Nope. Because helping someone beat the boss gives you back a bit every time you win, so you get to practice the boss and regain humanity.
Also there's a way to become human without effigies later in the game. And I GUESS there are limited numbers, but there are enemies that have a chance to drop them.
Not very. A bit, yes. Though, I kinda think they added the co-op humanity thing after the fact, in the 1.3 patch. And the humanity without effigies thing is a very late game thing.
Lets say I want to blaze through Dark Souls, having only ever gotten as far as Tomb of the Giants in the past. I want to do this before Dark Souls 2 comes out, and it has been a while so I'm rather rusty. I already grabbed the drake shield and astore sword thing. I'm terrible at planning builds. Is a faith/str build a good idea? I went pyro/master key. Build/run tips?
Faith/strength is a good build that will let you put out a lot of damage. Do not neglect Vit and End, though. You'll want to get your Attunement up to at least 19 for 5 spell slots, or 23 for 6.
You want my advice for making the run easier and faster? Boost your pyromancy flame. Do not skip the Depths; run down there to free the pyromancer, hoof it back to Firelink, and get your pyromancy flame up to something like +10 before you go to Blighttown. Speak to the old witch in the swamps and use her to advance your flame past that point. Ascend the flame when you can. Buy Fire Whip and Great Combustion. Do not worry about the others as much. Make sure to get Power Within.
Pyromancy is not stat-dependent in any way, and all of its power comes from your pyromancy flame and whatever buffs you have. Pyromancy fits easily into any build, and you already have a flame so you might as well use it.
Get the Crown of Dusk when you can; you'll take more magic damage but you'll be able to mitigate that with a decent shield (I recommend the Crescent Shield, upgraded, for NG). Get the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring.
Fight regular enemies however you want. Put lightning on a cool sword, or a hammer, or whatever. Remember that buffs like Sunlight Sword and what have you give more benefit to weapons that hit faster, so don't be afraid to buff a smallish sword with decent strength scaling and go to town with it. Power Within is percentage-based, though, so you get a flat DPS increase, which means you can use it according to taste.
When you are fighting bosses? Put on your pretty princess tiara, your pretty blue dragon ring, turn on Power Within, and burn them down. Larger enemies, including almost all bosses, get hit with Flame Whip twice when it's fired from about a body length away. This will tear apart the vast, overwhelming majority of bosses, and for the one or two that don't you'll be able to kill them with your lightning axe or what have you. When you run out of the whip, use Great Combustion.
I don't know if Miracles are good at damage. I kind of assume they can be.
Anyway, yeah, as a guy who's about to beat NG+: fire will serve you through the entire thing, no questions asked, and will slot easily into any build you want. It takes a lot of investment (something like 340k souls to fully upgrade your flame) but it is completely worth it.
You don't get "a small amount of humanity back" when you co-op a boss after patch 1.3. You just become fully human, no matter how hollowed you were before. One of the early patch notes indicated it was going to be done in steps, but that's not the case. That was however added after the fact, so back in March when that interview happened it was most definitely possible to be stuck hollow if you ran out of effigies completely, had somehow bought all the effigies off all the vendors who sell them, and had killed extinct all the enemies who can drop effigies, and had used all your bonfire ascetics so couldn't use them to re-open 5 effigy chests, kill the skeletons in Majula that each always drop one, and then on top of all that also messed up the Milfanito and killed them so you couldn't enter the shrine that lets you turn human if you have 0 effigies.
It was never really feasibly possible though all things considered. The ring of binding in this game is actually more powerful than the one from Demon's Souls, so honestly you should just never be popping effigies during your first playthrough of the game unless you're at a boss fog and you already know you're going to need to summon help for it. And even then, there are 3 rings of life protection and 2 rings of soul protection PER playthrough so as long as you can afford a few thousand souls for each death you can just wear those if you think you'll die a lot, or wear them to protect your humanity on bosses.
IMO the only chance you really have of running out of effigies is if you're a build who sucks at killing Darklurker and are determined to do so. I wouldn't know because sunlight spear and great lightning spears killed her on NG and NG+ before she could even split.
I have a question about the Royal Rat Authority. On his head down dash attack that he does when you're at range, which direction do you dodge that?
The reason I ask is that I destroyed the dude on NG, and never even though about it. But on NG+, I actually had a pretty hard time with him, and it was because after I killed the little guys, the first thing he'd do is the head charge and it hits quite hard on NG+. I tried dodging it so many different ways and failed every time. Eventually I just 2 hand shield blocked it and then got under his feet and killed him, but I really want to know how you dodge that attack. Every time I felt like the dodge should've avoided the damage I still took it.
Honestly, I'll probably never kill him on any other playthroughs because what the hell do I care about acid surge, but still. It's the only boss attack in the game that gave me such fits with the dodge timing, and who knows, I might decide to kill him on a character that doesn't have a shield at some point.
They're limited in the sense that you can't buy an infinite number from any vendor (that I'm aware of) and enemies that drop them stop spawning after a while. There is a (relatively) low-cost way around that, however. 3k souls and two load screens. The load screens are the more expensive piece of that price.
So regarding Vendrick.
That motherfucker REFUSES to not move up against a wall. I'm embarrassed that I haven't been able to kill him on NG yet. 62 INT, +10 Magic Bastard Sword with CMW, Ring of Blades +1 and I'm doing 399 with a two-handed strong attack (and I forget if that was with/without Red Tearstone Ring active). Lowest I got him was about 1/3 of his health remaining before I got sloppy and misjudged my distance from a swing. Oops. I just need to learn to run away from the wall and lure him to the center of the room next time.
