It's very difficult to offer tactical advice without information about your build, gear, and at what point you find yourself being overwhelmed. There are a lot of easy tweaks to boost survivability and DPS for a solo fight or for a summon fight. If you're still there in a day or two I'll be around if you want a hand, and I'm sure other junkies are up for it.
You know about the shortcut where you can just run past the first two ghosts and drop down to only deal with, like, three Darkwraiths before you're at the bossfog, right?
That's a good point. It hadn't occurred to me that the shortcut is anything but obvious at first (bank right after the first two ghosts and roll down where you broke the jar for the transient curses). Since you have plenty of time once through the fog you can even sprint it and then gear up once through, although I prefer to play it safe and transient curse to kill the three ghosts that come through the walls of the chapel if you linger fighting the pair of darkwraiths.
I feel you. Boss fights are my least favorite thing in Dark Souls, and the Four Kings boss fight is probably my least favorite one of those. A couple suggestions: First, consider leaving that fight until the very end. Go do any other sections you haven't done yet. Many people consider that fight one of the hardest in the game, so why not do other, easier parts first, allowing you to become more powerful before you tackle the Worst One of Them All? (tm) Second, there are actually two bonfires that are approximately equidistant from the Four Kings: the Firelink Shrine one and the one in the Valley of the Drakes/Darkroot Basin. Upthread extarbags & I were debating which one is actually closer, and I think our learned consensus was "They're pretty damn close". But since you don't have the Firelink one anymore, why not relocate to the Valley of the Drakes one, kindle it to 20 estus flasks, and use that as your base of operations when you do decide to tackle the kings? By the way, when going to the four kings from the Valley of the Drakes bonfire, it helps if you run right past the intervening drakes, (you'll get very good at that after a couple run-throughs) keep running to the elevator on your left, and take the elevator. One you've reached the top of the elevator, step on its pressure plate to send the elevator back down (to make your next run-through to the four kings easier) and jump off the elevator w/out taking it down. If you look out from the elevator tower, you can pretty much see the four kings white fog from up there. There are some ghosts between you & it, but you can pretty easily drop down past them & run into the white fog. You won't be able to summon Beatrice using this quick run-back method, but that's a good thing; she increases the kings' hit points, thus actually making the fight *harder*. Granted, she also does a pretty solid amount of damage, but her net contribution to the fight is probably neutral. Might as well not summon her at all. (On NG+ and higher, her net contribution to the fight is probably negative.)
Yeah I figured that out. Then I proceeded to kick the shit out of those guys, so basically I'm a huge whiner cry-baby. Feels pretty good though! Thanks for the advice everyone. Like most things in this game, I just needed a little more patience. I figured out that it's really not that hard to deal with multiple kings if you can keep them one behind the other, and so I was able to chip them away one at a time.
Did you curse yourself? Might be the reason why the spell is greyed out. An easy way I found to beat Four Kings is to stack on the poise and cast iron flesh on yourself when you are close to one of them. Then just go two-hander crazy on the king until he dies. Rinse and repeat. I also found a shortcut drop off point that puts you right in-front of the fog gate but it does requiring running through the ghost mansion.
Fall control counts as a status effect and only one can be active at a time. If you used a transient curse or a green blossom you won't be able to use fall control until those effects wear off.
By the way, helpful tip regarding status effects: if you have an undesired status effect, (such as a transient curse which you no longer need) you can immediately get rid of it by quitting the game & reloading. Super helpful for when you're about to drop down to the four kings, but you have a transient curse going... and you'd rather have Power Within running for that fight. Although, let's be honest, you prolly want Power Within running for pretty much every boss fight. But it's *especially* helpful for the Four Kings.
I used the Oolacile sorceries to take out the 4 kings. It took until my 3rd try to get my timing right, but when I did I kicked ass. It was almost as laughable as when I killed them in NG. Pursuers did a good amount of damage, but Dark Bead was even better. Provided you're close enough, all of them will hit and take off a bunch of health. Coupled with the faster casting time than pursuers it was the big winner. On the first 3 kings I only used two of my pursuers and used all 6 of my dark beads. It was so good that the over damage meant that the last one was down to a sliver when it eventually showed up. My final pursuer was more then enough to kill it. Hell, I had to wait so long for it to show up that I was worried it would go away. I think I have a pretty good offensive spell setup now. 3 casts of pursuers, 6 dark bead, 12 crystal soul spears and 20 homing crystal soulmasses. I feel relatively competent with my shield and sword such that I'll only use the spells for the heavy hitters or when I get in trouble. Heck, I'm back stabbing way more now then I did in any other game. I even tried to backstab ghosts (didn't work).
Buh? Why not? It doesn't require any investment in the Pyromancy flame at all, and you can fit the spell into your repertoire for boss fights by wearing a +attunement ring on your way there, cast Power Within at the fog gate, and then put on a useful ring in its place for the actual fight. +40% damage, man! Plus you get to glow red!
I only just picked up that power on my first character, after killing most of the bosses in the game, because I thought the monster guarding it was invulnerable when I first encountered it.
