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[hydrophilic attack]

Dark Souls II, easily. I'll just copy a post I made in another thread:

There are so many interesting covenants. And the changes to core combat mechanics are great for PVP as well. The guard break adds a great tactic against shield users, but it's pretty slow, which shield users can exploit to bait and punish it. The slower parry makes it into more of a move which requires you to get a read on your opponent, than something where quick reflexes is enough, which is much better for PVP. Backstabs are much harder to execute which discouraged the blatant backstab fishing of earlier games, but still gives you a chance to punish an opponent that overcommits to their attack (it's great against halberd users going spin-to-win). The huge build variety makes every battle different. It was really easy to find matches, much easier than in every other Souls game. I can go on and on. Bloodborne was such a disappointing step back in this regard

 

[johntown]

Demon's Souls was the best. PVP was usually quick and easy.

Dark Souls 2 would have been first but soul memory and having to farm invasion items makes it lower.

Dark Souls would be number 1 if it didn't use P2P connections.

Bloodborne is the worst hands down.

 

[Red Liquorice]

Dark Souls would be number 1 if it didn't use P2P connections.

They all used p2p connections, only the matchmaking was serverside for DeS and DS2 afaik (correct me if wrong).

 

[johntown]

They all used p2p connections, only the matchmaking was serverside for DeS and DS2 afaik (correct me if wrong).

That is essentially what I meant.

 

[Red Liquorice]

That is essentially what I meant.

Heehee, ok. I've seen people confused on that though since they made a deal about it before DS2 came out.

 

[MaverickVII]

Dark Souls 2 had the best PVP, I loved the variety of builds and the covenants were fun.

 

[Bankastuba]

Dark Souls 2 pvp lacked purpose.
Dark Souls 1 did the best job overall.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

I don't play a lot of pvp but I've been enjoying taking out invaders with the Moonlight Sword in BB

Played Dark Souls 1 on PC and ran into some people that seemed like they were cheating (dropping 99 divine blessings for me before attacking)

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Dark Souls 2 pvp lacked purpose.
Dark Souls 1 did the best job overall.

Would you please explain this?

Actually I found DS1's MP terrible as it was just backstabbing farming, and honestly don't know what you mean with the "lacked purpose" comment.

 

[King Gilga]

They're all bad, glitchy laggy teleporting backstabs and phantom ranges.

But DS2 was the best one, and the one I spent the longest time PVPing in before wondering why I wasn't playing a decent multiplayer game instead.

 

[Sullichin]

Dark Souls 1 invasions were absolute magic.

i spent SO much time making new characters specifically to invade in certain areas. The freedom of the game allowed you to be a total dick in terms of having an unfair character build, but I never went that route, always opting for level and area appropriate gear.

Hunting someone through Sen's fortress...
Fights by the Solaire bonfire in Anor Londo...
Fuck. This was special.


Of course I spent a ton of time having duels in Undead Burn and Ooacile and Painted World. That was great too. And fight clubs in the depths.

Dark Souls 2 really opened the doors with build variety and it's way easier to connect to people to play with, so I wound up enjoying that a lot too. But I sorely missed characters to invade in specific areas (thanks Soul memory), and the movement/combat just isn't as satisfying as DS.

DS wins.

Dark Souls
Dark Souls 2
Demon's Souls
Bloodborne

In that order. Bloodborne fucked up nonconsensual PVP, and has the fewest build options.

 

[PuppetMaster]

Ds2 is the best PvP one hands down.

 

[DustyVonEric]

DeS or DkS2 for me.

I like DkS2 the least overall in the series, but I spent the most time with it.

 

[Orthogonal]

Dark Souls 2 by far. Mostly because of the system design.

I dont have a huge preference for one over the other in the moment to moment PvP combat, but DS2 destoys all others in game design.

Demons and DS1 were too easy to avoid random invasions. DS1 covenants were decent, but too obscure for most players. DS2 covenants pushed all types of multiplayer (random and formal duals). Fight clubs were also very easy to setup and participate in.

Too bad Bloodborne shit the bed in this aspect because the combat was really good in PvP.

 

[PuppetMaster]

Dark Souls 1 invasions were absolute magic.

i spent SO much time making new characters specifically to invade in certain areas. The freedom of the game allowed you to be a total dick in terms of having an unfair character build, but I never went that route, always opting for level and area appropriate gear.

