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[Colorful Vocabulary]

What's everyone's highest rated message? Just curious.

Mine's "Safe Zone" at 42 rates.

I mean, it ain't in the hundreds or thousands, but I'm still surprised it's gotten that many, since in the first Dark Souls my highest rated message was 1.

 

[cj_iwakura]

What's everyone's highest rated message? Just curious.

Mine's "Safe Zone" at 42 rates.

I mean, it ain't in the hundreds or thousands, but I'm still surprised it's gotten that many, since in the first Dark Souls my highest rated message was 1.

I left a 'The Real Demon's Souls Starts Here' message in front of 1-2's first dragon pass that hit 1k.

In DS2, uh, 11? A 'trio ahead' warning in the Wharf.

 

[mickcenary]

I'd go with a lighter weapon because you ideally want to put as few points into DEX/STR as possible and put them into attunement and int or faith instead.

My preference is rapier class, I fucking love the mix of rapiers and spells.

Rapiers are so goddamned cool. My Dark Espada Ropera and Lightning Estoc have both served me wonderfully This recent parrying fad has me wary of using them, though.

 

[Metalingus5150]

I got invaded by the CHEAPEST person ever. Avelyn crossbow, Santiers Spear and dark magic. They invaded me three times. I sent her a message and she got mad I called her dude. I call everyone dude btw. lol

 

[Alo81]

What's everyone's highest rated message? Just curious.

Mine's "Safe Zone" at 42 rates.

I mean, it ain't in the hundreds or thousands, but I'm still surprised it's gotten that many, since in the first Dark Souls my highest rated message was 1.

It got cleared off my list a while ago because I leave a lot of messages, but I left "Treasure ahead, by the way, Hurrah for treasure!!" and was at like 160 before it got scrolled off.

Do you still get the health boost for messages that aren't in the written history list any longer?

 

[cj_iwakura]

To hell with the Ancient Dragon. I'm done. That AOE is just ridiculous. How can you stay under its tail when it turns around that fast?

 

[Violentine]

What's everyone's highest rated message? Just curious.

Mine's "Safe Zone" at 42 rates.

I mean, it ain't in the hundreds or thousands, but I'm still surprised it's gotten that many, since in the first Dark Souls my highest rated message was 1.

mine "ring required" near that giant hole in majula. 250+ rates.

 

[Alo81]

To hell with the Ancient Dragon. I'm done. That AOE is just ridiculous. How can you stay under its tail when it turns around that fast?

Here's something I did that helped me out a lot with that - don't lock on.

If you're just free looking, then when the dragon flies up you can just look up slightly to see how it turned. You don't get that disoriented sudden movement that you get with the lock on.

 

[Violentine]

To hell with the Ancient Dragon. I'm done. That AOE is just ridiculous. How can you stay under its tail when it turns around that fast?

this is the strategy I came up with after some deaths. Now I can solo him everytime, any NG+++++
do it solo.
dont lock on
stay in front of him, under his head. attack its front limbs while he does ground firebreath.
pay attention to its wings, if the wings start to move, you run as far as you can, not toward his tail, but directly infront of him, far away from his face. make sure you have enough space to run, dont corner yourself.
run back towards him when he's about to land.
dont start attacking unless you see him lifting his head to do ground firebreath. otherwise, repeat the above step.
dont get greedy.

PS: also, if you are on NG+, you can get the ring to protect your back, just incase you didnt make it out of his AOE arial firebreath, that ring can protect you like 5 times before it breaks. you can bring some repair powder if you dont want it to break on you.

 

[Orochinagis]

To hell with the Ancient Dragon. I'm done. That AOE is just ridiculous. How can you stay under its tail when it turns around that fast?

Its more like hit and run rather than a boss battle

 

[WheelHoss1]

Why is there such a dearth of good fighters at the Cathedral of Blue. I'm not amazing, and I probably have won 9/10 matches, many where all I do is cast a spell or two and the fight is done. Very diff experience than fighting in the BoB.

Just want that sexy neon-blue aura when I invade sinners, and I'm back to BoB.

Has anyone else found Blue Bros to be the "B" team when it comes to arenas in DSII?

Oh, and for fighting the Ancient Dragon, use Gower's Ring!

 

[maomaoIYP]

Why is there such a dearth of good fighters at the Cathedral of Blue. I'm not amazing, and I probably have won 9/10 matches, many where all I do is cast a spell or two and the fight is done. Very diff experience than fighting in the BoB.

