Dark Souls 2 thread

[Ein]

I think the firestorm thing is to stop people from spamming it if they manage to knock someone down with a pillar. Some people just keep casting it as you get up and it just becomes a stupid potential loop if the RNG is in their favor.

[Sifer]

I have been trying out using the halberd and the scimitar together and it is working out so synergisticly. I have been using the Wanderer's set with this.

See, I have always disliked the slower weapons in the game. The way I see it, it wasn't dependent on your skill on the weapon if you hit, but rather the opponents skill in evading. So a bit of luck is involved if you are using the heavier weapons since you are hoping you have an opponent that cannot evade attacks when you are initiating the attack. Which is why I gravitated toward the scimitar initially, since it allowed me to dodge and strike quickly against those tanks. This also worked out great for casters since my burden was under >30% chance and allowed easy evasion for the spells going my way and followed it up with a quick dodge roll slash. Yet, I encountered difficulty in two respects. Once the enemy was swinging away swing I had to either wait it out if it was a medium ranged/speed weapon. And the scimitar was doing to little damage against the most heavy armored foes,

So my solution is two dual wield the halberd in my right hand and the scimitar with my left hand.

The halberd's purpose is to interrupt those missed chains attacks being done by the opponent with the medium ranged weapons by back stepping and attacking mid combo and to inflict damage on those heavy knights

The scimitar's purpose is to break the opponents poise by using the quick attacks( the rush attack is actually two attacks doing 40 poise in total). And to hurt magic users by allowing me to recover quickly from rolling evade into a mage's attack and stun lock the mage While the mage or anyone else is stunlocked I can switch to the halberd without interrupting the chain, causing some serious hurt to the fragile mages.

(at least so far I haven't seen anyone roll out when I switched from scimitar to halberd mid-combo, but then it has been a day only)

as a nice bonus the scimitar can parry too,

I am probably overstating the abilities of the setup, but I like the theory behind it. An agile warrior who can out range sword users and provides good interruptions against those pesky mages. Though the downside would be that the setup takes more damage due to light armor and no shield, so it is heavily reliant on the dodging abilities of the user.

I am thinking of adding a bit more vitality so I can throw in a bow so I can further annoy those mages who think they can spam those pillar spells

Also yay, not another knight you have to fight.

Edited April 16, 2014 by sifer

[Ein]

With big/slow weapons you kinda have to play unlocked or mostly unlocked just like before. I've had some decent success with the Drakeeeper's Greataxe by playing mostly unlocked. Feigning whiffed attacks with the 2HR2 on greatclubs at the right distance, and this case the Drakeeper's Greataxe, will usually make most players rush to you thinking they can get a few hits off you when you can just do the second R2 and hit them twice and knock them down in the process. Although Great Clubs have some insane speed and can stunlock fairly well and usually flattens an opponent with their second swing. Messing around with backstepping and rolling gives me the mind games I want for my opponent to worry about what I'm even going to do next and I have the Drakeeper's Greataxe 2H parry for style points. Then again good use of movement is always better in most cases.

As for the equip load I usually hang around 50-65%. I think 55% equip load gives you a roll just long enough to roll backstab easier.

But yeah. I've had even more success with my +10 Sun Sword and +10 Espada Ropera on the offhand with the rapier's one handed parry like the curved sword. They work fairly well together. Two fast weapons to poke with although dual wielding Estocs would be better for the easier stunlock shenanigans and longer reach.

I've also decided to carry a few different shield to completely block all of the elements just to really give the finger to people who keep using buffs and magic in general.

[Esme]

You really don't need to play unlocked with a STR weapon since you can aim while locked on.

And I don't agree with the notion that STR weapons are all luck when it comes to hits. It's not luck-- it's timing.

[Tryhard]

So yeah, PC release, and stuff. That 60fps.

Finally I'm actually getting into making a dual wielder, and dual wielding maces is ridiculous stunlocking damage.

[Groyer]

I just cleared the game for the first time.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes. PC Dark Souls 2 is absolutely amazing, too. Definitively better than the console versions.

[Shahrivar]

Does anyone know if a won boss fight counts towards her achievement/"quest" if Lucatiel stood in front of the fog?

Edited April 30, 2014 by Assurhaddon

[Tryhard]

Does anyone know if a won boss fight counts towards her achievement/"quest" if Lucatiel stood in front of the fog?

I don't know but she did that for me, too. I haven't actually tried to get her gear yet.

Dumb broad.

What you can do, however, is use a bonfire ascetic and fight the same boss repeatedly, as long as you win three times. The Flexile Sentry probably being the easiest, but they also buffed her HP significantly so it should be much easier to keep her alive too now.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Tryhard

[Shahrivar]

I don't know but she did that for me, too. I haven't actually tried to get her gear yet.

Dumb broad.

What you can do, however, is use a bonfire ascetic and fight the same boss repeatedly, as long as you win three times. The Flexile Sentry probably being the easiest, but they also buffed her HP significantly so it should be much easier to keep her alive too now.

Huh, you can do ONE boss three times to fulfill the requirements? That's neat. I'd like to avoid summoning anyone for Sinner and Smelter Demon

[Roivann]

So would this game run well on an "average" PC? I'm away from my desktop, so I don't know my specs right now (I'll update the post later). For reference, I have to run DS1 at the lowest resolution, although still in fullscreen, to get a decent framerate, which is around 30-35 FPS. The reason I ask is because I really want to buy the game, but am hesitant to shell out the dough for an X360 or PS3 just to play one game well.

[Tryhard]

So would this game run well on an "average" PC? I'm away from my desktop, so I don't know my specs right now (I'll update the post later). For reference, I have to run DS1 at the lowest resolution, although still in fullscreen, to get a decent framerate, which is around 30-35 FPS. The reason I ask is because I really want to buy the game, but am hesitant to shell out the dough for an X360 or PS3 just to play one game well.

I wouldn't want to tell you to get something and have it not work, but have you tried http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri for checking the requirements?

I would say no based on what you've said, but maybe the PC version of Dark Souls 2 is better optimized as opposed to the first, I have no idea.

[Roivann]

I wouldn't want to tell you to get something and have it not work, but have you tried http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri for checking the requirements?

I would say no based on what you've said, but maybe the PC version of Dark Souls 2 is better optimized as opposed to the first, I have no idea.

The reason I think it may be different, and, in turn, the reason I ask, is because, firstly, I know that the PC port of DaS1 is pretty bad, and, secondly, the PC port of DaS2 is actually pretty good and well-optimized.

[Ein]

I don't know but she did that for me, too. I haven't actually tried to get her gear yet.

Dumb broad.

What you can do, however, is use a bonfire ascetic and fight the same boss repeatedly, as long as you win three times. The Flexile Sentry probably being the easiest, but they also buffed her HP significantly so it should be much easier to keep her alive too now.

The new and improved Lucatiel can survive any NG boss fight just fine.

Still useless for any actual damage but she will tank and draw aggro.

[Shahrivar]

Does anyone have PvP experience with the Dragonslayer spear?

Nevermind what I wrote before:

Scaling got nerfed compared to DS (1) - C Scaling in Strength down to E, Faith went from B to C, but Dex went up to A

The new R2 is great, much faster than the old one - but I'm wondering if it's still worth using it (damage got nerfed after all, but DSS was never about the damage but the range - the new R2 might help too).

I won't test it anytime soon, I'll do a second playthrough with a sorc and might try whips in PvP.

Edited May 6, 2014 by Assurhaddon

[peener weener]

For what its worth, das2 pc isnt a port, its the platform it was mainly developed on. Also, its beauifully optimised. It might not count for much, but it runs better than das1 for me.

[Esme]

might try whips in PvP.

Whips are beautiful in PvP, although you only have two options as far as whips go: Old Whip for incredible damage, and Spotted Whip for insane poison build-up. Cool thing about whips is that they can't be parried, so there's no need to worry too much about parry-cancellers and dagger-wielders.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and give them a try too.

