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

R

Ruuppa

Member
DarkHeartedKill said:
I do that trick all the time now, once I saw it from a YouTuber, I'm like lol never going through that whole place again. However I'm slightly disappointed
Seeing as how this is Dark Souls I was hoping for you to get backstabbed by an enemy while waiting for it to come. Sadly, it never occurred :(.
Click to expand...

Too bad you still need to sprint past Gavlaan's place to make the jump to the other side.. If you could make the jump somewhere much earlier, it'd be so much more useful.
 
Joei

Joei

Member
v1perz53 said:
My main piece of advice from someone who also came from Dark Souls 1 and Demon's Souls is give up on backstabbing, at least for a while. Enemies spin like tops in this game, so if you try to use the old "circle around them and backstab" method you will rarely succeed. Rolling through as they attack and backstabbing still works, but is generally not worth it, you are almost always better off in PvE just walking away from their attacks and attacking in turn. Combat definitely feels different from DkS 1 and DeS.

Hitbox problems are not as present early on, mostly a problem for me with specific enemies and bosses that you haven't gotten to yet. Also was a bigger problem for me with the PC version because of halved roll iframes at 60 FPS. There are definitely more groups of enemies as opposed to single enemies, but I think it has to do with game differences, like having unlimited uses of healing via lifegems.
Click to expand...

Actually, in my limited time playing I can already tell this. The battle does feel a lot different than in the previous two games. I think your description of them spinning like tops seems very accurate.

Orochinagis said:
And yes the game is harder compared to the learning curve in DS1, the bad thing is the hardest diffilculty you will find after surviving no man wharf which is a early zone then the game keeps of sending you swarms of enemies to make the impression the game becomes harder.
Click to expand...

Well that's unfortunate. That's sounds more frustrating than anything. I enjoyed the difficulty of Demon's Souls because it seemed more trial and error and learning environments and strategies, etc., not because the game was pounding you with enemies. But I know I'm early in the game and enjoying it thus far, so we'll see.
 
P

prodystopian

Member
Ruuppa said:
Too bad you still need to sprint past Gavlaan's place to make the jump to the other side.. If you could make the jump somewhere much earlier, it'd be so much more useful.
Click to expand...

Yea I was just thinking that this is pretty awesome except it doesn't really allow you to skip much.
 
V

v1perz53

Member
prodystopian said:
Yea I was just thinking that this is pretty awesome except it doesn't really allow you to skip much.
Click to expand...

Yea, you can physically hit the bell with an arrow from much further but it doesn't actually ring, was a little disappointing. Now if we are talking awesome shortcuts, the gutter zipline is my personal pick. I can get from the first gutter bonfire to the black gulch bonfire in about 3 minutes using it.
 
R

Ruuppa

Member
v1perz53 said:
Yea, you can physically hit the bell with an arrow from much further but it doesn't actually ring, was a little disappointing. Now if we are talking awesome shortcuts, the gutter zipline is my personal pick. I can get from the first gutter bonfire to the black gulch bonfire in about 3 minutes using it.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what zipline you are talking about. The only one I've found in the Gutter is the one you find after finding the pot with the Pyromancer armorset. And that only leads you backwards.
 
V

v1perz53

Member
Ruuppa said:
I have no idea what zipline you are talking about. The only one I've found in the Gutter is the one you find after finding the pot with the Pyromancer armorset. And that only leads you backwards.
Click to expand...

I was looking for a youtube video that showed it nicely but I actually couldn't find one so I just recorded one myself. I'll post it when it finishes uploading to youtube, it took me 2:10 to get from the first bonfire in The Gutter to the first in the Black Gulch, even shorter than I expected. I love it, because the Gutter can be very annoying and this lets you blow past it when you have to do it again if you are doing NG+ or onward.
 
O

Orochinagis

Member
Ruuppa said:
I have no idea what zipline you are talking about. The only one I've found in the Gutter is the one you find after finding the pot with the Pyromancer armorset. And that only leads you backwards.
Click to expand...