Hunting someone through Sen's fortress...
Fights by the Solaire bonfire in Anor Londo...
Fuck. This was special.


Of course I spent a ton of time having duels in Undead Burn and Ooacile and Painted World. That was great too. And fight clubs in the depths.

Dark Souls 2 really opened the doors with build variety and it's way easier to connect to people to play with, so I wound up enjoying that a lot too. But I sorely missed characters to invade in specific areas (thanks Soul memory), and the movement/combat just isn't as satisfying as DS.

DS wins.

Dark Souls
Dark Souls 2
Demon's Souls
Bloodborne

In that order. Bloodborne fucked up nonconsensual PVP, and has the fewest build options.

This is called ganking not PvP.

This answer is disqualified.

 

[catbrush]

All of the Souls games PvP suffer from lack of balance.

DeS was good but I don't remember it well enough. I remember having some close fights that didn't feel unfair, but matching based on level rather than stats gives it similar strengths and weaknesses to DkS1. Lack of poise stat better suited my tastes though.

Getting invaded in DkS1 was usually bullshit where the invader would be decked out with bottomless box glitch gear. I thought poise was a bad addition to the formula: heavy armor became a necessity for PvP since you could just eat an attack and still nail your opponent. Edit: Also DkS1 online functionality only worked ~5% of the time due to lack of dedicated matchmaking servers.

DkS2's PvP was the game's one redeeming quality for me. PvP zones were a great addition to the formula, but soul memory was a detraction. If I enjoyed DkS2's core gameplay, DkS2 would be my favorite, but I despise it.

BB's PvP suffers from level matching like the rest, giving gem grinders a definite advantage. However, lack of poise (limited to an item that slows you to a crawl) makes it possible for skilled players to trump statistically advantaged players. Backstab changes were also a huge improvement to the formula. Firearm parrying was also a good addition to the PvP game to balance the ease of healing, allowing a heal to be parried and effectively win the fight.

They all did it best. I hope DkS3 does it bestest.

 

[KeyChainDude]

Bloodborne, because the fight isn't about rolling around each other looking for phantom backstabs anymore.

 

[Sullichin]

This is called ganking not PvP.

This answer is disqualified.

Did you miss the part where I said I didn't invade people unfairly?
In fact many times I was at a disadvantage. And the only ganking was when I had to fight the host +2 sunbros.
Did an endless amount of soapstone duels as well, so...

 

[Ardenyal]

The one that didn't have lag stabs.

 

[Breads]

They're all bad, glitchy laggy teleporting backstabs and phantom ranges.

But DS2 was the best one, and the one I spent the longest time PVPing in before wondering why I wasn't playing a decent multiplayer game instead.

This is the unfortunate conclusion I eventually came to. As much as I love the idea of Souls pvp this isn't a balanced and competitive game. Once you get really good at reading/baiting at the 30/60 fps level the game basically breaks down to a laggy rock paper scissors game.

An awesome game would be a dedicated melee/ range pvp/ team v team game with good netcode and shit. Kind of like Chivalry but with the variety of a souls game.

The one that didn't have lag stabs.

So Bloodborne.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Eh when I stopped playing dark Souls 2 it had massive issues with balancing and net code/lag.

I couldn't hit anybody with horrible Internet because my game would register a hit and then be fine, but they'd swing half a mile a away and I'd get hurt.

Then there was shit like the double crossbows and the bat staff + miasma. More often than not I'd find people using this and it ruined the pvp for me. Maybe they eventually fixed the lag and balancing but too little too late.

 

[Gorillaz]

Dark souls 2 has more areas for it but dark souls 1 is FAAAR more enjoyable and has more charm to it.

Soul Memory was the dumbest idea I've ever heard for a Souls game

Bloodborne PVP was doa

 

[GamingOblivion]

Demon's Souls.

All of the Souls games PvP suffer from lack of balance.

DeS was good but I don't remember it well enough. I remember having some close fights that didn't feel unfair, but matching based on level rather than stats gives it similar strengths and weaknesses to DkS1. Lack of poise stat better suited my tastes though.

