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[Red Liquorice]

Hey Gaf,

I need some advice, all souls games i played Melee class characters (One hand weapon & Shield) thinking of playing this time differently, any suggestions for a class?

Are the Ashes of Ariandel & The Ringed City DLC worth a purchase and play?

Thanks

Yes the DLCs are worth it.

Try playing a magic-only user. If you go pyro/dark magic (level with faith AND intelligence) you basically have access to every spell in the game and can mix and match. I think it's pretty fun to have a catalyst in each hand - say pyro flame in left, chime in right hand etc. Have something offhand to parry, like a cestus and go full no-shield!

 

[Übermatik]

I feel like I'm just stumbling through this game. I only just realised (Level 18-ish, Undead Settlement) that you can sprint. I've just been casually joggin' n' rollin this entire time.
Also just discovered Stance... Realised now what FP is for (thought it was just a magic thing before).

Anyway, I'm level 20-ish now and kinda looking for advice - Knight class, using Irithyll Straight Sword, making my way through the swamp-crabby area. So far I've made friends with that pilgrim sorcerer dude just outside the Undead Settlement, become best bros with Onion Knight guy, freed that thief from the Lothric prison and rescued that girl from the Undead Settlement cells (and talked to the guy outside after to gain his alliance). Are any of those decisions gonna come back and bite me in the ass? So far I've just been friendly to everyone...
Aside from that, what should my build be looking like? I've put most points into Vigour, others into Strength and Vitality (for equip load), and a few value points into Dexterity (so I could wield some more weapons).
Haven't done anything to any weapons yet. Got the stamina ring equipped.

General spoiler-free tips?

 

[Red Liquorice]

Are any of those decisions gonna come back and bite me in the ass? So far I've just been friendly to everyone...

Nope, all good so far.

General spoiler-free tips?

Your class is all but meaningless. All it determines is your starting gear. Any class can use any weapon or spell providing you have the stats for it. So don't be put off by starting as a melee class if later on you find a great spell you want to use. Saying that.....

It doesn't really pay to be a jack of all trades in Souls games, so you will want to pick a weapon type and stick with it (either your chosen weapon now or others like it in tems of damage scaling).

Damage scaling = The letter grading on the weapon equip menu screen. S is best, then A down to E. These gradings give you a guide on how to distribute your stats. For example you have a weapon that scales A with strength and doesn't scale with dexterity - So when leveling up put points into strength to increase the damage bonus when using that weapon.

You'll want to level up your HP and stamina too obviously. Equip load is up to you if you want to use heavy weapons and armour. Personally I never level equip load, but I always go light.

Upgrading your weapon is paramount, whenever you get the materials to do so, go back to Firelink and upgrade your weapon.

Stamina management - NEVER completely exhaust your stamina bar. If you do and you block a hit, you will be hit stunned. If you need to dodge, you can't. If you can swing your weapon 5 times before depleting the bar, only swing 4 times so you can use that little bit left over to dodge roll if need be.

Don't get greedy, don't worry about losing souls early on - a few thousand is a drop in the bucket later on.

 

[Pantaghana]

I still need Vertebra Shackles, can anyone help me?

 

[Empty Space]

General spoiler-free tips?

There's little need to put more than 15 points in Vitality unless you really want to look a certain way. Armor damage reduction isn't a huge factor in this game.

Try to shoot for 30 vigor and if that still doesn't feel like enough go for 40 vigor. You really don't get too much benifit from investing in str or dex early on so don't worry about leveling those except to use a particular weapon. You're coming up on an NPC to respec fairly soon, so you don't have to worry about your build too much.

The Irithyll straight sword isn't really all that great if you like the moveset the standard longsword works really well.

You need to upgrade your weapons it's your primary damage increase not stats.

I still need Vertebra Shackles, can anyone help me?

You can't trade covenant items. You can either Co-op, PvP, or kill the large Carthus Skeletons for schackles. The fastest way is probably invading right after Pontiff or doing duels there. If I'm having a decent night I can get about 30 covenant items in about two hours.

 

[Übermatik]

Thank-you Empty Space and Red liqourice, all very helpful! I realised all those NPCs serve a function back at the shrine, so all's well there.

When it comes to upgrading weapons, I'm pretty lost though - I have a whole bunch of Titanite - gems, shards, chunks, whatever - but have no idea what I do with it. I tried upgrading my Irithyll Straight Sword but it said 'additional items required', or words to that effect.

