From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Murk]

Bros, I'm doing the SL 1 thing and O and S are a problem. Namely, the fucking giant guard keeps hitting me through the fog gate when I get in and then I get raped cuz of stun. I can two-shot Ornstein with great fireball with power within but the problem is that I usually don't have any left for Smough, so I try to xbow him which takes a bit too long and I usually fug up.

Anyone do this the SL1 thing?

 

[praetor]

Oh, I thought of some other things.

When you go to get the Gravelord sword, ensure you have a bow with a shitton of arrows. You can kill the Tin Demon and get a Demon Titanite to upgrade the GLS. Another one is at the pathway between Undead Parish and Darkroot Garden.

and as soon as you unlock the shortcut from lower Burg to Firelink, buy a dung pie and a prism and trade them for demon titties at snuggly and voila`, +3 gravelord sword and you're not even into blighttown (is the best town)

Note that even though he's there for like 5 seconds, he STILL gets hit by the fucking firestorm. Such a bullshit RNG boss.

yup, that will (hopefully) always be the worst boss in Souls history

 

[praetor]

Bros, I'm doing the SL 1 thing and O and S are a problem. Namely, the fucking giant guard keeps hitting me through the fog gate when I get in and then I get raped cuz of stun. I can two-shot Ornstein with great fireball with power within but the problem is that I usually don't have any left for Smough, so I try to xbow him which takes a bit too long and I usually fug up.

Anyone do this the SL1 thing?

try doing smough first, then just hug ornie's left ankle and you're safe (other than from the butt-stomp, of course)

 

[Murk]

Hrmmm ok, for some reason Ornstein keeps getting in the way. Well, he's faster so he just keeps popping up. Still, I guess I can dodge his shit better than smough's dash/smash thing.

Twice I died for what I'd call bullshit. My fault, but c'mon game, c'mon. I moved too far away and the auto-lock died, and so suddenly forward/back and camera all went 180. Had super smough down to like 1/3rd hp and 1/2 hp both times.

The big mistake I made was not farming souls and upgrading my pyro to +5, it's only at +2 (ascended) and currently it takes more than 2 great fire balls to kill ornstein -- had I upped it to +5 it'd probably do the trick in two. Blah.

 

[Murk]

Speak of the fucking devil. Just beat 'em. Ornstein first, but mainly due to chance.

In the end I guess it was power within that was my undoing; switched it for fire orb which killed Orn in 4 hits, then I had 2 fire orbs and 4 fireballs for smough.

The main thing is bating their attacks. they have 3 modes I guess -- super aggressive, normal attack, and passive walk. During the normal attack speed if you move a bit forward they do a weak low range attack that can easily be countered. Not sure what the general pattern for the super aggressive mode is but it seems to be when they charge you the most. No clue how walk works -- couldn't test that one .

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I don't see what the problem is with O&S at SL1, they take insane damage from pyromancies. Screw fireball, I'm pretty sure you can kill both of them with just Combustion and Great Combustion. I think I did Smough first on my run, got it on my second try (first one was a standard derp). Easiest I've ever hard it with O&S, other bosses are much more of a pain at SL1.

 

[Murk]

My main thing was getting backstabbed by one. I could have beat it by the third try if not for camera issues but eh. As a result of retrying I got p good at parrying silver knights. Heh.

I am not a fan of combustion tbh; i prefer the fireballs but I do see the value of combustion mathematically, I just prefer more distance. I donno what I'm gonna do about nito; might just try to one-shot him with fire tempest.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

You get a divine weapon and just kill the skeletons.

Four Kings is probably the most challenging non-DLC boss at SL1.

 

[aris]

But does iron flesh scale with the pyromancy flame?

 

[Murk]

You get a divine weapon and just kill the skeletons.

Four Kings is probably the most challenging non-DLC boss at SL1.

I made a reinforced club just for that but I haven't tried it yet. Gonna go fuck with Seath first. Still, it's fun. Stray Demon in my asylum visit was piss easy.