Also, about those Souls of a Giant. Details are in the grammar. "Can be used to acquire souls, only..."
That, to me, says "It can be used to acquire souls, buuuuuut...", not that "it can ONLY be used to acquire souls."
You don't get "a small amount of humanity back" when you co-op a boss after patch 1.3. You just become fully human, no matter how hollowed you were before. One of the early patch notes indicated it was going to be done in steps, but that's not the case. That was however added after the fact, so back in March when that interview happened it was most definitely possible to be stuck hollow if you ran out of effigies completely, had somehow bought all the effigies off all the vendors who sell them, and had killed extinct all the enemies who can drop effigies, and had used all your bonfire ascetics so couldn't use them to re-open 5 effigy chests, kill the skeletons in Majula that each always drop one, and then on top of all that also messed up the Milfanito and killed them so you couldn't enter the shrine that lets you turn human if you have 0 effigies.
It was never really feasibly possible though all things considered. The ring of binding in this game is actually more powerful than the one from Demon's Souls, so honestly you should just never be popping effigies during your first playthrough of the game unless you're at a boss fog and you already know you're going to need to summon help for it. And even then, there are 3 rings of life protection and 2 rings of soul protection PER playthrough so as long as you can afford a few thousand souls for each death you can just wear those if you think you'll die a lot, or wear them to protect your humanity on bosses.
IMO the only chance you really have of running out of effigies is if you're a build who sucks at killing Darklurker and are determined to do so. I wouldn't know because sunlight spear and great lightning spears killed her on NG and NG+ before she could even split.
It's a bit weird. I saw someone on reddit do tests and you go back to full even at 50% less health, as in as far as you can hollow normally.
I wonder if it's different at the "wretch" sin level which allows you to go down to 10% health by hollowing or if it's just still bugged.
Wow, I was wondering if there was a way to go below 50%. So, sin it up, drop to 10% and Dark Pyro Flame for great profit, eh?
Ha, no. That's the bad part. Dark Flame only scales up till 50%, not any further. And even then I think it's only slightly better than the normal Pyromancy flame.
Is pyromancy as powerful in Dark Souls 2 as it is in this game? Because I wanna know.
Miracles, Sorceries, Hexes and Pyromancy are pretty god damn powerful in PVE. Probably a lot easier than sword and board or any kind of shield-less melee run.
Just don't expect it to be that great in PVE, they're hard hitting but easy to dodge.
So I guess doing brotherhood of blood duels in the arena is going to be the only long term SL locked(150 or whatever) way to go for people who are into that. It's not perfect, and you still run in to people with much higher soul memories when the matchmaking can't find a better match for you, but at least it's better than the other options, which are to stay at SL150, do invasions, and eventually hit that 12 million soul memory pool where you're not matched with everybody else in that pool and suddenly have to fight all havel mages with maxed stats.
I'm not even that into the PvP in these games and I still think they dropped the ball hard with soul memory. IMO they should've either 1) Made Soul Memory only count for souls you invest in to levels or gear upgrades, or 2) Made soul memory work up to like SL 120(to protect the newbies from twinks which is what soul memory was even for I think), and then just made matchmaking only based on soul level after that point.
PvP is not fun when nobody has to make sacrifices in their builds.
If you go to 4:05 in this video, you'll also see a great example of why healing items should be disabled in arena. This havelmage gets just worked and outplayed so hard, and Yukas killed him like 5 times over without resorting to healing himself. I just don't understand why you can use healing items in arena. If red phantoms can't use them when invading, and you couldn't heal in dark souls 1 arena, why the change? Just seems pointless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ykNTzy1Ck4
So I guess doing brotherhood of blood duels in the arena is going to be the only long term SL locked(150 or whatever) way to go for people who are into that. It's not perfect, and you still run in to people with much higher soul memories when the matchmaking can't find a better match for you, but at least it's better than the other options, which are to stay at SL150, do invasions, and eventually hit that 12 million soul memory pool where you're not matched with everybody else in that pool and suddenly have to fight all havel mages with maxed stats.
I'm not even that into the PvP in these games and I still think they dropped the ball hard with soul memory. IMO they should've either 1) Made Soul Memory only count for souls you invest in to levels or gear upgrades, or 2) Made soul memory work up to like SL 120(to protect the newbies from twinks which is what soul memory was even for I think), and then just made matchmaking only based on soul level after that point.
PvP is not fun when nobody has to make sacrifices in their builds.
If you go to 4:05 in this video, you'll also see a great example of why healing items should be disabled in arena. This havelmage gets just worked and outplayed so hard, and Yukas killed him like 5 times over without resorting to healing himself. I just don't understand why you can use healing items in arena. If red phantoms can't use them when invading, and you couldn't heal in dark souls 1 arena, why the change? Just seems pointless.
Either that other guy is cheating or whoever is playing does crap all for damage.
I've done almost all my PVP with full havels and 50 Vigor/Vit/End/Adapt. If you get hit without blocking, even fast, low damage weapons like knifes or shortswords will do quite a bit of damage. As in, at least 3-4 times as much as the player in the video does.
You'll notice the power stance attacks come out pretty fast. The reason this is is that power stance works with a priority system that determines which hand your weapon is in. What it results in is stuff where you can power stance an ultra greatsword and a greataxe and get a faster powerstance moveset than you can with for example 2 ultra greatswords.
There is a weird oddity in that the Bandit Greataxe results in the straight sword power stance moveset no matter which hand it's wielded in(unless you wield it with another greataxe). So you can pair the bandit greataxe with the super long ultra greatsword or great club and get a super long range insanely fast straight sword power stance moveset. Likely it's a bug with that weapon having a unique moveset, but it's worth noting.
