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Dark Souls II |OT++| Bearer of...Seek...Seek...Lest

Riposte

Member
Had an epic duel with someone down in the dark. Hope they are not too salty about dying after using so many life gems. I would have just died.

Anyway, so someone needs tips for facing Darklurker was a melee (I'm assuming no shield, though that is just bonus)? Well I just did it, so I can spare a few. Will edit this post or reply when I'm done writing. Won't be that long.
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Best sorceries for PvE/PvP, Gaf? 'Tis the one thing I'm yet to dabble in and I need to change it up from Hexes.
For sorcery to work in PvP you need to mix up spells with various cast times and projectile speeds.
Spells I think are good: soul greatsword, soul vortex, soul spear, homing soul mass, homing soul arrow.
Soul greatsword has the fastest cast time and goes through walls
Soul vortex has the longest cast time, good for distracting opponents and catching/stunlocking them if they try to roll, so combo it into a soul spear.
H. soul arrow has a slow projectile speed, you can use this to force a roll, then catch them with a soul spear.

But none of these actually matter because experienced PvP players with high AGL can roll through every single cast on reaction.

In PvE Great Heavy Soul Arrow will be your bread and butter. Soul Geyser/soul spear for boss fights. Nothing else is particularly useful due to limited casts.

This is fucking bullshit, why couldn't it be like the bloodbros covenant.
I guess they wanted to make the covenants different. Also no rewards for sentinel invasions because you are supposed to be the honorable boys in blue I suppose.
I had to use about 250 orbs just to get 150 invasion wins, so I think that's a good barometer. Also keep track of your wins by using prism stones.
 

Riposte

Member
Darklurker strategy/thoughts as a 2-hand melee. An explanation only does so much, you basically have to develop a sense of where things will hit and how long you have to attack, as things get pretty dynamic given how the boss works.

Alright, so this dude has like five or so attacks and the big thing is that around 50-60% he'll split into two. I'm sure you already familiar with this. As a melee, and more so without a shield, you basically need to get a feel for these attacks (timing, ranges) so that you can feel somewhat comfortable even when two of them are coming at you. Positioning as far as I can tell is not very important, just know how to react to each attack.

When it comes to dealing with two of them you always want some stamina on hand, you always want to above 70% health (if not full, even) at all times, you want to be extra careful where you heal (don't underestimate the slower, easier moves to dodge), and always play it very safe (even at the very end, because I almost died finishing it with a double hard attack lol). Perhaps stuff you might already know from fighting multiple enemies, but it is especially true here.

First there's the real scary one, where he summons two black balls into the air and a very powerful, explosive projectile fires out of one them randomly (IIRC). For this one, it's a drop everything and run moment (running as opposed to rolling is actually pretty effective against some of the projectiles), especially when there's two of them out (so even if you think you can get free hits on the other, I wouldn't test it). The hard part, aside from the massive damage, is how large the explosion range is (making the small projectile deceptively huge). There's a bit of a sound cue when it gets close, so that might help dodging, but never be conservative when it comes to avoiding it. I've never seen double up on this one, but god forbid if he does lol.

Then has a basic soul arrow move that's pretty easy to avoid. When he's alone, this is a like a freebie. In a pair, it is just another reason why you want to save your stamina, even after an attack. He seems to always start with this, making it nice if you want to apply some DEF item or resin.

The sword swipe (and follow-up) is not much different, mainly once you reached the point where you dodge it without thinking, but it isn't to be underestimated in a pair. This attack is actually pivotal, because it seems like when there's two of them, they seem more eager to use it. Once you've dodged it and know the follow-up can't reach you AND you have a good grasp on what the other one is doing, this is your best moment to attack. But again, don't get cocky.

There's also that explosion around him. You see it coming because he arches backwards while crossing his arms. This is only worth panicking about if you are really close (I didn't bother with my caetus partially because of it), otherwise it can actually be really handy for isolating one of them. Although it's rare, this one will ruin your day if you completely forget about it.

The move where he summons a big fireball over his head and then does a wave of three fireballs is probably his second scariest move, but rather manageable (just less so when the other one is trying to cut you down). These don't seem to home at all and once you become confident on where to dodge/step to avoid them, you actually have a bit of a breather you can use to attack the other one (but first you have to consider what the situation with that one is).

