From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Perkel]

I'll keep farming until I'm level 200.

Don't go beyond level 150. This is the level most people play at. Just in case you want fair pvp.

That is not how it works in DS2.

DS2 is all about how much souls you collected. It is tiered system so you are in Tier1 from 0 to 10 000 Tier 2 from 10 000 to 20 000 and so on.

Purpose was probably because even at sl1 you can rock best gear and one shot noobs. But in practice this makes multiplayer a bit wonky.

Imo best way would be to go DS1 style system with fixes. In DS1 depending on which covenant you used you get different matchmaking system.

With way of white or other covenants focused on coop you got summons/summoned from +/- 10sl levels + % (don't remember how much) plus all below people
For Darkwrights covenant you get same as above but + all above that line.

What should be fixed would be damage and armor values. +15 weapon should be more than twice better than vanilla weapon.

 

[Perkel]

I read that if you fight the pursuer in the forrest arena you can ride the bird to lost bastille and get the dull ember there, is this the only way to get it? Because I did not beat him until later in the forest in his other boss room (the one with the balistas). Also, how do people manage to shoot him while he is that fast an destroys these ballistas. I read everywhere that this is the easy way but after trying a few times I just gave up and beat him normally (while dying even more)

Pursuer is one of the easiest bosses around because it has small moveset and he takes a lot of time to do anything. Its only dangerous side is damage and stamina damage which is not nice for all those shield bros outthere.

So learn how to dodge. And you will beat him 9/10 times with 0 damage received.

 

[Multidirectional]

I read that if you fight the pursuer in the forrest arena you can ride the bird to lost bastille and get the dull ember there, is this the only way to get it? Because I did not beat him until later in the forest in his other boss room (the one with the balistas). Also, how do people manage to shoot him while he is that fast an destroys these ballistas. I read everywhere that this is the easy way but after trying a few times I just gave up and beat him normally (while dying even more)

There's a birds nest right past the area you beat him in. The only way to shoot him with ballistas when soloing is to parry him in front of a ballista. His forward lunge attack in particular. It's the way I beat him my first time when I sucked too much to beat him properly (in hindsight I was too dumb to raise AGL to make my dodging i-frames worth a fuck and thought I would make do with heavy armors and shield, lol).

Pursuer is one of the easiest bosses around

Utter horseshit, there are plenty of bosses that are piss easy when compared to Pursuer. Sure he's easy to me now after I fought him many times but my first run that dude was scary as fuck.

 

[ultimanecat]

Yeah, directly opposite the entrance to the boss area is an unlocked area with a bird's nest that will take you to Lost Bastille. There's also some heavy armor and a decent (but pretty heavy) medium shield if you fall carefully into the hole in the walkway.

Alternatively, go back to Majula, go through the archway next to the path up to Covenant of Champions, and complete Heide's Tower of Flame and Viking Pirate Land. In fact, you should probably do that regardless.

Personally, I attempted Duke's Dear Freyja twice last night, got murdered both times within about 30 seconds, and took a break. Unless I'm missing something, there is a real DeS / /DS1 style 5-10 minute boss-run trying to get back to her...

 

[praetor]

people talking without knowing anything... the Arena is based entirely on SL and the range is +/-5

Imo best way would be to go DS1 style system with fixes. In DS1 depending on which covenant you used you get different matchmaking system.

bullshit. only the SL range changed

What should be fixed would be damage and armor values. +15 weapon should be more than twice better than vanilla weapon.

that doesn't even begin to make sense. only backstabs/ripostes are OP, but they're an order of magnitude worse in DaS1 and DeS so yeah

Pursuer is one of the easiest bosses around because it has small moveset and he takes a lot of time to do anything. Its only dangerous side is damage and stamina damage which is not nice for all those shield bros outthere.

small moveset? 10 attack patterns for Souls bosses is hardly "small moveset" and is actually distinctly above average

So learn how to dodge. And you will beat him 9/10 times with 0 damage received.

that's true for pretty much every SoulsBorne boss ever

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

???????
Only Soul Memory affects matchmaking, SL makes no difference.

I know. Most people decided to stay at level 150 despite that.

 

[Multidirectional]

Alternatively, go back to Majula, go through the archway next to the path up to Covenant of Champions, and complete Heide's Tower of Flame and Viking Pirate Land. In fact, you should probably do that regardless.

Yeah you don't get to explore Lost Bastille fully unless you enter it from both sides, so definitely do it.

 

[Cromwell]

I already did Heide and No mans wharf, I just read that the Ember is on the other side and didnt know how to get there after I didnt beat the pursuer in the small arena. I have the Ember now thanks to your hints.

Also I know that I am not that good at that game but the Pursuer didnt seem easy to me (that goes to the dragon rider or the dragon or the guardian on the ship). I found him faster than the enemies I have seen which do this high damage due to his speed and range I had problems getting in doing damage and getting out again. Of course I have low stamina so that could be the reason, but I even found the dragonslayer way easier due to the fact that he gave me more time to hammer him with his combos and they were easier to evade, he also gave a lot more time to use an estus before getting close to you again.

