From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[DragoFireheart]

without farming (or insane luck on the retarded crows) you won't get more than 1 twinkly/pdb weapon/shield upgraded (maybe), and lets not forget the stupid amount of armours that require twinklies (pretty much all the best ones), so if you want some armour diversity (or upgrade any of the good armours at all), Prepare To Farm. and lot's of stuff pretty much requires farming due to the stupidly low drop rates (fashion souls and all that). and then you'll have to farm for ascetics 'cause why farm that one thing, when you can farm two! and then the one-time spawning black phantoms... ugh, i want to murder the new directors for all the insane tediousness they added in the already tedious stuff. streamlining my ass

Mikayel
yup, they respawn infinitely afaik.

From should patch in infinite items to purchase at least on NG+.

 

[praetor]

From should patch in infinite items to purchase and make enemies drop 100% of not already dropped gear on the last spawn (yeah, that means one-off BPs drop everything when you kill them).

fix'd

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

I found dragon shrine to be the best for twinkling titanite. I usually farm ascetics in the chasm and then just burn them and get 3 twinklies/1pdb/1petrifiedsomething/1slab per ascetic. You can also get 2 pdb in aldia per ascetic.

 

[praetor]

dragon shrine? isn't candy land aerie the best? it's 6 pdb + 6 twinklies (+0-3 depending on the dragon drops) + don't remember how many slabs (2 or more i'm pretty sure) and other materials. it's just that the dragons are so boring and annoying to kill and crystal fuckers even more so (particularly after a few ascetics when you can't one-shot them with a looooot of usually powerful stuff)

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

It's just faster - you kill the priest/drakekeeper, open chest, kill mimic, open chest, repeat.

Gawd it never gets old when you see all these "dagger" builds trying so hard to roll/backstep parry around your syan's halberd.

 

[Shadenuat]

If I'd want a twinkle I'd go to Amana and spin into shrine keepers from 3 bonfire with halberd. There are ~5 guys there, I always got a drop.
Not that I need twinkles or petrifies, all my stuff is upgraded with regular, it's general purpose, unlike boss weapons that are often infused with wrong element or have a moveset I don't really like (and 99% look JRPG stupid). I always run out of chunks. My poison pool bonfire must be level 99 now lol.

Gawd it never gets old when you see all these "dagger" builds trying so hard to roll/backstep parry around your syan's halberd.

I actually find them annoying, I've met one guy with something like a very short rapier, almost like dagger. He rolled into me and landed a stab, rince&repeat. Just that one attack. Also tried to backstab-fish a lot. Strong slash helps but they are always faster than me.

It starts to get boring though. You know there's something wrong when you kill 5-6 people in a row and start losing only when your weapon breaks apart. I think I'll search for interesting dual-wielding option next. Something not retarded, like two longswords or maces.

 

[Murk]

I got poked to death by a dagger guy with my halberd, but then killed the 5 other invaders (3 of which was the same guy, sorry mr. stabbington) and some lame-o that kept trying to snipe me while waiting near all the stone soldiers.

The halberd is good but a bit slow; I am thinking of also subbing in the mastodon halberd. Numerically, it looks fucking BEAST.

 

[Shadenuat]

Sure damage is bigger, but it's moveset is completely inferior to Syan's, I don't think I would sacrifice it for ~100 more damage:

But then I don't use that A STR scaling and perhaps Resonant Weapon makes different numbers.

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

I can't hit anything with mastodon halberd. People only seem to use it for spin2win.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

I just found my dream weapon: The Drakekeeper's Sword. It's a very rare drop from a certain lategame enemy, I farmed them to oblivion and they didn't drop any. I made the area NG+ to keep farming, and I discovered several things:

1) the random drops happened much more often, to the point where more than half of the drakeepers were dropping pieces of their set.

2) the normal enemies had an expanded moveset. I saw an AoE attack I had never seen before.

The weapon itself is like a large black broadsword, and I loved the broadsword so much in DaS 1. It was godly in PvP.