Finally, there's the laser beam. This is probably his worst attack, so it's great when he does it when there's two. Once he shoots the laser, just try to stay far away from where it landed or directly under him. You can use this to focus on the other one or hit the laser one while it is coming down.

One thing to keep in mind is to keep your estus nearly full when you reach the boss (which isn't something you don't have to worry about as much compared to previous Souls games, but here it is somewhat the case). I used the forest ruins entrance, because its the easiest and shortest of the three. The bonfire is actually pretty close if you sprint. Also if you plan on using a shield, you probably want to use one with a lot of Dark DEF. Likewise, equip a dark ring, eat that dark def item. Maybe I'm wrong actually, but that's what I did. I also used lightning resin, since I figured he'd be weak to that. Again, don't actually know. You may also want to figure to buy out some NPCs who sell effigies lol. The blue dude in the undead crypt sells a bunch.

Hope I didn't forget anything.
 
Collect a few giant souls. At least three, though it becomes easier the more you get, so I only went with three. Then... don't get hit.

Yea I have
5, I've just been hit and pretty much insta KOed :(

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME UGH

had heal on by mistake, i go down to heal and he just 1 shots me.
 

Levito

Banned
Ugh giving up on the Darklurker for now, it takes so god damn long to get back to him.

How the fuck are you supposed to kill
Vendrick
(pretty late game)

God damn.

Collect the giant souls, there's five of them. The more you have, the more damage you'll do. Circle around and stay behind him, you'll barely get hit if you do.
 
Ugh giving up on the Darklurker for now, it takes so god damn long to get back to him.



Collect the giant souls, there's five of them. The more you have, the more damage you'll do. Circle around and stay behind him, you'll barely get hit if you do.

I have 5 of them, he just keeps fighting up against the wall so I can't stay behind him. I do 382 a hit right now, if i get hit once I'm pretty close to dead.
 

Levito

Banned
I have 5 of them, he just keeps fighting up against the wall so I can't stay behind him. I do 382 a hit right now, if i get hit once I'm pretty close to dead.

Hmmm are you a mage or melee? I beat him with only 4 of the giant souls, if you get pinned against the wall you just gotta dodge.


Sorry, I'm no help :p
 

zkylon

zkylewd
Yea I have
5, I've just been hit and pretty much insta KOed :(

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME UGH

had heal on by mistake, i go down to heal and he just 1 shots me.

yea that's kind of his thing

i had him one hit from death on my first try but decided to swap weapons mid-fight for some random reason and got killed while in menu. then it took me like 6 more tries until i finally got him

hint:
stay behind him and very close, two hand and just go ham after dodging (you know, ham in a souls sense = 2 hits max lol). that was my strategy
 

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
Anyoen who's Strength build and having trouble with Vendrick, a +10 Giant's Club makes mince meat out of him.

Dat 2H R2.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
My thing with strikes weapons though is that I haven't been able to find one with good DEX bonus, as my character is pretty much all DEX.
 

Levito

Banned
yea that's kind of his thing

i had him one hit from death on my first try but decided to swap weapons mid-fight for some random reason and got killed while in menu. then it took me like 6 more tries until i finally

It took you 7 attempts for
Vendrick
but you got the Darklurker on your first try? I got
Vendrick
on my first attempt and I only had 4 Giant Souls.


Playstyles I guess. (@.@)
 

zkylon

zkylewd
finally got the treasure in the big pit in iron keep, took me fire ring + flash sweat + smelter demon armor + water vase but i was taking 0 damage by then. without flash sweat i barely made it to the chest

one step closer to 100%

It took you 7 attempts for
Vendrick
but you got the Darklurker on your first try? I got
Vendrick
on my first attempt and I only had 4 Giant Souls.


Playstyles I guess. (@.@)

yea i did it with 4 too but you know sometimes you start messing up and can't keep yourself from repeating the same mistakes
 

elfinke

Member
Best sorceries for PvE/PvP, Gaf? 'Tis the one thing I'm yet to dabble in and I need to change it up from Hexes.

Grazie.

