Dark Souls

Trust me, go with a Strike weapon. Or go with the Farron Greatsword or Wolf Knight's Greatsword, since those deal extra damage against Abyssal foes like the Dragonslayer Armour.

If you actually use Frost weapons, those work on him too.

Edited by M84 on Aug 19th 2019 at 5:05:37 PM

I actually built a Farron Greatsword at some point I believe, but I'm not sure if I ever pumped my DEX up to 20 to wield it. My main weapon atm is a Heavy Dark Sword +8 with 40 STR. Could look at building a Large Club up to fight him if I really feel the need.

Or just use Vordt's Great Hammer...

Edited by GoldenKaos on Aug 19th 2019 at 10:26:08 AM

The Dragonslayer Armour is a bit more resistant to Slash damage. Which makes sense — it is a big ol' heavy suit of armour.

It's one of the nods to realism in the series — armored foes take less damage from the slashy weapons than the fleshy ones. This made Strike weapons almost too good in DS II since so many enemies and bosses in DS II were armored foes.

If you've got the stats to use Vordt's Greathammer effectively, can upgrade it, and have gotten the timing of using Greathammers...then sure I guess it'd be good against the Dragonslayer Armour. It's got Strike and Frost damage.

Personally, I've found I prefer weapons lighter and faster than the Greathammers or Ultra Greatswords in DS III. DS III kind of encourages you to be more agile, kind of like a half-assed Bloodborne.

One thing I'd recommend after beating the Armour is to craft the greatshield first. It's heavy as hell, but it more or less trivializes one of the game's more challenging optional bosses.

Rather than a Large Club, I'd recommend using a Mace. Either with Heavy if you're running a Strength Build or Refined for a Quality Build. The Mace is basically the Strike damage equivalent to the Longsword — a simple weapon that is actually really good when upgraded properly.

Edited by M84 on Aug 19th 2019 at 5:31:16 PM

I've found that tends to favour two-handed builds anyway, with Vordt you'll be dodging rather than blocking as your main defensive action.

Reminds me of a comic (regarding Demon's Souls I think, but it's applicable for the rest of the series) where the caption "NG" is under a bloke in basic starter armour, NG+ shows a bloke in full late game armour and weapons, and NG++ shows a naked bloke running at full speed wielding a sword twice his size.

That said, I haven't gone far into the Consumed King's Garden yet, is that an easier or much harder route? One of the strength-scaling strike weapons I noticed was the Dragon Tooth, which is up at Archdragon Peak, which lies behind Oceiros.

Huh, I'm not sure if I can get the mace anymore. I don't see any way to get it without buying it from Greirat or starting off as a Cleric, and I'm pretty sure I sent Greirat away on his last mission...

Edited by GoldenKaos on Aug 19th 2019 at 10:40:20 AM

The Garden? Depends. Do you like fighting the Pus of Man enemies? There's several of those in the area. Do you enjoy walking across ground that inflicts Toxic on you? Not Poison, Toxic. Because that's there too. Do you like fighting Cathedral Knights? There's a bunch of these guys in the area too. You could just try to rush through the area, but there's some loot in it you might not want to miss out on.

Edited by M84 on Aug 19th 2019 at 5:42:38 PM

I hate Pus of Man enemies. Firebomb time, obviously.

I used firebombs and fire arrows against them.

And then there's Archdragon Peak. With the bullshit Manserpents, the bullshit Rock Lizards, the bullshit Manserpent Summoners and their bullshit summoned Drakeblood Knights, the bullshit Ancient Wyvern puzzle boss...and if you're after the Dragon Tooth you have to fight Havel the Rock, who is as bullshit as ever.

And the less said about the bullshit Nameless King, the better. The first part of the fight is actually the harder one IMHO since the camera is also trying to kill you in that part. The second part is "just" Ornstein on steroids. At least the trip between the bonfire and the boss gate is mercifully short and simple.

Edited by M84 on Aug 19th 2019 at 5:44:29 PM

Eh, Havel's alright. It's just a case of hit, don't get hit.

Except it's harder in DS III since the way Hyper Armor works means you can't really interrupt his attacks. Which is a bad thing considering he still hits like a fucking truck.

Oh, and he can also cast Stone Flesh.

He's about as bad as Knight Slayer Tsorig, except there's no lava for you to throw an Alluring Skull at.

Edited by M84 on Aug 19th 2019 at 5:51:29 PM

I don't remember being able to interuppt/stagger him in Dark Souls 1 anyway.

Edited by GoldenKaos on Aug 19th 2019 at 10:58:38 AM

I should mention it only took me one try to beat him, but man was it annoying.

