Dark Souls III: Witty Title Pending

[Dusk Eclipse]

Hello hollows, once again it is time to re-light the first flame and to start thread number 3.

Playgrounders Gamertags listed by system.

360

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Forum Name	Game Name
Antonok	Verify Humanity
JabberwockySupafly	Lord Shaper
Octopusapult	Octopusapult
Tome	Taejix
Crazysaneman	Crazysaneman
CynicWalnut	CynicWalnut
Riccaru	hell0 cthulhu
Thanatos 51-50	Saalaksin
chainer1216	chainer1216
Jak	ThePompdAvenger

PS3

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Forum Name	Game Name
Dusk Eclipse	Dusk_Soul
dirtytricks	bigROXXOR
Snowbluff	Snowbluff
TechnOkami	T3chn0kam!
Whoracle	Everwicked

PC

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Forum Name	Game Name
Mattarias, King	Mattarias
Hazzardevil	Sparemoss056
Whoracle	LynxCore666

Previous Threads

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Dark Souls
Dark Souls II: The Thread, AND the Game!

[TechnOkami]

And what an excellent title it is if I do say so myself. 10/10

[Thanatos 51-50]

I'm *still* not on the player list.
*harrumph*
(Saalaksin: Xbox 360)

[TechnOkami]

I'm *still* not on the player list.
*harrumph*
(Saalaksin: Xbox 360)

I forgot I was the dude with the first post in the last thread. Sorry :/

[Dusk Eclipse]

I'm *still* not on the player list.
*harrumph*
(Saalaksin: Xbox 360)

Added to the list.

Incidentally, has anyone tried Power stancing Red Rust swords? It seems like they are the only Strength scaling straight swords in the game.

[chainer1216]

i don't have DSII yet, but might as well add me, due to it being inevitable at this point.

chainer1216, 360

EDIT: its on sale on the xbox, so i bought it.

so, would a high faith paladin-like build work as well as it did in DS1?

[TechnOkami]

Um, faith recently got gutted, so afaik the way to go (or at least what I remember Surrealtisk saying) is pure Str Melee or caster.

Also, I suppose people know this already, but the first DLC's been released. :D

[Surrealistik]

Faith Melee is awesome; Faith casters are not.

If you're all about PvE, the best build is probably Intelligence Caster.

If you're wanting to be effective in PvP, melee Faith, Dark, Mundane and Raw all seem to be the best options. I lean towards melee Faith myself if only because of GMB, but they're all _very_ competitive and one isn't decisively better than the other.

[TechnOkami]

Faith Melee is awesome; Faith casters are not.

If you're all about PvE, the best build is probably Intelligence Caster.

If you're wanting to be effective in PvP, melee Faith, Dark, Mundane and Raw all seen to be the best options. I lean towards melee Faith myself if only because of GMB, but they're all _very_ competitive and one isn't decisively better than the other.

Or if you're insane like I am, lug around a huge weapon w/o a shield, get HP fat and play PvE tank souls with a big stick.

[chainer1216]

well, faith melee is what i planned on...suggestions? i'm seeing a lack of a divine weapon quality.

my first/main character in DS1 was high faith/end/vit elite knight and crest shield armored, divine claymore wielding SunBro, basically i used lighting spear as my ranged attack and heal, for the, well, extra healing, but most of the time i'd tank and spank.

[Surrealistik]

Lightning Thorned Greatsword/Heide Knight Spear and back up Lightning Drakekeeper's sword.

A Lightning Heide Knight Sword is decent for a starter weapon you can get very early.

[Tengu_temp]

Lightning is the DS2 equivalent of Divine, the damage the lightning part of the weapon does scales with faith. Magic scales with intelligence, and Fire and Dark scale with both faith and intelligence.

Healing spells are much more useful in DS2, at least early on, because you have very few Estus Flasks at the start and healing stones cost precious souls.

[Surrealistik]

Going to try out Flynn's Ring with Vanquishers + Ring of Blades +2 and see what happens, aside from 410+ AR bare fists:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...4Ukh0ZEE#gid=3

[SKarious]

Just hopping in to say: "#$%^ you, Jester Thomas!"
See if I ever summon you again.
That is all.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Wut happened? Thomas has never let me down.

But if I may echo you. **** the smelter's demon stupid fire aura, seriously... **** it!

Edit: added chainer1216 to the player list.

[Rodin]

Wut happened? Thomas has never let me down.

It's a DLC thing. And I agree with the sentiment entirely.

Overall, the DLC has really impressed me, particularly the map design. One of my biggest complaints about the main game is how the Bonfire warping made everything too linear and disconnected feeling - each area felt too self contained and linear, and there weren't very good transitions between areas. The DLC meanwhile feels like the whole Undead Burg/Parish area from the original game - open areas while still being fairly linear, and everything connects back onto itself to make it so you never have to teleport between bonfires.

