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Dark Souls |OT5| Definitely better than the sequel

Ruuppa

Member
Okay.

So I defeated the Gaping Dragon without dying, felt like a badass, and continued to Blight Town. Then proceeded to die a ways in. Went back to get my body and died again from a botched jump.

I had 35k souls. Son of a BITCH. I mad.

Question: How do you get better weapons? I currently have a Battle Axe + 6 that does like 170 damage. Every other weapon either does way less damage or requires a bunch of stat points. I'm low on titanite.

35k is the entry fee to the Dark Souls themepark. You get used to it, so don't worry.

At the point you are at, the Battle Axe +6 is ok. Once you get to the bottom of Blight Town, you could farm some giant leeches who drop a ton of Titanite pretty often. They have a chance to drop 5 Green Titanite(which can be made into 5 Titanite Shards each), and/or 1 Large Titanite Shard.

Edit: Hopefully you have bought the Armor / Weapon smithboxes, so you can improve your stuff anywhere.
 

Scrooged

Totally wronger about Nintendo's business decisions.
35k is the entry fee to the Dark Souls themepark. You get used to it, so don't worry.

At the point you are at, the Battle Axe +6 is ok. Once you get to the bottom of Blight Town, you could farm some giant leeches who drop a ton of Titanite pretty often. They have a chance to drop 5 Green Titanite(which can be made into 5 Titanite Shards each), and/or 1 Large Titanite Shard.

Edit: Hopefully you have bought the Armor / Weapon smithboxes, so you can improve your stuff anywhere.

It was the most souls I've had at one time. :(

So I just need to get to the bottom of Blight Town. Alright, I think I can do that. And yeah I do have the smithboxes. Thanks!
 
Decided I don't really like the Gwyn fight that much. Wish there was more to him than his bash and dash style (third character I'm facing him with).

I think I feel the same way. The whole last few levels of the game are kind of bland. It seems pretty clear they probably ran out of development time and had to rush to just get those levels done in any way they could.
 

Randam

Member

man, i dont like these typ of videos..

The best way to experience a different game altogether is to do a SL1 no upgrades run and use only what you can hold at base stats....not upgrading makes it a different game and was the best experience I have had as souls enthusiast...not because I'm all macho, but because it gave me new problems to sort out and enabled me to get yet another 15-30 hours of new content out of the game that already gave me 1000.

i cant even beat the gargoyls with unupgraded stuff.

Okay.

So I defeated the Gaping Dragon without dying, felt like a badass, and continued to Blight Town. Then proceeded to die a ways in. Went back to get my body and died again from a botched jump.

I had 35k souls. Son of a BITCH. I mad.

Question: How do you get better weapons? I currently have a Battle Axe + 6 that does like 170 damage. Every other weapon either does way less damage or requires a bunch of stat points. I'm low on titanite.

you will learn to not care about souls you have lost.

I'll admit I haven't really given many of the weapons a go. I know I have a ton of weapons in my box that I haven't really messed with yet. I've also only ever made it to the first blacksmith. If I understand right as I make it to the others they will sell some much better weapons, right? Also I assume as I get further in the game weapon drops will get better too. So instead of always getting longsword, short sword, and axe drops I might get something a little better, I hope.

I will make more of an effort to test out some more of the weapons that I already own. I'm going to be hanging out in the Berg for a while so that I can grind and level up a bunch before I head out so that sounds like a good opportunity to put some of these weapons to the test. I probably souldn't have leveled up my axe to +5 already and waste all of those titanite pieces, damn. I really should have held off on upgrading until after I had more experience with a greater variety of weapons.

I'm always learning things with this game. That's why I love it so much. :)

dude, you are still at the very beginning of the game.

As one poster above mentioned make sure your equipment doesn't weigh more than 25% of your total carry endurance.

I just had a hilarious fight with Taurus, after coming back to this game from a year long break I was getting owned by everything and figured Taurus would be a challenge. My general strategy for him is dodging between his legs and swinging from behind. I rolled on a weird angle and Taurus turned to face me and then jumped backwards off the bridge.

