Red Liquorice
Member
Two words: Great Combustion!Well fuck, I have wasted so many souls on that then, its the only pyromancy I use, what are some good ones that take advantage of the upgraded glove.
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Dark Souls |OT4| Victory achieved for Scamco, text defeated
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Deified Data
Banned
What's a good level for invading Sen's Fortress? 40-50?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Beatrice is super useful and OP against the Butterfly, but pretty useless vs the 4 Kings. Might as well go solo indeed.
That seems kinda high, try 30-40? Then again since the first patch souls gained have been buffed, so maybe people are higher SL in general than I remember...
Nope, you don't need the Covenant to use the miracle. Also I don't think you can really "betray" the covenant except by joining another one, even killing Nito doesn't break it (though it stops you from levelling up in it).
The_Hitcher89
Member
Hmm, wonder why I can't do it then. Ah well, don't use magic much anyway
That's the best spell for bosses IMO. Many new players don't understand it but once you try it, there is no going back. All the bosses fall so fast with that buff.
Also that's why I always go to Blighttown the long way.
Red Liquorice
Member
I get lots of invasions and co-op action in Sen's anwhere between 20-50~
I always go back up to get it the other way
- Mainly because I usually do Blighttown before Gaping Dragon so can't get in the front entrance, but make my way all way back to it for the Iaito.Love Power Within though, anyone who hasn't used it should give it a go. I do a lot of co-op in Sen's and the boss goes down so fast with great combusion - with dusk crown and bellowing ring you don't even run out of spellcasts, takes about 6 or 7 blasts and he's down.
Deified Data
Banned
Had my first run of serious invasions last night in Sen's/Anor Londo, won half of them, lost another quarter, got disconnected the last quarter. Had an epic gesture battle with a naked man who absolutely refused to fight me. I dropped some Sunlight Medals to lure him out, but he takes them and disconnects. Oh well.
So: I'm starting to learn that gankers with Dragonslayer Greatbows are the bane of my existence. I get engaged in melee while his two minions pelt me with arrows. I invaded the same group twice in a row. I bowed to them as a show of good faith and got shot down like a dog mid-animation.
So how does a host manage to have a Dragonslayer bow in Sen's Fortress? A mule?
So: I'm starting to learn that gankers with Dragonslayer Greatbows are the bane of my existence. I get engaged in melee while his two minions pelt me with arrows. I invaded the same group twice in a row. I bowed to them as a show of good faith and got shot down like a dog mid-animation.
So how does a host manage to have a Dragonslayer bow in Sen's Fortress? A mule?
The_Hitcher89
Member
Seath down, New Londo and the DLC areas are all that's left for me
SL99, just joined the Path of the Dragon even though I don't use any dragon weapons
SL99, just joined the Path of the Dragon even though I don't use any dragon weapons
AnonymousTipster
Neo Member
Only the physical damage of the glove (i.e. when you use it to punch enemies) scales with INT.
So unless you plan on smacking people around (literally) with the Pyro flame, raising INT is not necessary at all.
Red Liquorice
Member
A mule yeah, or just given it, or they're on NG+, or using a holdover character from the BB-glitch days, could be any of those really.
Deified Data
Banned
I think that absolutely sounds like the coolest covenant, but I get the feeling that they barely get any action.
AnonymousTipster
Neo Member
I think I've seen those Dragon summon signs maybe four times, ever.
I just recently had a "dragon eye" on the ground near the first Undead Burg bonfire. Is that one?
Lore Question! Obviously sorta spoilery. You've been warned!
I had just gotten through Lost Izalith on this run and was wondering a few things about it.
I had just gotten through Lost Izalith on this run and was wondering a few things about it.
Quelana mentions that "The Flame of Chaos engulfed Mother and my sisters, and molded them into deformed creatures. Only I escaped, and now I am here."
Who is the Gold Hemmed set NPC outside of bed of chaos that attacks you, then? Reading the wikis suggests it is one of her siblings, but there's nothing concrete to prove it and the NPC isn't "deformed" like Quelana says they all are, though she could be wrong. So is it just some random schmuck?
Who is the Gold Hemmed set NPC outside of bed of chaos that attacks you, then? Reading the wikis suggests it is one of her siblings, but there's nothing concrete to prove it and the NPC isn't "deformed" like Quelana says they all are, though she could be wrong. So is it just some random schmuck?
AnonymousTipster
Neo Member
It's more than likely one of Quelana's sisters. In the intro cinematic you can see that the Witch of Izalith had a whooole bunch of daughters. As to how exactly she avoided being transformed by chaos...who knows. Maybe she fled, like Quelana, but later returned? Maybe there was some magic afoot we don't know about? It's anyone's guess.
Deified Data
Banned
Same with Gravelord Servant - amazing premise, failed execution.
