Dark Souls Catch-All

Dakuna wrote:
psoplayer wrote:
Dyni wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
psoplayer wrote:

Blighttown not fun, just annoying.

I'm having a nice relaxing day replaying ME3 on insanity. I think I'll put off Dark Souls until tomorrow. :)

Hmm, I seem to be one of the only people that really liked both Sen's and Blighttown. I love them for the same reason that Tower of Latria is such an incredible place in Demon's Souls, atmosphere and fear of the unknown.

I do appreciate the atmosphere, I just didn't find "where's the ladder" a very fun game to play, and bugs are annoyingly hard to hit. Also, unlike previous areas, there's some odd brightness filters going on that occasionally (and inconsistently) makes it impossible to see 3 feet in front of me.

Spoiler:

(I might have just quit the game if toxic snipers respawned with everyone else.)

psoplayer you just saved my sanity... I had no idea about that spoiler'd information, you have just super amped my desire to get back in and play some more!!

Yeah once you find the right bonfire suicide runs against the snipers are a viable strategy.

Also until I got it I had no idea the Lordvessel warped you between bonfires, I though I was going to have to ru. Through places all the time, that is handy

Yeah, I've died to toxin 3-4 times so far, but always got my souls back.

Spoiler:

Talk about tense though, and not knowing the snipers would be gone made it infinitely worse.

Thanks again for the sanity, I'll approach this with far more confidence now, I have been avoiding blighttown like the... plague.

Finally fired this back up again recently. I picked up with my dex thief on the 360, who was roughly in the same spot as my knight on the PC. Just needed to clobber the Moonlight Butterfly to catch my thief up.

I took some hits from the butterfly, but once it finally decided to fly down to the bridge, I two-handed my Iaito+9 and shockingly took it down before it could fire off it's big shock thing and resume flight.

That was WAY easier than on my knight.

I then went deeper into Darkroot, and after several painful tries, managed to defeat Sif. Woot!

Haha yeah, I took down the butterfly using only melee as well. Trying to use arrows is a waste of souls IMO, but I guess it depends on your build/equipment.

So I figured out yesterday how to get the needed souls to buy the miracles I wanted to before moving on. I started being someone else's co-op partner. I now that sounds obvious, but I've been playing this game so off and on that I've been playing it really safe and in some cases not looking up information and just going based on experience. In the case of co-op I assumed that if I went into someone else's game I'd lose my souls and humanity if I died. That doesn't seem to be the case. I found that out trying to help someone beat the Gaping Dragon at which point I proceeded to help 3 other people beat the Gaping Dragon. Then I had my souls. Woot. Co-op is even cooler than I thought. There's a reward for helping others.

psoplayer wrote:
Dakuna wrote:
psoplayer wrote:
Spoiler:

(I might have just quit the game if toxic snipers respawned with everyone else.)

psoplayer you just saved my sanity... I had no idea about that spoiler'd information, you have just super amped my desire to get back in and play some more!!

Yeah, I would have appreciated a big "BYO Moss" sign on the entrance to Blighttown. 1000 souls for a single blooming purple clump is a lot when your 30k bloodstain is at the foot of a toxin sniper.

Spoiler:

I ended up doing a lot of suicide sprints up into their face just because I knew I only needed to do it once. Also they occasionally drop blooming moss, so you might actually get away with your stupidity.

Most of the time I just died to the toxin while trying to find the moss in my list of items.

I made it down to the swamp without too much trouble but stopped at the fire last night. It's definitely worthwhile to hit up Darkroot and kill ents to get moss. If you don't want to kill the Titanite demon below the blacksmith, you can just run past him. I ended up mostly killing him with arrows and then finishing off the last bit of health melee.

I tried to go through the Valley of the Drakes to get to Blight Town but had to turn around after killing one drake. Not up for that yet. I just went all the way back around through The Depths.

