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Topic: Finally got Dark Souls - I have a big question

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somethingweird

#1 posted April 11, 2012 at 5:56pm (EDT)

This topic had many older posts which were moved here:

http://gametz.com/forum/USER:101458/topic/442657.h...

So I got Dark Souls from Christmas. I have purposely been staying in the dark (no pun intended) about this game. I am dying to play the game online, but I heard that a lot was changed with the latest patch. Could someone outline the changes for me while keeping it as spoiler free as possible? Should I run through the game once offline before I take it online?

Thanks for the help.

Ronin

#2 posted April 11, 2012 at 5:56pm (EDT)

I ran through the painted world (pain in my ass you were right Bill). I've got 3 humanity now...

Kianta

#3 posted April 11, 2012 at 6:01pm (EDT)

alright I should be on in about 2 hours then for about 2 hours after that (so 8-10pm eastern) like I said I am level 36 now and I can pretty much kill them alone just need a distraction every now and then to heal

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Ronin

#4 posted April 11, 2012 at 6:34pm (EDT)

Alright, I'm down to one humanity now thanks to a couple invasions.but ill try to get some more. My tag is tkvii so just let me know when you're on.

Kianta

#5 posted April 11, 2012 at 8:06pm (EDT)

getting on now

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Kianta

#6 posted April 11, 2012 at 11:08pm (EDT)
edited April 11, 2012 at 11:10pm (EDT)

I think I beat the bosses about 5 times tonight so it should be a breeze once we get passed the invaders

I am also wearing upgraded black iron now and my glove is +1 Flame (ascended from +15 fire 2 levels)

take 2 fireballs to kill knights or 1 fire orb and a weak hit.... Large guards still take 3 great combustion blows

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bill

#7 posted April 12, 2012 at 10:22am (EDT)

So, I've been playing this cleric faith-build character (level is like 55). My ultimate goal is to join Dark Wraith, but I've been working on beefing up some first since New Londo and Four Kings is a dog. I've wrung both bells, but haven't done Sen's or Anor Londo yet. I really wanted to get Reah because she has some great miracles and ultimately has an ivory talisman that is nice (probably have to wait until I get to Duke's Archive for that). But, she's way down in Tomb of Giants (hate that place). Also, Patches has a crescent axe that's nice for faith builds and he's down there too.

Anyway, last night I decided to just go for it. I ran through Catacombs in human form (also carrying about 6 humanity still left from my swamp summoning), took the cliff shortcut, summoned Leeroy, beat Pinwheel easily and I was in Tomb of Giants before I knew it. Unfortunately, I had no light source. So, it was tough going, but I remembered it fairly well and also checked a video for the easy path to the bonfire (not so easy in pitch dark). I had some close calls but I made it! Still in human form too. So, I did Patches and rescued Reah, everything is going well.

I read that Patches wont come to Firelink until I beat Nito, though. So, I decide to just kill him to get the axe. My first lightning bolt knocks him into the Reah pit, though. So, I have to follow him in to finish him off. And, I end up not having much resources to get out (there are these tower things that I don't have much luck fighting without my lightning miracles and I'm low from fighting Patches). I eventually just make some melee moves that get me killed in the pit and I decide to just abandon the souls/humanity down there because what I really need to do now is get out. I did manage to use some of the humanity I was carrying to kindle the bonfires at least.

But, I hadn't really planned that far ahead. How do I get out of this place?! Well, it was a long challenging complex path to get all the way back to the first Catacombs bonfire. I fought skeleton wheels, a silver knight, lots of skeletons and a couple pyromancers. There were dead ends. I ran in to bridges that were still spikes up and I was on the wrong side to hit the switches to fix them. I was worried it may not even be possible to get back. It's such a maze and I didn't remember it that well (may have only been through it once before in the opposite direction - other times I went straight through and used the lordvessel to get out). Again, many close calls where I almost died and would have had to start over from the Tomb of Giants bonfire. But, eventually I popped out near the top and I was so relieved. I made it to the first Catacombs bonfire and back to firelink. Whew!

That was like 11:20 last night (late for me). So, I went to bed, but I was still so revved up, I couldn't get to sleep until after 1am.

