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Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition |OT| Durante Does In 23 Minutes What From Can't

So what are GAF's thought on the Strategy Guide? I can get my hand on one but im wondering if its worth it for this game or maybe I should just avoid it?

So far I have been reading the Wikis but only for areas/mechanics/items that I have already cleared and want more info on.
 

Eusis

Member
Just wondering...

Is Stealth an option here? Dagger wielding, stealthing around and backstabbing stuff, or is the Sword/Shield combo king?

What about ranged combat? Worth playing with bows or are they a secondary weapon to just snipe a few things?

Is heavily armoured with low roll mobility feasible, or will I get my ass kicked over and over?
I don't think you can really do the former, most mobs are positioned in a way they'll see you, or have triggers that alert them to your presence. In fact the stealthy stuff is more useful for just attracting less attention and making enemies more manageable on your terms.

Ranged is... sort of. I don't think it's as potent as in Demon's Souls though, but you can lock on at least. They get too close though and you'll definitely have to fall back on other methods except maybe if you can perpetually keep your distance.

Heavy armor can be very situational, some enemies are just a pain without better mobility and will tear apart your poise anyway. Still, it's a good idea period to get something like 40 END, so keeping some on hand seems to be something of a "why not?" proposition, especially without Demon's Souls's item burden.

So what are GAF's thought on the Strategy Guide? I can get my hand on one but im wondering if its worth it for this game or maybe I should just avoid it?

So far I have been reading the Wikis but only for areas/mechanics/items that I have already cleared and want more info on.
Unless they release an updated version I'd say avoid. Patches have changed a significant amount versus launch, and the DLC stuff wouldn't be factored in. And some people REALLY seem to hate it, though I thought it was pretty useful.
 

Raide

Member
Aiming the bows is janky as hell. I keep one with a grip of arrows because occasionally you can take out a powerful enemy from safety, but you don't want to use it as a primary weapon.

I don't think you can really do the former, most mobs are positioned in a way they'll see you, or have triggers that alert them to your presence. In fact the stealthy stuff is more useful for just attracting less attention and making enemies more manageable on your terms.

Ranged is... sort of. I don't think it's as potent as in Demon's Souls though, but you can lock on at least. They get too close though and you'll definitely have to fall back on other methods except maybe if you can perpetually keep your distance.

Heavy armor can be very situational, some enemies are just a pain without better mobility and will tear apart your poise anyway. Still, it's a good idea period to get something like 40 END, so keeping some on hand seems to be something of a "why not?" proposition, especially without Demon's Souls's item burden.


Unless they release an updated version I'd say avoid. Patches have changed a significant amount versus launch, and the DLC stuff wouldn't be factored in. And some people REALLY seem to hate it, though I thought it was pretty useful.

Thanks both. Most of the videos I have seen show the bow just being used to pick off annoying enemies.

I was kinda hoping bows would actually be pretty good, same with dagger options.

I do FROM work in some more interesting rolls for Bows and Daggers. Adding some weapon specific skills might be interesting, since many of the current weapons already have different combat styles available when used. Maybe some basic rapid shot for bows, or some enemy pining attacks.

I find it strange that DS has stealthing options but they are really not used. Feels more like playing WoW and pulling adds away from the pack. :D
 

Grief.exe

Member
The Titanite Demon on the bridge between Lost Izalith and Demon Ruins is farmable since it spawns back unlike all the others. The run isn't that far from the
secret
Izalith bonfire and you can hit up the tentacle monsters on your way if you're doing a farming run - they drop red chunks and slabs.

Where is that secret izalith bonfire?
 

panda21

Member
i just started as a knight and i'm totally stuck at the rats under the dragon in undead burgh

when i was a pyromancer it was no problem but now i just get poisoned after two hits and have to run back to the bonfire before i die.
 
Just wondering...

Is Stealth an option here? Dagger wielding, stealthing around and backstabbing stuff, or is the Sword/Shield combo king?

What about ranged combat? Worth playing with bows or are they a secondary weapon to just snipe a few things?

Is heavily armoured with low roll mobility feasible, or will I get my ass kicked over and over?

Stealth, it works in some cases but there's a lot of the game where you have to take on things straight up. You can definitely backstab, quite a few enemies actually. And you most definitely don't have to go sword and board, at all. I've beaten the game like 19 billion times without using a shield or a bow/arrow or even pyromancy/sorcery a single time, as have many others. I like rolling two-handed katana with no shield, myself.

Ranged combat, that one is VERY difficult to do unfortunately. I tried it recently and it seems to be way more trouble than it's worth, even though it's possible. Most ranged weapons have slow reload times and don't do enough damage on their own to be viable without a ton of work. If you're gonna do it anyway, best way is to use every type of bow (shortbow for speed, longbow for range, crossbow/greatbow for power). Sucks because I wanted to do a crossbow-only character.

