From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[DragoFireheart]

Kanedias

How are you enjoying your STR/DEX build compared to Sorcery/Hex/Miracles?

 

[Kanedias]

I prefer it, to be honest. I always liked quality builds, they make PvE more fun (and more challenging).

As for PvP, I'm loving my Drakekeeper's Sword with Shadow Dagger offhand. The sword does excellent damage with a very versatile moveset, and the dagger does ridiculous damage on backstabs, yesterday I broke my record with a 2508 damage backstab. The sword doesn't have much range, but I can use its run attacks to cover a good distance. Also the fact that you can block while backstepping makes it such a powerful technique, I often avoid all damage with the backstep because it has much more i frames than in Dark Souls, and even if the attack hits me, I'm blocking. This of course lets me counter attack with a run attack right after. I'm now on my way to beat the Undead Crypt, I need the Soldier's Ring +2 in order to improve my loadout a bit. I'm trying to upgrade a Spotted Whip in order to cause poison, and I could also add a katana in order to gain more range. 40/40 builds give you so much variety, I love them. I can use most weapons so if I ever get tired of this sword or require something different, I can switch without issues

I actually changed my build around a bit, and got 10 faith and 10 intelligence. This let me use spices to bring down the requirements of Resonant Flesh and Resonant Weapon. Resonant Weapon is a dark magic buff for my sword, and Resonant Flesh gives something like 20% more HP for the duration of the buff. I do arena a lot, so I can use these at the start and gain more of an advantage. I also delevelled Dark Weapon for when I don't want to waste souls (both resonant spells consume 2k souls on use). All these spells have a fixed effect, so not having more Int/Faith is not a problem.

I farmed the hollow mages in Brightstone for my spice, and also farmed Belfry Luna a bit (3 spices respawn there when you use an ascetic, and they're before the boss). You do need to beat the boss in order to reset the area again, though, and I did just that... and oh was it hard. They keep changing past NG+ apparently, because

Spoiler

NG++ Gargoyles appear at a vastly increased rate and they're not limited to 3 at the same time anymore (I think this also applies to the NG+ Gargoyles, but since they don't come down at the same ridiculous rate, I never had to fight more than three at the same time). I didn't have enough DPS in order to take them down fast enough, so I spammed Firestorm, and still at one point I had FIVE of them at the same time. My promancy ran out when 3 of them were left, and I somehow managed to kill them with my sword. Lots of patience and estus were used, of course.

P.S.: He who controls the spice controls the universe.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Kanedias

How are strength builds with some dex using big ass weapons and tower shields?

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Kanedias you can have up to 5 Gargoyles in ng too. I had 5 on my sorcerer run. If you spam soul arrows and hit randomly they will spawn. I think around 50% of health triggers next gargoyle. At one point i had two gargoyles at full health, two around 40% and one almost dead. Shit was intense

 

[Multidirectional]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/8945-Dark-Souls-2-Prepare-to-Die-Again
I'm trying my best not to follow this thread because fuck spoilers but here's Yahtzee "review" for ya.

 

[Kanedias]

Kanedias

How are strength builds with some dex using big ass weapons and tower shields?

Big ass weapons suffer from an issue which is the lack of tracking. Moving the left stick while attacking makes the attack go in the direction of the stick instead of tracking the locked on enemy. This causes me to miss all the time and I just suck with them, so I didn't bother.
Another problem they have is that they get interrupted easily by smaller weapons (for example, its very hard to swing when a katana user is putting pressure on you) so spacing is very important. If I had to choose a large weapon I'd use Drakekeeper's Warpick which is a great hammer with a Halberd moveset so it's pretty good.

The only Greatshield I ever used was Rebel's Greatshield. It's not 100% physical block but it resists spells like they're not even there. Extremely useful for those overpowered havel's + crystal magic weapon MLGS + magic spam cookie cutter builds that seem to be showing up a lot recently. Counters them entirely.

 

[Machocruz]

Started a deprived class or whatever it's called. I wanted to do mage/cleric. It's pretty fun. I killed the hippo thing by punching it for about 30 mins then ran around picking up stuff. got a dagger, farmed the first area and killed that knight for his sword.

The only proper way to begin in a RPG: naked with no/a shit weapon.

 

[Hobo Elf]

So now that it's confirmed that the Slumbering Dragon Crest ring removes invasion signs I'm considering joining Bellbros when I get it. I'll even equip the ring that changes my appearance to that of a friendly white phantom to troll other players. Or get the Chameleon spell. The possibilities are endless!

 

[Surf Solar]

Bellbros are fun! Go for it! Although the bellkeeper armour set is shitty

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

After getting to NG+ I suddenly lost a bit of interest. I just went back to DS1 and finally managed to beat the four kings with my SL1 char. Man, the normal movement and lack of stunlock is just a breath of fresh air after DS2. Invading in the catacombs just never gets old.



This made me shed a tear. True story. <3 you patches.

 

[Surf Solar]

Lol, the lion/beast enemies in shaded woods have a higher damage output and kill me more often than people coming to the belfries.