Just want that sexy neon-blue aura when I invade sinners, and I'm back to BoB.

Has anyone else found Blue Bros to be the "B" team when it comes to arenas in DSII?

Oh, and for fighting the Ancient Dragon, use Gower's Ring!

I'm guessing it's because the sentinel arena isn't free. No token of fidelity = no fight, hence all the players in BoB arena gets lots of practice.
I got my sentinel aura the regular way, since losses don't count against you. But the difference is so minute for level 1 it's not even noticeable.
But yes you are right, the best PvP players are all in the BoB arena. Iron keep players tend to be terrible as well.

 

[WheelHoss1]

Thanks for the response. And yes, Iron Keep players are terrible and worse have no honor souls or fashion souls. Blue Bros has both but not the best players. BoB has a little of each and a lot of nasty Havelyns (from what I've seen, but I didn't give BoB the biggest chance—going to go back to it once I reach level 2 in Blue Bros).

 

[spliced]

All your complaints are due to one feature soul memory. Which is very broken so that's understandable the ire it receives.

That's too bad, hopefully it'll get fixed in a patch.

 

[Screaming Meat]

I haven't got the stats to wield it properly just yet but the Santier's Spear's moveset is wicked. I like the weapon's concept too (break it to unleash it's full potential).

Makes me wonder how long it's true properties would've taken to discover without a guide book or the internet.

 

[Mistel]

Makes me wonder how long it's true properties would've taken to discover without a guide book or the internet.

Like the old knight gear little explosion when it breaks some times.

That's too bad, hopefully it'll get fixed in a patch.

That's a pretty big thing to change probably.

WheelHoss try melee instead?

 

[Lost Fragment]

All they need to do is change it so only souls spent leveling and upgrading counts towards soul memory. I agree that they probably won't change it, though. Seems they consciously wanted to encourage people to keep leveling.

Pre-release, someone made comparisons to Diablo 3 with some of the systems and I laughed. Didn't think there was any way it would be that bad. But soul memory is worse than Diablo 3 shit. At least in Diablo 3 you have to stick to a certain class unless you make a new character. In Dark Souls 2 you can be all classes and builds at once and still get lots of mp action.

Soul memory is by far the dumbest thing about the game. I really hope they fix it. And they need to nerf soul vessel farming too while they're at it.

edit: I said all they needed to do was change it so it only counts towards soul memory if it's souls spent towards leveling and upgrading, but that's not really true since upgrading doesn't exactly break the bank. Still though, I dont see fixing soul memory as a huge problem if they actually wanted to do it somehow.

 

[Z..]

The sentinels are killing me, man...
Must've died at least 20 times by now. First one is easy as fuck, and I always get the second one down to ~25% health but as soon as #3 jumps in, that's it, I'm done. It's impossible to keep an eye on both of them up on the ledge and one of them always hits me eventually. As soon as I'm hit once, I stagger and get hit again without being able to do anything about it... And that's it, I'm dead. It feels cheap as shit because the real enemy is the enclosed space, the camera and the unavoidable second hit, the sentinels themselves are incredibly easy to read and dodge, plus they go down quite fast! Guess I gotta drop down to the large room below to finish them off properly.
Every time DS2's vanquished me, it has felt alot more artificially hard than DeS or DaS. It's never been because of the enemies themselves, so far, it's always the circumstances. Except Pursuer, he owned me a couple of times, but he was fair and square.

 

[Soulhouf]

Anyone knows which dagger gives the highest critical damage? Someone cleaned out 2k damage from a riposte from me, and I was wearing full havels. He had the invisible weapon ring so I had no idea what he used. The shadow dagger only has 130 critical. I'm using a mundane dagger and I can't seem to deal 2k ripostes to full havel wearing players. Another weapon which gives 150 critical is the mythra's blade, but it can't be infused and has low base damage.

It's worth mentioning that some ultra great swords such as Zweihander have 130 critical. I usually do more than 2k damage when I riposte with it.
This change compared to DkS1 is huge. I guess it was done to counterbalance the relatively low AR.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Like the old knight gear little explosion when it breaks some times.

It does? That's cool.

 

[Mistel]

It does? That's cool.

It unleashes the last of its power but not often.

