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[Greddleok]

Yeah, it's just ugly as hell. The two handed animations irritate me too because it's way too small to hold with two hands!
Right now it's all about how much damage I can do, since I don't have many options.

The Pursuer was wrecking me, so I went and killed the Dragon Rider who was laughably easy. Most importantly I got the ring near him, which means I should be able to survive the Pursuer instead of being one shot.

I don't get why they limited Estus so much, but give you life gems. Seems like a poor choice to me. I want my 5 chugs of Estus!
It's also really difficult coming from playing Bloodborne last. I got so used to healing upon parries/backstabs. I also got used to moving (slowly) while healing. Still, really loving this.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

First Pursuer kill is all about not being hit at all If he one shots you that's fine and that's how it's supposed to be

 

[Cannon Goose]

Fuck the Havel Squad in Shulva.

FUCK IT RIGHT UP THE ASS

The enemies in the DLCs actually cheat, it's kind of ridiculous. From that fight in particular you can see Havel's ridiculous tracking on his attacks, and him completely ignoring any sort of cooldown period between attacks.

http://fat.gfycat.com/GrandTheseBedlingtonterrier.webm

http://fat.gfycat.com/YellowPointedFlycatcher.webm

 

[Greddleok]

First Pursuer kill is all about not being hit at all If he one shots you that's fine and that's how it's supposed to be

Ha, fair enough. I was trying to kill him with a broad sword, which made the fight ridiculously long. Dumped a load of points into adaptability now though, so maybe my rolls will feel less vulnerable.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Ha, fair enough. I was trying to kill him with a broad sword, which made the fight ridiculously long. Dumped a load of points into adaptability now though, so maybe my rolls will feel less vulnerable.

Mace him to death.

IIRC it took me around 20-25 hits to kill him. 2 hits per roll means I only had to evade his attacks 12 times w/o being hit. 10 if you are feeling lucky Not extremely hard.

Of course that was after he killed me 19 times (see way back in this thread)...

 

[Greddleok]

lol I gave up after 2 tries when I noticed I was doing around 50 per hit. Went exploring and I do not regret it.
If it's all about not getting hit, might as well double hand the mace and go to town. I'm sure I'll do at least double the damage now.

I tried to set up the ballistas to hit him, but he doesn't stand still long enough.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

lol I gave up after 2 tries when I noticed I was doing around 50 per hit. Went exploring and I do not regret it.
If it's all about not getting hit, might as well double hand the mace and go to town. I'm sure I'll do at least double the damage now.

I tried to set up the ballistas to hit him, but he doesn't stand still long enough.

50 is way, way, way too low. You should be hitting him for 200 at least to have a fair 1-on-1 melee fight.

I dug some posts of mine from 2-3 months ago where I was dealing with The Pursuer for the first time:

A shameful secret: even though I platinumed Demon's Souls I've never beaten Penetrator without Biorr's help. I tried one or two times but got destroyed. Somehow he was more relentless than False King Allant for me.

This morning after 20+ deaths I've dealt with The Pursuer in DaS2. Felt sogood.gif. IMO they are basically the same fights: Penetrator and Pursuer. I know second boss, easy, yada, yada but for me it is a great moment of triumph. If I can beat him (without being hit even once) then I am ready for the rest of the game No summons but sadly no Covenant of the Champions as well.

God, I really missed the Souls series.

THE REAL DARK SOULS 2 STARTS HERE

Haha... yeah it took me more or less the same amount of tries to kill him. I did not know about the ballista method - I always baited him and rolled right twice. Then smacked him once.

Anyway he makes the next boss a joke. The next two bosses in fact: in Heide's and in Lost Bastille.

The Pursuer was a real bitch. Very happy how Form put such a difficult boss at the beginning of the game. It's a test.

Beginning is hard, really hard for some reasons. I did not have such difficulties in my first Souls game: Demon's. With my first character I died 39 times before getting to the second boss (!!!), then after 30 hours I dropped this character and started from scratch with a new one. I died 2 times before getting to the second boss with my second character.

