I've heard there is a difference between the patch on 360 vs. PS3. Because I tried the shrine area out on PS3 post-patch and those things tracked me all the way down the tunnel where the Rhoy's Resting Place bonfire is. I didn't see any difference at all. They might have been doing less damage but that is hard to tell as I have better equipment than when I was last there. But the tracking sure seems the same.BrolyB593 said:
Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - April 7, 2015
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britton_draws
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That is really weird indeed. All the nerfing they meant to do must have been added to the 360 patch! They need to find a middle-ground and that would be great. When I first played the area it was frustrating as shit, but that is Dark Souls; it made me really get good with timing my rolls even more. Now when I played it though it didn't even feel like Dark Souls; I blazed through it while focusing more on the episode of The Office that I had on than the game!
guardian_owl
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So what Vigor level has everyone been going with? I pumped it to 20 pretty close to the start (where it drops to +20 HP per point at 21) and haven't touched it since. That's usually been enough to keep me from being one-shot by stuff, but now I am entering the second tier of the game after beating the 4 great soul bosses. Does the damage done by enemies increase that much or do you think I will be OK to the end of the NG playthrough? Getting close to done raising Faith and wasn't sure if I should raise STR to use better shields/weapons or INT for some hexing action.
britton_draws
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I think mine is at like 18 or something and I have been contemplating respecing and lowering it actually. Then again my whole playstyle of this new character revolves largely around not being up close long enough to get hit by anything. My first melee/bow build was I think like 35 Vigor or so. I would think with solid armor and 20 Vigor you would be fine making it through the rest.
If you're still in NG, 20 is good. When you move on to + and ++, you might want to start moving it up.
I've had mine at around 14 or so the whole game so far (I think I'm getting close to the end? Just got the Ring of the King recently). I just would generally rather spend the points on other stats. You can always wear better armor if you level up VIT instead, for example. And END is really helpful for having extra weapon swings or rolls, or even just taking more hits on your shield.
20-25 is fine for NG. The end bosses of the game will more than likely 2-3 shot you if your not cautious.
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Kameleon
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So it's been a while since I posted, but I ended up already playing through NG+ and only went online to get summon help once on the Lost Sinner (because I needed to keep Lucatiel alive for the trophy)
I actually went through the Ancient Dragon despite not needing another Giant Soul and beat him on my first try using the strategy I used the first time (which I outlined earlier in the thread). This time though, I had many more Great Lighting Spears on hand (about 50 or so), equipped the full Lion Mage set to cast faster, and used Gower's Ring just in case. It was so easy, I was listening to music for about the first fourth of the fight.
Right now, I ran through NG++ quickly so I could get to the Shrine of Winter. I backed up my save file right outside of the gate, and will likely do the Shrine of Winter skip that was mentioned earlier and then revert my save after I get the platinum.
Since everyone's talking about VGR, I have mine at the default, which was 4 (Swordsman). Honestly, I don't seem much point in leveling it as every other stat also levels up your HP (though not as significantly of course).
Also...
I actually went through the Ancient Dragon despite not needing another Giant Soul and beat him on my first try using the strategy I used the first time (which I outlined earlier in the thread). This time though, I had many more Great Lighting Spears on hand (about 50 or so), equipped the full Lion Mage set to cast faster, and used Gower's Ring just in case. It was so easy, I was listening to music for about the first fourth of the fight.
Right now, I ran through NG++ quickly so I could get to the Shrine of Winter. I backed up my save file right outside of the gate, and will likely do the Shrine of Winter skip that was mentioned earlier and then revert my save after I get the platinum.
Since everyone's talking about VGR, I have mine at the default, which was 4 (Swordsman). Honestly, I don't seem much point in leveling it as every other stat also levels up your HP (though not as significantly of course).
Also...
Giggity.
My Vigor is about 12 - kept it low on Jodou's suggestion early on. It hasn't really been an issue until I tried taking on Vendrick. He is just barely one-shotting me. When I summon helped on the Throne Watchers I got reverted to human and then after that I could withstand one of his hits for a few tries. It is so much easier to do a boss when you at least have one second chance (unlike, say, Ancient Dragon). But once I got killed a few times, even with the Ring of Binding I'm down just a bit too far to withstand one hit from Vendrick. I need to take him out so I can finally move on to NG+.
I was working on getting my Faith up to 50 so that with the Ring of Faith I could finally use Sunlight Spear. But after that I will probably go with Vigor. I think I'm still getting 30 points per level now (though I haven't done it since probably level 10-20 and I'm at 181 now
). I may respec and put a couple of my DEX and INT points into Vigor though. But I'm not too far off where I want to be so I may just add new levels to Vigor from this point.
Kameleon - where did you get 50 Great Lightning Spears from? I'm assuming that is around 5 sets of it? I have 2 sets of regular Lightning Spears (which gives me 22) and just the one Great (with a whopping 8 uses) equipped. I would love to get more and ditch the regular ones.
So I was messing around farming titanite (regular stuff from the enemies in the camp area and twinkling from the archdrake mages in Amana). I can definitely confirm the ridiculous tracking of the mages is still a thing on PS3. One time I went backwards from the Rhoy's resting place bonfire, and killed the 3 archdrakes and 2 female mages at the end of the previous area (so going backwards from that bonfire). Then I ran way out on the reef and aggroed another female mage near the beginning of the level (near one of the houses). I didn't want to deal with her since I wasn't sure where the drop-offs were in that area so I ran all the way back into the tunnel near the bonfire. Just before the bonfire, I got hit in the back by a soul arrow fired from all the way across the level and around a corner
. Like I said, they might do less damage now (about 1/5 of my relatively low health - but I do have a +5 Havel plate equipped as well) but the tracking seems almost worse now.
