Decided to explore a little bit of the higher level areas today before going to the Undead Burg. Got the Zweihander (which I can't use yet), and the Estoc (which is pretty awesome).
I also tried to go to the Drake Valley, as shown in the above video, but found that I couldn't unlock the door since I didn't have the master key. Guess I'll be going the "correct" path with no short cuts like everyone else.
Some essential advice for any first run through Dark Souls:
1. Heavy armor and weapons is the game's easy mode, the ability to tank boss's hits with a greatshield is invaluable for when you don't have dodging down. A strength build can be especially powerful early game if you get lucky and acquire a black knight weapon. For this reason it's a good idea to have liquid humanity to increase your item drop rate when fighting the first few black knights.
2. Think carefully about when you want to use humanity. Generally it's a good idea to kindle the bonfire before bosses to provide yourself with some extra healing and the possibility of summoned help.
Refer to the guide to jolly cooperation on the wiki for common ettiquete and summoning ranges. Once you reach midgame or so and have access to the chasm of the abyss humanity ceases to be an issue, as it is dropped very frequently by the enemies there.
3. Always check for environmental clues as to possible traps and hazards. There will often be charred corpses where there are fire traps and pressure plates for arrow traps can be seen and avoided by the perceptive player. In general take things slow and steady, be sure to read the player messages as some will point you towards shortcuts, illusory walls, etc.
4. Prioritize weapon upgrades over soul leveling when spending souls. Stat Scaling can be very powerful mid to late game on the right weapons, but in the beginning you will do more damage by upgrading your chosen weapon. Don't neglect your soul level though, try to stay within the popular ranges for your area.
5. Consider a quality build. This means that you level your vit, end, str, and dex roughly equally (although stopping at 40 end) depending on starting class you may have a few more or less points to use. This will give you access to virtually every weapon in the game, including ultra heavy weapons, although these must be wielded two handed. It will also allow you to do serious damage with bows, including greatbows. The only weapons you won't be able to properly use are those with built in faith or intelligence requirements, but these are few and specialized for their respective builds.
6. Watch some epicnamebro videos on youtube. He is pretty much a dark souls guru and will be very helpful on your first playthrough.
7. When in doubt, check the wiki. There are two awesome wikis with big communities that have pretty much every little detail catalogued for your convenience, so utilize them. If you have any questions on specific game mechanics, like humanity or poise, check the wiki's first.
Some people will suggest you get the master key as a starting gift. DO NOT FOLLOW THAT ADVICE. That item was meant for players to get to desired areas on subsequent playthroughs.
Also, don't get the tiny being's ring. It doesn't actually regenerate your health, that's a translation error. I suggest getting twin humanities and keeping it in reserve.
Plus is really easy getting the Tiny Being's Ring, you only need to help Siegmeyer in Anor Londo. (You can't miss Siegmeyer is the one with a onion on head). So yeah, useless picking at the start. Since you are Pyro a better one would be the Witch's Ring, that way you can talk to Quelaan and feel like a total jerk afterwards.
KOMega said:
Since you are going pyromancer I am assuming you want something like a magic-type class.
You will want to probably get your INT to 60 at some point. probably not at once, but put points in that when you can.
You'll want to put points into Attunement. I suggest getting attunment to maybe 16 or 19. This will give you spell slots.
You'll want to also put points into endurance until 40. Your stamina bar will max out at 40, any more will only boost your ability to carry load.
You should also put points into strength or dexterity but only just so you can wield your choice in weaponry. Like that Drake Sword I'm sure someone has already recommended.
Being a magic user you'll want to probably get the Moonlight Butterfly soul which you can later turn into a Moonlight Spear which basically uses your Int as it's power instead of str or dex.
Later you'll also want the Moonlight Sword.
With the two moonlight weapons and a wand, you can hold your own in both melee and spellcasting with an Int-build.
the following will probably not mean anything to you until you are at those points so bear with me:
Once you find the first blacksmith, run down the stairs and run past/defeat the big statue demon.
You will be in a forest type place. Head left carefully, you'll have to fight some bush-people. You'll come across a big important looking door. Ignore it for now, but hit suspicious looking wall next to it to reveal a bonfire.
Head to the path to the right of the door.
You'll want to become human for a bit here. Or you can go down as an undead to scout out the danger first.
Take extra care in fighting the statue guardian. You'll want to fight them one at a time and quickly before they can cast any spells.
There is a building doorway somewhere with a set of stairs. If you are human you can summon a NPC white-spirit which will aid you in the boss fight.
climb up the stairs, and let the NPC fight for you. Concentrate on just avoiding things thrown at you. the NPC here is strong enough to fight this by herself.
