I had one of my closest calls yet today when I decided to just do the Gargoyles for funsies without any upgrades. That was awesome. This is 'Zappo', inspired by Charles' strength build, I needed a good name for my mage-to-be.
Manus at SL1, but with style. I've seen so many more people fail at using the silver pendant in a timely manner, but it makes a lot of sense for the range he's trying to keep.
He's going back from the first* Serpent Mage you get to kill (or knock off the bridge). *if you go the standard way in.
So, I wasn't going to be able to afford a divine weapon on my pyro anyway (sl26 right now). But then I reasoned "hey, that awesome shortcut video got to pinwheel without fighting, you can too". I got to the first necro and killed him and opened the door. But 2 skeletons followed me in and I was forced to use a lot of pots as they got me off guard. But I got to pinwheel, and actually had him at about 30% health when I died. So I did it again, and this time I got to him and combusted him into a state of unbeing. That was really fun, and now I'm post Capra with the rite of kindling! Estus shots for all the people!
Congratulations. You never have to go all the way through those Catacombs again if you don't want to, except for when you want a fire weapon.
I think there are three stages of learning with levels in DS, at a minimum. One where you learn how to get by without the parts that are difficult to you or minimize your risk through the right preparations that require some work (example: my rigid adherence to getting my dragon crest shield to +3 before moving to anything else), and a lot of that can be gotten by watching expert players and learning shortcuts, but you're often consciously or subconsciously blocking out parts of levels for reasons of ease of access that are often imprinted by earlier, clumsier, attempts. Second is when you dig in and learn a level and realize they all have little things you can do that can make them brief and easy to conquer. Third is when you loop back around and are bypassing all over the place, but it's a matter of efficiency of time rather than fear/danger. The thing is, none of those is really wrong, and in fact you can set your own speed for different parts of the game. But I am continually amazed at the number of times I think I am at stage 3 and in fact I was missing key information. Sometimes I've known and forgotten key information (I've killed Ingward with arrows before! Why did I stop doing that?). This fucking game.
Kindled firelink and Undead Parish to 20. Strapped on 3 more soft humanity. First BK dropped nada. I'll kill the one near the Sunlight Altar next. Then the two back in the Asylum. We'll see how that goes. I did not feel comfortable enough going for the Covetous Ring; I'm just not there with the Tomb of Giants. Yet. I would have a hard time enunciating those levels precisely, so instead I'll just explain what I am going through. My Pyro is now going to kill the black knights solely because I want to see if I can coax a drop out of them, at SL 30. And you know, as well as I do that this is "late" in a sense to kill them; it's nowhere near bleeding edge. But this is the earliest I have done it, with Parish/Burg fully under my belt and my quick run to Pinwheel + having breezed through Darkroot to kill the Butterfly (totally unecessary; I thought I needed a divine weapon but of course I did not!). I needed SL 30 because with the ring of favor that's enough stats to wield the Zwei and whomp with it 3 times (assuming I don't get blocked or disrupted; I just have enough stamina to do 3 R2s in a row). There's a certain amount of luxury in that, but it was a deliberate decision ("I want to wield the zwei and have enough stam to use it well") and not anything like the previous builds. Contrast that with playthrough #1, where I went back and killed them (well after I could have, as it turned out) because I wanted that sense of pride, and yes slabs are nice. And then in later playthroughs, I killed them earlier because yes slabs and maybe drops but it was something I did again well after I could (but now with the knowledge that "yes, I could probably have defeated them awhile ago)). But this is easily the earliest I have killed them; and killing them is now a means to become more awesome, which will in turn spring me onto something else. And as for the actual fights, these encounters are not the deliberate, carefully approached affairs they were when I first tried them. Yeah. even with little ole fireball I can whip them easily but I'm a lot better at parrying than I used to be; I can observe a few salvos and then parry/riposte. And yeah, I could easily screw that up bjut now it's bounce right back and I'll get the parry the next time, and that's another dead BK. And it wasn't until the Pyro, my fourth character, that I would have even considerde "hey, maybe I should try 2H for a bit so I can wield something juicy earlier" (e.g. if a BK weapon drops). And so on and so forth.
Or I can go into the catacombs and then stare at shit real hard until it explodes. It's win-win, really.
Well, my SL1 is sitting on a number of nice drops, multiple Balder swords, BK halberds, gargoyle halberd. So if anyone is starting a new character on PC and wants them, they are just gathering dust.
Parish/Burg/Asylum and the Darkroute Basin knights yielded 2 swords and a great sword. No Halberd or shield, alas. Working on Dex to 18. Havel died; I think I'll kill the Hydra next, having upgraded the Zwei to +4. Question: if I equip a weapon I lack the stats for, are my attacks actually inhibited in terms of the animation? Or is it just the damage output?