Kianta

#8 posted April 12, 2012 at 6:14pm (EDT)

good stuff I was going to do a faith build but when I looked at it it didnt seem that great at lower levels (until like 50 faith or whatever it takes for the higher spells and they generally are slow and not many) That was when I went pyro.... My endurance bar is longer then my health bar currently but it works lol...... When I play online to help people they are probably like WTF when they see me in heavy armor out running them in light. I will be on again tonight leveling my gear, on a side note I tried to use blight town to soul farm for leveling my glove but since most of my damage is drawn from my pyro (useless against the witch when summoned to help) I didnt fair to well in earning souls..... Back to anor Londo I go and just warp to daughter of chaos tomb when I have 50K or so souls so I can level the glove 1 or 2 times

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kevolones

#9 posted April 12, 2012 at 8:05pm (EDT)

Tomb of Giants was the hardest stage for me. I did navigate the whole thing pitch black and the Dog Skeletons there would kick my ass. Its a horrible place, Im amazed you made it down there without dying!

bill

#10 posted April 12, 2012 at 8:34pm (EDT)

Part of the reason I wanted to try cleric/faith was that it didn't seem that great to me. But, it hasn't been bad. Heal has more uses than I was expecting. Wrath of God seems weaker than I was expecting, but it very fast and doesn't need to be aimed. I'm also pushing for heavier armor and weapons than I did with my sorcerer. That has been nice too since I'm less fragile in a fight. I'm using the ring of favor which gives a nice endurance boost. I've definitely heard high endurance is great. I think kilter played like that and said it worked well.

Yeah Quelag is fire resistant, so definitely tough for a pyro. I may push on to Anor Londo just to upgrade some of my gear with twinkling titanite (sold by giant blacksmith). I still go back to the forest to farm souls when I need thousands to buy something.

bill

#11 posted April 12, 2012 at 10:46pm (EDT)

I just beat Sif on the first try (surprised myself - I tried it hollow/solo just to see what the fight would be like, but it wasn't bad at all). Then I beat Stray Demon first try too. I really need to do New Londo/Abyss now, but I keep putting it off. Maybe tomorrow.

Ronin

#12 posted April 12, 2012 at 11:49pm (EDT)

I was having an awful time with sif so i went and did sens and went to anor londo. Went back today and beat sif in one try! Sometimes i just need to give up for a while and come back to things in this game.

Kianta

#13 posted April 12, 2012 at 11:55pm (EDT)

I decided to give the lightning spear a shot in blightown it worked great I helped beat the witch like 7 or 8 time and upgraded my glove once plus bought whip. I invaded a couple people using blue orb and killed them then moved on to sens fortress (no summons/invades in like 5 minutes so went to depths) at the depths I invaded a few times but no luck one guy had high fire resistance some how (hit him with great fireball and it only did 100 dmg and it does 400 on knights in anor londo) I am guessing he was pretty high based on that and he had a big ass sword that did lightning damage (almost killed my 800 hit points in 1 blow) he had heavy armor yet moved fine and had pyro also. another guy I should have beat but he had a guy with him I killed with 1 hit (greater fireball) then I got trapped between the computer summoned guy (solus or what ever) and the host in a hallway somehow despite being on onside at the start and couldnt get out so getting hit on both ends then solus back stabbed me =death lol

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Ronin

#14 posted April 13, 2012 at 12:54am (EDT)

And ornstein and smough! Finally!

bill

#15 posted April 13, 2012 at 8:07am (EDT)

Woot! It's such a nice feeling to beat a boss after you had trouble with it. And, you have the lordvessel now, right?

Yeah, I had tried to help some guy fight Sif a few days ago, but I basically just walked through the fog door and got insta-killed by Sif's sweeping sword attack. So, that freaked me out. But, I think I just didn't have my shield up or maybe that was before I upgraded my armor. Because, when I tried again last night, I could take a hit or two from him and that makes all the difference.

lightning spear

I use that and great lightning spear, plus wrath of god as my 3 miracle slots. When I killed Sif, I mostly took down his hit points with great lightning from range, then near the end when he was low, I came in close and wrath of god'd him a couple times. I swung my +5 fire claymore at him too, but I'm not sure if I connected with it.

The top of Sen's is also a decent farm/summon spot. I may spend some time there later. You can drop your sign, then loop around killing the bad guys (some drop ores and/or have decent soul counts). I think it's best to put your sign right in front of the boss door for that battle. Then, you can jump over the gap and buy upgrades from the vendor after you build up enough souls/ore.

I've definitely seen some invaders who are just elite (don't seem to take much damage or have some trick that instakills). My main strategy when I get invaded by one of them is to die in a good location where I can pick up my souls/humanity easily.

