Dark Soul's: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)

[ui]ICEMAN · 9 Apr 2013 at 20:14

I didn't find the depths too bad, never got cursed but the area boss took me a few attempts to down which is ironic given how easy he is compared to some of the others. Blight town I will agree with you on, hateful area that actually caused me to stop playing for a couple of months due to a very unfortunate invasion right by the last bonfire before I could light it!

Start getting your gear leveled up, it will make the world of difference.

agnes · 9 Apr 2013 at 21:38

Now that MootHead has shown me the light on new areas and also on how to play better. I'm tempted to start a new character, properly focusing on the correct stats and stuff once I finish the play trough on this one. Will be a lot more fun I think.

[ui]ICEMAN · 9 Apr 2013 at 21:46

You're hardly far through the game, unless you dumped 30 points into resistance then just stick with what you have. I always pump end/vit right off the bat then decide which way I'm going to go after that unless I'm going with a glass cannon build.

agnes · 9 Apr 2013 at 22:04

How much do you pump into them?

And this is the furthest I have got! At the bonfire after you do the walk across the beams in the massive hall. Thanks to Moothead for that

[ui]ICEMAN · 9 Apr 2013 at 22:10

You have a *very* long way to go which is great as the game just gets better and better past Blight town IMO. So you've done Sen's Fortress and are now in Anor Londo I'm assuming?

Personally, I get both to 20 ASAP, 30 preferably for End as it affords a lot more blocking ability/dodging. I will put the odd point in Str or Dex early on though if I know I'm tracking towards a specific weapon or armour type.

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle · 9 Apr 2013 at 22:34

and never upgrade resistance, so i'm told, just leave it at default.

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle · 9 Apr 2013 at 22:42

Also, Dark Souls 2 12 minute gameplay demo tomorrow, please don't mess this up From Soft :S

Moothead2 · 10 Apr 2013 at 00:09

Winky_The_Winking_Turtle said:
Also, Dark Souls 2 12 minute gameplay demo tomorrow, please don't mess this up From Soft :S

Holy ****, how didn't I know about that :eek:

!

Can't freakin' wait!

On a Dark Souls 1 note, decided to power through and get the Knight's Honor achievement. Need 5 more boss souls weapons I'll get next playthrough and two tail cuts (Including the Gargoyle one somehow despite being on NG+

). Got the Trident after killing around 10 Channellers

.

agnes · 10 Apr 2013 at 00:24

Well, I started as a pyro, I want to end up being able to fast roll with 'large' weapons. Going to use the man-serpent greatsword after I defeated the boss in Anor Londo. These are my current stats:

http://i.imgur.com/WnDGCGe.jpg

** Please resize image to no more than 1280px wide before replacing image tags - thanks **

I have made the mistake of going all out STR I think. Put some in Dex early on, and very few in VIT...

At the moment, using a +10 butchers knife. So kill the boss, then go back to Sens fortress, farm the black knight dude with the item ring for a bunch of large titanites (that will take a while!) and get the MSG to +10.

Moothead2 · 10 Apr 2013 at 00:40

Don't worry about Dex, neither the knife or Man Sword scale with it

.

**** Bed of Chaos. Was thinking how I was about to beat it without dying without using a bow and arrows and then I try hit the maggoty thing, my weapon reflects of the ceiling and I get one shot by a Chaos Firestorm...

Ritsugamesh · 10 Apr 2013 at 07:53

agnes said:
At the moment, using a +10 butchers knife. So kill the boss, then go back to Sens fortress, farm the black knight dude with the item ring for a bunch of large titanites (that will take a while!) and get the MSG to +10.

If you are talking about large titanite shards, I'd recommend going to the floor of Blighttown (the poison swamp) and swing across the top side of the area near the Great Hollow entrance. Kill the leeches there and you have a decent chance for either large titanite shards or green small shards. A single run usually nets 3-4 large shards if you equip the Covetus ring you get from Sen's Fortress!

If it isn't large shards you meant, then don't mind me

Davey_Pitch · 10 Apr 2013 at 09:19

[ui]ICEMAN;24090162 said:
It's funny how different bosses give certain people issues. I found the gargoyles and Capra to be super easy. In fact, I one shot Capra the first time I ever saw him. Sif and O&S also gave me no trouble but 4k got me stuck for a while.

As someone who has intentionally one shot Capra, I'd love to know how you managed to do it on your first playthrough, considering I know exactly how it needed to be done for me (Red Tearstone, Power Within, +5 Fire Reinforced Club, plunging attack). Not wanting to call you out, but I highly doubt anyone could one shot him on their first playthrough, without being stupidly overpowered first.

Davey_Pitch · 10 Apr 2013 at 09:33

agnes said:
Well, I started as a pyro, I want to end up being able to fast roll with 'large' weapons. Going to use the man-serpent greatsword after I defeated the boss in Anor Londo. These are my current stats:

http://i.imgur.com/WnDGCGe.jpg

** Please resize image to no more than 1280px wide before replacing image tags - thanks **

I have made the mistake of going all out STR I think. Put some in Dex early on, and very few in VIT...

