From Software The Dark Souls Discussion Thread

[Ninjerk]

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

yes, that. supposedly it addds to the poke attacks of longswords.

 

[Murk]

I thought Hornet was for backstabs.

Well, you said counter/parry so I imagined you meant riposte. Hornet is for backstabs and ripostes.

 

[Ninjerk]

The terminology the ring itself uses is confusing.

This ring strengthens counters with pierce
weapons.

When really the different attacks whose damage it boosts can't reasonably be called "counters."

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, it only boosts damage inflicted while the enemy is attacking, which is boosted anyways. What would you call that if not a counter? (Another possible reason for the weapon buff not letting you one shot the silver knight, maybe you're not getting counter hits but the unbuffed attack was one?)

The premise of the ring is that you sit blocking with a shield and attack simultaneously with a spear or rapier (hence piercing weapons) poke that hits while the enemy is attacking. Though in practice in can be used much more aggressively, since the enemy can simply miss you while attacking, and some of them have a long animation.

You get an identical damage bonus for hitting an enemy that is recoiling after they've attacked a shield, but these attacks don't get boosted by the Leo ring.

 

[Murk]

The rings and some items do need a bit of touch up. For instance, many of the "boosts sorcery" items boost pyromancy and (presumably) miracles as well.

 

[Ninjerk]

Well, it only boosts damage inflicted while the enemy is attacking, which is boosted anyways. What would you call that if not a counter? (Another possible reason for the weapon buff not letting you one shot the silver knight, maybe you're not getting counter hits but the unbuffed attack was one?)

The premise of the ring is that you sit blocking with a shield and attack simultaneously with a spear or rapier (hence piercing weapons) poke that hits while the enemy is attacking. Though in practice in can be used much more aggressively, since the enemy can simply miss you while attacking, and some of them have a long animation.

You get an identical damage bonus for hitting an enemy that is recoiling after they've attacked a shield, but these attacks don't get boosted by the Leo ring.

I think at the time I was building my character the counter mechanic wasn't widely known so it didn't make any sense (at least I don't remember seeing anyone able to explain why it was worded that way).

 

[Invictus]

My favorite PvE build is a heavily armored pyro (Havel's or Tarkus) who uses combustion instead of melee and some fireorbs
Seriouskly overpowered he can kill almost any mob in 2 hits and combustion stunlocks any Invaders

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

My favorite PvE build is a heavily armored pyro (Havel's or Tarkus) who uses combustion instead of melee and some fireorbs
Seriouskly overpowered he can kill almost any mob in 2 hits and combustion stunlocks any Invaders

I EAT FAGGOTS LIKE YOU FOR BREAKFAST HAHAHAHA

 

[Murk]

I like fast movement way too much to be in heavy armor all day. And I'm slowly starting to dislike the ring the fap.

Nito and Seath went down so easily. All that's left is 4 kings then gwyn but I decided to do the add-on area first. Artoria was a p dope fight as usual, the guardian was basically "did I get hit with lightning?" but after about 4 tries it worked. Next up, manus. If I can beat manus and kalameet then I consider this a victory. Gwyn is a joke and 4 kings isn't much harder with this sl 1 pyro than it was with my frail sorc. I might have to melee a bit but whatever.


EDIT: fuuuuckkkiinggg MANUSSSSSSS god that took way too long.

Kalameet I tried once; got him 1/3rd down before I got toasted so I'm pretty stoked about that. Only fought him once before with my sorc and that was a very different strat so this should be p dope.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Is anyone else a fan of Straight Swords ala reminiscent of Blueblood Sword and buffing it for massive damage?

I know some emo-weebos think the Great Scythe is superior to the Balder Side Sword but I still prefer the moveset of the BSS to the Great Scythe. Not like I have to choose with a dex build and can easily sport both.

 

[praetor]

Is anyone else a fan of Straight Swords ala reminiscent of Blueblood Sword and buffing it for massive damage?

I know some emo-weebos think the Great Scythe is superior to the Balder Side Sword but I still prefer the moveset of the BSS to the Great Scythe. Not like I have to choose with a dex build and can easily sport both.

BSS is awesome, god-tier, up there with CB, MLGS, GScythe, Mura and Clay. that is all

 

[DragoFireheart]

Is anyone else a fan of Straight Swords ala reminiscent of Blueblood Sword and buffing it for massive damage?

I know some emo-weebos think the Great Scythe is superior to the Balder Side Sword but I still prefer the moveset of the BSS to the Great Scythe. Not like I have to choose with a dex build and can easily sport both.

