Either or really it doesn't matter, there's some decent equipment available in Heide if you've not been.
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Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin |OT| Your weapons are weak, old man
- Thread starter VisceralBowl
- Start date
Alright, I've beaten Demon Souls, Dark Souls, and just platinum'd Bloodborne along with its DLC. This is the only game that remains- gonna purchase it off of PSN now I think. I just hope it pulls me in as much as the others, because I've heard a lot of naysaying regarding this entry.
Edit. I didn't realize it was only 20 bucks right now. Sweet.
Edit. I didn't realize it was only 20 bucks right now. Sweet.
Something like this:
VIG: 20
END: 20
VIT: 20
ATT: no investemt
STR: 50
DEX: invest if min requirements or dual wield
ADP: between 100 to 120 aglity
INT: no investment
FTH: no investment
This is very generic but it'll work well enough.
Was planning to go sword/shield knight, not sure how that changes things. I completed Bloodborne + DLC but played very little Demon or Dark Souls.
Well in that case you probably want to have a bit more END about 25 VIT at 30 if you want to use heavier great sheilds as well and probably lower ADP around 100 that's about it really then there's a couple of really good STR swords available early on as well.
Thanks. What should be the priority stats to increase early on?
comshoplesce
Member
Finally got Sir Alonne with King's Ultra Greatsword 
+ Havel's Greatshield.
+ Havel's Greatshield.You can near the second bonfire.
END and VIT followed by STR and VIG. END and VIT will give you the ability to carry and use the gear you want by raising you stamina and equip load. STR and VIG you can raise latter once you've got some more of the basics narrowed down if you're starting as a Knight you probably won't need to do VIG to be honest.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I'd lower VIT and increase VIG instead.
Heavy armour is overrated.
END and VIG, followed by STR and ADP.
That's a generic build it's in no way a hard and fast rule plus it's not even taking into account any break points. 20 VIT is not that much but it's just giving them more to work with if they prefer some of the medium sets with their playstyle. I could do something far better but I don't want to overwhelm them.
Tarkus
Member
14 VIT max. Flynn's Ring is nice on a strength build. First ring to break though, always.
Sure you could do flynn's but I'm not going to take that into account on a generic build am I? Flynn's ain't really that mandatory it's nice but doesn't mesh well with some STR weapons.
Tarkus
Member
You're right. I just had to mention my favorite ring
Orochinagis
Member
Well, shi...
Time to unistall the game, we never know what that ring is for,.
Time to unistall the game, we never know what that ring is for,.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
Sometime life presents you a hard mode and all you can really do is say yes
Does the Chaos Blade drains x2 your health per hit when offhanded in a power-stance setup?
Also, how's the durability on the Washing Pole leveled up also for offhand power-stance?
Doing yet another character and I was thinking on putting a long katana on power-stance offhand for dem reach.
Also, how's the durability on the Washing Pole leveled up also for offhand power-stance?
Doing yet another character and I was thinking on putting a long katana on power-stance offhand for dem reach.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
I believe it does. High risk/high reward style!
Washing Poles durability is shit. I highly recommend the Bracing Knuckle Ring. WP's moveset isn't all that compared to other katanas as it doesn't have the sped up R2s off running/rolling attacks that they have, which is the best thing about them (BSK, Darkdrift etc.).
Chaos Blade has pretty immense reach and great counter damage. If you're gonna duel wield and can cope with the HP drain, I'd personally go with two of those or either dual BKS, dual Manslayer (or one Manslayer and the Spotted Whip both infused with poison), or a couple of Darkdrifts, each of which have their benefits depending on your build.
Having said that, if you can get Hidden Weapon going for your off-hand Washing Pole, that might be hilarious when PvP-ing.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
I played through Dark Souls II at launch and absolutely loved it but never got around to a second playthrough. I didn't buy any of the DLC so SotFS seemed like a no-brainer on Black Friday. After playing through Bloodborne for the fifth time I decided it was about time to go back to this gem before Dark Souls III hits.
This time around I am going for a pure melee, no shield build. I was somewhat inspired by Bloodborne to do this as it really taught me how to rely on dodging instead of a shield. So far I've played for about 12 hours and have cleared Belfry Luna so it's going pretty well. It took me awhile to get the timing down when dodging the Ruin Sentinals but other than that I haven't had too much trouble. Turns out this is a very fun way to play.
I think I'm going to go for a quality build but I'm not sure how much to dump into END and VIG. Up to this point I've been exclusively two-handing large weapons like the Halberd and Greatsword so it's nice to have a large pool of stamina to work with. This is especially true coming off of Bloodborne where dodges took a much smaller chunk out of your stamina.
