I know i'm late but dark souls is awesome

[ToastiestZombie]

I'm late too, I only really got into this game a few days ago. I'm trying to finish it before I play DaS2, but my pure-melee character is getting his ass kicked by the Bell Gargoyles. Anyone got any tips?

Bell Gargoyles aren't too bad. There's 2 NPC phantoms you can summon for the fight, Solaire and Lautrec. In order to be able to summon Lautrec you have to free him from his prison cell (it's in the same church as the gargoyle fight) and then visit him in firelink shrine, then once you come back to the church in human form you'll be able to see his summon sign. From what I understand if you have both phantoms they're actually so effective that you can just sit out the fight and watch them kill the gargoyles for you, though I've never summoned both phantoms at once.

Anyway, as far as strategy goes if you don't want to summon the phantoms: The second gargoyle doesn't enter the fight until the first one is at half health, and the second gargoyle mostly breaths fire whereas the first mostly does melee attacks. An easy way to win the fight is to get the first gargoyle down to half health, and then finish him off with firebombs from a distance since the gargoyles are weak to fire. This allows you to stay out of melee and fire range during the time that both gargoyles are up simultaneously. Once the first gargoyle is down the second one is extremely easy to kill, all you have to do is get behind him and go to town. He has less health than the first gargoyle, and doesn't have his tail so there's no danger in attacking from behind him.

Thanks for the tips. I did save Lautrec but the problem is I sort of used up all my humanity. Is there anywhere in the Undead Parish/Burg that I could possibly grind for some? I'll buy some firebombs from the Merchant in the Burg (does the Blacksmith sell any?) and use those whether or not I use the phantoms. Here's my build so you can tell me how shit it is . I've got the regular Knight Armour but with the helm you get from killing the boar in the Parish.

Spoiler

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Nice to see you enjoying Dark Souls OP. As for Dark Souls 2, prepare for disappointment, it is no where near as epic and memorable as Dark Souls, and I say that with a heavy heart.

I'd agree but go further, in saying it's worse in every possible way (with a few minor exceptions that can't save it), and perhaps the most disappointing game I've ever played.

Is it a bad game? No. Does it seem to be made by people who didn't understand what made Dark Souls so special? Yup. (for anyone interested in a very considered 50min critique of why DS2 is a huge letdown, check this YT vid out [http://youtu.be/UScsme8didI]. ye be warned, as it spoilers both games quite heavily)

 

[Aeonknight]

I'm late too, I only really got into this game a few days ago. I'm trying to finish it before I play DaS2, but my pure-melee character is getting his ass kicked by the Bell Gargoyles. Anyone got any tips?

Bell Gargoyles aren't too bad. There's 2 NPC phantoms you can summon for the fight, Solaire and Lautrec. In order to be able to summon Lautrec you have to free him from his prison cell (it's in the same church as the gargoyle fight) and then visit him in firelink shrine, then once you come back to the church in human form you'll be able to see his summon sign. From what I understand if you have both phantoms they're actually so effective that you can just sit out the fight and watch them kill the gargoyles for you, though I've never summoned both phantoms at once.

Anyway, as far as strategy goes if you don't want to summon the phantoms: The second gargoyle doesn't enter the fight until the first one is at half health, and the second gargoyle mostly breaths fire whereas the first mostly does melee attacks. An easy way to win the fight is to get the first gargoyle down to half health, and then finish him off with firebombs from a distance since the gargoyles are weak to fire. This allows you to stay out of melee and fire range during the time that both gargoyles are up simultaneously. Once the first gargoyle is down the second one is extremely easy to kill, all you have to do is get behind him and go to town. He has less health than the first gargoyle, and doesn't have his tail so there's no danger in attacking from behind him.

Thanks for the tips. I did save Lautrec but the problem is I sort of used up all my humanity. Is there anywhere in the Undead Parish/Burg that I could possibly grind for some? I'll buy some firebombs from the Merchant in the Burg (does the Blacksmith sell any?) and use those whether or not I use the phantoms. Here's my build so you can tell me how shit it is . I've got the regular Knight Armour but with the helm you get from killing the boar in the Parish.

Spoiler

Your health looks good for time being, but your equip burden does not. you want to aim for under 50% so you can maintain decent mobility (ninja flippers require <25%), you look like you're leaning towards a STR build, so for that I say this:

MOAR ENDURANCE. Most of the good STR weapons are heavy bastards, and mobility is king in 99% of the situations (especially pvp.) STR build also allows you access to the great shield department, but that's more of a late game concern. For your stat investment so far, it's actually looking solid. Just focus a little more on STR and a LOT more on endurance and you'll be fine. Also find a weapon with a move set you like, and start upgrading it as much as possible.

