Forgot the dlc came out , went ahead and started my favorite build which for some reason I never did in 3 . For melee pyro what weapons do you guys used before you can chaos infuse? Just upgrade the deep axe till you get the ember?
I used the Astora Straight Sword + Fire for most of the game. I'm currently looking for something new to use before the DLC lands. I hear that the Lothric Knight Sword is basically the Baller Swag reborn, and gets B/B Int/Fai with Chaos/Dark. I might try that out tonight.
Ohhh yeah forgot about LKS. And it does have the ballers moveset , excellent suggestion.
Lothric Knight Sword is always great, but depending on how you want to focus your stats early on, it does have a caveat: that 18 DEX to equip can be harsh, whereas a Raw Astora and even the plain old Longsword (which both have similar animation sets to the LKS) will outdamage it, and both can be equipped by a starting Pyromancer with only 1 level into DEX.
But I'll also throw out a wildcard suggestion to go with Raw Astora: the Dark Hand.
A patch a while back drastically boosted its base damage, and its damage scales based on both INT and FTH. It weighs nothing, requires no upgrading, and does Dark damage, which helps in certain areas before you gain access to Dark pyromancies (unless you go the quick and nasty way to get them). It seriously does ludicrous damage with even modest investment in INT/FTH, which you'll be leveling as a Pyro anyway. I managed to get ahold of it shortly into Farron Keep when I was at only 20ish INT/FTH, and I was doing 300+ damage a hit with it. Yeah it's short range, but when you're one- and two-shotting everything at SL40, it doesn't really matter how close you get.
korodullin on
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Is that the dark hand special attack or the dark hand regular punch? When I was giving my Yuria cosplay build a try I had it in my offhand with darkdrift in my main, and I could never hit anything with the dark hand ever in a million years. Unless I was right up on it and even then the windup was such that if they moved at all it would inevitably whiff entirely.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
I picked up the season pass over the weekend. Not a bad choice. This DLC isn't as meaty as the next one will be, but it's still really good and the enemies/bosses are a nice challenge.
I hope, one day, to actually have time in my life to play the DLC. Spending all day at work wanting to, and then coming home and not getting to, was kinda depressing.
I'm keeping my expectations in check going forward. I may get a chance to dig in sometime before I die.
Jesus Christ at lvl 50 the dlc is destroying me . Well the bosses / mini bosses do anyway . That said I did pick up a super hard hitting int/ faith weapon. Maybe it will be better then upgrading a chaos weapon after all.
Welp maxed that weapon out due to my surplus twinkling and it's a beast , built in buff too it's crazy .
EspantaPajaro on
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firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
Haha yeah I'm getting wrecked up at lvl 99. Tough stuff. I can put out heaps of damage, but my god these bad boys hit real, real hard.
I was initially put off by the "yo it's real short" stuff I've been reading, but then I remembered I'm pretty garbo, and one persons 5-6 hours would probably be double for me! Also the season pass was like $21 on gmg so what the hell right? I'd end up buying them both eventually. Early DLC areas are gorgeous too!
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
I picked up the season pass over the weekend. Not a bad choice. This DLC isn't as meaty as the next one will be, but it's still really good and the enemies/bosses are a nice challenge.
the millwood battle axe heavy infused at 60 strength does just shy of 500 AR
that is some solid, grown ass damage
It was my impression that heavy infusions are never worth it, even at 99 str/20 Dex, compared to refined infusions
Has that been tweaked?
I noticed that the axe at +8 was out damaging the rebalanced Dark Sword at +10, which is pretty swell.
A few weapons, like the Great Club, benefit greatly from a Heavy infusion and 66 STR (which jumps to 99 when you two-hand it). I imagine the Machete does as well, if you want to use a low-level version of the "offhand Yhorm's greataxe" meta setup.
STR builds and occasional Heavy infusions are generally perfectly viable and can save a good 14-20+ points that you'd have to invest into DEX for a quality build to obtain similar damage.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
On the other hand, I'm still looking for a fun and PvE-viable FAI/INT weapon. That, or I should just ditch the pyro entirely and learn to kill bosses the right and proper way.
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
On the other hand, I'm still looking for a fun and PvE-viable FAI/INT weapon. That, or I should just ditch the pyro entirely and learn to kill bosses the right and proper way.
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
There you are in luck ! There is a super good one in the dlc !
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No-QuarterNothing To FearBut Fear ItselfRegistered Userregular
I've had to time to play test and experiment.
