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[Cannon Goose]

I'm not sure it's possible to kill a Crystal Lizard with a katana. I tried so many times but the swings just don't hit them.

 

[Gbraga]

I'm not sure it's possible to kill a Crystal Lizard with a katana. I tried so many times but the swings just don't hit them.

I always used the heavy power stance hit with my katanas, but now that I'm using the washing pole I just use my bow. Should probably start using the greatsword I have equipped though.

 

[DukeBobby]

I'm not sure it's possible to kill a Crystal Lizard with a katana. I tried so many times but the swings just don't hit them.

I always use arrows. There's a Crystal Lizard in Harvest Valley that took me ages to kill, though. Little fucker kept falling down a hole.

 

[HoosTrax]

Is there a point to the red crystal lizards?

 

[Orthogonal]

Is there a point to the red crystal lizards?

To troll you.

 

[maomaoIYP]

But they have S Rank swag.

For piss damage. Dex scaling is worthless.
Also try this exercise: list all the consistently hard enemies that aren't heavily armored versus those which are.
Here let me name some of the heavily armored ones:
ironclads, mastodons, alonne knights, syans, drakekeepers, phantoms in dark realms.
Heavily armored enemies are resistant to slash.
Katanas being light also can't stun lock them.
So you're left with a fragile toothpick that can't kill them quick or knock them out of their attack animations.

 

[Haunted]

In my mind I always assumed that elevator went down.

Would make a lot of sense if they are mining below the mountain of Earthen Peak for iron.

EDIT: Just verified and you are right, the elevator goes upwards. What, are they mining ore from the sky? Where did the lava come from?

That's what I've been saying!

Makes no fucking sense whatsoever. If you examine the actual 3D geometry with the map viewer tool, it even shows that there would've been ample space below the Earthen Peak.

It's hard to speculate just what exactly they were thinking, maybe the concept art was the Keep being open air... and the skybox was already done and everything so they didn't want to change it to an underground area.

I really don't know.

 

[chaobreaker]

Is STR/DEX scaling even useful anymore? Barely any of the weapons I found in my 80 hours of playing benefit from high STR or DEX. For getting pur physical damage raw always seems to be the way to go.

 

[Moaradin]

For piss damage. Dex scaling is worthless.
Also try this exercise: list all the consistently hard enemies that aren't heavily armored versus those which are.
Here let me name some of the heavily armored ones:
ironclads, mastodons, alonne knights, syans, drakekeepers, phantoms in dark realms.
Heavily armored enemies are resistant to slash.
Katanas being light also can't stun lock them.
So you're left with a fragile toothpick that can't kill them quick or knock them out of their attack animations.

I've been trying to replace my Blacksteel Katanas for ages. What is a good replacement if I want to dual wield?

 

[Jackben]

This motherfucker. Yuka I am SMH right there with you.

 

[Gbraga]

For piss damage. Dex scaling is worthless.
Also try this exercise: list all the consistently hard enemies that aren't heavily armored versus those which are.
Here let me name some of the heavily armored ones:
ironclads, mastodons, alonne knights, syans, drakekeepers, phantoms in dark realms.
Heavily armored enemies are resistant to slash.
Katanas being light also can't stun lock them.
So you're left with a fragile toothpick that can't kill them quick or knock them out of their attack animations.

To be honest I kinda liked they not being so strong, made me use items and arrows, made things varied and fun. If my weapon of choice was very strong and durable, I would never explore the new nuances of the combat, find out how buffed the items are in this game, probably wouldn't even try the bow, which is a blast to use here.

Most of those enemis you listed I either killed with poison or aggrod them one by one using arrows, Alonne Knights don't have a lot of health, especially after you shoot them a couple of times while he's coming at you.

I've been trying to replace my Blacksteel Katanas for ages. What is a good replacement if I want to dual wield?

I used a Blacksteel Katana along with an Uchigatana, I loved the combo, looked cool and did good damage.

 

[HoosTrax]

To troll you.

I know, right?

"Oooh this one's red and rare...I bet it's got even nicer loot inside than the blues. Time to smack it open like a pinata" *runs up* *swings* BOOM!! "Owww"

 

[Booshka]

Is STR/DEX scaling even useful anymore? Barely any of the weapons I found in my 80 hours of playing benefit from high STR or DEX. For getting pur physical damage raw always seems to be the way to go.

Good amount of pure STR weapons do, but Dex, no.

You can probably min/max for 2 hand requirements, go Raw upgrade path, and use Ring of blades to get pretty good damage for far less stat investment than relying on Scaling.