I burst out laughing. This game gives me a new experience every time I play it.

here, a video from my no level run against taurus, where he jumps off the bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPchFA6URRw
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
Had a pretty good run post Taurus Demon. Killed the Fanged Boar on my first try and got the Fanged Boar Helm, which looks AWESOME but unfortunately puts me above the 25% endurance cap. But hey it looks cool so I'm keeping it on. I managed to kill the fat fuck with the massive shield and mace in that large building that's right behind the boar on my first try as well and also found the Blacksmith. There are a few paths available to me but I'm going to see if I can't go upstairs in the same room that the fat fuck was in since there was a dude shooting magic at me that I want to kill.

I have 3 titanite shards and the blacksmith can upgrade my stuff. Should I upgrade the longsword I'm using? What about my shield or amor? The shield only gains 2 defense points if I upgrade so I'm not crazy about that idea, but I do use the sword a lot so it might make sense to upgrade it. Then again I'm not sure if a better weapon isn't around the corner and I don't want to waste titanite shards on a weapon I'm going to drop soon.
 

Judderman

drawer by drawer
Oh god, Sif...I feel terrible. I'm a monster.

At least I got Greatshield of Artorias out of it...Nope, doesn't make it feel any better.
 

Raxious

Member
So I started again, this time on the PC and I'm trying to do a SL1 run.

It's a shame no1 summons me for Gargoyles though :(
 

ultron87

Member
Shit. I'm at the bottom of Blight Town and my good weapon is broke and I don't have the repair box or powder. This is most unfortunate.
 
I have 3 titanite shards and the blacksmith can upgrade my stuff. Should I upgrade the longsword I'm using? What about my shield or amor? The shield only gains 2 defense points if I upgrade so I'm not crazy about that idea, but I do use the sword a lot so it might make sense to upgrade it. Then again I'm not sure if a better weapon isn't around the corner and I don't want to waste titanite shards on a weapon I'm going to drop soon.
IMO, weapon upgrade comes first always. Shield is nice, armour is for when you're flush with souls or upgrade materials.

You find a lot of shields, they tend to be situational so you might have a favourite but be switching between 3 or 4 depending on what you're doing.

Getting a weapon to +5 is as easy as buying 9 shards from the Blacksmith, so don't worry too much about wasting regular shards they are easy to farm/buy. Have a play around with different weapons, but almost any weapon is viable. DS isn't really the type of game where you come across a great new weapon to replace your old one every few levels, you find them and you can upgrade them, but the old ones won't ever become obsolete - because weapons scale with your stats, so the more you level up, the bigger the damage scale bonus.
 

Mindlog

Member
VICTORY FUCKING ACHIEVED.
Low(er) level Manus takes some time to adjust. My Dex Uchi character had no problems with Manus. I beat him without the pendant. This INT build has been a problem. Finally I just took the SL1 approach with club/pyro. That helped. Then I added one more bit of cheese with the DWGR. Finally beat Manus with Sif and Sif surviving the fight. Those were my rules.

Only ended up using the pendant once on my successful run. Much easier to just dodge. Especially with DWGR.

If I do SL1 It will be a tough choice whether or not to use flip crutch ring.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Last night I get summoned at O&S. Guy sends msg

'I NEED WEAPON'

I drop him a silver knight sword for the heck of it

'No, I need Artorias greatsword'

Reply 'sry, don't have that'

'k bye'

He sends me home XD
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
IMO, weapon upgrade comes first always. Shield is nice, armour is for when you're flush with souls or upgrade materials.

You find a lot of shields, they tend to be situational so you might have a favourite but be switching between 3 or 4 depending on what you're doing.

Getting a weapon to +5 is as easy as buying 9 shards from the Blacksmith, so don't worry too much about wasting regular shards they are easy to farm/buy. Have a play around with different weapons, but almost any weapon is viable. DS isn't really the type of game where you come across a great new weapon to replace your old one every few levels, you find them and you can upgrade them, but the old ones won't ever become obsolete - because weapons scale with your stats, so the more you level up, the bigger the damage scale bonus.