I've been rocking a Bastard Sword (Stomp) and Black Knight Shield, and Poise works pretty reliably now if you equip/ specc for it.
The real crunchy bits from the patch are the "improved animations" buffs that up the swingspeed on multiple weapon variants. I can't tell you how many enemy types I had an ungodly time with before (looking at you Irithyl Knights), that are now far easier due to not getting stun-locked and being able to respond due to slow swing speed.
I'm around level 63 and I can only make slight progress in Ashes, the enemies in the beginning areas are killable, but rip heapin' hankerings out of my lifebar.
I've been rocking a Bastard Sword (Stomp) and Black Knight Shield, and Poise works pretty reliably now if you equip/ specc for it.
The real crunchy bits from the patch are the "improved animations" buffs that up the swingspeed on multiple weapon variants. I can't tell you how many enemy types I had an ungodly time with before (looking at you Irithyl Knights), that are now far easier due to not getting stun-locked and being able to respond due to slow swing speed.
I'm around level 63 and I can only make slight progress in Ashes, the enemies in the beginning areas are killable, but rip heapin' hankerings out of my lifebar.
The damage stays constant through the dlc. I reached the last phase of the last boss at lvl 50 but got killed . I'm doing the rest of the game to level up and relax while I wait for my sodium to lower from the critical levels right now. Also if anyone is wondering the onyx blades self buff does fire dmg but base is dark so perfect to roleplay a dark pyro. Cause we all know Karla is waifu.
i just hit the same point and i too am contemplating leaving the boss of the dlc for later
it sure is a thing to behold
It's a marathon fight which is my weakest and when i got the I had 14 int/faith so I did no dmg. Problem of doing chip dmg is that when you die at the end it makes everything worse.
On the other hand, I'm still looking for a fun and PvE-viable FAI/INT weapon. That, or I should just ditch the pyro entirely and learn to kill bosses the right and proper way.
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
Pre-DLC, Witch's Locks and Old Demon King's great hammer are pretty much the only two pyro-focused INT/FTH weapons.
But don't forget there's nothing stopping you from using INT-scaling weapons like Greatsword of Judgement or Moonlight Greatsword. They work A-OK on a Pyro.
That said, if your STR and DEX are "minimum for equipment" low, simply infusing a weapon with Raw and using Flame Arc is still very viable. The Astora Straight Sword only has the baller Raw scaling until about +6, which is when everything else begins to overtake it.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
On the other hand, I'm still looking for a fun and PvE-viable FAI/INT weapon. That, or I should just ditch the pyro entirely and learn to kill bosses the right and proper way.
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
Pre-DLC, Witch's Locks and Old Demon King's great hammer are pretty much the only two pyro-focused INT/FTH weapons.
But don't forget there's nothing stopping you from using INT-scaling weapons like Greatsword of Judgement or Moonlight Greatsword. They work A-OK on a Pyro.
That said, if your STR and DEX are "minimum for equipment" low, simply infusing a weapon with Raw and using Flame Arc is still very viable. The Astora Straight Sword only has the baller Raw scaling until about +6, which is when everything else begins to overtake it.
Infusing with Chaos or Dark adds INT/FAI scaling to things, but the hard part is finding that confluence of:
- Things that have minimum STR/DEX requirements, as all my points are in... not those
- Get decent scaling from the infusion
- Have a moveset I like
I generally just lob spells for bosses, but there's not enough Ashen Estus in the world to let you sling spells willy-nilly on your way to a boss, so generally I want something that I can use to get from point A to B with minimal FP usage. I don't even use weapon arts: gotta save every point for lobbing those Vestiges.
On the other hand, I'm still looking for a fun and PvE-viable FAI/INT weapon. That, or I should just ditch the pyro entirely and learn to kill bosses the right and proper way.
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
Pre-DLC, Witch's Locks and Old Demon King's great hammer are pretty much the only two pyro-focused INT/FTH weapons.
But don't forget there's nothing stopping you from using INT-scaling weapons like Greatsword of Judgement or Moonlight Greatsword. They work A-OK on a Pyro.
That said, if your STR and DEX are "minimum for equipment" low, simply infusing a weapon with Raw and using Flame Arc is still very viable. The Astora Straight Sword only has the baller Raw scaling until about +6, which is when everything else begins to overtake it.
Infusing with Chaos or Dark adds INT/FAI scaling to things, but the hard part is finding that confluence of:
- Things that have minimum STR/DEX requirements, as all my points are in... not those
- Get decent scaling from the infusion
- Have a moveset I like
I generally just lob spells for bosses, but there's not enough Ashen Estus in the world to let you sling spells willy-nilly on your way to a boss, so generally I want something that I can use to get from point A to B with minimal FP usage. I don't even use weapon arts: gotta save every point for lobbing those Vestiges.