 

[Soulhouf]

I finally got the Vanquisher Seal with this character. It took me more than an entire run and ended up waiting for player invaders to get the Awestones but now it's done and this thing is great:
- Equip load < 20% so now I'm so light that I'm constantly running in i-frames (100 agility)
- I can do 13 hits in a row before my stamina completely depletes
- Each hit does between 150 and 400 damage, combined with the insane attack speed and the length of the combo, once my opponent get caught, it's pretty much game over
- No durability issues

If you see a half naked female brawler running around and punching foes in the face, that's me

It's almost too powerful but it feels really weird. I have the impression of playing a beat 'em up more than a Soul game lol

 

[maomaoIYP]

I finally got the Vanquisher Seal with this character. It took me more than an entire run and ended up waiting for player invaders

There's a method to farm a respawning npc red phantom to get it very early.

 

[Soulhouf]

There's a method to farm a respawning npc red phantom to get it very early.

Yeah I saw that recently but it was too late and I didn't want to make Grave of Saints more nightmarish that it is already.
I will try it next time if I decide to do a SL1 brawler run.

 

[Mistel]

Yeah I saw that recently but it was too late and I didn't want to make Grave of Saints more nightmarish that it is already.
I will try it next time if I decide to do a SL1 brawler run.

Rhoy respawns without ascetics.

 

[Soulhouf]

Rhoy respawns without ascetics.

Really? How?
I don't remember seeing him come back in NG and in NG+ and beyond I didn't visit that place multiple times to notice it...

 

[Minamu]

Rhoy respawns without ascetics.

How? Just restart the area offline? That's how I found him in ng+, wikis said the online mode takes control of the spawn to make space for human invaders.

 

[Red Liquorice]

Rhoy only spawns once in NG. Then ascetic Haval's Resting Place bonfire for 12 more spawns each time. He doesn't spawn 12 times on original NG.

What's everyone's highest rated message? Just curious.

Mine's "Safe Zone" at 42 rates.

I mean, it ain't in the hundreds or thousands, but I'm still surprised it's gotten that many, since in the first Dark Souls my highest rated message was 1.

I have a couple in the 50s - "Weakness: ladder" next to the rubble blocking Shrine of Winter, one about Darkdiver "weakness: legs" (or something like that) and in the Undead Crypt "Torch required ahead, hurrah for light!"

That UC one got rated about 3 seconds after I put it down and then shot up so fast. People are such trolls, lol.

My favourite is "toxic but hole" right infront of the Nashandra picture, but I guess people don't go near to rate it, only has 3 votes. Also "poison gas but hole" next to one of the corpses hanging over the railing in Heides. Yeah, I'm a but hole guy.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Someone put "Bad Luck but Hole" in front of the death counter monument in Majula.

I chuckled.

 

[Mistel]

Really? How?

How?

Like this:

Rhoy only spawns once in NG. Then ascetic Haval's Resting Place bonfire for 12 more spawns each time. He doesn't spawn 12 times on original NG.

Rhoy has the no bonfire and death rings on which is cool.

 

[maomaoIYP]

There's a new kind of gank squad. The host summons two of his friends in as red phantoms. Then they farm the invading sentinels.

 

[Screaming Meat]

There's a new kind of gank squad. The host summons two of his friends in as red phantoms. Then they farm the invading sentinels.

THE DEVILS!

 

[Soulhouf]

There's a new kind of gank squad. The host summons two of his friends in as red phantoms. Then they farm the invading sentinels.

I don't think it's new. I was running into few of them for more than a month now.

 

[maomaoIYP]

I don't think it's new. I was running into few of them for more than a month now.

I haven't been playing as a sentinel for very long. It totally sucks.

 

[Gattsu25]

What's everyone's highest rated message? Just curious.

Mine's "Safe Zone" at 42 rates.

I mean, it ain't in the hundreds or thousands, but I'm still surprised it's gotten that many, since in the first Dark Souls my highest rated message was 1.

I put a "Trap ahead" in the entry to Forest of the Fallen Giants just before the small tunnel that leads to the gate lever.

86 ratings as of 4 days ago.

 

[Sinatar]

Cross posting this from the PC thread.

Product placement in Dark Souls 2.

 

[Minamu]

I got 60+ on a Fine Work! after Dragonrider I think. I tried putting that after the major bosses but no such luck again. Strange, really. I also placed a horse joke (I assume it's a play on whores?) in the Grave of Saints because I've seen several with 1000+ votes, but I've only gotten one so far... And mine was way more elaborate than the original.

 

[Soulhouf]

I got 60+ on a Fine Work! after Dragonrider I think. I tried putting that after the major bosses but no such luck again. Strange, really. I also placed a horse joke (I assume it's a play on whores?) in the Grave of Saints because I've seen several with 1000+ votes, but I've only gotten one so far... And mine was way more elaborate than the original.

