Just to repeat for clarity as it may have gotten lost above, you HAVE to lower your guard while trying to circle around or you will never make it. Only raise your guard to block a hit, otherwise leave it down. This is also good practice as it will let you block more hits without having your guard broken, as you can usually regen some stamina between blocks.
Parry everything except AoEs? Really? Or are we talking "against enemies of comparable size to you" sort of everything? I was having a hard time against the basic black knights on my new character. I'm going for 25-50 mobility, big weapons and big armor and after playing an entire game with <25%, low armor and medium/fast weapons it takes some getting used to. After dying to him (the one on top of the tower over the hellkite's bridge) repeatedly 2 nights ago I slowed down a bit, learned the range of my current weapon and took him down first try. After that things went smoother, although learning that I really *can* block Capra's swings (except overhead) took a few tries. It really is a different set of mechanics now - all my instincts are screaming ROLL AWAY but I'm fully capable of standing there and taking it. Took 3 good* tries, then down. The next black knight just rolled over. * good try = one you learn from and make increasing progress on. After that I went into the Depths and I was amazed at how fast I reached the overhang where the Channeler hangs out. That place is MUCH smaller than I remember, now that I know where everything is and how to deal with it. And that most enemies are trivial (when you know them). Had a good fight with the giant rat - threw what arrows I had left at it from above, then the throwing knives, then the black fire bomb, and finally dropped on its head with Astora's sword and then swiped it again when I landed. Talk about using all available resources :D
Depths protip: Fall down the hole behind the first butcher. Kill the giant rat, walk through the narrow passages to kill the Channeler, go back to the giant rat room, slide down on the left side, kill boss, done. I hate the fucking Depths so goddamn much. Not as much as the Catacombs, but close.
Yeah, but I have loot OCD. Must pick up all the glowies. And that's the thing - I did the shortcut, ganked the rat, then ran all around collecting things and killing rats/lizards and ... that place is TINY. I think I was done in under 10 minutes. I literally did a doubletake when I realized I was done. And I never had problems with the Gaping Dragon, so the boss-dread isn't even there. Fortunately Blight Town is up next which will probably clear up that case of "Dark Souls blasé" right away. :)
I rolled through the depths last night with naked zwei in about 15 minutes, including the boss kill. While human, no less!
Man this game really is super fun. About three hours in, took out the gargoyles with a little help from Solaire. Sorcery is (so far) complete easy mode, at least when it comes to bosses. Absolutley flying through the game compared to last time I played. I think I am going to go back to the asylum and pick up the ring this evening.
Yes, really. The expert parry vid linked in the OP demonstrates how most everything from the Taurus demon's attacks to the dragonslayer bow arrows can be parried with varying results. He clearly underlines between useful parries and "just for knowing how the mechanic works" parries, though.
Yup. I don't remember if it was in that parry video or another, but I remembe one where a guy demonstrates parrying the channelers' soul arrows. Earlier in the video he had demonstrated parrying normal arrows, and he was able to parry them w/out taking damage like clockwork. He claimed that the timing for channelers' soul arrows was much trickier, and he could only parry them sometimes. (In the video he parried about every other one, but he was taking zero damage from the ones he succeeded against.) He also made the distinction that LK did: although parrying the soul arrows is possible, he advised just dodging the things.
That's an amazing video*. I just outright assumed the overhand swings with huge weapons (Capra's machetes, Havel's club) were unblockable, unparryable. That almost seems like an exploit, tbh. :P Now I'm going to go find a good place to practice this. Seems like the garden might be good, once I get it opened up. * also, the Havel trolling was precious. :D
You never go full onion. My favorite thing about this suit is what it does to your character icon on the save screen.
Best set in the game in terms of looks, although you aren't really full onion if you aren't also using the Spike Shield and either the Zweihander or the Claymore.
Well, I just experienced my first round of connection problems (for Multi). I finally got someone in game, and they got absolutely annihilated by Capra. So I've wasted what was likely my one shot to have someone come in and 2 shot Capra (the guy I originally summoned was doing like 500 a hit on the way up to Capra). Alas. One, or possibly two things, I still don't get about Capra. Firstly, when standing on the ledge, he seems able to do some sort of lunging attack from the stair - the bottomish part - that hits me. And he seems to be able to hit me from the ground. Am I not far enough back on the ledge? Secondly, why is the opening salvo such fucking bullshit? Rhetorical question. Is the landing at the start of the area (which leads up to the long ladder on the bridge where Hellkite appears, and leads to the shortcut back up to the main area) the only place you can summon other people into your game? Is that something hard coded? Because there was a message to "use humanity" down by the Capra door.