If said sword isn't so great, however, what could I be looking at? I have the Claymore which is pretty big and unwieldy, but deals the most damage of what I have and provides incredible knock-back. Other than that I have a bunch of spears and axes, some dual swords I quickly nabbed from the swamp area (totally ran past the evil fuck-ff massive knight to get them) and loadsa halberds and such.

 

[Empty Space]

Titanite heirachy for normal weapons is shards-> large shards->chunks->slab.

For special non boss weapons like the Irithyll straight sword it's twinkling titanite-> slab.
For boss soul weapons it's titanite scale->slab.

In the early going twinkling titanite and scales are going to be pretty limited, but eventually you'll have several of each and can even buy an infinite amount. Regular shards should be pretty common already once you reach an area called the Carthus Catacombs large shards should pop up all the time. Chunks become common place sort of late. Titanite Slabs are the only limited crafting resources and is used to reach +10 for normal weapons and +5 for special and boss soul weapons. If you have all the dlc there are 15 slabs, if you don't I think its like 8. You can get more each NG+.

The other crafting material you have are infusion stones. These come in a large variety of types and they change the way scaling on your weapons work and in several cases add additional effects. There are too many for me to list you can read the tooltips for each one in game to learn what each one does.

Regarding weapons use whatever you like if you you want to stay in the same weapon class the longsword is great. It's what you started the game with. I used the longsword for almost all of my last playthrough.

I'm personally a big fan of the great sword weapon class. They hit hard and stagger easily the claymore is a solid starting choice. The Hollowslayer Great sword is an excellent boss weapons you should already have the soul for. Dark Souls is very much about finding what suits you though and everyone has different favorite weapon and weapon type. If you're looking for pure efficiency the twin swords you picked up are what speed runners use. I personally hate them, but there's no denying they are effective.

Regarding that knight you ran by the best way to beat enemies like that is to parry them in most cases. If it's a knight and they are roughly player character size they can usually be parried pretty easily.

 

[neoemonk]

In Demon's Souls I used magic, and it was overpowered in that game I think, so I went melee in Dark Souls. I ended up being a big turtle all throughout. When Dark Souls 2 came out I decided I wouldn't use shields anymore, and I was fine. Bloodborne is obviously all about dodging, and now I'm back to Dark Souls III and I kind of want to revisit magic in this one.

How viable is a spell-casting build in this game? I'm level 30 and I've put some points into intelligence and faith so far. It seems like you'd be spread pretty thin between intelligence, faith, and attunement. I'm not looking for PVP at this point, just a normal run through the game.

 

[Pantaghana]

You can't trade covenant items. You can either Co-op, PvP, or kill the large Carthus Skeletons for schackles. The fastest way is probably invading right after Pontiff or doing duels there. If I'm having a decent night I can get about 30 covenant items in about two hours.

It's my understanding that if the host has the Mound-Makers covenant item equipped and kills a summoned mad phantom they get a Vertebra Shackle. I was hoping someone would volunteer for that, me summon them a bunch and let me kill them (or they jump off a cliff, whatever).

I kinda hate PvP and I hear that drop rates for covenant items are abysmal.

 

[Übermatik]

Regarding that knight you ran by the best way to beat enemies like that is to parry them in most cases. If it's a knight and they are roughly player character size they can usually be parried pretty easily.

I don't understand... I've equipped a shield with parry and I'm performing the animation but I'm not parrying for shit. What am I missing? Is there a parry/riposte chance?

 

[Pantaghana]

I don't understand... I've equipped a shield with parry and I'm performing the animation but I'm not parrying for shit. What am I missing? Is there a parry/riposte chance?

It's all about timing, made complicated by how different parry tools have different parry timings.

Unless I'm mistaken: small parrying shields and parrying daggers are instant so you parry just as the weapon is about to hit you, medium shields are delayed a bit so you need to parry a fraction of a second sooner.

 

[Übermatik]

It's all about timing, made complicated by how different parry tools have different parry timings.

Unless I'm mistaken: small parrying shields and parrying daggers are instant so you parry just as the weapon is about to hit you, medium shields are delayed a bit so you need to parry a fraction of a second sooner.

Bah. I'm using the standard Knight shield (Silver Knight Shield?) you get at the beginning - that's medium right? I'll keep trying anyway... is every minor enemy parry-able? I tried it on the Lothric Knights who usually kick my ass anyway, and no luck.

