From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Rolk's Drifter]

But Aava? Man, this boss is designed to completely shred the buttholes of shielded up, low AGL turtles. Could NOT beat him to save my life, his attacks have insane hitboxes and you can't roll through them without a good agility. So I respecced to an exact opposite build - lightweight, high-AGL, two-handed Rapier +10 wielding ninja and pushed her shit in on the first try with half my Estus left. Great design. Too bad there are only like 6 or 7 soul vessels in the base game so you can't really respec every time you face a hard boss.

EDIT: Btw I was shocked how little difference in damage received is between a fully upgraded Vengarl's armor set and a basic bitch unupgraded Wanderer set I used on my respecced build. I was shitting myself Aava will one shot me in such a light armor but I could barely notice any difference. Does physical defense on armor really matter so little in this game? (I know that physical and magical DEF on shields matter a lot but armor seems a bit pointless).

Yeah I had a similar epiphany. You're on your way to DS2 enlightenment! Dual rapiers is a deadly set up. Rapier + curved sword/katana are other really fun and powerful set ups. The warped sword even gives you a special spin-to-win L2 attack when it's dual wielded.

Soul vessels.. I always run out of them. It does suck it's limited but if you farm the Giant Lord then one of the memories will respawn a soul vessel. So not too bad but kinda annoying. You also get an ascetic so it's infinite at least.

Armour imo is mostly for poise and magic defense. Magic defense is real but rarely needed. Only really useful against Darklurker. The best option for physical defense is Ring Of Steel Protection.

The armour thing is weird but the way I see the Souls series is rather than trying to have one single generic arpg system, it splits the action/rpg elements into two parts. Action/Twitch skills == defensive ability, while the rpg aspects (min/maxing etc) == offensive ability. So from that perspective it actually makes sense but it's not very intuitive.

This split is also why I'm wary of Souls games getting more action/skill based because it effectively means they will become more about staying alive than killing things. You can sort of see this with Pontiff/Dancer where at times you may as well be watching a cutscene while they go through their combos. It's also why I love parrying because it's practically the only offensive twitchy skill in the game.

Yeah I prefer to go light armor in DSII to get faster stamina regen and longer roll distance. Keep my weight under 40% or even 30% most of the time. Any time I tried to equip a fully upgraded heavy armor set just for special occasions I found myself dying more, not less. My favorite armor is Llewellyn. Has a great balance between defenses and weight and looks cool as shit to boot. It's without helmet, which I like.
Another thing about this game is it's great for shieldless run. I made a shieldless char on my second run and haven't picked up a shield ever since. Two handed longsword is fucking amazing for early to mid game. And I could never play through DS without shield, just to point out what a casul I am.

My experience is almost identical to yours. I really disliked DS2 on my first playthrough because I did the Drangleic thing.

 

[cvv]

Jesus fucking Christ are you kidding me, you have to fight TWO of the stupid tigers now? And I've already respecced back to my judgement delivering Velstadt hammer heavy hitter because this thing just tears through the basic enemies in this DLC (does great damage to the last boss too). AND I've almost run out of Soul Vessels (got 1 left and I don't wanna spend it yet, got two more DLCs to go).

This split is also why I'm wary of Souls games getting more action/skill based because it effectively means they will become more about staying alive than killing things. You can sort of see this with Pontiff/Dancer where at times you may as well be watching a cutscene while they go through their combos.

Yeah I'm still on the fence about the combat tempo. I really like the faster, more frenetic tempo in DS3 (love the DS2 combat too but tbh at times it feels a bit too ponderous, sometimes ridiculously so). The problem is to balance it out they had to speed up stamina recovery and Estus chug and lower the roll stamina consumption too which is is fucking hateful. It makes DS3 PvP so retarded I stopped playing it completely. PvP in DS2 is fantastic in comparison.

 

[sullynathan]

those two tigers were too difficult for me, plus it didn't seem like they gave enough souls or rewards.