If you wish to dabble in pyromancy, you'll need a few levels into Attunement. It's considered the "poor man's magic" but I'd be a liar if I said it wasn't effective. A lot of soul investment, but souls are cheap.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Your health looks good for time being, but your equip burden does not. you want to aim for under 50% so you can maintain decent mobility (ninja flippers require <25%), you look like you're leaning towards a STR build, so for that I say this:

MOAR ENDURANCE. Most of the good STR weapons are heavy bastards, and mobility is king in 99% of the situations (especially pvp.) STR build also allows you access to the great shield department, but that's more of a late game concern. For your stat investment so far, it's actually looking solid. Just focus a little more on STR and a LOT more on endurance and you'll be fine. Also find a weapon with a move set you like, and start upgrading it as much as possible.

If you wish to dabble in pyromancy, you'll need a few levels into Attunement. It's considered the "poor man's magic" but I'd be a liar if I said it wasn't effective. A lot of soul investment, but souls are cheap.

Since that screenshot I've beaten the Gargoyle Demons (thanks to me stumbling on the Lower Undead Burg and finding the twin-humanity there) and the Moonlight Butterfly. I've levelled STR to 20 so I guess it's time to level up my END. I also found the Elite Knight Armour. Any tips on how I can lower my equip burden? Here's my full equipment.

Spoiler

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Any tips on how I can lower my equip burden?

Look up Havel's Ring, and try to get it as soon as possible, if weight and movement is an issue.

I'd also say your Dex is dangerously and ruinously low, as it'll effectively gate off various useful weapons which scale with Dex. By late game you should have quite high stats in all the important areas - and Dex is definitely an important area, unless you know beforehand which weapons you'll be working your build towards.

 

[Aeonknight]

Your health looks good for time being, but your equip burden does not. you want to aim for under 50% so you can maintain decent mobility (ninja flippers require <25%), you look like you're leaning towards a STR build, so for that I say this:

MOAR ENDURANCE. Most of the good STR weapons are heavy bastards, and mobility is king in 99% of the situations (especially pvp.) STR build also allows you access to the great shield department, but that's more of a late game concern. For your stat investment so far, it's actually looking solid. Just focus a little more on STR and a LOT more on endurance and you'll be fine. Also find a weapon with a move set you like, and start upgrading it as much as possible.

If you wish to dabble in pyromancy, you'll need a few levels into Attunement. It's considered the "poor man's magic" but I'd be a liar if I said it wasn't effective. A lot of soul investment, but souls are cheap.

Since that screenshot I've beaten the Gargoyle Demons (thanks to me stumbling on the Lower Undead Burg and finding the twin-humanity there) and the Moonlight Butterfly. I've levelled STR to 20 so I guess it's time to level up my END. I also found the Elite Knight Armour. Any tips on how I can lower my equip burden? Here's my full equipment.

Spoiler

For starters, only equip one weapon. There aren't many situations where you'll need the diversity between a spear and axe on the fly, and you can swap to the other weapon through the menu between encounters (a bow can be useful in the 2nd slot, and is typically much lighter.)

Second, pump that Endurance. It should be near the same level as your Vitality is. Also, you may want to look at lighter armors, the Knight Sets are incredibly heavy. I personally used the Hard Leather set for the longest time. Decent defense, manageable weight, no poise sadly (but that's what the poise ring is for). That and ultimately, defense only really comes into play when dealing with the elements (which an appropriate shield will do more for you here than anything else) and taking hits, the latter you don't want happening in the first place.

As for your choice of weapons, the Spear is a DEX based weapon. It's not a big deal right now but once you invest into either STR or DEX, it'll be a major disadvantage to switch to a weapon you're not proficient in.

Here's the wiki for the list of weapons, and their stat scaling:
http://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons#Greatswords

a lot of weapons will have their stat scaling increase as you upgrade it to +15, thus increasing your damage even more. You can check their base damage rating by clicking the weapon specifically, you'll see what it looks like at +15, or lightning enchanted, whatever info you need.

Just from a general glance, your speciality with STR lies in Great swords, some 1 handed swords, axes, hammers/clubs.