 

[Pantaghana]

Bah. I'm using the standard Knight shield (Silver Knight Shield?) you get at the beginning - that's medium right? I'll keep trying anyway... is every minor enemy parry-able? I tried it on the Lothric Knights who usually kick my ass anyway, and no luck.

90% of humanoid enemies with weapons are parryable. To my knowledge the only enemies that can't be parried in the first few areas are 'pus of man' (the hollow that erupts into that black mess) and dogs.

 

[Red Liquorice]

The small shields are easier to parry with, the trade off is they absorb less damage and have less stability (higher stability = less stamina is drained when blocking). I often carry both a parrying shield and a 100% block medium shield and switch between them.

With the Lothric Knights, try blocking their first hit and then parrying the second, they have a quite predictable 3 hit combo.

 

[rulerk1]

so i enjoyed Bloodborne's cosmic horror/ religious horror type vibe but it was a tad unsettling. Is this game horror based too or is it more fantasy. Not a dealbreaker but just want to know lol

 

[Morrigan Stark]

so i enjoyed Bloodborne's cosmic horror/ religious horror type vibe but it was a tad unsettling. Is this game horror based too or is it more fantasy. Not a dealbreaker but just want to know lol

Dark Souls is more fantasy, with some dark/gothic/horror inspiration here and there. But it's far, far less dark than Bloodborne and closer to high fantasy.

 

[rulerk1]

Dark Souls is more fantasy, with some dark/gothic/horror inspiration here and there. But it's far, far less dark than Bloodborne and closer to high fantasy.

That's cool. thank you!

 

[Pantaghana]

My Steam Controller just arrived.

Time to up the difficulty by several notches without going into NG+.

Gods help me...

 

[Empty Space]

My Steam Controller just arrived.

Time to up the difficulty by several notches without going into NG+.

Gods help me...

I did my first playthrough at launch largely with the Steam Controller and got passed Pontiff Sullyvahn using it. The only reason I stopped was because my hands would hurt using it. This was not a Dark Souls issue it happened in every game when I used to use it. The default profile is actually pretty decent.

 

[Pantaghana]

I did my first playthrough at launch largely with the Steam Controller and got passed Pontiff Sullyvahn using it. The only reason I stopped was because my hands would hurt using it. This was not a Dark Souls issue it happened in every game when I used to use it. The default profile is actually pretty decent.

Haven't tried the default, using a community one and it's pretty good so far.
My biggest fear was the learning curve. I bought a 360 pad to play the first Dark Souls and after a lifetime of using exclusively M&KB a gamepad almost felt unnatural.

After a 1000+ hours of playing DS games with a 360 pad the Steam Controller is just... weird. I don't play many other non-DS games with a gamepad so my muscle memory is just fucked up.
Hell, even playing Dragon's Dogma with a 360 pad was bizarre because I was so used to play DS and only DS games with a gamepad.

 

[HF2014]

Ok. Gaming on Xbox One. Started two caracter already, after a while, when the caracter die, it load indefinitivly. Restarting the game, xbox doesnt seem to correct the problem. Could this be a faulty disk?

 

[Übermatik]

GAF I really, really don't know what weapon to pick and upgrade.

Here are my stats/inventory so far:

I also have the Transposing Kiln.

Tips? The only weapon I have with an A (or anything close to) in 'upgradability' is the Butcher Knife.
I kinda panicked earlier and put another point in Dex because I thought it climbed to more weapon variety, but I then realised that in doing that I'm heading for the ill-advised 'jack of all trades' build... should I just continue to pump everything into Strength?
Problem is, I prefer to move quick...

 

[neoemonk]

My Steam Controller just arrived.

Time to up the difficulty by several notches without going into NG+.

Gods help me...

I had issues with camera sensitivity on the pad. It took me some getting used to.

I love having the triggers on the grips though.

 

[Pantaghana]

GAF I really, really don't know what weapon to pick and upgrade.

Here are my stats/inventory so far:

I also have the Transposing Kiln.

Tips? The only weapon I have with an A (or anything close to) in 'upgradability' is the Butcher Knife.
I kinda panicked earlier and put another point in Dex because I thought it climbed to more weapon variety, but I then realised that in doing that I'm heading for the ill-advised 'jack of all trades' build... should I just continue to pump everything into Strength?
Problem is, I prefer to move quick...