I was working on getting my Faith up to 50 so that with the Ring of Faith I could finally use Sunlight Spear. But after that I will probably go with Vigor. I think I'm still getting 30 points per level now (though I haven't done it since probably level 10-20 and I'm at 181 now
). I may respec and put a couple of my DEX and INT points into Vigor though. But I'm not too far off where I want to be so I may just add new levels to Vigor from this point.Kameleon - where did you get 50 Great Lightning Spears from? I'm assuming that is around 5 sets of it? I have 2 sets of regular Lightning Spears (which gives me 22) and just the one Great (with a whopping 8 uses) equipped. I would love to get more and ditch the regular ones.
So I was messing around farming titanite (regular stuff from the enemies in the camp area and twinkling from the archdrake mages in Amana). I can definitely confirm the ridiculous tracking of the mages is still a thing on PS3. One time I went backwards from the Rhoy's resting place bonfire, and killed the 3 archdrakes and 2 female mages at the end of the previous area (so going backwards from that bonfire). Then I ran way out on the reef and aggroed another female mage near the beginning of the level (near one of the houses). I didn't want to deal with her since I wasn't sure where the drop-offs were in that area so I ran all the way back into the tunnel near the bonfire. Just before the bonfire, I got hit in the back by a soul arrow fired from all the way across the level and around a corner
. Like I said, they might do less damage now (about 1/5 of my relatively low health - but I do have a +5 Havel plate equipped as well) but the tracking seems almost worse now.
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I thought about that but there was a lot of talk in here about how that weakens the effect of the spell/miracle. I'm at 50 now and can use the Sunlight Spear with my +5 Faith ring. If I decided I want to use a different ring in that slot I might use the spices on the miracle. I doubt I'm going to add more to Faith beyond 50.
So I see a lot of talk about "stunlock" in the Gamefaqs boards. Can someone explain this to me? All I get when I search is people complaining about it and talking about how to avoid it without ever mentioning what it is.
Also, there is apparently something called "Muling" which involves somehow hacking the game (or your save) so that you can have a high SL character with low Soul Memory so you can grief people.
Also, there is apparently something called "Muling" which involves somehow hacking the game (or your save) so that you can have a high SL character with low Soul Memory so you can grief people.
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guardian_owl
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When you get far enough in NG (I think when you finish Armana), Straid starts selling Great Lightning Spear (I think just one unit) so you can get 2 instances of GLS per playthrough. 32 Attunement gets you up to 10 casts per instance so early on NG++ he would have access to a 5th instance of it for a total of 50.
Stunlock means the recovery time from the blow is longer than it takes before the enemy (enemies or PvPers) can swing again. For instance, if i can get a good hit in on another player with my claymore and they flinch, they are usually stuck as I combo them as there is a very tiny window to roll away before I hit them again and even if they think to roll, the reach might be enough to knick them and cause them to flinch again. It is usually more common in the smaller swords that are quicker to strike.
I ran into a stunlock problem vs. the fire chamelons below the Cardinal bonfire. If they nail you with their charge attack and knock you down, if they decided to follow up with another charge attack instead of a swipe or a flame attack then there usually isn't enough time to recover to get away. One time it charged me over and over and over until I died.
Stunlock means the recovery time from the blow is longer than it takes before the enemy (enemies or PvPers) can swing again. For instance, if i can get a good hit in on another player with my claymore and they flinch, they are usually stuck as I combo them as there is a very tiny window to roll away before I hit them again and even if they think to roll, the reach might be enough to knick them and cause them to flinch again. It is usually more common in the smaller swords that are quicker to strike.
I ran into a stunlock problem vs. the fire chamelons below the Cardinal bonfire. If they nail you with their charge attack and knock you down, if they decided to follow up with another charge attack instead of a swipe or a flame attack then there usually isn't enough time to recover to get away. One time it charged me over and over and over until I died.
Hmmm - I should have 2 then but I only have one. I may just not have bought it since I already had it. Where does the first one come from though?
According to the Wiki, it looks like there are 3 in the game:
I'm guessing that I only have that last one. I was just in Undead Crypt fighting Vendrick and I have no idea where that second one is. OK, I just watched a video - it is in the area you need to traverse before using the lever for the shortcut. I did that area really quickly with some phantoms way back and never explored the area in there because of all the bell-ringing mage types in there. I guess I need to go back and explore it a bit more!
Man, it would have been nice to have 3 of those instead of 1 since Velstradt (at least the last 30-40 hours if not more of my game).
I'll also have to pump up my attunement to 26 to get the extra cast (9 per in that case instead of the 8 I have now) and presumably an additional attunement slot so I can throw sunlight spear on top of the 3 great lightning spears. Maybe it is time for a respec...
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Finally beat Vendrick tonight! So I'm all done with NG besides some shard farming and checking for spells/miracles I might have missed.
I tried so many times on Vendrick and would often get him down to 1/10th health and then just screw up
.
Anyway, the key to him is to stick by his left leg and rotate to the right as he turns. You just have to time the rolls right to avoid his swinging attack. I would often do it too early and then get killed just after I rolled. If you stick close enough (perfect if you want to melee him anyway) he won't do that stupid backwards jump that can screw you up if he gets up against a wall.
I ended up using sunlight spear and great lightning spear. With the 5 Giant souls it only took my 3 sunlight spears and maybe 6 or 7 more great lightning spears to take him down. My +10 lightning Mastodon Greatsword was only doing about 1/4th the damage of the lightning spears so while melee is certainly doable (with the exact same strategy) it would take much longer. When I finally got it done, I didn't get hit once so all that fretting over Vigor was for naught (I had leveled it up a bit and put on heavier armor - didn't matter).
It has been so long since I've seen some of the other parts of the game, I think a NG+ run would be a nice change of scenery.