Is pyromancy as powerful in Dark Souls 2 as it is in this game? Because I wanna know.
Miracles, Sorceries, Hexes and Pyromancy are pretty god damn powerful in PVE. Probably a lot easier than sword and board or any kind of shield-less melee run.
Just don't expect it to be that great in PVE, they're hard hitting but easy to dodge.
I already burn people to death in PVP in the first game, I can't imagine it's going to be that much worse in the sequel (especially because I always pack an axe for back-up)
Yeah it sounds like I'll be going pyromancer again; I just like the lore flavor of it more than anything. Being stupidly, stupidly powerful is just a bonus.
I think Pyromancy is weaker in Dark Souls 2 than one, but it's still magic, so it still wrecks PvE for the most part, especially if you're looking for a low investment. You need some attunement(or just to wear a southern ritual band), but even though you can scale your fire bonus with INT/FTH, it's not needed and a +10 Pyro flame is plenty to trash PvE with.
It's not particularly good in PvP though outside of sneaking in a forbidden sun after a parry or if you can really catch somebody off guard. It's nigh impossible to land flame swathe or any other good pyromancies on a player.
So I guess doing brotherhood of blood duels in the arena is going to be the only long term SL locked(150 or whatever) way to go for people who are into that. It's not perfect, and you still run in to people with much higher soul memories when the matchmaking can't find a better match for you, but at least it's better than the other options, which are to stay at SL150, do invasions, and eventually hit that 12 million soul memory pool where you're not matched with everybody else in that pool and suddenly have to fight all havel mages with maxed stats.
I'm not even that into the PvP in these games and I still think they dropped the ball hard with soul memory. IMO they should've either 1) Made Soul Memory only count for souls you invest in to levels or gear upgrades, or 2) Made soul memory work up to like SL 120(to protect the newbies from twinks which is what soul memory was even for I think), and then just made matchmaking only based on soul level after that point.
PvP is not fun when nobody has to make sacrifices in their builds.
If you go to 4:05 in this video, you'll also see a great example of why healing items should be disabled in arena. This havelmage gets just worked and outplayed so hard, and Yukas killed him like 5 times over without resorting to healing himself. I just don't understand why you can use healing items in arena. If red phantoms can't use them when invading, and you couldn't heal in dark souls 1 arena, why the change? Just seems pointless.
Either that other guy is cheating or whoever is playing does crap all for damage.
I've done almost all my PVP with full havels and 50 Vigor/Vit/End/Adapt. If you get hit without blocking, even fast, low damage weapons like knifes or shortswords will do quite a bit of damage. As in, at least 3-4 times as much as the player in the video does.
I don't think that guy is cheating. He's just a much higher SL than Yukas and in full Havel's. If you watch any decent amount of BoB duels, you'll see matchups where a SL 130-150 hits a SL300+ and that's basically what it looks like.
Most of these guys like Yukas are running builds that have 50 Vigor, and they don't have a ton of stats in damage. They just rely on surviving and hit and run to win, so when they run up against somebody in very high defense gear, what's in the video is exactly what it looks like.
So I guess doing brotherhood of blood duels in the arena is going to be the only long term SL locked(150 or whatever) way to go for people who are into that. It's not perfect, and you still run in to people with much higher soul memories when the matchmaking can't find a better match for you, but at least it's better than the other options, which are to stay at SL150, do invasions, and eventually hit that 12 million soul memory pool where you're not matched with everybody else in that pool and suddenly have to fight all havel mages with maxed stats.
I'm not even that into the PvP in these games and I still think they dropped the ball hard with soul memory. IMO they should've either 1) Made Soul Memory only count for souls you invest in to levels or gear upgrades, or 2) Made soul memory work up to like SL 120(to protect the newbies from twinks which is what soul memory was even for I think), and then just made matchmaking only based on soul level after that point.
PvP is not fun when nobody has to make sacrifices in their builds.
If you go to 4:05 in this video, you'll also see a great example of why healing items should be disabled in arena. This havelmage gets just worked and outplayed so hard, and Yukas killed him like 5 times over without resorting to healing himself. I just don't understand why you can use healing items in arena. If red phantoms can't use them when invading, and you couldn't heal in dark souls 1 arena, why the change? Just seems pointless.
Either that other guy is cheating or whoever is playing does crap all for damage.
I've done almost all my PVP with full havels and 50 Vigor/Vit/End/Adapt. If you get hit without blocking, even fast, low damage weapons like knifes or shortswords will do quite a bit of damage. As in, at least 3-4 times as much as the player in the video does.
I don't think that guy is cheating. He's just a much higher SL than Yukas and in full Havel's. If you watch any decent amount of BoB duels, you'll see matchups where a SL 130-150 hits a SL300+ and that's basically what it looks like.
Most of these guys like Yukas are running builds that have 50 Vigor, and they don't have a ton of stats in damage. They just rely on surviving and hit and run to win, so when they run up against somebody in very high defense gear, what's in the video is exactly what it looks like.
Hmmm. They really need to do something about Soul Memory then.
I got my second character to 66 in what seems like no time flat. I'm at the Skeleton Lords with him and I can't seem to find anybody to summon. If I put my sign down I get summoned almost immediately but I can't find help to save my life. Am I at a weird level for that boss? I also am wondering what to infuse my weapon with. This guy is a Twin-blade wielding DEX character (I'm doing a thing) and just want to know if poison or bleed would be better?