To add to what maomaoIYP said, I would add that you need to have a clear strategy/process when using sorceries, which I guess you will have coming from Hexes. I think Heavy Homing Soul Arrow is far and away the best spell in the game. It casts fast and can hit like a truck if you're spec'd high and using say, Staff of Wisdom, but more important is what it forces opponents to do.

It moves slowly and it tracks perfectly, making opponents strafe back and forwards, but often horizontal to you, meaning they're ripe for nailing with an AoE attack or a horizontal slash weapon type (MLGS is a typical candidate), Soul Greatsword can also be a great follow up.

Furthermore, something like Crystal Soulmass is easily dodged by an opponent coming at you - they often will roll under the attack. But if you use it as a spacer, or an area control type thing (again, like footsies in a fighting game like Street Fighter) it's invaluable. It'll give you space at the beginning of a fight (if a sorc casts it and five appear above their head, rather than three, say) it means they're packing INT and power. It staggers incredibly well, too, if you time your rearwards roll as they roll at you.

It's really important to be able to mix it up, so something like Soul Vortex or Soul Geyser (both take an age to cast and don't hit consistently) can often give an opponent pause for thought. Or you might just get wrecked during the cast animation, but the change of pace is useful. Same goes for the myriad of types of *** Soul Arrows, which are fast and seem to have a tiny bit of tracking.

Buffs can be invaluable, depending on your play style. Strong Magic Shield, Crystal Weapon and so on. And of course, there are a number of Hexes that can be cast with a staff (Orb, Fog) so you needn't drop them altogether (depending on FTH).

Jump in, being a Sorc is great fun!
 
Thanks, all. I'm mainly wanting to just have a bit of varied fun in PvE with sorceries and magic buffs. I think I'll respec to be able to use the Staff of Wisdom, but yeah, I'm already guessing that for a dedicated PvP build, I'll just go back to the Dark side; I really dig the Dark side.

Also, you can change infusions on a weapon without removing the existing one, right? And sorceries/magic buffs scale purely with INT alone?
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Thanks, all. I'm mainly wanting to just have a bit of varied fun in PvE with sorceries and magic buffs. I think I'll respec to be able to use the Staff of Wisdom, but yeah, I'm already guessing that for a dedicated PvP build, I'll just go back to the Dark side; I really dig the Dark side.

Also, you can change infusions on a weapon without removing the existing one, right? And sorceries/magic buffs scale purely with INT alone?

The staff of wisdom has one slight drawback, the staff is longer than all the rest so the "firing point" is higher up. This means that it's harder to hit something that's right in your face. It doesn't mean that much since you shouldn't be trying to blast something that's right in front of you, but sometimes when enemies rush you while you're casting you really want that soul spear to stop them in their tracks.

For a dedicated PvP sorcery build consider the power stanced blue flame build, it's a lot of fun.
 
I finished the game, I don't know how to feel about it but it was enjoyable. It's certainly not as good as Demon's but it's still a great game.

2014_05_23_00003.jpg

I really enjoyed this build.
 
Time for Fashion Souls of another kind -- how many of you guys got in on that Qwertee sale a few weeks ago? I got my order today and I think they turned out pretty well.



(they threw in the packet of Haribo gummies as a bonus)

---

Btw, DS1 is the Steam weekend deal. They need to hurry up and add Steam achievements and tear the GFWL guts out of it so I can play through it again.

I'm generally not one for video game shirts, but those are awesome! (Solaire being the best out of the two, naturally.)

Someone make me a Laurentius shirt, please.
 

Clott

Member
Playing on the PC, I just got to the Iron keep and I am wondering if this Fire Longsword is still the best thing available to me, is there something in the area, or did I miss a great weapon?
 
Playing on the PC, I just got to the Iron keep and I am wondering if this Fire Longsword is still the best thing available to me, is there something in the area, or did I miss a great weapon?

Most of the weapons are good, depending on your stats, and how much you've upgraded them.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
ok, iron keep done, all up to brighstone cove.

skipped royal authority and chariot for now

not gonna play spidercove at night, might try again tomorrow and see about summoning someone or something.
 
May not be the right place, but I have an extra copy of Dark Souls 2 for PC that I'd like to get rid of. I ordered it on GMG but then they announced the Collector's Edition for PC so I went with that. Will happily take $40 or money/trade offers?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk

Riposte

Member
It's fun. For PvE it's usually fairly weak unless you use Old Whips, but you need the Bracing Knuckles rings, or carry lots of repair powder. Not necessary in PvP obviously, since fights are usually short.