I'm actually at SL 194 or so now. Even at that level (not sure what my soul memory is but when I checked yesterday I was over 4 mil), I can still get summoned in Drangleic Castle for the end boss and of course in the Dragon Shrine for Ancient Dragon. That is still a nice place to run through as a summon to level up (just on the regular guys). I have yet to beat AC as a summon helper as he invariably does his AOE attack. Though last time the host went in for the toes as well and we got him to stomp a few times before flying.
Crap, looking at the miracle list I see that I have to kill Licia down by the turning device to get one of the miracles. I might as well do that now. That explains the "red eye stirs" thing that pops up when I go talk to her! It seems like that might be a hard fight too. Sigh - thought I was done with tough fights in NG...
I tried so many times on Vendrick and would often get him down to 1/10th health and then just screw up
.Anyway, the key to him is to stick by his left leg and rotate to the right as he turns. You just have to time the rolls right to avoid his swinging attack. I would often do it too early and then get killed just after I rolled. If you stick close enough (perfect if you want to melee him anyway) he won't do that stupid backwards jump that can screw you up if he gets up against a wall.
I ended up using sunlight spear and great lightning spear. With the 5 Giant souls it only took my 3 sunlight spears and maybe 6 or 7 more great lightning spears to take him down. My +10 lightning Mastodon Greatsword was only doing about 1/4th the damage of the lightning spears so while melee is certainly doable (with the exact same strategy) it would take much longer. When I finally got it done, I didn't get hit once so all that fretting over Vigor was for naught (I had leveled it up a bit and put on heavier armor - didn't matter).
It has been so long since I've seen some of the other parts of the game, I think a NG+ run would be a nice change of scenery.
I'm actually at SL 194 or so now. Even at that level (not sure what my soul memory is but when I checked yesterday I was over 4 mil), I can still get summoned in Drangleic Castle for the end boss and of course in the Dragon Shrine for Ancient Dragon. That is still a nice place to run through as a summon to level up (just on the regular guys). I have yet to beat AC as a summon helper as he invariably does his AOE attack. Though last time the host went in for the toes as well and we got him to stomp a few times before flying.
Crap, looking at the miracle list I see that I have to kill Licia down by the turning device to get one of the miracles. I might as well do that now. That explains the "red eye stirs" thing that pops up when I go talk to her! It seems like that might be a hard fight too. Sigh - thought I was done with tough fights in NG...
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guardian_owl
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Internet was out last night so I took the opportunity to return to the grave of the Saints and use the Pharros stone on one of the bridges to reach the Hex on the other side without ratbros invading. Since i was already there, I thought I vaguely remembered missing an item on the ledge you jump from to get down to the first Gutter bonfire. So I swapped some spells for Cast Light, dropped down the hole after the Rat ring, used binoculars to kill most of the undead hollows from up on the bridge with lightning (I wish I knew about the binoculars the first time through) climbed down all those ladders and looked around on that ledge. Didn't see any, but I did notice, from the blue item lights in the distance, that I missed an entire tower (upper and lower) my first time through, I thought I got everything.
I would highly recommend returning to that initial Gutter ledge as from that vantage point you are far enough away that none of the structures obstruct your vision of the item lights. Then you can navigate to their approximate locations via the lit sconces. The one I missed was after you cross the lower rope bridge with the exploding hollow instead of turning right to climb up to the ladder to the the upper bridge, turn left and use a torch or cast light to look for a wooden plank to drop down to which leads to several drops downward. There are items on the way down, and then you will find a ladder that goes quite high up that has more items.
I would highly recommend returning to that initial Gutter ledge as from that vantage point you are far enough away that none of the structures obstruct your vision of the item lights. Then you can navigate to their approximate locations via the lit sconces. The one I missed was after you cross the lower rope bridge with the exploding hollow instead of turning right to climb up to the ladder to the the upper bridge, turn left and use a torch or cast light to look for a wooden plank to drop down to which leads to several drops downward. There are items on the way down, and then you will find a ladder that goes quite high up that has more items.
4 more points in attunement above 26 will get you another slot, but add 2 more points on top of that and you will get another great lightning cast as well as a 4th Sunlight spear cast, 32 Attunement is definitely worth it, that gets you a 4th casts of great heal, 10 casts of GLS, 4 casts of Sunlight spear, 5 casts of heavenly thunder, 5th cast of blinding bolt, 4th cast of sacred oath, a 3rd cast of all the 2 cast miracles. A lot of useful miracles get another cast (or their first additional cast) at 32.
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Its mostly for PvP since anything below 20 will get you killed in one or two hits. Usually, its those low vgr-people that cry about things being OP.
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Kameleon
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Just to clarify how I had 48 (I know, I rounded up when I guessed originally) casts of Great Lightning Spear, I got my Attunement up to 50, which gave me 4 extra casts of Great Lightning Spear (for a total of 12 casts). I equipped 4 of those (The one in the Crypt, one in the Pit, one from Straid, and a duplicate from going through NG+) which made it 4 x 12 for 48 casts. I had 3 other slots free, so I equipped Sunlight Spear (2 slots) and Great Heal (almost always have this equipped).
So anyway, I think I'm finished with this game for now as yesterday I used the [customspoiler='location']Shrine of Winter [/customspoiler] skip to get the last two miracles and pyromancies from [customspoiler='Merchant']Chancellor Wellager[/customspoiler]. After the Pyromancy and platinum trophies didn't unlock, I looked it up and it looks like I had missed [customspoiler='Pyromancy and Location'] Fire Tempest in the Shrine of Amana[/customspoiler], so that was a pain to go and get.
I went through my whole list and I was missing this one as well (but I found it before I started NG+). With the still super-ridiculous lock-on and tracking of the Shrine mages on PS3 this was an annoyance, though not too difficult. The bonus was that I went to the wrong area at first and ended up finding an Estus Flask shard and another copy of Sunlight Blade way out in the water. One video that I only watched the beginning of said that pyro you mentioned was "behind" the Ogre. Well, it really isn't anywhere near the ogre, but those other things are indeed behind him.