 

[HoboForEternity]

alot of bosses in this game are cheap.

like the 3 ruin sentinels one. the design process probably goes like this:

"hey i designed this boss"

*tester played it*

"this is too easy"

"what should we do? ummmmm"

"got an idea! let's put two of them!"

"damn! we are so great we should get a damn promotion!"

*playtest*

"the testers over there still said that's still too easy!"

"god damn! let's just put 3 of them!"

"genius!"

"it's done!"

the whole thing doesnt feel as well thought and well made as DaS 1. there are good parts, but overall it's pretty mediocre. enemy design are boring, boss design are so far boring and they're either too easy, or cheatingly hard. not good hard and creative like ornstein and borough, but cheap, lazy and lackluster.

 

[Hyperion]

Jesus fucking Christ are you kidding me, you have to fight TWO of the stupid tigers now? And I've already respecced back to my judgement delivering Velstadt hammer heavy hitter because this thing just tears through the basic enemies in this DLC (does great damage to the last boss too). AND I've almost run out of Soul Vessels (got 1 left and I don't wanna spend it yet, got two more DLCs to go).

That fight is stupidly difficult because it's impossible to keep both tigers in your sight at the same time. It's what changes that fight from hard to cheap as fuck. But to be fair, the giant snowfield filled with rape horses and double tigers was intended to be a multiplayer area. They kinda, sorta forgot about how to balance it when the game isn't highly populated anymore.

Yeah I'm still on the fence about the combat tempo. I really like the faster, more frenetic tempo in DS3 (love the DS2 combat too but tbh at times it feels a bit too ponderous, sometimes ridiculously so). The problem is to balance it out they had to speed up stamina recovery and Estus chug and lower the roll stamina consumption too which is is fucking hateful. It makes DS3 PvP so retarded I stopped playing it completely. PvP in DS2 is fantastic in comparison.

Funny thing about that. Stamina consumption on rolls was about the same in DS1 and DS2, and was more in line with stamina loss from blocking. DS3 took the low stamina rolling from Bloodborne in hopes of "speeding up" combat. I'm sure some people here would use the term popamole, but it was really just From favoring one playstyle over another, which sucks for other reasons.

I didn't PvP much in DS1 but I think invaders cried about hosts chugging in combination with high poise, even though they could burn a Humanity for an instant full heal back in DS1. Estus chugging was nerfed for DS2 big time - chug speed, as well as heal restoration speed. Then people bitched about that, so they reverted it back.

One of my main enjoyments in DS2's combat was the availability of Life Gems. I loved being able to pop one, then focus entirely on fighting while my health regenerates.

 

[cvv]

Ok so the final boss fight is also fucking idiotc albeit for a different reason. How am I supposed to learn anything here? I'm on my 10th attempt and I got to fight the final boss ONCE. It was a good fight, got him to 30 percent health but then I ran out of Estus.

But the runup to the boss is imbecilic. It's just all about the AI aggro RNG. Sometimes some of the charred knights aggro my allies and I have time to kill a few. Other times they all aggro me so I have to constantly run around (no way to fight 5 of them while 2 pyros pound me from a distance). Unfortunately my allies do so little damage they don't kill them fast enough so eventually they overwhelm us and when the 2 portals are closed there are 8 mobs against me and one of my bros. Very cool idea for a boss fight but stupid execution, it's not about learning patterns or improve your strategy, it's about being lucky and come out on the other side of that chaotic mess alive and with a few Estus left.

 

[Mozg]

Making sure, you do know you can go and get three extra ally knights from exploring unfrozen Eleum Loyce completely right?

IIRC if you put on the stone ring and use a weapon with good base poise damage (e.g. an axe or greatsword) you can stunlock burned knights. Even if not, the basic idea is just general horde fighting - you try to move around to isolate one of them at a time and only attack when you know you can roll away before anything has a chance to hit you. With the other knights there pulling aggro occasionally it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[sullynathan]

I didn't PvP much in DS1 but I think invaders cried about hosts chugging in combination with high poise, even though they could burn a Humanity for an instant full heal back in DS1. Estus chugging was nerfed for DS2 big time - chug speed, as well as heal restoration speed. Then people bitched about that, so they reverted it back.

nah the biggest problems in DS1 pvp is the fucking cheaters, lag stab, super overpowered magic and backstab fishing. Nothing in Souls 3 is that bad.