There are two ziplines in the gutter one is just a shortcut to reach mid zone and the other one sends to you a chest with titanites (or maybe is the same zipline!!??? dun dun duuuuuuun) but you need a torch (dunno if the recent calibration makes the game more brighter in that zone) you notice the zipline
 
V

v1perz53

Member
Ruuppa said:
I have no idea what zipline you are talking about. The only one I've found in the Gutter is the one you find after finding the pot with the Pyromancer armorset. And that only leads you backwards.
Click to expand...

Here's my video showing the Gutter shortcut. Did it as fast as possible, sorry for the crappy quality. I think it is very useful to know about though! Don't need the torch, but it made it easier to see what was going on so I used it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mnsotCK7g

As an aside, Nvida shadow play works surprisingly well to record this game. Not even the slightest performance hit. Big difference from when I tried to use FRAPS to record WoW back in 2009.
 
D

Deified Data

Banned
So a pure strength build using pyromancy on the side - is it worth investing in faith or intelligence at all? How much does pyro even scale? Not sure if that was ever changed in any recent updates.
 
M

Mistel

Banned
Deified Data said:
So a pure strength build using pyromancy on the side - is it worth investing in faith or intelligence at all? How much does pyro even scale? Not sure if that was ever changed in any recent updates.
Click to expand...
It scales reasonably well with INT/FTH giving you a nice boost to pyromancy and fire weapons. It soft caps at 60 combined INT/FTH so 30/30 or 25/35 for example. If you invest in it you can use fire infusions on your STR weapon to make use of your stats more effectively.
 
O

Orochinagis

Member
Deified Data said:
So a pure strength build using pyromancy on the side - is it worth investing in faith or intelligence at all? How much does pyro even scale? Not sure if that was ever changed in any recent updates.
Click to expand...

Most of the pyro spells requires more int requirements rather that faith and it scales wonderful with fire element weaponry and it sinergy more with light armor
 
R

Red Liquorice

Member
v1perz53 said:
Here's my video showing the Gutter shortcut. Did it as fast as possible, sorry for the crappy quality. I think it is very useful to know about though! Don't need the torch, but it made it easier to see what was going on so I used it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mnsotCK7g
Click to expand...
The zipline part seems the most out of the way part of that run between the bonfires. Instead of dropping off after the first bridge, go right, climb that ladder and run across the second bridge which takes you to where the zipline drops you off.

I always do the Gutter -> Black Gulch this way asap for the branch to open up Shaded Woods. Usually first thing I do on a new game after arriving Majula -> Dragon Rider -> cat ring -> Gutter/Gulch.
 
R

Ruuppa

Member
v1perz53 said:
Here's my video showing the Gutter shortcut. Did it as fast as possible, sorry for the crappy quality. I think it is very useful to know about though! Don't need the torch, but it made it easier to see what was going on so I used it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2mnsotCK7g

As an aside, Nvida shadow play works surprisingly well to record this game. Not even the slightest performance hit. Big difference from when I tried to use FRAPS to record WoW back in 2009.
Click to expand...

Nice speed. That was the zipline I was talking about as well. My route is about the same, except I don't go down after the first bridge to get the zipline, but roll past the big rat and climb the ladder to where the torch Hollow is. That gets you to the same bridge you jumped onto after getting off the zipline.

Edit: The same route as Red Liquorice it seems. I usually make the jump to the bunch of statues right after the second bridge, even if it's riskier.
 
E

ecosse_011172

Junior Member
Stormtrooper said:
A mace you can by from Lenigrast for 1200 souls it's cheap to buy and upgrades via titanite. Morning stars are a lot more potent post patch as they are not only A scaling STR weapons at max they also inflict bleed. Although you might find as they're strike damage you kill things before that happens often times.

Morning stars are inferior to maces or Homoculus maces in terms of damage however so it's better to upgrade and use them instead.
Click to expand...
I'm now dual wielding Homonculas Mace+5 with Mace+4, no Titanite left!
2 pieces of Alva set are +2, the others default.
I have the following stats and enough souls to upgrade 4 times before I try Lost Bastille boss again.

VGR 15
END 18
VIT 12
ATN 6
STR 25
DEX 16
ADP 16
IN 5
FTH 5

I was thinking VIT + 2, END + 1 and ADP +1

Good Plan?
 