AnonymousTipster
Neo Member
Although I wouldn't call it failed, I think that kind of applies to the covenant system in general.
The Darkmoon Blade, Dark Wraiths and Forest Hunter covenants are all great; they allow for unlimited PvP with fairly definitive roles and tangible rewards (although the Ring of Fog is nowhere near as valuable now as it was at launch). The Warrior of Sunlight covenant was also very well executed.
Path of the Dragon and Gravelord Servant are both awesome ideas with interesting systems and rewards, but nobody plays them. Chaos Servant gives you some awesome pyromancy, but aside from opening the Izalith shortcut there isn't a huge amount of utility there.
Princess Guard and Way of White have next to no utility. Even if they were rolled into one, they still wouldn't be that useful.
The iffy netcode also doesn't help matters. I'm really curious to see what they can do with covenants in Dark Souls II, since they'll have dedicated servers. Although I really wish Miyazaki was still in charge of development.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I hope they ditch covenants, to be honest. Some ok ideas but the execution was sloppy and not really worthwhile.
That's weird. If you attune Gravelord Sworddance and equip a talisman (it's a miracle, not a spell, by the way) it should work, as far as I remember there isn't even a faith requirement.
The_Hitcher89
Member
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Ah, there you go. I'm afraid it's not a very useful miracle, by the way... but it does look very cool.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Yes. Well, you can retry the DLC in NG+ but you have to re-reach Dusk and the blue golem and all that, so might as well finish the DLC in NG if you're currently in it.
PetriP-TNT
Member
Yes, absolutely.
AnonymousTipster
Neo Member
This is probably old news to a lot of people but earlier today I discovered that you can see Moonlight Butterfly from the hidden bonfire in Darkroot Garden. Goddamn I love all the little touches that From Soft put in the game. They reward you so much for slowing down and just paying attention to stuff.
Deified Data
Banned
Time to farm Titanite Slabs in New Londo Ruins...!
Sigh.
Sigh.
Casanova
Member
My friend suggests that a pyromancy build is useless/obsolete in comparison to other builds that focus on like heavy weaponry and sorcery.
Help me prove him wrong.
What other upgrades/spells should I try to get for my pyromancer? I have pyromancy flame +5, great chaos fireball, combustion, fireball and fire orb.
I'm a member of the chaos covenant if that helps... because I know I can feed her humanity or something but I'm not sure what I get out of it...
Thanks Dark Souls GAF
Help me prove him wrong.
What other upgrades/spells should I try to get for my pyromancer? I have pyromancy flame +5, great chaos fireball, combustion, fireball and fire orb.
I'm a member of the chaos covenant if that helps... because I know I can feed her humanity or something but I'm not sure what I get out of it...
Thanks Dark Souls GAF
Pyromancy requires no stat investment except attunement so it's silly to say a pyro build is useless. Any character can use it. It's also really strong. If you take dex to 45 you'll have the fastest pyro casting speed. I love chaos fire whip and fire whip, and fire tempest. Black Flame in the DLC is better than great combustion. You can further increase your pyro damage by using both crown of dusk and the bellowing dragoncrest ring.
Chaos covenant gets you one additional pyro when you give 30 humanity total, an AOE similar to fire tempest. I prefer fire tempest but you might as well get all the pyro spells.
If you are on 360 I can drop you some, if it's PS3, then I know that feel.
On my quality build I basically rushed to drain new londo and just farmed the darkwraiths forever to grind to SL100 & get chunks and slabs. It worked out splendidly, got 2 slabs from the great hollow as well and I always mess those lizards up. And of course from stray demon. Claymore, Bastard Sword, Washing Pole, Zwei, BBoP, Murakumo, Halberd, and my kite shield all at +15, and I'm still in NG and haven't done the DLC. I pretty much only use the Murakumo, BBoP and Claymore, but the point of this character was to have a huge selection of weapons to choose from. I basically just grind darkwraiths when I start up the game (while my IP pool fills up), PVP in the burg and don't really do much else with this character yet. Chunk/slab farming is so much better than before, but I've been exceptionally lucky with this character. Oh and the murakumo is freaking awesome, can't believe I haven't used it before. One of my favorite PVP weapons for sure. I get plenty of hatemail saying that i'm dead angling though. It's good for that.
Why are you using a BBoP on a Quality build, Composite or bust.
God damnit. I totally forgot that thing existed. I don't use bows much but didn't realize that had c/c scaling.
It also fires much quicker, it has pretty bad range, but that doesn't really matter in PvP, and if you use Feather or Poison Arrows, along with Large Arrows, you can switch between the two for your desired range/damage.
ihearthawthats
Banned
just got back into this game and was wondering what's the best way to pvp? and what's the optimal level, if any? back when i played, i stuck at lvl60 and just waited to get invaded and while it was fun, it felt a little too slow. i want something that i can jump into repetitively without having to wait much at all.
