What kind of stats are you expecting people to fight Artorias with to two-shot him with Crystal Soul Spear? I see people talking about needing multiple copies of Soul Spear and their casts of CSS to down him. I did my hammer run with 50 faith because I had never done a super basic cleric build. with ivory talisman casting Great Sunlight Spear (3.0 multiplier, not much weaker than the 3.3 of CSS) it basically wasn't worth casting for damage (nevermind it specifically being so slow as to be almost unusable, pretty sure CSS isn't nearly as slow) except against a few enemies that are trivial at range but dangerous up close, and the only boss I used it on was Seeth because of lightning damage vs. the magic on my divine mace.
To two-shot bosses, I'd need to be doing I dunno, an absolutely massive amount more damage. At least 3x. TCC gets you like 50% more madj than a faith talisman can, plus the crown of dusk, rings...I don't see it. Power within? RTR?
I'm not sure glass canon hyper mode setups are going to give people reliable kills without much skill. And I'm not sure an equally stacked melee build isn't just as easy or easier, i.e. me walking up and beating Artorias to death with a hammer in Havel's without blocking or dodging, drinking right through his attacks as necessary.
I've seen quite a few runs of two shotting harder bosses, maybe not artorias. I did find one that two shot him but I don't know the stats in the video, so I didn't post it. I was exaggerating a bit, but I have seen it done with really dedicated glass cannon builds. We can put that aside if you like.
For me, its pretty obvious that melee is more dangerous since you are running with the full randomness of the enemies attacks instead of being able to narrow it down to a few which you can control a lot easier, as well as actually seeing the boss, but apparently this can be dismissed because you can "chug in havels" or something.
I mean, I have straight up fought artorias with a full set of giants upgraded and a +15 halberd and all that, and yeah he's a joke. He's a joke to any build when you have that much damage and powerful gear, spells or otherwise. The trick is getting up to get all that stuff wasn't as easy as it was on the time I used magic for the whole game. A couple of bosses were a little hard, but not really all that difficult compared to the rest of the game, which was a literal joke.
I know I brought it up, but lets just put aside the speedrun thing as well. I forgot that they can flip over to using all kinds of things in the name of speed, even if its not necessarily consistent. And it does take a bit of time and energy to setup the spells, you gotta get a bunch of different gear, etc.
Anyway if someone wanted a very easy build in these games, other than ds3, I'd just tell them to use magic/pyromancy. Maybe one or two bosses would be a little more difficult, but they'd progress through everything else a lot easier, and if they wanted to coop, they'd obliterate any boss much easier because they wouldn't need to be anywhere near them. You can also have a strong shield with those builds, so sword and board has no advantage. It's just so freaking powerful, I struggle to comprehend why anyone would even think melee is easier. You'd have to kind of already know the whole game and have played it a ton to even start thinking that, and at that point it's not really that the melee is powerful. It's you, the player.
Morninglord on
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If you can't beat O&S solo with nothing more than your fists in under 10 seconds at level 1 while naked in Times Square on your Nintendo Switch and also your character is naked without taking any damage, GUILT is the EXACT thing you should feel! GUIIIIIIILLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.
woo, a personal goal met for DS1, cleared with every category of physical weapon
The claw's a huge pain in the ass against anything bigger because you'll end up pushed away from them and rarely able to hit the second R1 in your combo. Also the AR isn't great. The DLC bosses were pretty rough, since they either leave you with short openings before they run away or are especially awkward to hit. Same problem I had with my dagger run.
edit: decided to double check the weapon list on wiki
So, the Whip can't riposte or backstab...or do plunging attacks, I found out the hard way.
You also might expect it to have at least as much reach as a zweihander, and probably more, in exchange for being similarly slow and having low damage and less stagger and not being able to do critical hits. It does not. Maybe one of the others has better reach? They're pretty deep in the game (Painted World and first DLC boss tail cut) and have even lower damage in exchange for bleed and poison they will never be able to inflict.
I'm currently weighing going 40 int for crystal weapon buffing (potentially near-doubling the AR while buffed, more than doubling it if I use TCC) vs 15 for oolacile catalyst+GMW/none for gold pine resin and stacking health and armor so I can slog it out with tougher enemies.
