From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Invictus]

Thanks for the tips guys I will defently try to solo them on the PC. I just used some holy water on the one who jumps up the ledge and the damage is decent for a few extra hits while he gets back up

 

[Surf Solar]

Coop day again, I have been helping out on the Sentinels in Lost Bastille and I really don't know how to handle those guys one of three. Guess I will have to wait to see ENBs take on that. How did you guys do them? I guess you can jump into the next plataform which is longer for manuvering but so far I always don't even bother and try to use the falling attack and get with my first running to the keep at least one sentinel out of it and dodge 2.
Maybe From decided to troll offline players with that encounter.
The liches err Undead Lords are definetly solable as long as you keep moving on the bone piles for spawns and you can whack a bonelord in 4 2 handed hits but the sentinels are damn tough.

I finished them off solo (funny side note - if for some reason a summoning of yours to another world fails, you get automatically put in offline mode - and here I wondered why I suddenly see no messages, signs or bloodstains anymore) - after the 3rd or 4th time. Funny enough, the first few times I did exactly this, kill the first sentinel on the platform up there and later on died when I had to take on the other 2 at the pit down there. The try when I beat them however I accidently fell down while the first was still alive and thus had to deal with all 3 of them... :D Keeping your distance away from them (beware of that "spin attack they do or the jump attack they do when you are too far away) and seperate them, their attack patterns are easily recognizable and you can squeeze in a few hits every now and then. Felt like a baws when I beat them all 3, especially considering I always have problems fighting multiple enemies at once.

As for my playthrough, I haven't played for two days because I am a bit "stuck". I beat everything in the Heide Tower, Blue Cathedral, No Mans Wharf and the Lost Bastille. Ah, and Hunters Cope too, beat those Skeleton Lords just recently. But now I have no idea where to go! All of the aforementionend areas have adjacent areas where I tried to go in. That Salt-Fortress or whatever it is called? Got raped by the very first enemy, HP sponge and dealing tons of damage. Straying away from the path and the otherwise easy enemies in Hunters Cope? I got anally fisted and flayed by those emo-gothic people ambushing me, same HP sponges, dealing massive damage. What would you suggest me where to go now? I'd also really finally want to unpetrify someone, but alas, I dont know how.

 

[praetor]

As for my playthrough, I haven't played for two days because I am a bit "stuck". I beat everything in the Heide Tower, Blue Cathedral, No Mans Wharf and the Lost Bastille. Ah, and Hunters Cope too, beat those Skeleton Lords just recently. But now I have no idea where to go! All of the aforementionend areas have adjacent areas where I tried to go in. That Salt-Fortress or whatever it is called? Got raped by the very first enemy, HP sponge and dealing tons of damage. Straying away from the path and the otherwise easy enemies in Hunters Cope? I got anally fisted and flayed by those emo-gothic people ambushing me, same HP sponges, dealing massive damage. What would you suggest me where to go now? I'd also really finally want to unpetrify someone, but alas, I dont know how.

from Huntsman's Copse to Earthen Valley (is that what you mean by "salt fortress"?)->Earthen Peak (where you'll find some Fragrant Branches of Yore so you can unpetrify the lady statue blocking the entrance to Shaded Woods [where Benhart of Jugo is... from majula go back towards things betwixt and inside the cave where those archways are you'll find a passage])

 

[Surf Solar]

I have a retarded translation with the german version unfortunately - the area next to the Lost Bastille when you cross the bridge coming to the bonfire where the 3 archers are standing is called "Salt Fortress" or something like that, where the sinner is in. How do I reach the Harvest Valley or Earthen Peak from the Huntsman Cope? I only found one path leading somewhere else and these enemies here

Spoiler

are blocking the path with their whips and flays and there's just no way I could defeat them now. Is there another path leading away from Huntsman Cope? Thanks for the help btw!