Ronin

#16 posted April 13, 2012 at 11:09am (EDT)
edited April 13, 2012 at 11:09am (EDT)

Yeah, that was what was so discouraging about Sif for me. Kind of like capra demon with my first character. Most of my deaths were within seconds. If i could get around sif after those first couple swings i could last a good long while, but hed always eventually wear me out. I started swinging my zweihander as soon as i saw him jump every time and hed often jump right on top of the swing and take damage, with me out of harms way. Thats what finally killed him for me.

bill

#17 posted April 13, 2012 at 1:33pm (EDT)

Capra was always really hard with my sorcerer. I got him on the first try with my cleric (not easy, had to run up the stairs a bit, but eventually won). I assume it was my sorcerer's light armor that made it hard. Even the dogs would knock me down. Or capra would kill me within 2 seconds of entering the room (after the long trek to get there, ugh). And, that fight rarely has people to summon or NPCs. Though, most other boss fights are easy with ranged magic sorcerer. Cleric is kind of a good mix, at least how I'm playing it (mid-range armor, some strength for heavy weapons). Probably a mage could be played like that too (like kianta's pyro).

I think I'll just start a pyromancer character at some point to see what it's like. Just trying some pyro with a character I've built for other purposes doesn't seem to work out. But, if I start with pyro in mind, I bet I'll get it the hand of it.

Kianta - what are your pyromancer's stats like? How much are you putting into int/attune vs. endurance/str/dev/etc. What weapon are you using?

kevolones

#18 posted April 13, 2012 at 3:18pm (EDT)

Zweihander is awesome!

Equip that ring that gives you high criticals and be amazed at the backstab/Riposte animation!!

Forgotten_Freshness

#19 posted April 13, 2012 at 3:31pm (EDT)
edited April 13, 2012 at 3:33pm (EDT)

Critical awesome.

unless you send first. Period.

Ronin

#20 posted April 13, 2012 at 4:28pm (EDT)

Im working with the occult zweihander. Pumped a bit of stat points into faith and its doing some serious damage. Trying decide whether to suffer throughs dukes archives or giants tomb right now. I finished catcombs and drained new londo but im not ready for the 4 kings.

Btw, is it just me or was the catacombs boss pretty pathetic. Affter o+n and sif i was pretty surprised. Second boss ive beaten on my first try, after gaping dragon.

kevolones

#21 posted April 13, 2012 at 7:39pm (EDT)

Depends. Hes pretty weak if you rush in to kill him. Give him a couple of seconds and he can kick your ass. Same with four kings. Except four kings is exponentially harder haha. Good luck with that.

Ronin

#22 posted April 13, 2012 at 8:03pm (EDT)

Yeahi suppose you could get overwhelmed by fireballs from copies. They just didnt seem to do damage close to other bosses so far.

bill

#23 posted April 13, 2012 at 8:28pm (EDT)
edited April 13, 2012 at 8:29pm (EDT)

Pinwheel was always super easy for me (got him first try every time). I assume he's weak to ranged magic.

Four Kings is pretty hard, partly just getting there is a dog. When I beat 4 kings it was just barely (ran out of estus/magic/etc.).

I tried zweihander. I have the strength for it. But, it drains my endurance bar like crazy.

Ronin

#24 posted April 13, 2012 at 11:27pm (EDT)

Yeah, I basically put the minimum on strength for it and then put the rest into endurance and faith. I still can only do two strong swings before sapping my stamina but thats enough to kill almost any regular enemy.

Kianta

#25 posted April 13, 2012 at 11:46pm (EDT)
edited April 13, 2012 at 11:49pm (EDT)

bill wrote:
> Kianta - what are your pyromancer's stats like? How much
> are you putting into int/attune vs. endurance/str/dev/etc.
> What weapon are you using?

I just went up to level 45 now

dont remember exact stats but mostly in endurance (around 30) and attunment (around 30) my strength is 14 and dex is about the same (gives me spears, bows etc) my hitting damage is low I use a raw reenforced club right now backstab or parry is good but standard hit is under 100.... has bleed out though so not to bad.... My plan is to build a few painted guardian swords, they are light (1.5 lbs) so they slice fast and have bleed out good weapon vs cpu. my faith is 12 (so I can use heal online) and intelligence is starting level (10 I think) and I believe health is staring level as well but I have the ring of favor on to boost health / endurance. I just maxed out my pyro glove and got my 7th slot (when I went from level 40-45 doing good damage vs cpu with all my pyro stuff. Anor londo is easy souls for me as long as if they want to kill fatty first I dont get butt stomped by the tall skinny guy lol.

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bill

#26 posted April 14, 2012 at 12:36pm (EDT)

I can't beat Four Kings. And, I'm out of transient curse. I can run all the way to the boss door so the lack of curse isn't that bad. But, I'm not doing well in the fight. I can kill the first king, but while working on the 2nd, the other two crowd me and I'm screwed. I die at about 1/2 boss health bar.