I haven't had any problems with four kings in the past but I guess I'll find out when I get there. God I hate sif.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

You get a divine weapon and just kill the skeletons.

Four Kings is probably the most challenging non-DLC boss at SL1.

I made a reinforced club just for that but I haven't tried it yet. Gonna go fuck with Seath first. Still, it's fun. Stray Demon in my asylum visit was piss easy.

I haven't had any problems with four kings in the past but I guess I'll find out when I get there. God I hate sif.

Four Kings becomes a lot more difficult with a limited damage potential and low defensive stats. With a normal character, you can simply tank most of their attacks and basically trade blows to keep up with the spawn rate. At SL1, you can't really do this, and the whole ordeal becomes much more razor's edge, as you try to balance not dying with doing damage as quickly as possible.

It's really fun, and what it should have been for normal characters as well.

Although the major wall I hit in my SL1 playthrough were Manus and Kalameet.

 

[Murk]

Well, I did a weakling sorc run last that worked out fine. I dodged hits and never tanked (except for nito) but I had such high damage output bosses died in 2-3 hits. I'm kind of banking on the same strat with the pyro but we'll see. I want to try a slow str char after this. Dex was meh.

 

[DragoFireheart]

The big mistake I made was not farming souls and upgrading my pyro to +5, it's only at +2 (ascended) and currently it takes more than 2 great fire balls to kill ornstein -- had I upped it to +5 it'd probably do the trick in two. Blah.

I'd used Combustion/Great Combustion as they cast much faster while still dealing heavy damage.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Learning the attack pattern and succeeding at beating 4Kings at SL1 (melee) was the most satisfying moment in DaS for me. I tried a lot of crap after that but since I don't have the skills or patience for a speedrun I'm basically left with that one enshrined moment.

 

[aris]

Most satisfying moment in NG+? Knocking off the two bow silver knights in anor londo from the ledge with your own dragon bow. No competition.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Best way is to parry them without riposte, just to make them fall off.

 

[aris]

What I usually do now is just run right up to the right knight, do a barrel roll to avoid the last arrow, and then just stand there and block his swings until he eventually falls off. But still, making them taste their own medicine. Fantastic feeling!

 

[praetor]

Praise the Sun!

 

[DragoFireheart]

What the fuck is up with the Balder Side Sword's R2/RT attack? It deals like 2-3 times more damage than a regular attack.

Actually, any straight swords with a poke attack. The damage multiplier is obscene. Buff it with Crystal Magic Weapon / Sunlight Blade / Darkmoon Blade and kill shit.

 

[Ninjerk]

And the ring that adds "counter/parry" dmg. Wolf Ring I think?

 

[Murk]

Hornet ring. Wolf is poise.

Claymore's stab attack is nuts useful. If I'm not mistaken some of those attacks have partial armor penetration. The jumping (forward + r2) attacks all do and I'm guessing some of the basic stab with a sword attacks do as well. So you do not only more damage cuz of strong attack, but also bypass some armor.

 

[Ninjerk]

I thought Hornet was for backstabs.

 

[praetor]

you're thinking of the Leo ring (the one Ornstein drops)

 

[Damned Registrations]

I think it's largely a property of the damage type difference. Swords tend to do slashing damage, but the poke is thrusting, which is more effective vs most things (though not, for example, skeletons.) Obviously the base damage multiplier matters too though. They probably gave it a decent multiplier since thrusting attacks are inherently easier to dodge; though in practice, they're quite useful since a lot of areas are tight corridors and enemies don't dodge side to side much anyways.

 

[praetor]

I think it's largely a property of the damage type difference. Swords tend to do slashing damage, but the poke is thrusting, which is more effective vs most things

just a bit of nitpicking: swords mostly do regular damage, curved swords do slashing, and most armours (medium/heavy) have the most defence vs slashing. hopefully in DkS2 the differences will be a bit more pronounced, to make builds/PvP/PvE more dynamic and interesting