Dark Souls II: The Thread, AND the Game!

[Surrealistik]

It works fine as a Lightning Weapon since the imbue doesn't affect its soul scaling.


As for the Shrine of Amana, have no idea what's going on there, lol.

Sure you didn't get Profound Stilled?

[Snowbluff]

Not sure. That might have been it.

And wow, I just got ganked for the first time. By a grey spirit and they guy he was trying to kill. Do guys just hate blue spirits? I'm only trying to kill all of them.

And killed by a dark spirit with great resonant soul before I could rest and get GMB back.

[Surrealistik]

It's Dark Souls, a game of murderous anarchy; of course no one likes the popos, lol.

Glad to see your matchmaking issues have been resolved at least, haha.

[Snowbluff]

It's Dark Souls, a game of murderous anarchy; of course no one likes the popos, lol.

Glad to see your matchmaking issues have been resolved at least, haha.

Lol, yeah. It doesn't help that I am huge hypocrite. I have like 150k souls worth of sin, according to the pardoner guy.

All 21 of my orbs are gone. 12 kills, 9 deaths. I'm definitely better at duels, and this GS has gotten me every kill, and the running/backstep attack is key. GMB has saved my life like 4 times.

[Surrealistik]

I love the GMB + Resonant Flesh combo; having 2.6 to nearly 3k HP + 25% damage reduction vs all elemental makes for a stupidly tanky character that can win most fights straight up via trading and HP attrition.

Replenishment and Resplendent Life are nice too; people seriously underestimate these spells, not realizing that though the regeneration is slow, they will typically yield 420-840 HP at minimum over the course of a typical fight.

OFC, I always pack Great Heal whenever possible for invasions.

[Snowbluff]

Wait... can I have GMB and RS on at the same time?

Great heal is prepped for me, too.

[Surrealistik]

Yes you can; this isn't your grandpa's Dark Souls.

I typically buff my Haveltank and Mundane build with Sacred Oath, GMB, Resonant Flesh, Resonant Weapon and occasionally Hidden Weapon and Replenishment, all at the same time, lol.

My dude is lit up just like a standard 3.5 edition Christmas tree mage.

[Snowbluff]

Yes you can; this isn't your grandpa's Dark Souls.

:o I'm my own grandpa!

I typically buff my Haveltank and Mundane build with Sacred Oath, GMB, Resonant Flesh, Resonant Weapon and occasionally Hidden Weapon and Replenishment, all at the same time, lol.

My dude is lit up just like a standard 3.5 edition Christmas tree mage.

Pfft, HAHAHA!

Oh, my little bro dueled a havetank yesterday with his poison build. It was pretty funny.

[Surrealistik]

There are generally two kinds of Haveltanks: the annoying passive ones that hide behind Havel's Greatshield, slowly backpeddle in perpetuity, and basically wait for you to **** up or over-commit so they can counterattack, or the ones that are actually aggressive and are 'tanks' in so far as they just have a _lot_ of HP and defense; mine is of the latter variety.

Poison is definitely recommended for the former.

[Snowbluff]

Yeah, that's what he did. The trick that got him was that my little bro was able to keep up the pressure so he couldn't heal. His offhand is a katana (Manslayer), which has a nasty running/backstep attack.

[Surrealistik]

As turtle breakers go, Spider Silk and Batfog (instant poison) I've found to be the best thus far, but I've never really tried the Manslayer to be fair.

[Zevox]

So, I'm a little further into Dark Souls 1 - just beat the first post-tutorial boss. Can't say that I'm completely loving it or don't have complaints (the total lack of a way to pause the game in particular is completely inexcusable), but for what it is, it's not bad. I have some questions to ask, though.

Is there any place where I can sell items? The one merchant I've run across so far doesn't seem to have an option to do so. If not, what am I supposed to do with all the unnecessary items I'm building up?

I see that wearing armor doesn't seem to inhibit my spellcasting in any way. Is there any reason for a mage-type in this game to wear more mage-looking gear, or is it like Fable, where there's just no reason to wear that instead of armor besides aesthetics?

How important is picking up the repair kit that first merchant has for sale? After dealing with that boss I'm sitting on more than enough souls to buy it, but if it's not important I should probably just level up instead.

Speaking of, what kind of stat spread should I be aiming for with my leveling? Being that I want to go for sorcery, I'm assuming I need intelligence and attunement, and the stat that gives health also seems like a priority. What about the rest?

