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Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel |OT|

pa22word

Member
honestly if theres any scaling at all, its very light.
Yeah I ended up switching to Gundyr's on my third attempt and mowed through it without too much of a headache.

Two handed GSW with GCS just doesn't cut it on that last part >.<
They need to tone down the bonfires though, it's a little excessive in this DLC (so far).

The last march to the boss was utterly ballsless design. There's something like 4 or 5 shortcuts in a 20 min area. That alone probably single-handedly dropped my opinion of the package from "okay" to "utterly tepid". It just reeks of a lack of confidence in what they made, which is shocking coming from a FS product.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Jesus Christ where's the second bonfire in the first area? I can defeat enemies well enough but they wear me down before I can get anywhere.
 
So apparently PvP is at around SL120?
Means my 95 character has some stats to play around with.

Can't remember what I was doing regarding soft caps, and idk what patches have changed since launch so advice would be welcome.

Have a dex pyro build using Sharp Onikiri and Ubadachi with Carthus Flame Arc and Chaos Bed Vestiges.

SL95.
Stats are at 27 vigor, 24 attunement, 20 endurance, 8 vitality, 13 strength, 40 dexterity, 25 intelligence, 20 faith, 7 luck.

I think I was originally planning to boost int/faith to 30 or 40 each if I had stats spare, but maybe vig/end could be more useful? How much of a boost does Carthus get from int and faith seeing I use melee 95% of the time?
 

pa22word

Member
Did anyone else think that the loot in this was pretty crap? I mean yay at all the large shards I can carry, there just wasn't a whole lot there worth looking at from an endgame section. I mean I can't tell you how many times I found an area that I thought was going to hold something good and then...raw gem T_T

blah, what happened to OH level loot godlikeness from FS?

Jesus Christ where's the second bonfire in the first area? I can defeat enemies well enough but they wear me down before I can get anywhere.

Right before the bridge in a big mound.
 

Dantis

Member
Hey guys, unsure where I'm meant to be going.

Just come through the weird area with the flies back into chapel. The little girl is now upstairs.
Where am I meant to be headed?
 

preta

Member
Hey guys, unsure where I'm meant to be going.

Just come through the weird area with the flies back into chapel. The little girl is now upstairs.
Where am I meant to be headed?

Drop down into the lower part of the room with the flies and look around a bit.
 

pa22word

Member
Hey guys, unsure where I'm meant to be going.

Just come through the weird area with the flies back into chapel. The little girl is now upstairs.
Where am I meant to be headed?
Go back and start smacking walls.

Alternatively, just fall into the pit where the flies were. Make sure you wear the cat ring tho because gank squad galore down there.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
So apparently PvP is at around SL120?
Means my 95 character has some stats to play around with.

Can't remember what I was doing regarding soft caps, and idk what patches have changed since launch so advice would be welcome.

Have a dex pyro build using Sharp Onikiri and Ubadachi with Carthus Flame Arc and Chaos Bed Vestiges.

SL95.
Stats are at 27 vigor, 24 attunement, 20 endurance, 8 vitality, 13 strength, 40 dexterity, 25 intelligence, 20 faith, 7 luck.

I think I was originally planning to boost int/faith to 30 or 40 each if I had stats spare, but maybe vig/end could be more useful? How much of a boost does Carthus get from int and faith seeing I use melee 95% of the time?

Get endurance to 30, Vigor to 34, split the remaining between faith and int.

Also, lower your attunement to 18.
 

TheGrue

Member
Playing on PC and havin this hitch that always comes in threes. Doesn't happen often, but it basically locks up for a couple seconds, unlocks, and them does it two more times back to back. Never had the issue when I beat the game when it came out and I haven't played since until last night. Have a 980.
 

fast_taker

Member
the dlc is not what i expected. I finished it earlier today. It was really short and easy.

The dlc of the 1st dark souls game is still my favorite..
 
So apparently PvP is at around SL120?
Means my 95 character has some stats to play around with.