From what I gather most people found him easy because technically you could beat him by shooting the ballista but honestly I think its harder to parry him in the right moment and then shoot him instead of just figuring out when and how to evade and how to hurt him afterwards. Normally I dont care how much I die to a boss If I see I am figuring things out and making progress, with the pursuuer I died about ten times before I found a way to reliable beat him and then died a few times more trying to do it without making to much mistakes.

 

[Perkel]

people talking without knowing anything... the Arena is based entirely on SL and the range is +/-5



bullshit. only the SL range changed



that doesn't even begin to make sense. only backstabs/ripostes are OP, but they're an order of magnitude worse in DaS1 and DeS so yeah



small moveset? 10 attack patterns for Souls bosses is hardly "small moveset" and is actually distinctly above average



that's true for pretty much every SoulsBorne boss ever

The normal pursuers you meet early only really use mostly 4 types of attack, 3hit combo, grab with sword, charge and shield bash. Pursuers who you meet later do have new tricks (like that one in Bastille).

Yeah weapon damage is a huge thing. 100 damage spear goes to more than 200 damage and that is not including buffs and other things and how armor vs attack works (which gives 200 damage being actually more than twice of 100).
Sorry but you are retarded if you think that sl1 with +15 sword doesn't gave obvious adventage over someone with vanilla or +3 weapon. Stamina damage alone is enough to get you down completely in seconds. Or wearing rings that boost your equip load and wearing armor that brushed off low level weapon.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Pursuer has a huge achille's heel where circle strafing will fuck him up more so than most other bosses. Especially if you have a shield, then it becomes quite impossible for him to even hit you if you keep your shield up and tip-toe behind him.

 

[Perkel]

Pursuer is one of the easiest bosses around

Utter horseshit, there are plenty of bosses that are piss easy when compared to Pursuer. Sure he's easy to me now after I fought him many times but my first run that dude was scary as fuck.

That is the thing. He is only scary if you are hidden behind your shield. Once you start to dodge he is piss easy as all of his moves take forever to land.

Even covetus demon is harder than him once you start to dodge.
Now two pursuers at once is challange


edit:

speaking of which i have finally found out that small soap stone is actually different in use than normal one.
I always thought it was just normal soapstone in case of some retards killing spear guy or missing him.

Thanks to it you can get summoned or even summon people for already beaten areas to help you farm.
Only minus is that it works a lot shorter than normal one which can be a plus if you run out of effigies as even if you don't kill boss you get resurected and rewards are different (healing wares and other garbage)

Thanks to it you can quickly get 500k+ souls . Set it up near first pursuer and gang up on him each time you get something i think like 20k.

edit2

also it is weird as fuck to go back after a while to DS2. My mind is a mess and i don't remember anymore in which version was what and where. I constantly switch thinking between vanilla and sotfs usually meaning i can't predict enemies positions.

Like for example i don't remember stone figure in tutorial area and cutting off for later game that sex chance coffin.

weird but fun. Maybe for DS3 they should do something similar just without different editions (possibly NG+ ?). Vanilla edition NG+ had additional enemies which were not even present in NG.

 

[sullynathan]

I'll keep farming until I'm level 200.

Don't go beyond level 150. This is the level most people play at. Just in case you want fair pvp.

I have a pirated copy, pvp doesn't matter.

 

[ultimanecat]

Also I know that I am not that good at that game but the Pursuer didnt seem easy to me (that goes to the dragon rider or the dragon or the guardian on the ship). I found him faster than the enemies I have seen which do this high damage due to his speed and range I had problems getting in doing damage and getting out again. Of course I have low stamina so that could be the reason, but I even found the dragonslayer way easier due to the fact that he gave me more time to hammer him with his combos and they were easier to evade, he also gave a lot more time to use an estus before getting close to you again.

From what I gather most people found him easy because technically you could beat him by shooting the ballista but honestly I think its harder to parry him in the right moment and then shoot him instead of just figuring out when and how to evade and how to hurt him afterwards. Normally I dont care how much I die to a boss If I see I am figuring things out and making progress, with the pursuuer I died about ten times before I found a way to reliable beat him and then died a few times more trying to do it without making to much mistakes.

With humanoid bosses and many humanoid enemies, it can be a good idea to roll toward them when they attack. The timing can be tricky especially if you are literally dodging through their attack, but getting behind them to punish makes the fight much more manageable instead of dodging in and out.

Some humanoids also swing their weapon in such a way that there is a big hole in where the weapon hits, which usually translates into it being relatively safe to stay close and move/dodge to a certain side while they're attacking.

I haven't fought a Pursuer in a little while but I think I remember it being relatively safe to roll toward his sword arm while he is attacking. Just back off when he holds the sword straight up because his stab tracks you unless you dodge at the very last moment.

