[Traveller]

Yes the Dragon crest shield is pretty useful; you can grab that and run.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 17 March 2016 - 06:45 AM

[DeadHedge]

Briar King, on 16 March 2016 - 09:49 PM, said:

Oh yea I think it was on BB to. So A is what you want no?

To expand on weapon scaling, if you are focusing on a statement like dex, go with a weapon with high dex scaling (A preferably).

However if you are leveling dex and str you want what's known as a 'quality' weapon, so one that scales with both like BB, so something like claymore or halberd.

Valley of the drakes gives you the 'back entrance' to blighttown which is easier than the other entrance, but recommended using this after you have went the normal way via the depths.

This post has been edited by DeadHedge: 17 March 2016 - 06:59 AM

[DeadHedge]

Briar King, on 17 March 2016 - 05:29 PM, said:

Kinda spoiled myself big time by watching a walk through vid on the entire game up to where I was at beating Tarus. I saw a cool ladder trick enroute to the dragon so now my bonfire has a ladder! I may watch a bit more idk yet but I was blown away with how much I missed in areas I've been in. The dude was talking about fire keepers and reinforcing flask but I didn't really understand what he was saying with them dying.

Leave the black knight for now unless you can cheese him and make him fall to his death.

Who's walk-through video were you watching?

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 17 March 2016 - 09:59 PM, said:

Amp idk how you expect me to arrow that gladiator! Fucker charges me before I can even aim and then will chase me most of the way to Burg fire.

You hit the Black Knight (the one with the sword) and then in the open space behind the hut with the tower on the left, you keep your shield up and strafe around to chip away at health.

Havel, the one in the basement of the tower lugging around the dragon's tooth, you can cheese with arrows.

I will say that melee fighting Havel is a certain kind of bonkers fun. One hit KO, so you can take off all your armor and shield, bounce around like a super ball, and try to get him that way. It's high wire walking type stuff.

[Traveller]

amphibian, on 18 March 2016 - 03:25 AM, said:

Briar King, on 17 March 2016 - 09:59 PM, said:

Amp idk how you expect me to arrow that gladiator! Fucker charges me before I can even aim and then will chase me most of the way to Burg fire.

Havel, the one in the basement of the tower lugging around the dragon's tooth, you can cheese with arrows.

I will say that melee fighting Havel is a certain kind of bonkers fun. One hit KO, so you can take off all your armor and shield, bounce around like a super ball, and try to get him that way. It's high wire walking type stuff.

I got bored trying to cheese him with arrows, and went toe to toe. Ran through basement door, turned, and waited til he swung. Rolled around and backstabbed him, thrn ran out the door. Repeated - about three or four times, and that was it. He was pretty easy to backstab, but yes, one hit and you're history.

That Black Knight will follow you BK, but you can always climb the ladder up onto the roof where the bombers are - and shoot him from there.

If you want to practise, get your armor off, and just get used to running around dodging, rolling, and generally not getting hit. Most attacks can be baited, and once they start you can dive around for backstabs or regular attacks.

Have you tried two handing weapons yet? Super effective if you don't mind ditching the shield for a damage bonus.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 18 March 2016 - 06:58 AM

[Morgoth]

Yeah, Havel is not so hard to defeat in melee if you keep close to him and circle constantly.

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 18 March 2016 - 05:33 AM, said:

What pisses me off when I watch these vids are these guys mowing through on starting lvl and here I am over 20 hrs of play time at lvl 31 and I'm still getting smoked.

This game is fair. It is hard, but it is fair (except for a couple instances).

So if you get the recognition of attacks by enemies and the diatances, the timing of your dodges, and view it as a challenge you CAN beat, the game unfolds.

I'm nowhere near a truly expert player, but I've gotten to NG++ with a melee and pyro character without that much grief. Some of it is pattern recognition and some of it is understanding distance. The rest is finding a couple weapons that you really "GET" in terms of how they attack enemies. The movesets.