Some tips from someone who started playing DaS2 recently as you:

- get a mace (2k souls or Cleric starting weapon)
- upgrade your weapon at the very first possible timeframe. It is more important than levelling up.
- until you get a 100% Damage Reduction shield do not bother with shields at all, drop them
- 2h your weapon. Always.
- ALWAYS ROLL TO THE RIGHT <-- do not know why but this works on every single fucking enemy and boss in this game. They have more attacks that can hurt you if you roll to the left than when you roll to the right. Coincidence? I do not think so.
- depending on how you plan your adventure through the game the 2nd boss in the game will destroy you again and again. And again. He killed me 20 times before I got him. You can always go level up and upgrade your equipment elsewhere (even w/o fighting any other bosses) so it is up to you.
- ROLL, ROLL, ROLL
- do not be greedy with your attacks -> one jab and then WAIT. Do not combo if you feel it is greedy.
- ROLL SOME MORE

Try the Pursuer again. You should be hitting him once for about 200-250 damage, 500 if you can combo two hits (2H). If your damage output is lower then forget it unless you are super patient and cool (I did NG+ King Allant in Demon's while hitting him for 150 damage... it took 25 mins).

The Pursuer *really* teaches you the game. I always rolled to the right when he attacked, if he combo'ed then I rolled to the norhteast and again north when he finished either of his two combos: the sword slam or the spinning attack. Then you whack him two times in the ass and roll BACK ASAP. Rinse and repeat. When he tries to stab you with a thrust (he telegraphs the attack easily) then roll back TWICE. He only impaled me twice in my 20 attempts to kill him

You don't want to have equipmen burden > 50% for this fight believe me.

Pursuer was my 2nd boss as well. Took me exactly 20 attempts but I got that bitch down.

The Pursuer is really one of the hardest bosses in the game come to think about it. Unequip any shield that you are using, 2H your Mace and just kill him. The satisfaction you will achieve is legendary.

 

[Greddleok]

Yeah I didn't really try that much, I generally play Souls by feel, and The Pursuer felt difficult enough that I wasn't meant to do it right now.

 

[LiQuid!]

All the mini-pursuers that spawn around the world gave me so much practice I roll that guy now. He's really easy to parry but even if you suck at parrying he telegraphs all his shit so hard he's one of the easiest enemies to perfect dodge. If he ever starts charging up his dark balls he's basically dead, just run in on him and stick it up his pooper.

 

[zsswimmer]

All the mini-pursuers that spawn around the world gave me so much practice I roll that guy now. He's really easy to parry but even if you suck at parrying he telegraphs all his shit so hard he's one of the easiest enemies to perfect dodge. If he ever starts charging up his dark balls he's basically dead, just run in on him and stick it up his pooper.

I thought so too, the first time I ever played DS2 vanilla I needed help but after beating him officially the obvious telegraphs are easy enough to dodge through, and my main character doesnt even have any points invested into adaptability so it's not like I have a huge window to roll.

 

[strafer]

Oh man Shulva City is FUCKING AWESOME.

Yup, one of my favorite areas.

 

[Mine01]

Just bought the game on my xbone, cant wait to play it tonight.

Any tips for a guy who 50% ds 1 and played bloodborne twice?

 

[neoemonk]

I went to Heide first as a level 1 deprived and I had a harder time with the Old Dragonslayer than I did with the Pursuer by the time I got around to doing him. It was even more frustrating because I've finished Dark Souls 1. Low level with the stupid dagger made it a really hard fight for me. I eventually gave up and went and got the fire Longsword and went back and killed him.

I might have to give maces a try as I've been using the Fire Longsword the whole game and I'm tired of it but I have it at +10 now. I just got to Harvest Valley and I've already gotten the other three boss souls.

 

[Brakke]

Your stats priority should be to raise str / endur enough to use weapon competently, then you want health and you secretly want Adaptability. Adaptability gives you invincibility during rolls.

Magic in all forms is pretty good (except miracles, which are expensive to get to the point they're useful) except for in the DLCs where almost all of it sucks. So feel free to do a magic build but you'll probably want to respec eventually. There are lots of respec items available, so don't be too precious about hoarding them.

 

[Seanspeed]

Just bought the game on my xbone, cant wait to play it tonight.

Any tips for a guy who 50% ds 1 and played bloodborne twice?

Have fun.

 

[DamagedInc]

Just bought the game on my xbone, cant wait to play it tonight.

Any tips for a guy who 50% ds 1 and played bloodborne twice?

Try not to launch your controller across the room when you keep dying early on and have fun!

 

[Conrad Link]

Just spent forever lighting all the torches in stupid Gutter, exploring every speck.