I got my second character to 66 in what seems like no time flat. I'm at the Skeleton Lords with him and I can't seem to find anybody to summon. If I put my sign down I get summoned almost immediately but I can't find help to save my life. Am I at a weird level for that boss? I also am wondering what to infuse my weapon with. This guy is a Twin-blade wielding DEX character (I'm doing a thing) and just want to know if poison or bleed would be better?
I've had mostly the same situation, only in NG+. I kinda think that for whatever reason there's a lot more pople needing help than people putting down summon signs right now, so they go away so fast that you won't even see them.
If that's not it then I have no idea what's going on there.
Which bosses have you beaten yet?
66 should be fine after beating 2-3 of the Old Ones.
So I guess doing brotherhood of blood duels in the arena is going to be the only long term SL locked(150 or whatever) way to go for people who are into that. It's not perfect, and you still run in to people with much higher soul memories when the matchmaking can't find a better match for you, but at least it's better than the other options, which are to stay at SL150, do invasions, and eventually hit that 12 million soul memory pool where you're not matched with everybody else in that pool and suddenly have to fight all havel mages with maxed stats.
I'm not even that into the PvP in these games and I still think they dropped the ball hard with soul memory. IMO they should've either 1) Made Soul Memory only count for souls you invest in to levels or gear upgrades, or 2) Made soul memory work up to like SL 120(to protect the newbies from twinks which is what soul memory was even for I think), and then just made matchmaking only based on soul level after that point.
PvP is not fun when nobody has to make sacrifices in their builds.
If you go to 4:05 in this video, you'll also see a great example of why healing items should be disabled in arena. This havelmage gets just worked and outplayed so hard, and Yukas killed him like 5 times over without resorting to healing himself. I just don't understand why you can use healing items in arena. If red phantoms can't use them when invading, and you couldn't heal in dark souls 1 arena, why the change? Just seems pointless.
Either that other guy is cheating or whoever is playing does crap all for damage.
I've done almost all my PVP with full havels and 50 Vigor/Vit/End/Adapt. If you get hit without blocking, even fast, low damage weapons like knifes or shortswords will do quite a bit of damage. As in, at least 3-4 times as much as the player in the video does.
I don't think that guy is cheating. He's just a much higher SL than Yukas and in full Havel's. If you watch any decent amount of BoB duels, you'll see matchups where a SL 130-150 hits a SL300+ and that's basically what it looks like.
Most of these guys like Yukas are running builds that have 50 Vigor, and they don't have a ton of stats in damage. They just rely on surviving and hit and run to win, so when they run up against somebody in very high defense gear, what's in the video is exactly what it looks like.
Hmmm. They really need to do something about Soul Memory then.
I think most people agree that Soul Memory was a sledgehammer solution for a problem that could've been handle with a tiny finishing nail. They wanted to keep people from twinking and killing newbies in invasions with a low SL, but instead of just making soul memory only work up to a certain SL or making soul memory only count for souls you've spent on levels, equip upgrades, spells, etc. they just used this hamfisted solution that causes way more problems than it solves.
- It ruins locked SL PvP at least in invasions and what not long-term, making people create new characters unless all they do is BoB duels.
- It can ruin coordinated co-op. There's been reports of people doing organized co-op with a friend, getting invaded by a mega mule, killing them, the host gets 500k souls even if their soul memory is only like 50k at the time, their buddy gets like 150k, but now the friends can't co-op.
- Megamules in general circumvent it anyway. They have all spells, upgraded gear, etc. and have no soul memory because the souls they get from the edited save don't count towards SM.
I got my second character to 66 in what seems like no time flat. I'm at the Skeleton Lords with him and I can't seem to find anybody to summon. If I put my sign down I get summoned almost immediately but I can't find help to save my life. Am I at a weird level for that boss? I also am wondering what to infuse my weapon with. This guy is a Twin-blade wielding DEX character (I'm doing a thing) and just want to know if poison or bleed would be better?
I've had mostly the same situation, only in NG+. I kinda think that for whatever reason there's a lot more pople needing help than people putting down summon signs right now, so they go away so fast that you won't even see them.
If that's not it then I have no idea what's going on there.
Which bosses have you beaten yet?
66 should be fine after beating 2-3 of the Old Ones.
With this character I've cleared Forest of Fallen Giants, Heide's Tower of Flame and Lost Bastille although I didn't do Sinner's Rise yet. I am trying to get to the Dull Ember as fast as I can.
You'll notice the power stance attacks come out pretty fast. The reason this is is that power stance works with a priority system that determines which hand your weapon is in. What it results in is stuff where you can power stance an ultra greatsword and a greataxe and get a faster powerstance moveset than you can with for example 2 ultra greatswords.
There is a weird oddity in that the Bandit Greataxe results in the straight sword power stance moveset no matter which hand it's wielded in(unless you wield it with another greataxe). So you can pair the bandit greataxe with the super long ultra greatsword or great club and get a super long range insanely fast straight sword power stance moveset. Likely it's a bug with that weapon having a unique moveset, but it's worth noting.
I posted something that was kind of a precursor to this some time ago here at PA. My discovery was mainly in relation to how the disparate weapon classes could be powerstanced together as well as the moveset hierarchy.
I did not discover the R1 priority moveset override, though. This is quite intesting and I'm curious to see what will replicate this effect along with my +10 ultra greatsword.
Game gets more and more interesting. Its so much like a fighting game in this sense.
Sev: Your gameplay is the most heavily yomi based around. Usually you look for characters that allow you to force guessing situations for big dmg. Even if the guess is mathematically nowhere near in your favor lol. You're happiest when you have either a 50/50, 33/33/33 or even a 75/25 situation to go crazy with. And you will take big risks to force those situations to come up.
