[Traveller]

I think i might check out some different weapons. Even with +7 uchi plus fire I'm feeling slightly underpowered, and relying on stealth and the environment to take down the bigger knights. I've got a good soul farming spot, just need to find some large shards and chunks.

[WinterPhoenix]

Traveller, on 02 May 2016 - 05:17 AM, said:

I think i might check out some different weapons. Even with +7 uchi plus fire I'm feeling slightly underpowered, and relying on stealth and the environment to take down the bigger knights. I've got a good soul farming spot, just need to find some large shards and chunks.

I think the Uchi becomes a little underpowered eventually yeah, it relies alot on the bleed effect to really pile on the damage, which is awesome if the enemy isn't bleed resistant. I would say come over to the Dark side, but it really shines on a build with Str and Dex tbh.

Which spot are you using for soul farming? And trust me there's so many chunks in Lothric castle, not sure it's possible even to get very many before then, I don't think any enemies prior to the castle actually have chunks as a drop.

EDIT: Popped the game on the try and keep myself awake, I have 15 Estus at +10 now, popped both trophies, feeling accomplished

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 02 May 2016 - 05:37 AM

[Traveller]

Trophy hunter!

I thought I'd use that spot mentioned earlier with the spiders. I've got the gold ring and symbol of avarice, but under the strength req for shield of want. I need to up my strength, dex is great but lots I can't use at the moment.

I could then smack a gem the dark sword. Speaking of which, how come if I go to put a refined on the Uchi, it lowers my current dex advantage when is supposed to improve it? When you infuse is it like DS1 where you then have to upgrade the new weapon?

This post has been edited by Traveller: 02 May 2016 - 07:12 AM

[WinterPhoenix]

Traveller, on 02 May 2016 - 07:12 AM, said:

Trophy hunter!

I thought I'd use that spot mentioned earlier with the spiders. I've got the gold ring and symbol of avarice, but under the strength req for shield of want. I need to up my strength, dex is great but lots I can't use at the moment.

I could then smack a gem the dark sword. Speaking of which, how come if I go to put a refined on the Uchi, it lowers my current dex advantage when is supposed to improve it? When you infuse is it like DS1 where you then have to upgrade the new weapon?

Yup, Trophy Hunter about sums me up

Oh cool, I wondered if you'd discovered a new farming spot. I found a new place in the archives. Right at the very top of the area, up a staircase just before the boss area, is a tower with 3 winged nights on top that jump down when you get too close, over 20'000 souls each with all 3 items equipped. That's 60'000+ souls each run, only issue is they are a lot harder to defeat than the spiders, so you kind have to take them 1 by 1 unless you're extra damn good. Not sure about exact times, but I'd say you'd have to do 4 spider runs for every 1 Winged Knight run, so I think the latter works out better unless you have a real hard time beating them. Obviously not useful until you get there though.

No the upgrade level remains the same, so you can infuse a weapon with as many different things as you like. The thing with Refined is that it seems to have been made for a quality build, and thus fits best with weapons similarly inclined. What it seems to do is average out your scaling between Str and Dex, this is brilliant for a weapon that is D/D or D/C because it automatically makes is C/C in most cases, and eventually B/B as you level the weapon up. This doesn't work for a weapon that is more strongly inclined towards Str or Dex in scaling because then all you're doing in going Refined is averaging things out and hitting it's selling point - Uchi is really a Dex weapon. If your build has very high Dex but low Str, you want to use weapons with good to great Dex scaling and use sharp gems to improve that. If you're going to be adding Str to your build anyhow, then refined is a great way to go, and seems to suit alot of the Straight Swords (average scaling for both usually) really well in this game.

[Traveller]

I think I'll go with strength upgrade as it will help with more variety. Also I've been upgrading the ice sword which is a fast alternative to the Uchi, and that spear from the boss soul but I've hardly used it - in fact most of the boss soul weapons aren't great for my build.

[WinterPhoenix]

Traveller, on 02 May 2016 - 07:58 AM, said:

I think I'll go with strength upgrade as it will help with more variety. Also I've been upgrading the ice sword which is a fast alternative to the Uchi, and that spear from the boss soul but I've hardly used it - in fact most of the boss soul weapons aren't great for my build.

Yeah I found Arstor's Spear pretty naff tbh, even when I was going with a pure Dex build before I changed my mind. Honestly in terms of DPS, I can't see anything outdoing a quality build with certain Straight Swords or Rapiers from what I have seen. I mean certainly heavy Str builds with UG's and casters with huge amounts of Int or Faith will be able to hit far far harder for single attacks, but the pure DPS potential on a quality build seems silly to ignore.