I just did this fight last night, let me think. What ledge are you talking about? I use the stairs to do a round-and-round dance if I'm feeling crowded in the main area. He often mills around to the side of them and yes, his overhand swing will hit if I'm not pressed against the opposite wall and higher than 3/4th of the way up the stairs. The thickness of the stairs prevents it from connecting, not just the height. Okay, watched a video. Huh. I never used that ledge. :D Enh, the salvo's not so bad. His windup is pretty long so when he does it you just run diagonally past him towards the stairs. And yeah, he'll home sometimes (rotate towards you while swinging) which yeah, ok, it is bullshit. Heh. You can summon just about anywhere that's not a transition. Or when you're getting invaded. Or when your routing is effed up, possibly due to a failed invasion/summon. I put a sign down right by Capra's door yesterday, alas to no avail.
So this time I did see two summon marks by his door, but I already had someone in game. It didn't occur to me to touch more, though of course you could get multiple hlpers in Demons so I'm assuming it works here. The ledge is what the stairway leads up to - a narrow ledge which si really the top of an arch. So I summoned someone in game, and then another guy invaded. The invader lost, after running speedily away when my helper unvelied some sort of AoE thing that wiped out 2 dogs and 2 of the obnoxious thief dudes on the path to Capra. Alas, his speed was not such that he could out run us, so he died. It was kind of hilarious; am I to assume the presence of the ally summoner was a surprise, or does he find out on the way in "there's a white phantom in this game who might be way above your level"? So capra is down. I unlocked the door under the aqueduct into [whereever] and then went back to level int twice.
Yeah, what you describe, the lunge onto the arch happens here, about 30 seconds in. I guess I haven't seen that since I just go up the stairs - he has always just leisurely sauntered up them, letting me catch a breath (flask) and frantically plan the next circle attack. Probably triggers because he has a clear lunging path to you, which being on the stairs prevents? Just guessing. Both allies and extra invaders are a surprise. When I was wearing the forest hunter ring for giggles, I actually got summoned with *another* forest hunter. We bowed to each other and then went to find the poor sap ... only to find he had a friend of his own. Then the "host" waved to us and Alt-F4'ed. It was pretty funny.
Yep, I had already done that. Since I had spare humanity (2 points, on account of the invader), I went to go find a bonfire in the depths to kindle, but I was too scared to wander down with the butcher guy was. And then I died somewheres else. Alas.
Speaking of armor aesthetics, I decided to try out some new (for me) armor sets on my new strength character. What set would be perfect for a huge club wielding dude? Smoug's! That thing has pretty amazing stats, and it's already fully upgraded, so I don't have to dink around with twinkline titanite or titanite chunks or anything. So I went out to the merchant, bought it, put it on, and.... holy shit. It's *so* stupid looking, and *so* distracting, I put it right into the bottom of my bottomless box (turns out it does have a bottom after all) and I'm on the hunt for a new different heavy suit of armor. I think I'll give steel a whirl.
So now that Griggs is free, should I prioritize getting more spells or more int (and waiting for stuff like soul spear)? I was unsure of the utility of magic sword/sheild. Greater soul arrow looks nice, though I can't quite afford it yet. I do have soul arrow and heavy soul arrow currently.
Your priorities for soul-spending are now as follows: 1. Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. 2. All of the ranged spells that Griggs sells. 3. Leveling intelligence. You probably won't find much use for magic weapon, since it's not really that good and even the good spells in that line are for hybrid builds more than pure sorcery builds. Magic shield I dunno. Get it if you want, I've never really used it.
Just had my first successful Darkmoon invasion. Anyone got any good tips for places/levels for those? It's been kind of rough so far, lots of people baiting the invade. EDIT: Just had a fantastic invasion. Couldn't find the guy from S&O's gate. Ran around for about 10-15 minutes, exchanging banter via message with him. Then I figured it out. He had killed the first silver knight from outside of the bonfire and dressed in a full silver knight suit, sword included. "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" I backstabbed him but he got me anyway. Super fun.
Since you lead with Bellowing Dragoncrest, I'd say 1a is Free the Dusk! Of course nothing to do with soul-spending, but whatever. And while one is freeing the dusk you can kill the moonlight butterfly for the soul since its kinda in the area. Also! Lingering Dragoncrest Ring helps with cast light and hidden body utility spells if you're going to use them (and I did), though certainly not as important as the Bellowing ring.