Don't worry too much about stats, a character you meet later allows you to respec 5 times per NG cycle. Of the weapons you have, I suggest upgrading the Claymore. It has a very good balance of damage, attack speed, reach and a great moveset.

I had issues with camera sensitivity on the pad. It took me some getting used to.

I love having the triggers on the grips though.

Yeah, first thing I did was lower sensitivity way down, also paddles at the bottom are used for items and rolling, it's amazing being able to use those two without losing camera control.

In other news, upgraded Black Knight Greataxe to +5 and smashed Demon Prince's skull in. Feels good.

Still need someone to help me with Vertebra Shackles.

 

[Empty Space]

GAF I really, really don't know what weapon to pick and upgrade.

Here are my stats/inventory so far:

I also have the Transposing Kiln.

Tips? The only weapon I have with an A (or anything close to) in 'upgradability' is the Butcher Knife.
I kinda panicked earlier and put another point in Dex because I thought it climbed to more weapon variety, but I then realised that in doing that I'm heading for the ill-advised 'jack of all trades' build... should I just continue to pump everything into Strength?
Problem is, I prefer to move quick...

Jack of all trades physical builds are good in Souls games. 40/40 Str/dex is a popular choice just use a refined infusion on whatever you want to use. That will make the weapon scale with both stats evenly.

The best weapons you have right now are the claymore, uchigatana, twin sellswords, red hilted halberd, and lucerne. You also should have the Cursed Greatwood soul, which can be used to transpose it into the Hollowslayer greatsword a good choice. The exile curved greatsword is another strong weapon that you should be close to getting. The claymore, Hollowslayer, exile greatsword, and red hilted halberd are good 40/40 weapons. The uchigatana and twin sellswords are good for dex. The lucerne is good for strength.

 

[Red Liquorice]

GAF I really, really don't know what weapon to pick and upgrade.

Pick the weapon you like the moveset of the best - that's the most important thing, that you are comfortable and find benefit in the moveset - and it's fun to use for you. Any weapon can take you through the entire game, there are no real bad choices.

Don't worry so much about a few wasted points here or there, it won't make a big difference - In fact a lot of weapons scale with both STR and DEX, so they will benefit from points put in to both/either - iirc Claymore has always been a "quality weapon" - a term held over form the first game, Demon's Souls people use for weapons that scale with both.

 

[Miletius]

For what it's worth I really enjoyed the Claymore on my 2nd playthrough -- I basically used it pretty much through the first 1/3 of the game, until I moved onto having enough str to use great hammers. I think the Claymore has one of the best movesets in the game, especially the L2 when 2 handing followed by R1 pretty much wrecks a lot of the tougher shield bearing minions. So if it were me, I'd use the Claymore. I did also really like the hammer you can get from transposing the soul of the 2nd boss.

 

[Übermatik]

Take all your info on board and made my Claymore Raw last night, and pumped it up to +4! I'm enjoying it a lot, and it hits super hard. I also stuck to upping my Strength - maybe next play-through I'll take the Dex route with the Scythes and such.

 

[Pantaghana]

Whoever decided that Proofs of Concord should have an absurdly low drop rate needs to be slapped with a dead fish.

Repeatedly.

 

[Empty Space]

Whoever decided that Proofs of Concord should have an absurdly low drop rate needs to be slapped with a dead fish.

Repeatedly.

At least on PC the best SL to farm Concords is like 30ish. The Road of Sacrifices swamp is incredibly active for for both Watchdogs and Darkmoon/Blue Sentinels. If farming proofs for the purpose of achievements it's probably faster to make a new character get to SL 30 and go PvP there and once yoU get your Concords rush to turn them in to Yorshka.

 

[Pantaghana]

At least on PC the best SL to farm Concords is like 30ish. The Road of Sacrifices swamp is incredibly active for for both Watchdogs and Darkmoon/Blue Sentinels. If farming proofs for the purpose of achievements it's probably faster to make a new character get to SL 30 and go PvP there and once yoU get your Concords rush to turn them in to Yorshka.

I dislike PvP in general, and they made rolls cost so little stamina you can roll from one end of an area to another, I'd rather farm silver knights than have to endure endless roll/estus chug fests.
Frankly the worst part about farming them is that they don't drop their weapons, I liked the silver knight sword in DS1.