Speaking of sorcery, I haven't found any as yet, though I did run across someone who could've taught me miracles. Did I just miss someone, or is it actually further into the game? My one pyromancy spell doesn't seem to power up based on my intelligence, so I think it's probably important that I get some sorcery spells soon, lest I fall behind the power curve hard.

[TechnOkami]

So, I'm a little further into Dark Souls 1 - just beat the first post-tutorial boss. Can't say that I'm completely loving it or don't have complaints (the total lack of a way to pause the game in particular is completely inexcusable), but for what it is, it's not bad. I have some questions to ask, though.

It's part of the sadistic experience. At least Dark Souls II warns you better if someone's invading. But yeah, there's no way to get around that so... sorry!

Is there any place where I can sell items? The one merchant I've run across so far doesn't seem to have an option to do so. If not, what am I supposed to do with all the unnecessary items I'm building up?

Yes, but that doesn't come up for a while, so I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep trying to get those bells wrung, and you'll eventually meet with the guy who you can feedsell things to.

I see that wearing armor doesn't seem to inhibit my spellcasting in any way. Is there any reason for a mage-type in this game to wear more mage-looking gear, or is it like Fable, where there's just no reason to wear that instead of armor besides aesthetics?

There are items that'll inherently benefit your spellcasting, but for the most part I don't believe that casting spells in fullplate hinders anything. I just got the mental image of Havel casting Crystal Soulspear. I'm bemused.

How important is picking up the repair kit that first merchant has for sale? After dealing with that boss I'm sitting on more than enough souls to buy it, but if it's not important I should probably just level up instead.

Just swing by the smithy if anything breaks. Repair kits are more useful in the latter parts of the game.

Speaking of, what kind of stat spread should I be aiming for with my leveling? Being that I want to go for sorcery, I'm assuming I need intelligence and attunement, and the stat that gives health also seems like a priority. What about the rest?

You've got the bread n' butter for what you want as far as casting is concerned. Pyromancy runs off of your level, so you don't need to worry about that. However, seeing as this isn't DSII where you get a metric buttload of spells, I would pick up a sword too. I'm not 200% sure if str or dex is better one way or the other, probably dex though because you'll be lighter on your feet.

Speaking of sorcery, I haven't found any as yet, though I did run across someone who could've taught me miracles. Did I just miss someone, or is it actually further into the game? My one pyromancy spell doesn't seem to power up based on my intelligence, so I think it's probably important that I get some sorcery spells soon, lest I fall behind the power curve hard.

Just keep on chuggin'. You'll meet peeps throughout as you keep on going. I'll give you a hint though: Undead Burg.

[Tome]

>SNIP<

The lack of pause is part of the multiplayer aspect. You can, however, save and quit pretty much whenever you like and then resume playing exactly where you were when you left off. It's what I do if I need to pause.

There is someone you can sell things to. You meet him after the bells are rung.

Magic use doesn't really tie in to your armour choice (beyond certain pieces of headgear). However mages are ranged combatants and thus generally prefer lighter armour for the mobility. Robes also tend to have good status and magic resistances, which will be the main hazards to you in certain areas.

Not terribly important. It's a good idea to buy it eventually, but the blacksmiths can repair your stuff easily enough and durability tends to be a non-issue for casters.

As you've surmised, Intelligence followed by enough Attunement to give you a comfortable number of slots. Then you want Vitality and Endurance. Beyond that? You might want to meet the minimums for whatever melee weapon you favour. Dexterity has a (slight) effect on your casting speed.

To learn most spells you must find NPCs to teach you them.

Spoiler: Where to look for them

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The first sorcery trainer is locked in a house in the lower Undead Berg. You'll need the Residence Key to free him, it's sold by a merchant you've probably already met. The first pyromancy trainer is found in a sewer area near to some butchers. In both cases be careful not to hit them with your weapon and be aware that you break crates and pots by rolling into them. You'll meet both of them soon.

There's a blacksmith who sells a few spells who you can get to already. Go down the stairs in firelink next to the depressed guy in chainmail, past the mute lady in the cell and you'll find an elevator. Go down that you'll be in a dark place with a cliff edge nearby and some hard to notice stairs running along it. Go down them and in a cell built into the side of the cliff is a blacksmith. He has some spells for sale.

Pyromancy doesn't scale with your stats, as you have noticed, but rather it scales with your Pyromancy Flame which can be upgraded by the pyromancy trainers.

