I can't quite figure out how to sorcerer from horseback. Like, my smashy character did just fine. Run by, smack thing with sword/club/axe, turn around, rinse/repeat until thing dies. My sorcerer can't seem to aim a damn spell without being locked on and I can't seem to drive a horse effectively when I'm locked onto a target. I am clearly doing things wrong but I'm not sure how to improve.
It made the fight with Night Cavalry more difficult than it probably should have been and I only won by finding a place he couldn't reach and bombarding him with rock sling.
I can't quite figure out how to sorcerer from horseback. Like, my smashy character did just fine. Run by, smack thing with sword/club/axe, turn around, rinse/repeat until thing dies. My sorcerer can't seem to aim a damn spell without being locked on and I can't seem to drive a horse effectively when I'm locked onto a target. I am clearly doing things wrong but I'm not sure how to improve.
It made the fight with Night Cavalry more difficult than it probably should have been and I only won by finding a place he couldn't reach and bombarding him with rock sling.
If there's only one enemy I'm not sure you'd even need to lock on with glintblade, I think it will target the closest enemy (probably at a shorter range than locking on though)
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
I also just discovered that on my second playthrough, and was excited, since I was playing a sorcery build!
Then I was less excited when I learned it doesn't actually do shit for most spells.
(Saw someone running a test with it and it improves your casting time by like 5%. So instead of casting 20 spells, you can cast 21. Whee.)
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I was having a lot of fun playing a sorceror with a big thonky stick what for beatin folks with, but I respec'd into an int/dex build and the Moonveil is sex.
Just sitting back spamming Loretta's Bow at things until they get within range and then ZAP-SLICE until they stop twitching.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I haven't quite figured out how to deal with tougher enemies in close spaces. If I can't pew-pew them from a distance, they pretty much eat me alive. I'm definitely feeling the squishiness of not being able to hide behind a shield, that's for sure. I suppose I could staff-n-shield instead of sword-n-staff maybe? I just bought an ash of war from Rogier that turns my sword into a spinny defense thing, but it doesn't seem to last long and, like everything else, is really hard to cast without getting staggered by something in your face right now.
tl;dr I miss the big open spaces. Or even the relative open-ness of Castle Morne. /sigh/
Tight spaces definitely force sorcerer types to adapt. Having a backup melee loadout on your second slots isn't a bad plan, and there's some strong and quick melee sorceries that can help too like carian... slicer? Straight sword? I forget the name but it's from a scroll in limgrave.
i'm doing a warrior wizard and it's bringing back fond memories of one of my favorite DS2 builds, where i ran the spear that casts sorceries and the shield that cast miracles
run main hand infused weapon (i'm using claymore/great epee) with a magic spell ash of war with offhand staff
only spells i'm using are weapon themed
carian slicer
carian greatsword/adula
carian piercer
gavel of haima
loretta's greatbow
cannon of haima
I decided to go out via maximum unga bunga and used my Malenia Bucks to get the Giant Crusher to +25 just for something spicy and new and man, this thing lives up to its name. I'm mildly amused its R2 is a baby Lion Claw and when using actual Lion Claw with it it's just disgusting. Double do with Alexander's Talisman for that extra oomph.
The only two bosses that lasted more than a few hits were Placidudax(?) in Farum and the Elden Beast. The dragon took me a few tries cause the laser has a weird dodge window but that's about it. I almost feel bad for the Elden Beast cause it felt like it spent half the fight running for its life from a coked out little wacko screaming GET BACK HERE SO I CAN HIT YOOOUUUUU
I did like how the Beast was very very much a giant space alien.
Time to travel the stars with my wife until the DLC hits!
People make a big deal about end game or unique ashes of war, but I really like hearing that basic ass ones like Lions Claw are also great.
It's just so satisfying, simple, and effective. No magic, no crazy effect, just "I'm going to bash you over the head repeatedly, now enjoy this poise break critical." The only things that can interrupt it are select command grabs and barely anything has something like that so it's an almost unstoppable pain train.
Currently knocking on Malenia's door and should be fighting her tomorrow. My STR is 66 and my Greatsword is +25. My ability to crump things is maximum and my primary build is done. Any further leveling is just comedy leveling so I can try out some other weapons.