I'm replaying Sekiro and I'm finding the bosses much easier but enemy groups to be the tough part (especially since I'm less patient and I'm charging ahead a lot)
I beat Lady Butterfly in one shot this time, and Juozo only took me two tries
A big part of this is that the fireworks prosthetic is absolutely fantastic and I definitely slept on it in my first run. Using the armour on the axe to just smash through the Shinobi hunter minibosses is also fabulous. I got Ichimonji quite early as well. Basically anything that can stagger a boss is gold.
Fuckin blazing bull still took me like six tries, though.
Evil Multifarious on
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I found it very hard to parry his charge — I was almost always quite early because of how long he delays his head movement
I ended up spamming fireworks to disrupt him whenever he got too excited
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited December 2021
I go totally the other way with the bull. You chase his ass down so he never gets a chance to properly charge, then chop away at his hindquarters without ever going past the shoulder. He has an attack or two that can almost reach you back there, but they're a lot easier to block/parry/dodge than the hugely-obscured fiery horns. And when he does run off, you run him down and get right back on his ass when he does that horn-drag-turn.
Trying to parry the horn charge is an exercise at frustration with that early health, particularly when a couple hits sets you on fire
Ninja Snarl P on
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Blazing Bull was p tough.
The Sakura Bull is a fucking joke if you know what to do.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited December 2021
It's all about learning it. Once you learn it, it's there, forever. I've never had a problem with bull ever again. It's literally the key to just ending him.
Importantly tho, you can learn the timing from watching someone else do it, which is right there in the video. He dips his head down to the ground, pauses briefly, then comes up. You parry just as he's coming up, so you look for the deep head into ground moment and then time the pause. 30 frame parry window, remember. You don't have to be inhumanly perfect. A fail is a block, not a hit, using this cue. So wait just a tiny bit longer.
You can virtually guarantee it'll be this attack as well if you get enough space so he gets a nice line up to get up to top speed, which is why I keep running away from him and standing there waiting. If he's walking up to you, he wont do this attack, so get away from him and make him start the charge. The charge startup is often signified by tossing his head wildly side to side three times, so you'll know if you are standing far enough away that it's coming.
And watch the head, not the horns. If you are getting confused by the fire, you are watching the wrong spot.
The reward is massive for doing this, he skids to a stop and you can dodge forwards and do a thrust then hit him several times, then back off and repeat.
The bull takes significantly less damage from any attack but the head, where he actually takes bonus damage, so the hindquarters chop is a self imposed frustrating slog that the fight doesn't have to be. He also takes bonus "poise" damage on the head, so you can stun him briefly and get an even bigger damage window.
Importantly in that video I have bell demon on, so it's a slower kill than normal, where usually it's significantly faster.
Sakura bull you can use the lilac umbrella to parry him, which its much longer parry window, and no chip damage.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
It's all about learning it. Once you learn it, it's there, forever. I've never had a problem with bull ever again. It's literally the key to just ending him.
Importantly tho, you can learn the timing from watching someone else do it, which is right there in the video. He dips his head down to the ground, pauses briefly, then comes up. You parry just as he's coming up, so you look for the deep head into ground moment and then time the pause. 30 frame parry window, remember. You don't have to be inhumanly perfect.
And watch the head, not the horns. If you are getting confused by the fire, you are watching the wrong spot.
The bull takes significantly less damage from any attack but the head, where he actually takes bonus damage, so the hindquarters chop is a self imposed frustrating slog that the fight doesn't have to be. He also takes bonus "poise" damage on the head, so you can stun him briefly and get an even bigger damage window.
Importantly in that video I have bell demon on, so it's a slower kill than normal, where usually it's significantly faster.
Sakura bull you can use the lilac umbrella to parry him, which its much longer parry window, and no chip damage.
Sakura bull easy kill
You drop into his area with stealth and shoot off firecrackers, he runs himself into a wall and you can walk up and 1 shot him.
You're welcome.
+1
MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
It's all about learning it. Once you learn it, it's there, forever. I've never had a problem with bull ever again. It's literally the key to just ending him.