I did a write-up about dual wielding whips not that long ago, lookie here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=112255969#post112255969

Neat, thanks.

I've wanted to do a whip build since Dark Souls (using key to get it early). Totally Belmont it up, but I dropped the game before it got anywhere (I'm not one for immediate replays).
 

UrbanRats

Member
I have 5 of them, he just keeps fighting up against the wall so I can't stay behind him. I do 382 a hit right now, if i get hit once I'm pretty close to dead.

As you know, you have to stay behind his left leg, when he jumps backwards and his back is to a wall, don't let him bait you there, since you can't get behind him.
In that case just keep him locked on and move far away from him and you be the one to bait him back to the center of the arena.
He'll do one of three attacks:
Jump attack, very easy to roll under (wait for the last moment and roll forward)
Run and vertical slash, just roll sideways.
Run and horizontal slash, roll to his left/your right at the last second, this is probably the riskier one to dodge.

Don't even try to block his attacks, he will just drain all your stamina, stun you, and kill you instantly with the next attack.

Just keep staying behind him and roll to his left/your right.
 

Soulhouf

Member
Oh my god. Everyone in the arena is using that binoculars speedhack now.
I'm not even angry because it's hilarious to watch. Some of them fell to their death because they didn't evaluate well their dash.
This is making the PvP unplayable though and needs a patch ASAP.
 

Firebrand

Member
Picked up a Barbed Club (Flexile Sentry soul) to go with my spiky / bleeding funbuild, and it's so weird - it actually _gains_ physical and bleed damage when infused with an element. Hits like a truck in PvE, though range and speed perhaps isn't optimal for PvP but I pull it out when my opponent has had enough of my wild whip flailing. Finding the dragon bones to upgrade it with early on is a bit tricky though.
 

Firebrand

Member
What's causing it to break that fast? I only used it in Betwixt so far.
Weapons break a lot faster in DS2, but more so if you hit walls and corpses. Also it's somehow tied to the frame rate, weapons break faster at 60 FPS.

If you're melee you're going to want to carry two weapons early on when repair powder is limited and expensive.
 

Mistel

Banned
Picked up a Barbed Club (Flexile Sentry soul) to go with my spiky / bleeding funbuild, and it's so weird - it actually _gains_ physical and bleed damage when infused with an element. Hits like a truck in PvE, though range and speed perhaps isn't optimal for PvP but I pull it out when my opponent has had enough of my wild whip flailing. Finding the dragon bones to upgrade it with early on is a bit tricky though.
It's like the malformed skull which also gains when infused. Try dual wielding with a mace for PvP.
What's causing it to break that fast? I only used it in Betwixt so far.
Hiting walls and corpses if on PC 60fps. You should carry multiple or make sure have enough souls to fix it.
 

derFeef

Member
Hiting walls and corpses if on PC 60fps. You should carry multiple or make sure have enough souls to fix it.

What's with this 60fps thing? I am confused... is there a bug or something?
I guess it becomes less of an issue later in the game though.

edit: Oh just saw the thread (google is scary sometimes).
 

Riposte

Member
Benhart is probably one of the more successful NPCs in the series. Dude gives no shits that this is suppose to be a depressing game and gets shit done.

"I, Benhart, swear by my honour, to aid you in your darkest hour! So nae problem pal."
 

aravuus

Member
Most of the bosses, at least the early ones, seem to be pretty goddamn easy when you learn to dodge and have an agility of at least 100. Ruin Sentinels, Skeleton Lords, Flexile Sentry all done with practically no damage taken.

I'll be getting to Iron Keep soon and I'm at like 200k SM, hopefully I'll be able to do bellkeeping without having to grind too much

I could do Luna already but that place is boring
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Benhart is probably one of the more successful NPCs in the series. Dude gives no shits that this is suppose to be a depressing game and gets shit done.

"I, Benhart, swear by my honour, to aid you in your darkest hour! So nae problem pal."

*dies within seconds on the boss when summoned*

Yeahhhhhhhh... Gotta have a second human to keep him alive because he gives no shits about staying alive.
 
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