I was curious how this game would hold up after Bloodborne, which I now consider to be my favorite Soulsborne game. Up to this point I am enjoying the game even more than I expected and it feels refreshing in the ways it differs from Bloodborne. Dark Souls II is a hell of a game and it feels good to be back.
This time around I am going for a pure melee, no shield build. I was somewhat inspired by Bloodborne to do this as it really taught me how to rely on dodging instead of a shield. So far I've played for about 12 hours and have cleared Belfry Luna so it's going pretty well. It took me awhile to get the timing down when dodging the Ruin Sentinals but other than that I haven't had too much trouble. Turns out this is a very fun way to play.
I think I'm going to go for a quality build but I'm not sure how much to dump into END and VIG. Up to this point I've been exclusively two-handing large weapons like the Halberd and Greatsword so it's nice to have a large pool of stamina to work with. This is especially true coming off of Bloodborne where dodges took a much smaller chunk out of your stamina.
I was curious how this game would hold up after Bloodborne, which I now consider to be my favorite Soulsborne game. Up to this point I am enjoying the game even more than I expected and it feels refreshing in the ways it differs from Bloodborne. Dark Souls II is a hell of a game and it feels good to be back.
Thanks! Yeah I already have a couple of character with the Chaos Blade, I love it.
This character is more about dualwielding and power-stance, and maybe 100HP per hit can be a bit too much though.
Still not decided on what to focus other than that, barely started a new game and right now I'm using Falchion/Uchi, because I like Falchion power-stance moveset better than the katana one (although I do slightly more damage with Uchi/BKS combo).
Yeah, Bloodborne helped me a lot on stop relying on a shield. My first DS2 non-shield build was after Bloodborne, a Pyro Chaos Blade user. I mean, I always used a mix of block and dodge on Souls games but never full dodging without even having a shield on hand. Was really fun and now all of my SOTFS characters are shieldless.
The answer to this is always Deprived or Waste of Skin.
I just recently re-bought this for the DLC since I put this game aside in minor disgust after I originally beat it, and yeah, the DLC areas are better than anything in the main game. Just finished the Sunken Crown DLC, on to the iron King, which I've already dipped into a bit.
I think the only letdown as far as these go is that most of the items you find are kind of crap or they're just like "+7 notched whip" (oh thanks), but I've found a few cool armor sets.
Not really unless you're doing sl1 character anything else not worth it.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
I assume you have a DEX build? Have you tried the Warped Sword?
Well if you plan on using soul vessels and aren't min/maxing for PVP, deprived gives you way more flexibility.
Right now its DEX yeah. Didn't try the warped sword, although I did read good things.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
Bloodborne kicked my ass for awhile because there was so much I had to unlearn from my time with the Souls games. Taking that knowledge back into Dark Souls II really shows how much viable build variety there is. I was the same as you, I dodged from time to time but I mostly relied on my shield, to the point where I never even worried about putting points into Adaptability. Changing that up for this playthrough has been very refreshing.
Kind of unrelated but I'm wondering when I should be looking to access the DLC. I'm assuming I should do it just before completing the main game? What's a ballpark estimate of where my level should be? Are they best played in the order they were released?
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
Great weapon, especially dual wielded. If you get a chance, give it a shot. Running R1 is an absolute beast and it has a unique four hit move in powerstance.
Build variety is the best part of DS2, after +200 hours between vanilla and SOTFS I'm still trying new stuff here and there.
DLC is endgame content. I don't remember the SL exactly but I think I end up reaching there around 120 or 130? (just completed it twice, didn't got the DLC when I played the 360 version).
It's pretty hard. I mean, the bosses aren't as hard as BB DLC ones, but the levels themselves can be really hard. Good level design tho
Both are more or less the same difficulty wise, I play them in order but it doesn't really matter.
Thanks! I'll make one and try it with the Uchi offhand (or maybe I'll even make a Chaos Blade too again...).
I specifically went in with a dual-wielding shieldless build this time to break my habits from Dark Souls in preparation for diving into Bloodborne. I don't actually end up using my left weapon that much and I don't have the stars to dual wield my BSKs, so I'm debating just going to two handing a weapon or maybe put a thrusting sword in the left hand for those times I need it.
I just recently cleared out Doors of Pharros and Grave of Saints. DoP looks incredibly cool and makes you wonder about all those doors, but they're both pretty weak levels if you're not into the rat covenant gimmick.