Took me a few goes, figuring stuff out in each phase, but she is crumped. Greatsword Lion's Claw Unga Bunga remains undefeated. Especially now that I can do seven of them in a row after a respec to clear up some wasted Faith/Int points from some prior goofing around.
Honestly most of her fight doesn't feel like a big deal. Things are telegraphed and leave her wide open after resulting in a solid fight where you just gotta learn her stuff. The problem really is her waterfowl dance. You see it coming a mile away but having to DDR your way through it really sucks and isn't fun. It feels more like crap design where you're just having to survive bullshit and how hard the fight goes depends entirely on how much she does that move.
It's a shame too cause the rest of the fight is good times. She's decently mobile so I had to actually pay attention instead of spamming Lion's Claw until I win and it was fun figuring out her other moves. Just, yeah, fuck Waterfowl Dance.
Dunno how much ranting about Malenia you saw before you got there but this is exactly the key sticking point about her from all corners. I also personally have issues with her healing on blocked attacks, just because how hard it neutered that particular part of how my character was put together. I think it would be much more fair if she triggered that attack once per phase at most; she has enough going on, especially during phase two, that she already counts as kinda nasty even without accounting for the Dance.
Grats tho, there's kinda nothing else in your way to victory. Lion's Claw does indeed kick ass.
I've seen a tooon of complaining about her and her stupid dance so I was braced for incoming stupidity on that end. I was far more surprised how straightforward fun the entire rest of the fight is.
Maybe if you could parry her ass out of it? That could be fun. Her wind up for it gives the player plenty of time to get a shield ready and even my build keeps a golden parry shield on my back mostly just for laughs between bosses when I wanna goof off. Apparently you can just yeet a frostpot at her during the Dance wind up to knock her out of it but it only works twice so it's just a limited get out of jail free card instead of a reliable counter.
Her healing is a fun gimmick to me since a lot of her stuff has a wind up on it so you can dodge it and she goes down quick if you're not getting constantly hit. She's got shit poise and is super vulnerable to bleed and frost so finally figuring out her out *should* result in a great conclusion where the player just dances around her and vaporizes her ass. But, yeah, the Dance really does fuck up what could have been a really cool fight.
Idk, after the Fire Giant and the transition into end game the game has felt like it's losing cohesion a bit so I wonder if the Dance is part of that. Enemies just seem a bit randomly reused, the level design feels like it's lost a bit of the spark prior areas had, literally reusing prior bosses a couple time, stuff like that. Like they were running out of time, oomph, and/or money towards the end.
So what you're saying is that the endgame is a classic FromSoft experience?
I think it's just so much more pronounced here cause everything pre-Fire Giant is just so fucking good and then the game just kinda goes "fuck it."
TOGSolid on
+6
Options
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
I keep trying to like, respec into something different from what I’ve been doing, but ice spear and glintblade phalanx into critical hitting everything is incredibly effective.
I wish axes were good, because I love the highland axe, but they’re basically like worse straight swords.
Btw, if anyone wants to know more about poise and staggering enemies, this spreadsheet has most of it, including all the skills and spells, which ones are the most spammable for quick knockdowns, etc.
I haven't quite figured out how to deal with tougher enemies in close spaces. If I can't pew-pew them from a distance, they pretty much eat me alive. I'm definitely feeling the squishiness of not being able to hide behind a shield, that's for sure. I suppose I could staff-n-shield instead of sword-n-staff maybe? I just bought an ash of war from Rogier that turns my sword into a spinny defense thing, but it doesn't seem to last long and, like everything else, is really hard to cast without getting staggered by something in your face right now.
tl;dr I miss the big open spaces. Or even the relative open-ness of Castle Morne. /sigh/
I opted for mostly sorc with a good weapon in my main hand and a decent shield if someone was being a dick and dodging spells. Since I started as a wretch, I had to begin without spells anyway, so I pumped a little into strength and scrounged up a good straight sword. Eventually I found the crystal sword which was great because it scaled with int, so I was equally adept at pew-pew and smacking someone around up close.
Then later I opted for a curved greatsword that scaled with int, but now I've got me a moonveil +8 and fuck your demigods, I'M the demigod around these parts.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Btw, if anyone wants to know more about poise and staggering enemies, this spreadsheet has most of it, including all the skills and spells, which ones are the most spammable for quick knockdowns, etc.