Importantly tho, you can learn the timing from watching someone else do it, which is right there in the video. He dips his head down to the ground, pauses briefly, then comes up. You parry just as he's coming up, so you look for the deep head into ground moment and then time the pause. 30 frame parry window, remember. You don't have to be inhumanly perfect.
And watch the head, not the horns. If you are getting confused by the fire, you are watching the wrong spot.
The bull takes significantly less damage from any attack but the head, where he actually takes bonus damage, so the hindquarters chop is a self imposed frustrating slog that the fight doesn't have to be. He also takes bonus "poise" damage on the head, so you can stun him briefly and get an even bigger damage window.
Importantly in that video I have bell demon on, so it's a slower kill than normal, where usually it's significantly faster.
Sakura bull you can use the lilac umbrella to parry him, which its much longer parry window, and no chip damage.
Sakura bull easy kill
You drop into his area with stealth and shoot off firecrackers, he runs himself into a wall and you can walk up and 1 shot him.
You're welcome.
That's awesome! I never found that when writing up the bulls for the guide.
I just learnt something new!
edit: Found a vid of it. This is sick. I'm so happy.
I have a lore question. Why are there people who seem to stay dead, despite ostenably being Undead? For example, any "Soul of" items you acquire, the dead starting characters with their equipment, Black Iron Tarkus, etc. The way I understand the way the world works, if you're Undead, if you die, you should come back until you go Hollow, in which case you should have to fight them for their souls, somebody takes or absorbs your souls, like you do with the various bosses and mini-bosses. Is there an explanation for this, or just vidya game logic?
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
I have a lore question. Why are there people who seem to stay dead, despite ostenably being Undead? For example, any "Soul of" items you acquire, the dead starting characters with their equipment, Black Iron Tarkus, etc. The way I understand the way the world works, if you're Undead, if you die, you should come back until you go Hollow, in which case you should have to fight them for their souls, somebody takes or absorbs your souls, like you do with the various bosses and mini-bosses. Is there an explanation for this, or just vidya game logic?
My half-baked thought has always been that undead you kill do get up again, hollow or not, but maybe your timeline no longer crosses over with theirs.
I think you also need humanity and souls to keep going as a thinking being, and losing humanity makes you hollow and souls makes you stop moving?
Time shenanigans has always been a big part of the story despite not being mentioned much as such. Oolacile and Drangleic being obvious 'go to the past/another timeline' events.
DS3 goes in hardest on it. There's the question of whenever the hell Firelink Shrine and Untended Graves exist relative to the rest of DS3, when and where the Ringed City, the end of Ringed City, and Soul of Cinder exist, the impossible connections of time and space between different eras and locations throughout the game. That's not even going into things like the theory that Londor only exists in the future and the pilgrims are time travelers.
I tried to work out the relation of fire and dark to time and disparity but I can't quite figure it out. Maybe time is born of the interplay of fire and dark and that's why when flame goes on forever consuming all and rendering up gray ash, dragons, and trees, we end up back in the near-timeless age of ancients?
I've tried to figure out what exactly fire and dark are and represent, since both are associated with (different types of) nostalgia, immortality, can be provoked into uncontrolled violence and growth, etc. I wonder if it just comes down to internal/external motivation/ambition?
Gods are external creatures leaning towards fire, the way they shape the world most important. Humans are internal creatures leaning towards dark, the things inside their minds most important. Or something like that.
+1
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
With a good weapon I always just kill them all starting from the back with the screamer so they don't all go nuts at once, with a bad weapon I sprint for the bonfire.
I think the armored pigs are like the only thing in any Souls where I think to do something other than fight face to face or sprint past like a huge coward.
edit: Oh right, I also used to make the outrider fall in the elevator shaft. Now I just ignore them and open the door, grab the bonfire, and cheese them through the door/fight them fair knowing I can just keep trying without it being annoying.
With a good weapon I always just kill them all starting from the back with the screamer so they don't all go nuts at once, with a bad weapon I sprint for the bonfire.
I think the armored pigs are like the only thing in any Souls where I think to do something other than fight face to face or sprint past like a huge coward.
edit: Oh right, I also used to make the outrider fall in the elevator shaft. Now I just ignore them and open the door, grab the bonfire, and cheese them through the door/fight them fair knowing I can just keep trying without it being annoying.