Okay I'm up to nearly 40 hours on the game and still have a few lingering questions:
How do I elevate my Longsword past +10? Is Andrei in Undead Parish still able to do it? Is it even worth elevating? I have the option of using the guy in Anor Londo to switch it over to Lightning damage but that seems like a bust since it removes all scalability.
Googling around a bit led me to the conclusion that the Longsword is a bit of a dead end and that I should switch over to something else. I like reasonably quick one handed weapons, so I can play sword / shield. Is the Falchion a good choice?
Also, I don't understand magic AT ALL. I keep picking up spells / sorceries. How do I use them? I equipped something in my top slot, some poison spell, but it's just greyed out. What's the deal? What's even the button to use those things?
How do I elevate my Longsword past +10? Is Andrei in Undead Parish still able to do it? Is it even worth elevating? I have the option of using the guy in Anor Londo to switch it over to Lightning damage but that seems like a bust since it removes all scalability.
Googling around a bit led me to the conclusion that the Longsword is a bit of a dead end and that I should switch over to something else. I like reasonably quick one handed weapons, so I can play sword / shield. Is the Falchion a good choice?
Also, I don't understand magic AT ALL. I keep picking up spells / sorceries. How do I use them? I equipped something in my top slot, some poison spell, but it's just greyed out. What's the deal? What's even the button to use those things?
100-120 in undead burg or ooacile township.
Long sword is good, balder side sword is also a good choice for what you want. I'm not a big fan of falchion but anything is viable if you like it. You can ascend past +10 at Andrei once you get the very large ember in New Londo Ruins. Not worth making it lightning for the reason you mentioned.
Magic is either a sorcery, pyromancy, or miracle. You need a catalyst, pyro flame, or talisman to cast them, respectively. That poison one happens to be a pyro, so you'd put the flame in your left or right hand and press R1 or L1 to use the equipped spell. You press up to change the active spell and you can attune them at bonfires. Pyromancy damage isn't affected by any stat, but you can upgrade the flame. INT increases spell damage and lets you use better spells, FAI does the same thing for miracles.
ihearthawthats
Banned
scalers are only good with high str/dex (at least 40+ iirc), or when using a weapon enchantment. quelags fuury sword is a good choice for a beginner curved sword. rapier is a good thrusting weapon choice for the critical bonus from parry's/backstabs. baldur's side sword is good if you really want a straight sword weapon-type. spears are fun to use as you can block and attack at the same time. but if you want speed, katanas are probably the better choice. the thing about fast weapons is that they generally use dex scalers. however, it sounds like you're interested in magic and dex also increases cast speed.
for spells you need to equip the corresponding talisman, catalyst, or pyro glove. which means it replaces your shield, but you can switch back n forth.
Is it considered bad for to use dead angles?
I tried once. Did six "laps" of New Londo and gave up after. No slabs. I've never had one drop actually.
My friend who just started playing recently got a slab on his second DW with base discovery. I was furious lol.
As if the game felt sorry for me I got two slabs from the hollow lizards, so its all good. Its just frustrating how getting slabs can be so luck based.
Fair game I say. I was doing it before I even heard of the term, or at least unlocking to better take advantage of certain horizontal sweeping attacks. It's useful against backstab fishers and turtles. You can roll through dead angles, and if you're not facing your enemy you open yourself to attack, so it's not an infallible strategy.
Not really but it's not exactly fun getting killed by unblockable attacks. Same with stunlock toggle escape. I'm certain someone will defend these oversights as advanced mechanics but they are understandably a big source of frustration for many. I would much rather have PvE-like PvP than fights that build upon a few broken mechanics. Make dodging harder and increase the stamina drain when blocking. Make backstabs harder to perform and make parrying a reaction based thing. Right now it's based on predicting and feels/looks completely retarded. Also way too easy.
Thanks for the help, guys.
Also, is it bad that I'm still total trash at parrying? I use a 100% physical defense shield and don't bother most of the time since it would require me to constantly memorize the timing of every attack of every new enemy. And even then I'm not great at it.
I mostly rely on my shield and backstabs. Don't even roll very often since it takes a decent chunk of stamina. I'm medium encumbrance (<50%)
Also, is it bad that I'm still total trash at parrying? I use a 100% physical defense shield and don't bother most of the time since it would require me to constantly memorize the timing of every attack of every new enemy. And even then I'm not great at it.
I mostly rely on my shield and backstabs. Don't even roll very often since it takes a decent chunk of stamina. I'm medium encumbrance (<50%)
Dead angling must be an oversight at least in its current implemetation. Landing an unlocked hit while you're perpendicular to the enemy, if it hits behind their shield, that makes sense. When you're not facing them and your 270* swing hits behind you while they're blocking it head on with their shield, it doesn't. I've been more frustrated by actual "legitimate" tactics like bleed spammers and getting instagibbed by dark bead though.
