I've seen a lot of complaining about the viability of pure mage builds, but the pure mage with a bit more HP/Stamina with a shield/enchanted sword in the mix I've found to be remarkably effective for PvE and PvP.
You're never going to be regularly landing crystal soul spears left and right in PvP, but with Farron Dart and Flashsword to pair with it give enough variation to keep people guessing along with Homing Crytal Soulmass as a solid opener. Just having a paltry amount above base health and stamina with a decent enchanted weapon lets you at least hang around with the quality/melee builds in a physical fight too.
PvE is a breeze being able to turbo buff even the weakest shields with gms, and the only bosses that actually resist magic damage are also fairly easy to take down just by buffing up your shield and going to work with a resined raw weapon.
I just love the variety you get with the pure int spellsword build. You can hang in melee, buff up your shield to act block like a greatshield and have 100% reduction against everything while still being able to parry/weapon art with it, still hit like a truck with your heavy spells, and bust out quick hitting spells to change up the pace and put opponents on the defensive.
I imagine a good way to go magic assassin, in PVE, would be to start with Aural Decoy, the spell that silences your movement noise, and Magic Weapon, then go for lots of backstabs.
I find it hard to justify Magic Weapon. That requires putting your staff in your off-hand, when you'd probably rather have it in your main hand so you never have to put your shield / parrying stick down. Plus there's always items for buffing, which if you're not focused on Int will be just as effective as the spell anyway.
Magic Shield can be nifty (any stamina savers are nice), but only with a Lingering ring for a worthwhile duration.
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I'm not sure what the first 60 levels would look like, but after a certain point, you could re spec and actually get something out of magic after 60 levels in INT
I imagine a good way to go magic assassin, in PVE, would be to start with Aural Decoy, the spell that silences your movement noise, and Magic Weapon, then go for lots of backstabs.
don't even need that.
start assassin, use spook (the spell you were looking for the name of) and just maneuver behind enemies. if you need to distract them to do so, use a bow or throwing knife to hit a surface nearby with an arrow) same effect as aural decoy afaik).
I watched Distortion2 do a run with Yhorm's Machete yesterday (someone dropped it for him so he could use it from the start).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
I find it hard to justify Magic Weapon. That requires putting your staff in your off-hand, when you'd probably rather have it in your main hand so you never have to put your shield / parrying stick down. Plus there's always items for buffing, which if you're not focused on Int will be just as effective as the spell anyway.
Magic Shield can be nifty (any stamina savers are nice), but only with a Lingering ring for a worthwhile duration.
Well since it's just the buff, you don't need an upgraded staff to get the effect, so you can just have a staff equipped in each hand. Personally I like just using the enchanted weapon though. I know the damage is lower than it would be than using crystal magic weapon on a raw weapon, but even with the lingering ring equipped it still wears off too quickly for my liking. PvP it's a total waste with the casting time, but that's why if I'm planning on PvPing I wouldn't attune it like I wouldn't attune magic shield either. Magic shield is def useful for bosses mostly because of the 100% blocking everything on the greater version along with the ridiculous stability it gives the shield (it buffs the grass crest to at least the same stability as a fully upgraded greatshield, maybe a touch more even). It also comes in handy for mini-boss/extra powerful regular mobs to take it from an annoyance to essentially nothing.
not sure it scaled before, but in 3 magic weapon is roughly 75% of number listed under spell bonus or whatever, great magic weapon is soemwhere around 85%, and crystal weapon is 96%, as is lightning blade and darkmoon blade. dark blade is 85%
however unless you have a lot invested in the staff and the casting stat resin is generally going to be better.
edit: it seems that in dark souls 2 is scaled off of the weapons previous magic damage and so on. the math for crystal magic weapon for example is (original magic value+50)*1.25, so on a non magic weapon you'd get 75 ar. but on the blue flame it would be pretty big. and since the magic stat also affected casting this would make the blue flame about as good as the best staff for spells, at the cost of more stamina.
edit 2: in dark souls 1 it did scale with how good your staff/int was.