In the meantime, Midir is kicking my ass.

[EDIT]
Kicked Midir's ass.

 

[DodgyGeezerFella]

Finally bought DS3 about a week ago thanks to Steam sale, great game but I feel I "get" Souls games too well now, the game was easy ..... don't think any boss gave me too much hassle (couple of deaths maybe, couple of scraped it by ones). These games were much more fun when you are a noob with no real idea on how to play.

 

[Pantaghana]

3 million+ souls and some Darkmoon Bladery later, got 30 Proofs. Yay.

Still need Vertebra Shackles, can anyone help me with that? Just need to summon and kill them for a bit, SL doesn't even matter because apparently passwords work.

[EDIT]
A big thank you to Luap for being a bro and helping me with Vertebra Shackles!

 

[DodgyGeezerFella]

So this happened - https://streamable.com/3u5da

 

[Cat Party]

So this happened - https://streamable.com/3u5da

Now the real fight begins

 

[Head of Vengarl]

3 million+ souls and some Darkmoon Bladery later, got 30 Proofs. Yay.

Still need Vertebra Shackles, can anyone help me with that? Just need to summon and kill them for a bit, SL doesn't even matter because apparently passwords work.

[EDIT]
A big thank you to Luap for being a bro and helping me with Vertebra Shackles!

 

[JustSurvive]

Just finished Ashes of Ariandel and.....wow that was incredibly short and underwhelming. I think my total playtime was roughly 3-4 hours when you subtract the time fighting the bosses (both of which I found incredibly frustrating and cheap), and I ended up starting the Ringed City thinking it was still the first DLC.

Not being much of a PvP player the arena does not do much for me, but I was hoping it was going to take a bit longer to go through.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Question about a weapon from the Dark Souls 3 wiki:

I've made to

Spoiler

Consumed Kings Garden

. All throughout the game, the

Spoiler

Pus of Man

(wiki) enemies give me a ton of trouble so I was looking for a way to deal with them better.

Knowing that they are

Spoiler

weak to fire infused weapons

, the wiki also notes that the

Spoiler

Follower Javelin

(wiki) can

Spoiler

set them on fire from a distance with the weapon art

. However after getting this weapon and

Spoiler

fire infusing it to +6

, it

Spoiler

doesn't seem to do this at all when I throw it. The way I am doing it is with Shield of Want

(wiki) and just using L2 (triggering the weapon art via the shield). Am I doing this wrong? Was it patched out? Is there a better way to deal with

Spoiler

Pus of Man

enemies? (Note that I'm primarily a melee Knight with a bit of faith, sword/shield user so magic is probably out, but getting/infusing any sort of gear should be okay).

 

[Red Liquorice]

Don't know about that particular weapon, but I usually use firebombs on them to stun them briefly, go in for a few hits, back out, wait for their animation to completely reset, throw another firebomb, rinse and repeat. You have to wait for them to reset or the fire stun won't take effect (assume this is same for pyro, or fire infusion etc).

 

[Funyarinpa]

Is there any sort of FPS fix out there for PC?

Trash rig (i7 3630QM, GeForce GT 650M, 8 GB RAM) but I was hoping I'd be able to play on Low at least, given that I can get 60fps in Scholar of the First Sin just fine. Currently it's unplayable.

 

[Übermatik]

Just killed a guy in Dark Souls PvP, first encounter/invasion so far.
I AM A WATCHDOG OF FARRON. TRESSPASSER DEFEATED.

*EDIT* As per everything in Dark Souls, I actually had no idea what was going on in the first summon, and proceeded to try and hack at fellow Farron summons. Luckily those two guys killed the 'Trespasser' before I fucked things up too much, and only until the next summon where I was faced 1 on 1 did I understand it's the non-glow-y guy I gotta kill. Whoops. Anyway he's dead now.

Am I right in thinking that if the 'Trespasser' is part of say, the Blue Sentinels faction, he could have mates summoned to protect him? So potentially there could be multiple phantoms fighting one another?
Also it's level-based right? The guy I fought was fairly easy, but around my level I'd suspect (base don skill and weapons) - I'm not likely to encounter some god-tier scrub buster am I? I like fair fights in online play.

 

[Empty Space]

Just killed a guy in Dark Souls PvP, first encounter/invasion so far.
I AM A WATCHDOG OF FARRON. TRESSPASSER DEFEATED.

