[Tattersail_]

Traveller, on 16 April 2013 - 10:23 AM, said:

Your stats are fine.. stop farming for levels, it wont help.

Seriously, watch some of the vids on youtube of a guy killing bosses with a knife and a soul level of 3. In his pants.

You don't need to level faith either. Upgrade any regular weapon to +5. Then choose 'modify weapon' at the smith, and upgrade it to divine using green titanite you can buy from the giant smith in anor londo.

I just finished the whole graveyard/tomb of giants section using magic and a +7 divine longsword, which I only used in the boss fight.

The Stray Demon is one of the most frustrating in the game as he kills you before you can learn its moves. I killed it with magic.. get up close, but not too close, behind and to one side. Don't lock on.. keep running round him until it does an attack - then lock, and cast.

Took me.. ages, but it is possible. You could throw dung pies at it too, they help reduce its health, but you might waste a load trying.

Its all about the moves.. when to block, when to run away, when to attack.

Havel is the hugely armored guy who one-hit you. If you can't circle him and backstab, lure him to the door, and hit him repeatedly with spells when he goes back inside.

Keep at it, if you can kill the stray demon you'll be able to take anything.

My intelligence is only 20, so is my strength. I have level 5 my axe, then made another raw axe, then levelled that up 5.

I think I need to up my dexterity. I'm not quick enough to get out of the way of some stuff. Havel is a nightmare, people said to do that (fire souls at him) but every time I power one up he runs back inside and the spell hits the wall. You think I should use the little spells, ie just a normal soul arrow?

How do you recommend I tackle the Hydra?

I farm souls and add the stuff to my gear..

[Tattersail_]

I don't "have" to fight the Hydra, Havel or the Stray Demon I just want to. I could quite easily progress into Valley of the Drakes or Blightown without tackling these nasties.

[Traveller]

Sorry, I thought you were higher level.. same applies though, its more technique than level.

If you want to move faster.. kill Havel! He has a ring which boosts equip load so you can roll like a ninja in armor. And since he kills in one hit anyway take your armor off to move quick enough to beat him.


Look back at the previous posts about the Hydra. I know locking on doesn't help, but if you cast when one of its heads is between you and its body, the spell hits the head. Then use a sword or bow for the rest.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 16 April 2013 - 11:00 AM

[Tattersail_]

Level 43 I am I think. I will go fight Havel naked, I'll roll and slash a lot. How many rings do you wear? I can only fit 2 in.

[Traveller]

You can only ever equip two, but I collect as many as I can and change them loads.

As a knight I always wore Havels ring, plus another. As a sorcerer, its nearly always bellowing dragon, and whatever else fits the situation.

Practice backstabs, they're brutal. Get round behind without locking on and attack. Good for Havel.

[Tattersail_]

Traveller, on 16 April 2013 - 01:48 PM, said:

You can only ever equip two, but I collect as many as I can and change them loads.

As a knight I always wore Havels ring, plus another. As a sorcerer, its nearly always bellowing dragon, and whatever else fits the situation.

Practice backstabs, they're brutal. Get round behind without locking on and attack. Good for Havel.

I found an amazing move yesterday, as they go to hit me I use L2 which is like a block, if I time it right they are stunned, I use R1 then R2 and what happens is the guy falls to his knees and I set him him up with the first hit (his head lolls backwards) and then chop his neck (like a tree trunk). Over 400 damage when my usual swings are 180 damage.

I don't think this will work on Havel. I find it very very hard to backstab. Is there a certain button you press for it or a certain weapon?

[Traveller]

No, its the same button. The other thing you're doing is parrying. If you time it right, you knock them off balance and leave themselves wide open to attack. Don't think it will work on Havel either!

Have you found the two handed attack? Where you hold down 'y' , which puts your shield on your back and lets you use both hands on the sword?

(Also holding 'b' on ladders makes you slide down them)

[Tattersail_]

Traveller, on 16 April 2013 - 03:37 PM, said:

No, its the same button. The other thing you're doing is parrying. If you time it right, you knock them off balance and leave themselves wide open to attack. Don't think it will work on Havel either!

Have you found the two handed attack? Where you hold down 'y' , which puts your shield on your back and lets you use both hands on the sword?

(Also holding 'b' on ladders makes you slide down them)

Any way to go up them faster? But that is handy to know!

I want to play right now and try out some new stuff!!

[Defiance]

I never learned to parry properly. I need to do so, as it makes some enemies and even bosses easier to deal with, but it's never been necessary.

Backstabbing take a little bit to get used to. The most important thing is to stop all movement once you're behind the enemy before you attack.