Sif is a motherless POS and he can lick my schweddy ballz. I can't solo him for the life of me, got him first try with a summon on one of my characters, and I imagine he's cake for anybody with sorcery, but what a douchey fight.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
psoplayer wrote:
Dakuna wrote:
psoplayer wrote:
Spoiler:

(I might have just quit the game if toxic snipers respawned with everyone else.)

psoplayer you just saved my sanity... I had no idea about that spoiler'd information, you have just super amped my desire to get back in and play some more!!

Yeah, I would have appreciated a big "BYO Moss" sign on the entrance to Blighttown. 1000 souls for a single blooming purple clump is a lot when your 30k bloodstain is at the foot of a toxin sniper.

Spoiler:

I ended up doing a lot of suicide sprints up into their face just because I knew I only needed to do it once. Also they occasionally drop blooming moss, so you might actually get away with your stupidity.

Most of the time I just died to the toxin while trying to find the moss in my list of items.

I made it down to the swamp without too much trouble but stopped at the fire last night. It's definitely worthwhile to hit up Darkroot and kill ents to get moss. If you don't want to kill the Titanite demon below the blacksmith, you can just run past him. I ended up mostly killing him with arrows and then finishing off the last bit of health melee.

I tried to go through the Valley of the Drakes to get to Blight Town but had to turn around after killing one drake. Not up for that yet. I just went all the way back around through The Depths.

Spoiler:

You can go through the valley of drakes from new londo ruins if you have the masterkey. If not... yeah you're stuck, but you can get a key that opens that door in blighttown as well.

Does anyone ever pick anything aside from the Master Key for a new character? Nothing else looks like it would even come close to the utility of the MK.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Does anyone ever pick anything aside from the Master Key for a new character? Nothing else looks like it would even come close to the utility of the MK.

Four characters, four Master Keys.

Dakuna wrote:

Sif is a motherless POS and he can lick my schweddy ballz. I can't solo him for the life of me, got him first try with a summon on one of my characters, and I imagine he's cake for anybody with sorcery, but what a douchey fight.

Yeah he's a joke with sorcery, pryo, or miracles. He does a huge sword swing and you just step back barely out of range and get a free shot at him over and over.

Everyone can learn pryo no matter what your stats. I highly recommend spending some souls on that. A ranged option (not bow) is always good to have.

Dakuna wrote:

Sif is a motherless POS and he can lick my schweddy ballz. I can't solo him for the life of me, got him first try with a summon on one of my characters, and I imagine he's cake for anybody with sorcery, but what a douchey fight.

Well, it was nasty tough, but my solo kill of him was with a thief build, no ranged attacks or spells. If he hit me twice for damage before I could chug an estus flask, I was dead. I could only block one hit (sometimes two, but rarely) before I was stamina depleted.

Let's just say that my practice in roll-dodging is paying off in fights like that. Even with that, though, Sif was one nasty mofo to take down solo.

I'm really, really trying to get through all the boss fights solo. I try to get summoned to get some practice against them with others (even if it only serves to let me learn their behaviors!), but I seem to rarely get summoned.

To those who asked earlier what miracles I wanted I thought I should clarify. I've been running around with a new strength build on the 360 and I decided I needed some magic. Maybe I was using Soul Arrows as a crutch on my PS3 game, but I've come to be used to having a good ranged attack. Not having that has been crippling at times with this build. So I'm simply trying shift my character a bit in the direction of being able to do *some* magic.

That's why I had the question earlier about where I could find a staff, etc. I still need to track that down. I think the most fun build for me would be this strength build with a one or two attunement slots available and a couple useful miracles.

Oh, and my new roadblock is the boss fight when you return to the Undead Asylum.

Spoiler:

Good grief that fight just seems impossible after only a few attempts. Drop down through the collapsing floor and take damage, try to orient yourself, and die to a few of these massive fireball/hammer attacks that I can't seem to get away from. :(

I'm actually tempted to say "eff that fight" and just leave that area unfinished while I move on in the story instead.

Random question. Is there any strategy for Havel The Rock that actually works. He destroys me and I'd like to beat him. He's really fast and basically one-hit kills me every time.

DSGamer wrote:

Random question. Is there any strategy for Havel The Rock that actually works. He destroys me and I'd like to beat him. He's really fast and basically one-hit kills me every time.