Most straight swords tend to have low requirements and work well with infusions. Broadsword is a favorite, but the longsword works great as well. Same with most 1h axes. The bastard sword only needs 2 STR and 1 DEX from the starting Pyromancer's stats to use. Rapier and Estoc need 12 DEX, but that's a good number to shoot for to unlock items anyway. 16/12 STR/DEX opens up the Halberd as well.
The only weapons that gain an A ranking from Chaos/Dark infusions are: Astora Greatsword, Murakumo, Carthus Curved Greatsword, Winged Spear, and the Great Corvian Scythe; they all require heavy investment in at least DEX. Almost everything else is B-ranking.
korodullin on
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
On the other hand, I'm still looking for a fun and PvE-viable FAI/INT weapon. That, or I should just ditch the pyro entirely and learn to kill bosses the right and proper way.
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
Pre-DLC, Witch's Locks and Old Demon King's great hammer are pretty much the only two pyro-focused INT/FTH weapons.
But don't forget there's nothing stopping you from using INT-scaling weapons like Greatsword of Judgement or Moonlight Greatsword. They work A-OK on a Pyro.
That said, if your STR and DEX are "minimum for equipment" low, simply infusing a weapon with Raw and using Flame Arc is still very viable. The Astora Straight Sword only has the baller Raw scaling until about +6, which is when everything else begins to overtake it.
Infusing with Chaos or Dark adds INT/FAI scaling to things, but the hard part is finding that confluence of:
- Things that have minimum STR/DEX requirements, as all my points are in... not those
- Get decent scaling from the infusion
- Have a moveset I like
I generally just lob spells for bosses, but there's not enough Ashen Estus in the world to let you sling spells willy-nilly on your way to a boss, so generally I want something that I can use to get from point A to B with minimal FP usage. I don't even use weapon arts: gotta save every point for lobbing those Vestiges.
Do you have 14 str? Do you have 12 dex? If so congratulations ! The Onyx blade is for you ! All the power ( and moveset) of the claymore with int and fth scaling plus a selff buff! That said like I said above the buff is fire dmg and the base is dark so it will be split. Only weighs like 9 units too so its light compared to other GS.
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Played the DLC for about 2 hours, SL 120 NG+, wearing Darkmoon covenant the whole time. Not summoned once. Sigh. I don't know if I'm too high level, if it's some network issue on my end or what.
Well I tried to get some more proofs of a concord kept with my farming build, which is a luck build with enough faith/str/dex to buff my astora greatsword with blessed weapon and OHKO the spear silver knight with a riposte. The other two knights get taken down by fully charged R2's.
After forever, I found 2 proofs. Which brings me to 24 proofs....
This is my main character that's level 100. I think I'm going to respec back to normal and just hope I get summoned (don't have much hope...but maybe a surge of players for the DLC will help).
I almost think that your 120, and I fear my 100 as well, might potentially be in a poor spot. Too high to be grouped with people rolling new characters and rolling through the DLC zone with a lower level build, and too low for people who have been engorging themselves on levels this whole time.
So that's (I think) all the optional content in the DLC down. All in all it's a solid meh.
It's basically 2.1 zones, one cool boss that they chose to make difficult in a frustrating way rather than a fun way, and one boss that relies entirely on nudging you about how cool Dark Souls 1 was remember Dark Souls 1 and all the cool stuff you loved from Dark Souls 1 boy that was a great game wasn't it?
None of the enemies were really that interesting, and the snowy setting was done better in both previous games. There were some cool setpiece rooms and some legitimately creepy environments, but that was too low a percentage of the entirety.
Artorias
Ivory King
Old Iron King
Sunken King
Ariandel
I discovered something both interesting and annoying right after the patch last week.
Used to be there was a fog wall blocking you from going past the hall with the Witch's Ring into Smouldering Lake from Carthus if you had summons or invaders; you had to fight Wolnir and maybe the demon under the bridge.
Now? I get people summoning me all the time at Wolnir to go down into the Lake instead since that fog wall is no longer there.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
So that's (I think) all the optional content in the DLC down. All in all it's a solid meh.
It's basically 2.1 zones, one cool boss that they chose to make difficult in a frustrating way rather than a fun way, and one boss that relies entirely on nudging you about how cool Dark Souls 1 was remember Dark Souls 1 and all the cool stuff you loved from Dark Souls 1 boy that was a great game wasn't it?