R

Ruuppa

Member
ecosse_011172 said:
I was thinking VIT + 2, END + 1 and ADP +1

Good Plan?
Click to expand...

There are worse ones. There's a ring later in the game that gives you damage in proportion to how low your Vit is, so if you want to use that, don't put too much into Vit (the max damage the ring gives is 50 at 14 Vit, or 10 Vit with Third Dragon Ring). If you just want big armor 'n stuff, it's all good.
 
E

ecosse_011172

Junior Member
Ruuppa said:
There are worse ones. There's a ring later in the game that gives you damage in proportion to how low your Vit is, so if you want to use that, don't put too much into Vit (the max damage the ring gives is 50 at 14 Vit, or 10 Vit with Third Dragon Ring). If you just want big armor 'n stuff, it's all good.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm hoping to (once I get some Katanas) be very nimble and quick doing lots of dodging and slicing so I don't want to use armour heavier than the Alva stuff I have.
 
R

Ruuppa

Member
Hnh. Invaded someone on the IK Bridge called imreallygudhonest or something like that wearing TurtleHavelGreatGyrm and a Shadow dagger with a Monastery Scim. He buffed everything, and then proceeded to do nothing but Monastery Parries in my face.

Silly man, you can't parry a toxic cloud.
 
neoism

neoism

Member
Ruuppa said:
Hnh. Invaded someone on the IK Bridge called imreallygudhonest or something like that wearing TurtleHavelGreatGyrm and a Shadow dagger with a Monastery Scim. He buffed everything, and then proceeded to do nothing but Monastery Parries in my face.

Silly man, you can't parry a toxic cloud.
Click to expand...

I started today pvping its amazing what a quick soul vessal will do.. It's really fun when you dont die every single match.....so do you have to rebuy the red soupstone in a new play-through... I 'm sure I bought it in my first play-through. looking forward to playing more PVP... damn some of the lag verses some players is hilarious...
 
O

onionfrog

Member
So I started redoing my soul level 1 run this weekend and its really not bad so far.
In four and a half hours I got two lord souls and just beat najka in the shaded ruins.
That's so much faster than it took me on my old save.

I'll probably just get back up to the shrine of amana and quit though. That shit is way too frustrating at soul level 1.
 
M

Mistel

Banned
luknotluck said:
Does anyone have a good recommendation on a pure STR build? I just want to wield heavy weapons and heavy armor. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
What point of the game are you?

If your early then old kinght set and maces if you're later on drakekeeper or gyrm set with any A or above scaling great hammer, great axe or ultra greatsword. There's a few excepetions but that's the general rule.
 
V

v1perz53

Member
Oh man what have I been missing. I generally play Souls games the first few times online but totally avoiding co-op, as I don't like getting what I see as extra help or extra souls. But I rolled my hex build character today and I wanted to quickly get my stats up to play around with some hexes, and put my summon sign down. And man, I am having a blast doing co-op. It is a really good feeling being able to help someone out, either they were having a problem with that boss or just wanted to do it faster, and you get a nice amount of souls from it. And playing the game of "get the boss to focus on me so the host is safe" is fun too.

I still don't love summoning a person to help me, because they either trivialize the fight or are dead weight, but man helping other people has been a ton of fun. Are there any good resources for good soul memory ranges for certain bosses/areas? I've been just doing Old Dragonslayer and getting constantly summoned, not really sure when to move on from here.
 
L

luknotluck

Member
Orochinagis said:
For weapons
-Claymore
-Bastard Sword
-Grym Axe
-Red twin Blade
-Dragon Tooth
-Zwei
-Red Iron weapons
Click to expand...

Thanks. I want to use the dragon tooth, but what stats should I have? I want to max out at 150 and start NG+ with pure str build.

Stormtrooper said:
What point of the game are you?

If your early then old kinght set and maces if you're later on drakekeeper or gyrm set with any A or above scaling great hammer, great axe or ultra greatsword. There's a few excepetions but that's the general rule.
Click to expand...

I was gonna reset my build and start with it from NG+. Do you have a general build stat-wise if I want to use dragon tooth?
 