Edit: I completely forgot about Havel's ring... too much Dark Souls 2. The poster above covered it though.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Any tips on how I can lower my equip burden?

Look up Havel's Ring, and try to get it as soon as possible, if weight and movement is an issue.

I'd also say your Dex is dangerously and ruinously low, as it'll effectively gate off various useful weapons which scale with Dex. By late game you should have quite high stats in all the important areas - and Dex is definitely an important area, unless you know beforehand which weapons you'll be working your build towards.

Alright. I think I'm going to grind and get DEX and END to 20 before I go on. I'll go back to the Burg and fight Havel once I've gotten a decent weapon, I just tried to kill him and my god is he a tough mofo.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

For starters, only equip one weapon. There aren't many situations where you'll need the diversity between a spear and axe on the fly, and you can swap to the other weapon through the menu between encounters (a bow can be useful in the 2nd slot, and is typically much lighter.)

Second, pump that Endurance. It should be near the same level as your Vitality is. Also, you may want to look at lighter armors, the Knight Sets are incredibly heavy. I personally used the Hard Leather set for the longest time. Decent defense, manageable weight, no poise sadly (but that's what the poise ring is for). That and ultimately, defense only really comes into play when dealing with the elements (which an appropriate shield will do more for you here than anything else) and taking hits, the latter you don't want happening in the first place.

As for your choice of weapons, the Spear is a DEX based weapon. It's not a big deal right now but once you invest into either STR or DEX, it'll be a major disadvantage to switch to a weapon you're not proficient in.

Here's the wiki for the list of weapons, and their stat scaling:
http://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons#Greatswords

a lot of weapons will have their stat scaling increase as you upgrade it to +15, thus increasing your damage even more. You can check their base damage rating by clicking the weapon specifically, you'll see what it looks like at +15, or lightning enchanted, whatever info you need.

Just from a general glance, your speciality with STR lies in Great swords, some 1 handed swords, axes, hammers/clubs

How high would you recommend I put my endurance up to before moving onto harder areas such as BlightTown and the like? I'm considering grinding my ass off to get my STR, DEX, VIT and END all up to 25. And also, where could I find the leather armour and are there any specific weapons I should use this early in the game? Thanks for the tips though, it's been a great help.

 

[Aeonknight]

For starters, only equip one weapon. There aren't many situations where you'll need the diversity between a spear and axe on the fly, and you can swap to the other weapon through the menu between encounters (a bow can be useful in the 2nd slot, and is typically much lighter.)

Second, pump that Endurance. It should be near the same level as your Vitality is. Also, you may want to look at lighter armors, the Knight Sets are incredibly heavy. I personally used the Hard Leather set for the longest time. Decent defense, manageable weight, no poise sadly (but that's what the poise ring is for). That and ultimately, defense only really comes into play when dealing with the elements (which an appropriate shield will do more for you here than anything else) and taking hits, the latter you don't want happening in the first place.

As for your choice of weapons, the Spear is a DEX based weapon. It's not a big deal right now but once you invest into either STR or DEX, it'll be a major disadvantage to switch to a weapon you're not proficient in.

Here's the wiki for the list of weapons, and their stat scaling:
http://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons#Greatswords

a lot of weapons will have their stat scaling increase as you upgrade it to +15, thus increasing your damage even more. You can check their base damage rating by clicking the weapon specifically, you'll see what it looks like at +15, or lightning enchanted, whatever info you need.

Just from a general glance, your speciality with STR lies in Great swords, some 1 handed swords, axes, hammers/clubs

How high would you recommend I put my endurance up to before moving onto harder areas such as BlightTown and the like? I'm considering grinding my ass off to get my STR, DEX, VIT and END all up to 25. And also, where could I find the leather armour and are there any specific weapons I should use this early in the game? Thanks for the tips though, it's been a great help.

I would say get ahold of Havel's Ring and/or Ring of Favor and Protection. That will be a significant boost to equip burden, thus lowering the necessity for endurance until you've raised other stats (like STR or DEX.) Try to aim for that >50% benchmark, that should be good enough.

The Hard Leather set I referred too can be obtained from a corpse in the boss arena of the Depths. It's also the starting armor or the Warrior class, but you don't have to reroll your character just to get it. You shouldn't need to grind THAT much to progress in the game, but definitely get to picking a damage path. Darth Rosenberg specified DEX, and while that does offer a plethora of weapons (curved swords, bows, katana, spears, daggers, etc.), STR has it's options too. You have to decide what play style suits you, and what weapon reinforces said style. From there the decision is easy.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

I would say get ahold of Havel's Ring and/or Ring of Favor and Protection. That will be a significant boost to equip burden, thus lowering the necessity for endurance until you've raised other stats (like STR or DEX.) Try to aim for that >50% benchmark, that should be good enough.