I never liked the movesets for rapier, samurai swords, and spells much, so I ended up using the axes/maces and the spears/halberds, with a couple bigass swords in there.

Oddly enough, I didn't like the cestus (brass knuckles) much despite training in unarmed combat sports for a half decade at that point.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 18 March 2016 - 07:40 AM

[DeadHedge]

Briar King, on 17 March 2016 - 10:48 PM, said:

Ok very baffled here and it goes to show I can't understand these weapon stats. My Dex is at 17. I have a Scimitar+1 at 88 +24 E B that does 178 critical. Then I have Estoc at 75 +16 D C does 242 critical. How is this possible???!!

Weapons can be confusing to start with when it comes to scaling and critical damage but ill try and explain.

Most weapons have a critical modifier of around 125% (Curved Swords (scimitar), straight swords, axes etc) yet there are some types that have an additional crit modifier pumping it up to around 140% (not exact values cant remember them off top of my head but you get my drift). Weapons that have the additional modifier are piercing swords (estoc, rapier) and daggers, which means if you are going for ripostes/backstabs your estoc is great for doing big damage fast, these are also good for one on one match-ups as they tend to hit really quick, and buffed they can do some insane damage. In general weapons like curved sword are better for mobbing or where multiple foes are present due to the wider arc of the slash.

What stat are you focusing on Dex or Str? I tend to focus on Dex and there are 4 weapons I'd recommend for you to try - Uchigatana (katana from killing merchant in Burg), Bandits knife (dropped from hollow thieves (lower burg), Great Scythe (found in catacombs) and Balder Side Sword (very fast straight sword with excellent scaling). All of these weapons have very good scaling with Dex, but the first 3 also have an additional benefit of dealing 'Bleed' build up and damage. This effectively means that after a certain amount of hits on a mob will allow them to bleed and can take off a large portion of health. The dagger also benefits from the additional crit modifier but means having to get up closer.

As amph said, the game is fair but it is very brutal if you mess up, I know ii have some instances I have lost 10's of thousands of souls multiple times, but once you get used to baiting attacks and going for counters or luring foes out 1 at a time it does become easier.

As for youtubers if you are interested I can recommend 4.

EpicNameBro - has just finished a large walkthrough and lore series where every video he changes his weapon set up giving a varied playstyle throughout and he also goes very in-depth into the hidden lore of the game (he knows his stuff and has met and discussed the lore with the creator). On this series he shows where all items are and gives very good hints and tips

Rurikhan - Very good player, focuses generally on melee builds and knows his stuff, he gives some very good hints and tips for beginners and on most of his playthroughs shows where all items are.

Vageta311 - veteran of the game and has some good challenge videos, also has a series to show how easy it is to become overpowered early on.

Last one is a guy called Tearofgrace - His videos are hilarious and you can relate to him I guarantee, they are less walkthroughy but will make you feel better when you have had a hard time playing.

Hope that helps.

Update on my progress - Character 3 - SL34 melee knight

now have a Claymore +13, Only taken out Gargoyles so far. Going to take in Sif and then Ill finish off New Londo Ruins and take 4 kings out early (plus will allow farming for more Chunks), then I'll take the back way into Blightown and mess up Quealagg, then onto demon ruins so that I can get the large flame ember as I would like to get my fire broadsword up to +10 asap as I'm not focusing on Str or Dex yet so having an elemental weapon will be useful.

[Traveller]

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

[DeadHedge]

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 08:47 AM, said:

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

Where you up to now Traveller? I decided on my knight to get the large and V. large embers early so that I can be stronger earlier.

[Tattersail_]

I have never completed this game. I got to the final boss, but he kills me every time easily. I cannot remember my weapon stats but I didn't have anything I was happy with and I didn't want to spend hours farming souls to try and upgrade any more because it was so expensive. Then I got an xbox one, so I haven't returned to the game. I love the game. It's great but that last boss is way too hard.