None of the enemies were really that interesting, and the snowy setting was done better in both previous games. There were some cool setpiece rooms and some legitimately creepy environments, but that was too low a percentage of the entirety.
Artorias
Ivory King
Old Iron King
Sunken King
Ariandel
This was my biggest problem with DS3 in general. Story-wise it was all just DS1 fan service. But mechanical it was a DS2 and Bloodborne and level-wise it was internal complex areas strung out one after another just like DS2. But DS2 gets a ton of shit for that and DS3 just gets a pass? I mean, really I'm just salty because I would have liked the game so much more if it ever stood on it's own instead of leaning on DS1 so much.
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firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
I'm enjoying the DLC, mostly since it's an excuse to get back into DS3, but it's a rough followup to old hunters (which I thought was simply phenomenal).
Made a new character for the DLC. It's my first DS3 quality build. My go-to weapons thus far (just reached Irithyll) are a +5 Lucerne that I might make Refined later if I don't settle on a better option for it, a +4 Fire Red-Hilted Halberd for when I need to burn things, and my main: +2 Hollowslayer Greatsword.
The Hollowslayer wrecks things. This is by far the easiest run I've had through any Souls game, and it's not just because my skill has improved. Those blue cathedral knights in Cathedral of the Deep would fall to two hits -- a backstab followed by a charged R2 as they get back up. I obliterated the spider demon thing in there with a single stamina bar combo.
The only things that have posed any challenge so far at all have been the Cursed Greatwood (I forever and always hate that boss) and the Suhlvayn's Beast, which I wound up poking to death with the fire halberd in a rather lengthy battle.
I have a bunch of other weapons I'd love to try out, like the Exile Greatsword and misc other polearms, but it's hard to see much of a need to change things. I did get the Wolf Knight's Greatsword, but I lack the Scale to upgrade it, so even with its bonus damage vs. Abyssal I'm still better off with my other choices for the moment.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
The best way to beat her alone is with a bleed weapon (the uchinigata from the sword master is popular). Bleed procs ultimately do most of the damage. The hard part is to avoid her hits, since she can combo you down super easy as a lowbie.
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
So that's (I think) all the optional content in the DLC down. All in all it's a solid meh.
It's basically 2.1 zones, one cool boss that they chose to make difficult in a frustrating way rather than a fun way, and one boss that relies entirely on nudging you about how cool Dark Souls 1 was remember Dark Souls 1 and all the cool stuff you loved from Dark Souls 1 boy that was a great game wasn't it?
None of the enemies were really that interesting, and the snowy setting was done better in both previous games. There were some cool setpiece rooms and some legitimately creepy environments, but that was too low a percentage of the entirety.
Artorias
Ivory King
Old Iron King
Sunken King
Ariandel
This was my biggest problem with DS3 in general. Story-wise it was all just DS1 fan service. But mechanical it was a DS2 and Bloodborne and level-wise it was internal complex areas strung out one after another just like DS2. But DS2 gets a ton of shit for that and DS3 just gets a pass? I mean, really I'm just salty because I would have liked the game so much more if it ever stood on it's own instead of leaning on DS1 so much.
If the back half of DS1 didn't take a dive off the cliff in to the meh pool I'd probably understand the nostalgia boner for it more. It's an excellent game, but given how uneven the back half is I just can't get behind it being a better total experience than DS2 and 3. I've certainly spent exponentially less time with it and will never do the back half of that game ever again. I'd do another full play through of DS2 or 3 in a heartbeat before I'd ever do Demon Ruins or Tomb of the Giants again. They are badly designed areas that happen to house two of the worst bosses in all of Dark Souls (Ceaseless Discharge and Bed of Chaos). You can tell how much From was struggling for time to finish that game. The attention to detail and quality shown in everything pre-Lord Vessel just falls off a cliff.
I can totally get behind the first half of that game being transcendent though. When I do pick up DS1 for a new play through I always quit right after I get the Lord Vessel and just pretend that's the "end".
As it is DS3 is the game I prefer to dump the most time in to in the series at this point. Mostly because I've burnt out on DS2.
Posts
Lothric Knight Sword is always great, but depending on how you want to focus your stats early on, it does have a caveat: that 18 DEX to equip can be harsh, whereas a Raw Astora and even the plain old Longsword (which both have similar animation sets to the LKS) will outdamage it, and both can be equipped by a starting Pyromancer with only 1 level into DEX.
