A Beginner's Guide to Dark Souls - 7 Steps to Sucking Less

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

A Beginner's Guide to Dark Souls - 7 Steps to Sucking Less

Are you so terrible at Dark Souls that it's not even fun? Yahtzee details how to be less bad at Dark Souls so you can actually enjoy it.

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[Branindain]

Just as an addendum to that thing about cheesing the armoured piggy; if you're evil enough you can position yourself such that he will set himself on fire trying to reach you and go down like a sack of heavily armoured potatoes.

 

[shadowxvii]

Also, kill the dogs first.

 

[OuendanCyrus]

I must disagree with the starting class choice, I'd definitely go with Pyromancer since he's the only class that starts at level 1 (in other words, giving you the most room to allocate your stat points) and he has 8 charges of fireball which completely dominates enemies earlier on at range. And then from there on, make a DEX/INT build and you're practically unstoppable (at PVE anyway).

 

[In Search of Username]

This is great! Dark Souls is my favourite game of this generation, but I've always felt its major flaw lies in taking the whole atmosphere of mystery too far. Don't tell us where to go or what to do, that's absolutely fine, and a large part of what makes the game enjoyable to me - but at least explain the basic mechanics properly. Having to look up how humanity and bonfires and stuff all work almost put me off the game, because figuring out that stuff by trial and error is just bullshit.

So yes, helpful stuff here Yahtzee. Especially the bit about summoning for the gargoyles. I've never died on that fight and never understood why people get so worked up about it, and I imagine that's all down to the fact that I invariably summon for it.

Captcha: jump over

Fuck you, orange-soapstone-wielding captcha.

 

[lassiie]

Rule 1: You can't be wrong in Dark Souls, unless you level up Resistance.
Rule 2: Make a +5 Lightning weapon of your choice as soon as humanly possible.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I must disagree with the starting class choice, I'd definitely go with Pyromancer since he's the only class that starts at level 1 (in other words, giving you the most room to allocate your stat points) and he has 8 charges of fireball which completely dominates enemies earlier on at range. And then from there on, make a DEX/INT build and you're practically unstoppable (at PVE anyway).

While I do think the Pyromancer is a good class, I have to disagree: it is not a good class for FIRST time players. The fireball is nice, as is the soul level 1, but if first time players are finding that they're dying too often or aren't really getting the hang of combat, the defensive classes are usually better to start with. Pyromancer is more the build for those that want to level up certain stats early for a specific build. Knight is the most defensive, meaning first timers can take more damage before dying, which if nothing else helps to teach enemy attack patterns and combat timing. The Warrior isn't necessarily defensive, but it does make a good transition from super defensive to super offensive with a nice balanced in-between.

In the end, starting class is sort of irrelevant, since it's only really meant to cover you from beginning to around the lower undead burg (maybe depths)

Besides, if you reeaallly want to be unstoppable, you're better off becoming...The Legend

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I could probably just easy easily twist point one into "step one don't play the gaem" and be better off playing something else but still it's an amusing guide none the less.

 

[ATmatey36]

Dark Souls can definitely be cheesed and just because it's Dark Souls doesn't make it a good excuse. It sounds like a "the game isn't playing fair, so I'm not going to either" -mentality. There are numerous enemies and even bosses (like Manus) who can just be sniped with arrows if you just stand there and shoot and you've got an hour to spare.

After you get past the general "obtuseness" of the game there are actually very few parts where it's truly unfair (like Bed of Chaos, especially pre-patch). If you watch a couple of SL1 runs of the game you'll see how straightforward and skill-dependent the game can really be. Stuff like mastering invincibility frames while dodging and learning enemy attack patterns will allow you to beat any boss without much of a hassle, and that is no cheese, only skill.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Wanna kill two birds with one stone?

When in a new, unexplored area, put down your Summon Sign with the White Soapstone. Getting summoned makes you invulnerable to losing your souls upon death, and thus allows you to scout on ahead and get a taste of the Boss without fear of reprisal.

 

[Rabidkitten]

These are all pretty good tips but I will contradict one. The starting class. The biggest pro tip in dark souls is to keep your armor bellow 25 percent, not 50 percent. This will enable the fast roll. The fast roll can be doubled up which dodges almost every boss attack in the game (This is especially true for the super hard expansion bosses). So you want a starting class that has a good light weight armor, good stats, and good items. That class is the pyromancer. He starts with the fast roll, his armor is pretty good because it has high fire resistance. Its a solid armor till you find better light armor. The fireball is very effective early on for handling tougher guys (black knights). His hand axe is a good weapon. It can actually take you through the game pretty far. It attacks very fast, the range is shit, but it can dish out damage better then you think. It can certainly hold you out till you get the Claymore or the Halberd which are both in the Parish and easy to find.

The next think I would suggest is to not be so hastey upgrading any old stat. Vit, End are always pretty safe bets but watch their number because they will get diminishing returns (40+). As for Str and Dex, besides getting to 16 or so in each for basic weapon requirements, you will need to pick one and run with it. Str and Dex are actually not good builds for beginners. This is going to take some explaining but here goes.

STR, DEX, INT, FAITH, really only effect the stat scaling of different Weapons/Spells.