Spoilered for....spoilery reasons?

Spoiler:

You can actually parry/riposite him pretty easily, and if you're fast enough you can backstab him. Other than that I don't think a straight up fight with him is possible. I'm unsure how magic works on him.

Farscry wrote:

Oh, and my new roadblock is the boss fight when you return to the Undead Asylum.

Spoiler:

Good grief that fight just seems impossible after only a few attempts. Drop down through the collapsing floor and take damage, try to orient yourself, and die to a few of these massive fireball/hammer attacks that I can't seem to get away from. :(

I'm actually tempted to say "eff that fight" and just leave that area unfinished while I move on in the story instead.

Some tips:

Spoiler:

1. Fall down close to him, run behind him to heal quickly. You could also try to use the spell Fall Control to reduce fall damage.
2. Stay close to his legs or stay behind him.
3. Use a fire resistant shield.
4A. Sword->Butt strategy works well, but when you see him wind up drop back 10-15 feet to be out of the explosion radius.
5B. Sword->crotch strategy also works great. He'll fly up in the air and do his butt-drop attack almost every time. It's really easy to predict and he recovers from it really slowly. Locking on is not recommended for this strategy, you can get disoriented and accidentally run under him when the camera swings to stay locked on him in the air.

Reason why you may want to fight that boss again.

Spoiler:

It's good practice for another similar boss later in the game. IIRC he drops a Titanite Slab too, which are hard to come by.

Stele wrote:
Dakuna wrote:

Sif is a motherless POS and he can lick my schweddy ballz. I can't solo him for the life of me, got him first try with a summon on one of my characters, and I imagine he's cake for anybody with sorcery, but what a douchey fight.

Yeah he's a joke with sorcery, pryo, or miracles. He does a huge sword swing and you just step back barely out of range and get a free shot at him over and over.

Everyone can learn pryo no matter what your stats. I highly recommend spending some souls on that. A ranged option (not bow) is always good to have.

I still haven't dumped any souls or even used Pyromancy. I would like a ranged option that isn't summoning, however. How much should I level it up to get it functional for situations where I'm having melee trouble? I wouldn't mind spending a few hours soul farming to level it up.

My motto so far: If there's a cheap option to kill something, use it. I'm so not above dumping 50 arrows into a tough enemy.

I love my reasoning when I try using a bow from a distance: "Hmmmm... I can see the health bar go down a tiny bit when I hit it with an arrow." *notices that he has 100 arrows* *begins shooting*

Farscry wrote:

Oh, and my new roadblock is the boss fight when you return to the Undead Asylum.

Spoiler:

Good grief that fight just seems impossible after only a few attempts. Drop down through the collapsing floor and take damage, try to orient yourself, and die to a few of these massive fireball/hammer attacks that I can't seem to get away from. :(

I'm actually tempted to say "eff that fight" and just leave that area unfinished while I move on in the story instead.

That's what I did. I just went back for:

Spoiler:

the rusted ring. I'll get that guy at a later date. Edit: I also got the Crest shield which is awesome.

Just remembered that new Borderlands 2 DLC comes out tomorrow. I won't be playing DS much until that's completed. I'd prefer to keep playing DS, but I'll miss out on the co-op opportunity to play with friends from college if I don't play it at launch. Looks like I'll be grinding out a level or two in BL2 tonight, instead of polishing off Lost Izalith.

DSG - if we're talking Miracles, which are spells tied to Faith, there's a Talisman hidden in a chest in Firelink Shrine.

Spoiler:

You jump off the lift up to the church, then go right a few feet, then jump a long way down to the grass.

The only real ranged offensive Miracles are the lightning bolts, which look awesome, although they have a long cast time.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

DSG - if we're talking Miracles, which are spells tied to Faith, there's a Talisman hidden in a chest in Firelink Shrine.

Spoiler:

You jump off the lift up to the church, then go right a few feet, then jump a long way down to the grass.

The only real ranged offensive Miracles are the lightning bolts, which look awesome, although they have a long cast time.