My one big disappointment with the DLC is the total lack of NPCs to talk to. I felt like I was missing a whole bunch of lore behind the area.

[chainer1216]

So played DSII a bit in between work this weekend, the way the stats have changed is really throwing me off. And it might be because I'm still starting out, but the game seems much harder than DaS, atleast the standard enemies, the two bosses I fought were pretty easy, those being the last giant, and the (a?) Dragonrider. Getting to the dragonrider was much harder than the actual fight.

[Snowbluff]

Lightning Thorned Greatsword/Heide Knight Spear and back up Lightning Drakekeeper's sword.

A Lightning Heide Knight Sword is decent for a starter weapon you can get very early.

That's neat.

I've started the DLC. These guys seem pretty strong versus magic, so I am going to take this opportunity to try out a pair of Raw Black Dragon Swords for my Dual Swordsman. I'll also be testing a Sunlight Bladed Lightning Black Dragon Greatsword (as much damage as an elemental zwei?!).

I'll need to grab a better Ring o' Blades for the Dual Swordsman. I forget which one he is at. Might have to do double pursuers for the first time. The new rings looks interesting here, since the AR on the Raw BDS will be ~450 with both. Having 30 Str to use 2 of them sounds like a bit of an over investment, though.

[Surrealistik]

Yeah, the Black Dragon weapons are definitely some of my favs; awesome damage for minimal investment; perfect for my Raw build which has used them since inception. I do kind of lean towards Drakekeeper over Black Dragon Sword due to the former's superior reach, speed and poise damage.

[Snowbluff]

Yeah, the Thorned GS will 2 shot the dudes in the new city, but only when I'm buffed with war and SLB. The new sword will have substantially better stats.

Now, I guess I'll have to do some dragonbro work.

EDIT: Dragonbro 1 down. War SLB GS versus War SLB straight sword lol.

EDIT2: Second dragonbro was washing pole CMW. I've never died so fast. Not used to playing against katanas. I need to practice a lot more. Dragonbro 3 was dual rapiers War SLB, and I lose to the faster weapon again.

[Tengu_temp]

So played DSII a bit in between work this weekend, the way the stats have changed is really throwing me off. And it might be because I'm still starting out, but the game seems much harder than DaS, atleast the standard enemies, the two bosses I fought were pretty easy, those being the last giant, and the (a?) Dragonrider. Getting to the dragonrider was much harder than the actual fight.

You will get used to stat changes quickly - and for bonus points, DS2 lets you rebuild your character, while DS1 doesn't.

Early game in DS2 is harder than in DS1, with scarcer resources and the way the Hollow mechanics work kicking your ass constantly. But mid- and lategame are easier. And yeah, the bosses aren't as hard, especially if you summon other players to help you with them.

[Surrealistik]

Yeah, the Thorned GS will 2 shot the dudes in the new city, but only when I'm buffed with war and SLB. The new sword will have substantially better stats.

Now, I guess I'll have to do some dragonbro work.

EDIT: Dragonbro 1 down. War SLB GS versus War SLB straight sword lol.

EDIT2: Second dragonbro was washing pole CMW. I've never died so fast. Not used to playing against katanas. I need to practice a lot more. Dragonbro 3 was dual rapiers War SLB, and I lose to the faster weapon again.

Speed kills, easily one of the most important parameters of any weapon; again, big part of the reason I love the Drakekeeper's so much. One of those swords that just allows you to interrupt an opponent over and over again until they realize they need to properly space (or bring out the MS to deter getting swiped) before they even have a chance to get a hit in.

That said, washingpole is one of the most common PvP weapons for a good reason. The best way to counter it in my experience is to use a faster weapon and interrupt/preempt, outrange it (not many weapons can; Old Whip has me covered here), parry it and/or manage your stamina better than your opponent. You might be able to trade depending on your weapon, but that's definitely not the way to go.

[Snowbluff]

Yeah, I got clipped by a running attack. Next time I'll use a BB or two to him down. It's already got me 1 of the 11 wins I got tonight.

How's the damage on the Drakekeepers? It says on the wiki that it has 25 Poise damage versus 20 for the BDS.

[Surrealistik]

Damage on Drakekeeper's is really nice; one of the highest damage straightswords in the game (though the Raw BDS' is obviously better, unless you have ridiculously high strength/dex*), and yes, it does deal 25 poise damage; it's a sword that literally hits like a mace without the eminently punishable slowness of one.

* EDIT: Actually nevermind, it's literally impossible for Drakekeeper's to have better damage than a Raw BDS, lol. Still, the speed, reach and poise damage count for a _lot_. If pure damage were anywhere near the most important consideration for a weapon, the super heavies would be among the best in the game for PvP rather than being largely ****.