 

[cvv]

nah the biggest problems in DS1 pvp is the fucking cheaters, lag stab, super overpowered magic and backstab fishing. Nothing in Souls 3 is that bad.

The rollspam and instachug are almost as off putting. I threw DS3 PvP out of the window after a 15 minutes battle with a host where he was constantly rolling, chugging, running away and summoning more phantoms. Such design.

Making sure, you do know you can go and get three extra ally knights from exploring unfrozen Eleum Loyce completely right?

IIRC if you put on the stone ring and use a weapon with good base poise damage (e.g. an axe or greatsword) you can stunlock burned knights. Even if not, the basic idea is just general horde fighting - you try to move around to isolate one of them at a time and only attack when you know you can roll away before anything has a chance to hit you. With the other knights there pulling aggro occasionally it shouldn't be too hard.

I got all knights and the stone ring. But I gave up on the fight already, got me a summon and ended it. Fuck fights like that, I wanna fight a boss not rely on RNG in a chaotic mass brawl every time. Boss was cool, the Artorias archetype (fast jumping humanoid) what a waste to cheese him with a summon.

Overall a good DLC, good mobs, ok levels, one and half great boss fights. Hope the other two are better tho, considering how much people raved about the DLCs. (Btw whoever designed the white invader deserves some roadside justice. What a bullshit, cheating NPC. I'm pretty sure half of the standard DS rules didn't apply to him.)

 

[sullynathan]

The rollspam and instachug is almost as off putting. I threw DS3 PvP out of the window after a 15 minutes battle with a host where he was constantly rolling, chugging, running away and summoning more phantoms. Such design.

not even close. At least PVP is fast and whenever I invaded someone, there was almost always another invader with me.

 

[Mozg]

Overall a good DLC, good mobs, ok levels, one and half great boss fights. Hope the other two are better tho, considering how much people raved about the DLCs. (Btw whoever designed the white invader deserves some roadside justice. What a bullshit, cheating NPC. I'm pretty sure half of the standard DS rules didn't apply to him.)

I thought the other two were better, although the snow DLC was probably the most difficult (except bosses).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

alot of bosses in this game are cheap.

like the 3 ruin sentinels one. the design process probably goes like this:

The 3 Ruin Sentinels may be uninspired, though they were neither the first nor last Souls boss fight to consist of multiple identical enemies, but they aren't cheap. You can kill the first one by itself on the starting platform, and then fight a 2-on-2 battle against the remaining Sentinels if you summoned Pilgrim Bellclaire just before the fog gate. I won this battle on my first try.

the whole thing doesnt feel as well thought and well made as DaS 1. there are good parts, but overall it's pretty mediocre. enemy design are boring, boss design are so far boring and they're either too easy, or cheatingly hard. not good hard and creative like ornstein and borough, but cheap, lazy and lackluster.

Yes, level design is certainly inferior to Demon's or Dark Souls, and I found combat to be more than a little janky. In particular, I experienced more egregious problems with hit boxes in my single playthrough of Dark Souls 2 than in my three playthroughs of Demon's Souls and two playthroughs of Dark Souls combined.

 

[Hyperion]

(Btw whoever designed the white invader deserves some roadside justice. What a bullshit, cheating NPC. I'm pretty sure half of the standard DS rules didn't apply to him.)

Hahaha, Maldron was a glorious son of a bitch. Infuriating to actually fight him, but goddamnit they made his AI incredible.

And don't you worry the other invaders are just as brilliant.

