Dark Souls II

Flexile Sentry has been killed. I consider it a service really. God only knows how that poor thing sat down.

So, killed the Smelter Demon (Good God was it hard) and then moved on to the Old Iron King boss. I guess I wasn't really trying at that point because I kept dying.

I mean, I could conceptually realize that this was a relatively easy boss. Telegraphed moves, slow attacks and glaring weak points. But I either keep dodging and rolling straight into the lava or getting too greedy with my attacks and getting mashed into paste. So I called it a night. Will try again later today.

On that note, I noticed while co-oping with another player that he was one-shoting Iron Clads and those samurai-looking enemies in the Iron keep. He was using a ludicrously large club and making short work of them. What type of build/weapons would allow me to replicate this?

I haven't really used strike weapons at all during the game and it seems that was a big oversight on my end.

edited 11th May '15 11:55:57 AM by GutstheBerserker

Great clubs are slow and have zero tracking on mobile targets, but most mobs just run straight at you anyway, so it's easy to pound them to paste with one.

Get one with good strenght scaling, get some poise to make sure your swings don't get interrupted and proceed to manically smash things. You'll require lots of strenght with decent endurance and some vitality, depending on your armor choices and if you care about dodging or not.

Strike damage seems to be the least resisted physical category, making it an effective choice.

... But personally, I like thrusting weapons. And sorcery.

edited 11th May '15 10:28:50 AM by Kuroxeng

So I'm making my way through the Black Gulch. Talk about That One Level: Seemingly hundreds of poison spewing statues, tentacle monsters that insta-kill you if you so much as brush past their puddles and giant burrowing worms that love nothing more than to slam you to the ground. And after you've past that veritable gauntlet, you have to face The Rotten whose attacks have a serious case of Hitbox Dissonance. Many times I've visibly evaded it's attacks, only to see half my health go down as his cleaver goes through thin air.

edited 15th May '15 12:00:21 PM by GutstheBerserker

Try fire, and then sniper spot!

You can break the statues with just about anything. From arrows to using a parry motion.

Oh, and you can set the tar ponds on fire.

And if you use a torch, you might be able to find where Lucatiel is hiding. She will be summonable at the second bonfire in the area.

Yes, there is a hidden bonfire pretty close to the boss door.

So I'm running through Scholar for the first time and I was able to pick up the Grand Lance. I just have to say, where has this weapon been all my life? It kills most things in a couple of hits and can pierce enemies, and it makes mincemeat of AI invaders.

Anyway, I'm doing a strength/pyromancy build. Any stat suggestions? How much should I level my faith/intelligence and attunement?

Pyromancy still has decent base damage just from upgrading the flame, but it also scales with both int and faith as well. Generally for the best damage for your investment, you want your intelligence and faith combined to be equal to or around sixty - which is where the soft cap begins.

For attunement, since it now also affects casting speed as well, you want to have a decent amount. Pyromancy's greatest strength is how unpredictable and versatile its spells are, so having a wide variety will make you a difficult opponent. Around 30 is where I usually end up? Depends on the plan for my character.

Personally I love the dance-of-fire -> great-combustion combo, since they tend to roll straight into the second attack avoiding the first. Alternatively, plonk down a lingering flame before casting Firestorm.

But if you're just starting out, you'll probably want to get attunement and adaptability first - that way you can have enough AGI to dodge effectively. 96 or 105 AGI is generally best to stop at.

Thanks for the advice, it's sad that I got into this game more toward its twilight now that Dark Souls 3 has been announced.

I've killed two Old Ones so far and I'm SL 101, here are some of my impressions compared to vanilla:

• I mostly like the new enemy placements, Scholar seems to like to replace large mobs with singular, powerful enemies. Fuck the Ogres, though. Also some places are a lot harder (like Heides), while some places are a lot easier (Sinner's Rise, Shaded Ruins).

• You have a lot more freedom to go where you want; you can go fight Freja as your first Old One, unlike before when it required very heavy backtracking and planning.

• I kinda wish that they had put in a more reliable way to get multiples of certain pyromancies like Great Fireball other than the Salamanders, or at least had them drop from monsters that were less infuriating to fight.

• Having the Pursuer, well... pursue you throughout the game is actually pretty neat. Either he was severely nerfed or I just got better, because I haven't had much trouble with him (I even beat his proper fight on my first try, while last time it took me at least 15 tries). Forlorn is piss-easy and from what I've heard his weapons kinda suck. Shame.

edited 28th Jun '15 4:06:00 PM by MoreThanBored

Is that the new final boss, Forlorn?