After toying around with a few different characters, going as far as the lost bastille, I've decided to do a Company of Champions run, mostly because using the white soapstone felt like cheating. It makes bosses a complete cakewalk, and this will prevent me from using it. So far, so good, but I'm curious as to whether the covenant gives the increased drop rates reported here, since it does seem to apply the expanded moveset of NG+. Anyone knows?

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Why is is nobody like No Man's? I really enjoyed the whole viking pirate zombies and the ambushes were fun.

It's long and highly linear with no shortcuts or intermission.

The vikings have this uncanny ability to damage you at the exact same time as you hit them. Lots of enemies are hard to lock on to thanks to their position. The poison pots in the house at the end are likely to be the first time you find them and will kill you with no real way of avoiding it and force you to do the entire area again.

It reminded me a lot of that shanty town on DS 1. God, that area was so fucking bleak and tense (longest stretch to a bonfire in the game?), it actually made me feel relief when I got out of it and saw the in-game sun again.

 

[Murk]

Sure damage is bigger, but it's moveset is completely inferior to Syan's, I don't think I would sacrifice it for ~100 more damage:

*pic*

But then I don't use that A STR scaling and perhaps Resonant Weapon makes different numbers.

I don't use infusion (yet, mostly waiting to pick my go to weapon for a bit) just flame weapon buff so far, numerically it's like 50-60% more than Syan's and it's not even +10 yet. It moves faster, but has shittier range -- I'm not too sure yet. I want to fuck around with it and see if the faster attacks can help in stun locking some mofos.

Greatswords attack faster when one-handing. What.

EDIT: No Man's Wharf is definitely one of my favorite areas in the game. Very well designed, has multiple options of what to do, enemies set you up for ambushes and bonus damage (oil toss) but there's plenty of water for you to clean yourself off. The lockstone is not just a key to a treasure chest, but there are 2-3 secret areas all with enough of a hint to let you know there's something there. Just well designed. The shortcut is fine, but you can also just drop/jump around to get to places. Also makes use of the torch in a novel way.

2nd EDIT: A post on reddit leads me to believe that the 60fps AND my logitech controller are the reasons I can't do guard breaks/jump attacks without some weirdness.

For leap attacks -- a backstep and then a leap attack gives me like a 75% success rate. Guard breaks I seem to do when I am trying to go into FP-view on a bow, the change of which could influence my frames.

The logitech controller sucking I can understand, but wtf with the frames bullshit? How did the break this game so hard?

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

I have no idea why the Catarina/Aurous/Shadow/Monastery gear doesn't automatically drop a la the Dingy Set; From clearly had the ability to make the drops guaranteed and that drop suggests they understood how tedious farming could be.

I don't mind farming in general if there is a "fun" alternative to some terribly rote task. Take acquiring Titanite Chunks or Bonfire Ascetics: both have "efficient" methods that consist of grinding the crap out of enemies, but also have alternative methods in Bell Covenant PvP and invading as an Abyss Spirit in Dark Chasms. Sure, both of the PvP methods are woefully inefficient when compared to the PvE itemculture, but the task actually becomes fun/interesting for those who want their acquisition of goodies to be less painful.

Having more farming alternatives would certainly be nice. Imagine if the Dragon Covenant ranked up via boss weapon upgrade materials (DkS1 got this right, even if the covenant barely functioned); that way Dragon Sign PvP has a purpose beyond obtaining 30 scales and leaving. It's lot more fun than farming the Aerie and it makes it so that offline players can actually rank up in the covenant to obtain the exclusive items (by, sadly, farming).

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

Every time I decide to dick around with "fun" builds I start running into gank squads and/or max-level megabuffed havels with invisible rape weapons. Soul memory is shit.

 

[Shadenuat]

Ring of cheating invisibility has to go.

After some tests and reading, and decisions that were mostly about keeping my knightly looks, I added +10 Lightning Estoc and Dark Targe Shield to my weapons. The estoc to make Sawyer happy, and because reach, power slash on double tap and looks. With my 40 END I can do 7 light hits with it, while with rapier it's 8 - not big of a difference. Targe Shield cause I want to learn to parry, Dark cause... hey, options (more than 70% Fire and Dark resistance that way).