The lack of curse makes summoning help hard too, since I can't wait around by the boss door (ghosts attack me that I can't kill). I don't know what happened but I just had crappy luck with transient curse drops and I ran out. I had 10 earlier, but they're gone. I also bought all the ones at the vendor and picked up the others. Potentially, I could try to get cursed by a frog then come back to New Londo and farm transients for a while until I have a lot and can try again, this time waiting for a player to summon. Before I ran out of transient curse, I did summon Beatrice, but she did very poorly for me. Twice she died fighting ghosts before I even got in to the Abyss.

Maybe I should do Sen's then Anor Londo and work on some upgrades/leveling, then try again. Meh. I'm sure part of it is that my melee skills still suck and I'm just not paying enough attention to dodge the king's blows. But, it also must be that I'm not doing enough damage because I hear it's really important to kill them fast otherwise you're up against multiple kings and its nearly impossible at that point.

Kianta

#27 posted April 14, 2012 at 2:18pm (EDT)

are you staying right on top of them generally the others leave you alone if you are up against one of them. another option is to switch to attacking a different one (one on the side rather then the middle one). This is because all you have to do is empty the health bar it doesnt matter if you kill them all. did you ever get one of the swords that the ghost drop? if so they do damage to the ghost.

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bill

#28 posted April 14, 2012 at 6:47pm (EDT)
edited April 14, 2012 at 6:47pm (EDT)

I didn't get a jagged ghost blade, no... just bad luck, I guess. I was trying to get close, but that didn't work so well for me. There was some hug attack I kept getting hit by, once I got it like 3 times in a row. It's survivable, but I have to estus right after. Avoiding the middle guy seems like a decent idea, though it's hard to figure that out in the abyss. But, I can try to keep that in mind. I was more trying to focus on taking one one of them, then move to the next one (reducing damage dealers). I've seen guides say to take them out as fast as possible. Clearly, wasn't doing that. Probably because I was taking hits then healing myself, so it was going slowly. I probably need to dodge so I don't get hit, then my speed should improve.

Anyway, I did Sen's then I spent some time trying to get summoned for Sen's boss fight, but didn't have much luck, just a couple times. I'm at the 3rd bonfire in Anor Londo now. So, I figure I'll push through until I get the lordvessel and rescue Seigmeyer, then try New Londo again. I should read the boss guide for 4 kings more and maybe watch some videos, should help.

Kianta

#29 posted April 14, 2012 at 7:44pm (EDT)

I hear flame items work wonders also if you use a spear you can block while attacking

also the fast stamina regen item helps

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bill

#30 posted April 14, 2012 at 8:06pm (EDT)

I just watched most of a log video made by these elite player taking on four kings wearing nothing but a helmet. It was definitely inspiring. The were master dodgers. They seemed to be using a halberd 2-handed. no shield either. No estus used. They just never got hit.

Another tip I saw was to use the dark hand (which I actually have from dark wraith drops). I guess it uses very little stamina to hit with. But, you can spam it (I think -- will need to test it some first).

I mostly was using a +5 fire claymore. It's my highest damage weapon. But, it's a slow swing with a fair bit of stamina loss. I suspect that could also be a problem too. A fast weapon that doesn't use much stamina is likely best. Maybe I can make a lightning one in Anor Londo.

Kianta

#31 posted April 14, 2012 at 8:32pm (EDT)

they are not very weak to lightning (we tried lightning spear first and had problems when we used fire much better.... I wonder if the 4 kings have bleed out if so upgraded painted guardian sword would work wonders (it was 1.5 so it strikes very fast and has a combo)

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Kianta

#32 posted April 14, 2012 at 11:33pm (EDT)

just beat discharge in fire area off to bed

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kevolones

#33 posted April 15, 2012 at 2:06am (EDT)

I believe if you let 2 kings appear at the same time youre pretty much screwed. 3 and youre definitely dead.

I found that the only way to beat them was dodging since one of their swings would drain most of my stamina (and I had a lot!) If I blocked with a shield. You need stamina in this fight cuse you have to relentlessly attack and run to the next one ASAP so shield is a no-go. Two handed!

bill

#34 posted April 15, 2012 at 7:19am (EDT)

Yeah, that's what all the guides are saying and what the elite video looked like. Circling, dodge, attack attack attack in most case, then certain glowing magic attacks, you run away for a couple seconds then charge back in. Don't get hit so don't waste time on recovery.

I'm just a heavy shield user (always up!), so it's hard to change up my tactics. But, it should be a good challenge. Really, since I already got the plat and don't even care about doing the endgame, this is the kind of thing I'm after. Being forced to play differently, play better. The sorcerer beat 4 kings fairly easily (I realize now). But, it allowed me to never really get good a melee tactics.