BSS is awesome, god-tier, up there with CB, MLGS, GScythe, Mura and Clay. that is all

Moonlight Greatsword is pretty awesome. Shoots lasers and shit, always get it for may mage characters.
Don't like the Chaos Blade. Hate the life lose and lack of buffing.
Murakumo is ok, prefer the Gravelord Sword for DAT THRUST and toxic effect.
Claymore is a classic, but I like it less after the patches that made it slower.

 

[praetor]

the slow down wasn't that great (especially coupled with the DWGR nerf). CB is awesome cause it just has that tiny bit more bleed build up, range, and damage to make the 20hp loss "okay" (but not in PvE 9 times out of 10, although a CB NG+ run could be a nice, different challenge ). and it looks awesome. and buffs are boring . i also usually prefer the Gravelord sword because dat thrust, dat toxic, and dat look, but objectively the Mura is a better weapon (dead angles like nobodies business, breaks poise like a big boy, is fast, combos to infinity, it's just great all around)

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I like fast movement way too much to be in heavy armor all day. And I'm slowly starting to dislike the ring the fap.

Nito and Seath went down so easily. All that's left is 4 kings then gwyn but I decided to do the add-on area first. Artoria was a p dope fight as usual, the guardian was basically "did I get hit with lightning?" but after about 4 tries it worked. Next up, manus. If I can beat manus and kalameet then I consider this a victory. Gwyn is a joke and 4 kings isn't much harder with this sl 1 pyro than it was with my frail sorc. I might have to melee a bit but whatever.


EDIT: fuuuuckkkiinggg MANUSSSSSSS god that took way too long.

Kalameet I tried once; got him 1/3rd down before I got toasted so I'm pretty stoked about that. Only fought him once before with my sorc and that was a very different strat so this should be p dope.

Yeah, Manus at SL1 is pretty unforgiving, isn't he? For Kalameet, I'd suggest just equipping a Balder Shield and blocking some of his melee swings. Trying to dodge all of them was a recipe for disaster in my case, dodging breath attacks is way easier. That aside, he's fucking annoying because your weapons have such shitty range, and you keep getting stuck on his legs and getting oneshot by his lunge+breath attack. Also takes forever to kill.

 

[Declinator]

First time through the DLC and I would say that the bosses in it may just be the best ones. I especially liked the Artorias fight.
Kalameet and Manus were also very enjoyable but the fights with them felt much more clumsy (especially when underneath Kalameet) and Manus was a bit too slow to feel as dangerous. Very nice that blocking was of so little use with all the DLC bosses as I largely relied on blocking on my first playthrough.

This is only my second time through the game and the gargoyles were much easier than I remembered them being. I also got to use magic for the first time too (though only Cast Light because I don't want to go through the Tomb with only the skull lantern again.)

I have been playing online this time but I have to say that the online features seem rather meaningless. The occassional duels are kind of nice and the messages are amusing and/or helpful sometimes but the experience changes very little because of them. I also helped out somebody with a boss (O&S) but the fight instantly became ridiculously easy.

 

[DragoFireheart]

, and you keep getting stuck on his legs and getting oneshot by his lunge+breath attack. Also takes forever to kill.

That lunge attack is pure bullshit. It's like he dead-angles you or something.

 

[Murk]

Yeah, Manus at SL1 is pretty unforgiving, isn't he? For Kalameet, I'd suggest just equipping a Balder Shield and blocking some of his melee swings. Trying to dodge all of them was a recipe for disaster in my case, dodging breath attacks is way easier. That aside, he's fucking annoying because your weapons have such shitty range, and you keep getting stuck on his legs and getting oneshot by his lunge+breath attack. Also takes forever to kill.

I think I need to go farm and upgrade shit. All my gear is +0 except for my shield (grass crest +10) and my clubs (+10 fire and +5 lightning) but my armor is just plain. I settled on a permanent setup for now so I think I'll up those to +9 (not gonna spend my one slab on any armor just yet).

At the end of manus I was pretty pro at dodging him, and the reason I kept dying was getting caught in his frenzy. If I didn't dodge quickly enough he'd break through my block and I'd die. I got p good at dodging the magic too if I didn't have enough time to pendant it away.

Kalameet looks a lot more predictable so far; I'm gonna try to dodge him for a bit --- I tried maybe 4x so far and I got him down to half health. I'm tempted to go finish off sif and 4kings tho so I just have kalameet and gwyn left.