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 02 May 2016 - 02:16 PM

[WinterPhoenix]

So before I had to go out yesterday I defeated the last Lord of Cinder, and then made my way through a couple of optional areas just of the castle, beating 2 more bosses. I still have 2 bosses I haven't found yet though, The Ancient Wyvern and The Nameless King according to a list of the trophies without hidden ones. So I'm going to just search around for this area before I fight the final boss, plus I have a lot of item farming I want to do before moving onto NG+ at any rate, because such things are much easier when the enemies are still at NG levels lol

Apparently I haven't managed to get all the gestures yet either, so I'm assuming there's some in whatever area the two remaining undefeated optional bosses reside. We shall see.

[Traveller]

I put it on for a bit last night, left Anor Londo and went and beat the Dancer instead; I now have a shortcut to a Knight that drops a ton of souls plus chunks! Dark sword is getting better, also I now have the Dancer blades, that spin attack looks so cool - I tested it outside the Dancer area on two knights, and managed to knock them both back, continuing to spin using strong attack, which ended with a nice flourish. More testing needed to see who they'll be most effective against, if anyone.

I think I'll upgrade a bit more before carrying on into Lothric castle, or heading back to Aldrich.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 03 May 2016 - 06:12 AM

[Morgoth]

I've just gotten past the dead king and entered the very Yharnam-esque city at the other end of the catacombs. After a few deaths I changed tactics and legged it to the fountain and that's about where I am right now.

I'm using the Uchi most of the time, and throwing some magic around. I did however try out a new sword, a candelstick like longsword that fires sorcery with its r2 attack. It doesnt have as good a moveset as the Uchi, but it scales with intelligence and makes my chosen, hrm, class much more flexible.

I have a question about multiplayer though. I didn't really do mp in DS 1 and 2, but was quite active in Bloodborne. Now, I've done some invasions and I can't seem to figure them out. One time I invaded and there were 4 enemy players there. Another time we were 3 invaders against a single guy. I can't figure out how it works.

Also, in Bloodborne there was a very strong honour code, but I can't seem to figure out what, if any, code there is in DS3.

[WinterPhoenix]

Traveller, on 03 May 2016 - 05:36 AM, said:

I put it on for a bit last night, left Anor Londo and went and beat the Dancer instead; I now have a shortcut to a Knight that drops a ton of souls plus chunks! Dark sword is getting better, also I now have the Dancer blades, that spin attack looks so cool!

Will upgrade a bit more before carrying on.

Was supposed to travel out of London yesterday, but I left it really late and discovered the trains weren't running where I needed to go because of engineering works, so I'm off today instead. In light of a week or so of no possible Dark Souls, I put the game on again after I sent that last message. Played right through the early hours again, really killing me this game

But yes I found and beat the other 2 optional bosses, beat my first invader (I bought PS Plus yesterday), and snuffed out the Soul of Cinder for the Usurpation of the Fire ending I can start NG+ anytime I want now - love the fact that it doesn't happen automatically - I believe I shall start the great farm project when I next get to play, got covenant items and perhaps some sets to farm for, plus enough souls to hit SL120 (at 106 as is). I know I missed an item in the Smouldering Lake as well, it's behind a wall that you need to use the ballistae to smash, but I turned it off, so I'll need to turn that thing back on I guess. Still never found whatever gestures I am missing, so I'm assuming I've missed them for good on this playthrough, no NPC interactions left really, because I basically killed everyone once I'd bought everything of use - except Patches because he sells Rusted coins for Item Discovery enhancement. I think I'll look the gestures up, since I've no way of knowing what's even in the game.

On another note, +10 Dark Sword is ridiculously OP, I mean stupidly so, it allowed me to basically R1 Spam my way through the entire game :/ Even that one invader ran up to me and got stunlocked and taken down by the Sword in 3 hits! lol

EDIT: I haven't actually used Dancer's Swords yet, I was disappointed to learn they are split damage 3 ways, this game still suffers like it's predecessors in that split damage is hit really, really hard by multiple defence resistances. They will never do as much damage as a pure physical or pure magic version would. Though I understand they've done something with the latest patch to help Dancer's Swords in particular, because they were hit so hard.

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 03 May 2016 - 06:23 AM

[Traveller]

The Covenant stuff mostly confuses me too. I do know that if someone has the joined one of the blue ones, when an invader appears more of the blue are called to defend against the invader. Another Covenant makes up the ones who defend.

So if you invade you might find three waiting for you.

[Traveller]

Beat the Wyvern ( that was fun to work out, I went searching for a ballista or something and found a better solution) beat the king in the garden area, and went back to get Aldrich. Neither were that bad; I got them all in fairly quick succession.

I don't know where to go next now. I think there was a big guy in a dark firelink replica area I didn't kill yet. I upgraded the dark sword to +10, I'm still not quite used to the lack of reach you get with the uchi but it seems to be doing the job. It's just not a very interesting sword!

I've made a couple more boss swords but not used them yet.