Impaling Thrust is amazing, only problem is that for spamming it against bigger enemies you're very likely to end up misaligned and unable to actually connect with a subsequent thrust.
heavy thrusting swords are basically greatswords as far as stance damage goes, and outclass curved greatswords and halberds
heavy thrusting swords still winning
edit: great spears, curved GS, halberds, and non-sword colossal weapons could stand to get a poise damage buff, they're all weirdly feeble for the size and weight
Oh hah, I used impaling thrust a bunch against the first Tree Sentinel for extra staggers, but just assumed most weapon arts would have that much stagger or better and so swapped it out for flashier stuff. Figured surely the big rapier poke wouldn't have particularly high poise damage.
I haven't quite figured out how to deal with tougher enemies in close spaces. If I can't pew-pew them from a distance, they pretty much eat me alive. I'm definitely feeling the squishiness of not being able to hide behind a shield, that's for sure. I suppose I could staff-n-shield instead of sword-n-staff maybe? I just bought an ash of war from Rogier that turns my sword into a spinny defense thing, but it doesn't seem to last long and, like everything else, is really hard to cast without getting staggered by something in your face right now.
tl;dr I miss the big open spaces. Or even the relative open-ness of Castle Morne. /sigh/
Using the carian sword sorceries really helps for close quarters. But if you want a low stat int based sword, might I suggest Lazuli Glintstone Sword. You can get this at the beginning of the game by skipping stormveil and heading up past the 4 belfries to where Ranni resides. But you don't even have to beat any bosses. The only thing you need to fight are the sorcerers that wield these. And they should die to 3-4 glintstone casts. There's 3 of them, you farm, rest at nearby grace and do it again. Be ready for LOTS of killing unless you're lucky af, took me about 80mins of killing/resting to get it to drop. It upgrades using somber stones, which are super easy to get up to +6, +9 is possible too, but you have to do a (now) really shitty jump to get the +7 stone. It comes stock with the glintstone pebble ash of war, which is amazing on its own for a quick 2 hit combo that will stagger so many ppl and enemies.
I haven't quite figured out how to deal with tougher enemies in close spaces. If I can't pew-pew them from a distance, they pretty much eat me alive. I'm definitely feeling the squishiness of not being able to hide behind a shield, that's for sure. I suppose I could staff-n-shield instead of sword-n-staff maybe? I just bought an ash of war from Rogier that turns my sword into a spinny defense thing, but it doesn't seem to last long and, like everything else, is really hard to cast without getting staggered by something in your face right now.
tl;dr I miss the big open spaces. Or even the relative open-ness of Castle Morne. /sigh/
You have some options for those kinds of situations.
1) getting a 100% physical block shield and guard counter when you have an opening.
2) if you are two handing a weapon, your attacks will no longer bounce off of shields/bodies. This matters because enemies like the Exile Knights (the red scarf dudes you see all over the place) don’t have good enough shields to withstand many hits and you’ll posture break them for a nice critical.
3) ashes of war that help deal with packs. The big ol butt slam is a good time, and some, like Lion’s Claw, have so much poise that you’ll be able to tank the smaller hits then pancake them.
Remember that just because your archetype is “Sorcerer” doesn’t mean that you have to stick to the typical fantasy stereotype of a caster. You got options.
It just seems that all the options for dealing with enemies up close, as a magic user, is to go melee. Either with a physical weapon or with magic swords. It would have been nice with a more caster-like option.
It just seems that all the options for dealing with enemies up close, as a magic user, is to go melee. Either with a physical weapon or with magic swords. It would have been nice with a more caster-like option.
1. There are weapons made with casters in mind, with unique ashes of war and great scaling with spell stats.
2. There are spells (Carian Slicer, etc.) that are made for melee use.
Edit: oof, it’s early and I misread your post; you addressed my responses already.
Unfortunately, these games don’t support that kind of archetype. “Control” doesn’t really happen here, which is my assumption towards what you mean.
Made a family share account so I could have more character slots without having to juggle save data and started a pure faith character that uses Flame Art Erdsteel Dagger(s?) as a backup.
A proper pet/minion system would make the internet explode with glee, especially if it had necro styling (which would totally fit in, there's even a spell that "summons" skellies except not really).
