From Software The Dark Souls II Megathread™

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I got Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +1 early on, and I tend to have a very methodical way of handling fog gates (never entering one with more than 1000 souls, never entering a boss area unless I can manage the route efficiently, etc). As for equipment, currently I'm using Heide Iron Mask, Knight Armor, Drangleic Boots, and Drangleic Gauntlets.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Holy shit I just had the most hilarous fight against the first Pursuer fight and The Last Giant. I was using my deprived character whose only stat he's gotten upgraded is Adaptability so the only weapon he can use with a shield is a knife or a broken straight sword. I use the knife. Since I knew I had no chance solo against either boss I summoned 2 people who basically did all the work. I was trying to help but 5 damage a hit won't do much. We did beat both of them but one phantom died along the way. It was sad but at least that way I could summon Pate. So that's how I got enough souls to jump to 40 Apaptability. Now for actual stats so I won't need to rely entirely on phantoms from now on.

 

[Invictus]

Alva armor, Drangelic gauntlets and boots & Royal Guard Helm (makes me feel like a medieval pikeman) longsword for PvE bastard sword for bosses and PvP, plus my trusty shortbow and +6 pyro gauntlet
I am really loving the game and making use of the concept of warping between levels a la Demons Souls when things might be too tough with a boss or challenge and try somewhere else

 

[Tribal Sarah]

tried jumping down that big hole with the cat ring last week, died every time. i guess there's some obscure, secret squirrel way of getting there

Though it's possible with the cat ring and enough hp, you can find a hidden "laddersmith" and merchant in Earthen Peak. After speaking with him he will relocate to Majula, next to the ring. Pay him enough souls (you will need 12k for the best ladder, i.e. the one that takes you down the farthest) and he will throw down a ladder. You will still have to make a minor jump to get to the very bottom, but if done right anybody could survive it.

i took off my armor and just survived the jump down, which is a bit weird

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

I vastly prefer Pate over Patches. Patches was too one dimensional and always did the same thing, which is fine, but copy pasting him into the game a third time would have been too much in my opinion.

Anyways, I got to NG+ Castle Drangleic... bleh. Got my ass kicked trying to open the main gate so much. And now, I'm stuck in the throne room...

Sure patches was one dimensional, but he was actually funny. From a gameplay standpoint, there was way more to do with him. I only later found out about the encounter in catacombs. There are just way more unpredictable NPC interactions in DaS.

 

[Surf Solar]

Damn, reading this topic, 7/10 cases seem to be elite players just casually playing through DS2. While I die so many times and still enjoy the game. Seeing somebody is already at NG+ oO

 

[80Maxwell08]

Damn, reading this topic, 7/10 cases seem to be elite players just casually playing through DS2. While I die so many times and still enjoy the game. Seeing somebody is already at NG+ oO

There will always be someone far more dedicated than you when it comes to a popular game. I remember when i played WoW for a bit after the WotLK expansion came out people made a death knight character and hit the level cap when a day or 2. I remember my friend who was really into it at the time only got like 4 levels into it at that time.

 

[Surf Solar]

True true, it is totally ok. But all I saw in this thread were people already almost beating the game when I barely started it (this is me buying the game on release day and playing it till today mind you). I just feel like a very bad player when I am not at this level yet, somehow. :/

 

[deuxhero]

I think the difficulty feels a bit... inconsistent, with some areas being piss easy while others are much harder.

 

[Invictus]

Oh man found the Havel set, I always use those gloves for my melee chars so sweet
And notice the old knight greatshield; it has the aztec calendar sun god face; a simbol of death and endeless rebirth

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

I think the difficulty feels a bit... inconsistent, with some areas being piss easy while others are much harder.

true.

on the other hand for most of us its third game in the series and we have probably couple hundreds hours ingame and can do shit like rollbackstabs or deadangling blindfolded. also its getting more difficult for From to surprise us and make really hard/unique fights but at the same time avoid artifical difficulty bullshit. afterall how many distinctive fights against humanoids with swords can you do?

i am farming in undead crypt for blue flames swords. i need two of them. power stance and soul greatsword at the same time...i hope its possible

you know those moments when game tells you not to do something and you still do it cause thats just a game? well i still did not light my torch in that hallway in undead crypt

 

[Invictus]

For those who already finished the game, I really want the Faraam Armor for my melee char, but I am am tempted to upgrade my current setup. I already maxed out my longsword and my backups are good to go to, but should I upgrade the dranglic gloves and boots? Since they use twinkling titanite (and from all acounts the faraam set does not) is it a worthy investment right now or are there better sets out there?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Incidentally, for people who don't want to check items they feel they must have online, or who just don't like reading messages or online info, here's two vague hints that should help you a little if you wish to find Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +1 early in the game:

Hint 1

Do not be covetous

Hint 2

It cannot be found

 

[Hobo Elf]

True true, it is totally ok. But all I saw in this thread were people already almost beating the game when I barely started it (this is me buying the game on release day and playing it till today mind you). I just feel like a very bad player when I am not at this level yet, somehow. :/

I've been playing Souls games since I imported the Asian release of DeS. When you play what is more or less the same game for 5 years straight you tend to get somewhat good at it. Regardless I think DaS2 is the hardest Souls game to date.