My first time through Demon's Souls I was making my way through the Valley of Defilement, looking for the merchant who sells the dual purpose catalyst when I accidentally dropped down from a ledge onto her head. She went nuts and we had it out right there. I killed her and had to wait until NG+ to get the catalyst since she had the only one in the game. SOULS!
You mean the Talisman of Beasts? I just never used anything else in that slot because I loved that versatility. What dual purpose catalyst is there?
I only went through that part of Blighttown with my first character. I read the description and it said something to the effect of 'more STR/END at the cost of VIT' and I said 'no way, asshole! I need my VIT!' (noobs!) It was only here, way after that fact, that I read if boosted damage 40% (and I presume melee damage).
As someone who has used it exactly one time to see how good it was, the biggest reason to not use it is that it's a pain in the ass to go get it. It is potentially very powerful but it's also too fussy for my tastes... I like to be a badass all the time, not just during boss fights. ;)
Oh I remember the build I said Astora's Straight Sword would work in now: a Dragonslayer Spear build.
All damage that you deal. From any source. Melee.... spells... Armor of Thorns, if you're into that kind of thing. But it's right next to the Eagle Shield! You are right that it's kind of a pain in the ass to get, though. It forces you to go through the second half of the Depths, which I completely skip as often as not. Plus you have to go through Blighttown's front door, which I *never* use to actually enter Blighttown. Basically, on characters that I've decided need the eagle shield and/or Power Within, I finish the depths, run into Blighttown & grab those 2 items (and always just those two items), then I Heartbone the hell out of there and use the blighttown backdoor like any civilized man does. I don't even know the way from the front door to the swamp floor... I've gotten lost more times than I can count trying to figure out how to get down. And that's *with* the help of various wikis & maps. I've made it to the swamp floor using that route exactly once... and that one time involved many prat falls and running scared down the plankways like a little girl. heh. As I've mentioned before, boss fights are the one thing in this game that I just don't like. So anything that helps me get them done with a minimum of fuss is A-OK by me.
I tried to reverse-enter blighttown on my "fighter". Am I correct in that you need to hop onto a platform on that wheel-elevator-thingy to ride it down? I tried that and failed. Twice. Yikes. Cleric has done Capra (and assisted someone else on capra), purchased force whatever from the snotty cleric guy (but still only 2 attunement slots), and has killed giant right/gotten to the bonfire in the depths (and gotten the spider shield, natch). Oh, and killed the Channeler. She's going to hope for a human summon + Solaire to kill the Gaping Dragon now.
So what is the recommended method for farming for large titanite shards? Is it viable to get drops somewhere, or is it faster to just farm souls and buy them from the Giant Blacksmith? Holy shit I need a lot of titanite shards. SO MANY POTENTIAL UPGRADES!!
Just farm souls wherever you want and buy those. Unlike green shards, I don't think large shards have a place where you can quickly and easily farm a ton of them.
Hop was not intended literally. I did walk onto it (twice; but on landing - I'm not timing it perfectly, clearly - I slipped off. Twice).
Which I also never bother getting anymore. Lots of great memories, but the nerf was enough to make me rethink my dedication to it. I now consider Silver Knight the best all-around shield in the game and I use that when I have enough weight free and Crest when I don't. Not to make the opposite of my point, but you don't have to do all that. The times that I have wanted those or anything else Upper Blighttown has to offer I've gone in the service entrance and down, then worked my way up from there however far up the main entrance the stuff I want is. I find it less annoying than going in the main entrance and if you weren't going to mess with the Capra Demon and The Depths for their own sake it's a no-brainer.
You can actually push against it as it passes you, and then you will walk on seamlessly. Often if you wait to move until it reaches your level you will gain enough momentum to offshoot the other side.
Some people like to farm the leeches in Blighttown, but I've found their drop rate (and getting to them in the first place) unsatisfactory. So there are two methods I use instead: First, if I'm looking to farm large titanite shards directly, and it's relatively early in a character's lifespan, I'll wander through the Oolacile Township killing Oolacile Residents. With just 1 humanity & the covetous ring, those dudes drop large titanite shards like they're going out of style. Plus they're really easy to kill, once you know the zone well. The second method is actually *much* faster & profitable, but it requires that you have access to the Kiln of the First Flame. Which means you've already killed all 4 required bosses & are ready to finish that particular playthrough. However, if you're looking to, say, ascend a bunch of boss weapons, or upgrade all your armor before NG+, or what-have-you, the best farming method I've found by far is to kill the first 3 black knights in the Kiln, Hearthbone back to the fire, and do it again. It's kinda boring, but every knight gives you 2200 souls (with the Symbol of Avarice & the silver covetous ring), plus the first & third knights give you titanite chunks. (The second gives you a red chunk, which isn't really good for much.) Each of those chunks can be converted to 3 large titanite shards by Frampt, so 3 or 4 minutes nets you 6 large shards + 6600 souls. Or you can keep the chunks as chunks if you need those instead.
I think I'm definitely going too late. I didn't think about being able to "press" on it, that's a good tip. Is the 5 point different in whatever that stat is really a huge change? I don't know.
