From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[ADL]

The guy who is doing that mod that extensively overhauls the lighting conditions of each area has been showing off more and more

 

[Wunderbar]

 

[Child of Malkav]

Lara Croft in the 2013 reboot.

 

[Alphard]

this game is so damn weird and frustrating. i must have died 20 times in no man wharf trying to figure where the boss was. backtracked the level at least twice then after the 20th ish death because the combo of robin hood archers, deadly water and zerging hordes, i said frack it and googled it. turns out i need to ring an almost invisible bell at the top of the level to call the ship. another 2 deaths and i finally reach the boss and kill it easily.
it seems levels and """normal""" enemies are much more difficult than bosses themselves. the only bosses i didnt first try so far were three sentinel and rat vanguard( p.s. who designed that "boss" should be fired , and sent to chinese gulag)

 

[cvv]

it seems levels and """normal""" enemies are much more difficult than bosses themselves.

Yes, most vanilla bosses are very easy because of how slow and ponderous they are, even for the slow standard of DS2, but for a new player the gank bosses can be a problem. There are maybe five of those fights where you have to handle multiple mobs and on my first playthrough I had a terrible time with the Ruin Sentinels, the double Dragonriders or W&D. Everything else is very easy.

In the DLCs tho ALL bosses are very hard, it's gonna be a shock to the system so be mentally prepared. In Ivory and Sunken King there are boss fights that are recommended to co-op. Don't be like me, bashing your head against them 30 times and then co-oping them anyway.

 

[Alphard]

it seems levels and """normal""" enemies are much more difficult than bosses themselves.

Yes, most vanilla bosses are very easy because of how slow and ponderous they are, even for the slow standard of DS2, but for a new player the gank bosses can be a problem. There are maybe five of those fights where you have to handle multiple mobs and on my first playthrough I had a terrible time with the Ruin Sentinels, the double Dragonriders or W&D. Everything else is very easy.

In the DLCs tho ALL bosses are very hard, it's gonna be a shock to the system so be mentally prepared. In Ivory and Sunken King there are boss fights that are recommended to co-op. Don't be like me, bashing your head against them 30 times and then co-oping them anyway.

good to know, but stubborn like i am , i'll probably follow your same path. by the way they can't be harder than kalameet (imo the most difficult boss in DS), right?

 

[cvv]

good to know, but stubborn like i am , i'll probably follow your same path. by the way they can't be harder than kalameet (imo the most difficult boss in DS), right?

Well, imagine Kalameet but two of them at the same time. That's the level of difficulty I'm talking about.
Btw this double "Kalameet" boss fight and the insane run up to it is universaly hated by everyone and AFAIK everyone is always co-oping it. But good luck! :D

 

[Alphard]

good to know, but stubborn like i am , i'll probably follow your same path. by the way they can't be harder than kalameet (imo the most difficult boss in DS), right?

Well, imagine Kalameet but two of them at the same time. That's the level of difficulty I'm talking about.
Btw this double "Kalameet" boss fight and the insane run up to it is universaly hated by everyone and AFAIK everyone is always co-oping it. But good luck! :D

thank you. btw i have a long journey still, just need not to go hollow

 

[Doktor Best]

I never played the SOTFS version because i was butthurt that i didnt get a free upgrade after purchasing vanilla version at start and the season pass.

Well its on sale for 6 bucks now and i really like the game. Is it the superior version?

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

it seems levels and """normal""" enemies are much more difficult than bosses themselves.

Yes, most vanilla bosses are very easy because of how slow and ponderous they are, even for the slow standard of DS2, but for a new player the gank bosses can be a problem. There are maybe five of those fights where you have to handle multiple mobs and on my first playthrough I had a terrible time with the Ruin Sentinels, the double Dragonriders or W&D. Everything else is very easy.

In the DLCs tho ALL bosses are very hard, it's gonna be a shock to the system so be mentally prepared. In Ivory and Sunken King there are boss fights that are recommended to co-op. Don't be like me, bashing your head against them 30 times and then co-oping them anyway.

good to know, but stubborn like i am , i'll probably follow your same path. by the way they can't be harder than kalameet (imo the most difficult boss in DS), right?

Oh, they are hard. Unfairly hard, actually.
The run up to them is annoying as its basically a wide open area full of nothing where you'll get ambushed by a strong enemy type that everyone hates.
The boss itself is unfair as the arena is a wide open area where you'll get double-teamed by 2 bosses, who always seem to perfectly sync their attack together so that you will get hit at least once.

It is possible to solo it, but I would not recommend it. The game gives you access to 2 NPC summons for a reason.

 

[Average Manatee]

Oh, they are hard. Unfairly hard, actually.
The run up to them is annoying as its basically a wide open area full of nothing where you'll get ambushed by a strong enemy type that everyone hates.
The boss itself is unfair as the arena is a wide open area where you'll get double-teamed by 2 bosses, who always seem to perfectly sync their attack together so that you will get hit at least once.

It is possible to solo it, but I would not recommend it. The game gives you access to 2 NPC summons for a reason.

Its fairly simple if you just DPS down the first boss before the 2nd appears. The only issue is that the DLCs and late game in general is broken balance-wise since armor doesn't work, big STR weapons have no real point since most things don't stagger and their damage advantage over other weapons is minimal, and magic sucks shit with escalating resistances. The DLC areas in general are harder than the DLC bosses themselves.

 

[cvv]

Btw I've been playing a pure sorcery build, my first time ever in DS2, and I'm not impressed. Most spells are laughable garbage so the only thing you do is spam the soul spear. FromSoft was apparently PTSD'ed from how utterly broken was magic in DeS and how OP it was in DS1, so it nerfed everything into the ground, leaving just SP/CSP for some reason.

Sadly you only get 4 uses so you'll mostly depend on your trusty MGS. It's a very good weapon, problem is it's p. much a melee build then, only with terrible defenses and zero poise, because to make your SPs usable you have to wear the flimsy rags that increase your cast speed. And you don't have any extra points for VIT anyway because you need them for ATN. And many mobs and bosses are fairly resistant to magic so pure physical damage is almost always better anyway.

So unless I'm missing something a pure sorcerer is just a crappy melee build, and that's especially true in the DLCs where spells are completely useless due to double enemy resists.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Oh, they are hard. Unfairly hard, actually.
The run up to them is annoying as its basically a wide open area full of nothing where you'll get ambushed by a strong enemy type that everyone hates.
The boss itself is unfair as the arena is a wide open area where you'll get double-teamed by 2 bosses, who always seem to perfectly sync their attack together so that you will get hit at least once.

It is possible to solo it, but I would not recommend it. The game gives you access to 2 NPC summons for a reason.

Its fairly simple if you just DPS down the first boss before the 2nd appears. The only issue is that the DLCs and late game in general is broken balance-wise since armor doesn't work, big STR weapons have no real point since most things don't stagger and their damage advantage over other weapons is minimal, and magic sucks shit with escalating resistances. The DLC areas in general are harder than the DLC bosses themselves.

Me almost at the end-game with a big-armor big-strength build:

 

[Cryomancer]

Btw I've been playing a pure sorcery build, my first time ever in DS2, and I'm not impressed. Most spells are laughable garbage so the only thing you do is spam the soul spear. FromSoft was apparently PTSD'ed from how utterly broken was magic in DeS and how OP it was in DS1, so it nerfed everything into the ground, leaving just SP/CSP for some reason.

Sorcery is pretty great on DS2. I mean, is not strong as DS1 BUT remember to upgrade your staff and infuse.

The unique game where i could't play as a sorcerer is DS3 which pyromancy is OK.

 

[cvv]

Sorcery is pretty great on DS2.

It's not though. Most spells are either complete garbage damage-wise or are slow to cast and hard to use like Soul Geyser. You only spam the various soul arrows and then the soul spear.

Oh and the lock-on distance is absurdly short.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Hexes are preferable to sorceries, but yeah, FS just nerfed the magic in DkS2 because multiplayer or whatever stupid reason.

 

[Average Manatee]

Btw I've been playing a pure sorcery build, my first time ever in DS2, and I'm not impressed. Most spells are laughable garbage so the only thing you do is spam the soul spear. FromSoft was apparently PTSD'ed from how utterly broken was magic in DeS and how OP it was in DS1, so it nerfed everything into the ground, leaving just SP/CSP for some reason.

Sadly you only get 4 uses so you'll mostly depend on your trusty MGS. It's a very good weapon, problem is it's p. much a melee build then, only with terrible defenses and zero poise, because to make your SPs usable you have to wear the flimsy rags that increase your cast speed. And you don't have any extra points for VIT anyway because you need them for ATN. And many mobs and bosses are fairly resistant to magic so pure physical damage is almost always better anyway.