I think I'm still missing a final whatever it is you burn to increase flask recovery.
The attunement levels are confusing but thanks for the tip of going for 32 - I probably will do that. I got it to 25 last night and that actually gave me the extra casting slot. I guess that comes 1 level before you get another cast of the spears. It is kind of annoying because you'd never know you got the extra spears until after you chose the level beyond the slot, which I wouldn't have ever done without reading about it.
So, I went to visit Ornifex and I was trying to figure out which boss souls to trade for weapons. I settled on the Throne Defender's Greatsword since I was using the Mastadon Greatsword + 10. After I leveled it up, it is just barely slightly more powerful. So I kind of regret doing that. On the other hand, it does have half the weight, so I can wear some better armor. But I was also reading that the Dragon Defender's shield is probably one of the best shields in the game. It has the weight of the smaller shields, but the stability of a greatshield and pretty good resistances too. That is awesome. But now I can't get it till NG+ or unless I use an ascetic, which I'd be hesitant to do since I don't want to make them and Nashandra too difficult for NG+. It sucks that they make two of the better items require the same boss soul whereas I have tons of other boss souls I probably won't even use.
I did get the Dragonrider Greatbow a while back. What other boss weapon items (for boss souls that aren't needed for spells/miracles/etc) should I grab? I might as well get them all now before I start NG+. Is there another decent shield? I was thinking of getting the King's Shield. It seems his greatsword isn't all that great, and I forget what the third thing is.
Also, I handled Licia on the first try - wasn't nearly as hard as a few Gamefaqs threads made it out to be. Maybe I am much higher level than most people who try it - though as with most things in DS, levels don't make all that much difference. Profound Still, the first hex I've ever used, sure made it pretty easy though.
Even late last night (like 4am Pacific Thursday AM), and still playing region-locked, I was getting summoned into the AC area after 2-5 minute waits. I've gone into the Ancient Dragon fight a couple times now with the host and a second phantom and gotten it down to 50% health. If I can get to the back toes and use the strat I outlined earlier, I can usually keep him stomping even if the others go off to the side to throw spells at him. But invariably he will fly up and do the AOE attack anyway. But I'm getting closer (as a summon - I did it solo in my game already). I'm kind of taking this on as a new challenge to beat him while helping someone. It would be nice to help someone who has otherwise cleared out all the regular enemies since they've been trying for a while and are probably as frustrated with him as I was. On the other hand, when they've cleared everything out that is annoying because then I don't get any souls from joining their game if we fail on the dragon.
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There's a trick to Vendrick. When sidestepping his left leg, make sure when he swings you roll forward. If you roll to the side you will get hit unless you time it perfectly. If you roll forward, he'll miss you everytime. The only time he becomes a problem is when he backs you into a corner.
I definitely rolled to the right (the way he swings) for the most part. I guess after doing it so many times I just got the timing down perfectly
. I probably did roll forward occasionally if I was too far from him - just to get back closer to him so he didn't jump backwards.Any suggestions on those boss soul weapons? I really want to "cash" them all in before I start NG+ but there are so many options. For sure I want to avoid the crappy ones at least - and I know there are some.
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Basically I'm down to a few either/or boss weapons.
From Looking Glass Knight do I get the King's Mirror or Thorned Greatsword? I already have the Defender Greatsword maxed out (just did that last night). So I'm probably leaning towards the mirror though I'm not sure I'll ever use it.
From Soul of the King do I get the Ruler's Sword, the King's Shield, or the King's Ultra Greatsword? I'm leaning towards the shield since it seems like a nice lightweight one and I already got the Defender's Greatsword (and thus can't get his shield).
From Guardian Dragon Soul do I get Drakewing Ultra Greatsword or the Spitfire Spear? I really have no idea here. I was a big winged lightning spear user in Demon's Souls and even the first Dark Souls, but I haven't used a spear at all in DS2.
And from the Pursuer, do I get Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword or his Greatshield? I have not been a Greatsword user up to this point, but that might very well change. On the other hand, that shield is pretty awesome looking.
And finally, with my second Dragonrider Soul do I get Halberd, Twinblade, or Greatshield? I'd probably get the latter though it isn't clear it is any better than any number of other Greatshields I already have.
Any thoughts before I dive into NG+ and can't redeem these for a while? Right now I'm going to redeem the single-use ones (like Smelter Demon).
From Looking Glass Knight do I get the King's Mirror or Thorned Greatsword? I already have the Defender Greatsword maxed out (just did that last night). So I'm probably leaning towards the mirror though I'm not sure I'll ever use it.
From Soul of the King do I get the Ruler's Sword, the King's Shield, or the King's Ultra Greatsword? I'm leaning towards the shield since it seems like a nice lightweight one and I already got the Defender's Greatsword (and thus can't get his shield).
From Guardian Dragon Soul do I get Drakewing Ultra Greatsword or the Spitfire Spear? I really have no idea here. I was a big winged lightning spear user in Demon's Souls and even the first Dark Souls, but I haven't used a spear at all in DS2.
And from the Pursuer, do I get Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword or his Greatshield? I have not been a Greatsword user up to this point, but that might very well change. On the other hand, that shield is pretty awesome looking.
And finally, with my second Dragonrider Soul do I get Halberd, Twinblade, or Greatshield? I'd probably get the latter though it isn't clear it is any better than any number of other Greatshields I already have.
Any thoughts before I dive into NG+ and can't redeem these for a while? Right now I'm going to redeem the single-use ones (like Smelter Demon).
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guardian_owl
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Supposedly a lightning infused Defender's sword is one of the best faith weapons since it is one of the few which scales S with faith, though it can't be buffed with sunlight blade since it has its own 2-handed R2 buff.
I thought about going to 38, but all I would really gain is one more cast of GLS, and 8 extra points for another spell slot (40) is kinda excessive.