Can't remember what I was doing regarding soft caps, and idk what patches have changed since launch so advice would be welcome.

Have a dex pyro build using Sharp Onikiri and Ubadachi with Carthus Flame Arc and Chaos Bed Vestiges.

SL95.
Stats are at 27 vigor, 24 attunement, 20 endurance, 8 vitality, 13 strength, 40 dexterity, 25 intelligence, 20 faith, 7 luck.

I think I was originally planning to boost int/faith to 30 or 40 each if I had stats spare, but maybe vig/end could be more useful? How much of a boost does Carthus get from int and faith seeing I use melee 95% of the time?

Soft caps are around 40. For 120 meta PvP, you should have 38-40 vigor unless you're making a glass cannon. Pyros aren't very good in PvP to begin with and need high stat investment. I'd put your points into vigor and endurance, pyro spells should be support more than anything else, the Onikiri at 40 dex is a fairly good weapon. For PvP you don't need many spells so 24 attunement is unnecessary. Of course you can try going more pyro spells than dex, but it's a lot harder, and to get any real damage you do have to become a glass cannon. Unfortunately there aren't many pyro spells that allow for that sort of tactics anyways.
 
Get endurance to 30, Vigor to 34, split the remaining between faith and int.

Also, lower your attunement to 18.

What's the importance with 34 vigor? Google tells me it's a pretty even stat gain from 27 right up to 50.

And the attunement was simply to have a decent MP pool to get from bonfire to bonfire, thought at endgame that isn't necessary.

Though I'd forgotten entirely that you could respec in 3.

Makes me tempted to mix things up and go a 40/40/40 vit/str/dex build.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
Soft caps are around 40. For 120 meta PvP, you should have 38-40 vigor unless you're making a glass cannon. Pyros aren't very good in PvP to begin with and need high stat investment. I'd put your points into vigor and endurance, pyro spells should be support more than anything else, the Onikiri at 40 dex is a fairly good weapon. For PvP you don't many spells so 24 attunement is unnecessary. Of course you can try going more pyro spells than dex, but it's a lot harder, and to get any real damage you do have to become a glass cannon. Unfortunately there aren't many pyro spells that allow for that sort of tactics anyways.

Great Chaos Fireball, Black Serpent, and combustion are great for PvP.

Black Serpent alone is enough to make people panic roll, allowing you to punish them, it's also great for extra wake up damage, or to bait parries.

Dex is unnecessary though, 40/40 faith/int with a Chaos weapon (or preferably Witch's Locks) is a far better alternative, allowing you to get high vigor and endurance for higher survivability.

Sorceries are a better magic school to be paired up with dex.
 

BeeDog

Member
Can't wait to try this after work today. Hope it doesn't scale to a ridiculous degree for my NG++ character.

(Off-topic: if my bonfire says "Start Journey 4", am I on NG++ or +++? Can't recall but I'd assume NG++)
 

RiggyRob

Member
Can't wait to play this tonight with Pimmsy - our character might be a tad overlevelled for the DLC, but from what I'm hearing it's a challenge even with a highly levelled character.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
What's the importance with 34 vigor? Google tells me it's a pretty even stat gain from 27 right up to 50.

And the attunement was simply to have a decent MP pool to get from bonfire to bonfire, thought at endgame that isn't necessary.

Though I'd forgotten entirely that you could respec in 3.

Makes me tempted to mix things up and go a 40/40/40 vit/str/dex build.

Vit is useless, don't bother. The most powerful build would be 40/40/40/40 VGR/END/STR/DEX. Use Havel's ring if you want to wear a decent armor.

As for 34 Vigor, it's the sweetspot allowing you to survive most ripostes at full health.
 

Carlius

Banned
the dlc is meh...nothing mindblowing like artorias or sunken king. its just another day in dark souls. i really hope they do something memorable to finish the series off in the final dlc. i would not buy this for 15 bucks if i didnt have the season pass.
 