[Traveller]

DeadHedge, on 18 March 2016 - 09:01 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 08:47 AM, said:

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

Where you up to now Traveller? I decided on my knight to get the large and V. large embers early so that I can be stronger earlier.

I'm about level 38 in Anor Londo. Just killed the guy who killed the Firelink keeper; going to take on O + S this evening. I'm mostly invested in dex; although I do have a +13 pyro flame that takes care of pretty much everything if they stand still for a second, anyway.

I also bought the lightning stoneplate ring, which seems like a waste now as anything with lightning still seems to shock me stupid.

@tattersail - can't believe you got to the last guy and didn't finish him, especially after beating the bed of chaos. I'd just get that small group of rocks that sticks up from the cave floor between him and me, and poke him with a spear through them!

This post has been edited by Traveller: 18 March 2016 - 09:50 AM

[Tattersail_]

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 09:45 AM, said:

DeadHedge, on 18 March 2016 - 09:01 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 08:47 AM, said:

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

Where you up to now Traveller? I decided on my knight to get the large and V. large embers early so that I can be stronger earlier.

I'm about level 38 in Anor Londo. Just killed the guy who killed the Firelink keeper; going to take on O + S this evening. I'm mostly invested in dex; although I do have a +13 pyro flame that takes care of pretty much everything if they stand still for a second, anyway.

I also bought the lightning stoneplate ring, which seems like a waste now as anything with lightning still seems to shock me stupid.

@tattersail - can't believe you got to the last guy and didn't finish him, especially after beating the bed of chaos. I'd just get that small group of rocks that sticks up from the cave floor between him and me, and poke him with a spear through them!

The frustration! I must have tried 100's of times, and it's the walk up to him as well. I never watched a walk through though, or asked for tips on how to beat him. I have my xbox in my bedroom so can give this a go over the weekend. As you go through the white wall, he closes in quickly, where do you go left or right?

[DeadHedge]

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 09:45 AM, said:

DeadHedge, on 18 March 2016 - 09:01 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 08:47 AM, said:

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

Where you up to now Traveller? I decided on my knight to get the large and V. large embers early so that I can be stronger earlier.

I'm about level 38 in Anor Londo. Just killed the guy who killed the Firelink keeper; going to take on O + S this evening. I'm mostly invested in dex; although I do have a +13 pyro flame that takes care of pretty much everything if they stand still for a second, anyway.

I also bought the lightning stoneplate ring, which seems like a waste now as anything with lightning still seems to shock me stupid.

@tattersail - can't believe you got to the last guy and didn't finish him, especially after beating the bed of chaos. I'd just get that small group of rocks that sticks up from the cave floor between him and me, and poke him with a spear through them!

O&S are very susceptible to fire so you should have an easy time. if you don't mind getting up close to people and you can buff your weapon you need to try the painting guardian sword as its the fastest dps weapon in the game and shreds them.

@Tatts im pretty sure that he can be parried and riposted if that helps you

[Morgoth]

Tattersail_, on 18 March 2016 - 09:59 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 09:45 AM, said:

DeadHedge, on 18 March 2016 - 09:01 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 08:47 AM, said:

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

Where you up to now Traveller? I decided on my knight to get the large and V. large embers early so that I can be stronger earlier.

I'm about level 38 in Anor Londo. Just killed the guy who killed the Firelink keeper; going to take on O + S this evening. I'm mostly invested in dex; although I do have a +13 pyro flame that takes care of pretty much everything if they stand still for a second, anyway.

I also bought the lightning stoneplate ring, which seems like a waste now as anything with lightning still seems to shock me stupid.

@tattersail - can't believe you got to the last guy and didn't finish him, especially after beating the bed of chaos. I'd just get that small group of rocks that sticks up from the cave floor between him and me, and poke him with a spear through them!