I think they did attunement that way so that you are always getting something for points. If not an extra spell slot, then an extra cast of a spell, or a little more agility, or a boost to cast speed. Attunement slots starts at 1 every 3 starting from 10, then 1 every 4 starting at 16, then 1 every 5 starting at 20, then 1 every 10 starting at 30. So 32 is probably where I am going to stop for quite awhile.
I thought about going to 38, but all I would really gain is one more cast of GLS, and 8 extra points for another spell slot (40) is kinda excessive.
Yeah, I did that. I finally used the weapon buff for the first time as a helper summons on the Ancient Dragon. And what do you know - we actually beat the thing! The host had summoned 2 of us but the other guy died on the steps along the way. Then he summoned Head of Vengarl and he made it most of the way but died near the end. But I couldn't believe we made it through. While I triggered the stomp attack several times and kept wailing on his toes, he also did the underneath breath attack a few times and even the AOE like 3 times. Somehow I managed to avoid them all this time!
So, yeah, apparently it is possible to beat the Ancient Dragon via coop. I have to say that was the first time playing this game that I actually felt somewhat badass
.And oh crap, I thought the game glitched on me. I was considering trading the King's Soul (for beating Vendrick) for his shield but Ornifex didn't give me the option. But I just read you have to go to Shrine of Amana to get his soul first. I had no idea - I just assumed I had it. And you have to be human apparently as well which is great since I just turned human again after completing the dragon fight.
Edit: I decided that since I couldn't decide what to trade the King's Soul for, I'll just hold on to it
. I am, however, rocking his gear now even though it has much less defense than the Havel's. I'm considering respeccing to reduce my Vitality (since I'm only around 50% equip burden now) and Dexterity and putting more points into Strength, Faith, and perhaps Adaptability.I've been hesitating on starting NG+ because of these boss weapons so I keep wasting time summon helping on Ancient Dragon instead. I've had a few people that must have used bonfire ascetics because the knights there were giving 6000+ each (normally about 2000+ with my Jester's Gloves and Silver +2). I'm also starting to get invaded while waiting to get summoned. I hope NG+ is not just full of invading griefers. I want to take on the harder enemies/bosses and don't want to be harassed
.
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I've been using the DragonRider bow for most of the game. If you use bows a lot (like I do) I think it's pretty sweet, especially when you shoot magic arrows with it. I've actually skipped out on leveling my guy up just to load up on magic arrows, iron arrows, and poison arrows - I like to keep several hundred on hand.
I've made a few other boss soul weapons but haven't used any other ones. Most seem to have pretty high STR and/or DEX requirements, and petrified dragon bone is so uncommon.
I've made a few other boss soul weapons but haven't used any other ones. Most seem to have pretty high STR and/or DEX requirements, and petrified dragon bone is so uncommon.
guardian_owl
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I used jester's glove and silver for awhile but at the rate they give souls out like candy, I'd rather have item find gear on. Pretty much the only time I put on +to soul gear is when I am doing some coop specifically to get enough souls to reach a certain, immediate stat goal.
Do you have a decent amount of points in INT? The dark spear that the spear users in Earthen Peak drop is pretty nifty. The R1 is your standard thrust, but R2 is a wide horizontal sweep. It also upgrades with titanite instead of the rarer twinkling and petrified dragon.
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britton_draws
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Unfortunately, the self buff the Defender's GS doesn't add as much as sunlight blade and it lasts 30 seconds. If your a Str/Fth build, the Mastodon GS with sunlight blade is more powerful than a self-buffed Defender's GS.
That is the only fault the Defender's GS has really. Also, I see more faith users wielding the Watcher's GS or Thorned GS than Defender's GS lately in PvP. 
k
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guardian_owl
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LMAO, Oh From...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ2-PICH0Ls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ2-PICH0Ls
^ Hah - That is just ridiculous!
. But I think I'm still better off with the Defender's GS for normal encounters. I'm getting slightly less physical damage but much more lightning damage after the scaling on both. I mean the only time I've used the buff is on the Ancient Dragon. I wouldn't use it (or Sunlight Blade) very often otherwise. I'm not looking for a PvP build - just something to get me through NG+. Though being prepared for invaders is always nice. And at least that way I can use the slot for something else. But if I'm having trouble with any bosses I can always go back to the Mastadon Greatsword and equip Sunlight Blade. But that wears off too, doesn't it? How long does it last?
As for the armor, I've moved away from the King's gear. While it looks cool and is a "badge of honor" that you beat Vencrick, it just isn't all that great - unless it scales well with twinkling titanite that is. I didn't upgrade it to find out though. So now I'm using Velgstadt's armor and leggings. Those are much better, not much heavier, and look nice as well. They do seem to upgrade better than normal stuff, but that's probably true of all twinkling titanite upgrades (since you only get 5 instead of 10). I upgraded it a few slots after I farmed some more. I still have 15 or so twinkling titanite in reserve. I'm hesitant to use it all on this in case I find or realize that something else is better.
I had my Havel's armor up to +5 and while that stuff is awesome, it looks horrible and of course Dark Souls "git gud" snobs look down on you for wearing it.
Oh, so now you tell meUnfortunately, the self buff the Defender's GS doesn't add as much as sunlight blade and it lasts 30 seconds. If your a Str/Fth build, the Mastodon GS with sunlight blade is more powerful than a self-buffed Defender's GS.