I got my second character to 66 in what seems like no time flat. I'm at the Skeleton Lords with him and I can't seem to find anybody to summon. If I put my sign down I get summoned almost immediately but I can't find help to save my life. Am I at a weird level for that boss? I also am wondering what to infuse my weapon with. This guy is a Twin-blade wielding DEX character (I'm doing a thing) and just want to know if poison or bleed would be better?
Solution: put the blades away for that fight and equip a mace. Solo city.
...now I want to roll a light armor dual axeman build. This would be my fifth character. I have yet to beat the game on NG.
Sev: Your gameplay is the most heavily yomi based around. Usually you look for characters that allow you to force guessing situations for big dmg. Even if the guess is mathematically nowhere near in your favor lol. You're happiest when you have either a 50/50, 33/33/33 or even a 75/25 situation to go crazy with. And you will take big risks to force those situations to come up.
I like my Knight turned Sorcerer. I can melee pretty well with my +10 Magic Bastard Sword and I've got 70 casts of Great Heavy Soul Arrow, two Soul Spear, one Soul Geyser and one Great Resonant Soul. I made the mistake of playing while drunk the other night and jumping into NG+ with my original character (Bandit) before beating Vendrick and other optional stuff. Oops. I also redid his stats without thinking it out. I think I'm going to abandon that guy.
I got my second character to 66 in what seems like no time flat. I'm at the Skeleton Lords with him and I can't seem to find anybody to summon. If I put my sign down I get summoned almost immediately but I can't find help to save my life. Am I at a weird level for that boss? I also am wondering what to infuse my weapon with. This guy is a Twin-blade wielding DEX character (I'm doing a thing) and just want to know if poison or bleed would be better?
Soul memory works both ways, so if you're getting summoned but not being summoned, it's not a soul memory issue. It's a "other people aren't putting down summon signs" issue. I think most people don't drop a summon sign at that boss because it's actually a super cake boss once you realize what not to do. In case you don't realize, on that boss what you want to do is kill one skeleton lord, then kill the 4 adds it spawns, then kill a 2nd skeleton lord, then kill the adds it spawns, repeat. You also want to save the one that I think starts on the far right and casts magic for last, because that's the one that spawns the bonewheel skeletons and they're so much easier to deal with when there's no big guys left and all you have to do is smash them one at a time as they spawn.
The first time I did that fight blind I just started smashing the big guys and got overrun by little guys, and it took me a couple attempts to realize it wasn't a timing based thing. The fight is all about control, and the skeleton lords themselves honestly do pitiful damage even on NG+ and beyond.
Edit: Also, since you mentioned level, I'd take the opportunity to let you know that soul level has no factor in co-op and PvP. It's 100% soul memory. I know we thought it was SL and SM, but it's not. Extensive testing was done in a reddit thread that showed on both NG and NG+, soul memory is all that matters. You can have a SL1 character who collects 200k souls, then another that spends those souls just on levels and is level 60 or whatever that'd get you, and they'll still be able to co-op/pvp together. I think it sucks, but that's how it works.
Cool, I'll give it a shot solo. I know the strategy, I guess I just was not confident enough in my abilities but I can probably do it. Anybody have any thoughts on poison vs. bleed on a twin-blade? I guess if I go poison I could supplement that with some pyromancy and do a poison themed guy. Not much else for bleed in the way of RP stuff is there?
I'd go for poison if you're set on putting a status on your twinblade. The 2h R1 on twinblade hits so many times it's pretty easy to apply poison with if you can hit it all. I honestly wouldn't suggest putting either on a PvE weapon though. If you're set on poisoning the bosses that are susceptible you can do it via throwing knives or poison arrows pretty easily, but having a poison weapon just makes a lot of enemies "harder" because you could just be killing them in fewer hits with a weapon that still has its higher base damage.
Maybe carry 2 twinblades, one with poison?
Bleed is too hard to apply for how good it is imo.
Got an advance copy so installing DS2 for PC now, anyone got anything they want me to check out in it like options etc?
Also I played through up to just past the iron lord and smelter demon on 360 with sword and board but found it slow going and pretty difficult, any recommendations for a slightly easier time? Happy to do any kind of build really, just want something that makes PvE a bit easier so I can get through to the end without getting bored and giving up!
So, if scaling is static, does that mean its better to go with the base stats and buffing the weapon instead?
Sev: Your gameplay is the most heavily yomi based around. Usually you look for characters that allow you to force guessing situations for big dmg. Even if the guess is mathematically nowhere near in your favor lol. You're happiest when you have either a 50/50, 33/33/33 or even a 75/25 situation to go crazy with. And you will take big risks to force those situations to come up.
We already saw the PC version on the Giantbomb video. It doesn't look like the original videos, but it looks better than the console versions and more importantly runs at a fluid 60 FPS with low load times. It's the best version of the game.
@Hiryu02 whether you should infuse a weapon is almost entirely up to which weapon it is and your stats. Blacksteel Katana has a crazy high DEX scaling, so infusing it wrecks that. Defender's Greatsword on the other hand has very average STR scaling, but when given Lightning gets a monstrous S Lightning Scaling.
IMO there's usually not a reason to infuse non-specialized weapons for maximum output. For example, if you're a FTH build, Defender's Greatsword is THE weapon you want with Lightning Infuse. Nothing is better. If you're an INT build, Moonlight Greatsword or powerstanced Blue Flames are THE best options you have. Moonlight for dealing all magic damage and having a great moveset with good scaling, Blue Flames because you can crystal magic weapon 2 of them at a time by using them both as catalysts. Moonlight is weaker now that you can't buff it, but it needed to be nerfed.