The Hard Leather set I referred too can be obtained from a corpse in the boss arena of the Depths. It's also the starting armor or the Warrior class, but you don't have to reroll your character just to get it. You shouldn't need to grind THAT much to progress in the game, but definitely get to picking a damage path. Darth Rosenberg specified DEX, and while that does offer a plethora of weapons (curved swords, bows, katana, spears, daggers, etc.), STR has it's options too. You have to decide what play style suits you, and what weapon reinforces said style. From there the decision is easy.

To be honest I might just re-roll. I'd much prefer to start over again with a much faster character and focus on DEX, I picked a slow STR build because I thought that more damage=easier when really it's not. Thanks for the help though.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I would say get ahold of Havel's Ring and/or Ring of Favor and Protection. That will be a significant boost to equip burden, thus lowering the necessity for endurance until you've raised other stats (like STR or DEX.) Try to aim for that >50% benchmark, that should be good enough.

The Hard Leather set I referred too can be obtained from a corpse in the boss arena of the Depths. It's also the starting armor or the Warrior class, but you don't have to reroll your character just to get it. You shouldn't need to grind THAT much to progress in the game, but definitely get to picking a damage path. Darth Rosenberg specified DEX, and while that does offer a plethora of weapons (curved swords, bows, katana, spears, daggers, etc.), STR has it's options too. You have to decide what play style suits you, and what weapon reinforces said style. From there the decision is easy.

To be honest I might just re-roll. I'd much prefer to start over again with a much faster character and focus on DEX, I picked a slow STR build because I thought that more damage=easier when really it's not. Thanks for the help though.

There's no point in getting both strength and dex up to the same levels unless you plan on using quality weapons (weapons that scale in both the strength and dex stat at the same time. Most weapons will only have decent scaling in one stat or the other, and it's will save you a lot of levels if you just pick one type of weapon and stick to it. I personally prefer dex weapons, but strength weapons are really REALLY useful if you have good timing with them since they stagger enemies and break their guard easily.

Really, I'd recommend increasing your endurance, getting rid of the boar helm (it's unreasonably heavy for the protection it gives), killing lautrec to get the ring of divine favor and protection (though if you do that you won't be able to complete his quest line, not sure if you care about that) and killing Havel. Stick with strength since that's what you've mostly leveled and only level up dexterity when you come across a new weapon you like that has higher dex requirements. The elite knight armor is really good, but also quite heavy. The elite knight chest gives you some of the best protection in the game for medium armors, so I'd keep that if I were you, but I'd take off the gauntlets and leggings for something else (I personally like the black leather armor you get from lower undead parish). Get a better shield as well. You started out with a knight right? Use the tower kite shield, because the shield you have in your inventory is absolute crap. It's heavy and worse than the tower kite shield in every way. Try and get a balder knight shield from the knights in the undead parish, it's pretty good.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

To be honest I might just re-roll. I'd much prefer to start over again with a much faster character and focus on DEX, I picked a slow STR build because I thought that more damage=easier when really it's not. Thanks for the help though.

Well, that's the thing about Dark Souls - there are some hard and fast principles (e.g. don't die after a major boss and then get killed and then fail to recover your bloodstain... ), but really it's about how you want to play it - how you want to deal with the world's numerous denizens.

Personally, I've never worn any of the heavier armours (or used any of the heavier two handed weapons) and still greatly favour the ability to evade and counter attack. My stamina bar ended up much larger than my health, because getting hit usually takes health off and can stagger you (making you more vulnerable to damage), whereas having a ton of stamina means you can keep evading and countering. But even then, I re-equip rings and armour for certain bosses or areas where Stability and taking a hit with a (usually) 100% Physical shield is useful.

And yeah, Str and Dex are both important - relative to what weapons/playstyle. I just thought having that low Dex could cause you serious problems (my main build has them quite even, with a bias for Dex) if, later in the game, you decide you want to be able to rock a certain Dex scaling weapon, and your Soul Level's so high that you'll need tens of thousands per level to increase a stat you've neglected.