[WinterPhoenix]

The Ancient Wyvern? That fight is fun

The Consumed King, Oceiros? Yeah I found that fight so laughably easy, I used Hawkwood as he was there to summon, but he got killed really easily somehow, I beat Oceiros without taking any damage!

Yeah the big guy is Champion Gundyr, you can get a few items in the Dark Firelink area, including one you need for one of the endings.

Have you been to Lothric Castle yet? If not then that is where you should go after Gundyr. It sounds like all you have left before the final boss is the castle (split into a couple of areas) and The Nameless King in Archdragon Peak.

I agree with you about the Dark Sword, it's only interesting trait is how OP it is tbh. I'm thinking about upgrading some other stuff and seeing how they are while I farm for covenant items (when I get to play again), just change things up a bit honestly. I mean with quality build I can use basically any weapon, no need to stick to one. That 500+ AR will be missed though lol

[Traveller]

Yes finished Oceiros on my first go - he just seemed to charge into walls like the Gaping Dragon used to, and let me hit him.

The Wyvern was fun for the fluid way it was possible to work out a solution - I only noticed that the path continued on after hacking at him a few times and realising that I wasn't damaging him. So then I ran round, and the dragon helpfully incinerated everyone in the way, until I got to the ledge.

Got Gundyr to face, more of the castle and the rest of dragon peak to explore first.

[WinterPhoenix]

Apparently any weapon works from that ledge, seriously considering running no armour and the Caestus in NG+ for that leap if faith

There's a familiar face waiting for you in Archdragon Peak

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 05 May 2016 - 07:00 PM

[Traveller]

WinterPhoenix, on 05 May 2016 - 07:00 PM, said:

Apparently any weapon works from that ledge, seriously considering running no armour and the Caestus in NG+ for that leap if faith

There's a familiar face waiting for you in Archdragon Peak

Hah, so there is! Unfortunately for him he didn't learn any new moves. Fully upgraded the uchi with the slab, since I've come this far with it.

Storm King - well fuck him and his dragon. He can wait I think, I've been one shotted enough for one evening.

[WinterPhoenix]

Traveller, on 05 May 2016 - 09:37 PM, said:

WinterPhoenix, on 05 May 2016 - 07:00 PM, said:

Apparently any weapon works from that ledge, seriously considering running no armour and the Caestus in NG+ for that leap if faith

There's a familiar face waiting for you in Archdragon Peak

Hah, so there is! Unfortunately for him he didn't learn any new moves. Fully upgraded the uchi with the slab, since I've come this far with it.

Storm King - well fuck him and his dragon. He can wait I think, I've been one shotted enough for one evening.

I will admit that I beat Nameless Bro with the help of a summon, I had a go solo at first, beat the first portion of the fight with the Storm Drake, but in the second half I found his attack pattern very erratic and hard to dodge successfully, drained all my estus and killed me while he still had about half health. So after that I figured I'd try out summoning someone, since I'd just gotten the PS Plus anyhow. So me and this Moonlight Greatsword wielding caster took him down, even still my dodging game had to be on point, he hits like a truck!

Did you encounter Ricard as well in the peak area? He is one of the summons that the witches can do, but he gets summoned as a deprived it's very weird lol

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 05 May 2016 - 10:50 PM

[Traveller]

Yeah Ricard was dead funny as when I went back outside to the ledge to swig an estus he came running out full tilt and went over the ledge!

If a boss turns out to be one of the stronger ones, I just use the white soapstone - usually get summoned in a second if they're difficult! Then I get to co-op which is fun, and learn the moveset without using embers; you get one back if you don't die, anyway. Then I go and have another solo attempt in my world.

I'm quite surprised that it seems to be fairly normal to get summoned, then wait with the host for a third player. Just because while co op is fun, it's definitely a better feeling to do it solo.

[Morgoth]

So what weapon are you all using? I've been trying out several ones, but right now I've been having a lot of fun with the Cleric's candelstick, which is a sword/catalyst hybrid. I enjoy the look of it and what it says about the cathedral of the deep. A symbol of their faith is used for sorcery and not miracles.

The moveset is pretty decent, but the best part is using Farron's dart to prevent people from healing in PVP.

I've also thought about upgrading the Sabre thing you get from those ice people in.. erm. .Ilithyl? I really like the moveset, but it'll be tricky to leave behind the access to sorcery during combat.

[Traveller]

I went back for a go at the storm king. I can get him to the second phase solo, but just can't finish him as he leaves hardly any space to actually hit him without taking a fatal hit.

There are also hardly any summon signs for some reason; I've managed a couple of co op attempts but only after a lot of waiting about for a sign.

So I got bored, went and killed Gundyr; and then went back to help others beat him - and found out that it's incredibly profitable! He's easy to beat when you're summoned to co-op - I made about 150k souls in a few goes, plus an ember for each win.

I'm tempted to just go for the final bosses but I can't just leave the Nameless King there!