. But I think I'm still better off with the Defender's GS for normal encounters. I'm getting slightly less physical damage but much more lightning damage after the scaling on both. I mean the only time I've used the buff is on the Ancient Dragon. I wouldn't use it (or Sunlight Blade) very often otherwise. I'm not looking for a PvP build - just something to get me through NG+. Though being prepared for invaders is always nice. And at least that way I can use the slot for something else. But if I'm having trouble with any bosses I can always go back to the Mastadon Greatsword and equip Sunlight Blade. But that wears off too, doesn't it? How long does it last?As for the armor, I've moved away from the King's gear. While it looks cool and is a "badge of honor" that you beat Vencrick, it just isn't all that great - unless it scales well with twinkling titanite that is. I didn't upgrade it to find out though. So now I'm using Velgstadt's armor and leggings. Those are much better, not much heavier, and look nice as well. They do seem to upgrade better than normal stuff, but that's probably true of all twinkling titanite upgrades (since you only get 5 instead of 10). I upgraded it a few slots after I farmed some more. I still have 15 or so twinkling titanite in reserve. I'm hesitant to use it all on this in case I find or realize that something else is better.
I had my Havel's armor up to +5 and while that stuff is awesome, it looks horrible and of course Dark Souls "git gud" snobs look down on you for wearing it
.
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Apparently all the upgrades for regular titanite end up adding 100%, twinkling adds 50%, and dragon bone upgrades add 150%. The consistency is nice and makes it easier to see how things will end up or compare something that's partially upgraded to something that's not upgraded. That's without infusions, but those are also mostly predictable.
See this: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/upgrade
See this: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/upgrade
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Been spending the majority of the day working on getting to Rank 2 of the Bell covenant so i can get the last damn sorcery I need. Once I have that I'm going to complete NG+ (already beat the boss) and see how fast I can get my ass to the castle so I can buy the last 3 spells I need from the ghost guy.
Yeah, I'm going to start NG+ this evening so my kids can see it. They've seen me playing a lot of the endgame and are wondering what the rest of it is like. My 4 year-old keeps asking me if there is a "video" (ie, a cutscene like some of the bosses have - they are always disappointed when a host skips it when I'm being a phantom ).
).
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guardian_owl
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I found the mastadon greatsword after carefully fighting through the sentinel room of death and played around with it a little. Doesn't seem to have much more reach than my claymore and is a lot heavier (and requires 10 more STR), nor much extra starting damage. What is so great about it compared to the claymore? Just the little extra damage?
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Mastodon is meant for strength builds obviously. No point in going for it if you plan on using the minimum stats to wield it. It has better range than most GS (3rd or 4th overall iirc), a good move-set if you know how to use it, and hits a lot harder than the claymore.
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Sure, might as well. I haven't played Demon's Souls since it first came out but I still have to get the plat in that. I just had a few areas to finish up. I might go back to it again after I plat DS2.
So I started my NG+ run tonight. Way to go From on the surprises
at the beginning - the dudes with hawks surprised the hell out of me in the very first area. And then the 2 red phantoms in the area with the dogs. Nice touch. I didn't see too much different in the Forest of Fallen Giants, though, other than 2 more red phantoms (including one turtle guy). I got some +5 leggings from one of the phantoms - that's the first time I've ever seen an upgraded drop in this game. I'll have to see what they are when I play again.
But man people weren't kidding about it being invasion time in NG+. Wow... So first I put down my summon sign at the very first bonfire in Forest of Giants (by the river). I helped a guy go through to the second bonfire and as soon as we got there he was invaded by an arbiter who spawned practically right on top of me! I nailed him pretty good there despite not realizing at first what was happening (the blue phantom threw me off - had never seen one before) but he got away. Eventually he came back and we killed him. Then after we took care of the Pursuer he got invaded by another arbiter! I guess the dude has some sin
. After that he dismissed me.Then I went through the same area on my own - pro tip: you can hurl fireballs at the corner in that second bonfire area to open up the shortcut. That saves a ton of time. I guess there's no reason to go down and do that whole area on the rooftops and talk to Cale unless I want to get into his house again for some reason. Also, the stupid crystal gecko only gave me two lousy regular titanite shards (that's with the gold +1 ring equipped).
The problem was that I kept getting invaded as well. First time was right by the main bonfire. It seems invasions don't happen until you get to that part based on what happened to me and the guy I helped. The red phantom in this case, though, chose not to engage me too directly. He was overly cautious even though he probably could have taken me out if he went after me. So I kept him at bay while I waited for a summon to arrive. Then we destroyed him
. The summon then helped me with the Pursuer (on the rooftop where he first spawns) and then we headed past the turtle guys and through the fog leading to the area before Last Giant. I got invaded again there (in the room next to the gecko) - so probably 10 minutes after the last time which happened as soon as I got to that main bonfire. So it pretty much seems like I'm getting invaded the maximum amount that I can so far (if the 10 minute timer between invasions is the case in this game). We took care of him and then made short work of the Last Giant.I had to stop there to watch a movie with my kids but I'm anxious to get back in. I'm just worried that invasions will be so incessant as to make the game a chore from this point. We'll see how it goes once I move on from here... I guess to Heide's now - though I'm sure that is invasion central as well. I was going to try to solo most of the game in NG+ but if I'm constantly being invaded I'll probably just grab summons whenever I see them (as long as I'm still human).
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So I played for like 4 more hours in NG+ later and went through Heide, No Mans Wharf, and most of the Bastille - not one invasion except for an arbiter on No Mans Wharf when I was helping someone. I even went back to Forest of Giants castle and messed around there some more and did not get invaded. So I'm not sure why I saw those ones right off the bat there and then nothing since. But I'm not complaining. I completed both the Heide bosses, the Wharf boss (with Lucatiel easily surviving) and the Sentry boss in the Bastille. So what probably took me 20-30 hours to finish in NG I did in one evening - and I wasn't even hurrying all that much as I did a lot of coop too.
I dont know if its just my PS3 getting ready to explode after 115 hours of this game but for some reason the Draw distances in NG++ are almost non-existant. Every now and then I'll run into an area that is completely empty yet should have monsters in it. When I run into the empty room every enemy will magically appear around me. Also had the fun discovery that the Castle golems will only move when you kill enemies near them. This has been a huge pain in the Shrine of Amana.