Pure physical is marginalized big time in this game, maybe they will nerf elementals, fix scaling, fix spices and non scaling weapon buffs, and the combat will return to normalcy. Or maybe not.

 

[Zeliard]

I invaded Shrine of Amana about 12 times last night. I certainly do apologize about that. Certainly do.

For piss damage. Dex scaling is worthless.
Also try this exercise: list all the consistently hard enemies that aren't heavily armored versus those which are.
Here let me name some of the heavily armored ones:
ironclads, mastodons, alonne knights, syans, drakekeepers, phantoms in dark realms.
Heavily armored enemies are resistant to slash.
Katanas being light also can't stun lock them.
So you're left with a fragile toothpick that can't kill them quick or knock them out of their attack animations.

DEX scaling is horribad but I still enjoy using katanas in PvP. They can do pretty good burst damage with the dual swing in the power stance. People aren't usually expecting to get hit so hard with a single swing.

Right now I'm using a Darkdrift +5 in my right hand to punish people who just hold their shields up all day long, and a Chaos Blade +5 in my left hand for damage.

 

[Moaradin]

I used a Blacksteel Katana along with an Uchigatana, I loved the combo, looked cool and did good damage.

I'm using double Blacksteel Katanas and the damage isn't bad. They are just super heavy swords, especially when dual wielding. I'm looking for something lighter and faster but I'm having trouble finding a good replacement.

 

[Gbraga]

DEX scaling is horribad but I still enjoy using katanas in PvP. They can do pretty good burst damage with the dual swing in the power stance. People aren't usually expecting to get hit so hard with a single swing.

Right now I'm using a Darkdrift +5 in my right hand to punish people who just hold their shields up all day long, and a Chaos Blade +5 in my left hand for damage.

You gave me an idea: Since I feel like using a washing pole with a shield is mostly useless, maybe I should replace the shield with the Darkdrift so I can pierce shields in PVP? Two handed parries usually suck though.

 

[JumpJeff84]

I'm about 6 hours in, playing as a sorcerer.

I haven't at this point equipped a shield, wondering if this is a feasible strategy for the whole game. Can I just keep rolling to evade?

Also, is there any advantage to two-handing my staff for spell casting?

 

[Gbraga]

I'm about 6 hours in, playing as a sorcerer.

I haven't at this point equipped a shield, wondering if this is a feasible strategy for the whole game. Can I just keep rolling to evade?

As long as you have good agility (90~100, I have it at 98), you'll be fine.

 

[Grief.exe]

As soon as Dark Souls 1 gets a Steamworks patch I'm going to do a Dex/Katana build just to spite Dark Souls 2 balance. I will go grab the Uchi or the Iato from Blightown and do work.

This motherfucker. Yuka I am SMH right there with you.

That was funny.

 

[JumpJeff84]

As long as you have good agility (90~100, I have it at 98), you'll be fine.

How do you level up agility? Is it with the adaptability stat?

 

[Gbraga]

As soon as Dark Souls 1 gets a Steamworks patch I'm going to do a Dex/Katana build just to spite Dark Souls 2 balance.

I used Ciaran's blades with my DEX character (Iaito until I got them) and had a blast, dual wielding is quite viable with those weapons.

How do you level up agility? Is it with the adaptability stat?

Both ADP and ATT raise agility, though ADP does it a bit faster IIRC.

 

[Uthred]

Are there any decent early to mid game weapons with inherent dark damage? Tempted to kill the blood covenant guy for his scythe

 

[Jackben]

I remember the glory days of using my 40 dex character wielding a +15 Iato and being able to stun and get huge chunks of damage off the Royal Sentinels in NG++ Anor Londo. Dat bleed critical T-T

 

[Gorillaz]

This motherfucker. Yuka I am SMH right there with you.

I like how dude took 2 hits and runs to drink an estus every 5 seconds

 

[burgerdog]

I remember the glory days of using my +15 Iato and being able to stun and get huge chunks of damage off the Royal Sentinels in NG++ Anor Londo. Dat bleed critical T-T

That's my favorite Dark Souls weapon, slash slash slash dat damage.

 

[Gbraga]

My favorite, even after using the Uchigatana, Zweihander, Iaito and Ciaran's swords, is still the Reinforced Club. Is it as good in this game?

 

[nbthedude]

I'm about 6 hours in, playing as a sorcerer.

I haven't at this point equipped a shield, wondering if this is a feasible strategy for the whole game. Can I just keep rolling to evade?

Also, is there any advantage to two-handing my staff for spell casting?

I use the heavy leather shield. It's only 90% damage block but it weights next to nothing. Like you I rarely use it but it's nice to have to hold out in front of me when I'm not expecting an attack just as security.