One thing that could make this fight easier is that he's apparently weak to Bleed. I never really used Bleed myself, but if you've got Bleed weapons, then give it a shot.

It's also kind of annoying that he doesn't drop his armor set along with his club and shield. I just can't fathom how anyone could figure out where it is without a guide. What's even the point of making it appear somewhere else?

Edited by M84 on Aug 19th 2019 at 6:11:20 PM

Well, he only dropped his Ring in 1, so anything count as an improvement.

Though at least in DS 1 it's slightly justified in that you find his spare gear in what is implied to be one of his rooms in Anor Londo before Gwyn locked him up. That there is an occult club in said room is also telling, given that occult weapons are well suited for taking down divine enemies, including Gwyn...

The only hint of Havel's set's location in DS III is the fact that you can craft Havel's Ring from the Stray Demon's Soul.

The nameless king isn't THAT bad. Like you said, orstein on steroid's and the dragonslayer's greatshield if you can heave it around makes the fight a LOT easier since you hardly take any damage off his attacks when blocked.

King of storms is absolutely terrible and arguably harder for all the wrong reasons.

So, I upgraded a mace to +8 and the Dark Sword to +10 - Dark Sword wins out on damage (still), but turns out it was the Wolf Sword I made from the Abyss Watcher's Soul, so I upgraded that to +3, stuck the stamina regen shield on my back and I've been having more consistent attempts with the Pupper blade's reach and just dodging everything rather than blocking with the lightning resist shield. Victory still evaded me, but I do get careless in the early stages sometimes and get one-shotted because I'm trying to conservative with estus. Oh well.

Like I said, the camera tries to kill you in the first part of that fight.

But otherwise, the greatshield trivializes the fight. I actually used it to help farm Sunlight Medals (along with the Demon Prince boss fight). Those two seemed to get the most requests for help. It helps that by the time I was going Sunbro, I already had the Frayed Blade from transposing Darkeater Midir's boss soul. Frayed Blade does some extra damage to the Nameless King, being a Dark weapon. Against the Demon Prince I'd use the Black Knight Sword.

If you're having that much trouble you should consider summoning a phantom. Eygon or Sirris might be available for you to summon (though I wouldn't summon both of course).

Edited by M84 on Aug 20th 2019 at 6:13:23 PM

Nah, it's down to carelessness and tilting. I can see the win, it's definitely within grasp, I just tense up and make mistakes when he's super close to death, or get cocky and get rekt within the first 10-20 seconds.

Worth a double post, because NAILED THE BASTARD

Congrats, now you get to enjoy the Archives!

I went the other way and beat Oceiros first time, beat Ancient Wyvern and then finally beat Havel at the 50th attempt by just flinging dung piles at him and taking a blooming purple moss clump. I got some hits in too, but I feel like inflicting toxic on him can kill him by itself.

Maining the wolf greatsword atm, probably looking at the untended graves next.

Edited by GoldenKaos on Aug 25th 2019 at 1:43:26 PM

What about the Nameless King?

And did you finish Hawkwood's personal questline?

Untended Graves is kind of bullshit, imho. Annoying dogs, those bleed happy Gravewardens, more giant Crystal Lizards, an invader spirit, the Black Knights, and of course Champion Gundyr.

Still, the area's rewards are too good to pass up.

It only took me one try to beat Havel, but I had to play very carefully and look for opportunities to backstab him.

Beating him in NG+ was a bit trickier but I still did it on the first try.

BTW, we have a Dark Souls III thread. So if you want to get more advice from people other than me on this game, try posting there.

Edited by M84 on Aug 25th 2019 at 9:09:41 PM

Just chose to come back to the Nameless King later. Also didn't notice there was a Hawkwood questline. I don't worry overmuch about many questlines, although I did make sure I completed Siegward's at least.

Welp, finally got Dark Souls Remastered. Time to revisit Lordran.

Edited by M84 on Oct 31st 2019 at 4:15:02 PM

Welp, got a couple hours in so far. Decided to try something I didn't the first time I played the game years ago and rushed for some gear early like the Dragon's Crest Shield (and the Astora's Straight Sword though I'm not planning to use it for my chosen build) and the Zweihander. The Zweihander in particular makes the early game super easy once I was able to actually wield it.

I had forgotten that one can't teleport between bonfires immediately like you can in the sequels. I miss that feature. Oh well, at least you can level up at any bonfire instead of having to back to Majula or Firelink.

Edited by M84 on Nov 1st 2019 at 12:14:44 AM

Yeah that's the one thing DS 1 has over its sequel/BB. Level up maidens are an annoying mechanic really.