 

[sullynathan]

Maldron

I loved that guy. I was so impressed by him when I first ran into the area and he surprised me. Man, he dragged the fight on a long time and dragged me all the way to the bottom to fight that fat thing. I killed the white invader but fat thing killed me so I had to come back and get my souls.

 

[cvv]

The 3 Ruin Sentinels may be uninspired, though they were neither the first nor last Souls boss fight to consist of multiple identical enemies, but they aren't cheap. You can kill the first one by itself on the starting platform, and then fight a 2-on-2 battle against the remaining Sentinels if you summoned Pilgrim Bellclaire just before the fog gate. I won this battle on my first try.

You summoned help for your first attempt? What. Playing DS with phantoms is like lowering the difficulty to "Very Easy", the co-op balance in all Souls games is terrible. But agreed, Ruin Sentinels aren't cheap, it's a good boss, in a true DS fashion a huge difficulty spike in the early stages of the game (ála Capra Demon in DS1 or the Watchdog dudes in DS3).

Yes, level design is certainly inferior to Demon's or Dark Souls, and I found combat to be more than a little janky. In particular, I experienced more egregious problems with hit boxes in my single playthrough of Dark Souls 2 than in my three playthroughs of Demon's Souls and two playthroughs of Dark Souls combined.

Now that I've finished the game I'd say the level design criticism is a bit too overblown. Sure some levels are not exactly brilliant but that goes for DS1 too. Plus there aren't any downright garbage areas in DS2 like the Demon Ruins or Izalith, not in my book. And there are INFINITELLY more secrets, little details, hidden drops and side paths than in fucking DS3, that drab, lazy, disinterested piece of shit.

For real, after playing DS2 and DS3 almost back to back, with fresh eyes, I can't help but think people who claim DS3 on average is better designed are clinically insane. Halfway through my first playthrough of DS3 I began to suspect Miyazaki didn't really worked on the game, apart from some general oversight, because the level design is so drab and uninspired.

Agreed on the hitboxes in DS2, those are a complete bullshit sometimes, the fat hippos being the worst offenders.

Hahaha, Maldron was a glorious son of a bitch. Infuriating to actually fight him, but goddamnit they made his AI incredible.
And don't you worry the other invaders are just as brilliant.

Yeah but the devs could easily make a completely unbeatable NPC if they wanted. Maldron is showing the way - NO weapon you can get has such an insane tracking, he has a fuckton of i-frames, an infinite stamina and you can't break his shield guard, he immediatelly recovers. If FROM made it impossible to backstab him too I'd have to summon help for this retard.

Btw no other invaders in the game gave me any problems whatsoever, except that scythe wielding Forlorns in Aldia's Keep. They got a million HP, the scythe goes through your shield and its combo takes 2/3 of your health in a split second. All the other invaders were generally a joke.

 

[Rolk's Drifter]

Hahaha, Maldron was a glorious son of a bitch. Infuriating to actually fight him, but goddamnit they made his AI incredible.

Hell yeah. I get why people don't like fighting him but what From did with npc invaders in DS2 dlc was amazing imo. Can't remember the last time AI impressed me.

those two tigers were too difficult for me, plus it didn't seem like they gave enough souls or rewards.

Only the best greatsword in the game. Maybe even the entire series. Seriously, if you ever go back to DS2 you should check it out. I read you liked greatswords so I think you'll like it.

 

[Murk]

Some guy beat 2cat with his fucking feet.

Just use a fire elemental weapon and use the cats to block each other (they don't clip like throne-duo) and you can stay alive just fine.

 

[cvv]

I consider the Sunken Crown officially conquered even without the retard trio boss fight done because I haven't seen such bullshit in my damn life. I guess it's doable solo if you're a DS pro but I'm not so fuck that fight.

Barring that the DLC is awesome, haven't got so much fun with a Souls game since the early stages of DS1. Great level design, great mobs, two great boss battles, lot's of shit to explore and figure out. Grate gaem.