I built a character around those lightning bolts. On NG+ I've found that they are freaking awesome on bosses due to increased defenses to my Divine Longsword +10.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
S0LIDARITY wrote:

Does anyone ever pick anything aside from the Master Key for a new character? Nothing else looks like it would even come close to the utility of the MK.

Four characters, four Master Keys.

Binocs, dude. How else do you guys take screenshots?

Farscry wrote:

I'm really, really trying to get through all the boss fights solo. I try to get summoned to get some practice against them with others (even if it only serves to let me learn their behaviors!), but I seem to rarely get summoned.

This is the same approach I've been using so far. It worked really well for GD in the depths, but I only got summoned twice for Quelaag in spite of having my golden sign and hours spent waiting. Is the nearby campfire the wrong place to drop the sign for that fight? Regardless, I'm now done with both bells of awakening and have not yet reversed hollowing once.

IIRC, you can find the Binoculars really early in the game.

Spoiler:

In the cemetery.

I also play on Xbox, so no screen caps for me.

You may be too high/low of a level to be frequently summoned for Quelaag. I dropped my sign right next to that bonfire and got summoned 10 times or so in an hour.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

You may be too high/low of a level f'n awesome at the game to be frequently summoned for Quelaag. I dropped my sign right next to that bonfire and got summoned 10 times or so in an hour.

Yeah, you're right; I'm probably scaring people off. I'll try to tone it down a bit when I get on next.

Holy crap. I certainly never thought this thread was going to approach the 5000 post mark when we were anticipating it a couple of years ago. It's almost as big as the Skyrim thread. Craziness.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Does anyone ever pick anything aside from the Master Key for a new character? Nothing else looks like it would even come close to the utility of the MK.

Nope. Once you know the layout of the world, Master Key lets you do as you please. Watch that video I posted a couple of days ago for some sweet early items.

DSGamer wrote:

Random question. Is there any strategy for Havel The Rock that actually works. He destroys me and I'd like to beat him. He's really fast and basically one-hit kills me every time.

I just block/dodge and backstab. I have killed him a couple of times around SL 15-20, but you can't really make mistakes there. If you don't have enough stamina to block one of his attacks, get more endurance. Wait for him to whiff an attack, get behind him and stab. Repeat 50 times. Mofo has lots of health.

Edit: Achievement unlocked: Make 5000th post on epic Dark Souls thread.

Dyni wrote:

I just block/dodge and backstab. I have killed him a couple of times around SL 15-20, but you can't really make mistakes there. If you don't have enough stamina to block one of his attacks, get more endurance. Wait for him to whiff an attack, get behind him and stab. Repeat 50 times. Mofo has lots of health.

I did the same thing, except that I didn't know that your shield had to be down to back stab him. I only got 3-4 backstabs in on him. The rest were just 2-3 slash combos.

It can also help if you try to roll at him after he whiffs, that's a pretty quick way to get behind him.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

DSG - if we're talking Miracles, which are spells tied to Faith, there's a Talisman hidden in a chest in Firelink Shrine.

Spoiler:

You jump off the lift up to the church, then go right a few feet, then jump a long way down to the grass.

The only real ranged offensive Miracles are the lightning bolts, which look awesome, although they have a long cast time.

I built a character around those lightning bolts. On NG+ I've found that they are freaking awesome on bosses due to increased defenses to my Divine Longsword +10.

Yeah my current PC character is all about miracles, and mostly the two lightning bolt spells. She is kicking ass so far, up to 38 faith or so.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

DSG - if we're talking Miracles, which are spells tied to Faith, there's a Talisman hidden in a chest in Firelink Shrine.

Spoiler:

You jump off the lift up to the church, then go right a few feet, then jump a long way down to the grass.

The only real ranged offensive Miracles are the lightning bolts, which look awesome, although they have a long cast time.

And Soul Arrows, no? I guess that's the point I'm at now. Can I get to a point where I can cast some ranged offensive miracle, slow or not? If I can then I'm going to go for it because I'd like to have that ability, however limited, rather than reroll a mage.