The biggest bane of my PVP existence are probably flipping spear users. I have a very hard time against anyone who can pull that off well.
Nah, if that playstyle is working for you, keep it up. You can always practice parry/ripostes at certain points in the game when there's parryable enemies near a bonfire and you don't have much to lose. Although rolling is generally less of a stamina hog than blocking.
It's not that bad when you understand it. But if you don't understand what is happening it's really annoying. I was thinking it was a product of lag in the early days.
The long spears can be a pretty rough match-up, my tactic is either to keep close and parry or counter with leo ring rolling poke (claymore/zwei/gs), even if it makes you eat a hit it's a good trade. Another good idea is to jump off a cliff and hope you get a fun fight next time.
WonkyPanda
Member
So, I stopped playing on the 360 about 10-15hrs in and I plan to restart, since i'll be lost as shit. With that being said, should I just trudge back to the 360 or plunk down the ~15 for the PC version?
It depends on what you want to use it for. In fact it's very useful as a "crossbow" since it outmatches crossbows fairly well and especially in PvP to punish since it's extremely fast.
But if you want to use it as a true bow (for sniping), the BBoP is so much better and doesn't have that weird and wacky angle of aiming.
I did comparison not long ago with a Composite Bow+15, BBoP+15 and Long Bow+15 and guess what? Composite Bow was the shittiest of the 3.
My character has 27 str and 40 dex and now I regret wasting a Slab to max out the Long Bow for the comparison, but at least i was able to verify.
With that said, the best option is to have the 2 bows and switch depending on the situation.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Another cool one is the Centipede Demon visible from the Demon Ruins. I often leave a "boss?" message around there, hehe. You can also see the Demon Ruins/Izalith from the Tomb of the Giants.
You can also see the roof of the Undead Parish (where you fight the Gargoyles) up from the bridge that leads to Iron Tarkus's sign in Sen's. So cool.
My favourite such "little touch", though, is seeing the Duke's Archives all the way from the beginning of Anor Londo. When I first played the game, I thought that tower high and faraway on the horizon was just a background element. And later I reached Duke's Archives and it didn't even immediately register that it was that "background element" building I saw until in a later playthrough. Maybe I'm just easily impressed, but my mind was blown.
It's easy to prove him wrong, since there's no such thing as a "pyromancy build". The only stats you need to invest for pyromancy is a bit of Attunement, that's it. Whereas heavy weaponry requires high STR, and sorcery requires high INT. You could make an elemental (say, lightning)-wielding pyromancer and pumping only END and VIT and be very powerful, whereas to successfully use heavy weapons or sorcery you need to invest in other stats. So yeah, your friend is wrong. Or hell make a dex build that uses pyros, you can use the best melee weapons in the game and still burn shit with powerful magic.
The best one-handed "sword and shield" sword is probably the Balder Side Sword, followed by the Sunlight Straight Sword, but the Longsword isn't bad, really. The falchion is very decent, as is the shotel: they're fast and scale with dex and shotels can bypass shields. For a stronger but slightly slower sword, the claymore is very very good too.
I could have sworn that the item description of the scrolls you find tell you that you need a talisman, catalyst, or pyro flame, and need to attune it, and so on... but now I'm not sure, maybe I'm confusing it with Demon's Souls. Or at least, the descriptions of the pyromancy flame, the catalyst and the talismans will have those instructions. And if not the item description, I'm pretty sure the magic teachers (Laurentius, Petrus etc) will tell you what to do.
I hope not. It's one of the few ways to defeat persistent turtles. If someone hides behind a shield constantly, well, what is one supposed to do? Bleed can work, but some shields, like Havel's, block it. Would these whiners prefer we spam backstabs instead? xD
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
For PvP, composite bows are the best, honestly (fast firing and best damage). I didn't get into organized PvP as much as in Demon's Souls, but in Dark Souls, my favourite build was my archer. She had 27 str/40 dex, a composite bow+15 (estoc+15 as backup for gankers and the likes), and Avelyn for the surprise finishes. It was so much fun with poison arrows, and people always greatly underestimated my archer. Honestly it was the build I had the most fun with, and I won surprisingly consistently with her.
This was my build, pre-Darkwood Grain nerf. Pharis hat obligatory for roleplay purposes of course.
I haven't PvPed at all since the ring nerf patch, so I'd need to adjust the equipment a bit, but I'd probably go with something like this or this now.
Deified Data
Banned
I enjoy parrying in PVE but the lag in PVP makes it impossible for me. The lag sort of makes it hard to do anything but kite around with your shield raised and hope that your opponent who's 50 feet away isn't currently in backstab range.
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