Got it, thanks. I'll focus on upgrading my Longsword then.
 
Started playing this game again after playing Dragon's Dogma and missing it. I forgot how terrible the framerate and lag is in this game (ps3) but I love this game so much.

Anyone wanna recommend me some interesting weapons to try?

Tried out Washing Pole and hate it. The range is nice, but the damage is terrible. Also, does it swing slower than Uchi or just my imagination? The only weapon classes I haven't really used yet are thrusting swords and whips.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Sorry, guess I ahve zero experience with 360 controller issues ........have either had the Ps3 or the logitech gamepad which mimics the PS3. So on the 360 the l1 and l2 , and the R1 and R2 are reversed?
No, it's just that the feel of RB (right bumper, equivalent of R1) and RT (right trigger, equivalent of R2) feel really off for Souls controls. It's hard to explain, but if you're really used to the DS3 buttons and then you try to play Dark Souls with those buttons I'm sure you'll feel it too.

He hasn't made it to the Undead Parish yet, how would he upgrade?
Rickert, but yeah it's unlikely.

I do have the pine resin and I am a pyromancer so I have the fire attack, but it takes so damn long to actually cast that it's basically worthless. I'm probably timing my rolls badly because I keep getting hit during them.
You were probably mistiming your casts too, because the pyro's fireball works really well against Taurus. Does strong damage and you can usually find an opening after dodging one of his attacks.

So I've been having some fun at the forest recently fighting gankers (that feeling when the ganker becomes the ganked is too good), but I wanted to know. I'm coming across a lot of people in full havels with great swords and flipping. How high of a level must they be? One guy gave me 600k souls 0_0. I'm lvl 100 btw.
Some are dupers/glitchers (or outright hackers) and are probably at max level. In my very first playthrough, pre-TWoP nerf patch, I invaded the forest at a really low level (maybe 40-50, my best weapon was like the Lightning spear in Sen's) and managed to kill a guy who gave me about 800k souls. He was SL 700+, I couldn't stop laughing. I felt almost cheap, since those souls were acquired by proxy-cheating (not MY cheating but still), but I eventually decided to spend 'em anyway, spent them on maxing out my pyro glove. xD Made the Iron Golem trivial though, but it's okay, he's easy anyway.

I actually am using the longsword rather than the Hand Axe. Should I be using the club instead?
Nah the longsword is a better weapon overall, don't worry about it. If you like the longsword moveset you can keep it for the whole game if you want, so long as you keep upgrading it.

I made a suicide run down to New Londo Ruins and picked up a Fire Keeper Soul and reinforced my Estus Flask,
Booo it's your first playthrough you shouldn't know about this.... stop using guides. :p

Should I also get a bottomless box from the merchant?
Yes, it's very useful. It's always the first thing I spend my souls on when I make a new character.

Anyone wanna be a brodude and help me kill sif?? ;(
I'm on PC. What level?

Anyone wanna recommend me some interesting weapons to try?

Tried out Washing Pole and hate it. The range is nice, but the damage is terrible. Also, does it swing slower than Uchi or just my imagination? The only weapon classes I haven't really used yet are thrusting swords and whips.
Whips are really fun, I used them a lot in one of my low-level challenge runs. They are not good though, they're kind of a lolweapon. I used a chaos whip (lightning scimitar as backup) and a crossbow and had a blast. The notched whip has bleed but requires a bit more dex and whips don't combo well so it's rare that you'll get the bleed effect, sadly.
For thrusting sword you may want to try the Balder side sword? It's a hybrid of slashing with r1 and thrusting with r2, it's a really good weapon, one of the best honestly. Versatile moveset, not too heavy, good dex scaling.
 
