• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Mistel

Banned
O? Good to know. I was a bit heartbroken when I saw it me being a spell spammer and all.
It happened patch 1.06 you still have 99% damage reduction with 890. So things like Gulatica experienced:
I've gotten a guy who invaded me a few times that was immune to my magic before. Even when he was on ladder and climbing up slowly and I used "Wrath of the Gods" on him, it did nothing. No magic ever did anything. (he was invading me, so don't act all high and mighty :p ). I figured it might be lag, but melee attacks from him and me to him worked fine.
Can still happen with the right load out plus the overall decrease in spell thingys.
 

GulAtiCa

Member
Yeah, but you know most people aren't going to bother to get that high of a level. Even I, a guy with a level 350+ character, decided to stop leveling up, since didn't matter much anymore.

Though, getting a lot of souls due to using Bonfire Ascetic at the King's bonfire in Forest of Lost Giant to redo the Memory of the Giant soul boss over and over is VERY easy. You get like 330k+ each time. Not to mention you get a Bonfire Ascetic from it each time. So I wonder if they ever fixed that major issue.

I did it once for like an hour and had something like a 5 million souls. :lol
 
Hey peeps, I recently got around to playing the game after waiting for a while before starting it. Right now I am at Soul Level 83 and I am wondering if there is any point to stopping at a certain level. I have my points invested in Strength and dexterity but I also want use miracles. Is it possible to be an all around character?
 
Hey peeps, I recently got around to playing the game after waiting for a while before starting it. Right now I am at Soul Level 83 and I am wondering if there is any point to stopping at a certain level. I have my points invested in Strength and dexterity but I also want use miracles. Is it possible to be an all around character?

I dont remember very well but the ideal is a 200 SL and yes, you can be an all around character or you can easily re spec your character
 

void666

Banned
In all three DLC areas the enemies have a ton of poise for no real reason. I had a lot more luck using multiple quick weapons instead of my big smashy ones.

And as for being hit while dodging, how much Attunement and Adaptability does your character have?

ATN 22/ ADP 12

I'm wearing light equipment. I have the fast roll. I shouldn't be getting hit when i clearly dodge the attack.
 

GulAtiCa

Member
You can easily be an all rounded character. Also, keep in mind, all co-op/PvP/etc is based upon your Soul Memory. So your level in that regards is meaningless. So trying to stick to a "self-created" community level won't mean much as won't matter. Even if you don't use the souls, your soul memory goes up anyways.

Now limiting your level to like 50, 100, 150, etc etc, for purpose of making it more challenging/engaging for yourself, that is fine. Just wanted to give fair warning as I think I heard PvP in Dark Souls 1 was based upon level.
 
Hey peeps, I recently got around to playing the game after waiting for a while before starting it. Right now I am at Soul Level 83 and I am wondering if there is any point to stopping at a certain level. I have my points invested in Strength and dexterity but I also want use miracles. Is it possible to be an all around character?
Matchmaking is done with your soul memory (total souls ever accumulated) not your soul level in DS2, so the only reason to ever stop at a specific soul level is because you want to stop or want to spend souls on something else or whatever - there's not really soul level meta like previous games and even if you stuck to a certain soul level you would still increase soul memory as you play and be matched to players higher level than you. So it's quite easy to be an all round character that can use any weapon and almost any spell just by leveling up and it won't affect matchmaking.
 

Speevy

Banned
How long does it usually take to spawn the Emerald Herald's grave after you've killed her?

Before anyone asks, I did it because I felt like it at the time.
 
ATN 22/ ADP 12

I'm wearing light equipment. I have the fast roll. I shouldn't be getting hit when i clearly dodge the attack.

Equipment, encumbrance, and whether you have the fast roll or not actually play no part in how well you can dodge attacks. It's all about the Agility stat, which is affected by how many points you have in ATN and ADP. Put simply, the higher your Agility, the more invincibility frames (i-frames) you will have during your rolls and backsteps.

With 22 ATN and 12 ADP you would have 94 Agility, which would give you about 10 or 11 i-frames when rolling. The level of Agility that most people feel comfortable at is 100 or 105, which give you 12 and 13 i-frames respectively. That may not sound like much more but I certainly found it made a difference when I decided to beef up my ADP.