Dark Spirit invades once they're all done, proceeds to lose the fight then drop the items down the stupid glitchy floor out of reach. >_>

Bye bye items.

I would be more angry if they were super important instead of just armor, but still, all that time I spent on doing the lights. *sigh*

 

[neoemonk]

I just went back through and was reading the Pursuer comments throughout the thread. I had no idea people had such a hard time with him. It's interesting to me how universal it seems and I really breezed through it. I think it took me three times.

Old Dragonslayer and The Duke's Dear Freja definitely killed me at least 20 times each though. I'm certainly not the world's best Dark Souls player or anything. I just think the different experiences that people are having are kind of cool.

 

[2AdEPT]

You gots to summon on that for real.

The archer is pretty easy to rush down if you charge him and have enough stamina to keep attacks raining at him.

Havel is pretty easy to backstab.

Other guy is mostly unremarkable.

BUT! It's hard af to do anything when there's always an attack coming at you...

Its easy enough to summon but for wehatever reason I refused to do this without trying really hard to do it solo first....I had an advantage in that by the timethe DLC had came out I was already dedicated to using my Vanquisher seal character who was pretty OP, but really any character that just chips away at each loser while runnign continuously has a chance to do it solo. (Skip to 58 min of vid). Once you get the archer out of the way, or at east one of the three down it gets easier and easier.

I just went back through and was reading the Pursuer comments throughout the thread. I had no idea people had such a hard time with him. It's interesting to me how universal it seems and I really breezed through it. I think it took me three times.

Old Dragonslayer and The Duke's Dear Freja definitely killed me at least 20 times each though. I'm certainly not the world's best Dark Souls player or anything. I just think the different experiences that people are having are kind of cool.

there are some bosses that are hard only if you face them face to face. Pursuer and Dragonslayer are two that can go down real easy if you just stay behind them at all times. Easier said than done, but you can indeed develop a strat to do it without losing any health loss with hittin them in the ass in mind. Really I started out a pretty average player also, but ds2 saw me improve by leaps and bounds as I went shieldless on my first run and then did fists only for the 2nd run...this taught me how to learn the attacks, and punish the various AI of the particualr boss etc. I was able to do a no health loss for Pursuer, Sinner, and a no estus for Alonne, and when I came back into the regular game I was so well trained by the DLC and doing the OP fist only seal stuff that I rolled all reamining bosses from dual dragonriders to ancient dragon and even nahsandra and twins in one go each. I dont mention this to brag because the seal is definitely OP but since DS1 did nto make me the player I am now as much as ds2 did....if have to give ds2 the credit it deserves....very fun experience and some of the best memories of the series despite its various issues, which all games have BTW.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I just went back through and was reading the Pursuer comments throughout the thread. I had no idea people had such a hard time with him. It's interesting to me how universal it seems and I really breezed through it. I think it took me three times.

Old Dragonslayer and The Duke's Dear Freja definitely killed me at least 20 times each though. I'm certainly not the world's best Dark Souls player or anything. I just think the different experiences that people are having are kind of cool.

Very easy to explain.

Pursuer was the second boss for many of us. Right after The Last Giant who was more of a tutorial boss than a real one: slow, not doing any combos, can fumble down to the ground and just lie there waiting for you to attack him, enclosed area where you cannot fall down etc.

Pursuer is the opposite: very fast, unrelenting, doing combos up to three hits, impale attack, you can roll to the side and fall down to your death, you can get stuck on the ballistas or roll right into them and he will punish you for that etc.

You do very little damage to Pursuer at this moment in the game and that forces you to drop your shield and two hand your weapon. Even without that there are just no good shields at this moment for the fight and your Stamina is eitherway very, very low so he will drain it and stunlock you.

Pursuer as the 2nd boss basically requires you to roll and lots of people are not very customised to do that for the whole boss fight. It takes patience and nerves to not make a single mistake like roll too late or roll too early etc. Sure you can roll around Ironclads and The Last Giant but Pursuer requires constant rolling. It was a novelty for me at least because I turtled the whole Demon's Souls. Pursuer ... explained to me that it is not a good idea in this game

All and all a magnificent fight that is very similiar to The Penetrator/ False King Allant from Demon's Souls.

 

[Brakke]

Also it's he Absolute Best of you can blast Pursuer with one of the crossbows in his arena.

<3 Pursuer.

 

[neoemonk]

Very easy to explain.