I noticed when I would do multiplayer I would get weird reactions from time to time and it's become apparent I do some things kind of weird.
Like making a stone gargoyle disappear instantly with an arrow.
I was never able to replicate the time I killed the first iron boar by dropping the portcullis on it. That was amazing.
I try to get that to work really often, even though I know I could just...ignore the boar. Bait the boar into the flames. Drop attack the boar. Backstab the boar.
It gets me killed every single time. I have never once killed that boar with the portcullis.
The fact that I sprint through the gate before it closes the first time and often have the boar and one or two hollows in there while I'm fiddling with the switch doesn't help.
It only occurred to me this last time that I could probably do it if I just baited it with an alluring skull.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I didn't even know you could do that.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
I've gone back to Dark Souls 3 to continue my previous run. I'd beaten it once near launch on PS4, then picked it up on PC more recently.
I remember finding the first DLC area before I stopped, and being obviously too low level. I've gotten up to Lothric Castle and given it another shot, and it still seems too difficult. I guess it's more of a post-game thing, which is weird considering how early I discovered it. I ran through just to take a look and grab some bonfires, and so far I'm not a big fan. They have a very bad habit of reusing assets in the DLC, and this place is no exception.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I've gone back to Dark Souls 3 to continue my previous run. I'd beaten it once near launch on PS4, then picked it up on PC more recently.
I remember finding the first DLC area before I stopped, and being obviously too low level. I've gotten up to Lothric Castle and given it another shot, and it still seems too difficult. I guess it's more of a post-game thing, which is weird considering how early I discovered it. I ran through just to take a look and grab some bonfires, and so far I'm not a big fan. They have a very bad habit of reusing assets in the DLC, and this place is no exception.
My order of doing things in the game is Literally Everything but the Last Area > Ashes of Ariandel > Ringed City > Kiln.
+2
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Also, in my current playthrough of DS3, I've rediscovered my 2nd favorite (looking) area is... the Dreg Heap. First is of course Irithyll.
I dunno, there's just something about the stark contrast of the ashen land put against the pink/blue pastel sky, the sounds of the angels screeching, and the noises of the human dregs that altogether just makes one of the most realized, and terrifying, post-apocalyptic fantasy settings I've seen in a game.
I know, everyone hates the Dreg Heap, but I think it's weirdly beautiful and engrossing. I wish it didn't have a poison swamp, but the really cool DS2 fan service makes it worth it.
On this second play through Sekiro I'm noticing how stunning these setpieces are. It's hard the first time because you're just ragged and traumatized, wondering what fresh hell each new area will bring
I beat the Ape on my first try but had a harder time with Genichiro than last time. But the Ape's arena is just stunning, with that huge Buddhist statue looming gently above.
Also like, the Divine Child at Senpou Temple — she gives you "rice," which regenerates your health
That's a handful of immortal centipede eggs, right?
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
On this second play through Sekiro I'm noticing how stunning these setpieces are. It's hard the first time because you're just ragged and traumatized, wondering what fresh hell each new area will bring
I beat the Ape on my first try but had a harder time with Genichiro than last time. But the Ape's arena is just stunning, with that huge Buddhist statue looming gently above.
Also like, the Divine Child at Senpou Temple — she gives you "rice," which regenerates your health
That's a handful of immortal centipede eggs, right?
The centipedes are a false/"unclean" form of immortality because they're bugs/vermin (they actually eat loads of bad bugs, but ancient cultures didn't know that and plus they look really creepy), whereas Wolf's's immortality is given by his master who carries actual dragon blood in his lineage (the immortality can only be given, though, it cannot be taken, which is why the boy is being imprisoned). The Divine Child really is divine (even just reading the one dark scroll you bring her to save your master is a painful struggle for her) so I'm all but certain the rice is actually rice, but also representing life because rice is such a hugely important staple in many Asian countries. It's at once the most basic food they have and the most essential, as everyone would starve without it.
So I don't see her providing or Wolf consuming centipede eggs because that would mean she was dealing with "bad" magic and he was getting infested/infected with it. Further, providing the rice seems to drain her strength, further suggesting that she's kind of powering it with her own divine life force.