I now have every achievement except for the Bernhart one. For some reason he wouldnt give me his equipment in my NG+ even though I had him alive in 3/4 of the boss battles. Maybe i'll have better luck this time.
*EDIT*
Whoohoo, Platinumed!
I now have every achievement except for the Bernhart one. For some reason he wouldnt give me his equipment in my NG+ even though I had him alive in 3/4 of the boss battles. Maybe i'll have better luck this time.
*EDIT*
Whoohoo, Platinumed!
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guardian_owl
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As long as the online servers are still up for Demon's Souls, world tendency isn't too hard to manage. Logging off and booting up in the Nexus over and over will eventually push your world tendency to (typically) one shade below pure white (which is usually the server average) in all the levels. Then log off and in offline mode in soul form, kill one boss in the world to push it to pure white.
===
Finished Dranglec, wow those dragonriders are really weak to lightning. Torched one with great lightning spear before the other one attacked and I killed it with a few strokes of my lightning claymore.
On the way through I think I found the best way to clear that 6 door ruin sentinel room. I finally unlocked the 2 other sentinel doors on the right side, but now when I enter the center door on either side it draws the attention of the Ruin sentinel in the opposite door. So first I draw out and kill all the royal knights in the room one at a time with a binocular lightning blast. Then kill the RS in the bottom room on the left, then cast BINOC-LIGHT at the floor in front of the RS in the central door across the room to draw it over to you. Kill it. Move into the center room on the left, kill the RS, then attract the attention of the RS across the room in the upper right door with a BINOC-LIGHT blast at the floor. Then draw out the last RS from the upper left room into the center of the room so that it doesn't fall down the hole. In the process I got "ruin leggings" it must be a pretty rare drop as I have killed 15 sentinels and that's the first time I got an armor drop.
Looking glass knight was interesting, I was expecting him to be bigger. The only time he really surprised me was with that initial lunge attack. He summoned a phantom but I think it was just an NPC phantom as it didn't put up much of a fight. Do you get an invasion message when a player is summoned by him?
I don't think the host does get a message. The biggest difference between fighting an NPC and a summoned player is that the NPC comes through the Knight's Mirror. When summoned, the PvP player just shows up out of thin air somewhere from my experience.
oI miss the early trolling days of being summoned for that fight though
. Back when not many people knew of the white ring, casting warmth to heal the Mirror Knight, or using Channeller's Trident to boost Mirror Knight's attack damage. Last but not least, eliminating Benhart if he was summoned by the host. 
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Kameleon
CAGiversary!
LOL
I was like "what the hell is the point of this video?", then he gets to the end of it and... there's the pickaxe.
WTF....you have to aggro one of those things for that long....for the pickaxe? Yikes....a lot of work for a bleeping pickaxe.
Side note - I decided to do a second play through with a faith build. Think all but one of my deaths have been due to me thinking I had a shield with me when it was my chime. Nothing like casting heal when you think you are blocking. At No Mans Warf and the Bastille. Probably would be through with the Bastille if I hadn't had that chime in my hand.
Side note - I decided to do a second play through with a faith build. Think all but one of my deaths have been due to me thinking I had a shield with me when it was my chime. Nothing like casting heal when you think you are blocking. At No Mans Warf and the Bastille. Probably would be through with the Bastille if I hadn't had that chime in my hand.
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I use a Chime but it is an alternate for my weapon - so it is always in my right hand. I'm so programmed to shield with my left that I could never change that up. But yeah, I have only died a handful of times in NG+ - usually just from stupid mistakes.evilw0n said:
I'm now a good chunk through NG+. So after those initial two invasions in Forest of Fallen Giants, I have only been invaded once in several more hours. I was in Shaded Woods (3rd bonfire with the lion warriors), which seems to be a favorite invasion spot as I got invaded on NG there a few times as well.
In beginning of NG+ I had joined Way of the Blue and have been wearing the ring all game. Well, what do you know, I actually got a Blue Sentinel to show up and help me this time! I was holding my own against the invader, so when the sentinel showed up he was toast. Man was that satisfying - eat it ganker!
So I never knew there was a way to light up the Sinner area as I didn't get the key for that area until near the end of the game. I thought the little cells up there were pointless (I didn't realize you could light one up). I've helped a few times on the Sinner and it is a damn tough fight. It is the only one giving me problems so far in NG+ and I haven't even attempted it in my own game yet.
But they sure did pump up Lucatiel's stats - she barely got hurt on Smelter Demon even though he was pounding on her. And Benhart and me made short work of the Congregation (though that one was always easy). Even though I already got their trophies via ascetics in NG, I'm trying to do it again so I can keep their gear (as I reloaded my PS+ save after doing it before).
I suppose that in NG I went down the pit in Majula too soon. I jumped down and the rat boss area was one of the toughest fights in the whole game for me. I didn't realize I probably did it too soon. I haven't even gone there yet in NG+ and I can see how getting the ladder guy from Earthen Peak first (I didn't even see him there the first time - he just showed up in Majula on his own) makes it much easier.
I've already taken care of the fire demon, and I'm close to the spider. Even though someone mentioned it before, it shocked the hell out of me when it popped up the cliff on the way to the Congregation. Man, it would have been nice to kill it there, but I was too cautious and it left.
Also, I found this interesting, but when I got to the guy who pardons you, he said I had no sin. In NG he wanted 100,000+ souls (1000 for each level I think). I guess maybe it was for the Pate killing? This time I did not see them in their fighting spot, so I must have missed a conversation or something. But I thought sin carried over from one game to the next? Didn't people who killed NPCs say that happened? I don't know why mine was wiped unless the Pate thing is a different case.
And man are there a lot of red phantoms. The ones that surprised me the most were the 2 in Iron Keep that are in the
furnace place. I turned off the fire, then opened the door and two big ones jumped on me. I managed to get away from them just barely. Later I helped another guy with that area and I tried to warn him about it by backing away from the door with my shield up but he just charged in and got killed . The funny thing is that despite them living in there with the fire at full blast, they were susceptible to my fire pyro.