Lol... I spent 30 humanity of that faction once too, just to see if I liked the weapon & armor. Turns out: they both suck, and leveling that faction is completely useless for a strictly offline player like me.
The armor is an excellent mid-range armor, fits in a weight bracket just below the paladin armor so it's great for 80 END looking to go without weight rings. The torso blends nicely in terms of style, and the stats are very respectable. Since humanity is effectively infinite whether you farm the Oolacile dungeon or do multiplayer, there's no reason not to indulge every now and then to the second best PvP covenant after forest.
For every item slot, I had a mid-range armor option that was more to my liking. For example, for the chest the sage robe gives only 5 defense less for 5.8 pounds less weight. For the legs, the Crimson skirt gives 3 more defense and yet weighs 2.3 pounds less. Etc. Granted, none of my substitute mid-range armor choices had any poise, but the dark set gives so little poise that I didn't find it useful. 10 or 15 poise total doesn't do anything for me; my attacks & spells were still getting interrupted if I mistimed something & got hit. The armor set does *look* pretty awesome, though. Considering that I recently shelved Smoug's armor because of how hideous it was, appearances obviously do count. I am a vain hollow.
By mid-range, I mean in terms of its weight category and poise allotment. I like using it with havel's legs and arms, for instance, which puts it in a nice poise bracket depending on the headgear requirements. Obviously I can min-max as much as the next guy, but compared to the slight sacrifices necessary to wear the also-stylish torso of favor (lautrec) I find it an good overall choice, and frequently plug in the arms and legs as appropriate when I try for other combos like a knight of thorns setup. The 1.06 patch has improved the status of light armors relative to their previous status, but in PvP the guy who accommodates a bit of poise into his approach along with style has an advantage in my book. I have pretty much ruled out all of the caster outfits apart from the witch robe on aesthetics alone.
All right, after one too many deaths in tense situations I feel the need to ask you guys this. Does anyone else have problems with the 360 controller on PC giving weird inputs? I've had times where instead of attacking I will roll, or others where I will randomly throw a parry despite not having a finger on the LT. I've never really had a problem with any other games before this but I also don't really use my controller for much else these days. Trying to figure out if it's a hardware or a software problem. Just had a pretty funny one where I rolled off of a cliff in the Valley without even having a hand near the face buttons.
I haven't had bad inputs, but I've had a lack of input. There will be distinct input lag that got me killed (or at least maimed) a few times where my character will just stand there after I've hit attack and then attack a full 1-2 seconds later. I've learned to see when it happens though and typically mash attack again in time now, but there's definitely input weirdness in the game. Hard to say if it happens in other games; most games aren't quite so timing critical, but I'd say that it doesn't. I think I'd notice at least once or twice. Gaping Dragon down twice. Looks like he gets buffed if there are other people in the fight (or maybe when there are three, there were two of us plus Solaire) - it took forever with the three of us, and not very long when I was by myself. Got STR to 24 and the Zwei to +5; still getting used to it. Tried parrying the Balder knights for a while but it's too frustrating and I'm not learning from it, so I might give that effort up (until Gwyn lolololo); one new thing at a time, perhaps, and this time it's slow+heavy+poised. Going to poke around Darkroot for a while, maybe see if I can take out the Hydra. I'd really like to take on Havel for the ring but I don't think I'll succeed just yet. I had hopes for the parry thing but my <20% success rate on Balders does not bode well for that try. :P
Was the Channeler still alive (up on his ledge) during the 3vGD fight? That guy can buff the dragon if he isn't taken care of first. Beyond that I have no idea.
This happens to me too. Usually when the attack happens a second or too late, it causes me to get hit by the enemy because my timing is off. In order to avoid the unwanted late attack (attack now or never, damnit) you can do a roll. Rolls apparently override attacks in a lot of situations... and this is one of them. The roll also clears the command queue, so you don't have to worry about doing an unwanted late attack when you come out of the roll either.
Besides the late attack thing mentioned above, my controller has "issues" when I use the D-pad to switch weapons/spells/active items. Often when I switch one of the things, the D-pad also registers a change in a nearby direction. So if I'm switching my primary weapon, for example, my spell will sometimes switch too. Or my selected item. Or if I want to select a different spell, my shield will switch to my bow. It's kinda irritating.