Pursuer was the second boss for many of us. Right after The Last Giant who was more of a tutorial boss than a real one: slow, not doing any combos, can fumble down to the ground and just lie there waiting for you to attack him, enclosed area where you cannot fall down etc.

Pursuer is the opposite: very fast, unrelenting, doing combos up to three hits, impale attack, you can roll to the side and fall down to your death, you can get stuck on the ballistas or roll right into them and he will punish you for that etc.

You do very little damage to Pursuer at this moment in the game and that forces you to drop your shield and two hand your weapon. Even without that there are just no good shields at this moment for the fight and your Stamina is eitherway very, very low so he will drain it and stunlock you.

Pursuer as the 2nd boss basically requires you to roll and lots of people are not very customised to do that for the whole boss fight. It takes patience and nerves to not make a single mistake like roll too late or roll too early etc. Sure you can roll around Ironclads and The Last Giant but Pursuer requires constant rolling. It was a novelty for me at least because I turtled the whole Demon's Souls. Pursuer ... explained to me that it is not a good idea in this game

All and all a magnificent fight that is very similiar to The Penetrator/ False King Allant from Demon's Souls.

This makes sense. I played Demon's Souls as a magic user and did sword and board in Dark Souls. I wanted to try out a no shield run from the start after reading about Bloodborne so I've been rolling since the start of the game. I also read up on adaptability before I played and knew I wanted to pump that stat with my play style as well.

 

[LiQuid!]

I just went back through and was reading the Pursuer comments throughout the thread. I had no idea people had such a hard time with him. It's interesting to me how universal it seems and I really breezed through it. I think it took me three times.

Old Dragonslayer and The Duke's Dear Freja definitely killed me at least 20 times each though. I'm certainly not the world's best Dark Souls player or anything. I just think the different experiences that people are having are kind of cool.

Yeah, I've literally never died to DDF in my maybe 5 or 6 times fighting her. That's the crazy things about souls, everybody has their specific set of nemeses. All the Shulva love lately makes me kind of crazy. I think the place is actually pretty excellently designed from a layout point of view, but I must have died at least 100 times in there to all the cheap-ass enemies who were resistant to all my hexes. I had much more fun in Frozen Eleum Loyce.

 

[DamagedInc]

Well i'm starting to get back into the rhythm of things now, I've killed to Dragon Rider guy and headed into No Mans Wharf, i've opened the first short cut in that and was doing so well before getting smashed by only 1 guy! Small steps but it's getting there and i'm starting to enjoy it now finally.

 

[Greddleok]

I went back and make a chump of the Pursuer. Took me 5 tries because I kept dying to his cursed blade attack. The timing on that is slightly different to the others, so I kept dodging early.
5th try I didn't even get hit.

Then I went to the Lost Bastille, and got fucked up by the Pursuer again.

Dark Souls.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I went back and make a chump of the Pursuer. Took me 5 tries because I kept dying to his cursed blade attack. The timing on that is slightly different to the others, so I kept dodging early.
5th try I didn't even get hit.

Then I went to the Lost Bastille, and got fucked up by the Pursuer again.

Dark Souls.

Haha, told ya to go and wreck him. Good job. What weapon were you using this time?

You will meet him many times in the future

 

[One Foul Note]

Yeah, I've literally never died to DDF in my maybe 5 or 6 times fighting her. That's the crazy things about souls, everybody has their specific set of nemeses.

That is 100% true, I never had any trouble with the Pursuer or the Ruin Sentinels (another boss that pops up a lot when people talk about being roadblocked). But I took ages taking down Velstadt.

 

[Greddleok]

Haha, told ya to go and wreck him. Good job. What weapon were you using this time?

You will meet him many times in the future

I just double fisted the mace, I think +2. I was pissed that I kept dying so I went all reckless and hit him twice after each dodge rather than once. Just sped up the whole thing and made it way easier.

Yeah, The Pursuer is a dead give away that he'll keep popping back up.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

That is 100% true, I never had any trouble with the Pursuer or the Ruin Sentinels (another boss that pops up a lot when people talk about being roadblocked). But I took ages taking down Velstadt.

If we are doing this now:

- 20 times to Pursuer
- 14-15 times to Gargoyles
- 26 times to Darklurker
- 8-9 times to Snake Medusa Lady (didn't know about poison draining)

Not listing bosses that killed me up to 5 times (Velstdat, Freja, Smelter, 2 Dragonriders, Ancient Dragon) nor the ones killed on my first try (Lost Sinner, Flexile, Dragonrider etc.)