 

[Cromwell]

Yeah I noticed the tracking, was that the case in ds1 to or is that something new? Dont remember if it enraged me in the first or wasnt there

 

[praetor]

Yeah I noticed the tracking, was that the case in ds1 to or is that something new? Dont remember if it enraged me in the first or wasnt there

new. tracking in DaS1 was almost nonexistent, so you could safely backstab every backstababble enemy 100% of the time just by circling with exactly 0 risk, and just circle and attack non-backstababble enemies as almost no enemy in DaS1 has any sort of punish move for that situation. once you realize that, DaS1 (and DeS) becomes an utter joke (difficulty-wise).

the tracking in DaS2 (coupled with the backstab nerfs and lack of iframes on backstab animations), while aesthetically monumentally stupid and retarded, at least partially mitigates that so it's a definite improvement mechanically

 

[Machocruz]

Took me three tires to beat Pursuer on my first playthrough. Probably would have required only two if my controller wasn't fucked up. Sometimes when I would try to roll my character would parry (which actually landed twice) or use item, or if I got hit hard my weapons would get unequipped and I'd be standing there punching him.

But circle strafe up close and to his right and he's practically helpless. The threats were his shield bash and screwing up dodge timing. But even after the the bash, he never attacked me when I was staggered and completely vulnerable. That's either bad design or meant to be a psychological attack to get you panicking. I was dreading this boss because of all the infamy, but it wasn't bad at all. Fun to fight, personally.

Tracking is a net positive, as far as this series goes (there are better solutions out there, but From gonna From). I thought the Muh-zakians were all about dat hardkor souls experience and leet skillz? Do they even time dodges, bro?

 

[Cromwell]

It makes sense that it would be way easier and probably to easy to dodge otherwise (or cirlce) but it still annoys me seeing a knight 4 times my size with an even bigger hammer effortlessly adjusting the direction of his attack mid motion because he noticed the little guy moved.

 

[Machocruz]

Well From has certain beliefs on difficulty and how large enemies should be handled within that balance, and they won't stray from it so we get band aid measures like tracking. Going through an area like Heide's is trivial and would be even moreso if (slow ass) enemies didn't track. Then try Monster Hunter and large enemies are like cats in comparison.

 

[Perkel]

Yeah I noticed the tracking, was that the case in ds1 to or is that something new? Dont remember if it enraged me in the first or wasnt there

new. tracking in DaS1 was almost nonexistent, so you could safely backstab every backstababble enemy 100% of the time just by circling with exactly 0 risk, and just circle and attack non-backstababble enemies as almost no enemy in DaS1 has any sort of punish move for that situation. once you realize that, DaS1 (and DeS) becomes an utter joke (difficulty-wise).

the tracking in DaS2 (coupled with the backstab nerfs and lack of iframes on backstab animations), while aesthetically monumentally stupid and retarded, at least partially mitigates that so it's a definite improvement mechanically

Yeah DS2 did improve that part but tracking is not the answer. Enemies shouls simply have additional parts of moveset where they attack people behind them or simply path prediction like in case of archers.

 

[Villagkouras]

The Pursuer is the best training boss. You must have the mindset to memorize and recognize enemy patterns and this boss is ideal.

 

[Cromwell]

I had more problems with the sentinels in lost bastille, I am realy bad at fighting multiple strong opponents at once, but I did manage after a while. I am crawling forward slowly but steadily and I am starting to get excited about the third. Although if they bring endless respawn back it will hurt me.

 

[Perkel]

ehh going directly from DS1 to DS2 is rough. You can see clearly how animation for most of things got butchered. From walking/running to movesets that feel off.
spears are luckluster and lack of that power behind thrust DS1 got.
getting huge smash in shield doesn't anymore cause backflip with shield
ton of weapons don't have low strenght animations

 

[sullynathan]

Truthfully, from should just remove this soul memory and soul level crap from co-op. Only put that shit there for invasions.

 

[Rolk's Drifter]

DS1 had tracking. It also had homing arrows, lightning spears etc. It wasn't a problem because the animations are so fast.

Animations in DS2 are motion captured. This means they had to work with what they got during recording. For example the mace knights in HTOF were originally designed to be much faster, like the Drakekeepers. But mid production it was decided to calm them down. So what do you do? Record new animations or just slow down the ones they already have?

I am realy bad at fighting multiple strong opponents at once

Everyone is. Enjoy your well earned victory

Seems like I'm close to beating the game.

Have you fought Darklurker yet? It's a boss you have to fight by doing the Abyss covenant. Very easy to miss and one of the best bosses imo. Well worth doing if you haven't.

 

[Perkel]

I had more problems with the sentinels in lost bastille, I am realy bad at fighting multiple strong opponents at once

That is because in DS there is no sidestep (no backone doesn't count)

Witcher 3 combat is generally mediacore to bad but you can see clearly difference beetwen how sidestep works and how rolling works. Bloodborne also has sidestep and this too changes much how your fight groups.

In group combat you simply need shorter length but faster dodge this way you can change your position to strike and at the same time not to dodge far away to get out of your own strike zone. With group combat also autotracking attacks should be out from the game and instead be replaced with proper animations to counter backstabbers.

I would love sidestep AND dodge in Souls games.