So unless I'm missing something a pure sorcerer is just a crappy melee build, and that's especially true in the DLCs where spells are completely useless due to double enemy resists.

Well by the end game the optimum build for everyone is melee + some flavor of magical infusion + some magical buff. Pure phys is not that great because armor was changed so that elemental is a percentile reduction rather than a flat reduction like in DS1, so even with 50% reduction the damage boost from an elemental bonus is significant. And in the end game of DS2 you're probably like level 150-200 so you have enough souls to do basically everything. IIRC Hexes scaled a lot better than sorceries, I think they are supposed to be the natural progression of sorceror builds.

DS2 would play a lot better with a bit higher soft stat caps. Rather than everyone being a master of everything by the end game you'd be able to make the weaker builds that don't stack a half dozen flat +damage bonuses onto fast weapons strong by focusing on what their character does. Something like a soft cap at 60.

The other bad thing for mages is that hypermode basically doesn't exist in DS2. Its a downer for all classes but especially casters who could be relatively safe at a distance while greatly economizing their limited spell usage.

 

[Curratum]

I always play pure phys and I'm wrecking all the way to the end of NG+ where I just stop playing every time.

This is both in PVE and PVP.

Random armor, dragonslayer spear +5 when DEXing, dual powerstanced greatswords when STRing.

Granted, the spear is quite a bit better for PVP but you can wreck the PVE with either of those with relative ease.

 

[cvv]

Random armor, dragonslayer spear +5 when DEXing, dual powerstanced greatswords when STRing.

I almost always play a STR build, I just find it the easiest. How's a DEX build compared to smashing everything with FUGS or the Velstadt ding dong? In PvP I was always getting my shit pushed in by katana tryhards but how are all those katanas and curved swords for PvE, especially the higher NG pluses?

 

[Average Manatee]

Random armor, dragonslayer spear +5 when DEXing, dual powerstanced greatswords when STRing.

I almost always play a STR build, I just find it the easiest. How's a DEX build compared to smashing everything with FUGS or the Velstadt ding dong? In PvP I was always getting my shit pushed in by katana tryhards but how are all those katanas and curved swords for PvE, especially the higher NG pluses?

I posted a test of a few weapons and spells against lategame enemies here: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-dark-souls-ii-megathread™.78690/page-384#post-6231477

TL;DR fairly similar damage per swing as much slower, heavier weapons.

 

[Curratum]

Random armor, dragonslayer spear +5 when DEXing, dual powerstanced greatswords when STRing.

I almost always play a STR build, I just find it the easiest. How's a DEX build compared to smashing everything with FUGS or the Velstadt ding dong? In PvP I was always getting my shit pushed in by katana tryhards but how are all those katanas and curved swords for PvE, especially the higher NG pluses?

Never did katanas or curved swords. I just poke them from the other end of the arena with Ornstein's spear and then finish them off with a surprise strong attack projectile for added flair.

The attack speed vs range and reach of the long spears is just crazy good. I think I lost something like a dozen out of over a hundred PVP encounters when using O's spear last NG.

For PVE, the second hit of the spear usually staggers even the larger enemies (maybe not the handful of REALLY huge ones) so it's pretty smooth sailing.

 

[Cryomancer]

Hexes are preferable to sorceries, but yeah, FS just nerfed the magic in DkS2 because multiplayer or whatever stupid reason.

Hexes requires INT and FHT also Dark Orb deals less damage than soul spear and there are no Moonlight like weapon for Hexers

PS : Katanas should be far more ineffective than they are vs heavy armor. But DS3 did the opposite. armor is useless on DS3.

 

[Average Manatee]

Dark Orb casts quicker than Soul Spear and the damage per shot isn't that huge of a gap. Not sure whether which spell the DPS is in favor of. More importantly you can load up with like 150 dark orbs while you might be able to carry 12 soul spears (don't quote me on these numbers, haven't loaded a caster to check). So one is capable of slogging through PvE while the other has to resort to melee or soul arrows which are definitely worse than dark orb.

 

[Curratum]

Simple fact is I haven't seen a single sorcerer in PVP but I've lost to hexers with good timing and ideas.

 

[Cryomancer]

Simple fact is I haven't seen a single sorcerer in PVP but I've lost to hexers with good timing and ideas.

The sorcerers on PvP that i saw generally use MLGS

So one is capable of slogging through PvE while the other has to resort to melee or soul arrows which are definitely worse than dark orb.

You are right.