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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel

Need your advice:

I want to play a lightweight and fast character. What stat should upgrade?

So far my level is 28 and I have invested in vitality, strenght, endurance. I am not really interested in spells but maybe I am wrong.

I dont wear any armor as i find everything makes me too slow. So I am running around naked with only sword and shield.

I have beaten the first boss, the minotaur, the gargoyles, the butterfly and fucking capra demon.

I mostly used the halberg for convenience but I am not a big fan of pole arms. I recently aquired the sword from the dragons tail and its ok but i'm still not satisfied.

What weapon would you advise?

Am i closed to any farming area as I find it hard to farm anything where I am.

What can i do with my unwanted weapons? Should i just drop them or can i get something for them?

Thanks!!
Dexterity will help you the most, out of stats. Make sure to keep well below 25% of your equipment load to roll and run faster.

Buy the Bottomless Box (it's sold in the Undead Burg I believe), which lets you put spsre items in a box at bonfires. You'll get an opportunity to sell your weapons to a character quite a bit farther on.
 

Pixieking

Banned
Need your advice:



What weapon would you advise?

Am i closed to any farming area as I find it hard to farm anything where I am.

Balder Side Sword is my weapon of choice, since dropping the Claymore due to weight (and I'm on NG+ right now). Fast, low stamina cost, good range. Took me an hour to farm it - for you it may be longer, without a helpful ring - but scales with Dex, so means you're not splitting stat points too much

Dexterity will help you the most, out of stats. Make sure to keep well below 25% of your equipment load to roll and run faster.

Buy the Bottomless Box (it's sold in the Undead Burg I believe), which lets you put spsre items in a box at bonfires. You'll get an opportunity to sell your weapons to a character quite a bit farther on.

I've clean forgotten who you can sell weapons to. Mind telling me the name/location under spoiler tag? :)
 

zoodoo

Member
Balder Side Sword is my weapon of choice, since dropping the Claymore due to weight (and I'm on NG+ right now). Fast, low stamina cost, good range. Took me an hour to farm it - for you it may be longer, without a helpful ring - but scales with Dex, so means you're not splitting stat points too much



I've clean forgotten who you can sell weapons to. Mind telling me the name/location under spoiler tag? :)

Thanks

I'll farm the balder sword.
 
I've clean forgotten who you can sell weapons to. Mind telling me the name/location under spoiler tag? :)
Frampt

The resale value is pretty poor, I would class it more as inventory tidy up than a way to profit on souls. There are a few things like the coins that have a decent value (and no other use besides selling them), and for every green titanite shard you
feed him
you get back 5 x regular titanite shards which is very good value considering the leech/slug things in Blighttown can drop 5 Green shards at a time.
 

Pixieking

Banned
Frampt

The resale value is pretty poor, I would class it more as inventory tidy up than a way to profit on souls. There are a few things like the coins that have a decent value (and no other use besides selling them), and for every green titanite shard you
feed him
you get back 5 x regular titanite shards which is very good value considering the leech/slug things in Blighttown can drop 5 Green shards at a time.

Oh yeah yeah yeah... I remembered he did titanite, but not other stuff. I've got so many dupes of so many things at this point, even a few souls for every item will mount up. :D
 
By the way,
I could use tips on defeating O&S, best strat I found so far was Heavy Great Soul Arrows, gonna kill Ornstein first.
Dex character but I have Pyromancy +5 (with Combustion) and 17 INT or so, with access to Heavy Soul Arrow as well.
 
Smough is definately easier to kill last, but Ornstein is simple enough once you know his moves. Plus you get a ring for killing Ornstein second which you don't get when killing Smough.

The best strategy is just to keep them both in your eyesight at all times, or at least as much as possible. No need to use lock-on in this fight.
If you're a magic user you should have Soul Spear and Homing Soul Mass by that point which would be better choices I think(?)
 
Need your advice:

I want to play a lightweight and fast character. What stat should upgrade?

So far my level is 28 and I have invested in vitality, strenght, endurance. I am not really interested in spells but maybe I am wrong.

I dont wear any armor as i find everything makes me too slow. So I am running around naked with only sword and shield.

I have beaten the first boss, the minotaur, the gargoyles, the butterfly and fucking capra demon.

I mostly used the halberg for convenience but I am not a big fan of pole arms. I recently aquired the sword from the dragons tail and its ok but i'm still not satisfied.

What weapon would you advise?