The second sorcery trainer is in a fortress filled with traps, later moving to a library, and the second pyromancy trainer is in a swamp. Another sorcery trainer can be found in a forested area, near a lake.

[Misery Esquire]

Speaking of sorcery, I haven't found any as yet, though I did run across someone who could've taught me miracles. Did I just miss someone, or is it actually further into the game? My one pyromancy spell doesn't seem to power up based on my intelligence, so I think it's probably important that I get some sorcery spells soon, lest I fall behind the power curve hard.

At the Firelink Shrine, if you go downstairs, then down the elevator, you'll see a sunken city. Follow the spiral stairs down, then you go to the right, toward the other tower. You should see a zombie lying down at the top of a staircase. Follow those stairs. They end in a death-fall, but before that there's a Mage Smith hiding in a little hole, who sells more of the basic spell.

Kind of poor directions, but eh.

[Rodin]

There are generally two kinds of Haveltanks: the annoying passive ones that hide behind Havel's Greatshield, slowly backpeddle in perpetuity, and basically wait for you to **** up or over-commit so they can counterattack, or the ones that are actually aggressive and are 'tanks' in so far as they just have a _lot_ of HP and defense; mine is of the latter variety.

Poison is definitely recommended for the former.

The second one is how I built my first PvP character - didn't know Havel's was in the game at the time, so I went with the Old Knight set. For most people, I was just able to ignore defense and eat their full R1 spam before replying with my own to win. High-level PvP it would fall apart, I'm sure, but for low soul level matches it was the bomb.

I'm really surprised I don't see more people using that at low levels - it upgrades with regular Titanite, and is one of the stronger armor sets in the game. It takes +2 or +3 Havel's to outdo it, IIRC. Yeah, the non-physical defense isn't up to much considering how heavy it is, but I haven't found the other heavy armor sets to be that much more helpful in that regard anyway (if a full caster hits you, it's going to hurt no matter what you're wearing).

I think I've seen maybe one other person wearing Old Knight's set in both PvE and PvP, and that makes me sad.

[Zevox]

It's part of the sadistic experience.

BS. It means that if I need to stop playing the game for a few minutes for something important - oven buzzes to tell me my food's done, phone call, someone else in the house needs my help with something, whatever - I can't do it if I'm in a fight. I need to either die or turn the game off. There's no excuse for that, it's just plain bad game design.

The lack of pause is part of the multiplayer aspect. You can, however, save and quit pretty much whenever you like and then resume playing exactly where you were when you left off. It's what I do if I need to pause.

Wait, what? I thought that the bonfires were save points. I see no save option anywhere in the menus. Where is this?

Magic use doesn't really tie in to your armour choice (beyond certain pieces of headgear). However mages are ranged combatants and thus generally prefer lighter armour for the mobility.

Speaking of, I'm running up against the weight of my stuff slowing me down, annoyingly apparently at the halfway point of my carry capacity rather than once I reach it. Should I perhaps be putting a point here or there into strength to raise my carry capacity?

As you've surmised, Intelligence followed by enough Attunement to give you a comfortable number of slots. Then you want Vitality and Endurance. Beyond that? You might want to meet the minimums for whatever melee weapon you favour. Dexterity has a (slight) effect on your casting speed.

Well, figuring out what weapon I favor is kind of the thing for now, since I've hardly gotten a chance to try them all. I've been using a Battleaxe a random enemy dropped, and it seems fine. I do want to try and Estoc I found, but need another point in dexterity first. In general, I'd say I'm looking for something with fairly quick attacks (at least as fast as the battleaxe), horizontal slashes (for striking multiple foes), and decent damage output per swing.

Dexterity helping casting time sounds quite nice actually, since those seem a bit longer than I'd like.

At the Firelink Shrine, if you go downstairs, then down the elevator, you'll see a sunken city. Follow the spiral stairs down, then you go to the right, toward the other tower. You should see a zombie lying down at the top of a staircase. Follow those stairs. They end in a death-fall, but before that there's a Mage Smith hiding in a little hole, who sells more of the basic spell.

Kind of poor directions, but eh.

Thank you so much . Went and grabbed the basic magic missile-esque spell from this guy, and it's already helping quite a lot. Not much damage, but 30 uses is so far better than the mere 8 fireballs I had before.

Kind of annoying that they have different casting "weapons" though, particularly since I can only set two items per hand. I'm stuck putting my pyromancy in my shield hand, which I'd really rather not do. I've got a shield that has 100% physical resistance now, so it's actually suddenly very useful, rather than the questionable one you start with that merely reduces damage.