The frustration! I must have tried 100's of times, and it's the walk up to him as well. I never watched a walk through though, or asked for tips on how to beat him. I have my xbox in my bedroom so can give this a go over the weekend. As you go through the white wall, he closes in quickly, where do you go left or right?

Have you tried getting assistance?

[Traveller]

Tattersail_, on 18 March 2016 - 09:59 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 09:45 AM, said:

DeadHedge, on 18 March 2016 - 09:01 AM, said:

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 08:47 AM, said:

I've been mostly using a halberd this time round. Finally got the Furysword, but at this point my +9 halberd is way better. Until I get some Demon titanite. Which I hate farming, as I hate those damned prowling demons - they just seem to get me every time.

Bk another useful move - that leap attack. Not the drop one, but the leap forward and slash down.

Where you up to now Traveller? I decided on my knight to get the large and V. large embers early so that I can be stronger earlier.

I'm about level 38 in Anor Londo. Just killed the guy who killed the Firelink keeper; going to take on O + S this evening. I'm mostly invested in dex; although I do have a +13 pyro flame that takes care of pretty much everything if they stand still for a second, anyway.

I also bought the lightning stoneplate ring, which seems like a waste now as anything with lightning still seems to shock me stupid.

@tattersail - can't believe you got to the last guy and didn't finish him, especially after beating the bed of chaos. I'd just get that small group of rocks that sticks up from the cave floor between him and me, and poke him with a spear through them!

The frustration! I must have tried 100's of times, and it's the walk up to him as well. I never watched a walk through though, or asked for tips on how to beat him. I have my xbox in my bedroom so can give this a go over the weekend. As you go through the white wall, he closes in quickly, where do you go left or right?

Can't remember if it makes a difference; I don't recall him being as close as the Capra of Stray demon - I probably rolled sideways to get out if his way, and got myself on the other side of those rocks sharpish. When you get in close, it baits him and he can reach you, but if you let him have a go, back up, then dash in and poke him, you should be able to whittle him down. If he finds his way round the side, get yourself round again until he's up against the rocks. You can also fireball/soul arrow him from there, whatever you've got, and have time to heal while he's there. I think that despite all my fancy upgraded weapons, I killed him with a lightning spear in the end.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 18 March 2016 - 08:25 PM

[Traveller]

The Knights don't respawn do they? I've left them there so I can go back later wearing the gold serpent ring, which boosts item finds.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 18 March 2016 - 07:51 PM

[amphibian]

Traveller, on 18 March 2016 - 07:51 PM, said:

The Knights don't respawn do they? I've left them there so I can go back later wearing the gold serpent ring, which boosts item finds.

The only respawning Black Knights are in the Kiln.

The others have good chances to drop their weapons. The Black Knight Halberd is really, really good for first playthroughs. The BK Axe is one of my favorites, but the moveset is something that may take getting used to. The Black Knight Sword is something many people like. But the odds are odds. Sometimes, you'll get other things instead of the weapons.

The people who speedrun like to speedrun to a Black Knight for a weapon and if they get it, they continue on. If they don't get it, they usually quit and restart. Their goals are different from yours/ours though. They want to get through the game ASAP and leave the exploration and fun for others.

[Traveller]

Just beat Orstein and Smough. It's always such an epic battle; this time I managed to kill Smough first so I've got Orsteins dragon slayer armor for the first time.

Although I accidentally killed another npc.. this time it was the sunlight guy. I was by the fire, minding my own business, when I got invaded. I took out the invader with some fire - but mr praise the sun got caught in the crossfire, got all agitated and tried to whack me so I had to kill him too. Bit guilty now, he's always been an ally.

Now down in the Tomb of the Giants for Nito and some humanity farming. Took out Pinwheel on the way to the first bonfire. Shit, and Patches.. that's three npcs now.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 19 March 2016 - 12:35 AM

[amphibian]

You will need 60 for the tail alone. Just do the tail for the sword and leave the dragon alone for now. The sword is not that great, but it works for a few areas yet before other weapons get better for you.