A question for Dark Souls fans

[shrekfan246]

The odd thing is that I don't find it as hard as people say it is. It's definitely not easy, but I have a fairly firm grasp on the combat. I thought it might be because I was using the Knight class, but that's just a theory at this point. But now I'm off point.

Calling it 'hard' isn't really a proper description. I don't say it's 'hard', I say that it's 'challenging'. If you know the mindset you need to be in to play the game, there are very few segments that are actually legitimately hard in the entire game. But the game is very unforgiving and will punish the slightest mistake harshly, which is why it has such a reputation.

Anyway.

I don't actually know, I've heard starting as a Pyromancer is pretty easy, I started as a... Knight? and I haven't had too many issues, 30 hours in and at Soul Level 70 now in the Tomb of the Giants.

 

[IFS]

Pyromancer is the easiest class to start the game as, and the master key is the best gift because it allows sequence breaking.

Pyromancer gets pyromncy a lot earlier than other classes which makes the early game a lot easier and they start the game as a level 1 character, as opposed to the other classes which start at around 4-6. This means that its a lot easier to level up early on.

All the classes have their own advantages though, except deprived, deprived exists for people who want even more of a challenge. I plan on starting a HUD-less deprived run at some point.

 

[Denamic]

The odd thing is that I don't find it as hard as people say it is.

The difficulty isn't the ye olde "AAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUCK" bullet-hell sort of difficulty, nor the insta-death trial and error kind. If there's a lethal trap ahead, there's ALWAYS clues. It's the kind of difficulty that'll never hold your hand, never coddle you, and never forgive you for being an impatient dumbass. Hell, the game won't even tell you what to do. You have to talk to the NPCs yourself to get a vague idea of what to do.

A flame-spewing drake one-shotted you? Look around you. Maybe the scorch marks, blood splatter, and charred corpses on the otherwise conspicuously safe-looking bridge is somehow indicative of what's about to happen.

It will make you feel like an Olympic gold medalist for overcoming the deadly death god that spews walking dead minions, wields a death sword that kills you in more ways than one, and spreads death with his death aura though.

Also, it gets harder. You're going to die a lot.
No, seriously. A LOT.

Also, tell Ornstein and Smough I said hi.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I've not even finished my first playthrough, but I'm playing a faith-focused cleric, and being able to heal as well as use estus flasks certainly keeps you going for a while; not many other useful miracles at low levels though, so probably not cleric.

i believe force can be an incredibly useful miracle early level, or whenever you are fighting enemies small enough to be knocked back or staggered by it. especially those damn skeletons in the catacombs.

Oh yeah, I pretty much always have place for force in the catacombs, helps against those damn bonewheel skeletons if you've got enough health, but as far as I'm aware that's pretty much the only place where you can force enemies off of ledges into fatal falls ('cept maybe the crystal cave, but I've only just got there) and a few places in the Darkroot Garden; only just at the kind of level to be able to use sunlight blade, but again, will probably be more useful in NG+.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Also, tell Ornstein and Smough I said hi.

Off topic, am I the only one that pronounces it 'Smuff'?

Being English, that's sort of what comes out, I imagined that 'smoo' wouldn't be right...(i.e. through)

It can't be right.

 

[Denamic]

Also, tell Ornstein and Smough I said hi.

Off topic, am I the only one that pronounces it 'Smuff'?

Being English, that's sort of what comes out, I imagined that 'smoo' wouldn't be right...(i.e. through)

It can't be right.

It's pronounced more like 'though'.

 

[saxxon.de]

Pyromancer is one of the easiest starting classes, period. The damage from the fire orb & combustion spells is very strong against nearly all bosses.

The Deprived gets called (probably) the hardest class by some of the others here, but I always start as deprived nowadays, because he has the highest stats of all classes and that makes the deprived an excellent choice regardless of what you want to do with it. The bad starting gear gets already replaced in the undead burg, about 1-2 hours into the game. And then you have gear that equals the other starting classes but better character stats.

Plus, Master's Key.

 

[NEPAL]

The the feeling of helplessness really comes from the exploration, you are given no direction and left to find the horrors of the world. Also lordran feels like a post apocalyptic fantasy world

I agree Dark Souls is a extremely metal game, every time before playing the game I listen to Opeth. It really sets the mood.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

I'd say Knight and Warrior are easiest, they are both well balanced and built to the melee design of the game.

I did a thief for my first playthrough though.