At the moment, using a +10 butchers knife. So kill the boss, then go back to Sens fortress, farm the black knight dude with the item ring for a bunch of large titanites (that will take a while!) and get the MSG to +10.

Those stats are fine if you're going for a proper STR build. Most people stop levelling when they reach SL120 or so, as that's the community standard PvP level, but if you're not worried about PvP, then you can simply keep going (I have one character at SL150+ that I just mess about with now).

If you want to fast roll with a large weapon, you'll want to get your Endurance to 40 as quickly as possiible (not much point levelling beyond that, as you don't get any Stamina boost after that, only Equip Burden), then keep your Equip Burden below 25%. You could use something like Havel's ring or the Ring of Favor and Protection to get an increase on your Equip Burden. Being below 25% Equip Burden to fast roll, especially with a large weapon, will limit your armour choices though, and you'll be pretty restricted to the lighter armours. This isn't always a bad thing though, as being less resistant to hits will train you to dodge and block better.

Ritsugamesh is right as well, if you're after Large Titanite Shards, get yourself to Blighttown and run the bottom floor to farm shards. Head out from the bottom bonfire and you can make a loop of around 23 slugs in 5 minutes (just mentally counted them, I know that run far too well!), and with the Gold Covetous Serpent Ring you'll pull in plenty of Large and Green Titanite Shards.

Have a play about with this site, it's great for looking at how your build could go, and what weaponry and equipment you can use - https://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/

Davey_Pitch · 10 Apr 2013 at 09:43

agnes said:
Also, explore, as a certain path leads to a black knight or what ever it is, who casts soul spears at you whilst you fight the next boss if you don't kill him. Really annoying.

It's a Channeller, like the one in the Undead Church just before you fight the Belfry Gargoyles. And yes, you definitely need to take him out before you fight the Depths boss, as not only does he launch Soul Arrows at you, he'll buff the boss and make him harder to beat. Thankfully he doesn't respawn when you kill him (only the Channellers in Duke's Archives respawn).

Moothead2 said:
On a Dark Souls 1 note, decided to power through and get the Knight's Honor achievement. Need 5 more boss souls weapons I'll get next playthrough and two tail cuts (Including the Gargoyle one somehow despite being on NG+ ). Got the Trident after killing around 10 Channellers .

Git, it must've taken me at least 30 Channeller's to get the Trident, which was the very last weapon I needed to get the very last achievements in the game. I became very good at taking them out quickly in Duke's after farming them for that Trident.

And don't forget that you need to get Sif's soul 3 times for the achievement, as you can make 3 items from his soul

Moothead2 said:
**** Bed of Chaos. Was thinking how I was about to beat it without dying without using a bow and arrows and then I try hit the maggoty thing, my weapon reflects of the ceiling and I get one shot by a Chaos Firestorm...

Do you know about the save and quit trick for Bed of Chaos? It makes the fight a lot easier, especially if you're trying to do it without dying.

Purdy · 10 Apr 2013 at 09:45

Davey_Pitch said:
As someone who has intentionally one shot Capra, I'd love to know how you managed to do it on your first playthrough, considering I know exactly how it needed to be done for me (Red Tearstone, Power Within, +5 Fire Reinforced Club, plunging attack). Not wanting to call you out, but I highly doubt anyone could one shot him on their first playthrough, without being stupidly overpowered first.

I imagine by one shot he means in one attempt, I certainly know in WoW when raiding 'one shot' refers to killing it first time.

Davey_Pitch · 10 Apr 2013 at 09:50

Purdy said:
I imagine by one shot he means in one attempt, I certainly know in WoW when raiding 'one shot' refers to killing it first time.

Ah, that would make more sense. Yeah, I could definitely see someone doing that as Capra isn't bad at all as soon as you get rid of those bloody dogs.

Murray · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:15

The poison swamp in Blighttown is horrible

Davey_Pitch · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:40

Murray said:
The poison swamp in Blighttown is horrible

I must be one of the rare people who love Blighttown. As long as you have the Rusted Iron Ring then the swamp will never slow you down, and if you have the Master Key you can enter via the shortcut and be at the bottom bonfire in less than 5 minutes (which also avoids pretty much every Blowdart Sniper). You can farm for Large Titanite and Green Shards, the Infested Barbarians are easy meat (and drop Dung Pies often, which are useful) and the Cragspiders are simple as well. In fact, the only thing I hate in Blighttown are the Giant Mosquitos, they do my nut in!

Murray · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:41

I haven't minded blighttown so far but I keep having to run forever to get back down to the swamp then getting lost and dying

Davey_Pitch · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:46

Murray said:
I haven't minded blighttown so far but I keep having to run forever to get back down to the swamp then getting lost and dying

Yeah, it can be confusing, especially if you come via the Depths. It's been ages since I came in that way. I tend to just go to the Depths quickly to get the Large Ember, release Laurentius, kill Black Phantom Kirk, and then the Gaping Dragon. I don't go through it to Blighttown at all any more.

If you reach the swamp in Blighttown there is a bonfire at the bottom (just to the right of where you first reach the swamp), which makes for a much better base to work from than the bonfire higher up. It's also close to the shortcut back up towards Firelink Shrine if you haven't already opened it up.