But I'll also throw out a wildcard suggestion to go with Raw Astora: the Dark Hand.
A patch a while back drastically boosted its base damage, and its damage scales based on both INT and FTH. It weighs nothing, requires no upgrading, and does Dark damage, which helps in certain areas before you gain access to Dark pyromancies (unless you go the quick and nasty way to get them). It seriously does ludicrous damage with even modest investment in INT/FTH, which you'll be leveling as a Pyro anyway. I managed to get ahold of it shortly into Farron Keep when I was at only 20ish INT/FTH, and I was doing 300+ damage a hit with it. Yeah it's short range, but when you're one- and two-shotting everything at SL40, it doesn't really matter how close you get.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
I'm keeping my expectations in check going forward. I may get a chance to dig in sometime before I die.
Welp maxed that weapon out due to my surplus twinkling and it's a beast , built in buff too it's crazy .
I was initially put off by the "yo it's real short" stuff I've been reading, but then I remembered I'm pretty garbo, and one persons 5-6 hours would probably be double for me! Also the season pass was like $21 on gmg so what the hell right? I'd end up buying them both eventually. Early DLC areas are gorgeous too!
What do we know about the second DLC?
that is some solid, grown ass damage
It was my impression that heavy infusions are never worth it, even at 99 str/20 Dex, compared to refined infusions
Has that been tweaked?
I noticed that the axe at +8 was out damaging the rebalanced Dark Sword at +10, which is pretty swell.
anything with negligible base dex scaling infused with heavy tends to do better than, or on par with, refined
now dex builds... dex builds are essentially non-existent
A few weapons, like the Great Club, benefit greatly from a Heavy infusion and 66 STR (which jumps to 99 when you two-hand it). I imagine the Machete does as well, if you want to use a low-level version of the "offhand Yhorm's greataxe" meta setup.
STR builds and occasional Heavy infusions are generally perfectly viable and can save a good 14-20+ points that you'd have to invest into DEX for a quality build to obtain similar damage.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
(Though I still need to rank up moundmakers on my Pyro even though I'm shit at PvP for that last pyromancy for the achievement.)
There you are in luck ! There is a super good one in the dlc !
I've been rocking a Bastard Sword (Stomp) and Black Knight Shield, and Poise works pretty reliably now if you equip/ specc for it.
The real crunchy bits from the patch are the "improved animations" buffs that up the swingspeed on multiple weapon variants. I can't tell you how many enemy types I had an ungodly time with before (looking at you Irithyl Knights), that are now far easier due to not getting stun-locked and being able to respond due to slow swing speed.
I'm around level 63 and I can only make slight progress in Ashes, the enemies in the beginning areas are killable, but rip heapin' hankerings out of my lifebar.
The damage stays constant through the dlc. I reached the last phase of the last boss at lvl 50 but got killed . I'm doing the rest of the game to level up and relax while I wait for my sodium to lower from the critical levels right now. Also if anyone is wondering the onyx blades self buff does fire dmg but base is dark so perfect to roleplay a dark pyro. Cause we all know Karla is waifu.
it sure is a thing to behold
It's a marathon fight which is my weakest and when i got the I had 14 int/faith so I did no dmg. Problem of doing chip dmg is that when you die at the end it makes everything worse.
That's how a lot of people cheese the Dancer early on.
Chip for single digit damage with lowbie gear and stats until bleed procs and hits like a truck.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Pre-DLC, Witch's Locks and Old Demon King's great hammer are pretty much the only two pyro-focused INT/FTH weapons.
But don't forget there's nothing stopping you from using INT-scaling weapons like Greatsword of Judgement or Moonlight Greatsword. They work A-OK on a Pyro.
That said, if your STR and DEX are "minimum for equipment" low, simply infusing a weapon with Raw and using Flame Arc is still very viable. The Astora Straight Sword only has the baller Raw scaling until about +6, which is when everything else begins to overtake it.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Infusing with Chaos or Dark adds INT/FAI scaling to things, but the hard part is finding that confluence of:
- Things that have minimum STR/DEX requirements, as all my points are in... not those
- Get decent scaling from the infusion
- Have a moveset I like
I generally just lob spells for bosses, but there's not enough Ashen Estus in the world to let you sling spells willy-nilly on your way to a boss, so generally I want something that I can use to get from point A to B with minimal FP usage. I don't even use weapon arts: gotta save every point for lobbing those Vestiges.