No, he's an AI invader that invades you at random points throughout your run. Every time you defeat him a piece of his armor becomes available from Straid.

The new True Final Boss is Aldia, and although he isn't an amazing boss he's a lot better than Female Nito.

edited 28th Jun '15 5:55:21 PM by MoreThanBored

If I join the Covenant of Champions in Scholar after i've exterminated an enemy, does that enemy respawn?

Yep, they will! But they'll despawn again once you leave the covenant.

Yes, the Covenant of Champions now makes it so that enemies infinitely respawn no matter how many times you kill them, which makes it easier to farm certain equipment.

I've watched a few playthroughs of the original Dark Souls, but I've noticed that these are games where you probably won't get to see everything the game has to offer from a single person's playthrough. Could anyone point me to a comprehensive video series for both the first and second games where the player made sure to explore every area and confront every boss? I'd also like to watch a similar series for Bloodborne. I just finished watching one playthrough, but unfortunately it ended up being abandoned.

EpicNameBro is pretty thorough, and is currently doing a series of videos playing through the first Dark Souls doing pretty much as you described. It's simply not possible to see every single thing in one playthrough though. Certain sidequests have more than one possible conclusion, or simply might not finish at all if you miss the chance, and certain NP Cs only appear under certain circumstances, which will then cause other NP Cs to disappear or change areas. There's a lot going on, and it's easy to miss things.

ENB also has the advantage, for Dark Souls II and Bloodborne, of being involved in the creation of the strategy guides, so he has some insider knowledge. As far as I know, he's your best bet for the most complete playthrough possible.

edited 26th Jul '15 8:35:15 AM by artfulscruff

I did watch one of his Dark Souls playthrough, but I remember that it didn't seem like a playthrough dedicated to showing the natural story progression of the game, since he spent a few videos doing some player versus player stuff. Regardless, I'll keep on eye on him. Thanks for your suggestion.

He's done a few different ones, but at least one or two of them didn't get finished because something else came up. The one he's doing now may be of interest though, since he has said in it that he wants to show as much of the game as possible and talk about lore and stuff. I think he wants it to be kind of guide.

Another Youtuber I know of who does Dark Souls videos is Vaatividya (I may have spelled that wrong), but I haven't watched any of this playthroughs so I don't know what they're like.

whelp. i finally got scholar of the first sin.

and of course my first death would be falling.

that seems to the first death in most playthroughs.

edited 12th Sep '15 2:44:40 AM by Tarsen

When I first got the game on release (not Scholar, the actual first release), I stepped off the edge of the cliff around the starting point within about 20 seconds of spawning. Then that 'This Is Dark Souls' trophy popped up and I was like 'Yes. Yes it is'.

I felt like an idiot.

oh man. i keep getting myself into trouble with the new enemies

i see a suspiciously placed object; recall its the location of an ambush

"no worries, it wasnt anything dangerous i can take it on-"

-take item, pan camera round to where the enemy would be-

aaaaand then i see the mace wielding fatty about smash my face into a million pieces.

i earned that death. ;_;

I missed out on a Pursuer encounter. There were warnings on the ground about a powerful enemy, so I was keeping an eye out, but went ahead and opened the chest in the room, then turned around and saw him. I was not fully prepared however, and couldn't get on the offensive, so I left the room (him being too large to fit through the door), but he disappeared and, as far as I can tell, doesn't return.

edited 13th Sep '15 10:40:55 AM by artfulscruff

Nah, he'll come back. You might have to rest at the bonfire first, though?

Got this game yesterday, and boy is it more difficult than first one.

It's not only faster, it just seems much more unforgiving. Reduced HP notwithstanding, the limited quantity of healing items is just... hard to bear with. Enemies pouring from every direction is another thing. Forest of Fallen Giants is no Undead Burg, that's for sure.

...is there some way to farm Lifegems other than entering that Hard Mode Covenant?

I have not rested at a bonfire since he appeared, so maybe.

I believe that once you defeat the Last Giant boss in the Forest of Fallen Giants, the merchant woman moves to Majula and sells unlimited Lifegems. I'm pretty sure she sells them in the Forest too, but it might only be in limited quantity. It's also possible you have to spend a certain amount with her before she'll move too. I can't remember. She has some good stuff though, you'll probably spend at least 5,000 souls with her.

edited 13th Sep '15 12:25:59 PM by artfulscruff