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I just double fisted the mace, I think +2. I was pissed that I kept dying so I went all reckless and hit him twice after each dodge rather than once. Just sped up the whole thing and made it way easier.

Mace rocks

That's the beautiful rush of wanting to kill a boss - hitting him twice/ thrice and risking it.

Cannot mention how many times he killed me when he had 5-10% health left because I JUST WANTED TO FINISH HIM and kept on attacking forgetting about stamina/ rolling...

 

[neoemonk]

Made it to Iron Keep last night. Going for my fourth boss soul. Once I get it, how much Dark Souls is left? Am I almost done? Halfway? Does the real Dark Souls start now?

 

[Brakke]

Made it to Iron Keep last night. Going for my fourth boss soul. Once I get it, how much Dark Souls is left? Am I almost done? Halfway? Does the real Dark Souls start now?

When you say Boss Soul, do you mean Lord Soul / primal bonfire? Or fourth boss?

If the latter, you've got a long way to go.

If the former, you're like halfway (no DLC) or long way to go (with DLC).

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Guys is the White Dragon the final boss of the first DLC?

Cause I made it to him and he destroyed me before I know what has happened Gonna leave him and the Havel Squad'o Cheapness for later.

Can't count how many times I died while dropping down to Elena... over a 10 easily. I guess there is a hidden bonfire somewhere down there because I only discovered ONE bonfire in Dragon Sanctum, lol, the one in the shallow water near the Dinos.

The fight with her was very fun. I discovered that the key to winning was just tanking her with Greater Magic Weapon and *NOT* letting her summon Veldstadt. She summoned him two times = I died two times. The skellies were much more manageable.

The DLC is great fun so far. On to the second one!

 

[Brakke]

I didn't even know she could summon Velstadt >.< I thought she was a chump. Skellies were annoying but you can just kill 2 of the 3 and then ignore the one that's left easy enough.

The Dragon is the "final" boss in the sense that he's the one that drops the crown. Havelsquad is "final" in the sense that he's optional -- all the DLCs have one optional boss. When you do fight him, recognize that he's corrosive and your weapons wear down quickly against him. Make sure you've brought some repair powder or a backup weapon. Everybody says you shouldn't summon against the dragon and I tend to agree. I did him alone myself. Problem with summoning is he gets a ton of HP and then you're really going to struggle with repairing weapons. Plus he has a couple savage attacks you don't want to be caught out in, if you make the fight shorter you give him less opportunities to kill you in one hit.

There's a hidden bonfire on the way down to Elena. It's behind a hidden door in a hallway on the way down.

 

[neoemonk]

When you say Boss Soul, do you mean Lord Soul / primal bonfire? Or fourth boss?

If the latter, you've got a long way to go.

If the former, you're like halfway (no DLC) or long way to go (with DLC).

Primal Bonfire is a better way to put it. Three primals lit, at the Iron Keep on the way to #4.

Halfway then. Interesting.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

...that dragon was way easier than Elena.

I killed him on my 2nd try. It's exactly the same fight as Rat King - always stay "beneath" him and just attack his hind legs. Very easy. So easy in fact that he broke my Mace +10 at 25% health and I managed to open my equipment and (blindly) assign a random weapon instead. It was a... Blacksmit's Hammer +0, heh.

I killed Sinh the Dragon with Blacksmith's Hammer +0. Eternal Dragon shame on him, ha.

Got one crown, two more to go.

 

[Brakke]

Dark Souls 2 is sort of like inverse Dark Souls. Lighting the fourth bonfire is like getting the Lord Vessel. The game makes a kind of transition into a new phase. In Dark Souls, killing the 4 was the second phase; in Dark Souls 2 killing the four is the first.

 

[2AdEPT]

I didn't even know she could summon Velstadt >.< I thought she was a chump. Skellies were annoying but you can just kill 2 of the 3 and then ignore the one that's left easy enough.

The Dragon is the "final" boss in the sense that he's the one that drops the crown. Havelsquad is "final" in the sense that he's optional -- all the DLCs have one optional boss. When you do fight him, recognize that he's corrosive and your weapons wear down quickly against him. Make sure you've brought some repair powder or a backup weapon. Everybody says you shouldn't summon against the dragon and I tend to agree. I did him alone myself. Problem with summoning is he gets a ton of HP and then you're really going to struggle with repairing weapons. Plus he has a couple savage attacks you don't want to be caught out in, if you make the fight shorter you give him less opportunities to kill you in one hit.