You should now have the moonlight butterfly soul. this will be important later for you when you get to the Giant Blacksmith in Anor Londo.
edit: however if you want a STR focused build, I advise getting the Demon Great Axe, as it scales the best with STR when fully upgraded.
Why get upgrading his INT if INT doesn't affect Pyromancies? It only affect the punch of the Flame, not the Pyromancy itself. And believe, nobody uses the punch in the Flame. NOBODY! It's useless... Moonlight Greatsword is a great weapon however.
Dirty Hipsters said:
Decided to explore a little bit of the higher level areas today before going to the Undead Burg. Got the Zweihander (which I can't use yet), and the Estoc (which is pretty awesome).
I also tried to go to the Drake Valley, as shown in the above video, but found that I couldn't unlock the door since I didn't have the master key. Guess I'll be going the "correct" path with no short cuts like everyone else.
If you plan on using a Estoc (Or any type of "pointy" weapon for that matter) you want to consider the Leo Ring, you will need to defeat Ornstein and Smough in Anor Londo, the fat one first, then Super Saiyan Skinny. You get the Soul of Ornstein and the Leo Ring. If you kill Fatty second you get Soul of Smough and no Leo Ring.
That and the Hornet Ring, you can get it in the Sif boss room, in a women corpse behind the giant grave you can't possibly miss.
Then is prepare to wreck shit with you Estoc.
Now before heading to Blighttown to ring the second bell you may want to get the Rusted Iron Ring which allows you not lose speed in the swamps, very useful for exploring Blighttown. Is in the Undead Asylum, look for videos on youtube on how to get there again in quite crazy.
Also if you win against Big Butts Demon 2, you get a Titanite Slab. With that you can upgrade a 14+ weapon into 15+.
While you in there you can pick up the Strange Doll, is the key to the Painted World. Just remember to bring a fire weapon when you go there. YOU NEED WILL IT. Also a lots of Blooming Purple Moss. YOU WILL ALSO NEED IT A LOT.
Some people will suggest you get the master key as a starting gift. DO NOT FOLLOW THAT ADVICE. That item was meant for players to get to desired areas on subsequent playthroughs.
True but the master key lets you skip almost all of Blighttown, the worst area in the game. I do not recommend going through Blighttown without the master key on a first playthrough at all. Also all of the alternative starting gifts are pretty much useless trash, the master key is the only one worth picking up.
Since you are going pyromancer I am assuming you want something like a magic-type class.
You will want to probably get your INT to 60 at some point. probably not at once, but put points in that when you can.
You'll want to put points into Attunement. I suggest getting attunment to maybe 16 or 19. This will give you spell slots.
You'll want to also put points into endurance until 40. Your stamina bar will max out at 40, any more will only boost your ability to carry load.
You should also put points into strength or dexterity but only just so you can wield your choice in weaponry. Like that Drake Sword I'm sure someone has already recommended.
Being a magic user you'll want to probably get the Moonlight Butterfly soul which you can later turn into a Moonlight Spear which basically uses your Int as it's power instead of str or dex.
Later you'll also want the Moonlight Sword.
With the two moonlight weapons and a wand, you can hold your own in both melee and spellcasting with an Int-build.
the following will probably not mean anything to you until you are at those points so bear with me:
Once you find the first blacksmith, run down the stairs and run past/defeat the big statue demon.
You will be in a forest type place. Head left carefully, you'll have to fight some bush-people. You'll come across a big important looking door. Ignore it for now, but hit suspicious looking wall next to it to reveal a bonfire.
Head to the path to the right of the door.
You'll want to become human for a bit here. Or you can go down as an undead to scout out the danger first.
Take extra care in fighting the statue guardian. You'll want to fight them one at a time and quickly before they can cast any spells.
There is a building doorway somewhere with a set of stairs. If you are human you can summon a NPC white-spirit which will aid you in the boss fight.
climb up the stairs, and let the NPC fight for you. Concentrate on just avoiding things thrown at you. the NPC here is strong enough to fight this by herself.
You should now have the moonlight butterfly soul. this will be important later for you when you get to the Giant Blacksmith in Anor Londo.
edit: however if you want a STR focused build, I advise getting the Demon Great Axe, as it scales the best with STR when fully upgraded.
Why get upgrading his INT if INT doesn't affect Pyromancies? It only affect the punch of the Flame, not the Pyromancy itself. And believe, nobody uses the punch in the Flame. NOBODY! It's useless... Moonlight Greatsword is a great weapon however.
Generally I find people who want to be magic users start as pyromancers.
Hell, I never even said int affects pyromancy. In fact I said he would be using a wand. A wand is used to cast magics, not pyromancy. Hell, I never even mentioned using the damn flame as a melee weapon, I said he'd be using the moonlight weapons.