At what point does chaos infusion overtake raw + buff?
the fireblade thing adds 82% from the glove's spell buff. one wiki stays that it adds 188 with 40/40 and +10, so if you're at 40/40, check to see how much damage you'd pick up from going raw to chaos. there's no hard and cast rule, since scaling on weapons varies. if the weapon has good scaling you're better off chaos, if it doesn't then raw and buff. refine and buff also works on a number of weapons if you're sporting 20/20 str/dex.
not sure it scaled before, but in 3 magic weapon is roughly 75% of number listed under spell bonus or whatever, great magic weapon is soemwhere around 85%, and crystal weapon is 96%, as is lightning blade and darkmoon blade. dark blade is 85%
however unless you have a lot invested in the staff and the casting stat resin is generally going to be better.
edit: it seems that in dark souls 2 is scaled off of the weapons previous magic damage and so on. the math for crystal magic weapon for example is (original magic value+50)*1.25, so on a non magic weapon you'd get 75 ar. but on the blue flame it would be pretty big. and since the magic stat also affected casting this would make the blue flame about as good as the best staff for spells, at the cost of more stamina.
edit 2: in dark souls 1 it did scale with how good your staff/int was.
Hm. Then I should wean my DS1 Pyromancer off of using Magic Weapon. I have no plans to buff my Int.
At what point does chaos infusion overtake raw + buff?
the fireblade thing adds 82% from the glove's spell buff. one wiki stays that it adds 188 with 40/40 and +10, so if you're at 40/40, check to see how much damage you'd pick up from going raw to chaos. there's no hard and cast rule, since scaling on weapons varies. if the weapon has good scaling you're better off chaos, if it doesn't then raw and buff. refine and buff also works on a number of weapons if you're sporting 20/20 str/dex.
Hmmm I have to investigate
I don't understand the spell buff
I watched Distortion2 do a run with Yhorm's Machete yesterday (someone dropped it for him so he could use it from the start).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
It was fucking crazy.
60 strength? Is goign that high really that good? What kind of scaling does the machete even give I wonder
Wait how high is 1700? I can't remember how much my charged R2s did with my +10 Greataxe at 40 Str. Like... I think it might have been south of a thousand
At what point does chaos infusion overtake raw + buff?
the fireblade thing adds 82% from the glove's spell buff. one wiki stays that it adds 188 with 40/40 and +10, so if you're at 40/40, check to see how much damage you'd pick up from going raw to chaos. there's no hard and cast rule, since scaling on weapons varies. if the weapon has good scaling you're better off chaos, if it doesn't then raw and buff. refine and buff also works on a number of weapons if you're sporting 20/20 str/dex.
Hmmm I have to investigate
I don't understand the spell buff
so you notice yoru pyroglove has a stat "spell buff" or some like, that is the number used in calculations for spells for damage and so on. it is tied to scaling and so on. when you use a buff spell, it takes a percent of that and adds it to a weapon's ar. in this case 82%.
Hm. I may have spoken prematurely when I said I preferred Sen's Fortress to Blighttown.
Is there even a bonfire in this place?
spoilers in case that was a rhetorical question
there's a hidden one accessible from a drop off the side of the roofs in the bomb danger zone, and an elevator cage from just below the boss fog door room down to the first axe bridge but you need to find a key to unlock it
+1
Dyshow am I even using this gunRegistered Userregular
Okay, finally beat DS3.
Now, do I go into NG+? Or should I put this away in NG for awhile until DLC...
I watched Distortion2 do a run with Yhorm's Machete yesterday (someone dropped it for him so he could use it from the start).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
It was fucking crazy.
60 strength? Is goign that high really that good? What kind of scaling does the machete even give I wonder
Wait how high is 1700? I can't remember how much my charged R2s did with my +10 Greataxe at 40 Str. Like... I think it might have been south of a thousand
Well remember that the one unique quality of Strength is that you get 1.5x your score when two handing which for weapons that scale well with Strength can make 61 + 5 from Knight's Ring or 66 flat Strength reach the hard cap of 99. So I think generally, if you do wanna go pure strength it is worth considering going the distance, as it is a comparatively smaller investment compared to prospect of doing the same for a Dex or Quality build.