 

[Tribal Sarah]

Damn, reading this topic, 7/10 cases seem to be elite players just casually playing through DS2. While I die so many times and still enjoy the game. Seeing somebody is already at NG+ oO

not me. the weird thing is the first character i built, has kind of breezed through a lot of sections. Apart from those spinning assholes. The other characters I've built have all had a much tougher time. My cleric was useless. My warrior was a disaster. My knight faints at the first sign of trouble. I've gotten as far as shady woods, probably finish next year

 

[Hobo Elf]

How was your Cleric useless? So far I find him to be the strongest character. Faith spells absolutely shred the enemies in this game. I can cast Sunlight Spear 5 times and that rapes bosses.

 

[Blackguard]

Playing casters has been easymode since Demon's Souls and that trend definitely continues in DS2. Anyone saying Cleric is useless is useless himself.

 

[Tribal Sarah]

How was your Cleric useless? So far I find him to be the strongest character. Faith spells absolutely shred the enemies in this game. I can cast Sunlight Spear 5 times and that rapes bosses.

That's YOUR cleric. Not MY cleric. MY cleric, the one I created and played around with was useless. That's because she didn't have any miracles, barely had any stamina, and struggled to make it through the forest guardians. Her weapon broke and because there weren't any others on the way to the bonfire, she had to run past a bunch of enemies. That being said, I'll do another play through with one to see how it goes, now that I've played a bit more of the game.

 

[Tribal Sarah]

Playing casters has been easymode since Demon's Souls and that trend definitely continues in DS2. Anyone saying Cleric is useless is useless himself.

You can fuck right off

 

[Hobo Elf]

That's only true for DeS, though, where armor is useless so shooting from afar for lots of damage is your best bet. DaS was really, really easy as a pure strength guy. With heavy armor you could take punches in the face, with a greatshield you could block practically anything and a with a huge 2h you could even flinch some boss fights. With poise you were an unstoppable machine. Sorcery did lots of damage but if you wanted to larp gandalf and not be a havel wearing fag then you had to dodge around or get your shit slapped hard. In DaS2.. Sorcery is shit and would not recommend. Faith, Hexes and Pyro probably as well are where it's at.

Edit: I'm confused. Why didn't you have miracles? Why did you make a Cleric if you didn't capitalize on their strength? How exactly did you build your Cleric?

 

[Tribal Sarah]

That's only true for DeS, though, where armor is useless so shooting from afar for lots of damage is your best bet. DaS was really, really easy as a pure strength guy. With heavy armor you could take punches in the face, with a greatshield you could block practically anything and a with a huge 2h you could even flinch some boss fights. With poise you were an unstoppable machine. Sorcery did lots of damage but if you wanted to larp gandalf and not be a havel wearing fag then you had to dodge around or get your shit slapped hard. In DaS2.. Sorcery is shit and would not recommend. Faith, Hexes and Pyro probably as well are where it's at.

Edit: I'm confused. Why didn't you have miracles? Why did you make a Cleric if you didn't capitalize on their strength? How exactly did you build your Cleric?

I disagree. My first character is a sorcerer. She has high dex, int and poise though. Like I say, I've breezed through most of it so far with her. The spinning things gave me the most trouble. I was messing around with the classes, just to see what they were like, so I ran them through the forest. The dual wielding one was prob best, but I'll be going through them all properly, once I've finished the game. The only miracles my cleric had were the healing ones, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when i do another.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Actually so far for me it's felt like Pyro is really weak compared to Sorcery. Great Soul Arrows outdamage Lingering Flame for example, with the two catalysts being used at Int 20 being Sorcerer's Staff +4 (the starting staff) and Pyromancy Flame +6.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Sorcery is absolute trash though. The damage is weaker because there aren't any items (like rings) that give +% Sorcery damage and the enemies are a lot more aggressive. Many boss fights involve multiple targets as well so dealing with that is a hassle and the Sorcery AoE spells are crap. I found Homing Soulmass to be incredibly inaccurate now and too unreliable, and this used to be a big boss killer. Sorcery is certainly doable, my first character was a pure INT Sorcerer, but compared to my melee and now this Faith dude, it's shit. Faith spells do so much more damage it's not even funny. Your Sorcery damage spikes up considerably in the end when you get the Staff of Wisdom and Soul Geyser. Problem is that you get them both from the 2nd last and last areas before the last boss fight.

Also, here's a trick to help you with damage that I didn't think of until yesterday: You can enchant catalysts. I enchanted my Cleric Chime with a Lightning enchant and now my Faith spells do a lot more damage thanks to that. I haven't tested it yet, but I imagine the same works for Sorcery staffs if you enchant them with a Magic stone.

Edit: Tested infusing my Staff of Wisdom into a Magical enchanted one and it works.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

My question was really about pyromancy, since I'd really like to switch to using that, but when you have less spells that deal less damage and take longer to cast it seems like something is wrong.

Also soi far I've found having Great Soul Arrows and Great Heavy Soul Arrow invaluable in many bossfights, most noticiably Belfry Gargoyles and Royal Rat Authority.

EDIT: Also upgraded Greatsword to +10, and now using Dragonrider Greatshield instead of Tower Shield. Looks more swag too, and I love the strike animation on it even if I've never struck anything with it yet.

 

[Invictus]

For those who say pyromancy was nerfed try stuff like the poison mist spell and see how you like it; on PvP is it lethal and for crowd control and most bossess it kicks ass.
I don't like they removed it at a starting class but it can be a bit overpowered to start with