Most straight swords tend to have low requirements and work well with infusions. Broadsword is a favorite, but the longsword works great as well. Same with most 1h axes. The bastard sword only needs 2 STR and 1 DEX from the starting Pyromancer's stats to use. Rapier and Estoc need 12 DEX, but that's a good number to shoot for to unlock items anyway. 16/12 STR/DEX opens up the Halberd as well.
The only weapons that gain an A ranking from Chaos/Dark infusions are: Astora Greatsword, Murakumo, Carthus Curved Greatsword, Winged Spear, and the Great Corvian Scythe; they all require heavy investment in at least DEX. Almost everything else is B-ranking.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Do you have 14 str? Do you have 12 dex? If so congratulations ! The Onyx blade is for you ! All the power ( and moveset) of the claymore with int and fth scaling plus a selff buff! That said like I said above the buff is fire dmg and the base is dark so it will be split. Only weighs like 9 units too so its light compared to other GS.
Really frustrating.
After forever, I found 2 proofs. Which brings me to 24 proofs....
This is my main character that's level 100. I think I'm going to respec back to normal and just hope I get summoned (don't have much hope...but maybe a surge of players for the DLC will help).
I almost think that your 120, and I fear my 100 as well, might potentially be in a poor spot. Too high to be grouped with people rolling new characters and rolling through the DLC zone with a lower level build, and too low for people who have been engorging themselves on levels this whole time.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
It's basically 2.1 zones, one cool boss that they chose to make difficult in a frustrating way rather than a fun way, and one boss that relies entirely on nudging you about how cool Dark Souls 1 was remember Dark Souls 1 and all the cool stuff you loved from Dark Souls 1 boy that was a great game wasn't it?
None of the enemies were really that interesting, and the snowy setting was done better in both previous games. There were some cool setpiece rooms and some legitimately creepy environments, but that was too low a percentage of the entirety.
Artorias
Ivory King
Old Iron King
Sunken King
Ariandel
1: Fight mr lags alot. All his attacks connect by only 10% of your attacks connect
2: Failed to connect
3: Sir.Lagsalot again
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Used to be there was a fog wall blocking you from going past the hall with the Witch's Ring into Smouldering Lake from Carthus if you had summons or invaders; you had to fight Wolnir and maybe the demon under the bridge.
Now? I get people summoning me all the time at Wolnir to go down into the Lake instead since that fog wall is no longer there.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
This was my biggest problem with DS3 in general. Story-wise it was all just DS1 fan service. But mechanical it was a DS2 and Bloodborne and level-wise it was internal complex areas strung out one after another just like DS2. But DS2 gets a ton of shit for that and DS3 just gets a pass? I mean, really I'm just salty because I would have liked the game so much more if it ever stood on it's own instead of leaning on DS1 so much.
But jesus do these new baddies hit hard or what.
The Hollowslayer wrecks things. This is by far the easiest run I've had through any Souls game, and it's not just because my skill has improved. Those blue cathedral knights in Cathedral of the Deep would fall to two hits -- a backstab followed by a charged R2 as they get back up. I obliterated the spider demon thing in there with a single stamina bar combo.
The only things that have posed any challenge so far at all have been the Cursed Greatwood (I forever and always hate that boss) and the Suhlvayn's Beast, which I wound up poking to death with the fire halberd in a rather lengthy battle.
I have a bunch of other weapons I'd love to try out, like the Exile Greatsword and misc other polearms, but it's hard to see much of a need to change things. I did get the Wolf Knight's Greatsword, but I lack the Scale to upgrade it, so even with its bonus damage vs. Abyssal I'm still better off with my other choices for the moment.
I might not be able to do that alone.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
If the back half of DS1 didn't take a dive off the cliff in to the meh pool I'd probably understand the nostalgia boner for it more. It's an excellent game, but given how uneven the back half is I just can't get behind it being a better total experience than DS2 and 3. I've certainly spent exponentially less time with it and will never do the back half of that game ever again. I'd do another full play through of DS2 or 3 in a heartbeat before I'd ever do Demon Ruins or Tomb of the Giants again. They are badly designed areas that happen to house two of the worst bosses in all of Dark Souls (Ceaseless Discharge and Bed of Chaos). You can tell how much From was struggling for time to finish that game. The attention to detail and quality shown in everything pre-Lord Vessel just falls off a cliff.
I can totally get behind the first half of that game being transcendent though. When I do pick up DS1 for a new play through I always quit right after I get the Lord Vessel and just pretend that's the "end".
As it is DS3 is the game I prefer to dump the most time in to in the series at this point. Mostly because I've burnt out on DS2.