Hmm? I understand not wanting to bother with the Eagle Shield for various reasons: tired of it, don't feel like going & getting it, or something similar. But from a strictly utilitarian viewpoint I think the Eagle Shield is still far & away the best low strength shield for most situations. Its nerf didn't really nerf it much. Reducing the physical damage resistance to 95% doesn't reduce its utility at all; I can still hide behind my Eagle Shield +15 all day and hardly notice my life go down. And its 84 stability really is amazingly good. Way better than the Silver Shield's 74. And I like the Silver Shield! A lot! Plus it's one of the best lightning resist shields in the game. Its magic & fire aren't too bad either. Well, you kinda have to do the first part of the Depths on almost any character. You free Laurentius, get a pyromancy flame, and Flash Sweat + Iron Skin, which are useful to pretty much everyone. Plus you get the Large Ember, which is kind of a must-have for everyone as well. But what do you mean by "the service entrance"? If you mean the shortcut in the Depths straight to the bottom from the Butcher's room, I'm right there with you, and use it myself. But if you mean that you use Blighttown's back door & work your way from the swamp up to the front door.... how? I thought there was a broken ladder so you can't actually get out of Blighttown that way.
In a sense an infinitely huge change, since the difference is that you now take some damage instead of no damage. Is it that big of a deal? Probably not, but it did make me (and a lot of people, I think) reevaluate some of the other shields instead of just using Eagle automatically, and for me the result of that reevaluation was me thinking of Silver Knight as a better all-around package: still awesome stability, a pound lighter, better blocking in three out of four categories (EDIT: wrong about this, Eagle also has better lightning which is good) (and the fourth, magic, is no great shakes on the Eagle Shield either), and it can parry even if that aspect is largely theoretical from my perspective. Eagle Shield is still great, and it might even be worth upgrading both in case you want even more stability for Bed of Chaos or something, but I haven't found the need. I honestly think they're pretty comparable, but since Silver Knight is very convenient to get and Eagle is fairly inconvenient, there you have it. (Although truth be told I do end up with Crest more often than not these days. Can't go higher than 25% equip load, boys, I just can't.)
I pretty much addressed this above, but on the subject of stability in particular, I see on paper that 84 is a higher number than 76, but I don't see the difference in-game most of the time. Or maybe even any of the time. Going from the Crest Shield's 66 to the SK Shield's 76 is very noticeable, but going from 76 to 84 really isn't to me. I amended my above post to account for lightning. Thanks for pointing that out, but I do find the SK shield's lightning resist to be sufficient for handling the relative few lightning attacks that exist in the game. Magic isn't too good on either of them, but that's usually something to plan ahead for and it's the province of the Crest Shield in any case. First off, you never have to do it post-NG. Second, it's avoidable entirely for a lot of builds--literally the only thing a pure sorcery build gets out of that bargain is Iron Skin, and even that isn't really necessary. Third, for people that have a problem with the Capra Demon, there's something to be said for going about the business of the game while leaving him until later, when they want the items that are in The Depths. Fourth, Laurentius and the Large Ember are both right by the entrance, so getting them basically only requires beating the Capra Demon and then ignoring the entire level if you want to. I mean the back door. It takes a little trial and error to find your way but you can definitely make it all the way back up to The Depths if you want to, not that you would. Getting to the bonfire/Eagle Shield/Power Within isn't bad at all.
Yeah it's easy enough to go backwards towards the depths. That's how I do it every time. Of course, I still can't find the motherfucking iaito.
I don't think any shards need to be farmed anymore in 1.06 as there is a vendor for each (including green and twinkling). Chunks might need to be farmed, and maybe slabs that drop. I've taken to swapping between the crest and black knight shield. I don't actually know if I have the silver, but I should take a look at its numbers. But I don't get the whole "always <25%!"" thing. Dark Souls is about being adaptable and while I like the speed/roll, I'll go <50% when need be. Now that I'm at 42 END on my sorcerer I can get away with some decent armor and not need Havel's ring to stay below 50%. Oh bullshit! As IF a pure sorcery build would deign to use pyromancy! :-P
You know I think I've suffered from not playing a normal-weapon character since getting access to the new content. I did not even notice that that's what those guys were dropping... I guess that explains why I just happened to have like fifteen of the things when I went to upgrade my Black Sorcerer Cloak. In other news, using a slab on a Black Sorcerer Cloak is pretty sweet.
While this is true it doesn't mean that's always the best way. For instance, green shards drop from leeches at the same rate as large shards but in stacks of five, yet they cost more to buy than large shards do. Those are definitely worth farming. Black is good too, but it's a little more specialized imo. Its magic resistance is truly awful but its fire resistance is outstanding, so it's worth subbing in and out accordingly. It's also a pound heavier and has slightly less stability, though. I got so used to it that dipping into <50% feels unbearably slow to me. I have had to do it on my current character when I actually equip a weapon, but it doesn't feel so good. I went as far as fighting the Four Kings with no weapon and no pants to stay under, since I took off Havel's Ring for that fight. What can I say? I just can't quit my Iron Skin method of killing Nito.