Am i closed to any farming area as I find it hard to farm anything where I am.

What can i do with my unwanted weapons? Should i just drop them or can i get something for them?

Thanks!!

I'll go ahead and spoiler in case you want to find everything on your own. These items will improve your quality of life.
Havel's Ring, Wolf Ring
 
By the way,
I could use tips on defeating O&S, best strat I found so far was Heavy Great Soul Arrows, gonna kill Ornstein first.
Dex character but I have Pyromancy +5 (with Combustion) and 17 INT or so, with access to Heavy Soul Arrow as well.

I find killing Smough first on NG easier, but then Ornstein first on NG+.

I'm not really sure what strategy I'd recommend, aside from the obvious only go for a couple of hits then back off.

Throwing fireballs at Smough is a decent strategy, especially once Ornstein is dead, but I wouldn't use combustion.

Generally, Ornstein will start by charging you. Just sidestep, and then you get a good few free hits in to start off.
 

zoodoo

Member
Running around with eastern armor set and claymore is so fucking epic.

I finally found my perfect build. Now, a bit of farming to increase my maximum weight.
 
Since I don't want to post spoilers in the LTTP thread, I'll post here the boss battles in this game where I found the arena to be bad

Capra Demon (no space)
Iron Golem (no space, and the boss's grab move can throw you off the arena)
Centipede Demon (no space)
Bed of Chaos (you know why)
Ceaseless Discharge (those thin corridors make the battle really annoying what with his long tentacle arms)
Four Kings (impossible to gauge distance)
Hydra (Because the floor disappears making you fall to your death, which is very annoying if you want to fight it using melee attacks)
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I mostly agree except Ceaseless Discharge and Iron Golem.

The risk of fall is the only way the Golem fight is even challenging, otherwise no one would ever die. Having to be wary of the space is a fine way to add a bit of challenge and vary the encounters.

Ceaseless Discharge is a non-issue. You don't need to fight him in that narrow corridor at all. I always fight him in the open, baiting his arm slamming down and you got tons of space to move around.
 
I mostly agree except Ceaseless Discharge and Iron Golem.

The risk of fall is the only way the Golem fight is even challenging, otherwise no one would ever die. Having to be wary of the space is a fine way to add a bit of challenge and vary the encounters.

Ceaseless Discharge is a non-issue. You don't need to fight him in that narrow corridor at all. I always fight him in the open, baiting his arm slamming down and you got tons of space to move around.

Yeah, you're probably right about Ceaseless Discharge. It was a while ago, so I don't quite remember.

Having gravity be the only interesting aspect of a fight as in the Golem fight feels like pretty bad boss design to me. Big step down from Tower Knight
 
Being cursed is bullshit.

I am cursed in ashen lake and I have to walk back to undead parish?

It's hard to think of anything worse that could happen to you in this game lol.

It's not too terrible if you take
the lift to Valley of Drakes-> lift to Darkroot Basin->walk back to parish. The hardest bit would be getting through the swamp. The drakes look intimidating but if you are fast rolling just roll past them.
 
Finally beat O&S. Fuck yes.

Strat/ fight spoiler:
the fight is actually pretty easy if you cheese both of them with Soul Arrows.

Anywhere I can get Pyromancy
after the guy I rescued from the Depths disappears/goes to Blighttown?
Iron Flesh and Great Combustion sound especially useful. Just placed the Lordvessel.
 

Milijango

Member
Finally beat O&S. Fuck yes.

Strat/ fight spoiler:
the fight is actually pretty easy if you cheese both of them with Soul Arrows.

Anywhere I can get Pyromancy
after the guy I rescued from the Depths disappears/goes to Blighttown?
Iron Flesh and Great Combustion sound especially useful. Just placed the Lordvessel.

Yes. If you have +10 flame or better, you will gain the attention of a new pyromancer at the base of Blighttown. However, she doesn't sell Iron Flesh.
 
If you have 11 INT, Eingy will also upgrade your pyro flame to +15 and give you an extra one (which is useful for trading with the crows). iirc you have to have
become infected with the parasite
before he will sell spells or upgrade for you.

If Laurentius has disappeared, you must've already bought spells or ascended your pyro flame with Quelana? I'm not sure what else triggers his going.
 
Yes. If you have +10 flame or better, you will gain the attention of a new pyromancer at the base of Blighttown. However, she doesn't sell Iron Flesh.