They are inhibited in terms of animation too. Strength is the most noticeable by far, but I believe the other stats also make the attacks less fluid/speedy/useful.
Ok. Because I equipped the greatsword to see what the attacks looked like, and suspected that perhaps something was going on. Looking forward to 18 dex; killing the hydra, the crystal guys, and the gold crystal golem should put me close. Yum.
Got invaded in the Parish yesterday on my way to take out the Gargoyles (with Solaire, because it's more fun that way).* Get invaded by a dragon covenanter in full getup (I think? Not fully clear on what's what in that covenant, but he could fire breathe and roar) so already I know I'm dealing with someone with too much time on their hands, but what's worse is he spawns right by Solaire's summon sign, so there's no way I can just run to the exit. However, I realize that the ladders are pretty tall going up there, and maybe I can stall him. I run up the first ladder and the second while he spawns, orients and decides what to do. I make it halfway up before he dragon roars. Miss. The AoE is too small to hit me on the ladder. I do my amusing fist swing at him to no effect, but keep doing it to pretend I'm actually doing something rather than waiting-and-seeing. He roars again, no effect. He dragon flames. I flinch, still no effect. He edges oh-so-carefully to the edge, I guess to get me in that blast AoE, roars and ... falls off. Does 3 damage to me on the way down but I don't notice because I'm moving already. I quickly make it to the top. Tap Solaire's summon sign and the Yes confirmation VERY quickly and without waiting go through the fog door. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. "The invader has returned home!" Heartbeat. "WHOOSH" of Solaire coming in. Flawless victory. :D *As an aside, a big hearty Up Yours to whoever decided the Parish is a great place to hack/cheat/exploit invasions. Not a single sign down by the Kings, but constant invasions and summon signs by the church. Picking a spot to consistently PvP that's pretty much the first real boss (I mean come on, the Taurus really isn't :P) is just dickish.
I thought I misspelled it (I was too lazy to look it up and alt tab it), but google tells me it's a French spelling of the cheese, so I'm all good. Plus I never expected anyone to see it. Anyway I last left my game at the bonfire in Anor Londo with Solaire. I resumed from there and was running the level like a boss, backstabbing silver knights and killing mimics where I found them. I went to kill the Knights to move along Seigmeyer's quest when I died. Then the troubles started. I kept dying left and right. I even got to the blacksmith when one of the winged demons killed me. Dark Souls! So I left and went to Dark Root to kill Sif. I cleared out Dark Root, joined the Kitty Kat covenant so I could go back (if I needed) and not fight the ghosts. I even killed the cats (with a bit of cheese) which I only had did once before. First attempt at Sif and it was a bit drawn out, got him down to 2/3rd or so when I make a mistake. I found it a bit difficult to keep blocking and not lose all my stamina so I could get in close enough to swipe. My second attempt was more of the same but successful this time. I never killed Pharis, and I still haven't. I looked around for him/her but haven't found them. I even did so pre-kitty cat if that affects things. Dunno.
It doesn't. If you are coming from the bonfire, before you enter the cat room turn right and follow the cliff. where it drops to the tree monster area, you'll see a fog ringed Pharis and her pal with a big sword. He is susceptible to the same cliff shenanigans if you lure him back; fighting both together can be a surprisingly difficult thing. She is prone to flipping off the edge of the cliff; if that happens, just reload and her drop will be where you first found her. Obviously they won't fight you unless you break your forest covenant.
Pyro died at the Silver Knight archers this morning. Managed to kill the right archer when I couldn't coax him off the ledge but I mis-timed a dodge-roll on an arrow from the other. I feel confident about future attempts, though. Pyro is trucking; glove is +10, 30 end, 25 strength and 18 dex. I own 2 fire balls, 2 fire orbs, combust, greater combust, and toxic mist but I'm still at 3 attunement slots (15 attune?), around SL 46 or 48 I think. So far, this playthrough has been glimpses of divine harmony and quite enjoyable. I feel bad about the one guy I summoned for Queelag who didn't get out of the way of her aoe burst thingy in time (or get a shield up, anyway). I hadn't intended to summon there but I was human and there he was. Sorry dude. I did the depths - well, the parts I wanted - in like 10-15 minutes (I had already gone their to unlock Laurentius of course); use that nifty short cut to skip over to the drop to the giant rat, killed him just caused, killed summoner, circled to bonfire, summoned a guy because he was there, killed gap dragon. Honestly, I just needed some souls for attunement. Zwei is +6. I am growing to like the BK Sword, though I don't like the R2 and it always feels a little weird to roll with a weapon whose R2 I either don't like or hate using due to durability hits. I'm taking strength to 32 before I do anything else. 40 End might have to wait for more attunement. Vit will come. . . eventually.