There's a hidden bonfire on the way down to Elena. It's behind a hidden door in a hallway on the way down.

one way to avoid the acid is to go fist only!

Well i'm starting to get back into the rhythm of things now, I've killed to Dragon Rider guy and headed into No Mans Wharf, i've opened the first short cut in that and was doing so well before getting smashed by only 1 guy! Small steps but it's getting there and i'm starting to enjoy it now finally.

Great .....good work!

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Brume Tower.

Snow + Fire?

Wow.

Instantly fell in love with this area. For no reason whatsoever the central tower reminds me of various Clock Towers from Castlevania.

Made my way to the 2nd bonfire there. The enemies are quite easier here than the squads from Shulva. I guess this is the place where the famous Fume Knight resides Cannot wait to face him. My Gyrm Greatshield is ready

 

[Brakke]

Ash, not snow.

 

[DamagedInc]

Great .....good work!

Got the boss down at the end of No Man's Wharf last night, there are a few treasures I missed in that area so i'm going to go back and grab those, I really enjoyed that area even with the archers then it's the Lost Bastille I guess.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Fast rolling around in Havel's Armor + Gauntlets + Legpieces, all +5 feels amazing.

 

[One Foul Note]

Fast rolling around in Havel's Armor + Gauntlets + Legpieces, all +5 feels amazing.

How did you get to the point that you are fast rolling in Havels gear?

 

[StoppedInTracks]

How did you get to the point that you are fast rolling in Havels gear?

3rd Dragon Ring, Soldiers Ring +1, tons of VIT (45).

Note that I am not wearing Havel's Helmet nor Shield.

 

[One Foul Note]

Ahh, my character is on a super light fast roll build and I just found Havels gear and just putting it on put me from 24% encumbered to 99%. The point where I can just skip around in that armour is a dream for me.

 

[strafer]

After about two months the Fuck Knight is finally defeated. Feels good man.

 

[lucablight]

Having finished all the Souls games (I.e Demons,Dark and Bloodborne) I finally deciding to start this up and I was struggling with the difficulty big time. I couldn't even beat the first boss without getting one shot'd and I was getting to the point of u wot m8?

Now I discover that it's because I'm in the covenent of champions and that apparently makes the game harder and causes enemies to keep respawning.

If you kill a particular enemy enough times to stop it respawning while not in the company of champions and then join the company will it start respawning again? Or does it only cause respawning of enemies that haven't stopped spawning yet?

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Having finished all the Souls games (I.e Demons,Dark and Bloodborne) I finally deciding to start this up and I was struggling with the difficulty big time. I couldn't even beat the first boss without getting one shot'd and I was getting to the point of u wot m8?

Now I discover that it's because I'm in the covenent of champions and that apparently makes the game harder and causes enemies to keep respawning.

If you kill a particular enemy enough times to stop it respawning while not in the company of champions and then join the company will it start respawning again? Or does it only cause respawning of enemies that haven't stopped spawning yet?

I made the same mistake with that Covenant before. Struggled big time, learned about it on the internet (my bad) and disabled it ASAP. Didn't even get to the first boss (shame on me).

CoC will always respawn all enemies. You can safely extinct them while outside CoC.

Note that the beginning of the game is largely difficult even without CoC. You just have to push on...

 

[lucablight]

I made the same mistake with that Covenant before. Struggled big time, learned about it on the internet (my bad) and disabled it ASAP. Didn't even get to the first boss (shame on me).

CoC will always respawn all enemies. You can safely extinct them while outside CoC.

Note that the beginning of the game is largely difficult even without CoC. You just have to push on...

Nice! I was actually pretty close to beating the first boss if I didn't get one shot'd so much. I suspect the rest of the game will be a lot easier now since I'm going to be so overpowered.

I was really puzzled at how hard it was considering I never struggled so much in the other games.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I was really puzzled at how hard it was considering I never struggled so much in the other games.

Yup, that is what triggered my "something must be very wrong" flag. I never struggled so much in Demon's.

Now imagine a world without Internet... you & me would be playing this game and getting so much better at it with the Covenant of Champions enabled...