I am mad wasting souls tho. I just go buy shards or whatever else. I have 99 of so many things I don't plan to ever use. So strange to just be all "fuck the blood stain, it's got 50k souls on it but who cares"

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I spent all my souls upgrading my pyro glove and armor. I think I had a maxed glove as I entered Anor Londo. In the DLC, I had armor at +9, and shields at +14. Honestly, the armor doesn't really matter, you might as well stack humanity if you want defensive stats, but the extra stability on a Balder Shield makes a huge difference if you ever need to block.

 

[Murk]

Bros, have I been living a lie? Does the grass crest do anything to stamina? I tried to experiment a bit and I'm noticing nothing.

I entered Anor Londo with a +2 ascended glove and +0 armor, +10 shield, and +5 lit/+8 fire weapon. At this point tho I'm maxed out now. I'm just basically buying shit to use up souls cuz otherwise I dun care.

But seriously... wtf grass crest, wtf.

 

[dunno lah]

Bros, have I been living a lie? Does the grass crest do anything to stamina? I tried to experiment a bit and I'm noticing nothing.

I entered Anor Londo with a +2 ascended glove and +0 armor, +10 shield, and +5 lit/+8 fire weapon. At this point tho I'm maxed out now. I'm just basically buying shit to use up souls cuz otherwise I dun care.

But seriously... wtf grass crest, wtf.

Yes, it does. Try sprinting a long stretch whilst unequipping and equipping the shield during recovery. Use Cloranthy Ring alongside to see a major difference in stam regen...Not sure about whether stamina regen improves with upgrading though.

 

[Murk]

Upgrading doesn't, or shouldn't, influence it. I see big differences when I stack it with cloranthy, and green grass alone already makes a huge difference. By itself tho I'm not feeling the magic.

I guess I'll switch to baldur's for the stability. Blah.

 

[Murk]

Sorry for treating this thread like a personal blog... but... just beat kalameet. Holy fuck was that satisfying.

Strategy was to use a seance ring to give me a temporary extra attunement slot for power within; used that along with dusk crown + bellowing ring to hit him with a fire tempest; then finished it off with 4 great fireballs.

The tempest hit him 3 times for about 2.9k damage. Then he kept doing his fire breath attacks after a few head-thrusts giving me plenty of time to pelt him. So damn good.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Upgrading doesn't, or shouldn't, influence it. I see big differences when I stack it with cloranthy, and green grass alone already makes a huge difference. By itself tho I'm not feeling the magic.

I guess I'll switch to baldur's for the stability. Blah.

Upgrading armor in general is a huge waste of time. Very low priority, upgrade your weapon/shield/pyro glove/buy spells first. As for the Grass Crest Shield, yes, it does impact, but it's small. Small like Adjudicator Shield regen small. Good for Strength builds two-handing a weapon.

The Balder Shield is boss. The only issues is it needs a slab to max out (BOOOOOOO!) and it's stability is slightly lower than Silver Knight shield. Also, worse fire/lightning/magic blocking stats. However, it is lighter and requires less strength. I prefer SKS but Balder is a great choice as well.

Sorry for treating this thread like a personal blog

I'll tolerate it this time. Pray I don't change my mind.

... but... just beat kalameet. Holy fuck was that satisfying.

Strategy was to use a seance ring to give me a temporary extra attunement slot for power within; used that along with dusk crown + bellowing ring to hit him with a fire tempest; then finished it off with 4 great fireballs.

The tempest hit him 3 times for about 2.9k damage. Then he kept doing his fire breath attacks after a few head-thrusts giving me plenty of time to pelt him. So damn good.

Gratz. Manus is harder IMO but Kalameet is tough for melee characters.

 

[Murk]

I had all my real gear maxed; I only started to upgrade my pants and gloves near the end when I had too many souls and 99 of the regular and large shards. Tho, it did make a difference -- there was a few times when kalameet's fire would get me down to like 20 hp which i'm guessing if not for the armor boost i'd be dead.

Kalameet was satisfying mainly because of how fun it was to fight him. I'm very dodge centric with this sl1 char and Kalameet is super dope for dodging. Manus was infuriatingly difficult namely because of me getting caught on the stone pillars or the walls of the place. Still, all was well.

After the new areas I went back and killed sif, gwyndolin, priscilla, and 4 kings then gwyn. They went down so easily. I did stop to farm some regular and red chunks at the kiln tho.

I guess I'll make a str/faith char next.

 

[Heresiarch]

So thanks to Metal Gear Rising, I looked up again on some info of Metal Wolf Chaos and realized...it was developed by no one other than fucking From Software...

In case you don't know what is Metal Wolf Chaos, watch the video: