Dark Souls II problems

[42]

Okay, so im up to the sentinel bosses, and im currently stuck, i'd like to burn a human effigy but i've wasted all mine, and i've done a little bit more of the game ahead of these bosses through the short cut, and i seem to be having problems finding effigys in the next part. what the hell do i do?

 

[King Billi]

Being summoned by another player and helping them defeat a boss can sometimes restore your humanity.

If you're worried about a shortage of human effigies then you could always wear a ring of life protection, it will keep you from losing both your humanity and souls when you're killed. It breaks every time but you can repair it at the blacksmith for 3000 souls and there are a couple of them throughout the game. One can be found in No Mans Wharf behind a hidden wall and you can buy one from Felkin, the dark sorceror you meet just before the first bonfire in Huntsmans Copse.

Edit: I've just noticed you said 'burn'. Do you need a human effigy to restore your humanity or do you want to block invaders?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

What exactly is your problem? Why do you want to burn a human effigy? Are you being invaded too many times? Because that's the only reason to burn one. Or do you mean that you want to reverse hollowing so you can summon help?

The old lady merchant sells a few, although I'm betting you bought those already. Have you gone back to the three old Fire Keepers at the beginning of the game? If you talk to them, they give you six of the things (if I remember right). Otherwise, do you have any Bonfire ascetic? If so, find a place where you obtained one from a chest (you might have to look on the internet to find an area), and then burn the ascetic at the nearest bonfire. That causes everything to respawn. However, by doing this, it will also respawn all enemies, the boss included if you're near the boss, at a higher level, so be prepared for that. And it cannot be reversed.

You can also put your own summon sign down near a boss door and wait. If you fulfill your duty, you have a chance of having your Humanity restored. Now I'm completely guessing, but it seems to be based on how many times you died before you completed the mission. For instance, if you've died twice, then it seems you need to fulfill your duty two or three times before you get your Humanity restored. But that's just a total guess on my part.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

What exactly is your problem? Why do you want to burn a human effigy? Are you being invaded too many times? Because that's the only reason to burn one. Or do you mean that you want to reverse hollowing so you can summon help?

The old lady merchant sells a few, although I'm betting you bought those already. Have you gone back to the three old Fire Keepers at the beginning of the game? If you talk to them, they give you six of the things (if I remember right). Otherwise, do you have any Bonfire ascetic? If so, find a place where you obtained one from a chest (you might have to look on the internet to find an area), and then burn the ascetic at the nearest bonfire. That causes everything to respawn. However, by doing this, it will also respawn all enemies, the boss included if you're near the boss, at a higher level, so be prepared for that. And it cannot be reversed.

You can also put your own summon sign down near a boss door and wait. If you fulfill your duty, you have a chance of having your Humanity restored. Now I'm completely guessing, but it seems to be based on how many times you died before you completed the mission. For instance, if you've died twice, then it seems you need to fulfill your duty two or three times before you get your Humanity restored. But that's just a total guess on my part.

There's a human effigy in the chest on the top floor of the house with the 3 old fire-keepers (where you choose your starting class), and a bonfire right outside it. You can burn a bonfire ascetic there and reset that chest to pick up the human effigy without having to worry about NG+ enemies respawning, since it's the tutorial area and you don't actually have to fight anything there if you don't want to.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

What exactly is your problem? Why do you want to burn a human effigy? Are you being invaded too many times? Because that's the only reason to burn one. Or do you mean that you want to reverse hollowing so you can summon help?

The old lady merchant sells a few, although I'm betting you bought those already. Have you gone back to the three old Fire Keepers at the beginning of the game? If you talk to them, they give you six of the things (if I remember right). Otherwise, do you have any Bonfire ascetic? If so, find a place where you obtained one from a chest (you might have to look on the internet to find an area), and then burn the ascetic at the nearest bonfire. That causes everything to respawn. However, by doing this, it will also respawn all enemies, the boss included if you're near the boss, at a higher level, so be prepared for that. And it cannot be reversed.

There's a human effigy in the chest on the top floor of the house with the 3 old fire-keepers (where you choose your starting class), and a bonfire right outside it. You can burn a bonfire ascetic there and reset that chest to pick up the human effigy without having to worry about NG+ enemies respawning, since it's the tutorial area and you don't actually have to fight anything there if you don't want to.

Well boom, there you go. I completely forgot about that one, but he's right. You don't have a to fight a single thing in that area if you don't want to, so you can just go nuts. Okay, maybe not nuts. When you do start New Game+, there are some new enemies in that area, and you don't want to make them too strong, but still, this is a perfect way to obtain some Human Effigies.

 

[ERaptor]

Alternatively, in the entry to the Forest of fallen Giants is a chest with FIVE human effigies, that also respawns everytime you burn a bonfire effigy. The Enemies in the area are just soldiers, so you can just skimp past them, get the chest, and repeat as necessary.

Another method, being summoned as a Coop-Phantom and sucessfully killing a Boss also restores your humanity and nets a good amount of souls, depending on the Boss.

 

[King of Asgaard]

If you can't get an effigy, OP, do you have a Pharros' Lockstone? If you do, you can bypass the boss entirely. Frankly, the boss is a pain if you can't get a feel for their pattern, but they are optional if you know the path.

 

[loa]

Make a new character, die less.

 

[Saltychipmunk]

few things to know:

1 dodging sucks in dark souls 2. like it is really really awful. The devs decided it was a brilliant idea to remove invulnerability frames from dodging and put them behind a 40 point wall of otherwise garbage adaptation stat.

Also the hit boxes and tracking in dark souls 2 is decidedly inferior to dark souls 1. you will be hit by what appears to be 2 - 3 times the hit box size of weapon models in some cases.


2 the move sets for most bosses require you to circle strafe the shield side of them and wait for them to attack with a move set that isnt a wide sweep in 180 degrees.




basically what you need to do is get a stable shield with 100% physical reduction. invest in stamina and just block spam and pick away at the bosses one strike at a time.

and this works for every freaking boss in the game to the point where you can be forgiven for thinking that every boss is actually the same two or three assholes in a different suit of armor.


now for bosses that actually give you breathing room, spells / miracles are op in this game. just run to a door and shoot your enemies through it.

 

[42]

If you can't get an effigy, OP, do you have a Pharros' Lockstone? If you do, you can bypass the boss entirely. Frankly, the boss is a pain if you can't get a feel for their pattern, but they are optional if you know the path.

Yeah I found the Pharros Lockstone, in the end i figured out how to beat the boss. It's just getting the human effigies thats really a pain in the arse.

 

[MHR]

Regaining humanity is easy and free with a small soapstone. Drop your sign nowhere near a boss (or you'll lose your host to boss fog and get sent back) and help farm a few trash enemies until you get paid your silky stone in a few short minutes. I've only had to use 1 effigy so far just because of impatience in summoning some shades.

 

[Greg White]

few things to know:

1 dodging sucks in dark souls 2. like it is really really awful. The devs decided it was a brilliant idea to remove invulnerability frames from dodging and put them behind a 40 point wall of otherwise garbage adaptation stat.

I find dodging to be more useful in Dark Souls 2. In 1 there were few bosses or enemies that hiding behind a greatshield couldn't solve, whereas now, even when I'm in heavy armor, I still make it a point to keep my encumbrance bellow 70% so I can dodge out of the way of anything I can't block.

As for the invincibility frames, can't say I feel for you. The idea of dodging is to get away from attacks, not abuse the i-frames in lieu of blocking.

Also, adaptation does have a function beyond i-frames. It works with endurance to boost your poise as well as speeding up how fast you drink estus.

 

[garjian]

few things to know:

1 dodging sucks in dark souls 2. like it is really really awful. The devs decided it was a brilliant idea to remove invulnerability frames from dodging and put them behind a 40 point wall of otherwise garbage adaptation stat.
...
basically what you need to do is get a stable shield with 100% physical reduction. invest in stamina and just block spam and pick away at the bosses one strike at a time.

As for the invincibility frames, can't say I feel for you. The idea of dodging is to get away from attacks, not abuse the i-frames in lieu of blocking.

It really is. Dodging with high AGI is remarkably good.
I never use a shield in Dark Souls. In both, I've made 1 character at some point specifically to try them out, and while in DS1 they had some uses early on, in DS2 shields feel completely unnecessary. If it weren't for their non-delayed parry animation, I would say that there is no reason to ever use one.

I would go so far as to say that the new dodge is so good it makes the game too easy, as every almost boss and enemy is weak to rolling to a degree... There's little in the game I can't roll through, and therefore little in the game that can damage me at all. On my dual-dagger character, as daggers have such fast recovery that I was always able to roll, the game just melted for him... it was a breeze to say the least, and he remains one of my best PvP builds.

 

[Ferisar]

Get yourself the Ring of Binding in the Heide Tower. For me as a total Dark Souls newb 75% of my HP was more than enough to go through every boss after (though I'm backtracking a lot).

For the sentries: Get a mace and upgrade it a bit. Stay up on the platform, circle around and try to kill each as fast as possible. I had the problem that the third came faster than expected but after a few tries I managed to kill them all.

Edit: As a total DS newb: How the fuck does summoning work? I saw that as a tip for the Pursuer but did not bother (after a 2h death tirade I managed to stun him right in front of a ballista and killed him, each boss after was actually a piece of cake).

If you're human, you can summon other players with the summoning signs on the ground (the yellow/white ones)

Regardless of being human, you can leave a summoning sign with the White Sign Soapstone (Mild-mannered Pate gives it to you) and wait for people to summon you. The best locations to leave them are either the bonfire closest to the boss, or right outside the fog wall (although that's like totes rood d00d(it isn't))

OT:
Everyone else has you covered pretty much. Get summoned and help some other nerds out