I watched Distortion2 do a run with Yhorm's Machete yesterday (someone dropped it for him so he could use it from the start).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
It was fucking crazy.
60 strength? Is goign that high really that good? What kind of scaling does the machete even give I wonder
Wait how high is 1700? I can't remember how much my charged R2s did with my +10 Greataxe at 40 Str. Like... I think it might have been south of a thousand
I believe 40 is the soft cap for strength, but Yhorm's machete has different scaling from anything else, so it's still worth it to go to 60. He was at 55 Strength plus the Knight's Ring. The Yhorm fight is at 2:29 in this video if anyone wants to check it out www.twitch.tv/distortion2/v/69977706
I watched Distortion2 do a run with Yhorm's Machete yesterday (someone dropped it for him so he could use it from the start).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
It was fucking crazy.
60 strength? Is goign that high really that good? What kind of scaling does the machete even give I wonder
Wait how high is 1700? I can't remember how much my charged R2s did with my +10 Greataxe at 40 Str. Like... I think it might have been south of a thousand
I believe 40 is the soft cap for strength, but Yhorm's machete has different scaling from anything else, so it's still worth it to go to 60. He was at 55 Strength plus the Knight's Ring. The Yhorm fight is at 2:29 in this video if anyone wants to check it out www.twitch.tv/distortion2/v/69977706
holy shit did you see how hard that hit was
Does Yhorm's head have some kind of damage multiplier on it? I guess it would have to but holy moly
Do we know what other equipment this guy was wearing?
Oh man now I gotta go upgrade Yhorm's Machete
Gonna watch me this whole playthrough now
Serious question: When you say Yhorm's machete has different scaling, can you elaborate on what you mean? I can't find anything on that from a quick google
I watched Distortion2 do a run with Yhorm's Machete yesterday (someone dropped it for him so he could use it from the start).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
It was fucking crazy.
60 strength? Is goign that high really that good? What kind of scaling does the machete even give I wonder
Wait how high is 1700? I can't remember how much my charged R2s did with my +10 Greataxe at 40 Str. Like... I think it might have been south of a thousand
I believe 40 is the soft cap for strength, but Yhorm's machete has different scaling from anything else, so it's still worth it to go to 60. He was at 55 Strength plus the Knight's Ring. The Yhorm fight is at 2:29 in this video if anyone wants to check it out www.twitch.tv/distortion2/v/69977706
What's the fastest way to get to 120? I've been playing a couple hours a day for like a month and my pyro is at 105. I'm cleaning some things up and entering NG+ soon.
I made two other characters but there's not more than 4 hours between them
Posts
You're never going to be regularly landing crystal soul spears left and right in PvP, but with Farron Dart and Flashsword to pair with it give enough variation to keep people guessing along with Homing Crytal Soulmass as a solid opener. Just having a paltry amount above base health and stamina with a decent enchanted weapon lets you at least hang around with the quality/melee builds in a physical fight too.
PvE is a breeze being able to turbo buff even the weakest shields with gms, and the only bosses that actually resist magic damage are also fairly easy to take down just by buffing up your shield and going to work with a resined raw weapon.
I just love the variety you get with the pure int spellsword build. You can hang in melee, buff up your shield to act block like a greatshield and have 100% reduction against everything while still being able to parry/weapon art with it, still hit like a truck with your heavy spells, and bust out quick hitting spells to change up the pace and put opponents on the defensive.
It's definitely a thing in the lore and the assassin character is actually a magic melee character.
Griggs was one too
But I don't have time for two builds, much less three.
Magic Shield can be nifty (any stamina savers are nice), but only with a Lingering ring for a worthwhile duration.
I'm not sure what the first 60 levels would look like, but after a certain point, you could re spec and actually get something out of magic after 60 levels in INT
don't even need that.
start assassin, use spook (the spell you were looking for the name of) and just maneuver behind enemies. if you need to distract them to do so, use a bow or throwing knife to hit a surface nearby with an arrow) same effect as aural decoy afaik).