An exception is for Hexers, because they really don't have a go to weapon to put dark on the way FTH and INT do. Sacred Chime Hammer is good but requires too much STR investment for a lot of dark builds. Washing Pole is the most popular dark infuse weapon for Dark magic PvP builds because it has ridiculous range and a great moveset.
Weapon buffs are a different story altogether, because they're not mutually exclusive with infuses. They're just flat damage plus a % increase to that element. So when you use Resonant Weapon on your already dark weapon, you're getting the 50 flat damage or whatever but you're also increasing all your dark damage by 50% while it's active, so your melee attacks scale insanely well with your dark bonus with it on.
Infuses are not a no brainer for STR or DEX builds that don't use any INT/FTH though.
I didn't mean infuses per se, more on buffs like resonant weapon, CMW, etc.
Goddamn I can't wait to get home and try some experiments out.
Sev: Your gameplay is the most heavily yomi based around. Usually you look for characters that allow you to force guessing situations for big dmg. Even if the guess is mathematically nowhere near in your favor lol. You're happiest when you have either a 50/50, 33/33/33 or even a 75/25 situation to go crazy with. And you will take big risks to force those situations to come up.
Weapon buffs are just flat out always good, but they also synergize with elemental damage on weapons. Example:
Plain weapon that deals 0 Lightning damage. Add Sunlight Blade(50 Lightning damage, +30% Lightning damage). Now that weapon deals 65 additional Lightning Damage.
Lightning infused weapon that deals 100 Lightning damage. Add Sunlight blade, and that weapon now deals 195 Lightning damage, because lightning damage it already does gets the 30% increase as well as the 50 flat you get.
It gets pretty crazy. My Defender's Greatsword has Sunlight Blade built in as a special attack, and when I apply the Lightning to the already 250+ Lightning damage the thing deals, I routinely hit enemies for 700+ with it 1 handed.
Joshmvii on
0
Options
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
What is a good base for a dual wield Blue Flames build?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
19 STR, 22 DEX(requirements to power stance Blue Flames, then 40+ INT then whatever you want in terms of survivability. It's a pretty fun build, because even though Blue Flames don't have extremely good magic scaling even when magic infused, the fact that they work as catalysts and you can use them to crystal magic weapon each other gives you some serious melee damage output when power stancing them.
If I recall, with CMW on their spell damage when used as a catalyst is second only to staff of wisdom, even outpacing the S scaling Staff of Amana, despite the magic blue flame only having C magic scaling. It's because with CMW on it gets like 50 dmg+30% overall magic damage, and that pumps the spells you cast through it too.
The Blue Flame is something I wanna try out one day.
The ultimate question is: How's the durability usage on casting?
Typically weapons with (strong) special attacks consume a ton of durability, like the Dragonslayer Spear, Defender/Watcher Sword etc. So without the Bracing Knuckle Ring you can only use those a few times.
So, if scaling is static, does that mean its better to go with the base stats and buffing the weapon instead?
No, the static part is in relation to the base damage, not your stats. It still scales with your stats. Base damage is just no longer part of the formula.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Posts
Excellent!
So that interview is very misleading.
Faith/strength is a good build that will let you put out a lot of damage. Do not neglect Vit and End, though. You'll want to get your Attunement up to at least 19 for 5 spell slots, or 23 for 6.
You want my advice for making the run easier and faster? Boost your pyromancy flame. Do not skip the Depths; run down there to free the pyromancer, hoof it back to Firelink, and get your pyromancy flame up to something like +10 before you go to Blighttown. Speak to the old witch in the swamps and use her to advance your flame past that point. Ascend the flame when you can. Buy Fire Whip and Great Combustion. Do not worry about the others as much. Make sure to get Power Within.
Pyromancy is not stat-dependent in any way, and all of its power comes from your pyromancy flame and whatever buffs you have. Pyromancy fits easily into any build, and you already have a flame so you might as well use it.
Get the Crown of Dusk when you can; you'll take more magic damage but you'll be able to mitigate that with a decent shield (I recommend the Crescent Shield, upgraded, for NG). Get the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring.
Fight regular enemies however you want. Put lightning on a cool sword, or a hammer, or whatever. Remember that buffs like Sunlight Sword and what have you give more benefit to weapons that hit faster, so don't be afraid to buff a smallish sword with decent strength scaling and go to town with it. Power Within is percentage-based, though, so you get a flat DPS increase, which means you can use it according to taste.
When you are fighting bosses? Put on your pretty princess tiara, your pretty blue dragon ring, turn on Power Within, and burn them down. Larger enemies, including almost all bosses, get hit with Flame Whip twice when it's fired from about a body length away. This will tear apart the vast, overwhelming majority of bosses, and for the one or two that don't you'll be able to kill them with your lightning axe or what have you. When you run out of the whip, use Great Combustion.
I don't know if Miracles are good at damage. I kind of assume they can be.
Anyway, yeah, as a guy who's about to beat NG+: fire will serve you through the entire thing, no questions asked, and will slot easily into any build you want. It takes a lot of investment (something like 340k souls to fully upgrade your flame) but it is completely worth it.
It was never really feasibly possible though all things considered. The ring of binding in this game is actually more powerful than the one from Demon's Souls, so honestly you should just never be popping effigies during your first playthrough of the game unless you're at a boss fog and you already know you're going to need to summon help for it. And even then, there are 3 rings of life protection and 2 rings of soul protection PER playthrough so as long as you can afford a few thousand souls for each death you can just wear those if you think you'll die a lot, or wear them to protect your humanity on bosses.