I see the 4 kings as way harder than S&O. Hard to dodge, hard to not take damage even if you block, and if you don't do enough dps you get swarmed. Terrifying.

Four Kings are only really difficult if you fail to kill them each fast enough, they keep spawning until there are Four Kings on screen (even if you've killed some before).

I mean, that is insanely cool in the silliest way possible. So far I've been enjoying it outside having to go back to the bonfire every time to refill your Flask, which in turn spawns back all the enemies for you to use your Flask again, because that gets annoying.

But then the game would be incredibly easy. You're supposed to learn how to conserve your flasks.

 

[Judgement101]

Easiest Class? Knight, by far. He starts with the best starting armor in the game allowing him to tank more damage, not much more, but more none the less. And GET THE MASTER KEY! Blighttown is annoying as hell, trust me, there is nothing of value down there anyway.

really? not the red wizard robes or the replenishment sorcery? not power within, or the pimpin' second pyromancy trainer? not the ninja garb, or all them titanites?

blighttown is a *****, no question. but there are tons of goodies on the way down, and the swamp really isnt that bad if you have some moss, or accept that you WILL be poisoned, no matter what you do.

WAIT!? THAT'S WHERE YOU GET THOSE!? (A little backstory, my first playthrough I was stuck in Blighttown for about 12 hours and died 25+ times so from then on I skipped it. Also, I play as a God Hunter (Velka's/Occult) so I didn't go this time either.) Now I REALLY want those robes

 

[Hazy]

Easiest class is generally agreed upon as being Pyromancer. Fireball just absolutely destroys enemies at low level, and makes it so that you don't actually have to learn their patterns or get in close enough to jeopardize yourself.

Hardest class seems pretty obvious: Deprived. No armor, club only. Only bad dudes need apply.

 

[Denamic]

Easiest class is generally agreed upon as being Pyromancer. Fireball just absolutely destroys enemies at low level, and makes it so that you don't actually have to learn their patterns or get in close enough to jeopardize yourself.

Hardest class seems pretty obvious: Deprived. No armor, club only. Only bad dudes need apply.

Except that the club isn't actually bad. Like all hammer-class weapons, it has great up-front damage at the cost of speed. It does more damage in of itself than a balder swag sword, and it has an A rank strength scaling. Though its reach is low and its moveset leaves a lot to be desired, it's more than enough to carry you to a better weapon. This in addition to the fact that the deprived have the best base stat point allocation, not to mention highest total, and can slip into any role immediately. And you quickly get armour anyway.

The deprived isn't actually as hardcore as one might think, all things considered.

 

[Hazy]

Easiest class is generally agreed upon as being Pyromancer. Fireball just absolutely destroys enemies at low level, and makes it so that you don't actually have to learn their patterns or get in close enough to jeopardize yourself.

Hardest class seems pretty obvious: Deprived. No armor, club only. Only bad dudes need apply.

Except that the club isn't actually bad. Like all hammer-class weapons, it has great up-front damage at the cost of speed. It does more damage in of itself than a balder swag sword, and it has an A rank strength scaling. Though its reach is low and its moveset leaves a lot to be desired, it's more than enough to carry you to a better weapon. This in addition to the fact that the deprived have the best base stat point allocation, not to mention highest total, and can slip into any role immediately. And you quickly get armour anyway.

The deprived isn't actually as hardcore as one might think, all things considered.

I never said the Club was bad - because it isn't. If anything, the shield you get is the real Achilles heel.

 

[Jfswift]

I personally believe the Cleric is the easiest to start with (if you go with master key). In just a few levels you can snag that sweet Astora sword by the stone dragon. It's not super great but the moveset more than makes up for that (and you can stabby while hiding behind a shield AND it works in the catacombs effectively). I also like that class because of the extra healing spells you start with in addition to the ones you buy and their stat spread is decent too. Lastly, I think their armor is very light weight so you can roll and move very easily.

Warrior and Knight are also good for starting since they have some pretty sweet armor early on. (their shields in particular have really good characteristics if I remember correct although I haven't played as either in quite a while).

I think for a harder starting experience possibly Thief or the Deprived. Both are very strong actually although they take some getting used to (for the first few levels). Thief has so-so stats at the beginning and no extra healing spells or gear. Also, his weapon is pretty strong but more intended for people good at riposte and backstabbing. The Deprived also is kind of tough due to no armor (do boxers count?) and his club has a wonky moveset. The Club however is very strong and scales okay with strength and his stats aren't bad.