Well I beat Nito and Bed of Chaos this weekend so I think theres only a couple more lord souls to go and then I'll pry start the DLC. After hearing such awful things about Tomb of Giants and Lost Izalith just from browsing these threads as I play I decided to knock those out as soon as possible. Man Bed of Chaos sucked. Hope Dark Souls II's low points aren't as low.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I wonder... does anyone, anywhere, actually like Bed of Chaos? I actually thought the Tomb of the Giants was pretty badass, but I think I'm in the minority on this. I hate the lava area of Lost Izalith, but I think the non-lava area isn't that bad (and I really dig in the Cambodian-style architecture), and again I think I'm in the minority for this. But yes, fuck Bed of Chaos. No wonder the devs apologized for it. xD
 
I found Tomb of Giants really tedious and the skeleton dogs were wrecking me but then I figured out I could run past half of them and it wasn't so bad. Nito wasn't much trouble. Demons ruins and Lost Izalith were just kinda bland? Visually interesting but not super fun. But god Bed of Chaos. I cleared the 2 glowy sphere things in only a couple goes but I can't even count how many runs that final bit took me...
 

DukeBobby

Member
Duke's Archives is the only post-Lordvessel area that I actually like. Tomb of the Giants has the best boss, though. Nito is so cool.
 
Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith are really undercooked. I was expecting an equivalent of Undead Burg/Parish down there. Demon Ruins is especially shitty. It's a straight line lined with Capras and a stair case. Then there's that army of Taurus Demons standing there next to the Chaos Ember. That was just sad.

Hopefully there's nothing that banal in DS2
 
Well, after going through most of the DLC with my STR character, I ended up making a new character after watching the latest Breaking Brad video in Giant Bomb. Going with an INT build this time. I've never used Sorceries before and am finding it kinda fun. I'm at level 37 with 36 points into INT, 12 each in STR and AGI. I rung both bells and need to go to Sen's, but I'm trying to farm the Baller Swag Sword at the moment. I know I need 2 more points in AGI. Still, it hasn't dropped. I guess I'll get the gold serpent ring fom Sen's. What's the best light armor set? So far I've been using the Crimson set from Blighttown and Hollow Soldier Waist.
 

Inskipp

Member
What's the best light armor set? So far I've been using the Crimson set from Blighttown and Hollow Soldier Waist.
Sage Robe from Logan's set is pretty good imo. Good overall resistances for a relatively low weight.

Witch set is also a good candidate, which can be accessed a bit earlier in the game (
assuming you rush the 4 kings
) .
 
Kalameet down! That was a cool fight. I didn't know about the Gough thing so I kept going down to its area and getting my ass roasted over and over. There's actually a clue that you're supposed to see him but it's way down at the end of the arena. How the hell is someone supposed to make it there? Seemed kind of trollish lol

Anyway, time to see Gwyn. Oh yeah! Does Domnall's inventory stay the same in NG+? I don't have enough souls to buy Smough's armour.
 
Sage Robe from Logan's set is pretty good imo. Good overall resistances for a relatively low weight.

Witch set is also a good candidate, which can be accessed a bit earlier in the game (
assuming you rush the 4 kings
) .

Hmm, guess I'll have to go after 4 kings, then. Never done it as an INT build, always just gone melee on them.
 

Arjen

Member
Last night I get summoned at O&S. Guy sends msg

'I NEED WEAPON'

I drop him a silver knight sword for the heck of it

'No, I need Artorias greatsword'

Reply 'sry, don't have that'

'k bye'

He sends me home XD
I had a similar experience, i was sunbroing at the gargoyles, had the gravelord sword.
Host sent a message, what weapon is that, i answer him
He asked, can i have it? I said, no sorry , i only got one. He banished me.
 

Ketch

Member
40+ hours in and I finally just made it to anor londo for the first time... and then I died to the first enemy there.

I'm trying to figure out a good black knight greatsword build. I'm not sure if I want to go heavy armor tanky build or like a medium armor half rolling half dodging build (like an actual black knight)... I haven't found any new armor yet that I've liked. I bought the steel armor and tower shield from the guy in Sen's fortress... but I'm not sure if that's actually the direction I want to go in.