Just got the +10 flame so that's great to hear. By the way,
why can't I warp to the Blighttown bonfires? Is there a lore reason or something I should do? Both were kindled once.

If you have 11 INT, Eingy will also upgrade your pyro flame to +15 and give you an extra one (which is useful for trading with the crows). iirc you have to have
become infected with the parasite
before he will sell spells or upgrade for you.

If Laurentius has disappeared, you must've already bought spells or ascended your pyro flame with Quelana? I'm not sure what else triggers his going.

Unless
"become infected with the parasite"
is some kind of plot spoiler, I don't know what you mean. I did join the Chaos Servant
and I know that leaving the covenant makes that egg thing grow on your back as well, or something
though. Also ascended my Flame to +10. Pretty sure I read that Laurentius' disappearance is triggered by showing him the spell you get from Quelana.

Do covenants affect the ending?
 

Unai

Member
Just got the +10 flame so that's great to hear. By the way,
why can't I warp to the Blighttown bonfires? Is there a lore reason or something I should do? Both were kindled once.



Unless
"become infected with the parasite"
is some kind of plot spoiler, I don't know what you mean. I did join the Chaos Servant
and I know that leaving the covenant makes that egg thing grow on your back as well, or something
though. Also ascended my Flame to +10. Pretty sure I read that Laurentius' disappearance is triggered by showing him the spell you get from Quelana.

Do covenants affect the ending?

No, the only thing that affects that ending is
what you do after you beat the last boss: Rekindle the fire or become the Dark Lord.
 

zoodoo

Member
Playing the game for the first time and doing a str/dex run. Most of the npcs/covenants are useless to me as they only offer spells and I dont use any.

I just reached O&S and realized that this fight would have probably been trivial with spells as I can easily keep a good distance from them. I feel like the game was pushing me to use magic and now I am paying for not listening.

I'll beat them eventually as I do a great deal of damage with my claymore +10. But so far it's the most challenging fight in the game. A big change after killing the iron golem first try.
 

Milijango

Member
Just got the +10 flame so that's great to hear. By the way,
why can't I warp to the Blighttown bonfires? Is there a lore reason or something I should do? Both were kindled once.



Unless
"become infected with the parasite"
is some kind of plot spoiler, I don't know what you mean. I did join the Chaos Servant
and I know that leaving the covenant makes that egg thing grow on your back as well, or something
though. Also ascended my Flame to +10. Pretty sure I read that Laurentius' disappearance is triggered by showing him the spell you get from Quelana.

Unfortunately the bonfires you can warp to are limited (and to my knowledge, pretty much arbitrary).

Nothing happens when you leave the covenant other than you losing covenant rank. The egg people have a grab attack when aggroed that will infect you with a parasite, expanding Eingyi's functions as a vendor in addition to being kind of amusing. Obviously don't aggro Eingyi, just bother the guys near the Demon Ruins bonfire.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Playing the game for the first time and doing a str/dex run. Most of the npcs/covenants are useless to me as they only offer spells and I dont use any.

I just reached O&S and realized that this fight would have probably been trivial with spells as I can easily keep a good distance from them. I feel like the game was pushing me to use magic and now I am paying for not listening.

I'll beat them eventually as I do a great deal of damage with my claymore +10. But so far it's the most challenging fight in the game. A big change after killing the iron golem first try.
I'm surprised you're not outright owning them with that claymore +10.

The Zweihander +10 for me made the battle trivial. Beat it on the first try. Made quick work of Ornstein (he charged me, and missed, and I went wild on him). Mega Smough would stagger on EVERY slash so I only had to dodge his attacks a couple of times before just dominating.

Now, New Game+ was a different story for that fight. Took me at least 20 tries and I had to take time to actually work on strategy. Ended up switching things up and fighting Mega Ornstein which was quite fulfilling. But yes, it was no easy task, and I very much learned the importance of using the pillars to my advantage.

A brilliant battle but on New Game I feel like a power build can do quite well, especially if over-leveled.

I'm working on Dark Souls II now and I'm doing the Strength/Dexterity thing again as well. It's just my preferred way to play; very satisfying combat with a good feeling of impact. I did at one point want to try a magic build but I just don't have the time.
 

zoodoo

Member
I'm surprised you're not outright owning them with that claymore +10.

The Zweihander +10 for me made the battle trivial. Beat it on the first try. Made quick work of Ornstein (he charged me, and missed, and I went wild on him). Mega Smough would stagger on EVERY slash so I only had to dodge his attacks a couple of times before just dominating.