Heavy armor with the crappy roll is possible, a lot of people do it with Havel's/Giant's/etc. The key there is having a shield that stuffs 100% of damage and has good stability, which makes the entire game easy mode.
 

Orayn

Member
i just started as a knight and i'm totally stuck at the rats under the dragon in undead burgh

when i was a pyromancer it was no problem but now i just get poisoned after two hits and have to run back to the bonfire before i die.

1. Raise shield.
2. Rats' attacks bounce off.
3. Attack rats when they recoil.
4. ???
5. PROGRESS!
 

web01

Member
i just started as a knight and i'm totally stuck at the rats under the dragon in undead burgh

when i was a pyromancer it was no problem but now i just get poisoned after two hits and have to run back to the bonfire before i die.

Instead of going past the rats try getting past the dragon, you should be able to work out how in a few tries and you open up a bonfire as a bonus.
 

panda21

Member
Instead of going past the rats try getting past the dragon, you should be able to work out how in a few tries and you open up a bonfire as a bonus.

wait you can do that? i played quite a lot of DS on PS3 and i thought it was unpossible. (unless you mean shooting it with about 5 billion arrows)
 

Orayn

Member
wait you can do that? i played quite a lot of DS on PS3 and i thought it was unpossible. (unless you mean shooting it with about 5 billion arrows)

If you shoot it with one arrow, it'll get mad and land on the bridge. From there, you can run between its legs to get a nifty semi-hidden bonfire and skip the area with the rats.
 

panda21

Member
If you shoot it with one arrow, it'll get mad and land on the bridge. From there, you can run between its legs to get a nifty semi-hidden bonfire and skip the area with the rats.

well dang, i had no idea you could do that, it took me ages to get past the bit after the rats when i played it on console
 
So what are GAF's thought on the Strategy Guide? I can get my hand on one but im wondering if its worth it for this game or maybe I should just avoid it?

So far I have been reading the Wikis but only for areas/mechanics/items that I have already cleared and want more info on.


I like the strategy guide just for the quality of it - hard cover, glossy pages, nice art. Used to be a good reference for item upgrade stats/etc, but seems like with all of the patches - many of them are now outdated.
 

rizz

Neo Member
Just beat the gargoyles and rang the bell :D got my hands on to a gargoyle shield, gargoyle halberd, gargoyle helmet and a gargoyle axe. Pretty sweet! The fight was fairly easy with the drake sword.
 

Grief.exe

Member
2 questions.

Where is the secret bonfire in lost izalith?

If I'm in ng+ can I still invade or be summoned to someone who is only in ng if I fall within the level range?
 
So what are GAF's thought on the Strategy Guide? I can get my hand on one but im wondering if its worth it for this game or maybe I should just avoid it?

So far I have been reading the Wikis but only for areas/mechanics/items that I have already cleared and want more info on.

As a guide, its not necessary.

But I Love it, its beautifully put together hardcover and HUGE. What I love about it are that is has large images of every enemy in the game, as well as other things like the armor sets.

To me, its worth it for the "Art" alone.
 

Vaporak

Member
I'd imagine you could play kind of stealthy with a pair of items I'm thinking of. Never tried it though, and you won't get them for a good bit and without them stealthy fighting is definitely a no go. The games not a stealth game though, melee combat is the name of the game.
 

Mattdaddy

Gold Member
Ok I noticed theres an item that lets you use int instead of faith to cast miracles (i think the freaky ass sin absolve guy sold it?)... it there an item that works the opposite? use faith to cast spells instead of int?

Is that even how that item works? Maybe I misunderstood it.
 

Gvaz

Banned
Hey you guys know those circles that pop up sometimes? Stand in them and cast one of your magics. It will give you a boost.
 
ok anyone have tips on how to get / good place to farm for a damn balder side sword Ran around last night with 3 humanity up and nothing but a helm dropped.


Considered a must have, the best place to acquire this weapon is at the top of Sen's Fortress. With the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring equipped, rest at the bonfire, leave the bonfire area, head right from the top of the stairs, and kill the two Balder Knights there. Repeat until the sword drops.

[From wiki]
 

ArynCrinn

Banned
ok anyone have tips on how to get / good place to farm for a damn balder side sword Ran around last night with 3 humanity up and nothing but a helm dropped.

-Go to the Sen's Fortress bonfire.
-Restore Humanity
-Equip Gold Serpent Ring
-Pump 3-5 Humanity (you'll accrue more if the boss isn't dead yet, if he is pump 7 or 8)
-Kill the 2 Balder Knights near the bonfire...over and over til it drops. You'll probably get a Shield and full armor set this way too.

You can also do this at the Undead Burg but it's more annoying and not as fast in my experiences. Not to mention doing it the Sen's way will get you tons of titanite shards and a couple large too.
 