I upgraded my cresent axe to +5 in Anor Londo. So, I'll probably try that. It's magic damage, so not perfect, but getting a fire weapon is a pain at this point. Then, maybe the grass crest shied (on my back as a 2 hand the axe). And, I'll wear light armor to get my load under 25%. I've upgraded my endurance some, so I'm hoping to have some poise.

Kianta

#35 posted April 15, 2012 at 8:09am (EDT)

bah well that pisses me off I was in a hurry when I was in tomb of giants last night and while talking to patches answered yes so he became hostile when I returned now I cant buy his crap oh well.

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bill

#36 posted April 15, 2012 at 8:22am (EDT)

You may be able to get absolution to make him friendly if you haven't killed him already.

I murdered him because all I wanted was the crescent axe.

Kianta

#37 posted April 15, 2012 at 9:05am (EDT)

he is dead lol

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bill

#38 posted April 15, 2012 at 11:48am (EDT)

Patches certainly deserves to die.

I beat Four Kings this morning. I never really got good at dodging, but the low-weight endurance setup seemed to help. Basically, I got in close and just spammed attacks. I'd take some hits, but managed to muddle through it after 5 tries. A key thing was to hit them in the back because it does a lot more damage. The first 4 tries, I didn't do much better than I had in the past. But, on the 5th try, I managed to get more back hits and I was taking the kings down much faster. I actually had to wait in between killing one for the next to spawn. Just that edge turned the fight around completely and it almost seemed easy.

So, I'm doing the Dark Wraith thing now, got the red orb and I'm invading people. It's funny because I've lost 4, won 1 so far. I'm the lamest invader ever.

Also, I'm getting into cases where I can't find the host anywhere... Right now, I'm in someone's game and I can't find them. It's somewhat interesting in that there are clues. You see dead bad guys around. So, there's sometimes a trail. But, then it seems to go cold too. I've also had a few just send me back to my world. If only they knew how lame of an invader I was.

Anyway, that was my big goal. I'm going to play around with invading for a while. Maybe try to find a good spot for it. So far, Anor Londo seems too hardcore for me. The people l invaded were ready for it and beat me (though, the fight was still fun and somewhat close). Also, I got invaded. Still, plenty of action there, so I'll probably try again there later. But, I'm really looking more for a spot where I can just ruin other people's game and piss them off. I'm in Blight swamp now. I've mostly had people send me back or I can't find them. But, I did have a good fight with one guy that I beat. The top of Sen's may worth trying too. Basically, all the spots I liked for summoning are also potential invade spots.

I'm learning about invade mechanics too. I had assumed that when you invade and lose, you become hollow but that's not true. So, that's nice. I was concerned I'd need to farm humanity just to do this. But, I've only used a couple so far.

Ha, that guy in the swamp finally revealed. So, I ran over to him (found his hiding spot) and ... he killed me. lol

Ronin

#39 posted April 15, 2012 at 1:13pm (EDT)

Ive tried the four kings 3 times now and ive managed to get down to one king every time before that last one kills me. I pretty much plow into them with the zweihander. Their attacks seem to do very little damage if i stay close to them and the others never help each other. The two things tripping me up are the magic attack and the vertical swing attack they do as i approach tem. I can survive both but they wear down my estus reserves so i never have any left for the final king.

Kianta

#40 posted April 15, 2012 at 1:46pm (EDT)

invading depends on your level but I think depths was decent for 25-35 level, anor londo seems to be 50-70s, sens not sure (would guess 40-60), blight town should be easy if you find them when in doubt run to the boss areaif they are not there or bonfire I would say find someone else.

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bill

#41 posted April 15, 2012 at 2:49pm (EDT)

I'm level 71 and invading seems to have worked in most places. I tried from the Anor Londo, Blight swamp, New Londo, Undead Parish (by sunlight altar), Sen's Fortress... I got multiples in each place.

Payouts for winning can be rather low. I just got 2672 souls for killing a guy at the top of Sen's. I was definitely making more souls by helping kill bosses (made 60k once at Sen's - I think it helps if you get the killing blow).

Pres_Ford - have you upgraded the bonfire to 20 estus? You said you killed Pinwheel, right? His Rite of Kindling allows you to kindle up to 20. Also, getting all the fire-keeper souls you can to upgrade estus, helps. I had +4 when I beat 4 kings earlier today. I think mostly, you just need to do a lot of damage fast, though. Then, you wont need to heal as much. That's my overall impression.

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Topic: Finally got Dark Souls - I have a big question

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