[Tattersail_]

Defiance, on 16 April 2013 - 03:41 PM, said:

I never learned to parry properly. I need to do so, as it makes some enemies and even bosses easier to deal with, but it's never been necessary.

Backstabbing take a little bit to get used to. The most important thing is to stop all movement once you're behind the enemy before you attack.

Great advice, so you recommend I try and get behind Havel and the Stray Demon. Stop and hit the attack button?


Also no lock on! Check!

This post has been edited by Ganoes Paran: 16 April 2013 - 03:43 PM

[Traveller]

Run round demon, lock on to cast spell, then unlock and keep moving to get out of its way.

If he flies up, run. You want to make him do the attack where he lifts his sword up, then crashes it down. If you're round the back, you can avoid the blast and cast. Then run again as he turns. And do it again...lots.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 16 April 2013 - 07:55 PM

[amphibian]

That Stray Demon killed me 15+ times. Ugh.

Havel got me about 8 or 9 times before I finally got him. That windup of his is deceptively full of hitches, so properly anticipating it to roll takes some practice.

[Seiko]

After O&S, Stray Demon was actually the hardest boss I encountered on my first playthrough (though the former were far and away the hardest. I must have died 40 times) I think I eventually skipped him, though his loot is well worth it.

[Traveller]

Damn but I'm having trouble cutting Seaths tail off.

On the plus side I freed Logan from his cell, and bought Homing Crystal Soulmass from him.

I want that sword from Seath before I kill him though.

[amphibian]

Got my leg hurt worse in grappling, so I called it an early night there and hopped home to Dark Souls.

I accidentally got the sword from Seath's tail. Was trying to get behind him and chop away when the thing fell off, I got a sword and Seath promptly spiked me to the ground with his arm and crystals. Oof.

Anyways, after figuring out how, I beat the dragon and did a bit of clam farming to upgrade my armors and weapons. Turns out my Artorias sword chops ghosts. But the ghosts are so fuckin' scary that I just called it quits after being shoved off a bridge into an infinite pool. It was late and I didn't have the patience to be half-scared and still go exploring that damnable ruin.

Why are the zombies so docile down there? They're mourning something or they've had something taken away, I suspect.

[tiam]

Yeh the zombies are strange down there. Ii cant use that artoran longsword because i havnt got faith but apparently all i neew is to change it up a bit. Could i unmodify my lightning spear to a spear plus ten then use a green titnaite on it to make it divine then later use gold pine resin on it to make it thunder again.

Edit, sorry for all these questions. Where is this stray demon and i looked for a way to get back to the asylum and couldnt find one.? Also should i level pyromancy or would it be wasting souls, where the hell is this giant smith in anor londo and is there a max level you can get to or is it like 500 and not really a concern.

Thanks in advance. I wish i played this when everyone else was for the first time. I really like how were all roughly on the same bit and us noobs are being helped by the golden oldies.

This post has been edited by Jean-Claude Van tiam: 17 April 2013 - 08:06 AM

[Traveller]

The Giant Smith is down a staircase in the same building as Ornstein and Smough, off the room with the giants and the archer. You can buy green titanite there, and if you look behind him there's a ring in a chest.

I wouldn't break equipment unless you really need - level faith for Artoras sword, I spent a ton on a divine weapon and only used it once. Those transient curses are good for the ghosts, and they drop more as you go anyway.

To get back to asylum, jump off the lift from firelink onto the ledge. You can jump over to the tower, take the key off the roof next to the tower first though! Then go up tower steps to bird nest (don't fall off the edge!) Crouch in the nest for about a minute, the bird will pick you up and take you to the Asylum.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 17 April 2013 - 10:35 AM

[Traveller]

Ha, after all that effort trying to chop Seaths tail, I hit it with a Chaos Fireball and it fell off in one go.

It was only after I killed it I realised I'd forgotten to equip the dragoncrest ring. I have the Moonlight sword now though.

I found Logan again, now I have his catalyst and the White Dragonbreath spell, which is devastating.

[Tattersail_]

They sound really good. I used the Black Knight Sword + 5 for the first time last night because I upped my Dexterity to 18 which means I can use it but only two handedly, What I discovered was when you block you take on a bit of damage but when you hit you fucking HIT! My axe is on its 2nd level +5. That hits around 250 then 450 when I get a block then hit or backstab. Great eh? Well this sword hits 500 + damage on its second swing without anything powerful/skillful like backstabs or block shots. It is mighty slow though.

[Traveller]

The big swords can do massive damage, but yes, can be slow.

I'm going to find some dragon scales to upgrade my Moonlight Sword.

Magic. Lasers.

Awesome!

This post has been edited by Traveller: 18 April 2013 - 03:16 PM