Anyway, despite all that i-frame stuff, this game does have some wonky hit-boxes, especially in PvE. Certain attacks from bosses appear to have invisible AoE damage that makes it look like you're being hit by nothing. Here's me dodging an attack with 100 Agility and somehow still getting clipped.

http://giant.gfycat.com/VaguePowerlessAmphiuma.webm

The best thing you can do is get your Agility up and hope that the game doesn't decide to fuck you over too badly when you dodge.
 

void666

Banned
Equipment, encumbrance, and whether you have the fast roll or not actually play no part in how well you can dodge attacks. It's all about the Agility stat, which is affected by how many points you have in ATN and ADP. Put simply, the higher your Agility, the more invincibility frames (i-frames) you will have during your rolls and backsteps.

With 22 ATN and 12 ADP you would have 94 Agility, which would give you about 10 or 11 i-frames when rolling. The level of Agility that most people feel comfortable at is 100 or 105, which give you 12 and 13 i-frames respectively. That may not sound like much more but I certainly found it made a difference when I decided to beef up my ADP.

Anyway, despite all that i-frame stuff, this game does have some wonky hit-boxes, especially in PvE. Certain attacks from bosses appear to have invisible AoE damage that makes it look like you're being hit by nothing. Here's me dodging an attack with 100 Agility and somehow still getting clipped.

http://giant.gfycat.com/VaguePowerlessAmphiuma.webm

The best thing you can do is get your Agility up and hope that the game doesn't decide to fuck you over too badly when you dodge.

That's exactly how the fume knight killed me.

Well, guess i'll have to spend some souls to upgrade my ADP then.

Thank you.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
Anyway, despite all that i-frame stuff, this game does have some wonky hit-boxes, especially in PvE. Certain attacks from bosses appear to have invisible AoE damage that makes it look like you're being hit by nothing. Here's me dodging an attack with 100 Agility and somehow still getting clipped.

http://giant.gfycat.com/VaguePowerlessAmphiuma.webm

The best thing you can do is get your Agility up and hope that the game doesn't decide to fuck you over too badly when you dodge.

It looks like like that attack had some of that nonsense tracking you see throughout the game. You dodged past the blade's initial position just fine, but he followed you through your roll and (I'm guessing) dealt damage after your i-frames expired; and this particular thrust being one of those infamous grab attacks, your character was warped several feet to fit the animation.
 

Mistel

Banned
So apparently you can stack magic/etc spells in this game? Was that there from the start of launch? I never knew this...
From the start you used to be able to stack buffs havel mages used it a lot you got to the point where only environmental stuff/stupidity could kill them. They patched it out a while ago.
 
I dont remember very well but the ideal is a 200 SL and yes, you can be an all around character or you can easily re spec your character

You can easily be an all rounded character. Also, keep in mind, all co-op/PvP/etc is based upon your Soul Memory. So your level in that regards is meaningless. So trying to stick to a "self-created" community level won't mean much as won't matter. Even if you don't use the souls, your soul memory goes up anyways.

Now limiting your level to like 50, 100, 150, etc etc, for purpose of making it more challenging/engaging for yourself, that is fine. Just wanted to give fair warning as I think I heard PvP in Dark Souls 1 was based upon level.

Matchmaking is done with your soul memory (total souls ever accumulated) not your soul level in DS2, so the only reason to ever stop at a specific soul level is because you want to stop or want to spend souls on something else or whatever - there's not really soul level meta like previous games and even if you stuck to a certain soul level you would still increase soul memory as you play and be matched to players higher level than you. So it's quite easy to be an all round character that can use any weapon and almost any spell just by leveling up and it won't affect matchmaking.
Thanks all. I kind of like this idea of Soul Memory since it keeps new players like myself from getting rekt, but I can also see why people hate it. I can't PvP anymore because my internet has been downgraded since I played DS1.

I also have another question. How viable are boss weapons in this? Is it worth it?
 

Speevy

Banned
The boss weapons are flashy but to be honest there are almost always better regular weapons.

Like the black knight greatsword and red iron twinblade demolish most of those enormous weapons because they're faster.
 

Mistel

Banned
The boss weapons are flashy but to be honest there are almost always better regular weapons. Like the black knight greatsword and red iron twinblade demolish most of those enormous weapons because they're faster.
In some cases the boss weapons are the better ones that you can get. The two examples you give sure there's no denying that they're faster than some of the larger weapons but that doesn't necessarily make them stronger.
 

GulAtiCa

Member
From the start you used to be able to stack buffs havel mages used it a lot you got to the point where only environmental stuff/stupidity could kill them. They patched it out a while ago.

I meant like using 2 Fire Orb spells in the Spell Slots to give you 16 uses instead of normal 8/etc. Never once knew I could do this.. I swear I actually tried this before VERY early on after launch and wouldn't let me. But that was like 300 Dark Souls 2 hours ago, so who knows.