Well, parry certanly doesn't work well for me - players are a lot better than hollow soldiers The Estoc however is surprising - 20 poise damage on rapier-like weapon, which means stagger on heavy attacks and even on light attacks with Stone Ring (at least against lightly armored opponents without havel's/giant's ring). Damage is fair enough for that sort of weapon, and tracking also seems fair. By fair I mean good, not excellent or cheesy.
The bloody 45 durability for fast hitting weapon is dumb though. They really need to double it on all weapons.

Was fightning guy in Havel's, did 200-300 damage on him depending on a hit. Staggered with strong attacks nice.
Running attack on estoc has nice tracking ability, as I turned around while being locked on him and stabbed him in a back while he was running past me.

Two-handing thing gives it even more reach and good stagger and getrekkit damage, with nice speed and some chance to bypass shields.

Every time I decide to dick around with "fun" builds I start running into gank squads and/or max-level megabuffed havels with invisible rape weapons. Soul memory is shit.

Nothing better at testing fun build as powerstancing havel with dark mastodon+helix stabbing you when you wave/buff.

 

[Murk]

I'm told that poise _may_ work localized to each part, in which case stabbing/thrusting weapons have an edge (lol) in that they hit one part (usually) instead of slashing through the whole body -- which would split the poise-damage across and thus lowering it. No confirmation on this, so it may be wildly inaccurate.

 

[Shadenuat]

i wil gitgut
incline of shadenAut

Took me about 6 tries because I missed all previous ripostes and just did R1 instead. Apparently the problem was lag, game needs some time to understand the parry on a phantom - I only managed to land this one cause I rolled right after parrying, and then ran back and riposted.

 

[Kanedias]

I have returned, and I bring good news with me. The reign of the Bat Fog and the Monastery Scumitar is no more.

1. 
   -- Calibrations Update 1.06 --
   
   - Affected Platforms
   - All platforms (PS3/Xbox 360/PC)
   
   - Arrival Date
   - June 2, 2014 @ 17:00 (5:00pm JST)
   
   - Notes
   - Bat Staff posion effect will only trigger from melee attacks.
   - Dark Fog no longer benefits from the Bat Staff.
   - Avelyn tracking speed adjusted.
   - Avelyn reload time increased.
   - Avylen damage reduced.
   - Syan Halberd attack animations adjusted.
   - Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword attack animations adjusted.
   - Cale's Shoes defense adjusted.
   - Leather Armor defense adjusted.
   - Abyss Ring damage multiple adjusted.
   - Great Resonant Soul damage reduced.
   - Wrath of Gods damage reduced.
   - Resonant Weapon damage adjusted.
   - Flame Weapon damage adjusted.
   - Thrusting Sword animations adjusted.
   - Power Stance glitch with Ultra Greatswords and the Bandit Axe fixed.
   - Enchanted upgrade path adjusted.
   - Monastery Scimitar parry animation adjusted.
   - Scaling of weapon buffs/enchants adjusted.
   - Duration of some spells adjusted.

 

[praetor]

thank satan for the batfog, wog, monscim, powerstanced greats/axes and avelyn nerfs (but after the tracking and reload time nerf, i'm not sure the damage nerf was necessary and it will probably mark the death of the weapon. a removal of the powerstanced avelyn would've been much much better + the removal of the insta-shoot after a swing. and a buff of other xbows). syan and pursuer not having infinites is also good. not sure about the leather/cale adjustments? they give solid defences for their weight, but 0 poise. very far from needing a nerf. enchanted won't be useless anymore? weeee!. i wonder what the RW nerf will be and really really curious about the scaling/buffs adjustments.

but i don't unrestand the Flame weapon nerf. and why nerf the Santiers Spear damage? it's the only viable twinblade, the others needed a serious buff. i can understand if they reduced the damage a bit of individual hits on the twinblade combos, but it's stupid easy to parry and the combo already drains a metric fuckton of stamina (more than the spin2win, i think). not to mention the non-twinblade attacks barely scratch the heirs on the enemy ass, their damage is so low. plus, with the scaling/buffs adjustments it was really unnecessary

oh well, off to use and abuse SS + SH for the weekend while they're still useful/OP.

anyway, i hoped this new calibration system was in place so they could update the game with balance changes more often, not once in a blue moon

 

[Murk]

My assumption is 'adjusted' doesn't necessarily mean reduced -- otherwise why differentiate between the two?