I like the pyromancer starting class because it's starting class I think has the best distribution of stats for a magic user for it's soul level.
Focusing on pyromancy can really be done with any type of build since it doesn't really depend on any stat (well except attunment indirectly.) and a focus on pyromancy would probably be best done on a str or dex build that generally doesn't use magic or miracles. While again, that does NOT limit you to using pyromancy only for non-magic classes.
I find magic to be a lot more flexible than pyromancy since spells generally fly a lot farther, cast faster and give you a lot more uses. Unless you are pvping, in which case some of the pyromancies are quite useful. Again, in my opinion.
edit: Oh ya, random advice, There's a lightning spear weapon in Sen's Fortress somewhere that will generally be your strongest weapon for a while, at least until you find the Giant Blacksmith, or you find tons of materials for upgrading something else.
I suggest you watch this video, explains all of the basics for beginners in less then 4min. Yeah I gotta tell all the new players looking at this, it really helped me out the first time I played the game. Although I found upgrading the steel slicer through the mystic weapon path to scale it with APK rather than SSL. But you know I just prefer that build, you don't actually get that more dmg out of it especially against crusaders. It lets you play more like the necromancer class with a hint of firelord, very meta especially for king of the hill. If you didn't take this all as a joke, then prepare to die a lot more then usual.
Ok hardcore joking aside, I understand you got the drake sword, but once you've rung both bells make sure to switch weapons cause from then on EVERYTHING will out class that garbage weapon. Try a longsword or the claymore, both very versatile in their moveset to where they come in handy in most situations. Upgrade your weapons and armor consistently, as for stats focus on Vitality and Endurance first, once you want more damage focus on your choice of scaling: Strength or Dexterity (Faith/Intelligence if you want miracles or magic in your arsenal). Other then that, keep your shield up, kite your enemies, and prepare to die you filthy casul.
Decide what type och character you want and stick with it. This means you'll have one or two primary attributes to level up. Int, Faith, Strength, Dexterity or Str and Dex combined. Your chosen stat you should level up fairly high, maybe 40-50 if it's str or dex, 50 if int and i honestly don't know about faith but i'm guessing level that shit up as well. If you split it betweens str and dex, distribute it equally over both. Other than your chosen stat put everything else in endurance and vitality. If you are a caster of some kind, take a few points in atunement as well to get some slots for your spells.
The worst mistake to make is leveling up the wrong stats and/or spreading your levels out over all stats. Spreading your stats out means you'll suck at everything.
Now, once you've picked what type of character you want to play, start looking at the weapons you pick up. They all scale with different stats and the scaling plays a HUGE role in your damage output. Get a weapon that you like and that scales well with your chosen main stat(s). Also as soon as you can start upgrading your weapons. The regular upgrade path that just makes your weapon stronger is the best path for str and dex builds. If you are doing an int build you want to upgrade your weapons with the magic or enchanted path, that adds high int scaling, same goes for faith (but with the divine upgrade path). You'll find different blacksmiths and embers all over the place to give you new upgrade paths. Be careful with elemental upgrade paths though (fire and lightning) as they remove all scaling from weapons. With this in mind, always upgrade your weapons as far as possible and you'll soon find you have weapons that make the drake sword look like complete garbage.
Also keep track of your equip burden. At 25% or lower you have the quick roll, at 50% or lower you have the medium roll and above you have the suicide roll that's good for absolutely nothing. Play around with the different options, see which one you prefer. I find it's fairly easy to go tanky, block and punish, though in the end it's more effective (and fun) to use the quick roll. This is why you want to level up endurance a lot. Endurance raises your equip burden, so that you can equip heavier armor without getting slowed down.
As for starting gifts and class, don't fret too much. If you didn't get the master key, no sweat. You'll just not be able to take some shortcuts quite as early as you might have otherwise done. Any starting gift is ok aside from the pendant, though i'd advice against the twin humanities as you can farm humanity anyway.
Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet either, but having humanity on your character boosts item drop rate, so i always have at least one or two on me if i want to farm particular items.
Don't go reading up on where to find items and stuff for your first playthrough though. Finding cool gear and new places is part of what makes the game so much fun the first few times through. Also that video up there with the "get awesome stuff in 10 minutes" sucks. Bad tips imo, and they still rely on you having the master key so i suppose it doesn't matter in this particular case.
Decided to explore a little bit of the higher level areas today before going to the Undead Burg. Got the Zweihander (which I can't use yet), and the Estoc (which is pretty awesome).
I also tried to go to the Drake Valley, as shown in the above video, but found that I couldn't unlock the door since I didn't have the master key. Guess I'll be going the "correct" path with no short cuts like everyone else.
Listen, if you're gonna follow videos like that you might as well open up a walkthrough and never take a step without its permission.