Anyways, my character is now Huntsman's Copse after beating Sinner's Rise boss last night. Have like 500k Soul Memory.. :lol

Off Topic: How do you see who posted most in a thread. I always forget..
 

Mistel

Banned
I meant like using 2 Fire Orb spells in the Spell Slots to give you 16 uses instead of normal 8/etc. Never once knew I could do this.. I swear I actually tried this before VERY early on after launch and wouldn't let me. But that was like 300 Dark Souls 2 hours ago, so who knows.
Oh that you could always do that I think. Don't remember it being added by a patch or calibration.
 
I meant like using 2 Fire Orb spells in the Spell Slots to give you 16 uses instead of normal 8/etc. Never once knew I could do this.. I swear I actually tried this before VERY early on after launch and wouldn't let me. But that was like 300 Dark Souls 2 hours ago, so who knows.

That was since the beginning of Dark souls 2 alonside with moving while casting long spells (thank god), I am happy the spell uses "stack" in one spell usage this time compared to 8/8/8 uses like you were using some king of magic pistol ammo.
 

Tarkus

Member
The boss weapons are flashy but to be honest there are almost always better regular weapons.

Like the black knight greatsword and red iron twinblade demolish most of those enormous weapons because they're faster.
Ivory King UGS is great for dual wielding as a right hand weapon. If you wanna power stance though, you need 45 DEX :/ Better than Zwei.
 

Mistel

Banned
Ivory King UGS is great for dual wielding as a right hand weapon. If you wanna power stance though, you need 45 DEX :/ Better than Zwei.
At power stance requirements it's worse than a zwei, it's actually the weakest of the ultras at that point. You don't even use the two handed buff as part of dual wield moveset so it has no real advantage at all.
 

Tarkus

Member
At power stance requirements it's worse than a zwei, it's actually the weakest of the ultras at that point. You don't even use the two handed buff as part of dual wield moveset so it has no real advantage at all.
I use in the right hand. That way you can easily switch between 2 hand with buff, dual wield, and power stance.
 

Mistel

Banned
I use in the right hand. That way you can easily switch between 2 hand with buff, dual wield, and power stance.
Even still only the buff for the two handed attacks is it actually better damage wise even though that's just magic instead of physical. The bleed aux is useful but it doesn't offer any damage improvements directly to the weapon itself, the 200 HP damage and the 75% stamina drain happens externally.
 

Essay

Member
Anyone besides me who prefer the regular Black Knight Greatsword instead of the Ultra Greatsword?

Definitely not me. I enjoy not having to invest in INT/FTH to use the BKUGS, and I just feel like I'm better with it in PVP because everyone is free to backstep-cancelling the UGS running attacks. I don't think there's any greatsword I enjoy using tbh; although, I admit the BKGS is pretty to look at and has impressive damage.
 

2AdEPT

Member
Equipment, encumbrance, and whether you have the fast roll or not actually play no part in how well you can dodge attacks. It's all about the Agility stat, which is affected by how many points you have in ATN and ADP. Put simply, the higher your Agility, the more invincibility frames (i-frames) you will have during your rolls and backsteps.

With 22 ATN and 12 ADP you would have 94 Agility, which would give you about 10 or 11 i-frames when rolling. The level of Agility that most people feel comfortable at is 100 or 105, which give you 12 and 13 i-frames respectively. That may not sound like much more but I certainly found it made a difference when I decided to beef up my ADP.

Anyway, despite all that i-frame stuff, this game does have some wonky hit-boxes, especially in PvE. Certain attacks from bosses appear to have invisible AoE damage that makes it look like you're being hit by nothing. Here's me dodging an attack with 100 Agility and somehow still getting clipped.

http://giant.gfycat.com/VaguePowerlessAmphiuma.webm

The best thing you can do is get your Agility up and hope that the game doesn't decide to fuck you over too badly when you dodge.

Hahaha yeah Alonne was one of the worst for hitboxes!

Although I agree with most of what you say, there clearly is a difference in the length of the roll as well based on your equipment burden percentage. I reconized this early on when I was wearing my light aurous armour and then like others found that the drangleic armour had great stats so immediately donned it....and then promptly took it off. I was basically rolling the same speed, but rather than being able to get behind enemies in one roll, even at low level like at the first Pursuer fight, I was rolling on a friggin pinwheel and cosuming zero territory. The effect was unmistakable. I dont have a video that shows this exact comparison, but you can see from this one that when I roll "up" the stairs I do so in pretty close to one roll at 5% equipment burden. (lots of boss spoiler) After rewatching I actualy roll too far and have to walk too far back to get my hits in! ><

Any good twinblade for a faith build/lightning infusion? Red iron twinblade with infused lightning at 50 faith, would that be any good?