[Jak]

Hey, just found this thread.

For the list...

ThePompdAvenger / 360

Anyone very familiar with the pyromancies? I've been tossing around the idea of a pure pyro build.

[Snowbluff]

Damage on Drakekeeper's is really nice; one of the highest damage straightswords in the game (though the Raw BDS' is obviously better, unless you have ridiculously high strength/dex*), and yes, it does deal 25 poise damage; it's a sword that literally hits like a mace without the eminently punishable slowness of one.

* EDIT: Actually nevermind, it's literally impossible for Drakekeeper's to have better damage than a Raw BDS, lol. Still, the speed, reach and poise damage count for a _lot_. If pure damage were anywhere near the most important consideration for a weapon, the super heavies would be among the best in the game for PvP rather than being largely ****.

I'll look into it.

I might try and get some weapons enchanted, too.

[SKarious]

Hey all. I'd like some advice for the DLC areas if you can spare it. I'm on NG+ and keep getting destroyed on the bosses.
If you have any ideas/tips for changing/optimising my build, I'd love to hear. It's served me well for PvE for the normal game.

Here's my build: How can I improve it?

Spoiler: My build

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Can't remember all the stats but I'll try my best.
Level: ~175
VIG: 40
END: 30
VIT: 40
STR: 50
DEX: 20
ATN: 20


Stamina: 130
Agility 100
Equip load: <70%
Equipment:
Vengarl's armor set, Havel's Shield +5, Dragonrider Bow +5, MAce +10, Fire Halberd +10, Pyro/Dark Pyro Flame +10.

Rings:
3rd Dragon, Cloranthy +2, Blades +1, Binding (waiting for options)

DLC trouble spots:
I'm was halfway on my NG+ when I decided to try the DLC (because creatinga new character and clearing the game for the 5th time seemed a bit tedious

Spoiler: DLC

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The Three Stooges: I keep getting swarmed or backstabbed.
I feel I just can't kill them fast enough. And from what I've read, they're capable of using estus. I just don't see how I'm supposed to clear this battle.

Sinh:
I LOVE this fight, but the dragon doesn't land for long enough to be able to hit him. I know it can be a long fight. Should I just pack 500 lightning arrows and hope to survive, or is there a way to get him to land more often or use his ground flamethrower?

Any advice on how to pass those areas will be appreciated.

[Drascin]

Lightning Thorned Greatsword/Heide Knight Spear and back up Lightning Drakekeeper's sword.

A Lightning Heide Knight Sword is decent for a starter weapon you can get very early.

Well, the Heide Knight Sword already has a little lightning, yes, but if you want to make it also Lightning as in the infusion (and as a faith character you need to) you're going to have to get to Iron Keep, which I don't think counts as "very early" already.

Honestly for the beginning you can just use a mace. On the knights at Heide's tower, a basic mace with the minimum str prereq was doing around double the damage the Heide Knight Sword with my twenty-something faith was doing. The mace is just a crazy good early weapon, and the Cleric even starts with it.

[Surrealistik]

Yeah, as PvE weapons go the mace is pretty solid; total **** if you ever get invaded though.

Honestly, it's been a long time since I've bothered with PvE in earnest; I just use trainers to set everything's HP to 1 now when I'm creating on a new build because I'm more than sick of it at this point.

Hey, just found this thread.

For the list...

ThePompdAvenger / 360

Anyone very familiar with the pyromancies? I've been tossing around the idea of a pure pyro build.

Try something like this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VcS0xR1E#gid=0

Use Great Combustion in melee and vs parry spammers. When you knock someone down, cast Great Combustion as they start to get up. Also great for precasting vs people rolling at you due to lingering hitbox, though you have to get your timing down.

Though Great Fireball tracking has improved, learn how to free aim in order to catch opponents off-guard by throwing it at your feet or where they're about to be; predictive aiming will make them very deadly.

Lingering Flame is great for setting traps around corners or getting meleers off your nuts as you hurl fireballs/shoot arrows at them.

Buffed Drakekeeper's Sword shreks people in melee. Remember to 2-hand it vs heavy armour to reliably break their poise.

During invasions consider dropping a Great Fireball/Fire Whip for a Great Heal or Warmth.

[chainer1216]

so, i made my way to the heirs of the sun covenant, and then i started sunbroing hardcore on the boss thats right there, got my way up to rank 2 and got the sun sword, which is sweet, aaaaaaaand then i was invaded and killed by some guy who killed me in like three shots with a whip or sword-whip thing, and i was hardly able to damage him, and then i died getting back to my blood stain, i lost 70k souls...

so i've decided that my old paladin style character just won't work too well in this game, i'm SL70ish and it still feels like i'm barely functioning, so i've started a new character to try something completely new, dual wielding quality build!

man, what i wouldn't give to be able to double up on the sun sword...