Me dropping my shield on turtle enemies, chipping away their health with fire damage, just doing the r1+forward shieldbreaker and hammering the r1 button afterwards feels like this:



:D

I will try a new character with light armour, bleeding or poison weapons and possibly a whip now. Longswoarding all day long gets boring

 

[Hobo Elf]

If it's for PvP then try poison. It's hilarious. Sure I could kill people easier and faster if I'd power stance my Blacksteel Katanas, but that's not the point. It's crazy fun to just poison someone and then follow them closely with an intense rapeface look, watching as their health dwindles down to their inevitable death. At that point what can they do? If they stop to heal then you'll just rush and wail on them. It's just a way to give them a moment of despairity and consider the futility of their mortality.

 

[Kanedias]

I'm going to share a certain bit of information... I'm sure us codexians will use this power with the required responsibility. Not many people know about this secret technique.

There's a certain staff in the game called the Bat Staff. It drops from the mages in Brighstone Cove Tseldora. It has poison buildup...useless on a staff, right? Wrong. It synergizes with Dark Fog in an hilarious way, causing Dark Fog to poison people instantly.

That's right, I faced this on PvP earlier today and it would poison me in one tick, and I have good status resistance. I talked to someone with a hex build and he confirmed this to be the case.

Remember to carry some Lloyd's Talismans, and happy hunting!

P.S.: I'm going to farm more spice tomorrow, and try using it at 10 int/fait, which wouldn't meet the requirements of the Bat Staff. I believe the effects will be the same but I want to confirm it.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I heard the same thing about the Bat Staff, which makes me want to try a Hexer more than ever now.

Edit: So Dark Fog ticks for 30hp/s instead of the usual 5hp/s. I smell a nerf incoming. Might as well get in the fun ASAP while still possible.

 

[DragoFireheart]

LOL instant poison at 30hp a tick?

Between that and Lingering Flame I can have some fun as a Hexer.

 

[Mortmal]

Hexer as a big advantage, spells scales on two stats , with diminishing returns past 40 points i dont see the point in specializing strictly in either sorcery or faith . Now if i could get an infnite stock of twinkling titanite and petrified dragon bone to try different gear sets...Dark fog , lingering flame caster stuff that can one shot or nearly one shot i think theres no point being pure melee , either hybrid or pure spellcasters.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Hey guys, Short Bow is pretty good. Shoots fast and can interrupt mages.

Will be great for my Str-leaning quality warrior.

 

[DragoFireheart]

 

[Surf Solar]

Awesome :D Where do you get that armour?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Awesome :D Where do you get that armour?

Something something Majula NG++ something something

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Hexer as a big advantage, spells scales on two stats , with diminishing returns past 40 points i dont see the point in specializing strictly in either sorcery or faith . Now if i could get an infnite stock of twinkling titanite and petrified dragon bone to try different gear sets...Dark fog , lingering flame caster stuff that can one shot or nearly one shot i think theres no point being pure melee , either hybrid or pure spellcasters.

Remember that there's a Hex Staff that can cast both Sorcery and Miracles too, so you can just go crazy.

 

[cvv]

Just hyperlinked from the Drago's video and found this. Very entertaining, watching dem spergs sperging :D

 

[Kanedias]

Int builds are so fucking broken in this game, those that use the Moonlight Greatsword, at least.

I have 40 Str and 40 Dex. With these stats, a claymore has 290 + 155 damage. 445 damage in total. Edit: I'm actually using the Ring of Blades +2, so the actual scaling is 290 + 105 = 395 damage.

Moonlight Greatsword has 380 (!!!) base damage, all magic. Aromatic ooze is 50 magic damage +30% magic damage. Since the weapon deals only magic damage, all damage gets multiplied by that %. We end up with 559 damage. This is without taking any scaling into account.

With only the minimum stats to use it, the Moonlight Greatsword outdamages my 40/40 claymore. Now imagine if the MLGS is used by a mage with (say) 40 intelligence and remember the MLGS has excellent magic scaling.

Mages become the best at both ranged and melee. Completely idiotic.

P.S.: Turns out a weapon with an A scaling in STR such as the Mastodon Greatsword receives more damage from 40 STR than a C/C weapon gets from 40 STR and 40 Dexterity. It seems like quality builds are absolute garbage now, and a waste of points.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Turns out a weapon with an A scaling in STR such as the Mastodon Greatsword receives more damage from 40 STR than a C/C weapon gets from 40 STR and 40 Dexterity. It seems like quality builds are absolute garbage now, and a waste of points.
Last edited: 18 minutes ago

i thought that sunlight sword at +10 had A/A scaling and with 40/40 in str/dex was overall

 

[Kanedias]

It only has 175 base damage. The wiki says that the A/A scaling gives it another 175 damage if you have a 40/40 build, which would be 350 damage in total.

My Drakeeper's Sword has only C/C scaling but 245 base damage. 245 + 105 = 350, exactly the same.

Scaling from STR/DEX needs a buff.