 

[praetor]

I have a retarded translation with the german version unfortunately - the area next to the Lost Bastille when you cross the bridge coming to the bonfire where the 3 archers are standing is called "Salt Fortress" or something like that, where the sinner is in. How do I reach the Harvest Valley or Earthen Peak from the Huntsman Cope? I only found one path leading somewhere else and these enemies here

are blocking the path with their whips and flays and there's just no way I could defeat them now. Is there another path leading away from Huntsman Cope? Thanks for the help btw!

those emofags are "blocking" the way to the Executioner's Chariot boss (and Bloodbros covenant). you want to go in the Skellie Lords room and (facing from the entrance) go through the passage in the bottom-left side of the room and go over the bridge.... welcome to harvest valley (one of the meh-est areas in the game... with probably the easiest boss and quite a bit of loot that you'll have to suicide-run to get)

 

[Tribal Sarah]

I hope there's a version of Witch Beatrice's outfit in the game. So far the armor sets have been kind of meh. I like the drangleic set. My knight char looks like a badass Roman.

 

[Hobo Elf]

There is (can't remember if it was like Beatrice's or Yuria's. I think Yuria?), but you get it only when you are pretty close to being done with the whole game.

 

[Tribal Sarah]

Cool. I was hoping they would do something similar. Although it's a pain in the ass having to kill the 4 kings to get Beatrice's set.

 

[Hobo Elf]

The hat is nice too. Gives an extra attunement slot.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I'm still wearing Falconer's Armour and my cool item-drop-increasing hat because I can't find any other good armour that's reasonably light and looks good. I look like a gay zombie third world dictator and I'm okay with that, though I would like to find something new by this point.

 

[Kanedias]

Alva Armor has good defense and low weight, plus it looks really good.

The armorer in Majula sells it, but you need to spend enough souls in his shop (I don't remember the exact number, but they weren't too many).

 

[Kanedias]

I just finished the Pilgrims of Dark covenant, it was really enjoyable. The boss at the end of the questline is one of the hardest bosses in the game, took me a lot of tries which means I wasted a lot of Human Effigies :/

Anyways, if anyone is wondering about the lore you get from this covenant:

Spoiler

The pilgrims of Dark covenant leader, Darkdriver Grandahl, talks about how we're all born of the Dark (which we already knew, from Dark Souls 1's prologue) and mentions that the Abyss used to cover everything, but it's now split into fragments. Grandahl also says that "you're facing a Dark that has existed from times long past" and that "we need the Abyss, now more than ever". He can open a portal with a Human Effigy, and the portal leads into the "Dark Chasm of Old", an area reminiscent of the Chasm of the Abyss. This area is full of black phantoms, most of which are wearing Dark Souls equipment - someone in full Havel's with Dragon Tooth and Havel's Greatshield, two pyromancers wearing Xanthous stuff, etc. The area also has a couple of spectral tree-like sorcerer creatures. There are three sections of this area, each one accessed by a different portal, and they contain a huge brazier that you need to lit and a dark hole at the end, jumping into it gets you out of the Chasm. Once you lit all three braziers, if you redo any of these sections, jumping into the hole instead transports you into an arena where you fight Darklurker, which looks like a fallen angel with four arms. Somewhat similar to Tyrael from Diablo in terms of looks. His soul description reveals that the entire Dark Chasm of Old are the remnants of an ancient, dissipated being.

Final boss spoilers:

Spoiler

So there you have it, the Dark Chasm of Old and Darklurker are more fragments of Manus, the same as Nashandra. I wonder why they didn't swap them around, because Darklurker was an incredibly cool boss, and quite hard as well. He'd make a better final boss than Nashandra.

Something else: this reddit thead talks about resetting the first bonfire of the Forest of Fallen Giants with a bonfire ascetic, which respawns 5 human effigies. This has a huge farming potential, plus the enemies in the Pilgrims of Dark bonus area have a high drop rate for Ascetics, and it only takes one effigy to enter, so we could be looking at a nice loophole where we gain a lot of effigies.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Eh, I find that the trick with the Ring is much easier. You don't even risk losing your souls in case you die on your way to get them.