There are also the few magic burst spells, like the flame zippo incantation. Add some pushback and that'd be a start.
But control would be awesome too. Not sure what that would look like in Souls combat... we have sleep, and very limited confusion/frenzy (supposedly spamming crystal daggers can frenzy a couple mobs), and DOT, so the basics are there, but I guess it doesn't balance well?
edit: shit, we need disarm! someone start a petition.
i upgraded a carian glintblade staff for the carian sword spell bonuses and just realized i was supposed to upgrade the carian glintstone staff because obviously
lmao you thought blade sorceries were sword sorceries dumdum
It just seems that all the options for dealing with enemies up close, as a magic user, is to go melee. Either with a physical weapon or with magic swords. It would have been nice with a more caster-like option.
well spells like Carian Slicer and Gavel of Haima are really effective, but are basically melee weapons with a lot of asterisks on it.
Btw, if anyone wants to know more about poise and staggering enemies, this spreadsheet has most of it, including all the skills and spells, which ones are the most spammable for quick knockdowns, etc.
I feel like a 100% squishy sorcerer is going to be a powerhouse in most scenarios and get completely hammered in a select few.
I trying going full sorcery for a bit but I was always finding it was often easier to soften folks up from a distance and then go in for the kill with a good melee assault. And sometimes evasion and rolling just isn't working and I need a good shield.
Moonveil is great for this, imo. The weapon art is basically a mid range spell with zero casting time and a sword swipe attached.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Posts
I very recently found out that you can get on the roof of Raya Lucaria. And I keep seeing loot on rafters that I have no idea how to get to.
@Pixelated Pixie
Lock on and spam Magic Glintblade while riding in any direction you like.
(also works on foot)
I'll try it but I really struggle at riding while locked on. I feel like I'm fighting the controls.
Edit: Well turns out if you use the wolves summon, it's trivially easy to do.
I also just discovered that on my second playthrough, and was excited, since I was playing a sorcery build!
Then I was less excited when I learned it doesn't actually do shit for most spells.
(Saw someone running a test with it and it improves your casting time by like 5%. So instead of casting 20 spells, you can cast 21. Whee.)
Just sitting back spamming Loretta's Bow at things until they get within range and then ZAP-SLICE until they stop twitching.
I haven't quite figured out how to deal with tougher enemies in close spaces. If I can't pew-pew them from a distance, they pretty much eat me alive. I'm definitely feeling the squishiness of not being able to hide behind a shield, that's for sure. I suppose I could staff-n-shield instead of sword-n-staff maybe? I just bought an ash of war from Rogier that turns my sword into a spinny defense thing, but it doesn't seem to last long and, like everything else, is really hard to cast without getting staggered by something in your face right now.
tl;dr I miss the big open spaces. Or even the relative open-ness of Castle Morne. /sigh/
run main hand infused weapon (i'm using claymore/great epee) with a magic spell ash of war with offhand staff
only spells i'm using are weapon themed
carian slicer
carian greatsword/adula
carian piercer
gavel of haima
loretta's greatbow
cannon of haima
it's like picking a castlevania subweapom
stupid, stupid range with a hard knock down when it hits
i yeeted a black knife assassin out of the air during her dive attack
I decided to go out via maximum unga bunga and used my Malenia Bucks to get the Giant Crusher to +25 just for something spicy and new and man, this thing lives up to its name. I'm mildly amused its R2 is a baby Lion Claw and when using actual Lion Claw with it it's just disgusting. Double do with Alexander's Talisman for that extra oomph.
The only two bosses that lasted more than a few hits were Placidudax(?) in Farum and the Elden Beast. The dragon took me a few tries cause the laser has a weird dodge window but that's about it. I almost feel bad for the Elden Beast cause it felt like it spent half the fight running for its life from a coked out little wacko screaming GET BACK HERE SO I CAN HIT YOOOUUUUU
I did like how the Beast was very very much a giant space alien.
Time to travel the stars with my wife until the DLC hits!
I think it's just so much more pronounced here cause everything pre-Fire Giant is just so fucking good and then the game just kinda goes "fuck it."