Anyway, I've gone further, beating the next boss and ringing the first of those bells. The Gargoyle boss was actually not that hard. Probably largely because I'd gotten that magic missile spell, but even without it, his attacks seemed pretty easy to dodge. Things might've gotten hairy when the second one showed up if I didn't have that spell though.

[Rodin]

Endurance is the skill you want for additional carrying capacity. The way it works is that there are "break points" for how your character acts under certain equipment loads. At less than 25% equipment burden, you will move very quickly and have fast, long rolls. Above that, you will move somewhat slower and have a slower, shorter roll. Once you get to 50%, you will move significantly slower and will now be doing what is known as the "fat roll" where you sort of throw yourself to the ground, and won't dodge effectively at all. Once you get to 100%, you're restricted to walking and can't roll at all.

It's how the game balances the lighter armors vs. the heavy armors - lighter armors if you get hit, you're in trouble, but you have better dodging capability. The heavy armors, you can't dodge so well, but you can take a few hits and get interrupted less.

Mages tend to favor light armors to help them keep at range and because the Endurance required to equip the really heavy armors makes it difficult to also afford the Intelligence requirements and the cost of the spells themselves.

[Tome]

Wait, what? I thought that the bonfires were save points. I see no save option anywhere in the menus. Where is this?

The bonfires are respawn points, not save points. The game actually autosaves pretty frequently, including when you quit. So if you need to leave the game alone for a moment just quit out and then load up your game when you return. You can do this any time, even in the middle of a fight (the only exception is if someone is invading, but you play offline if I remember).

Everything Rodin mentioned is accurate, Endurance is the stat you want for raising the amount you can carry. It also boost your stamina.

I'd recommend looking at the Estoc or the Balder Side Sword (dropped by the emaciated knights in the church). If you find enough Titanite to get your weapon to +5 and a Green Titanite shard you can take it to the magic blacksmith, he can upgrade it into a magic weapon that uses your intelligence for scaling instead of Str/Dex.

[Surrealistik]

Sephiroth cosplay build I put together for my friend: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...HS2NxSXc#gid=0

Actually works really well; max dark scaling plus Resonant Weapon, Sacred Oath and Ring of Blades +2 makes for a savage Washing Pole.

Black Tunic set may not be the greatest armour, but it is certainly among the most styling, haha.


Also rave souls: http://www.twitch.tv/resolute_merc/c/3883295

Not me, just a streamer I watch every now and then.

[Snowbluff]

Between the washing pole and the new cloth physics, this was inevitable.

[Tome]

Just spent a while trying to do belltower PVP. I ran into a mage (who I stilled and then sworded to death) and two haveltanks (one of whom I just flat out killed with my sword - I do PvE for crying out loud, you should not be losing sword fights to me - the other of whom I just threw Toxic Mist at until he died).

Considering how long it took to get those fights it was somewhat underwhelming. I might just switch to offline mode and try grinding the respawning phantom there.

[Zevox]

The bonfires are respawn points, not save points. The game actually autosaves pretty frequently, including when you quit. So if you need to leave the game alone for a moment just quit out and then load up your game when you return. You can do this any time, even in the middle of a fight (the only exception is if someone is invading, but you play offline if I remember).

This would have been very useful information for the game to give me. Even just labeling the quit option "Save and Quit" would've been a huge help here.

Still doesn't excuse the lack of a pause option, at least during offline mode when there's no chance of multiplayer stuff intervening, but it's something at least.

I'd recommend looking at the Estoc or the Balder Side Sword (dropped by the emaciated knights in the church). If you find enough Titanite to get your weapon to +5 and a Green Titanite shard you can take it to the magic blacksmith, he can upgrade it into a magic weapon that uses your intelligence for scaling instead of Str/Dex.

Ah, now that sounds useful, though I'm a long way from getting that much Titanite, and have no green titanite. I'm using the Estoc right now, and it seems pretty good. I really wish it did more damage though - it does maybe half what that battleaxe was doing.

Apparently I never got that sword, though. Who are the "emaciated knights" - the guys with the big shields and rapiers?

Also: *censored* the Capra Demon. Damn boss just took me about a half-dozen tries to beat, all because of those dogs he has with him and the tiny room I have to fight him in.

[riccaru]

This would have been very useful information for the game to give me. Even just labeling the quit option "Save and Quit" would've been a huge help here.