STR weapons tend to be slow and good stat scaling ones are often hard to find, and you better enjoy massive slow weapons. Using big slow hammers, clubs, and axes can make bosses very challenging for new players. If you don't use proper STR scaling weapons, you will just have suboptimal damage output.

DEX has some of the same issue, good DEX weapons are hard to find, unless you are lucky to know where to get the Uchigata early on in which case DEX IS GREAT!. Now when you do find good dex weapons, Dex can be amazing.

Now comes the "best beginnger" stat and maybe the "best actual stat". INT which only problem is that you have to know how to use the very obscure upgrading system. But once you do, INT scaling is often A or S ranked which means you can find yourself out damaging STR and DEX. Not to mention this scaling can be applied to the weapon style you like best as well as your bow. Then on top of that you will get access to the late game broken spells.

Faith is sort of in the same boat but its a bit weaker then INT (scaling is often B/C ranked, miracles are not as OP as sorceries, etc).

That paragraph is probably the problem with dark souls in general.. Happy Hallowing!

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

These are all pretty good tips but I will contradict one. The starting class. The biggest pro tip in dark souls is to keep your armor bellow 25 percent, not 50 percent.

Until you're actually excellent at dodging, the fast roll isn't worth it at all.

Most new players, myself included, simply had to tank a certain amount of damage and the 50% carry weight spent on armor takes care of that.

Fatrolling is bad and should be avoided, though.

OT:
Good stuff. I would add an addendum to the "Summon Solaire for the Gargoyles" which is "Apply the lighting dust crap you get from the house in the Burg".

With that on a weapon, you can usually take down the first ***** before the second even spawns.

 

[nyysjan]

Why are people so exited about lightning weapons? Are enemies specially weak to them or something?

Started playing as a rogue myself, went for Dex build (level 84 now, dex 37, strength 20, stamina and health stats 26 and 28 respectively), usually i carry +10 katana (the one with thrust heavy attack because it's good for tight corridors) and a +10 shield (blood something) and light armor.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Dark Souls can definitely be cheesed and just because it's Dark Souls doesn't make it a good excuse. It sounds like a "the game isn't playing fair, so I'm not going to either" -mentality. There are numerous enemies and even bosses (like Manus) who can just be sniped with arrows if you just stand there and shoot and you've got an hour to spare.

If you figure out a strategy yourself (manus sniping) how is that not 'fair'? It's in the game for you to do and you certainly feel one hell of a sense of accomplishment when an outside the box plan comes together.

That said, if you snipe manus because you gave up fighting him and googled it, that's closer to 'cheesing' IMO. I mean, reading walkthroughs or strategy tips beyond some vague starting advice defeats the whole point of the game to me. But there you go.

---

I think the biggest tips I would give to a first time Dark Souls player would be general stuff about paying attention and reading into the environments as well as item descriptions and the like. There are visual cues and patterns that make the game a breeze to predict which people don't seem to look for.

 

[FYI I Am Some Guy]

Pyromancy's pretty good for a first-time player. It does hella good damage, there's a trainer for it not too late in, and you don't need to sink souls into leveling up a stat for it.
Another tip: Specialize. Don't try putting levels into every stat, find what you can use and stick to it, because being 'good' with everything isn't going to kill anything as fast as being 'great' with one or two things.

 

[themilo504]

I generally don?t have a problem using exploits as long as it doesn?t destroy the games difficulty.

 

[Chuppi]

The Gargoyle was not the last enemy, that made me curse and bite my shield.Stepping through a gate and having to fight
that Goat-Demon with so little space to move was another big pain in the ass.

 

[gadjo]

Why are people so exited about lightning weapons? Are enemies specially weak to them or something?

Started playing as a rogue myself, went for Dex build (level 84 now, dex 37, strength 20, stamina and health stats 26 and 28 respectively), usually i carry +10 katana (the one with thrust heavy attack because it's good for tight corridors) and a +10 shield (blood something) and light armor.

Pre-patch the lightning weapons were kinda broken, and even post-patch, very little has a resistance to it (unlike fire) Long term, standard +15 is actually the best for STR/DEX builds, while enchanted or divine is best for INT or FTH builds.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I had alot of trouble starting the game as a rogue, dying endlessly with virtually no progress.

Then I switch to sorcerer and breeze through the game like it was nothing, using spears and shield helps too. Last boss with kill with 2 cast of crystal soul spear.

Whoever claims the game is hard need to stop playing melee classes.

 

[gadjo]

My bits of advice:
1. Take the master key, the other gifts are pretty crap
2. If you don't start as a pyromancer, go get the flame at the first opportunity (I think you can rescue a guy who will sell it to you in the lower burg, if not the lady in blighttown will) since it doesn't draw from any stats, making it great for warriors.
3. Once you find the blacksmith in the parish, buy the seal of whatever from him. It unlocks a big door in the forest next to a fake wall hiding a bonfire, and leads to an area where you can trick high-level enemies into jumping off cliffs for grinding purposes.
4. Once you kill Havel the Rock (under the tower you fight the bull demon on top of) put on his ring and never take it off. It's great to be able to fast roll in decent armor.