Dark Souls is a lot about exploration and discovery. Don't jump through all the hoops everyone shows you, it cheapens the game, the sense of discovery and the experience. Assuming you take your time, explore and figure the game out, it's fully doable without any of these tricks.
When you played Dark Souls did you read the red text on the ground and follow its advice when it warned you of traps or tough enemies nearby? I'm going to guess that you probably did.
Guess what? I'm playing offline so I don't have that option, so excuse me for trying to get some advice from people online when I can't do so in game.
The hint markers really only do so much. I kinda have to agree that following guides and learning all the "tricks" during your first playthrough does sort of ruin the experience, why i tried to give more general tips on how to approach the game rather than "go here, do this, get that".
The messages on the ground are really limited, leading to ambiguous hints like "here!" or "treasure ahead!" or something like that, so in the end you'll usually be surprised anyway because you didn't understand the message until you had seen the thing it was warning you about.
I mean if that's how you want to do it, why even bother here? Just go on the wiki. Or youtube. Watch a let's play by EpicNameBro or something, you'll learn all the strats, secrets and exploits.
Decided to explore a little bit of the higher level areas today before going to the Undead Burg. Got the Zweihander (which I can't use yet), and the Estoc (which is pretty awesome).
I also tried to go to the Drake Valley, as shown in the above video, but found that I couldn't unlock the door since I didn't have the master key. Guess I'll be going the "correct" path with no short cuts like everyone else.
Listen, if you're gonna follow videos like that you might as well open up a walkthrough and never take a step without its permission.
Dark Souls is a lot about exploration and discovery. Don't jump through all the hoops everyone shows you, it cheapens the game, the sense of discovery and the experience. Assuming you take your time, explore and figure the game out, it's fully doable without any of these tricks.
When you played Dark Souls did you read the red text on the ground and follow its advice when it warned you of traps or tough enemies nearby? I'm going to guess that you probably did.
Guess what? I'm playing offline so I don't have that option, so excuse me for trying to get some advice from people online when I can't do so in game.
If anything I found bloodstains to be more informative, as I could see how the last guy died and sorta guess what did him in, or at least what direction it came from.
Played a bit more dark souls yesterday. Beat my first Black Knight (in the most cowardly way possible), and the Taurus Demon, and got the drake sword.
I don't particularly like the drake sword though. While it's a powerhouse it swings slowly, and leaves me open to attack for far too long. I much prefer the estoc, which I can use without lowering my shield. So here's my problem, the estoc is awesome, but the shield I currently have is just a wooden shield, which is ok, but drains a lot of my stamina when I block. Is there any place in the undead burg, or somewhere nearby ahead where I can get a better shield with more stability?
Once you get to Undead Parish there's a Knight's Shield guarded by a Baldur Fencer, not great, but bettter than what you have. If you don't want to buy a Tower shield from the blacksmith there you can try farming for the Balder Shield (by killing the cape knight guys, or there's another Black knight right at the top of the tower leading to the Parish that you might get lucky and get a Black Knight shield off of. If you do, you're pretty much set for the playthrough with that shield.
Played a bit more dark souls yesterday. Beat my first Black Knight (in the most cowardly way possible), and the Taurus Demon, and got the drake sword.
I don't particularly like the drake sword though. While it's a powerhouse it swings slowly, and leaves me open to attack for far too long. I much prefer the estoc, which I can use without lowering my shield. So here's my problem, the estoc is awesome, but the shield I currently have is just a wooden shield, which is ok, but drains a lot of my stamina when I block. Is there any place in the undead burg, or somewhere nearby ahead where I can get a better shield with more stability?
Balder knights (the hollows with helmets and capes) drop Balder shields which are good.
It's probably a good thing you don't like the drake sword, it's expensive to upgrade and doesn't upgrade well.
Try to only keep your shield up when the enemy is actually swinging rather than attacking from behind it though or you'll just eat through stamina.
Edit: Got merchants mixed up, it the guy in sen's who sells them.
Played a bit more dark souls yesterday. Beat my first Black Knight (in the most cowardly way possible), and the Taurus Demon, and got the drake sword.
I don't particularly like the drake sword though. While it's a powerhouse it swings slowly, and leaves me open to attack for far too long. I much prefer the estoc, which I can use without lowering my shield. So here's my problem, the estoc is awesome, but the shield I currently have is just a wooden shield, which is ok, but drains a lot of my stamina when I block. Is there any place in the undead burg, or somewhere nearby ahead where I can get a better shield with more stability?
Balder Knights (the Knights in the church below the bell gargoyles) drop their shields which have 100% physical resistance and good stability. They also drop the Balder Side Sword which would complement your playstyle well. And it becomes very powerful when fully upgraded.
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