Still doesn't excuse the lack of a pause option, at least during offline mode when there's no chance of multiplayer stuff intervening, but it's something at least.


Ah, now that sounds useful, though I'm a long way from getting that much Titanite, and have no green titanite. I'm using the Estoc right now, and it seems pretty good. I really wish it did more damage though - it does maybe half what that battleaxe was doing.

Apparently I never got that sword, though. Who are the "emaciated knights" - the guys with the big shields and rapiers?

Also: *censored* the Capra Demon. Damn boss just took me about a half-dozen tries to beat, all because of those dogs he has with him and the tiny room I have to fight him in.

The game says that it autosaves periodically and has a symbol which appears when it is saving. Any time that symbol is shown you're saving.

Would you have been able to pause a game like world of Warcraft? Dark souls was designed to be played online first, that was the aesthetic. You're supposed to be pretty much alone against the world, without hope, and always one false step from the grave and losing everything. Letting your character just take his break whenever he wishes would mess with that design. You're supposed to be under constant threat of enemy NPCs and even other undead on their own journey.

[Tome]

Ah, now that sounds useful, though I'm a long way from getting that much Titanite, and have no green titanite. I'm using the Estoc right now, and it seems pretty good. I really wish it did more damage though - it does maybe half what that battleaxe was doing.

Apparently I never got that sword, though. Who are the "emaciated knights" - the guys with the big shields and rapiers?

Also: *censored* the Capra Demon. Damn boss just took me about a half-dozen tries to beat, all because of those dogs he has with him and the tiny room I have to fight him in.

Andrei, the blacksmith near the church, sells Titanite. It'd be worth buying enough from him to get your weapon to +5 once you've settled on the one you want to use. Green Titanite isn't available until you get to the area with the next bell but the damage increase from upgrading makes it worth it anyway.

Yes, the ones with the rapiers and the little capes. They're actually called Balder knights.

And everyone hates the Capra demon. You fight him again later and he's much, much easier.

[Zevox]

The game says that it autosaves periodically and has a symbol which appears when it is saving. Any time that symbol is shown you're saving.

Yes, but every game does that nowadays. Most still have a manual save of some sort, though, and I'm the sort who doesn't trust autosave enough to rely on it completely. (Also, I don't think I've ever seen the autosave symbol. It must be pretty unobtrusive.)

Would you have been able to pause a game like world of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft is an MMO - it can't be played without being connected to other people. Dark Souls explicitly has an offline mode, as it repeatedly reminds me every time I start it. There's no excuse for lacking such a basic, important function there. There's a damn good reason it's been around for as long as game consoles have existed.

[Tengu_temp]

The game says that it autosaves periodically and has a symbol which appears when it is saving. Any time that symbol is shown you're saving.

I'm pretty sure that for Dark Souls, that symbol is your health bar. This game runs autosave as pretty much a constant background process.

I admit that offline mode should have a pause option, but it's not that limiting in Dark Souls, because there are no wandering enemies in this game - the only enemies who move around are those you already aggro'd. If you stand in a spot for 10 seconds and are safe, you will probably be safe for 2 hours. Unless you're a human and someone decides to invade you, at least.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I'm pretty sure that for Dark Souls, that symbol is your health bar. This game runs autosave as pretty much a constant background process.

No, there's a flame that appears every time it autosaves. Which includes whenever you open up the menu.

[Zevox]

I admit that offline mode should have a pause option, but it's not that limiting in Dark Souls, because there are no wandering enemies in this game - the only enemies who move around are those you already aggro'd. If you stand in a spot for 10 seconds and are safe, you will probably be safe for 2 hours. Unless you're a human and someone decides to invade you, at least.

The problem isn't when I'm just sitting somewhere empty, it's when I'm engaged in a fight. Which is a lot of the time, since this game is basically a big dungeon crawler littered with enemies.

Anyway, moved up through the sewer area and beat the next boss. By comparison to the last, he was easy. I did die once, but that seems to have been bad luck - got hit by his tail whip, then he actually did another attack while I was still knocked to the floor by it, something I never saw him even attempt at any other time. Probably would've been harder as a melee character, but I don't think it would've been by that much honestly, since his attacks were so slow and he had periods where he seemed to need to just sit there and catch his breath for a long while.

[Snowbluff]

Spoiler: The Sceret to a No Bonfire DkS2 Run

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Small White Soapstone sign.

I use it all the time if I am low on spells and Estus before a boss fight.