Getting invaded in DkS1 was usually bullshit where the invader would be decked out with bottomless box glitch gear. I thought poise was a bad addition to the formula: heavy armor became a necessity for PvP since you could just eat an attack and still nail your opponent. Edit: Also DkS1 online functionality only worked ~5% of the time due to lack of dedicated matchmaking servers.

DkS2's PvP was the game's one redeeming quality for me. PvP zones were a great addition to the formula, but soul memory was a detraction. If I enjoyed DkS2's core gameplay, DkS2 would be my favorite, but I despise it.

BB's PvP suffers from level matching like the rest, giving gem grinders a definite advantage. However, lack of poise (limited to an item that slows you to a crawl) makes it possible for skilled players to trump statistically advantaged players. Backstab changes were also a huge improvement to the formula. Firearm parrying was also a good addition to the PvP game to balance the ease of healing, allowing a heal to be parried and effectively win the fight.

They all did it best. I hope DkS3 does it bestest.

Level matchmaking is the only way to do it. Soul Memory was bullshit.

 

[Shai-Tan]

I only played DS1 and Demon's Souls. I thought that pvp added to the sense of danger but the actual gameplay was poorly balanced (roll, roll, hope other guy does something other than roll that commits to animation, backstab)

edit: although it was fun getting people to fall off cliffs

 

[Mountains of Mars]

In terms of functionality and variety DkS2 by far, but I'd have to go with DeS as my personal favorite, I think the mechanics worked the best if you're into the whole "honor duel" thing, or just playing with friends, every build needing Second Chance was a bit boring after a while though.

 

[Moon_frogger]

hmmm I must be a scrub because I love invading in bloodborne. It's so tense and I loved getting creative tricking hosts into enemy mobs. force them to run away and heal in the wrong direction and the level does the work for you. That's how invasions are supposed to go. on a recent playthrough I had no shortage of confused, terrified newbs to invade. usually the only way they could get away from me was to trigger a boss fight.

 

[General Lee]

They all have their faults, but DS1 was for me the best and I've spent over 1000 hours in that game mostly in pvp. Unfortunately a lot of that would be simply waiting for invasions to work since the pairing up barely worked. The other big issue was backstab fishing, which ultimately made any other tactic pointless.

DSII had great connectivity and a lot of build options, but that was ruined by soul memory and other balancing issues. I think later on they've fixed most of those, but ultimately what made DSII pvp suck was the floaty movement and bad hitboxes. If you go to twitch and look at any DSII pvp you can istatly see how incredibly bad it looks. The characters just skid around the field and randomly try backstab air or get hit out of nowhere.

 

[Holundrian]

For me Dark Souls 2 the only Souls where PVP stuck with me.

 

[DoubleTake]

In terms of "organized" dueling Dark 2 followed by Dark 1. Bloodborne really hampered fight clubs because there was no soapstones.

Ease of connection and options for pvp goes to Dark Souls 2 hands down.

Overall Weapon Balance goes to Bloodborne.

Random invasions Dark 1 or BB(when it works) is the way to go. The levels allow for more shenanigans other than simply fighting like what so much of 2 boiled down to, and that honestly gets very boring after a while.

Net code and actual feel while playing is Dark 1 and BB. The animations and character movement in both make fighting another human a blast. 2 is just too slow for my tastes.

And it's always funny to see people complain about healing in BB when there's a mechanic in place to prevent it. Yes there's latency in matches but heal parrying someone in that game is no different than parrying someone in the Souls games. Just predict and punish.

 

[galvenize]

Demon's did invasions the best.

Seriously. Out of all the Souls, I played demon's the most because there was one thing I liked to do and I could do it all day: Invade area 4 and backstab the shit outta people. I wasn't able to find my happy place in the games that succeeded it.

 

[Skii]

Dark Souls 2 has the best features/ease of connectivity but it is still hindered by the botched engine so I can't in my right mind categorise it as the best multiplayer experience. I'd probably give it to Dark Souls 1. I had a lot of fun moments. My best one was probably summoning Solaire in Anor Londo only to see the invaded warning seconds later. I make a mad dash for the boss room but Solaire is already engaging with the invader so I'm forced to fight Ornstein & Smough with the extra health buff and still managed to beat them. Good times.

 

[EatinOlives]

Definitely NOT bloodborne. For how much I loved the game, healing is way too fast and safe in that game... And everybody has entirely too much of it.