Depends if you want to go for a bit of STR bonus or not...the RIT iirc is one of the better blades, but mostly owing to its weightyness and stunnability and even with two handing required a good bit of STR no?The Dragonrider has some magic bonus right? not sure if it also has faith. The santiers spear was godly before getting nerfed but not sure how much it was reducued...I think the RIT would be best but I know others might know better than I?
 

Essay

Member
Any good twinblade for a faith build/lightning infusion? Red iron twinblade with infused lightning at 50 faith, would that be any good?

Red Iron Twinblade will give you very very good damage, but it's not the real Twinblade experience as it has a terrible 1H rolling attack, a slower (albeit forward-moving) backstep 2HR1, less satisfying 2HR1 grinder, and no flashy 2HR2 follow-up.

IMO, the most fun is to be had with the regular Twinblade because it has significantly reduced stamina consumption that only drains ~130 stamina with it's 2HR2-R2 combo. In PVP, to be able to keep going after that on Third Dragon/high END builds is great, and you can put all the stamina you'd be otherwise saving into feint-cancelling almost all its moves' start-up with backsteps/rolls to really mess with people's expectations. I'm not sure how the damage is when infused though; I imagine it'll need a lightning clutch ring and other help.
 

2AdEPT

Member
Red Iron Twinblade will give you very very good damage, but it's not the real Twinblade experience as it has a terrible 1H rolling attack, a slower (albeit forward-moving) backstep 2HR1, less satisfying 2HR1 grinder, and no flashy 2HR2 follow-up.

IMO, the most fun is to be had with the regular Twinblade because it has significantly reduced stamina consumption that only drains ~130 stamina with it's 2HR2-R2 combo. In PVP, to be able to keep going after that on Third Dragon/high END builds is great, and you can put all the stamina you'd be otherwise saving into feint-cancelling almost all its moves' start-up with backsteps/rolls to really mess with people's expectations. I'm not sure how the damage is when infused though; I imagine it'll need a lightning clutch ring and other help.
The only thing I disliked about the regular twin blade is the durability!?! >< But I will defer to you for sure as I did nto spend a great deal of time using the twinblades, despite wanting to make a good build for them someday!
 
Sinner's Rise is quickly becoming my PvP home base. I just love the potential mayhem caused by the very tall lift, and the blind corners and sheer drops on that staircase running along the outside of the tower. I am slowly honing my sneaky bonk strats thanks to helpful invaders:

http://giant.gfycat.com/BoilingJealousHylaeosaurus.webm

And a cheeky guard break for the repeat customers who think they have it all figured out:

http://giant.gfycat.com/UltimateFamiliarBagworm.webm

I'm gonna get B O N K L I F E tattooed across my knuckles.
 

Essay

Member
The only thing I disliked about the regular twin blade is the durability!?! >< But I will defer to you for sure as I did nto spend a great deal of time using the twinblades, despite wanting to make a good build for them someday!

Were you using it before or after they buffed its durability to 150 in one of the later patches?
 
My bonks will not be eaten by the bottom of the page!

Sinner's Rise is quickly becoming my PvP home base. I just love the potential mayhem caused by the very tall lift, and the blind corners and sheer drops on that staircase running along the outside of the tower. I am slowly honing my sneaky bonk strats thanks to helpful invaders:

http://giant.gfycat.com/BoilingJealousHylaeosaurus.webm

And a cheeky guard break for the repeat customers who think they have it all figured out:

http://giant.gfycat.com/UltimateFamiliarBagworm.webm

I'm gonna get B O N K L I F E tattooed across my knuckles.
 

ArynCrinn

Banned
Hey guy's question. Currently doing a SL1 Deprived run for testing, and got to Iron Keep to loot the place and my question is...did they nerf the water pot roll effect as you drop onto the lava walkways for the chests?

At first I thought meh I'll just roll in the water then drop down and casually get my chest loot and stroll back no problems. Then I died within seconds, then I tried in conjunction with Flash Sweat and the ATN Ring...still died. Then finally barely grabed the loot before dying using Flame Quartz+1/Small Orange Burr/Flash Sweat AND water... WTF

I use to be able to simply roll in some water and literally walk to the chest and back barely losing any health, even just stand there and taunt. :\ Lame if they nerfed that.