 

[Invictus]

The armor seller in Majula started selling the Alva armor after I bought the elite knight set from him; seems arround 15k
It is very interesting to me (I have not finished the game yet) how this undead curse takes away your memories the more souls you aquire, it happened to the armorer where he had quite a bit for lore about himself and his homeland at the start but as you give him souls for equipment he becomes less and less sure of who he is and what is he doing here.
Sort of like a drug addict which loses touch with reality. Also interesting is the fact that the normal looking humans are the ones with worse memories; the blacksmith seems perfectly lucid compared to his daughter who cannot even remeber him
A friendo of mine asked me if this game was better than the original and I said I couldn't say; in some parts it is and in some parts it is not, but somehow I am enjoying it more perhaps because I am mostly discovering things by myself and not checking out a LP first so everything is new so far

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

anyone knows some effigy farming spot in mid game? i have none and with 50% of my life i just cant beat last sinner. i dont understand why you dont get effigy from killed bosses
also putting that

Spoiler

headless fucker after spider fight but before next bonfire was big FUCK YOU from From Software

Eh, I find that the trick with the Ring is much easier. You don't even risk losing your souls in case you die on your way to get them.

what trick?

 

[Kanedias]

Ring of Life Protection is a reusable Ring of Sacrifice, but you need to repair it after every death. If you have plenty of souls, you don't lose your humanity.

And no, the only spot I know to farm Effigies is Amana...

 

[DragoFireheart]

Not really a trick. Ring of Life Protection "breaks" but can be repaired for 3000 souls.

Also why do you have 50% health get the Binding Ring you noob.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Ring of Life Protection is a reusable Ring of Sacrifice, but you need to repair it after every death. If you have plenty of souls, you don't lose your humanity.

i should have repaired it when it got broken

And no, the only spot I know to farm Effigies is Amana...

well at least i killed other 3 big fuckers before i run out of effigy. wonder how far is that Amana from Sinners Rise

Also why do you have 50% health get the Binding Ring you noob.

fuck me i forget about that ring.
mage at sls 90 with 12 vigor was rather stupid idea

 

[DragoFireheart]

fuck me i forget about that ring.
mage at sls 90 with 12 vigor was rather stupid idea

Vigor is the noob stat.

Raise that Adapt/End/Vit first.
Dodging > Tanking.
Blocking is a supplement to dodging.
Skill > stats.

 

[Invictus]

I may have used 5 effigies so far, I would only use them before a boss fight or a in a particular hard area like the royal soldier ambush in Last Bastille. After getting the ring of binding I am almost always set (Demons Souls vet here) so I make do with 75% health just fine.
As a sidenote I have this weird thing going on where I might go very far into levels blind but might get killed in stupid ways after. Maybe I am extra cauteous before and later I screw myself by thinking too much on how to proceed hahaha
Edit oh and you can get effgies from the crows too, it is not frequent (they mostly drop ores) but you do get effigies from time to time along with my mastahtroll white ring :D

 

[DragoFireheart]

I may have used 5 effigies so far, I would only use them before a boss fight or a in a particular hard area like the royal soldier ambush in Last Bastille. After getting the ring of binding I am almost always set (Demons Souls vet here) so I make do with 75% health just fine.
As a sidenote I have this weird thing going on where I might go very far into levels blind but might get killed in stupid ways after. Maybe I am extra cauteous before and later I screw myself by thinking too much on how to proceed hahaha

My own twitchiness is my downfall when it comes to ledges and pits.

 

[Machocruz]

Would be hilarious if From designed this as a surprise rogue-like. "Down to 20% health and can't get effigies? Roll a new character, homey."

 

[Jick Magger]

Holy shit the Shrine of Anna is a fucking nightmare.

 

[WalmartJesus]

I have to wait til next week to finally play DS2 but from what people online are saying, The Lost Sinner is on par with Artorias.

 

[Jick Magger]

I have to wait til next week to finally play DS2 but from what people online are saying, The Lost Sinner is on par with Artorias.

She's not too bad if you summon a companion (It just becomes a game of one player aggro'ing her, while the other kicks the shit out of her from behind), but on your own she's a fucking beast.