Any suggestions?
 
Can anyone tell me what weapon is in this picture? I can't seem to match it up with anything on the wiki. I snapped this screen just as the summon sign was fading away, so it's a little hard to see.

data_2014_01_27_13_06_01_390_by_realghostvids-d73xew1.jpg


He's got a Zwei in his right hand and then this weird spear-lookin' thing in his left. A wrapped handle in the center that doesn't match up to any weapon I can find on the wiki. Is it some weird placeholder spear model or what?
 

Raxious

Member
my SL1 run is going pretty well.

Got 3 Reinforced Clubs at the moment, 1 at +10, the others at +5. I'll be creating a Fire, Lightning and a Divine one.

So far I've taken down the Taurus Demon, Capra Demon, Quelaag, Gargoyles and Ceaseless Discharge. Now I'm running with the Gold Hemmed set.

I might kill the Butterfly now to get the Divine upgrade. Upgrade my weapon and rush to the blacksmith in the Catacombs to get the Fire upgrade and take down Pinwheel as well.

edit:
@Cannon Goose
it's the Tin Banishment Catalyst.
 

2AdEPT

Member
In contrast, I found the ring of f&p made far more sense for a build that can't level. I never found myself in a position where I was desperate to equip two rings, so much so that sacrificing 20% extra health, stamina, and equip burden would be worth it. One free slot was plenty.
each to their own...the game allows all kinds of approaches so I guess I shouldn't be so bold as to say that its ALWAYS better to have no FAP on....I hate tedium and farming etc. but found I needed to farm a lot of pine resin....the mushroom guys have lotsof health so for example using tearstone and dusk ring for more pyro uses was mandatory for me...I would have worn the beelowing as well had I a third slot. as AC pointed out any area where you need tearstone, and believe me for a guy that cant stand lengthy battles it is basically on all the time, the attack power benefit is better than health/defense. again, the whole idea of these runs is that dodging and quick estus etc. can replace defense...its how are you going to attack better that is the question?
I actually am using the longsword rather than the Hand Axe. Should I be using the club instead?

I didn't realize about the 2H thing, that makes sense. Thanks.

Edit: Woohoo killed him! Made sure to keep my distance, bait him into swings, then attack while he was vulnerable. He took me down to a sliver of health though so I ran back to the last bonfire I was at to refill my Estus Flasks and use my 9,000 souls I've gathered in my attempts to kill him.
Good work! again dont worry about materials..just upgrade the crap out of that longsword, and any other weapons you like the feel of...if you want to modify them with boss souls later the materials wont be wasted.

Okay.

So I defeated the Gaping Dragon without dying, felt like a badass, and continued to Blight Town. Then proceeded to die a ways in. Went back to get my body and died again from a botched jump.

I had 35k souls. Son of a BITCH. I mad.

Question: How do you get better weapons? I currently have a Battle Axe + 6 that does like 170 damage. Every other weapon either does way less damage or requires a bunch of stat points. I'm low on titanite.
Any time I lost souls that I felt I should not have lost, I found a way to cheese farm them back....the garden is a good place to do just that.....you can find a good dex weapon in blightown and although I have made the jump at 60 FPS, it is a hard jump if on PC...its closer to the start of the level but if you tripped the first bonfire dying a couple times to get it wont be an issue. If you joined the cat covenant earlier and talked to shiva outside the door, he will open a shop at the bottom of blight town near the bonfire. He sells good shit but you may have to drop your sign atthe bonfire and help people on the boss there to get enough souls to buy them. the demon spear and washing pole are awesome, or if you want to tank the DEmon great machete is sold there as well. Finally, once you exhaust the sales, killing the guy and his henchman also provide some good wares. The henchman's drop is the only way you can get that item in the game.