I'm a dex build and me and this dagger are going all the way to the end game.

 

[Cannon Goose]

Is STR/DEX scaling even useful anymore? Barely any of the weapons I found in my 80 hours of playing benefit from high STR or DEX. For getting pur physical damage raw always seems to be the way to go.

I wrote a post about dex scaling the other day:

So about DEX scaling...

I feel that if you want to go with a pure DEX or DEX-oriented weapon (E/B scaling for example) then instead of getting to 40 DEX you should just meet the base requirements to use the weapon, infuse it with Raw, and then drop the Ring of Blades +2 on it as well. If my calculations are correct, this should give you ~40-50 fewer points of damage than a 40 DEX build, but then you'll have 25-30 levels that you can put elsewhere.

As an example of good DEX scaling, let's take a look at the Great Scythe from Dark Souls 1. At the base stats to use the weapon (14 STR/DEX) you would do 305 damage, the base 250 + 55 from scaling at the base stats! At 14 STR and 40 DEX the scaling damage goes up to a whopping 224, bringing you to 474 total damage! That's definitely worth the extra points into DEX.

In Dark Souls 2 the Great Scythe deals 250 base damage and at 16 STR/DEX you gain an additional 42 damage from scaling. Not terrible, a bit lower than the first game but it's still OK. Boost your STR and DEX to 40 and that 42 turns into... 84! So it would be even lower if you only boosted DEX. A grand total of ~80 points gained for a DEX weapon with A scaling and 40 points into DEX is a bit of a joke.

The same goes for Magic (Faintstone) infusions, the amount of bonus damage from having 50 INT is not very high at all compared to say, 18 INT (The amount required to use Crystal Magic Weapon after you have used ten spices on it). I am not certain if Dark, Fire, Lightning or Enchanted suffer from the same inadequacy as I didn't test them.

So in short, you can have a powerful build with low DEX because the scaling is quite poor. Put the points elsewhere and perhaps consider a hybrid build with buffs and magic on the side because you'll do a lot more damage that way.

Scaling is useless for quality and dex weapons. I'm not certain about str weapons but I suspect it's also not quite as good as an infusion.

 

[Booshka]

My favorite, even after using the Uchigatana, Zweihander, Iaito and Ciaran's swords, is still the Reinforced Club. Is it as good in this game?

The Mace is the Reinforced Club of Dark Souls 2.

It's really good, and the defacto weapon for SL 1 runs as well.

 

[pixlexic]

Maybe earthen peek is a volcano? And iron keep was built on top?

 

[Jackben]

My favorite, even after using the Uchigatana, Zweihander, Iaito and Ciaran's swords, is still the Reinforced Club. Is it as good in this game?

Yes, the club family of weapons are still super OP in DS2. In fact many enemies in DS2 that are resistant to thrust and slash are super weak to club weapons.

 

[Necromanti]

This motherfucker. Yuka I am SMH right there with you.

The fact that he let him run away and heal every time is mind-boggling. No wonder he ended up losing.

 

[Grief.exe]

Couldn't you get to Blighttown right off the bat through the use of the key?

Oh yes, now I remember. You through the New Londo > Valley of the Drakes > back entrance.

Yes, club family of weapons still super OP in DS2. In fact many enemies in DS2 that are resistant to thrust and slash are super weak to club weapons.

Strike damage is just too good to pass up. I just don't like any of the good Great Hammer Class weapons aesthetically.

 

[Jackben]

The fact that he let him run away and heal every time is mind-boggling. No wonder he ended up losing.

Yeah I don't understand why he didn't pursue. Maybe he was on NG++++ or something and hadn't cleared out the enemies yet or something. If I was Yuka I would have re-equipped my estus and healed right back.

 

[Gbraga]

I wrote a post about dex scaling the other day:



Scaling is useless for quality and dex weapons. I'm not certain about str weapons but I suspect it's also not quite as good as an infusion.

Great post! I'll definitely do a respec with that in mind then! How much do I need to two hand the Curved Dragon Greatsword (don't care about one handing it at all)? I'll try this along with the Washing Pole and Darkdrift. Can you still use item buffs on raw weapons? If so, I'll probably put all those remaining points into VGR/VIT instead of INT. But I didn't think about reducing the Crystal Magic Weapon requirements, that definitely seems very useful for PVP.

Hmmm

The Mace is the Reinforced Club of Dark Souls 2.

It's really good, and the defacto weapon for SL 1 runs as well.

I do hear great things about the mace, I'll give it a shot after my NG+ run when I make my Greatsword character (until I get the Greatsword, of course).