On this second play through Sekiro I'm noticing how stunning these setpieces are. It's hard the first time because you're just ragged and traumatized, wondering what fresh hell each new area will bring
I beat the Ape on my first try but had a harder time with Genichiro than last time. But the Ape's arena is just stunning, with that huge Buddhist statue looming gently above.
Also like, the Divine Child at Senpou Temple — she gives you "rice," which regenerates your health
That's a handful of immortal centipede eggs, right?
The centipedes are a false/"unclean" form of immortality because they're bugs/vermin (they actually eat loads of bad bugs, but ancient cultures didn't know that and plus they look really creepy), whereas Wolf's's immortality is given by his master who carries actual dragon blood in his lineage (the immortality can only be given, though, it cannot be taken, which is why the boy is being imprisoned). The Divine Child really is divine (even just reading the one dark scroll you bring her to save your master is a painful struggle for her) so I'm all but certain the rice is actually rice, but also representing life because rice is such a hugely important staple in many Asian countries. It's at once the most basic food they have and the most essential, as everyone would starve without it.
So I don't see her providing or Wolf consuming centipede eggs because that would mean she was dealing with "bad" magic and he was getting infested/infected with it. Further, providing the rice seems to drain her strength, further suggesting that she's kind of powering it with her own divine life force.
She's
the product of experimentation with the "rejuvenating waters" by the Senpou monks, though. Her immortality is real in that she herself is immortal, but their experiments also produced the infestation centipedes. I'm not sure that she's actually divine. I think it's plausible that she is herself immortal, but the monks' attempts to gain immortality through her produce infestation because she's a false divinity. Producing the rice drains her strength because she's gotta brace her feet and squeeze out a whole load of eggs. We've all been there.
I don't think the game clarifies what exactly the rejuvenating waters or sediment are; they seem to be the waters in the Fountainhead, but there is one text that says the divine dragon came there because the waters lured it, while other things imply the dragon is the source of those waters. There's also the implication that the dragon is the big sakura tree, physically, and the clipping that was removed is its missing left arm, IIRC, which matches the idea that Takeru brought the dragon there from its home. There's no clear reason why the waters corrupted Mibu Village I think? And they also seem to have corrupted the "Okami" at the mountain, turning them into dragonfolk.
I'm just at Mibu now so I haven't seen some of the text in this playthrough yet, but that's what I recall.
+1
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
LORE FIGHT
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited December 2021
Yeah nah, she's not giving eggs.
There were two types of experiments, two types of immortality. The infested centipedes are one type, the Divine Child is the only survivor of the attempt to create an immortal being using the second (they're trying to recreate Kuro synthetically, and Kuro also has nothing to do with the centipedes). She is absolutely pure, and that's why she's segregated from the centipede types. Centipede lads revere her, and she hates them. The source of her power is the rejuvenating waters, not centipedes. There's no centipede stuff at all at the source of those waters (the palace), although there's clearly madness and degeneration where ever it influences and touches people (mibu village enemies, the npc in mibu village who turns into a noble and attacks you when you give him waters of the palace, and all the degenerate, warped and twisted hostile palace enemies). The doctor is also experimenting with those waters, and he basically says it makes people turn into zombies. All the zombies in the dungeons come back to life once due to those waters, and when you kill them with the mortal blade, you don't kill a centipede. You can also cut off their regeneration by setting them on fire first, and there's a limit to it as well, since they eventually stop coming back (as do the mibu villagers eventually).
It's a different form of immortality. Instead of literally unkillable unless you wipe out the centipede, they just regenerate a lot. Hence "rejuvenating waters".
You can uh, find the failed experiments at creating the Divine Child of Rejuvenation littering the cliffs around the temple, near the little ravine with the monkeys.
The rice is made from her blood, which is why it takes her a while to make you anymore. She has to rest in between, eat well, you know, like donating at a blood drive.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
That is all true.
But boy would it be hilarious if it was centipede eggs.
The game actually hits you in the face with this duality.
There's an enemy connected to the palace, the "pure dragon sourced rejuvenating waters" type of immortality, that houses a centipede.
Name?
Corrupted Monk.