The starting class isn't that important. It reflects the general direction you want to take your build (I picked Wanderer). It may be heresy, but frankly, you can change course with your build early on, simply 'cause leveling is so fast. I began with zero intention to mess around with Pyro, but over the course of the game it seemed increasingly useful, so I maxed the Flame but didn't pay too much into my Attunement. So I always had access to some very powerful fire spells, and could even use rings and gear to increase slots if I really wanted to main it for an area or a boss.

However you start DS, there's plenty of options to change your mind as the game goes on - and unless you start paying into Resistance or something, nothing you do hurts your build, unless you're not using the weapon or spell discipline that corresponds to your attributes.

Eventually you hit serious diminishing returns in leveling, so it becomes a complete waste to spend souls on anything but your prime attributes. Once you figure out which your best/favoured weapons are, then you level to maximise your investments in shards and Embers.

(looking at the last pic of your stats: you'd certainly need to 'fix' you Endurance. that's insanely low)

Oh, and one last tip: it's worth paying into Faith and learning the most basic Heal Miracle (which needs 12), as it gives you another 5 healing options. Until you really start improving your Estus (or 'unlock' Firelink after a certain event), that Heal Miracle can make a massive difference to your chances (and as a general obvious rule: Miracles out of combat, Estus in combat).

 

[Darks63]

Any tips on how I can lower my equip burden?

Look up Havel's Ring, and try to get it as soon as possible, if weight and movement is an issue.

I'd also say your Dex is dangerously and ruinously low, as it'll effectively gate off various useful weapons which scale with Dex. By late game you should have quite high stats in all the important areas - and Dex is definitely an important area, unless you know beforehand which weapons you'll be working your build towards.

Alright. I think I'm going to grind and get DEX and END to 20 before I go on. I'll go back to the Burg and fight Havel once I've gotten a decent weapon, I just tried to kill him and my god is he a tough mofo.

You can cheese havel if your not against doing it. Its pretty easy you go the door he guards and go through it and then repeatedly pull him out. He never goes beyond top of the steps and hos swings miss most of the time due to the terrain level difference. After he swings you can usually score a jumping attack on him. You just repeat that till he dies, but be careful when pulling him since he will swing prematurely before he is out of the tower sometimes.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I'm new to it too, I've only played (and twice beaten) Dark Souls 2 :/

I really enjoyed it though, the combat mechanics are precise and awesome, and the world really draws you on

 

[Schmeiser]

I pretty much breezed through the game (i am kinda good at every game except COD) except smough and ornstein. I am probably on my 40th try on them and in most games i would probably just say fuck it and delete the game but dark souls makes me want to try to beat them just because i want to find out what+s gonna happen next.

Do you mean you breezed through the game up to Smough and Ornstein? Because depending on which roads you took, I think that's one of the first harder bosses you'll come up against (not meant to be bashing, just giving you a heads up, prepare for harder fights later on). Also, are you killing Smough first? There's a difference in which of them you kill first (the other one enrages and you get different loot) and killing Ornstein afterwards makes it harder (but also gives you better stuff).

Yes that's what i meant, cartman and kyle were the first part that really started to test my nerves, even blighttown wasn't that bad. The worst part is when you fuck up their positioning and ornstein does his charge attack and gets glitched behing smough and all of a sudden teleports besides you and hit you. That was the move i never learned to dodge if he glitched. NG+ gonna try smough first which is gonna be fun as fuck

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

Good old Snorlax and Picachu (joke ©Daystar Clarion, all rights reserved), a truly frustrating boss fight. My first moment like that was the Black Knight in Undead Burg. I must have spent 2 hours mucking about trying to best him with a longsword, all mano e mano, until I gave up and just poked him to death with a spear.

You mean Laurel an Hardy? Bulk and Skull? Penn & Teller?

I hated those two with a passion. But the feeling of satisfaction I got from finally beating them, without the help of phantoms, was something else.

Here's the thing about Dark Souls though - while the difficulty is its main marketing pull and the most talked about feature of the game, that is not why I enjoyed the game so much. It's the entire design philosophy of it. The interconnectivity of the levels, the sense of progression, the way almost all loot is useful in some way. The combat system that is incredibly simple, yet has insane amounts of depth to it. How death is treated as a mechanic, not a failure state. The game just respects the player and their time.

Dark souls should not be known for its difficulty. It should be known for being a fantastically designed, wonderfully executed and - most of all - incredibly fun and satisfying game.

 

[Schmeiser]

And it's incredible freedom and replayability