Not to mention summoning via Bell was pretty clunky. Did they ever remove the "-1 Insight on Bell ring, even if nobody ever answers it" thing? Because that drove me bonkers.

EDIT: Didn't Dark 1 have a dedicated PvP matchmaking area + arenas in the DLC? I never really tried it but whatever came of that? Did people like it?

 

[MUnited83]

Dark Souls 2 Scholar did it best, both on PvP and on co-op. Aside from the dumb soul memory restriction, it's wonderful. I'm hoping DS3 is at least as half as good in that regard.

 

[UpDownLeftRight]

Well DS2 had the rat covenant which you could basically use as a dueling arena so gotta give it to that. I really loved kneeling in place at the overlooking ledge and dropping down to announce my position and intention of a proper duel. I never really cared for the random ambush attempts personally.

 

[sublimit]

I had the most fun in DS2.Countless builds,various stretegies,guard breaking and animation cancels made the combat really deep and constantly fresh for me.Most of all i think i will really miss the animation cancels in DS3.

They fucked up the riposte mechanic though.

 

[gioGAF]

Demons Souls by far. I put in countless hours on that one. It was easy to get together with friends, it was easy to invade/be invaded, it was easy to have small fight clubs, all the weapons/accessories felt awesome, etc. Using Soul Level was perfect, everybody was more or less on equal footing.

Dark Souls 1 was decent, but connecting with friends was a pain in the ass. Poise was stupid and backstabs were much easier to land. I'm also not a fan of the constant nerfing of shit into the ground (here's an idea, how about thinking things through before implementing a change, how about taking a small step).

Dark Souls 2 would have been epic, but Soul Memory pretty much invalidates this entry for me.

Bloodborne I can't comment much about since DkS1 and DkS2 served to turn me away from PvP altogether.

 

[Gbraga]

Dark Souls II by far. The build variety and only actually good netcode in the series.

I love Bloodborne's fights, but everything aside from the actual few seconds each fight lasts is a nightmare.

In terms of "organized" dueling Dark 2 followed by Dark 1. Bloodborne really hampered fight clubs because there was no soapstones.

Ease of connection and options for pvp goes to Dark Souls 2 hands down.

Overall Weapon Balance goes to Bloodborne.

Random invasions Dark 1 or BB(when it works) is the way to go. The levels allow for more shenanigans other than simply fighting like what so much of 2 boiled down to, and that honestly gets very boring after a while.

Net code and actual feel while playing is Dark 1 and BB. The animations and character movement in both make fighting another human a blast. 2 is just too slow for my tastes.

And it's always funny to see people complain about healing in BB when there's a mechanic in place to prevent it. Yes there's latency in matches but heal parrying someone in that game is no different than parrying someone in the Souls games. Just predict and punish.

I agree with everything, aside from netcode.

There's nothing more satisfying than parrying heals. I'll never heal first, though, and I'll create blood bullets if I'm hosting to make our HP percentage even, but if my opponent heals? I'm more than fine with that, let's shoot some dudes.

 

[Breads]

Not to mention summoning via Bell was pretty clunky. Did they ever remove the "-1 Insight on Bell ring, even if nobody ever answers it" thing? Because that drove me bonkers.

EDIT: Didn't Dark 1 have a dedicated PvP matchmaking area + arenas in the DLC? I never really tried it but whatever came of that? Did people like it?

Insight is refunded if a connection isn't made if you cancel it or go through a fog door/ boss arena, or if you get disconnected. If you quit the game I think it doesn't get refunded because the game didn't have a chance to give it back but yeah this was a welcome fix.

 

[Ludendorkk]

Dark Souls 2 by a mile. Tons of build variety and viable strategies and real easy to find a connection. The only real blemish is Soul Memory. Dark 1 is hampered by the fact that everything revolves around getting a backstab. Demon's was fun but I played it first time in 2014 so obviously things were dead as fuck (and the game is ridiculously unbalanced of course). Haven't tried BB's but from what I hear I'm not missing much.

 

[Soulhouf]

Demon's Souls followed by Bloodborne.
Dark Souls comes close but the connectivity issues and lag stabs really kill it.

I don't like DS2 combat and how sluggish the animation and impact-less the hits are. Not to mention other fundamental issues such as soul memory. I got bored of it pretty quickly.