With 60 strength, his charged R2 did 1700 damage to Aldrich. He killed Abyss Walkers in 4 hits total. He did a combo to Yhorm that took off over 11000 health.
It was fucking crazy.
Well since it's just the buff, you don't need an upgraded staff to get the effect, so you can just have a staff equipped in each hand. Personally I like just using the enchanted weapon though. I know the damage is lower than it would be than using crystal magic weapon on a raw weapon, but even with the lingering ring equipped it still wears off too quickly for my liking. PvP it's a total waste with the casting time, but that's why if I'm planning on PvPing I wouldn't attune it like I wouldn't attune magic shield either. Magic shield is def useful for bosses mostly because of the 100% blocking everything on the greater version along with the ridiculous stability it gives the shield (it buffs the grass crest to at least the same stability as a fully upgraded greatshield, maybe a touch more even). It also comes in handy for mini-boss/extra powerful regular mobs to take it from an annoyance to essentially nothing.
Huh, did not know that. Has it always been like that or is that new in DS3 do you know?
however unless you have a lot invested in the staff and the casting stat resin is generally going to be better.
edit: it seems that in dark souls 2 is scaled off of the weapons previous magic damage and so on. the math for crystal magic weapon for example is (original magic value+50)*1.25, so on a non magic weapon you'd get 75 ar. but on the blue flame it would be pretty big. and since the magic stat also affected casting this would make the blue flame about as good as the best staff for spells, at the cost of more stamina.
edit 2: in dark souls 1 it did scale with how good your staff/int was.
the fireblade thing adds 82% from the glove's spell buff. one wiki stays that it adds 188 with 40/40 and +10, so if you're at 40/40, check to see how much damage you'd pick up from going raw to chaos. there's no hard and cast rule, since scaling on weapons varies. if the weapon has good scaling you're better off chaos, if it doesn't then raw and buff. refine and buff also works on a number of weapons if you're sporting 20/20 str/dex.
Hm. Then I should wean my DS1 Pyromancer off of using Magic Weapon. I have no plans to buff my Int.
Hmmm I have to investigate
I don't understand the spell buff
60 strength? Is goign that high really that good? What kind of scaling does the machete even give I wonder
Wait how high is 1700? I can't remember how much my charged R2s did with my +10 Greataxe at 40 Str. Like... I think it might have been south of a thousand
so you notice yoru pyroglove has a stat "spell buff" or some like, that is the number used in calculations for spells for damage and so on. it is tied to scaling and so on. when you use a buff spell, it takes a percent of that and adds it to a weapon's ar. in this case 82%.
NUMBERS!
Seigward noises
http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Siegbrau
Is there even a bonfire in this place?
Now, do I go into NG+? Or should I put this away in NG for awhile until DLC...
Decisions, decisions.
Well remember that the one unique quality of Strength is that you get 1.5x your score when two handing which for weapons that scale well with Strength can make 61 + 5 from Knight's Ring or 66 flat Strength reach the hard cap of 99. So I think generally, if you do wanna go pure strength it is worth considering going the distance, as it is a comparatively smaller investment compared to prospect of doing the same for a Dex or Quality build.
This will be here until I receive an apology or Weedlordvegeta get any consequences for being a bully
I believe 40 is the soft cap for strength, but Yhorm's machete has different scaling from anything else, so it's still worth it to go to 60. He was at 55 Strength plus the Knight's Ring. The Yhorm fight is at 2:29 in this video if anyone wants to check it out www.twitch.tv/distortion2/v/69977706
up to you really. there's nothing that you'll miss in NG that can't be found in NG+ or NG++, etc
I've been staying in NG to finish farming covenant drops for the platnium trophy myself
holy shit did you see how hard that hit was
Do we know what other equipment this guy was wearing?
Oh man now I gotta go upgrade Yhorm's Machete
Gonna watch me this whole playthrough now
Serious question: When you say Yhorm's machete has different scaling, can you elaborate on what you mean? I can't find anything on that from a quick google
That's pretty Nito.
I made two other characters but there's not more than 4 hours between them