns the hell outta Blacksteel Katana unless you go higher than 45 DEX (read: don't). And even if you do Blacksteel's got crap counter damage which is bad because you counter hit a whole lot in DSII.

Though DEX scaling does need buffs most of the A scaling weapons are still quite good. Espada Ropera, Chaos Blade and even some of the Greatswords (Mirrah Greatsword, Murakumo) scale A in DEX but the base damage makes up for it and still makes them as good as (better in some cases) their S scaled alternatives.

All right, thanks for the correction. I clearly do not know enough about the dex weapons.

 

[goonie]

Keep in mind, Cromwell only gets rid of NPC agro. Not actual sin points.

Ah, I didn't know that! Thanks for clarifying.

I killed all the NPCs at the end of my first playthrough. Was taught several lessons in NG+. Never doing that again.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

So has anyone gotten anything cool from trading with the crows? For my Petrified Something at the start of the game, I got Channeler's Trident, which has been great for when I'm being summoned for co-op. But for the one I found in a chest in

Spoiler

Earthen Peak

I got a Dragon Bone, which feels like a waste. Smooth and Silky Stones haven't really gotten me anything interesting, but I have had great luck with the smaller variety. I got a Demon's Great Hammer from one, which I assume is very rare. But with a Str requirement of 40, I don't think I will ever be able to use it. Has anyone tried it? Is it worth the stat investment?

What cool items have you guys and girls gotten?