*EDIT* As per everything in Dark Souls, I actually had no idea what was going on in the first summon, and proceeded to try and hack at fellow Farron summons. Luckily those two guys killed the 'Trespasser' before I fucked things up too much, and only until the next summon where I was faced 1 on 1 did I understand it's the non-glow-y guy I gotta kill. Whoops. Anyway he's dead now.

Am I right in thinking that if the 'Trespasser' is part of say, the Blue Sentinels faction, he could have mates summoned to protect him? So potentially there could be multiple phantoms fighting one another?
Also it's level-based right? The guy I fought was fairly easy, but around my level I'd suspect (base don skill and weapons) - I'm not likely to encounter some god-tier scrub buster am I? I like fair fights in online play.

You need to have way of the blue equipped to summon blue phantom backup. You won't know a person has it until they auto summon the backup. PvP matchmaking is based on two thing player Level and weapon upgrade rank.

It's very much possible to run into low level characters who far more powerful compared to you, because people will run through the game at SL 30 collect some really powerful rings and fully upgrade their estus. This not an uncommon sight once you know what to do beating the game at low levels is pretty easy. The biggest problem when people do this is that there's two rings that essentially give you 15 free levels in survivability stat and ones that can give the player +5 points in str,dex, faith, and int. You can run into a player who has functionally 40 more levels compared to you and at SL 30 that's a huge difference.

 

[Funyarinpa]

Is there any sort of FPS fix out there for PC?

Trash rig (i7 3630QM, GeForce GT 650M, 8 GB RAM) but I was hoping I'd be able to play on Low at least, given that I can get 60fps in Scholar of the First Sin just fine. Currently it's unplayable.

Updating drivers lets me get 20-25 FPS on average (in combat). Do you guys have any idea of how I can improve the FPS?

If not, should I get a refund and hope I'll get a PS4 someday (no such plans currently), or hold on to it and wait until I get a better PC someday? (No such plans for that either)

Either way I'll need to wait for a year at the very least.

 

[Pantaghana]

Defeated the last boss of Ringed City. This being the internet I very much doubt I am alone in this, but I still have to ask,

Spoiler

did anyone else feel like that was Artorias 2.0 Dark Boogaloo?

Funny thing,

Spoiler

I landed the death blow while having only a sliver of health and no estus left, as he was going through his dying animation one of the random lightning bolts in the arena killed me. I guess he got the last laugh in his own way.

Spoiler

Also I was amazed just how much easier this fight was with a faster weapon, tried using a Great Mace and BK Greataxe and couldn't even start his second phase, recovery animations from my own attacks would screw me over. Then I read that he's weak to frost, so I tried the Irithyll Straight Sword and killed him on the second try.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Updating drivers lets me get 20-25 FPS on average (in combat). Do you guys have any idea of how I can improve the FPS?

If not, should I get a refund and hope I'll get a PS4 someday (no such plans currently), or hold on to it and wait until I get a better PC someday? (No such plans for that either)

Either way I'll need to wait for a year at the very least.

How far did you get into the game? I've never tried on your GPU, but what I can share may help in your situation:

1) When DS3 shipped I played start to finish on a 560Ti, below the min requirements.

2) In order to get it playable at all, I had to set everything to low/off (as you would expect), plus I had to edit my GraphicConfig.xml file and put in a custom resolution. The best I could do was 816x510, but it worked. You might have to go lower.

3) I'm not sure how far you got (if anything), but if you were in the very first area of the game and performance was beyond awful, don't throw in the towel just yet. For whatever reason, Cemetery of Ash was just killing low end NVidia GPU. Once I got out of it, performance was better. I mean it certainly won't blow you away, but it was good enough I could finish the game (base game anyway, this was way before DLC was around, so YMMV).

4) Someone made a low spec patch. Full disclosure: I've never heard of this patch (just learned of it today) and I've never used it. Here are the details:

https://ragnos1997.com/2016/09/09/dark-souls-3-low-specs-optimization-patch-lag-fix/

And a video of someone claiming to be running it on a GT720M, which is I believe lower spec than your GT650M:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw8jzrqNZDI

Again, I've never used it but if it's legit perhaps it would work for you.

25 fps in combat isn't half-bad for your GPU IMO... this game is much more demanding than DS2 (which was 60fps upscaled max everything on my 560Ti). With the above fixes it might get better. I wouldn't expect 60fps, I think I maxed out at 45-50 fps, but I never had that ragnos 1997 patch, maybe it will be better.