I think this enemy is sort of an argument against the idea that the two types are separate
The broader question to me is still
where do the rejuvenating waters actually come from and why do they cause so much degeneration and madness? Also, what are the metaphysics of the divine dragon? All in all there is a real Bloodborne vibe here, with the alleged god causing corruption and degeneration with its gifts (especially if the dragon is the source of the water)
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
The game actually hits you in the face with this duality.
There's an enemy connected to the palace, the "pure dragon sourced rejuvenating waters" type of immortality, that houses a centipede.
Name?
Corrupted Monk.
I think this enemy is sort of an argument against the idea that the two types are separate
The broader question to me is still
where do the rejuvenating waters actually come from and why do they cause so much degeneration and madness? Also, what are the metaphysics of the divine dragon? All in all there is a real Bloodborne vibe here, with the alleged god causing corruption and degeneration with its gifts (especially if the dragon is the source of the water)
To the best of my understanding
The waters aren't the problem, people are the problem. All the nobles that have been corrupted were greedy and wanted to live forever, which turned on them and warped them. The centipedes are corrupting unto themselves, but the waters are basically too potent for a person to survive unscathed. I'm betting the waters are also associated with the dragon but rather than being something from it's blood, it's like a castoff effect of its magic. Which is why that way to "immortality" requires drinking enormous amounts of the water and warping to the point of wanting to draw souls from regular humans.
And I don't think the dragon willingly gave up its blood to create the Dragon Blood line, which is part of the problem. If it is used, it has to be tightly controlled or else the person goes off the rails. Even used properly, it afflicts everybody the user knows with Dragon Rot, so it's a terribly perilous power. But the conflict is, of course, returning the heritage means killing the last inheritor of it, which Wolf doesn't want to do.
Posts
I've seen quite a few runs of two shotting harder bosses, maybe not artorias. I did find one that two shot him but I don't know the stats in the video, so I didn't post it. I was exaggerating a bit, but I have seen it done with really dedicated glass cannon builds. We can put that aside if you like.
For me, its pretty obvious that melee is more dangerous since you are running with the full randomness of the enemies attacks instead of being able to narrow it down to a few which you can control a lot easier, as well as actually seeing the boss, but apparently this can be dismissed because you can "chug in havels" or something.
I mean, I have straight up fought artorias with a full set of giants upgraded and a +15 halberd and all that, and yeah he's a joke. He's a joke to any build when you have that much damage and powerful gear, spells or otherwise. The trick is getting up to get all that stuff wasn't as easy as it was on the time I used magic for the whole game. A couple of bosses were a little hard, but not really all that difficult compared to the rest of the game, which was a literal joke.
I know I brought it up, but lets just put aside the speedrun thing as well. I forgot that they can flip over to using all kinds of things in the name of speed, even if its not necessarily consistent. And it does take a bit of time and energy to setup the spells, you gotta get a bunch of different gear, etc.
Anyway if someone wanted a very easy build in these games, other than ds3, I'd just tell them to use magic/pyromancy. Maybe one or two bosses would be a little more difficult, but they'd progress through everything else a lot easier, and if they wanted to coop, they'd obliterate any boss much easier because they wouldn't need to be anywhere near them. You can also have a strong shield with those builds, so sword and board has no advantage. It's just so freaking powerful, I struggle to comprehend why anyone would even think melee is easier. You'd have to kind of already know the whole game and have played it a ton to even start thinking that, and at that point it's not really that the melee is powerful. It's you, the player.
Taking a glance, it's about 45 minutes of running around naked with Grass Crest Shield, RTSR and the Black Knight Halberd.
Glitchless means no duplicating souls, and spells don't come into their own until way down the line, so it's just faster not to.
The claw's a huge pain in the ass against anything bigger because you'll end up pushed away from them and rarely able to hit the second R1 in your combo. Also the AR isn't great. The DLC bosses were pretty rough, since they either leave you with short openings before they run away or are especially awkward to hit. Same problem I had with my dagger run.
edit: decided to double check the weapon list on wiki
fuck
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You also might expect it to have at least as much reach as a zweihander, and probably more, in exchange for being similarly slow and having low damage and less stagger and not being able to do critical hits. It does not. Maybe one of the others has better reach? They're pretty deep in the game (Painted World and first DLC boss tail cut) and have even lower damage in exchange for bleed and poison they will never be able to inflict.