IMO the only chance you really have of running out of effigies is if you're a build who sucks at killing Darklurker and are determined to do so. I wouldn't know because sunlight spear and great lightning spears killed her on NG and NG+ before she could even split.
The reason I ask is that I destroyed the dude on NG, and never even though about it. But on NG+, I actually had a pretty hard time with him, and it was because after I killed the little guys, the first thing he'd do is the head charge and it hits quite hard on NG+. I tried dodging it so many different ways and failed every time. Eventually I just 2 hand shield blocked it and then got under his feet and killed him, but I really want to know how you dodge that attack. Every time I felt like the dodge should've avoided the damage I still took it.
Honestly, I'll probably never kill him on any other playthroughs because what the hell do I care about acid surge, but still. It's the only boss attack in the game that gave me such fits with the dodge timing, and who knows, I might decide to kill him on a character that doesn't have a shield at some point.
So regarding Vendrick.
Also, about those Souls of a Giant. Details are in the grammar. "Can be used to acquire souls, only..."
That, to me, says "It can be used to acquire souls, buuuuuut...", not that "it can ONLY be used to acquire souls."
It's a bit weird. I saw someone on reddit do tests and you go back to full even at 50% less health, as in as far as you can hollow normally.
I wonder if it's different at the "wretch" sin level which allows you to go down to 10% health by hollowing or if it's just still bugged.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
Ha, no. That's the bad part. Dark Flame only scales up till 50%, not any further. And even then I think it's only slightly better than the normal Pyromancy flame.
Here's the details:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/22tdai/info_pyro_flame_comparisons_v20/
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
Is pyromancy as powerful in Dark Souls 2 as it is in this game? Because I wanna know.
Miracles, Sorceries, Hexes and Pyromancy are pretty god damn powerful in PVE. Probably a lot easier than sword and board or any kind of shield-less melee run.
Just don't expect it to be that great in PVE, they're hard hitting but easy to dodge.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
I'm not even that into the PvP in these games and I still think they dropped the ball hard with soul memory. IMO they should've either 1) Made Soul Memory only count for souls you invest in to levels or gear upgrades, or 2) Made soul memory work up to like SL 120(to protect the newbies from twinks which is what soul memory was even for I think), and then just made matchmaking only based on soul level after that point.
PvP is not fun when nobody has to make sacrifices in their builds.
If you go to 4:05 in this video, you'll also see a great example of why healing items should be disabled in arena. This havelmage gets just worked and outplayed so hard, and Yukas killed him like 5 times over without resorting to healing himself. I just don't understand why you can use healing items in arena. If red phantoms can't use them when invading, and you couldn't heal in dark souls 1 arena, why the change? Just seems pointless.
Either that other guy is cheating or whoever is playing does crap all for damage.
I've done almost all my PVP with full havels and 50 Vigor/Vit/End/Adapt. If you get hit without blocking, even fast, low damage weapons like knifes or shortswords will do quite a bit of damage. As in, at least 3-4 times as much as the player in the video does.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
You'll notice the power stance attacks come out pretty fast. The reason this is is that power stance works with a priority system that determines which hand your weapon is in. What it results in is stuff where you can power stance an ultra greatsword and a greataxe and get a faster powerstance moveset than you can with for example 2 ultra greatswords.
There is a weird oddity in that the Bandit Greataxe results in the straight sword power stance moveset no matter which hand it's wielded in(unless you wield it with another greataxe). So you can pair the bandit greataxe with the super long ultra greatsword or great club and get a super long range insanely fast straight sword power stance moveset. Likely it's a bug with that weapon having a unique moveset, but it's worth noting.
Original link
http://fextralife.com/forums/t29784/the-power-stance--all-you-need-to-know-research-complete/
Reddit post
http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/23155w/guide_all_you_need_to_know_about_power_stance/
I already burn people to death in PVP in the first game, I can't imagine it's going to be that much worse in the sequel (especially because I always pack an axe for back-up)
Yeah it sounds like I'll be going pyromancer again; I just like the lore flavor of it more than anything. Being stupidly, stupidly powerful is just a bonus.
It's not particularly good in PvP though outside of sneaking in a forbidden sun after a parry or if you can really catch somebody off guard. It's nigh impossible to land flame swathe or any other good pyromancies on a player.
I don't think that guy is cheating. He's just a much higher SL than Yukas and in full Havel's. If you watch any decent amount of BoB duels, you'll see matchups where a SL 130-150 hits a SL300+ and that's basically what it looks like.
Most of these guys like Yukas are running builds that have 50 Vigor, and they don't have a ton of stats in damage. They just rely on surviving and hit and run to win, so when they run up against somebody in very high defense gear, what's in the video is exactly what it looks like.
Hmmm. They really need to do something about Soul Memory then.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
I've had mostly the same situation, only in NG+. I kinda think that for whatever reason there's a lot more pople needing help than people putting down summon signs right now, so they go away so fast that you won't even see them.
If that's not it then I have no idea what's going on there.
Which bosses have you beaten yet?
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
I think most people agree that Soul Memory was a sledgehammer solution for a problem that could've been handle with a tiny finishing nail. They wanted to keep people from twinking and killing newbies in invasions with a low SL, but instead of just making soul memory only work up to a certain SL or making soul memory only count for souls you've spent on levels, equip upgrades, spells, etc. they just used this hamfisted solution that causes way more problems than it solves.
- It ruins locked SL PvP at least in invasions and what not long-term, making people create new characters unless all they do is BoB duels.
- It can ruin coordinated co-op. There's been reports of people doing organized co-op with a friend, getting invaded by a mega mule, killing them, the host gets 500k souls even if their soul memory is only like 50k at the time, their buddy gets like 150k, but now the friends can't co-op.