This is a excellent point for base-SL playthroughs, especially for the 4K's fight if you're not Havel cheesing it. Going in with Red Tearstone active and the Giant Blacksmith Hammer and just kicking their asses feels great.

Also wish From had made it possible to roll dodge the Soul Missile in the fight, instead of just running left as fast as possible to get close to the king and hoping for the best.

Only boss fight where the Favor ring at base-SL helps is O&S, especially with crazy restrictions like no healing and especially considering what weapon you're using.

Take note of my Artorias kill here at SL1, not a "restrictive run" just a relaxed SL1 run really. But as you can tell, if I hadn't stupidly put on the Favor ring, he would have activated Red Tearstone when he hit me (was intentional but his attack just didn't damage me quite enough ;). So the fight would have been over way faster and easier if I hadn't used the Favor ring.
That's a great video of the artorias battle done right man....tearstone at the end or not, the dodging and the quick attacks right out of the dodges were textbook! Cool looking character as well... the heavy boots are bad ass...why cant I make the game look that easy?!?!?!?!?
 

Raxious

Member
Create a CHAOS one. It scales with humanity and is stronger than fire (iirc).

The problem is that it'll only become more powerful when you run with 5 humanity, and I honestly dont think it's a great idea to do at SL1 when most things can pretty much one shot you.
 

Adry9

Member
I'm 26h into the game and I just got to Gravelord Nito but I'm really struggling to beat him. Any tip?
 

Gbraga

Member
How do I get that loot in Demon Ruins that is on a platform with lava in front of it? I tried jumping, rolling, running into it but I can't get up there and just end up dying.

I didn't know about the rings that protect you from flames so I died to get my Chaos whatever thing, but at least I got it.

Not that worried since I went to the end of it and turns out I have to continue with the story to get past the yellow fog, but it would be nice to know for the next time I go there after doing whatever it is I have to do.
 
Trying to get to Blight Town is infuriating. I headed there after the gaping dragon, but i get swarmed by the spear guys and end up getting poisoned by the archers while i try to manage 3 of them. would going in from the valley of drakes entrance be easier, or should i just go and do the moonlight butterfly and then come back?
 

Gbraga

Member
You will get an item later on that will help you cross the lava.

My problem is not really crossing the lava (I can last long enough to make it to the other side and then using some flasks or just picking up the item and dying, the bonfire is up there anyway), there's only a small gap, but I can't get up there.

Maybe I jumped at the wrong spot or something.

Trying to get to Blight Town is infuriating. I headed there after the gaping dragon, but i get swarmed by the spear guys and end up getting poisoned by the archers while i try to manage 3 of them. would going in from the valley of drakes entrance be easier, or should i just go and do the moonlight butterfly and then come back?

Get the spider shield and it shouldn't give you trouble. I died from falling a lot more than enemies in Blighttown.
 
My problem is not really crossing the lava (I can last long enough to make it to the other side and then using some flasks or just picking up the item and dying, the bonfire is up there anyway), there's only a small gap, but I can't get up there.

Maybe I jumped at the wrong spot or something.
IIRC that item is more of a roll than a jump. It's a consumable soul item btw so nothing too interesting.

Did you get the treasure chest further down there though, that is worth going to the Demon Ruins early for.



Trying to get to Blight Town is infuriating. I headed there after the gaping dragon, but i get swarmed by the spear guys and end up getting poisoned by the archers while i try to manage 3 of them. would going in from the valley of drakes entrance be easier, or should i just go and do the moonlight butterfly and then come back?
The toxic blowdart guys don't respawn, so even if they toxic you don't bother using a moss (if you have any) until you've killed it. Even if you die, take him out with you because he isn't coming back! Blighttown is always worth doing the whole of, whichever way you enter because it has a lot of nice loot, especially the top part.

It is actually worth going back to do the Moonlight Butterfly at this time, it's an easy boss, nets you a chunk of souls and you can farm purple and blooming moss in the forest which will help a lot in Blighttown (or you can buy them at the female merchant in the aquaduct, but why buy when you can farm? :) )
 
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