Carlius

Banned
Playing on PC and havin this hitch that always comes in threes. Doesn't happen often, but it basically locks up for a couple seconds, unlocks, and them does it two more times back to back. Never had the issue when I beat the game when it came out and I haven't played since until last night. Have a 980.

ya me too...its really annoying. on one instance it actually froze the game for me.
 
Vit is useless, don't bother. The most powerful build would be 40/40/40/40 VGR/END/STR/DEX. Use Havel's ring if you want to wear a decent armor.

As for 34 Vigor, it's the sweetspot allowing you to survive most ripostes at full health.

Yeah I meant vgr/str/dex. Though I won't do that, save that for when I want to replay the game with a fresh character.

Respeccing now and lowered att to 18, and dropped int back to 20 for now to hit 34 vgr and 30 end (levelled up to SL101 with the souls I had on me). Will put the points into int/fth evenly as I level to 120.

How much gain do int/fth give though? Would I be better off just getting more vgr/end if I'm going to be cutting things with my swords with flame arc?

Regardless, I'll be playing through this tomorrow as it's getting late here now. Good to have my character ready to go.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
Yeah I meant vgr/str/dex. Though I won't do that, save that for when I want to replay the game with a fresh character.

Respeccing now and lowered att to 18, and dropped int back to 20 for now to hit 34 vgr and 30 end (levelled up to SL101 with the souls I had on me). Will put the points into int/fth evenly as I level to 120.

How much gain do int/fth give though? Would I be better off just getting more vgr/end if I'm going to be cutting things with my swords with flame arc?

Regardless, I'll be playing through this tomorrow as it's getting late here now. Good to have my character ready to go.

Flame Arc still gets significant scaling damage up to 30/30 faith/int, and then soft caps at 40/40. so don't stop leveling if you want more damage, 25-30 is enough though, survivability is important especially against Ultras and Ripostes.
 

what-ok

Member
Started the DLC late last night on a NG++ save and it has been a challenge so far. I am loving the look and feel of the new location and have more to explore tonight. Going slow with this since I have read that it's over rather quick.
 

Fhtagn

Member
Only had an hour to play this morning and I'm maximizing my return by playing it with an under leveled, low-ish vitality character (63, 30 vit), so I'm getting my ass kicked and having to fight hard for every bit of space claimed.

I am really enjoying the scale of the initial area. Wide open spaces and long paths. Enemies that swarm intelligently in packs and keep the pressure way up.

I am also happy to find a nice touch about NPC interactions:
this character is on the usurper path and has already married Anri. Characters I've talked to take this into account in their dialogue and seem to have a healthy respect for the damage I might do to their painted world.

So far it's exceeding my expectations, but due to reviews and word of mouth I'm also expecting it'll end sooner than I want it to.
 

KlockreN

Neo Member
What buillds are you playing the dlc with?
I'm going to start a new character (My first was pure dex build) and now i wan't to try something different.
 

mellow

Member
I'm liking it atm, but the usage of mobs everywhere feels artificially difficult to me, I wish they'd tone it down a little, at least in the first couple of areas. I've only died once thus far in NG @ 120, so I'm probably over leveled.
 

Gbraga

Member
What buillds are you playing the dlc with?
I'm going to start a new character (My first was pure dex build) and now i wan't to try something different.

I'm using a Greatsword with 40/40 STR/DEX. Left hand with Caestus/Black Bow of Pharis/Torch

Only 20 Endurance, though, so I reeeeaaally have to be careful with my strikes. This thing uses so much stamina that I'm not sure it would make a big difference, though.

I love this sword <3
 
Fucking wolves, man. So annoying. I'm loving the snowy look tho.

Had to sprint through the first couple of areas because I'm on NG+. Hidden Body continues to be extremely useful. ^_^
 

Astral

Member
Fucking wolves, man. So annoying. I'm loving the snowy look tho.

Had to sprint through the first couple of areas because I'm on NG+. Hidden Body continues to be extremely useful. ^_^

Hidden Body + Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring is the best thing ever. Got me through some tough times.
 
So I've
Killed Friede and her pops, and gotten both slabs. Heard there were two bosses though?