- Megamules in general circumvent it anyway. They have all spells, upgraded gear, etc. and have no soul memory because the souls they get from the edited save don't count towards SM.
With this character I've cleared Forest of Fallen Giants, Heide's Tower of Flame and Lost Bastille although I didn't do Sinner's Rise yet. I am trying to get to the Dull Ember as fast as I can.
I posted something that was kind of a precursor to this some time ago here at PA. My discovery was mainly in relation to how the disparate weapon classes could be powerstanced together as well as the moveset hierarchy.
I did not discover the R1 priority moveset override, though. This is quite intesting and I'm curious to see what will replicate this effect along with my +10 ultra greatsword.
Game gets more and more interesting. Its so much like a fighting game in this sense.
Solution: put the blades away for that fight and equip a mace. Solo city.
Soul memory works both ways, so if you're getting summoned but not being summoned, it's not a soul memory issue. It's a "other people aren't putting down summon signs" issue. I think most people don't drop a summon sign at that boss because it's actually a super cake boss once you realize what not to do. In case you don't realize, on that boss what you want to do is kill one skeleton lord, then kill the 4 adds it spawns, then kill a 2nd skeleton lord, then kill the adds it spawns, repeat. You also want to save the one that I think starts on the far right and casts magic for last, because that's the one that spawns the bonewheel skeletons and they're so much easier to deal with when there's no big guys left and all you have to do is smash them one at a time as they spawn.
The first time I did that fight blind I just started smashing the big guys and got overrun by little guys, and it took me a couple attempts to realize it wasn't a timing based thing. The fight is all about control, and the skeleton lords themselves honestly do pitiful damage even on NG+ and beyond.
Edit: Also, since you mentioned level, I'd take the opportunity to let you know that soul level has no factor in co-op and PvP. It's 100% soul memory. I know we thought it was SL and SM, but it's not. Extensive testing was done in a reddit thread that showed on both NG and NG+, soul memory is all that matters. You can have a SL1 character who collects 200k souls, then another that spends those souls just on levels and is level 60 or whatever that'd get you, and they'll still be able to co-op/pvp together. I think it sucks, but that's how it works.
Maybe carry 2 twinblades, one with poison?
Bleed is too hard to apply for how good it is imo.
Also I played through up to just past the iron lord and smelter demon on 360 with sword and board but found it slow going and pretty difficult, any recommendations for a slightly easier time? Happy to do any kind of build really, just want something that makes PvE a bit easier so I can get through to the end without getting bored and giving up!
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/04/17/dark-souls-2-pc-port-mod-god-durantes-verdict/
I retract my disappointment. If Durante gives it a thumbs up, then I'm satisfied.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
So, if scaling is static, does that mean its better to go with the base stats and buffing the weapon instead?
@Hiryu02 whether you should infuse a weapon is almost entirely up to which weapon it is and your stats. Blacksteel Katana has a crazy high DEX scaling, so infusing it wrecks that. Defender's Greatsword on the other hand has very average STR scaling, but when given Lightning gets a monstrous S Lightning Scaling.
IMO there's usually not a reason to infuse non-specialized weapons for maximum output. For example, if you're a FTH build, Defender's Greatsword is THE weapon you want with Lightning Infuse. Nothing is better. If you're an INT build, Moonlight Greatsword or powerstanced Blue Flames are THE best options you have. Moonlight for dealing all magic damage and having a great moveset with good scaling, Blue Flames because you can crystal magic weapon 2 of them at a time by using them both as catalysts. Moonlight is weaker now that you can't buff it, but it needed to be nerfed.
An exception is for Hexers, because they really don't have a go to weapon to put dark on the way FTH and INT do. Sacred Chime Hammer is good but requires too much STR investment for a lot of dark builds. Washing Pole is the most popular dark infuse weapon for Dark magic PvP builds because it has ridiculous range and a great moveset.
Weapon buffs are a different story altogether, because they're not mutually exclusive with infuses. They're just flat damage plus a % increase to that element. So when you use Resonant Weapon on your already dark weapon, you're getting the 50 flat damage or whatever but you're also increasing all your dark damage by 50% while it's active, so your melee attacks scale insanely well with your dark bonus with it on.
Infuses are not a no brainer for STR or DEX builds that don't use any INT/FTH though.
Goddamn I can't wait to get home and try some experiments out.
Plain weapon that deals 0 Lightning damage. Add Sunlight Blade(50 Lightning damage, +30% Lightning damage). Now that weapon deals 65 additional Lightning Damage.
Lightning infused weapon that deals 100 Lightning damage. Add Sunlight blade, and that weapon now deals 195 Lightning damage, because lightning damage it already does gets the 30% increase as well as the 50 flat you get.
It gets pretty crazy. My Defender's Greatsword has Sunlight Blade built in as a special attack, and when I apply the Lightning to the already 250+ Lightning damage the thing deals, I routinely hit enemies for 700+ with it 1 handed.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
If I recall, with CMW on their spell damage when used as a catalyst is second only to staff of wisdom, even outpacing the S scaling Staff of Amana, despite the magic blue flame only having C magic scaling. It's because with CMW on it gets like 50 dmg+30% overall magic damage, and that pumps the spells you cast through it too.
The ultimate question is: How's the durability usage on casting?
Typically weapons with (strong) special attacks consume a ton of durability, like the Dragonslayer Spear, Defender/Watcher Sword etc. So without the Bracing Knuckle Ring you can only use those a few times.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
No, the static part is in relation to the base damage, not your stats. It still scales with your stats. Base damage is just no longer part of the formula.