[Shahrivar]

Whips are beautiful in PvP, although you only have two options as far as whips go: Old Whip for incredible damage, and Spotted Whip for insane poison build-up. Cool thing about whips is that they can't be parried, so there's no need to worry too much about parry-cancellers and dagger-wielders.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and give them a try too.

Yeah, I wanted to try exactly these two. Sadly I never got an Old Whip so far (does it really break after 4 attacks or do people exaggerate?) and I have to use a Bonfire Ascetic to get a second Spotted Whip.

Still, missing is extremely punishing with whips - the "return" animation takes quite long.

After comparing DSS damage to a Lightning Syan's Halberd... yeah, I'm pvping with the Halberd right now ~.~ why does DSS have to do such crapdamage?

[Esme]

Old Whip is very fragile, yes. If you're serious about using it in PvP I suggest that you equip a Bracing Knuckle Ring +2 so that it doesn't break mid-battle.

The Demon of Song is very easy anyway. It won't be too hard to acquire another copy of his soul.

[Tryhard]

I got punched to death by two dual-caestus wielding shirtless men in the bell tower called 'Randy Savage' and 'Hulk Hogan'.

rip

[Shahrivar]

Old Whip is very fragile, yes. If you're serious about using it in PvP I suggest that you equip a Bracing Knuckle Ring +2 so that it doesn't break mid-battle.

The Demon of Song is very easy anyway. It won't be too hard to acquire another copy of his soul.

I wear the Knuckle anyways, I don't want to see my Third Dragon Ring breaking in the midst of battle. The Old Whip is supposed to be really, really fragile, that's why I figured that it hardly lasts a battle WITH Knuckle Ring.

I was just too lazy to do Demon of Song another time, not because of the difficulty. It'll probably be the last thing I'll do before going for NG+.

[Ein]

Old Whip loses like 3 or 4 durability whenever it hits something. Which is kind of silly but the damage is silly.

I've found that boss weapons in general aren't very good save for a few. :C

[Esme]

I wear the Knuckle anyways, I don't want to see my Third Dragon Ring breaking in the midst of battle. The Old Whip is supposed to be really, really fragile, that's why I figured that it hardly lasts a battle WITH Knuckle Ring.

I was just too lazy to do Demon of Song another time, not because of the difficulty. It'll probably be the last thing I'll do before going for NG+.

I wouldn't worry about the whip's durability-- PvP battles never last very long anyway. The ring, however, is another story. I've had it break on me in the midst of fighting, but that's only after I've been hit many times with a bigger weapon.

Old Whip loses like 3 or 4 durability whenever it hits something. Which is kind of silly but the damage is silly.

I've found that boss weapons in general aren't very good save for a few. :C

Defender's GS, Watcher's GS, Spotted Whip, Pursuer's GS, Warped Sword, Arced Sword, Bow of Want, Chime of Want, Curved Dragon GS, Butcher's Knife, Sacred Chime Hammer, Thorned GS, King's Sword and the Moonlight GS are all great boss weapons. I'd say a big chunk are useful.

[Ein]

Those are pretty great yeah. Don't really like the Chime of Want unless you're a super high level when the Caitha's Chime can do the same with just a little less damage output with less stat requirements.

Besides great swords are all pretty good as it is and the Flexile Sentry weapons are nice too.

[Tryhard]

As someone who used the Chime of Want on my mage, a Dark Caitha's Chime has more casting speed (+15), and is about as good, and a Lightning Dragon Chime is better for miracles (once again, +15 casting speed).

If you can't be bothered having both of them, though, a Chime of Want is very nice... if you have the requirements. (Dragon Chime is 50 faith, though.)

Edited May 9, 2014 by Tryhard

[Shahrivar]

I wouldn't worry about the whip's durability-- PvP battles never last very long anyway. The ring, however, is another story. I've had it break on me in the midst of fighting, but that's only after I've been hit many times with a bigger weapon.

No problem, wearing Desert Sorceress Set - I die after ~3 hits anyways.