Yeah I don't understand why he didn't pursue. Maybe he was on NG++++ or something and hadn't cleared out the enemies yet or something. If I was Yuka I would have re-equipped my estus and healed right back.

He tried once, but the "wait until your stamina bar is full before you can sprint" mechanic didn't let him.

 

[Vaporak]

That's what I've been saying!

Makes no fucking sense whatsoever. If you examine the actual 3D geometry with the map viewer tool, it even shows that there would've been ample space below the Earthen Peak.

It's hard to speculate just what exactly they were thinking, maybe the concept art was the Keep being open air... and the skybox was already done and everything so they didn't want to change it to an underground area.

I really don't know.

It's obviously a very "video gamey" level, but I don't know what doesn't make sense. Iron Keep is on the other side of the mountain/hill. From the start of Iron Keep you can look back and it looks like a mountain ridge is just a little distance away from the keep, I just assumed that Earthen Peak was built into the side of a small volcano and the elevator was taking you up to the other side where the massive lava filled caldera that holds Iron Keep is.

 

[Cannon Goose]

The fact that he let him run away and heal every time is mind-boggling. No wonder he ended up losing.

Probably didn't want to aggro the enemies.

 

[Orthogonal]

Does covenant rank carry over to NG+? If I leave ng with a covenant at rank 2, do I carry on going with rank 3 or start over?

 

[Sullichin]

Couldn't you get to Blighttown right off the bat through the use of the key?

Oh yes, now I remember. You through the New Londo > Valley of the Drakes > back entrance.



Strike damage is just too good to pass up. I just don't like any of the good Great Hammer Class weapons aesthetically.

But the grym greathammer looks so badass

 

[Arjen]

Does covenant rank carry over to NG+? If I leave ng with a covenant at rank 2, do I carry on going with rank 3 or start over?

You keep your rank.

 

[Sullichin]

It wasn't until I listened to Creighton and Ornifex that I realized Shaded Woods / Brightstone Cove are even connected. I really forget how I get places once a warp is available.

 

[eot]

They gave the Large Club's amazing roll attack to the Drakekeeper's Greataxe may have to use that now instead.

 

[Cannon Goose]

Great post! I'll definitely do a respec with that in mind then! How much do I need to two hand the Curved Dragon Greatsword (don't care about one handing it at all)? I'll try this along with the Washing Pole and Darkdrift. Can you still use item buffs on raw weapons? If so, I'll probably put all those remaining points into VGR/VIT instead of INT. But I didn't think about reducing the Crystal Magic Weapon requirements, that definitely seems very useful for PVP.

Thanks! Yeah you can make some hefty builds if you're not casting. My current build has the following stats:

SL 150 Bandit
51 VIG
50 END
14 VIT
2 ATN
16 STR
15 DEX
40 ADP
1 INT
14 FTH

Base stats required to use my weapons (Drakekeeper's Sword, Great Scythe and Sea Bow) and 14 faith to use a spiced down Resonant Weapon. Very powerful with very little investment in the usual offensive stats. Having heaps of HP, stamina and agility is great in all situations.

 

[FtHTiny]

Tried to see what the hype about the monastery scimitar was. Farmed it and tested it. It´s kinda stupid how broken this weapon is. Even parrying spells is easy with that thing.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

I'm still early in the game. I beat the first giant and I think I've explored everything in the cardinal tower area I can at this point. I can only find 1 way to advance; the pursuer at the top, but I'm affraid he's going to beat my ass over and over. Did I miss any other areas/routes that I could go to now?

Do I have to beat this guy or can I go somewhere else? He's kicking my ass and I don't know where to get a human effigy.

 

[eot]

Do I have to beat this guy or can I go somewhere else? He's kicking my ass and I don't know where to get a human effigy.

There are other ways you can go from Majula.

 

[akira28]

I always use arrows. There's a Crystal Lizard in Harvest Valley that took me ages to kill, though. Little fucker kept falling down a hole.

I nabbed that lil bastard too. I was trying everything, and those bandits were pulling out more and more combinations to prevent me from doing it. I feel cheap but I just arrowed everything to death.

 

[Vossler]

About to jump in this weekend, pretty much a noob. Opinions on best starting class (non-Sorcerer)? I was thinking knight or swordsman....is dual wielding worth it? (did read the OP with the tips)

 

[Vaporak]

Do I have to beat this guy or can I go somewhere else? He's kicking my ass and I don't know where to get a human effigy.

The forest of the giants that you went to is only one of the ways to continue on from Majula. The Pursuer is an additional optional boss.

 

[smashism]

So here's a strange one.

Everytime someone connects to my game co-op or pvp, whatever. My spotify volume drops to 15% in the default windows mixer. Anyone else get this issue?