I wish axes were good, because I love the highland axe, but they’re basically like worse straight swords.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lmOqCKLdk6_W7nbYqT44HJNnhoRwtHvYjigpCKDsO4w/edit#gid=1771126570
I opted for mostly sorc with a good weapon in my main hand and a decent shield if someone was being a dick and dodging spells. Since I started as a wretch, I had to begin without spells anyway, so I pumped a little into strength and scrounged up a good straight sword. Eventually I found the crystal sword which was great because it scaled with int, so I was equally adept at pew-pew and smacking someone around up close.
Then later I opted for a curved greatsword that scaled with int, but now I've got me a moonveil +8 and fuck your demigods, I'M the demigod around these parts.
Not surprised to see Lion's Claw reign fucking supreme. THAT'S MY BOY
i gotta give that one another look
Impaling Thrust is amazing, only problem is that for spamming it against bigger enemies you're very likely to end up misaligned and unable to actually connect with a subsequent thrust.
heavy thrusting swords still winning
edit: great spears, curved GS, halberds, and non-sword colossal weapons could stand to get a poise damage buff, they're all weirdly feeble for the size and weight
i was having trouble finding your niche
Using the carian sword sorceries really helps for close quarters. But if you want a low stat int based sword, might I suggest Lazuli Glintstone Sword. You can get this at the beginning of the game by skipping stormveil and heading up past the 4 belfries to where Ranni resides. But you don't even have to beat any bosses. The only thing you need to fight are the sorcerers that wield these. And they should die to 3-4 glintstone casts. There's 3 of them, you farm, rest at nearby grace and do it again. Be ready for LOTS of killing unless you're lucky af, took me about 80mins of killing/resting to get it to drop. It upgrades using somber stones, which are super easy to get up to +6, +9 is possible too, but you have to do a (now) really shitty jump to get the +7 stone. It comes stock with the glintstone pebble ash of war, which is amazing on its own for a quick 2 hit combo that will stagger so many ppl and enemies.
The sword is pretty damn good and with utility spells on the side, I'm liking it.
You have some options for those kinds of situations.
1) getting a 100% physical block shield and guard counter when you have an opening.
2) if you are two handing a weapon, your attacks will no longer bounce off of shields/bodies. This matters because enemies like the Exile Knights (the red scarf dudes you see all over the place) don’t have good enough shields to withstand many hits and you’ll posture break them for a nice critical.
3) ashes of war that help deal with packs. The big ol butt slam is a good time, and some, like Lion’s Claw, have so much poise that you’ll be able to tank the smaller hits then pancake them.
Remember that just because your archetype is “Sorcerer” doesn’t mean that you have to stick to the typical fantasy stereotype of a caster. You got options.
1. There are weapons made with casters in mind, with unique ashes of war and great scaling with spell stats.
2. There are spells (Carian Slicer, etc.) that are made for melee use.
Edit: oof, it’s early and I misread your post; you addressed my responses already.
Unfortunately, these games don’t support that kind of archetype. “Control” doesn’t really happen here, which is my assumption towards what you mean.
incantations favor close/midrange
Man, Catch Flame spam does some serious work.
There are also the few magic burst spells, like the flame zippo incantation. Add some pushback and that'd be a start.
But control would be awesome too. Not sure what that would look like in Souls combat... we have sleep, and very limited confusion/frenzy (supposedly spamming crystal daggers can frenzy a couple mobs), and DOT, so the basics are there, but I guess it doesn't balance well?
edit: shit, we need disarm! someone start a petition.
i upgraded a carian glintblade staff for the carian sword spell bonuses and just realized i was supposed to upgrade the carian glintstone staff because obviously
lmao you thought blade sorceries were sword sorceries dumdum
well spells like Carian Slicer and Gavel of Haima are really effective, but are basically melee weapons with a lot of asterisks on it.
Wait what the fuck. What does a "-" mean?
Does my colossal Grafted Sword (sword made of many smaller, inferior swords) do no poise damage?!
Edit: oh wait that's the weapon skill page, ignore me. It does 29.
I trying going full sorcery for a bit but I was always finding it was often easier to soften folks up from a distance and then go in for the kill with a good melee assault. And sometimes evasion and rolling just isn't working and I need a good shield.
Moonveil is great for this, imo. The weapon art is basically a mid range spell with zero casting time and a sword swipe attached.