Now, New Game+ was a different story for that fight. Took me at least 20 tries and I had to take time to actually work on strategy. Ended up switching things up and fighting Mega Ornstein which was quite fulfilling. But yes, it was no easy task, and I very much learned the importance of using the pillars to my advantage.

A brilliant battle but on New Game I feel like a power build can do quite well, especially if over-leveled.

I'm working on Dark Souls II now and I'm doing the Strength/Dexterity thing again as well. It's just my preferred way to play; very satisfying combat with a good feeling of impact. I did at one point want to try a magic build but I just don't have the time.

Summoning made the fight trivial. I took care of smough and the other player ornstein. I actually regret doing that. No sense of accomplishment at all. I feel like i ruined that part.
 
Holy shit. I'd not turned on 60fps due to possible bugs. Just turned it on after playing SOTFS for a few minutes and holy shit, 60fps is a whole other beast.
 
How the hell do I even deal damage to
Seath?

I found the way to go there from the prison bonfire, so that's a plus, but still couldn't find a way to free Logan or the third bonfire I heard people talk about.
 

Milijango

Member
How the hell do I even deal damage to
Seath?

I found the way to go there from the prison bonfire, so that's a plus, but still couldn't find a way to free Logan or the third bonfire I heard people talk about.

You can't defeat him in his first location, but there's a whole lot more to the Duke's Archives than what you've seen. You'll find everything you need pretty close by, including a bonfire that's just on a balcony down the stairs after leaving the prison.
 
What level are you?

Obviously the game is pretty old now, but Dukes was always active for me around SL50-70.

Actually I thought I'd let some new character summon me for the Gargoyles fight so I spent 10 minutes in the Parish, hahaha.

Then I did the same in Anor Londo.

At least I gave up and left a sign in the Archives. Someone actually summoned me then!

I really enjoyed it even if I died in a really stupid way :D

We bowed to each other at the same moment when I got summoned, that was very fun! And steamrolling the Archives was really quite fun too! That person had
unlocked the shortcut
so that was a really big clue for me!

Considering starting a new character (already opened one and finished the Asylum- a Pyromancer) just to go Sunbro (how much Faith do I need?) and put co-op signs everywhere.
 

Stevey

Member
You need 25 Faith for Warrior of Sunlight covenant, but that's reduced by 5 for each boss you help destroy in co-op as a white phantom.
 
I'm stuck in the Archives, no idea where to go now.

I cleared out the garden area you get to but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to go down that crystallized chasm.

Also,
Frampt is sleeping and I can't sell my stuff to him. Is this normal? Would attacking him aggro him?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I'm stuck in the Archives, no idea where to go now.

I cleared out the garden area you get to but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to go down that crystallized chasm.

Also,
Frampt is sleeping and I can't sell my stuff to him. Is this normal? Would attacking him aggro him?

1) Are you playing offline?
If not, look around for messages as hints. If yes,
look at the snowflakes in the cave for a hint.

2) It's safe to attack him (just one hit) to wake him up IIRC.
 

Stevey

Member
I'm stuck in the Archives, no idea where to go now.

I cleared out the garden area you get to but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to go down that crystallized chasm.

Also,
Frampt is sleeping and I can't sell my stuff to him. Is this normal? Would attacking him aggro him?

Archives: you gotta find the way
into the crystal cave
Another spoiler for that area-
some of the floor is invisible, watch the snow or use prism stones- but people usually write messages on the invisible walkways so its pretty straightforward.

Also-
hit him once with a weapon to wake him up.
 
Reached and beat
Seath
in one go. Holy shiiiit

What to do now?
I have the Broken Pendant and the Doll. I can go to Demon Ruins, Catacombs, New Londo Ruins, or do DLC. How difficult is Oolacile or Painted World of Ariamis? Or perhaps The Great Hollow? Valley of Drakes? Artorias?

...Holy shit, there's so many options it's crazy.

For whatever reason I'm really bad at the Stray Demon fight, so I have that to take care of sometime. Besides that, I only have the Parish Black Knight and two of the Wandering Demons (pitchfork things that shoot lightning) in Sen's.

Edit: Ash Lake is incredible. Wow.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Reached and beat
Seath
in one go. Holy shiiiit

What to do now?
I have the Broken Pendant and the Doll. I can go to Demon Ruins, Catacombs, New Londo Ruins, or do DLC. How difficult is Oolacile or Painted World of Ariamis? Or perhaps The Great Hollow? Valley of Drakes? Artorias?