Interesting tidbit. Weeks ago, and dozens of levels ago, I did a bit of PVP in the Cat covenant. Then I forgot about it, moved to daughters of chaos, then princess guard, then darkwraiths, just all over the place. Today I went back to Cat to try PVP as a level 72, and whaddayaknow, here's a Divine Blessing and Fog Ring for services rendered. I thought if you left you had to go up ranks again?
That's typically true for ones that require turning in medals or humanity or other items. However, I think the Forest Hunters are different because you accomplish a feat (1x, 3x victories), and that stays registered.
The forest hunter covenant's level limits and how they work Exact level ranges for multiplayer items. Both added to OP.
Tool pyro to the last Oolacile bonfire so I could farm humanity, and did. Sacrificing 30 humanity to the crazy lady was really obnoxious. Anyway, I've still got my 11 soft and 20something on me, and now I have the sunlight maggot. The BKs in the Cats and Tomb are the only two left until I unlock the Kiln, and I want to try for a halberd. The greatsword has been an adjustment; I don't use it all the time depending on what I'm up to. The range on R2 isn't quite what I was hoping for (certainly after getting used to the Zwei), and it seems to charge forever. It's a really nice attack though, and the weapon is certainly very effective un-upgraded. Unfortunately, I can't use the humanity farming method in the OP, because I can't stay alive long enough to finish casting a storm spell (still just the starting 10 vit). Pyro flame is +15, at 4 attunement slots (desperately need one more so I can equip plenty of other stuff around chaos fireball). So it's once more into the catacomb's breach, once I prep the gargoyle halberd (I can't remember how to get to the BK without getting him to drop, so I'm likely going to have to kill a few skellies along the way).
Haw haw haw? I guess if you absolutely need the maggot before doing Izalith, it makes sense. I just use the lantern in small doses because the 30 humanity thing is unacceptable.
Yeah, I know about that; as I noted a little bit onward from the post on I've used it, but I wanted to pick up the spell primarily and figured I'd get the maggot as well since I was already doing other stuff (and then get out without doing anything else). Alas, the thing you trade the maggot for (I knew it was something) makes it take less humanity to upgrade with the chaos covenant. I'm not clear what "haw haw haw" is supposed to mean here.
I've just discovered a super-tactic. 1. Get a Black Knight Halberd and upgrade it if you can. 2. Get 22 Str. 3. Equip the BKH with 2H and wear Grass Crest shield on your back. That's it. At lvl 40 (with 22 Str) I'm killing Gargoyles in three (3) hits (doing ca 1450 damage total) and one-shotting the white lightning demons. More or less everything gets staggered. I was slashing and slashing and slashing at the Iron Golem with my +10 uchigatana and got him down to 1/3 after like five minutes when he grabbed me and threw me off the side. I thought "why not" and used the super-tactic. I think the fight took less than 20 seconds.
Anor Londo was fucking with me the past couple evenings. I might have gotten too comfortable with spells and zapping things from range so that when I got to the Sentinels I had a tough time dealing with them. I finally righted myself and took a few stabs at the Law Firm. Comically, I finally got a summon, told him 'skinny first' and proceeded to get one shotted right after going through the fog wall. DARK SOULS. Had two 'solo' attempts with Solaire. The first got Smough down to 1/4 when Solaire was dispatched, and I got him down to a big tick on his bar when I made a mistake. On the second got him down to 3/4 and made the same mistake. Then I found some signs and spent a few minutes summoning to get help. This guy didn't seem to do much damage but at least he stole some aggro so we dispatched the Law Firm. Up next New Londo for the VLE. I may try the 4k run, too, but I'd want more DEF and maybe more DAM. Going melee only with some pyro (speaking of, went back to blighttown and bought all of Quelana's stuff with the Law Firm's souls) might mean some difficulty. We will see. I'm rocking the +10 halberd and +1 crystal one when I want a little more punch. The BKH seems a bit slow, but I haven't given it a proper chance yet. Partly because I have Artorias' greatshield and that's pretty heavy.
Funny! And for those who may not know, I feel obliged to point out that this is a "retelling" of I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen. Props to the picture book authors, yo.
That's why I included the link in my post. Just that I would be annoyed if I hadn't known that and still done the 30 humanity thing. Nothing more.
Nah, I knew, and I knew I was paying a ridiculous price for a spell I likely won't use much and to open a door I probably don't care that much about. I kind of want that fire soul now, so I may bust ranks (I've ascended my flame already). Nito! *makes wooshing flamey sounds* I now know what his grab looks like, proper, which is nice. I think I finally have a comfort level - if small - with the ToG. Still have to get the other 3 souls however.