Where do I go from here?

Also I can still summon phantoms outside where the fog door would be even though the area boss is dead. Bug?
 

Alo0oy

Banned
I'm using a Greatsword with 40/40 STR/DEX. Left hand with Caestus/Black Bow of Pharis/Torch

Only 20 Endurance, though, so I reeeeaaally have to be careful with my strikes. This thing uses so much stamina that I'm not sure it would make a big difference, though.

I love this sword <3

20 endurance on an Ultra? Even 40 feels low to me lol.
 

Jangaroo

Always the tag bridesmaid, never the tag bride.
So I've
Killed Friede and her pops, and gotten both slabs. Heard there were two bosses though?

Where do I go from here?

Also I can still summon phantoms outside where the fog door would be even though the area boss is dead. Bug?

Getting to the second boss involves interacting with the bridge outside of the chapel where Friede was at.
 

Gbraga

Member
20 endurance on an Ultra? Even 40 feels low to me lol.

It deals so much damage that it ends up working out. Like, I can't use more than one charged R2 and still have stamina to roll, but I don't really need to.

People seem to be struggling against the assassins, but I just backstab them once and charge my R2 as they're recovering, and it's GG. If it doesn't kill the enemy, the charged R2 will knock them down again anyway, and they'll definitely have very little health left.

It's harder to deal with NPC fights, and I'll definitely need green blossom against bosses, though.

I should probably respec and remove some of my VIT points to put into END, but I don't wanna upset Sirris in this playthrough, so I'll have to deal with 20 until I finish her questline.
 

[NaK]

Member
I went online to test if the dlc was accessable at midnight (EU) and ended up finishing the whole thing in one sitting.
Im not sure that I think about it.
The enviroments stand out from "Vanilla" Dark 3, and was a refreshing experience. But it's very compressed and short.
I would have loved to spend more time in the new areas,
explore twisted ice caverns and rotting underground basements.
I was a bit over powered at level 120, and managed to complete everything in just under
five
hours.
 

Mifec

Member
Finished it, was easy even with the swarms of the Forlorn if I rushed.

Boss spoilers
Gravetender was not worthy of a boss title, Elfriede and Ariandel were amazing though and her transposed weapon makes the DLC worth it on it's own.

What makes me sad is that there isn't nearly enough lore here to what I was expecting, it's all pretty easy to get to and requires no effort to hunt for :(
 

.Anema

Member
PvP is almost on every level. A few hours ago I was playing with 2 friends, the host is SL 320 and we were invaded almost every 3-5 minutes. I'm SL 150 and got invaded at least 2 times every 10 minutes. It's very crowded, lol.
 

Alo0oy

Banned
PvP is almost on every level. A few hours ago I was playing with 2 friends, the host is SL 320 and we were invaded almost every 3-5 minutes. I'm SL 150 and got invaded almost at least 2 times every 10 minutes. It's very crowded, lol.

Yeah, I've always found PvP very active at every level even during the Summer. Dead PvP was never a thing, that narrative had no basis IMO.
 
only had time to play this for an hour last night. didn't even make it past the first bonfire. it's not a pushover! tried running straight to a bonfire and got mauled by all kinds of new enemies. looking forward to methodically making my way through =)

so far i'm pretty impressed. i love the wind effects and i love all the new enemies. already i like this more than DS2's snow dlc.
 
My character is on NG++++.

Gotta get through crucifixion road and haul ass to the chapel, but I think I can get there in time.

I'm a heavy armor/heavy axe build. At my playthrough, should I prepare to cry?
 

Captcha

Member
Took me 3 hours to beat the main boss. That last phase is bullshit. However, I was on NG ..4 (?) I think. I found the DLC to be pretty "meh" overall (just like the base game). This is the first time I've had any negative feelings about a DLC from From, and I hope they knock it out of the park with the last one.

I wonder if they're feeling burnt out creativity wise with this franchise? The entirety of DS3 has been a mixed bag for me, and I say this as someone who liked vanilla DS2.
 
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