...Holy shit, there's so many options it's crazy.

For whatever reason I'm really bad at the Stray Demon fight, so I have that to take care of sometime. Besides that, I only have the Parish Black Knight and two of the Wandering Demons (pitchfork things that shoot lightning) in Sen's.

Edit: Ash Lake is incredible. Wow.

Go to the Catacombs ASAP and defeat the boss for the
Rite of Kindling
, it is VERY useful.

Suggestions on the next step depend on your build.

- Are you using a lot of pyromancies? Go to Demon Ruins.
- Are you a faith build? Definitely go to the Catacombs if you haven't done so already.
- Are you pure melee? New Londo Ruins for that sweet
Very Large Ember
, and a good bow if you use those.

> There isn't much to do in Valley of Drakes, but you can check it out at any time.
> Painted World can be done at any time but make sure you go there with some
Blooming Moss
in your inventory. The boss is easy, but some of the enemies are a pain.
> The DLC is very hard, keep it for last.
 
Go to the Catacombs ASAP and defeat the boss for the
Rite of Kindling
, it is VERY useful.

Suggestions on the next step depend on your build.

- Are you using a lot of pyromancies? Go to Demon Ruins.
- Are you a faith build? Definitely go to the Catacombs if you haven't done so already.
- Are you pure melee? New Londo Ruins for that sweet
Very Large Ember
, and a good bow if you use those.

> There isn't much to do in Valley of Drakes, but you can check it out at any time.
> Painted World can be done at any time but make sure you go there with some
Blooming Moss
in your inventory. The boss is easy, but some of the enemies are a pain.
> The DLC is very hard, keep it for last.

I'm a mixture of pyro/dex right now. Tried to check out The Great Hollow, I love the idea and the design, but is there any noteworthy item in there? I think there's only one or two items I haven't gotten yet.

And thanks!

Is
Sif
a part of the DLC? I think I recall
Artorias and his grave
being DLC, is that true? (I have the PTD Edition and so all the DLC of course.)

Also, playing a bit of Dark Souls II on the side and really enjoying that too (but for different reasons, and being a Swordsman is tough.)
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I'm a mixture of pyro/dex right now. Tried to check out The Great Hollow, I love the idea and the design, but is there any noteworthy item in there? I think there's only one or two items I haven't gotten yet.

And thanks!

Is
Sif
a part of the DLC? I think I recall
Artorias and his grave
being DLC, is that true? (I have the PTD Edition and so all the DLC of course.)

Also, playing a bit of Dark Souls II on the side and really enjoying that too (but for different reasons, and being a Swordsman is tough.)

Ah,
Sif
isn't the DLC, no. It's mandatory to complete the game, and you need to do it before trying the boss in
New Londo Ruins
(though you can explore the level safely before that, so long as you don't go to the boss).

That said, clearing the DLC does impact
the cut scene when you encounter Sif the first time
if you do the DLC first. But I'd save that for NG+, the DLC is very hard so save it for last.
 
Should I open an LTTP for these questions, or is it fine if I keep posting here?

Anyway, defeated
Pinwheel.
Really easy, somehow even easier than
Seath
lol.

Found the secret bonfire in the Catacombs while looking for crystal lizards,
found no lizards though.

Going to do the Tomb now of course. I did get a lantern. Am I supposed to have seen this Patches guy by now?

Do I need miracles to permanently kill the skulls? I have no Divine weapons and 8 Faith.
 
There are two crystal lizards in the Catacombs in a secret part that you drop down to
near the upper revolving bridge at the far end, the first side room

Patches only appears in the Catacombs if you go there early, I think before Capra Demon since defeating him is the trigger for
Rhea showing up
iirc. Either way, all you miss out on is a bit of fun with the revolving bridges and a humanity he gives you. He'll be in TotG with no difference made.

Pinwheel is easy because he could literally be the first post-Asylum boss you face, and it's fun to do him so early. If you get bad RNG and he spawns half a dozen clones at once, he is not the same push over when all you have is an unupgraded starter weapon!

The exploding skulls always respawn, divine weapons are for killing the skeletons in the Catacombs without killing the Necromancers first - the skellies in TotG are not tied to Necromancers, so can be killed with a normal weapon. If you picked up the Occult Club in Anor Londo, you can downgrade it with Andre to a +5 Divine Club btw, and it might come in handy still, wink, wink!
 
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