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
Hey you guys know those circles that pop up sometimes? Stand in them and cast one of your magics. It will give you a boost.
Whoa. Dang I always wondered what these were for. Any kind of spell or just sorcery not pyromancy? What kind of boost?
 

i-Lo

Member
How many of you guys are using Ring of Favour? Because it breaks when you remove it I'm contemplating whether to use it at all.
 

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
How many of you guys are using Ring of Favour? Because it breaks when you remove it I'm contemplating whether to use it at all.
I'd say it's worth it for most if not all of your first run through the game.

It's just one slot and anything else you put in the second slot can be situational.

You get one per run anyway so why not?
 

rybrad

Member
How many of you guys are using Ring of Favour? Because it breaks when you remove it I'm contemplating whether to use it at all.
I have been using it since I got it and have had no issues with only having one ring slot to swap out. I think I am about 2/3 through the game so I cannot say if it holds up but I am happy with it thus far. If you never use it then you will get no benefit from it ever, if you use it and remove it for something better later then at least you will have received some benefit.
 

i-Lo

Member
I'd say it's worth it for most if not all of your first run through the game.

It's just one slot and anything else you put in the second slot can be situational.

You get one per run anyway so why not?

Actually you can have 2 per run. One from Lautrec and another by trading twin humanity Xanthous Crown with Snuggy the crow.

I have been using it since I got it and have had no issues with only having one ring slot to swap out. I think I am about 2/3 through the game so I cannot say if it holds up but I am happy with it thus far. If you never use it then you will get no benefit from it ever, if you use it and remove it for something better later then at least you will have received some benefit.

I use the Darkwood Grain Ring like some people use RoF. That's why I'm suffering from such trepidations. RoF is the only thing that pushes Stamina bar beyond 160 mark which I find enticing.
 
I like how Channeler's Trident dropped for me from the very first Channeler in the game.

From the Wiki:

The droprate of this item seems to be extremely low. After several tests with 400 drop chance it took about 250~300 channelers before this dropped, making it probably the rarest weapon drop in the game, with a chance to drop well below 1% (maybe even as low as 0.1%)!


What the fuck wow.
 
How many of you guys are using Ring of Favour? Because it breaks when you remove it I'm contemplating whether to use it at all.

Currently using it, it is rather good - and only a minor annoyance being limited to 1 ring slot to switch things around in.

When I stop feeling the 'need' for it (ie: clearing things with ease and not feeling like I benefit from the extra bit of HP, and my endurance is high enough I can wear the gear I want and not be overly reliant on items), then I take it off.
 
Experimenting with Magic based weapon on some of the other weapon tiers I am using, and was wondering, as I heard on some other site, there are other places to get Blue Slabs, beside grinding on Butterflies, and the one in Crystal Cave.

Any idea where these are? So far, I have found three regular slabs per game play (not counting drops), two Red slabs (one found, one through trading), two White slabs (one in the area before
you go and fight Nito, and those baby skeletons
and the Abyss via an alternative path), and that one Blue one I mentioned earlier.

Thanks again!
 
i just started as a knight and i'm totally stuck at the rats under the dragon in undead burgh

when i was a pyromancer it was no problem but now i just get poisoned after two hits and have to run back to the bonfire before i die.

pull them out and kick them off the edge one at a time.
 

Gvaz

Banned
I've spent a lot on time on the pc in Duke's, and no trident.

Also it makes your magic, all magic, more effective
 

ArynCrinn

Banned
Got my Trident purely by chance when I was doing a few runs trying to grab the Avelyn, killing them along the way. No luck yet on any other playthroughs.
 

Calen

Member
ok anyone have tips on how to get / good place to farm for a damn balder side sword Ran around last night with 3 humanity up and nothing but a helm dropped.

I did a farming run that started at the Undead Parish bonfire. Go upstairs from the bonfire, run down the bridge, kill the crossbowman and two swordsmen, turn left and head up the stairs / across the other bridge, backstab that knight, kill the spear guy, run back to the area behind the big gate (the entrance to the church,) kill those three knights (the two you can see and the one hiding in ambush to the left,) run back to the bonfire out the right side of the church.

I did this for an hour farming up souls to buy the Darkmoon Gardens crest from the blacksmith and at the end of it I had 3 Balder Side Swords and a bunch of titanite shards. I started with 2 humanity. It's also a bit over 1k souls per run, which was good at the time considering my gear and SL...
 

Zeliard

Member
Don't waste time trying to farm the Balder Side Sword till you get to the Sen bonfire. After that it becomes extremely easy and convenient to do so. Not only are the Balder knights within spitting distance of the bonfire, but you'll have the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring which will give you a huge boost to item discovery. You can get several BSS quickly.
 
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