. The funny thing is that despite them living in there with the fire at full blast, they were susceptible to my fire pyro.
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guardian_owl
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So what was the verdict did they patch the tracking on the Armana casters or not on the PS3 version? There are some reports that it is much easier in the Xbox 360 version, I never fought them before the balance patch. The tracking isn't too hard to avoid as long as you roll under if, but when they fire it from really long range or there is more than one caster it's pretty hard to avoid.
I too keep my casting weapon on my weapon hand whenever possible so I have quick access to my shield. The only time I put it in my left hand if it is for buffing spells. It's a little annoying that you get access to the non-faith weapon buffing spells so much earlier than sunlight blade. If feels like I'm practically to the end of the game before I got it in the shrine.
Ha, Emo Garl Vinland, what a pleasant surprise.
I too keep my casting weapon on my weapon hand whenever possible so I have quick access to my shield. The only time I put it in my left hand if it is for buffing spells. It's a little annoying that you get access to the non-faith weapon buffing spells so much earlier than sunlight blade. If feels like I'm practically to the end of the game before I got it in the shrine.
Ha, Emo Garl Vinland, what a pleasant surprise.
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Way of the Blue members do not need to wear the ring to get assistance from the Blue Sentinels.
Its somewhat patched on the PS3 version. As for the Xbox version, I posted this video I found awhile back so see for yourself. :lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DbOFtc8hns
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I read conflicting info on the Interweb about that so I've been wearing it. It would be nice to use that slot for something else. I got invaded again tonight while I was in the acid area trying to free Ornifex (interestingly enough, near the same bonfire in Shaded Woods where I got invaded last time - this is definitely an invasion hot spot for some odd reason). I just waited there and the phantom ran around for a while and then went back to his world. No one ever came in to help me then.Supplice said:Way of the Blue members do not need to wear the ring to get assistance from the Blue Sentinels.
If I could take that ring off I sure could use it for something better - say the Southern Ritual +2! I'll give it a shot I guess. The invasions are so infrequent anyway (4 total in 10+ hours of NG+) that I might as well.
But here are some links that say you do need to wear it:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Way+of+the+Blue#.U1TxcZDn-Uk
http://www.reddit.com/r/DarkSouls2/comments/20ifvk/way_of_blue_members_wear_your_rings_please/
And hell, in this one the guy says not only do you have to be wearing the ring, you have to be in human form! http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/161283/mechanics-of-invasion
So, yeah, kind of confusing there. I found another thread where someone "confirmed" you don't have to wear it. WTF!? But do you have to be human? That may be the key. I'm pretty sure I was the first time I got help and was not the second time when I didn't. But of course that is not enough of a sample size.
I completed Belfry Gargoyles tonight (to get the Bastille Key and the Gold +2 ring is a nice benefit as well). I tried to do it online but man, the invasions are just incessant there. It seems like if you beat 2 they ought to stop for that session. But no, they keep coming. I actually beat those two on my own. The first had some enormous enchanted weapon and got me down to a sliver of health but I actually managed to roll past him and backstab him. That's the first time I've ever done that in PvP. I killed another phantom just after that with a few lightning spears, right after I summoned some help.
I completely forgot that you have to go to the top of the tower to ring the bell to go to the gargoyles. I don't even remember doing that last time. So I hadn't gotten the gate open when I summoned the help. Having to deal with the regular guys on the top when invaders are also there is just a pain. The next invader just sat at the top of the ladder and fired some hex that got us as near the top of the ladder. There was really nothing we could do. Then I couldn't even get to the second floor again before two more invaders came. So, yeah, time to pull the plug and clear out the top floor without the bell jackasses. When I went back online the same guy was waiting to help, and this time, since I had the gate open, we went in to the gargoyle fight and left an invader behind. So sweet.
Then I took care of Lost Sinner - so much easier to do with some light in the place! So I have just The Rotten and the spider left to do... I'm not sure if I'll need to pull the plug once again in the rat area but we'll see. I kind of put off my least favorite parts of the game: getting to the Spider boss, and the whole rat area/Gutter/Black Gulch section. Ugh...
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Gah, Belltower... I hated doing that Covenant to rank 2 AND both of those areas with a passion. I made the mistake of not planning ahead on my platinum and didn't really jump into the Belltower covenant until I was around SL 200. While I could still win at PVP a lot of the time my battles would end up being 2 vs 1. Which when you are melee only and use an ultra greatsword you pretty much die right away.
I think they need to rethink the mechanics of PVP. While I understand situations invading someone and there already being 2 people the game should only allow 1 vs 1 and then add in a 2nd when the host player summons a phantom. If the invading player is invading a host with a friendly phantom the game should summon in 2 invaders at the same time. Make it fair on both sides...whatever, I hit rank 2 by farming the Samarai in the Iron Keeps Belfrey Sol area.
I also finally killed Darklurker, I attempted him about 10 times as melee in NG+. I would get him down to where he would split in two and then it was game over everytime. I can dodge all his attacks and get in a well timed swing or two but with 2 throwing crap at me there was no way. My DPS isn't burst or very quick so the battle was stacked against me. Decided to re-roll my stats and made a Strength/Faith magic build. Put enough points in strength to weild Havel's Greatshield + 5 and by Supplice's suggestion a Lightning Mastadon Greatsword + 10 and then points in Faith/Attunment/etc. Darklurker was a JOKE, I literally killed him in about 30 seconds and on my first try.... magic is so OP for bosses IMHO. Sit back and nuke.. oh well.
Moved on to NG++. Have all the trophies except the spells I'll buy from Chancellor Wellner. Already blew through 4-5 zones and bosses. Should get the platinum by tomorrow night.
bread's done