As for the bosses, Elana is kindda weird. First attempt was good fun until she summoned goddamn Velstadt who proceeded to smash my face into the ground. Then I stacked up Sun Seal, Lightning Clutch, weapon buff and Brightbug and utterly destroyed her in about 20s. First time I used Brightbug and the thing is absurd. I guess she might be a problem on NG pluses, if her resistance is hiked up and I can't kill her quickly enough.

Now Sinh, holy fuck that puppy is easily in my top 3 most fun bosses ever, what a blast of a fight, especially with my paladin build. Dodges, sprints, melee, spear chucking...perfect, absolutely perfect. I even got to use Crimson Water and Dragon Charm, amazing. Got him on 4th attempt, after I learned his moves and got gud, exactly as it should be. A world of difference from that idiotic Ivory King last boss fight.

The third boss is stupid and I won't waste more words on that cheap broken-ass piece of shit. FROM is clearly a peculiar merry band of geniuses and idiots. Gonna do it with summons to get it over with. Also the boss weapons seem to be utter trash. Oh and the Jester invader, jesus I don't know what's worse, Maldron or him. I beat him only thanks to my Phoenix Parma shield but chopping through his damn Warmth for 5 minutes was bloody tedious.

Overall I'm chuffed about this DLC, definitelly a better one than Ivory in my book. Looking forward to Old Iron King.

 

[Hyperion]

The secret to the Trio is patience, patience, more patience, and make sure to pay attention to that cunt with the greatbow. I found the easiest kill order to be: Katana > Greatbow > Havel. Plus their AI is pretty shit and you can exploit them pretty hard. If you really want to cheese the fight (and I recommend you do not because that's lame) you can actually trap Havel in the lower level of the arena. You can bait him to swing himself over the edge and he'll be stuck while the other 2 are fresh meat.

If you're Str / Fth with heavy armor, don't be afraid to trade hits with the Katana wielder to make sure he dies ASAP. Once you can get them down from 3 to 2 the fight goes from insanity to a cakewalk. I even went without a shield this fight (like you, I'm pretty mediocre) and powerstanced a very particular greatsword in my left hand with a Zweihander in my right just to burst the guy down ASAP.

Old Iron King

Best individual area of the entire series imo. Great main bosses, deadly regular enemies, deadly special encounters, some really cool looking areas to traverse. And the loot is awesome for strength builds, which is a rarity. Most of the interesting items tend to be for Dexfags.

 

[Hyperion]

You could kill all the statues around the arena so he didn't get Warmth.

Wrong boss, and probably best not to spoil it for him.

 

[pakoito]

Post deletd

 

[Multidirectional]

Also the boss weapons seem to be utter trash.

Butcher's Knife is a great weapon.
Optional challenge areas in DLC are meant to be done in co-op. No reason to complain about having trouble solo. It's bullshit difficulty by design really. Though I did manage to beat the Sunken trio solo once.

 

[sullynathan]

I remember that the boss at the end of the ice DLC had arguably the best greatsword in the game.

 

[cvv]

Also the boss weapons seem to be utter trash.

Butcher's Knife is a great weapon.
Optional challenge areas in DLC are meant to be done in co-op.

You get Butcher's knife from Rotten iirc.
What do you mean it's "meant" to be played in co-op? How do you know? Where does it say?

 

[Multidirectional]

What do you mean it's "meant" to be played in co-op? How do you know? Where does it say?

Common sense tells me that. Also the fact that there are those statues as a an area for placement of summoning signs and they also allow players that don't have the DLC to place them there. I'm sorry, were you expecting a Dark Souls game to specifically announce to you a manner in which you should do something? I don't remember this being a thing in this series.
To me the most infuriating challenge area has been in Iron King DLC. I've had far less trouble with Ivory KIng challenge once I stopped being scared of it. But the Iron Passage just destroyed me. Though I gotta say these areas are pretty funny to invade in. When you're in a "dick" mood.

You get Butcher's knife from Rotten iirc.

Ah, for some reason I thought you were talking boss weapons in general. Maybe I'm too hungover for browsing this site this morning.