Topic: You Died. The Dark Souls Series Discussion Thread

@Yousef- you too mate! Steel yourself good hunter…

It’s been a while since I gave a Dark Souls 2 update, but I’m still plucking along with it. Knocking out a boss or two every week or so. I beat the famous Royal Rat Authority last night and I have to say, it may have been my toughest test yet. I probably died like 10 times to the beast.

Also, I know people say the Royal Rat Authority is more of a dog, but I can see that it might be an overgrown rat…. Hard to tell.

My issue with the boss was the little rats toxifying me so quickly and then all it would take is 1 hit and I was dead. I’m running a bit lean on the health and armor front, embracing more of the hexer/magic approach and so I’m not too far off of a glass cannon approach. Rocking a decent set of Hexes with my Sunset staff, whilst using my Lightning infused rapier +10 for the close combat. Wearing the Lion Mage gear for casting speed, which is where I end up lean on the armor protection. I also have a silverblack spear, leveled up to +7 at this point, and I can switch to that if I need a moveset that has a horizontal strike for crowd control. I prefer the rapier though. Also, I picked up the Santier’s spear in the Doors of Pharros and I’ve read it’s a real beast of a weapon and I may want to try it. Anyone have any experience with it? Apparently the weapon gets more useful after you break it and then infuse it with raw.

My build is 30 points across the board in att, int, and faith, and at about 28 in adapt. (Agility is 103, trying to at least get to 105), and then currently at 20 in vigor and endurance.

Brightstone Cove Tseldora is the current objective and I think there’s another primordial bonfire soon.

Anyway, that’s my current situation. Still quite enjoying the game and it’s a good one for a slow-burn since the areas all feel so distinct. It’s very flexible to save after an area boss and then leave the game for a week or two and come back not feeling like you’re lost as to what to do or where to go.

@Th3solution You died only 10 times to a boss?! That is probably the norm for me! Anything less and I'm almost disappointed. 😂

@Th3solution you’re gonna be surprised by how big of a push your build will give you at the endgame. All the pieces fall together very nicely after the draught is over.

@JohnnyShoulder 😂 I usually have been spamming the NPC summons this time around, which is something I rarely ever used. I also have done a boatload of research into my build and I’m also quite overleveled for where I am. Hexes and the rapier are quite OP, but I can still get into trouble with really quick enemies, which the rats certainly are.

@Yousef- I suspect this may go like DS1 Remastered went, with the DLC baked in, which is supposedly quite a bit harder than the base game so by the time I make it through the DLC I’ll really be OP for the end game, I expect.

@Th3solution you can expect the DLC to have a ton of work and love put into it. Given how late it came. It’s quite on par with DS1’s, in my humble onion.

@Th3solution yeah the dlc… as is always the case with From Software is chef’s kiss worthy. In Dark Souls 2’s case, the best content in the game.

@colonelkilgore @Yousef- I’m a little worried because I read that the DLC has (probably intentionally) a lot of magic resistant enemies and bosses. I’ve tried to keep physical attack options viable because of this, as well as staying diverse with both lighting and dark emphasis as options. But still, I’m mainly slicing my way through the base game like so much warm butter due to my magical and elemental prowess. I don’t have a brute force physical strength. I did get the warped sword as an option but haven’t found it to be any better than the rapier or silverblack spear. And I might mess around with that santier’s spear which supposedly is great for just raw damage. Apparently it really hits its stride when you break it and then it basically has infinite durability thereafter. Problem is the blasted twinkling titanite that it takes to level up, which is all spoken for to upgrade my staff…
Anyway I’ll have to see if I struggle with my build in the DLC

@Th3solution you’ll see the series goes on how FS severely overcompensates for how broken magic was in DS1.
It’s like you’ll be paying for your sins for the rest of your existence.

@Th3solution oh yes, I remember striking a very specific part of a wall somewhere with Santier’s Spear over and over again until it broke. Very cool weapon once it breaks and can be wielded like a twin-blade.

@Yousef- I was already leaning toward trying a pure strength build for DS3, although I really hate not having a ranged option. Do most people do crossbow for ranged attacks with their strength build?

@colonelkilgore I was looking at the wiki which suggests if you can kill several hollow enemies and get them stacked on top of each other (apparently there’s somewhere in the FotFG) then just whack away at the pile of dead bodies supposedly you can break the thing in a few minutes. 😅 I’ll feel like a psychopath, but this game already has taken my humanity away 😜

No.

@Th3solution on a somewhat more serious note, to expand and diverge from your STR build (in DS3 specifically) you may wanna consider swallowing the faith build. At least that’s what my brother did.

Me personally, I’ve yet to take the plunge. Ranged attacks are generally pretty overrated in 3 in particular and that’s because you’ll meet a boss I won’t spoil but their names rhymes with Shwin Shrincess.

@Th3solution it’s worth doing mate, as it’ll take a while to break otherwise and is quite un-wieldly in its original state. It’s been so long since I played it that I can’t remember if that’s the way I broke mine… it might’ve been though.

@Th3solution Most of the bows you need Dex to wield, sounds like you are already committed to to a strength/intelligence so might be a bit late to pivot at this stage in your playthrough.

@JohnnyShoulder I was referring to a potential strength build for my next venture in Dark Souls 3. I actually have a Faith/Int and Dex thing going for this game. But I’ve not used the bow much, since I can range attack most things with hexes/magic. My current character is quite versatile , with the exception of being able to take a hit 😅. In all my souls experiences (this is my 4th) I’ve yet to do a pure strength build where I can swing a huge hammer and wear heavy armor and carry an enormous great shield, etc. I think I want to try a tank build like that sometime, but these games often have situations where you just absolutely have to have some kind of range attack to use for snipers, large arenas, enemies that you can’t get to before they pelt you to death, etc.

@Th3solution I've used a bow in all the games that have them. I veered away from them eventually in Elden Ring and used spells and incarnations more. Not sure exactly why, think just needed to change things up after playing it for so long.

@JohnnyShoulder I used the bow a little bit in Dark Souls I, but mainly just to spam poison arrows to cheese a few enemies. (Cough)…Anor Londo archers…(Cough).

So I finally dropped down into the pit in the center of Majula, and boy, I’m glad I saved this for later. The Gutter is super annoying as is Black Gulch so far. Good grief, what a headache these areas have been… at least the poison swamps of Harvest Valley can mostly be avoided. These spitting statues are just plain sadistic.

And I’m also not a fan of the frequent dark areas in this game that require a torch to get around in, a la the Gutter. It would be one thing if you had infinite access to your torch, but the fact that torches only last a short period of time is quite irritating. So I not only have to give up my left hand weapon (where I usually carry my staff, with my sword or spear on the right), but I also feel a constant time crunch because I’ve been stuck in the dark when my torch runs out. So now I’m hoarding torches and extinguishing it off and on to save the time counter on it, like a madman.

@Th3solution 🤣 I remember it well. It does seem/is annoying at the time but when it’s done it allows you to appreciate your usual left hand set-up even more.