Edit: Oh yeah, SL1 Naked using a Magic Mace +8 no damage/no healing run Smelter Demon. Recorded! ;) And, finally got my last 14 Awestones for Vanquisher's Seal...would have been way better if you could just need 20 simply by using skilled play and by not dying or taking hits thus jacking up the % for Awestones to drop from any enemy, which could easily be done in about a hour in FoFFG...
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Red Iron Twinblade will give you very very good damage, but it's not the real Twinblade experience as it has a terrible 1H rolling attack, a slower (albeit forward-moving) backstep 2HR1, less satisfying 2HR1 grinder, and no flashy 2HR2 follow-up.

IMO, the most fun is to be had with the regular Twinblade because it has significantly reduced stamina consumption that only drains ~130 stamina with it's 2HR2-R2 combo. In PVP, to be able to keep going after that on Third Dragon/high END builds is great, and you can put all the stamina you'd be otherwise saving into feint-cancelling almost all its moves' start-up with backsteps/rolls to really mess with people's expectations. I'm not sure how the damage is when infused though; I imagine it'll need a lightning clutch ring and other help.

This is for PvE, not PvP. I already used the RITB on my str build and I love it for PvE for its high DPS output.

Right now I'm struggling on the third DLC with my faith in the Company of Champions. made a faith build for the CoC back in the day when faith was very strong... now I'm considering a complete respec :( I guess Vanquisher Seal is better for str builds anyway, but I spent so much ore on lightning weapons that I'd like to salvage it somewhat... but I'm not satisfied with my weapons. They'd be fine on a normal playthrough but the CoC is damn brutal and the DLC is kicking my ass.
 

ArynCrinn

Banned
This is for PvE, not PvP. I already used the RITB on my str build and I love it for PvE for its high DPS output.

Right now I'm struggling on the third DLC with my faith in the Company of Champions. made a faith build for the CoC back in the day when faith was very strong... now I'm considering a complete respec :( I guess Vanquisher Seal is better for str builds anyway, but I spent so much ore on lightning weapons that I'd like to salvage it somewhat... but I'm not satisfied with my weapons. They'd be fine on a normal playthrough but the CoC is damn brutal and the DLC is kicking my ass.

IMO, using a pure Faith/Magic/Pyro build should require just as much skill and strategy as any melee build. PvE or PvP. So I'm all for even more nerfs in certain places.

That's what kind of irks me about their "explanation" of why they removed ragdolls from dead bodies. Because it seems to reason that a resourceful and smart player would pile the bodies in a location for a strategic element and wait for the invader to come too close, even creating a path of bodies to a bunch of exploding barrels could have been neat. But no, no forward thinking there From, more like backward thinking in regard to that spell.
 

Mistel

Banned
I want to do a run that includes beating all the bosses with forbidden sun.
Forbidden sun has 3 casts at max with 94 ATT you're going to need rather large amounts of spell replenishment items so unless you farm for wilted dusk herbs, crimson water, rouge water and/or just buy infinite amber herbs after killing nashandra.

To have at least some prep you'r going to probably do it in NG+. Even excluding the dlc bosses you're going to hit a couple of road blocks due to very high fire resistance for some of the bosses.
 
I played Dark Souls 1 for the first time ever a month ago and finished it last week at 144 hours. Really loved the game.

That's why I immediately started with Dark Souls 2.

Here are some things I noticed when playing both back to back for the first time.

Dodging in DS2 feels a bit slower and doesn't reach that far. I seem to land much closer to the enemy when dodging away than in DS1

Camera movement and panning also feels different as does the character movement itself. I mean that when running in DS2 the character doesn't turn as easily (quick & direct) as in DS1.

A lot of times I cannot use the same tactic/playstyle as in DS1 to lure each enemy one by one but instead when one gets alarmed all enemies - even if they can't possibly see me - gank upon me.

The last thing is likely my fault but I can't free-aim/zoom when using bow :/
I also can't figure out how to light fires. In my stats it says 50mins but I press every button but no torch is being lighted :/

As I said bow & torch are my faults likely, haha.


But so far I am really enjoying the game. The visuals are breathtaking and I really like the level design.

I just arrived at the Lost Bastille though. Only two bosses down. The Last Giant and the Pursuer.

The former was pretty much a super easy tutorial boss (I still died many times by his stomps, hah) while the other one-shot me several times until I finally figured out his patterns. Was getting really sweaty hands with my rapier which did only ~60dmg at each hit after dodging him. Took me quite some time to down him but it was very satisfying.
 

RVinP

Unconfirmed Member
Finally reached Straid of Olaphis with 33K SM on my 2nd (and last) Human Effigy.

Swordsman works out great because you'd only need 1 point of VGR stats along side the Life Ring (taken during character creation) and Blue Seal, to work with Silvercat Ring in surviving the fall down the pit.

8B714EE4DEB18745974FEBD922D0F42757996680
 
Top Bottom