Don't know about that particular weapon, but I usually use firebombs on them to stun them briefly, go in for a few hits, back out, wait for their animation to completely reset, throw another firebomb, rinse and repeat. You have to wait for them to reset or the fire stun won't take effect (assume this is same for pyro, or fire infusion etc).

Yeah that was pretty much what I was doing, and how I always handled them pre-DLC. I was quite excited to read that there might be another ranged method of dealing fire damage to them, but it doesn't seem to work. Still, I can keep my shield up, poke them once to stun and then a full R2 and roll away before they recover. So I could still take them out with little danger, which is pretty much what I wanted.

 

[Cat Party]

I finally got the DLC for this game. Onyx blade seems extremely good for my dark/pyro build. Am I going to find anything better?

 

[Funyarinpa]

How far did you get into the game? I've never tried on your GPU, but what I can share may help in your situation:

1) When DS3 shipped I played start to finish on a 560Ti, below the min requirements.

2) In order to get it playable at all, I had to set everything to low/off (as you would expect), plus I had to edit my GraphicConfig.xml file and put in a custom resolution. The best I could do was 816x510, but it worked. You might have to go lower.

3) I'm not sure how far you got (if anything), but if you were in the very first area of the game and performance was beyond awful, don't throw in the towel just yet. For whatever reason, Cemetery of Ash was just killing low end NVidia GPU. Once I got out of it, performance was better. I mean it certainly won't blow you away, but it was good enough I could finish the game (base game anyway, this was way before DLC was around, so YMMV).

4) Someone made a low spec patch. Full disclosure: I've never heard of this patch (just learned of it today) and I've never used it. Here are the details:

https://ragnos1997.com/2016/09/09/dark-souls-3-low-specs-optimization-patch-lag-fix/

And a video of someone claiming to be running it on a GT720M, which is I believe lower spec than your GT650M:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw8jzrqNZDI

Again, I've never used it but if it's legit perhaps it would work for you.

25 fps in combat isn't half-bad for your GPU IMO... this game is much more demanding than DS2 (which was 60fps upscaled max everything on my 560Ti). With the above fixes it might get better. I wouldn't expect 60fps, I think I maxed out at 45-50 fps, but I never had that ragnos 1997 patch, maybe it will be better.

Woah.... Thank you SO much, trying this out immediately.

 

[Red Liquorice]

DS3 Anor Londo in Minecraft

Sauce

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Hi guys. So I'm pretty new to this game although I'm well versed in the franchise (played DeS, DS1, DS2sotfs & BB to death) so I'm looking for some no holds barred beginners advice. I don't care about spoilers (I'd rather play these games with some helpful advice than blind) so don't worry about that.

I'm playing a Dex build as I always do. Got the Uchi already by cheesing the ninja outside the nexus thingy and I know I can glitch onto the roof to get early access to the silver serpent ring but what else should I know to ease my path through the game?

I want lots of stamina, a light nimble build, slashy dex weapons and maybe a sprinkling of magic/faith, mainly for buffs.

Also, I like bows.

Any advice appreciated! Spoiler tag if you like but I don't care about the story personally so fire away.

 

[Jimnymebob]

I've just picked up the DLC, and I'm carrying on with my original character, who is level 99, and I'm unsure what to do with extra 21 levels.

I'm using a Uchigatana (can't remember what infusion) with a shotel in my off hand, and I also have a pyro flame, for Carthus Beacon.

I'd been using it as a sort of bleed build, but I hear that's been nerfed now in someway. I also don't mind heading to Rosaria to clean it up again. Are there any good pyromancies that don't require a huge stat investment?

My stats are:

Vigor: 27
Attunement: 14
Endurance: 30
Vitality: 25
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 45
Intelligence: 15
Faith: 12
Luck: 9

And my hollowing is at 99.

Also, what are some good rings to have? I want to keep the Pontiff's right eye, but I'm not sure what other 3 would suit a dex/bleed build. Prisoners Chain seems better now, so I could be tempted with that.

TL;DR- I want to hit things with a katana and make them bleed quickly, also want to have low-ish equip load (in the 40%s thereabouts), and use a pyro flame, potentially for offence alongside carthus beacon.

Sorry for the dumb questions, I've not played since launch, so my memory is a bit foggy.