Also, how 'bout them glitches yo? People be beatin' this shit in 20 minutes now.

EDIT: Ever since that bellFREED video came out, p much every red spirit has helped me fight bell keepers. Eh, I dig it. I always reward them a human effigy or bonfire ascetic for their bromanship.

EDIT 2: Also, I think I just killed the guy who made the video. Or a copy-cat. His name was Matthew and he had the same gear + weapons. But he was a bellkeeper, so my guess is copy-cat.

I will miss the SH =(

 

[praetor]

more accurate translation, courtesy of reddit:

Full Translation:

• Bat Staff: unique passive will only now activate on melee only and will not be triggered with any spells, even Dark Fog.
  
  
• Avelyn:Motion/Tracking, damage and reinforcement balance has been adjusted
  
  
• Syans Halberd: Motion and damage balance has been adjusted.
  
  
• Santier Spear: Damage, stamina damage and reinforcement balance has been adjusted.
  
  
• Pursuer's Ultra Greatsword: Motion has been adjusted.
  
  
• Cale's Leather Armor and Cale's legging: Parameter has been adjusted.
  
  
• Abyss Ring: The cost to trigger the effect has been adjusted.
  
  
• Great Resonant Soul: Damage has been adjusted.
  
  
• Wrath of the God: Damage has been adjusted.
  
  
• Resonant Weapon: The amount of damage increase has been adjusted (Doesn't specify if its the flat of % increase).
  
  
• Flame Weapon: Same as above.
  
  
• Piercing weapon: Motion has been adjusted
  
  
• Great Axe: Power stance moveset (Great Axe being the dominant weapon) has been changed. (Most likely to prevent the Great Axe with Heavy weapon powerstance cheese where people could kill you with 2-3 swings stunlock)
  
  
• Curved swords: Parry motion has been adjusted
  
  
• Weapon buffs applied through spells has been adjusted
  
  
• The duration of spells will now be influenced by your stats (Does not specify which spells).
  

This is the most accurate I can be. Although I'm Japanese I was raised in Australia, sorry.

Syan only needed the removal of inifinistunlock, the damage nerf is OTT cause it was the only good spear in the game (since actual spears suck hard and this is the only halberd with a stabbing moveset ). when will From learn that balancing =/= nerfing to oblivion

 

[Shadenuat]

Good thing I was quick to farm a few million souls with Syan's before getting bored with it lol.
But even if they take off say, 20% damage from it, I think it's still be a great weapon because of the moveset.
There are other good weapons with spear moveset, like Gargoyle's, Helix, and I've seen people who are good at using some general stabby spears, can't name for sure though - they all look kinda same.

 

[praetor]

spear, stone soldier and winged spear are bad, pike is absolute trash, pate's would've been decent if the damage and stamina consumption wasn't so shit-tier, heide is ok only on fth builds that can take advantage of that lightning, dragonslayer needs quite a bit of dex/fth to be anywhere near decent, spitfire is beyond shit, channeller's is ok because of the 1HR2 spinning attack that can proc stuff quickly/break guard, but it drains the durability in nanoseconds, otherwise it's as crap as the other spears

i have never used gargoyle because i don't think the bad Str scaling on a 25Dex weapon (and no dex scaling) with only 250 base damage is good, what's so good about it's moveset? dark silverblack might be ok on a hexer build, not sure about partizan, but i'll definitely be trying that after the weekend.

they basically nerfed the god-tier weapon category from DaS1 to shit-tier. so now lances are actually good and can deal some damage while spears aren't even good for the lulz (except the channeller dance)

 

[Murk]

Guy power-stancing the channeler's trident fucked me up something wicked with poison. Did shit hit-damage but poisoned and stunned me immediately. Was a solid novel idea.

EDIT: most fun thing ever; punking out parry-spammers by feigning with a block to trigger their l2 reflex, then walking around and backstabbing them (or just spin2win bb)

 

[Shadenuat]

Yeah Silverblack, that's a spear I was thinking about.
Partizan is like Syan's but without spinning.