Dark Souls Catch-All

The Demon's Spear (lightning spear with fantastic reach) can be obtained before hitting Sen's. You need to join a particular covenant, then head to a particular area and you will find a merchant who sells it. Having the Master Key and The Crest of Artorias make it an easy feat...

Spoiler:

Use the Crest to open the Darkroot Garden, run past the Guardians, and join the Forest Hunters with Alvina. Head to Blighttown and at the very bottom of the wheel elevator there will be Shiva of the East. He sells it. not sure if you need to speak to him first for him to move to Blighttown and open up his shop.

The Demon's spear also has 'C' scaling with STR and DEX. It also tops out at +5 with ~12 demon titanite.

The Demon's Spear's (nod to Demon's Souls?) R2 attack is very similar in timing (long wind-up) and power to the Black Knight Sword's. It will knock fools flat. The stat requirements to wield it are much lower, though.

Well, spent quite a few hours trying to or cooping with mr_n00b in Anor Londo, unfortunately we ended up getting invaded a bunch and killed by the same dude over and over again.

But got like 10 levels while I was playing around there.

Then I mistakenly thought I was being invaded (it had already happened 5 times) I couldn't rest at the bonfire so I summoned a random dude and ended up beating O&S with him and was quite easy.

Also I was live streaming on twitch at twitch.tv/kamakazi010654 which was the first night for it, will be streaming for a little while longer if you want to come check it out.

Thanks to Gimpy, Kalameet is finally down. And we managed to get his tail!

...then after that, I ran back to the bonfire in Oolacile Township and immediately got invaded.

According to the Internet, you have to talk to Shiva in Darkroot before he'll move to Blighttown.

psoplayer - I'm with you; I'm paranoid about out-levelling my potential co-op partners. I finished the game and DLC at 80.

Beat Sif and CD each on my first try today. I wanted to scout out Sif as a phantom, but I kept getting summoned to fight off invaders. I think I won 7/10 times. Lost once when double-teamed, once when facing a PVP pro as my summoner watched, and once when I got summoned with low health while trying to run back for more estus drank.

I felt pretty good about the experience, except for when the PVP pro kept magically rolling behind me for backstabs. It wasn't laggy, he just knew some angles trick or something.

Sif experience:

Spoiler:

I decided to take on Sif solo, since it seemed like summoners get bombarded by invaders there. I approached the sword cautiously and was a bit surprised when a wolf showed up out of no where (I checked behind the grave first!) When he grabbed the sword in his mouth, I wanted to laugh at the utter japanese-ness of it. I was surprised at how hard he hit and how diving forward did virtually nothing to avoid the sweeping attack, despite the clearance of space I had. My go-to sword->butt wouldn't work as he stood so tall. I tried sword-> haunches but his spinning attack deterred me. I settled on sword-ribs and retreating after 2 hit combos. It worked splendidly but I have a feeling that I didn't witness all of his attacks.

CD

Spoiler:

Ceaseless Discharge was different. I don't think I fought it 'correctly' but I'll take it. Found my shield to be useless against his karate-chop type attack, so I kept timing the roll, hitting him like 5-6 times before he pulled back his tentacle and eventually whittled him down. Ceaseless Discharge also sounds like a personal problem and I refuse to type it ever again.

DSGamer wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Are y'all on Xbox as well? That's where me, Solid, and (at the moment) DSG are playing.

Probably more than "at the moment". I miss my Soul Arrows and I'm trying to figure out if I can level up a couple of stats and find the right weapon to use Soul Arrows again. Otherwise I really like my strength build so far. So much so that I just got the Drake Sword an hour or so ago and was rolling with a short sword.

The Catalyst that Dusk of Oolacile sells only requires 12 int and has pretty good magadjust for the level. I've been using it on my strength build for soul arrows.

Took down Sif tonight with my low INT caster and two helpful phantoms (one died half way through). I then dropped my sign and collected a Sunlight Medal. With three people, I can sit back, cast soul arrows, and roll away quick when her aggro is directed at me.

I am going to ride the crow before taking on Sen's...

Spoiler:

The Rusted Iron Ring makes taking on the Titanite Demons in Sen's a lot easier. I usually summon help for Sen's and drop down from mid-level to approach them. I take my phantoms on a long deadly run. I loot everything before taking on the Boss.

I have not had a clean run yet, but I am hoping for one this time.

Crown of Dusk and the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring will compliment that catalyst nicely. I add the Dusk Crown ring to the mix in co-op.

Sonicator wrote:

The Catalyst that Dusk of Oolacile sells only requires 12 int and has pretty good magadjust for the level. I've been using it on my strength build for soul arrows.

And it's only 0.5 weight. It's really great for any non-magic focused build to still use some light (INT 10-12) spells.

heavyfeul wrote:

Crown of Dusk and the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring will compliment that catalyst nicely. I add the Dusk Crown ring to the mix in co-op.

Apparently those stack on Miracle damage too, not just Sorceries?

I am level sixteen intelligence and I was working through Blighttown for some looting and great heavy soul arrow was getting up to 406 per hit with Dusk's gear.

I believe I'm down to the last two bosses

Spoiler:

Izalith and Gwyn remain; I've killed the others except Priscilla

. I don't know that I'm going to push the Oolacile area anywhere past the Sanctuary Guardian who I took care of already.

silentsod wrote:

I believe I'm down to the last two bosses

Spoiler:

Izalith and Gwyn remain; I've killed the others except Priscilla

. I don't know that I'm going to push the Oolacile area anywhere past the Sanctuary Guardian who I took care of already.

...are you saying you're not going to do the rest of the DLC area? If so, I urge you to reconsider. That's some of the best content in the game.

Izalith is not.

Dyni wrote:
silentsod wrote:

I believe I'm down to the last two bosses

Spoiler:

Izalith and Gwyn remain; I've killed the others except Priscilla

. I don't know that I'm going to push the Oolacile area anywhere past the Sanctuary Guardian who I took care of already.

...are you saying you're not going to do the rest of the DLC area? If so, I urge you to reconsider. That's some of the best content in the game.

Izalith is not.

What Dyni said. The part immediately after the Guardian is kinda meh, and then it gets awesome.

I forgot to include my pyromancy test. With a +2 glove, combustion did 150 against the zombies in the undead burg. My maxed out glove did 350 with combustion against the zombies. Pyromancy comes in handy against enemies with high physical defense, it was the only reasonable way for me to fight sentinels before I had my lightning weapon.

So I don't know if I was just lucky but I didn't die a single time to the silver knight archers. I know a lot of people have serious issues with them is it mostly from getting hit with arrows or falling off while fighting?

I think was sitting in Firelink last night as I quit out with 57k souls. I'll see how far that can take me starting with my +2 flame when I hop on tonight. More relevant to my current location, I have to assume fire would be more effective against the slimes in the depths?

@kamakazi, I died because I kept getting knocked off.

@psoplayer, the slimes do not like fire.

Kamakazi010654 wrote:

So I don't know if I was just lucky but I didn't die a single time to the silver knight archers. I know a lot of people have serious issues with them is it mostly from getting hit with arrows or falling off while fighting?

Yes, the arrows push you back really far and knock you off the ledge, even if you block them. Thank your lucky stars that you of past that part first try!

psoplayer wrote:

More relevant to my current location, I have to assume fire would be more effective against the slimes in the depths?

Yes, but those guys aren't too much of a concern unless they fall directly on your head. Just 2H your weapon and go to town on them. They're weak sauce.

Dyni wrote:
Kamakazi010654 wrote:

So I don't know if I was just lucky but I didn't die a single time to the silver knight archers. I know a lot of people have serious issues with them is it mostly from getting hit with arrows or falling off while fighting?

Yes, the arrows push you back really far and knock you off the ledge, even if you block them. Thank your lucky stars that you of past that part first try!

Parrying arrows doesn't push you back...

Chumpy_McChump wrote:
Dyni wrote:
Kamakazi010654 wrote:

So I don't know if I was just lucky but I didn't die a single time to the silver knight archers. I know a lot of people have serious issues with them is it mostly from getting hit with arrows or falling off while fighting?

Yes, the arrows push you back really far and knock you off the ledge, even if you block them. Thank your lucky stars that you of past that part first try!

Parrying arrows doesn't push you back... ;)

Then there's the other half of the story where you forgot to sit at the bonfire after lighting it, died, and then had to redo the sniper catwalk anyways. I call that poetic justice. To your credit you got past them the second time without issue as well, so kudos!

mr_n00b wrote:
Chumpy_McChump wrote:
Dyni wrote:
Kamakazi010654 wrote:

So I don't know if I was just lucky but I didn't die a single time to the silver knight archers. I know a lot of people have serious issues with them is it mostly from getting hit with arrows or falling off while fighting?

Yes, the arrows push you back really far and knock you off the ledge, even if you block them. Thank your lucky stars that you of past that part first try!

Parrying arrows doesn't push you back... ;)

Then there's the other half of the story where you forgot to sit at the bonfire after lighting it, died, and then had to redo the sniper catwalk anyways. I call that poetic justice. To your credit you got past them the second time without issue as well, so kudos!

Well, I wasn't going to bring that up....

Even with doing it several times as a player and phantom both it still took me 2 tries when I did it a couple nights ago. I made it all the way to the top the first try, but got knocked off awkwardly as I try to push the right knight. 2nd time he was the one that fell. :p

Whew. 45 min of farming in Painted World and I gained my 10 souvenirs and 2 levels while I was at it.

After looting Blighttown and the swamp (the Gold Hemmed set was a big help), I decided to grab a few goodies from the Great Hollow and Ash Lake. I used Fall Control and The Ring of Fog to great success. I sneaked and scampered away from the big baddies like the girl in a pretty dress I am.

I'll take down the Hydra after getting the Lord Vessel. I was disappointed there were no summon signs. I wonder if there is any co-op allowed in Ash Lake?

Took down Knight Artorias and wow! What a great fight! The bosses in the Additional Content are worth getting through the regular enemies.

I only have the final boss left in the main game and everything after Artorias. Can't figure out how to approach the dragon, either, as he just smoked me.

Spoiler:

Am I supposed to use the Silver Pendant here?

No silentsod. You use the item at another time, you should figure it out. Don't go after the final boss because the game will end. You won't be able to explore the world after the final boss like in some other games.

On an unrelated note, I had some jolly cooperation at O&S today where I was able to keep Solaire alive THREE times! I don't remember him ever surviving the fight any other time I've had him around. A super heavy with Havel's Ring can really dish out some single hit devastation.

I failed horribly at Priscilla earlier.

Well, I killed her rather easily. But I didn't get the tail. Once she goes invisible it's just guessing.

And I wandered around for a while but never saw anyone else to summon. The last couple times I farmed her tail on PS3 was always with someone, either them helping me or me helping them chop the tail.

Oh well... if I really think I might go for achievements again I guess I could get it in NG+. Not like I need a dagger for a STR/FAI build.

Just annoying cause I thought I was spinning behind her invisible form and still had a chance to get it but then suddenly she was dead. I should have used Homeward to sneak back out when I didn't immediately chop the tail and tried again.

You can also just immediately use the quit game option. It will dump you outside her fog door.