Despite being server based, the way message rating work is similar to Dark Souls. When you log off your message is no longer visible. This is weird because that's not how it works in Demon's Souls.

As for me, I must admit that I placed a fake "illusory wall" message in the mansion in Majula when I got the game back in March and it got like 800 rating the last time I checked.
Other than that, the message I put down and that got the most rating was just before the Executioner Chariot boss "Beware of Horse but weakness hole" or something like that which got me 200+ ratings.

By the way these ratings saved my ass more than once in PvP and during boss battles. That HP refill is priceless when it comes at the right moment.

 

[Minamu]

Despite being server based, the way message rating work is similar to Dark Souls. When you log off your message is no longer visible. This is weird because that's not how it works in Demon's Souls.

As for me, I must admit that I placed a fake "illusory wall" message in the mansion in Majula when I got the game back in March and it got like 800 rating the last time I checked.
Other than that, the message I put down and that got the most rating was just before the Executioner Chariot boss "Beware of Horse but weakness hole" or something like that which got me 200+ ratings.

By the way these ratings saved my ass more than once in PvP and during boss battles. That HP refill is priceless when it comes at the right moment.

You sure about this? I feel like I'm sure I've received rates while offline as I can guarantee you that I haven't seen the "your message has been rated" thing more than 10+ times in total in 140 hours.

Edit: Anyway else having issues logging in on ps3 right now?

 

[Mistel]

My highest rated is an anal sex innuendo.

 

[Interrobang]

Hex/Dark/General Build question:

I'm at SL175ish right now (with a SM of 4.5m). Are these stats along the right track for a Katana/Dark build?
VGR20
END20
VIT20
ATN25
STR14
DEX40
ADP20
INT32
FTH32

I use a Darksteel Katana +10 with Dark Weapon on it (from Sunset staff) and the occasional Dark Orb to pull mobs. Am I better off infusing with a Dark stone or should I keep using Dark Weapon?

Also, when should I stop pumping levels into INT and FTH? Should I increase DEX above 40?

Finally, when is a Chime better than a Staff? I got Chime of Want before going into NG+, but need 40 FTH(I think?) to use it, so I've been using the Sunset Staff until then.

 

[Snakethesniper]

I've upgraded my blacksteel katana (don't remember how much) and now I found out that is not the best katana in the game
From what I've read best katanas are: chaos blade, washing pole, berserker blade.
The first 2 I think I'm never gonna use them due to low durability (20). The berserker blade is a rare drop
Do you guys confirm this?

 

[Leezard]

I've upgraded my blacksteel katana (don't remember how much) and now I found out that is not the best katana in the game
From what I've read best katanas are: chaos blade, washing pole, berserker blade.
The first 2 I think I'm never gonna use them due to low durability (20). The berserker blade is a rare drop
Do you guys confirm this?

The blacksteel has a great move in its running r1 into a faster r2. IIRC only Darkdrift and Blacksteel has this move.

 

[Screaming Meat]

My highest rated is an anal sex innuendo.

I, for one, am shocked.

So, this beautiful Santier's Spear (the moveset of which, in combination with character's my red skin, makes me feel like Darth Maul). Is it worth infusing with Dark as opposed to Mundane for a predominantly Hex build ?

I've upgraded my blacksteel katana (don't remember how much) and now I found out that is not the best katana in the game
From what I've read best katanas are: chaos blade, washing pole, berserker blade.
The first 2 I think I'm never gonna use them due to low durability (20). The berserker blade is a rare drop
Do you guys confirm this?

Well now. The BSK has the highest scaling of the lot (S for DEX) and good range.

Chaos Blade would be the overall best (good balance between range, damage, durability etc.) if not for the 30hp loss with every strike (although you can counter that in a number of different ways: Ring of Restoration, Thorn Ring for extra dmg to your opponent, the suicide bomber ring etc.).

The Washing Pole has the best range but not the best damage and one of the lowest durability stats.

Berserker Blade is okay although it's very short compared to the other three.

EDIT: Stats removed because they are apparently bollocks.

The blacksteel has a great move in its running r1 into a faster r2. IIRC only Darkdrift and Blacksteel has this move.

I think a few more have the quick R2 follow ups, mostly when used one handed. You don't even have to do a running attack for some of them. I may have read it (a ha) wrong, but that was where I got the info.