I'm currently weighing going 40 int for crystal weapon buffing (potentially near-doubling the AR while buffed, more than doubling it if I use TCC) vs 15 for oolacile catalyst+GMW/none for gold pine resin and stacking health and armor so I can slog it out with tougher enemies.
I beat Lady Butterfly in one shot this time, and Juozo only took me two tries
A big part of this is that the fireworks prosthetic is absolutely fantastic and I definitely slept on it in my first run. Using the armour on the axe to just smash through the Shinobi hunter minibosses is also fabulous. I got Ichimonji quite early as well. Basically anything that can stagger a boss is gold.
Fuckin blazing bull still took me like six tries, though.
I recommend this vs blazing bull.
I ended up spamming fireworks to disrupt him whenever he got too excited
Trying to parry the horn charge is an exercise at frustration with that early health, particularly when a couple hits sets you on fire
The Sakura Bull is a fucking joke if you know what to do.
Importantly tho, you can learn the timing from watching someone else do it, which is right there in the video. He dips his head down to the ground, pauses briefly, then comes up. You parry just as he's coming up, so you look for the deep head into ground moment and then time the pause. 30 frame parry window, remember. You don't have to be inhumanly perfect. A fail is a block, not a hit, using this cue. So wait just a tiny bit longer.
You can virtually guarantee it'll be this attack as well if you get enough space so he gets a nice line up to get up to top speed, which is why I keep running away from him and standing there waiting. If he's walking up to you, he wont do this attack, so get away from him and make him start the charge. The charge startup is often signified by tossing his head wildly side to side three times, so you'll know if you are standing far enough away that it's coming.
And watch the head, not the horns. If you are getting confused by the fire, you are watching the wrong spot.
The reward is massive for doing this, he skids to a stop and you can dodge forwards and do a thrust then hit him several times, then back off and repeat.
The bull takes significantly less damage from any attack but the head, where he actually takes bonus damage, so the hindquarters chop is a self imposed frustrating slog that the fight doesn't have to be. He also takes bonus "poise" damage on the head, so you can stun him briefly and get an even bigger damage window.
Importantly in that video I have bell demon on, so it's a slower kill than normal, where usually it's significantly faster.
Sakura bull you can use the lilac umbrella to parry him, which its much longer parry window, and no chip damage.
Sakura bull easy kill
You drop into his area with stealth and shoot off firecrackers, he runs himself into a wall and you can walk up and 1 shot him.
You're welcome.
That's awesome! I never found that when writing up the bulls for the guide.
I just learnt something new!
edit: Found a vid of it. This is sick. I'm so happy.
I almost one-shot them, but Super Ornstein jumped for a butt slam with no startup as I started one of my own very slow attacks and that was that.
My half-baked thought has always been that undead you kill do get up again, hollow or not, but maybe your timeline no longer crosses over with theirs.
I think you also need humanity and souls to keep going as a thinking being, and losing humanity makes you hollow and souls makes you stop moving?
Time shenanigans has always been a big part of the story despite not being mentioned much as such. Oolacile and Drangleic being obvious 'go to the past/another timeline' events.
DS3 goes in hardest on it. There's the question of whenever the hell Firelink Shrine and Untended Graves exist relative to the rest of DS3, when and where the Ringed City, the end of Ringed City, and Soul of Cinder exist, the impossible connections of time and space between different eras and locations throughout the game. That's not even going into things like the theory that Londor only exists in the future and the pilgrims are time travelers.
I tried to work out the relation of fire and dark to time and disparity but I can't quite figure it out. Maybe time is born of the interplay of fire and dark and that's why when flame goes on forever consuming all and rendering up gray ash, dragons, and trees, we end up back in the near-timeless age of ancients?
I've tried to figure out what exactly fire and dark are and represent, since both are associated with (different types of) nostalgia, immortality, can be provoked into uncontrolled violence and growth, etc. I wonder if it just comes down to internal/external motivation/ambition?
Gods are external creatures leaning towards fire, the way they shape the world most important. Humans are internal creatures leaning towards dark, the things inside their minds most important. Or something like that.