I just recently cleared out Doors of Pharros and Grave of Saints. DoP looks incredibly cool and makes you wonder about all those doors, but they're both pretty weak levels if you're not into the rat covenant gimmick.
Hardest boss fights in the DLC are Sinh, the dual tigers in the frozen tundra and the Ivory King if you don't have those Loyce knights.
Sinh is difficult because for some reason hitting him accelerates weapon degradation. I think I went through 5 weapons trying to beat him.
Dual tigers are just cheap because that whole area is cheap with charging frozen reindeer in the path to get to the boss.
Ivory King just has you swarming with enemies if you don't have the Lyce knights to deactivate the portals. The actual boss is a pushover 1 on 1.
Sinh is difficult because for some reason hitting him accelerates weapon degradation. I think I went through 5 weapons trying to beat him.
Dual tigers are just cheap because that whole area is cheap with charging frozen reindeer in the path to get to the boss.
Ivory King just has you swarming with enemies if you don't have the Lyce knights to deactivate the portals. The actual boss is a pushover 1 on 1.
Orochinagis
Member
Ivory King is a nightmare for sorcerers, now imagine you have to kill the mobs first which are resistance to magic too, in fact most of the boses in the DLC are high resistance to magic. I am looking at you blue smelter demon
That's a weird way of putting it, deprived will require the most investment out of any character to even get to anywhere near what you can manage with other classes, it's an obtuse way of looking at it.
Use something longer with the warped sword like spider's silk if you want quite a large range on the spin maybe an ice rapier too.
You can do a lot of things with 100K souls it depends on what you thing is the best investment but upgrading weapons is always wise.
Sinh has corrosive skin that's why durability goes down so fast.
Well at least it makes sense for blue Smelter to have high magic resistance. Other DLC bosses though? Not so much.
I still don't understand why Sinh is so resistant to lightning considering he's a dragon.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
lol? How the hell?Well, shi...
Time to unistall the game, we never know what that ring is for,.
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
When's the earliest I can meet a scythe-wielding Forlorn?
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
Cheers. I have looked on there but some of them aren't marked up, like the ones in Harvest Valley: are they Greatsword or Scythe Wielders? I just wondered if anyone here knew when would be the earliest, on the off-chance.
Orochinagis
Member
So, Dark Souls 2 coop still relies in Soul Memory? I can summon a friend to help me but he cant summon me.
Is a pain for the Ivory King, I was forced to coop to kill the mobs then focus the boss alone, its a nightmare for the smelter demon had to use pyromancy to have a chance.
The Latam spanish translation is really awkward in this version compared to the 360 version, I dont know why, Storm told me is the Agape Ring but damm.
Is a pain for the Ivory King, I was forced to coop to kill the mobs then focus the boss alone, its a nightmare for the smelter demon had to use pyromancy to have a chance.
The Latam spanish translation is really awkward in this version compared to the 360 version, I dont know why, Storm told me is the Agape Ring but damm.
Is there anyway to prevent that? Or decreass the corrosion rate. I learned later that you kinda have to use Repair powder in that fight.
Does the Bracing Knuckle Ring have any effect? Maybe the Santier's Spear?
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
One thing that helped me: embracing the difference! The controlls feel different, enemies behave more agressive so you can't really go in from DS1 and dominate the place. I was surprised how much times I failed even in early areas. So...prepare to die while getting used to the new engine.
Thanks for the reply and tips mate!
Don't like the sound of the gems system as hp consumables tho
I HATE HP CONSUMABLES!
For some reason I never thought to try out that rings even though I had it all this time lol...
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
Wow, this feels so slow. It's kind of killing me. That, and how little I care for these starting areas. Though, i want to give some big props to whoever made Heides tower of flame a legit place with the slight touch of Heide soldiers, and extra props to the asshole that PUT A GOD DAMN DRAKE ON THE BRIDGE!!! Some of these enemy placements are amazingly better.
chaobreaker
Member
I recently got the SOTFS version for PC and will give it a shot soon. I use this program called Flawless Widescreen to play some games on borderless windowed mode but the program warned of VAC bans if I use some hud fix as well. Is it OK to just set up borderless fullscreen windowed or is there a legit risk of a VAC ban for doing that as well?
Screaming Meat
Unconfirmed Member
They certainly seem tonally more consistent (Heide's Tower now having actual Heide's Knights, for example). I'm liking how they've played with the expectations of people who went through vanilla DS2. They've caught me by surprise quite a few times.