 

[Minamu]

I, for one, am shocked.

So, this beautiful Santier's Spear (the moveset of which, in combination with character's red skin, makes me feel like Darth Maul). Is it worth infusing with Dark as opposed to Mundane for a predominantly Hex build ?

Yeah I liked going from Mundane+lightning to Dark+resonant weapon even though it costs 2000 souls each time. I just need more attunement for the spells :/ At least one RS and one GRS should be needed for ng++ apart from RW.

 

[Soulhouf]

Hex/Dark/General Build question:

I'm at SL175ish right now (with a SM of 4.5m). Are these stats along the right track for a Katana/Dark build?
VGR20
END20
VIT20
ATN25
STR14
DEX40
ADP20
INT32
FTH32

I use a Darksteel Katana +10 with Dark Weapon on it (from Sunset staff) and the occasional Dark Orb to pull mobs. Am I better off infusing with a Dark stone or should I keep using Dark Weapon?

Also, when should I stop pumping levels into INT and FTH? Should I increase DEX above 40?

Finally, when is a Chime better than a Staff? I got Chime of Want before going into NG+, but need 40 FTH(I think?) to use it, so I've been using the Sunset Staff until then.

I would go with:

VGR46 +26
END20
VIT20
ATN25
STR18 +4
DEX18 -22
ADP16 -4
INT30 -2
FTH30 -2

And switch to Ushigatana/Berseker Blade instead of BSK.
I would also keep VIT at the base level. Instead, increase VGR to 50 and put the rest into END.

Caitha's Chime is the best chime to cast hexes IMO. It's not as powerful as chime of want but it's not far from it and has faster casting rate. Not to mention that you can upgrade it with normal titanite.
Always infuse all the weapons you use with dark to maximize damage and buff. The hexes available for use with a chime are better than the staff ones (Great Resonant Soul and Resonant Weapon > everything else).

 

[Snakethesniper]

(Stats sourced from some random gommo here because I'm at work and can't test it myself. Pinch of salt may be required).

that's where I heard the news from. Later in the topic some users state that the numbers are wrong, and the top 3 are chaos, washing and berserker (if I'm not mistaken)

 

[Mistel]

I, for one, am shocked.

So, this beautiful Santier's Spear (the moveset of which, in combination with character's my red skin, makes me feel like Darth Maul). Is it worth infusing with Dark as opposed to Mundane for a predominantly Hex build ?

Mundane will not suit you unless your willing raise lots of stats as it scales with the lowest.

Your not shocked at all...

 

[Interrobang]

I would go with:

VGR46 +26
END20
VIT20
ATN25
STR18 +4
DEX18 -22
ADP16 -4
INT30 -2
FTH30 -2

And switch to Ushigatana/Berseker Blade instead of BSK.
I would also keep VIT at the base level. Instead, increase VGR to 50 and put the rest into END.

Caitha's Chime is the best chime to cast hexes IMO. It's not as powerful as chime of want but it's not far from it and has faster casting rate. Not to mention that you can upgrade it with normal titanite.
Always infuse all the weapons you use with dark to maximize damage and buff. The hexes available for use with a chime are better than the staff ones (Great Resonant Soul and Resonant Weapon > everything else).

Thanks for the in-depth reply! Can you go a little deeper into why the stat changes? Why lower DEX so drastically? Why lower INT and FTH? Why Raise STR above what I need to use DSK? If I infuse my katana with dark, can I still use Dark Weapon on it? At 25 ATN I have 4 slots (I think... might be 5), are GRS and RW the only hexes I should equip?

 

[Screaming Meat]

that's where I heard the news from. Later in the topic some users state that the numbers are wrong, and the top 3 are chaos, washing and berserker (if I'm not mistaken)

Consider it edited

Personally, I have all the katana (fully maxed) and I find, for my 50 DEX build at least, that the BSK has the best balance of move-set, damage, range and durability... apart from the Chaos Blade. If you can cope with losing 30hp with every strike (and like I say, there are ways you can turn that into an advantage or sort of nullify it, although I still find it more of a nuisance than anything), go with the CB.

The Washing Pole is great for range, especially in PvP, but I find it doesn't have the move-set, damage or durability of the other two. Berserker is pretty much a short Uchi with a bit of extra damage, so I tend not to use that one. In fact I ended up trading it for Mad Warrior chest armour (best armour).

Mundane will not suit you unless your willing raise lots of stats as it scales with the lowest.

Your not shocked at all...

Nope