With a good weapon I always just kill them all starting from the back with the screamer so they don't all go nuts at once, with a bad weapon I sprint for the bonfire.
I think the armored pigs are like the only thing in any Souls where I think to do something other than fight face to face or sprint past like a huge coward.
edit: Oh right, I also used to make the outrider fall in the elevator shaft. Now I just ignore them and open the door, grab the bonfire, and cheese them through the door/fight them fair knowing I can just keep trying without it being annoying.
It was ultimately easier than the mace or claw runs, despite some early misgivings, because at least I could hit things reliably with the whip.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
I noticed when I would do multiplayer I would get weird reactions from time to time and it's become apparent I do some things kind of weird.
Like making a stone gargoyle disappear instantly with an arrow.
I try to get that to work really often, even though I know I could just...ignore the boar. Bait the boar into the flames. Drop attack the boar. Backstab the boar.
It gets me killed every single time. I have never once killed that boar with the portcullis.
The fact that I sprint through the gate before it closes the first time and often have the boar and one or two hollows in there while I'm fiddling with the switch doesn't help.
It only occurred to me this last time that I could probably do it if I just baited it with an alluring skull.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
I remember finding the first DLC area before I stopped, and being obviously too low level. I've gotten up to Lothric Castle and given it another shot, and it still seems too difficult. I guess it's more of a post-game thing, which is weird considering how early I discovered it. I ran through just to take a look and grab some bonfires, and so far I'm not a big fan. They have a very bad habit of reusing assets in the DLC, and this place is no exception.
My order of doing things in the game is Literally Everything but the Last Area > Ashes of Ariandel > Ringed City > Kiln.
I dunno, there's just something about the stark contrast of the ashen land put against the pink/blue pastel sky, the sounds of the angels screeching, and the noises of the human dregs that altogether just makes one of the most realized, and terrifying, post-apocalyptic fantasy settings I've seen in a game.
I know, everyone hates the Dreg Heap, but I think it's weirdly beautiful and engrossing. I wish it didn't have a poison swamp, but the really cool DS2 fan service makes it worth it.
I beat the Ape on my first try but had a harder time with Genichiro than last time. But the Ape's arena is just stunning, with that huge Buddhist statue looming gently above.
Also like, the Divine Child at Senpou Temple — she gives you "rice," which regenerates your health
That's a handful of immortal centipede eggs, right?
So I don't see her providing or Wolf consuming centipede eggs because that would mean she was dealing with "bad" magic and he was getting infested/infected with it. Further, providing the rice seems to drain her strength, further suggesting that she's kind of powering it with her own divine life force.
She's
I don't think the game clarifies what exactly the rejuvenating waters or sediment are; they seem to be the waters in the Fountainhead, but there is one text that says the divine dragon came there because the waters lured it, while other things imply the dragon is the source of those waters. There's also the implication that the dragon is the big sakura tree, physically, and the clipping that was removed is its missing left arm, IIRC, which matches the idea that Takeru brought the dragon there from its home. There's no clear reason why the waters corrupted Mibu Village I think? And they also seem to have corrupted the "Okami" at the mountain, turning them into dragonfolk.
I'm just at Mibu now so I haven't seen some of the text in this playthrough yet, but that's what I recall.
It's a different form of immortality. Instead of literally unkillable unless you wipe out the centipede, they just regenerate a lot. Hence "rejuvenating waters".
You can uh, find the failed experiments at creating the Divine Child of Rejuvenation littering the cliffs around the temple, near the little ravine with the monkeys.
The rice is made from her blood, which is why it takes her a while to make you anymore. She has to rest in between, eat well, you know, like donating at a blood drive.
But boy would it be hilarious if it was centipede eggs.
Name?
Corrupted Monk.
I think this enemy is sort of an argument against the idea that the two types are separate
The broader question to me is still
To the best of my understanding
And I don't think the dragon willingly gave up its blood to create the Dragon Blood line, which is part of the problem. If it is used, it has to be tightly controlled or else the person goes off the rails. Even used properly, it afflicts everybody the user knows with Dragon Rot, so it's a terribly perilous power. But the conflict is, of course, returning the heritage means killing the last inheritor of it, which Wolf doesn't want to do.