M

Mistel

Banned
luknotluck said:
I was gonna reset my build and start with it from NG+. Do you have a general build stat-wise if I want to use dragon tooth?
Click to expand...
Funnily enough I do this is my general great hammer build. Done from a knight default with either a giant warrior club, gyrm great hammer or dragon tooth in mind. Means that you don't have to put any points in DEX other than 2.

At SL150:
VIG: 40
END: 40
VIT: 30
STR: 50
DEX: 10
ADP: 20

Although it's based of soul memory now so you very well may not be facing SL150 players at all.
 
L

luknotluck

Member
Stormtrooper said:
Funnily enough I do this is my general great hammer build. Done from a knight default with either a giant warrior club, gyrm great hammer or dragon tooth in mind. Means that you don't have to put any points in DEX other than 2.

At SL150:
VIG: 40
END: 40
VIT: 30
STR: 50
DEX: 10
ADP: 20

Although it's based of soul memory now so you very well may not be facing SL150 players at all.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much!
 
N

nynt9

Member
I'm going to RTTP this game on PC from PS3, haven't played since around release. I have this friend who keeps claiming to be pretty good at PVP, but if I know anything about him he's probably not. I want to make a character to troll him, what gimmick/troll builds are relatively viable nowadays? I'm open to most playstyles, though I would prefer faster characters.
 
R

Ruuppa

Member
Break his stuff with Acid Mist and Corrosive Urns. Use a curved sword, Monastery Scim if you can get one, to parry him onto his ass and throw some urns or mist. You can also stop him from rolling through those by using the strong attack from the Spider's Silk. There's also Promised Walk of Peace to stop him in his tracks, but that needs heavy speccing into Hexes for that 30Fai/40Int.
 
KarneeKarnay

KarneeKarnay

Member
Hey guys, I've just reached Drangleic Castle!

I am level 111 now, I am running a Boxer build and have upgraded my right handed Caestus +10 and my left handed to +8.

Two questions:

1. Should I go farm some Titanite Chunks to finish upgrading my Left Handed?

2. How do I get inside? The Gates are closed, and there seem to be a never ending supply of Soldiers.
 
R

Ruuppa

Member
KarneeKarnay said:
Hey guys, I've just reached Drangleic Castle!

I am level 111 now, I am running a Boxer build and have upgraded my right handed Caestus +10 and my left handed to +8.

Two questions:

1. Should I go farm some Titanite Chunks to finish upgrading my Left Handed?

2. How do I get inside? The Gates are closed, and there seem to be a never ending supply of Soldiers.
Click to expand...

2.
Kill one soldier next to both of the big statues. The gate'll open after you do that.
 
T

TnK

Member
Playing DeS for a while made me notice that the movement in DaS2 is very close to DeS, minus the roll. Rolling in DeS is better.

DeS is still the best game in terms of control. Everything feels so fluid and snappy. It also is still the best game in the series. Dat atmosphere.
The sound design is also better than both DaS 1 and 2.
 
R

RVinP

Unconfirmed Member
So I made a template for myself to start any new(game) character...

.swordsman
.avoid killing every enemy along the way, if possible *(important)*
.kill Pursuer, for The Ring
.kill Last Giant
.fly to Lost Bastille
.get Steady Hand McDuff's Craftsman's Hammer
.Majula
.kill Dragon Rider by dual handing Craftsman's Hammer
.rush to Skeleton Lords; kill right most lord first, middle one second and the remaining the last (hope that the bonewheel skeletons don't kill you)
.get two Fragrant Branch of Yore from Harvest Valley
.kill Covetous Demon
.get the Laddersmith Gilligan to shift to Majula
.Majula
.purchase Silvercat Ring
.get Laddersmith Gilligan to place an intermediate ladder to survive the fall into the pit
.traverse through the Gutter via the shortcut, kill two exploding undead along the way
.kill Rotten
.enter The Kingdom of the Sunken King
.rush to the Puzzling Sword, killing the three enemies
.run,dodge,roll, jump past all the insects to get Flynn's Ring
.NOW START YOUR ADVENTURE
 
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