I mean, really once you learn how the game mechanics work I don't think any class is hard to use. I see quite a few people mentioning Pyro due to his badass spells. That's a solid choice too (and his awesome fire resistant armor ).

 

[enriquetnt]

As people have already said, Pyromancer is probably the easiest on a first playthrough, going from start to finish. The spells you start with are nifty and you save yourself some fair hoop jumping to do certain things later.

The best thing though is that you can also distribute stats more freely, a big deal in this game.

As for difficulty, it's "Hard" in that there is an actual penalty for death, rather than just "hit F9 again to quickload". Oh, and there are some very cheap moments too

which is why i ALWAYS stab a chest before trying to open it. ALWAYS.

even then, a damn mimic roundhouse kicked me from across the room when i went to heal. it was a dick move, but it was also funny as all hell[/quote

I beat the game whit a piromancer build as tank/heavy meele (metric ton of endurance and strenght) and both the ornstein and smough fight, AND the four kings fight where really easy, i had far more trouble whit sif and the capra demon for some reason, matter of fact as soon as i could equip my full havel armor set whitout movemente penaltys it was all smooth sailing, ESPECIALLY after i hit strenght 50 and coul start using the huge heavy weapons (ligting heavy sword FTW)

 

[King of Wei]

I'd say easiest would be the thief. With minimal practice you can insta-kill most anything. The bonus souls you get from doing high-damage kills is also easy to get so you can buy more items/level up earlier than other classes. And since the stats are more specialized than other classes you don't have to worry about what weapons/armor to use, since you're kinda stuck using the default gear.

Hardest would probably be the Hunter. If only because buying arrows can be a little expensive early on.

 

[Hazy]

Easiest class is generally agreed upon as being Pyromancer. Fireball just absolutely destroys enemies at low level, and makes it so that you don't actually have to learn their patterns or get in close enough to jeopardize yourself.

Hardest class seems pretty obvious: Deprived. No armor, club only. Only bad dudes need apply.

Except that the club isn't actually bad. Like all hammer-class weapons, it has great up-front damage at the cost of speed. It does more damage in of itself than a balder swag sword, and it has an A rank strength scaling. Though its reach is low and its moveset leaves a lot to be desired, it's more than enough to carry you to a better weapon. This in addition to the fact that the deprived have the best base stat point allocation, not to mention highest total, and can slip into any role immediately. And you quickly get armour anyway.

The deprived isn't actually as hardcore as one might think, all things considered.

I never said the Club was bad - because it isn't. If anything, the shield you get is the real Achilles heel.

Well you can get a great shield that blocks 100% physical right off the bat if you wanted to. Deprived is very easy.

Now if only the Capra demon wasn't such a *****.

Well, technically, no class in Dark Souls is hard (the game itself isn't very difficult in its own right,) Deprived is just the hardest. Or, at the very least, the most restrictive initially.

And the Capra is a *****. I've never understood why people have such a difficult time with that boss. It's sure going to make Lost Izalith difficult for some people, since both Capra and Taurus Demons become regular enemies there.

 

[00slash00]

pyromancer or knight are probably the easiest. pyromancer starts at level 1 so its easier to level. knight starts out with good armor (but not enough endurance to use it well). warrior has good starting gear too. deprived is obviously the hardest because of shitty starting gear and starting stats that dont allow for as much customization

 

[00slash00]

I'd say easiest would be the thief. With minimal practice you can insta-kill most anything. The bonus souls you get from doing high-damage kills is also easy to get so you can buy more items/level up earlier than other classes. And since the stats are more specialized than other classes you don't have to worry about what weapons/armor to use, since you're kinda stuck using the default gear.

Hardest would probably be the Hunter. If only because buying arrows can be a little expensive early on.

parrying is harder for some enemies. iv played through dark souls multiple times and i still cant parry dark knights half the time. starting with the bandits knife is nice though, because of the bleeding. playing a hunter doesnt mean you have to use a bow, it just means that you will probably be playing a dex build

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Also, tell Ornstein and Smough I said hi.

Off topic, am I the only one that pronounces it 'Smuff'?

Being English, that's sort of what comes out, I imagined that 'smoo' wouldn't be right...(i.e. through)

It can't be right.

I believe it's supposed to be "Smoff." Cough, just replace the 'C' with 'Sm.' That's the way I pronounce it.