FUCK I JUST LOST 6k souls for no good fucking reason. Heh, I still occasionally get randomly killed because I get cocky.
Seriously, that's peanuts you'll be feeling silly you got upset about it sometime when you lose 100k+ souls. As for the axe you got I wouldn't worry about it, you need 31 strength just to two hand the sucker and by the time you have that much other, better weapons will be available to you, it's kind of a tease. Also they're not so hard to get later on.
Drake Sword Get! I know this is like the newb weapon du jour, but uhh I'm a huge newb so it's appropriate!
It's pretty sweet to be able to kill skeletons in one swing. Is there a way to clear out my inventory? I gather I can't trade stuff for souls; but I have a lot of random crappy weapons that I'd like to dispose of.
Two ways: drop it and walk away, and buying a bottomless box from the merchant in undead burg, which will let you offload things at bonfires. I keep one copy of everything usually, except for things that I know that I'm never ever going to use or rare drops that I might want to hand off. I find it much more important to manually reorder my inventory so that things I use frequently are at the top of the list or the very end (since you can get there just by going up in the list). That means I have all my frequently swapped rings and the like handy, or I can go to inventory and use a poison herb without having it equipped, and so on. You can trade stuff for souls after you ring the second bell and return to the firelink. I don't find it particularly lucrative but it is possible and if you are willing to get rid of certain things can get you over a hump.
Good to know. Especially since inventory access is real time; don't want to be dicking around to find something while in a potentially dangerous environment. Right now I feel like my Endurance is stupidly low; is that typical? Equipping anything beyond the Drake Sword and a wooden shield has me over the 25% threshold; I'm still wearing all of the starter clothes.
That's normal for low levels, yes. Typically I take off bits of the starter clothes to get under it and add them back in as I get more endurance. I usually rush to get Havel's ring, though, so that takes some of the pressure off. Once you start getting END in the low 20s you'll have a lot more room to breathe, and there's also nothing wrong with piling it on 50% if that's what the situation dictates. For instance, if you get into the forest area early and dredge up stone armor or elite knight armor, both of those substantially improve your damage resistance and might well be worth the weight for poise and durability. It's a balancing act, always, and you just have to remind yourself to try the weight category you're not using when things get hard as sometimes poise and survivability is a lot more useful than mobility.
Inventory (not equipment) tab, then A and change order. Then select the item and move it where you want it. I don't find the reset option all that great once I've begun sorting (it resets all of them) but if you have a ton of stuff all over the place that might be a good option to start.
This is a great time, then, to get used to swapping quickly to the silver ring and the mimic helmet after killing a boss. I tend to have different loadouts for bosses and levels, and the rings especially move around a lot.
I learn so much from this thread! I've restarted (I'm long term member of Altoholic Anonymous) with a Wanderer, since my cleric's stats were all over the place and I have a slightly better idea of what I want now, I think. It was really fast to get back to where my cleric was since I now know what to expect. I wasn't using the Heal once I worked out how to kindle bonfires, so I'm leaving Faith as it is this time and focus on Intelligence/Miracles instead. At the moment I'm running around with a bow and shield in one hand, and Estoc and a wand in the other. I have slotted both Soul Arrow and Great Soul arrow, the latter helped me finally take down that heavily armored knight under the stairs in Undead Burg and grab the loot behind him. I'm pumping strength to get the drake sword, although I have to admit I really love Estoc's ability to attack while I keep my shield up. I'll probably keep an eye out for a similar weapon once drake sword outlives it's usefulness. I'll go and grind some souls next to get a repair box and that storage box though, that sounds useful. I'm loving this game now, and I'm happy you guys talked me into buying it!
Just so you don't inadvertently spend on something you don't want - it's Int - Sorceries. Miracles are the ones based on Faith. The Wanderer set is probably my favorite in terms of "how cool do I look"?
Oh, duh, yes, I meant Sorceries. The outfit is one of the reasons I picked the wanderer, hehe, the set looks great. The stats of the class were also decent for what I had in mind. I have a few questions: What exactly does wielding a weapon two-handed do? And does it affect magic spells? Does upgrading a magic weapon, like the staff, make my spells better? Do enemy levels scale with my level?
More damage and different moves. It also gives you a fifty percent strength bonus for the purpose of determining what weapons you can use only. Nope. Yes, but the only one of those that can be upgraded is the pyromancy flame. Nope.
The weapon you're looking for is called the Estoc. You already like it and it is a top notch weapon with upgrades.
I mean you can get the Drake Sword too if you want, but don't feel beholden to it. One mistake people make is that they hear that the Drake Sword is omg so awesome and they stick with it for way too long instead of upgrading other things. It'll give you a short term power boost, and but yes, the Estoc will be much better once you upgrade it.
That's interesting, because it would save me from having to boost my Strength, since I'm only really getting that to meet the drake sword's requirements.
Well 16 strength also gives you access to a really good shield, so it's not a waste. But there's nothing wrong with skipping the Drake Sword and leveling strength later on if you want to.
I might get those last two levels in strength then and try out the drake sword, if anything until I get a few bits of titanite to upgrade estoc.
I just got to the blacksmith last night. I've got to start making decisions about what to upgrade but... I dunno! I've got a pretty wide variety of weapons in my inventory at this point: Zweihander, Claymore, Battle Axe, a few others. Any suggestions? Also if I'm not mistaken: will upgrading my armwraps (pyromancer) upgrade my fireball spell?
I need to experiment more with a few of the different weapons. I've gotten so used to the long sword/drake sword timing and movement that it's comfortable, but I won't know if I like any other weapons unless I try them.
Nope. You upgrade your Pyro Flame with other people - not smiths. Upgrading your armwraps gives better protection. Pick a weapon that you like the moveset with, or that you think looks cool. If you like big slow heavy weapons that hit like a brick (and cost more stamina per strike, go with the Zweihander. Axes generally are slower with shorter range but also tend to hit harder when it comes to breaking poise (I think). Since Pyro only requires you to raise Attunement slightly over the course of the game - you're free to pursue whatever line of violence you prefer, Str or Dex. Or even both. Edit; nixon66 try out the Claymore. IIRC it has the exact same moveset as the longsword (but hits harder and has longer reach), while the Bastard Sword uses the same as the Drake Sword.
I'd mostly been using my battle axe before I picked up the Drake Sword. Maybe I'll just upgrade that. Another Q: I got some item that adds lightning to a weapon. Is that a permanent enchant?
The gold pine resin only adds a temporary (about 30 seconds?) lightning buff to your right-hand equipped weapon.
Good to know; thanks! I guess I'll save it for a boss fight or something. Amusingly: I killed my first Black Knight last night. One-shotted him with a parry-riposte. I'd read that they were super tough and I kind of stumbled on him by accident and afterward was like "huh that wasn't so bad..." I also always forget just blocking boss attacks is viable. It just doesn't occur to me that my little shield can stop GIANT WEAPON.
Parry - Riposte makes most encounters trivial. But you say you one-shotted a Black Knight with a non-upgraded weapon? Huh. That's something.
Quite early in, you'll run into a blacksmith in the basement of a ruined church. He sells titanite shards, which is what you need to upgrade weapons to +5. If you aren't using a drake sword (which is a totally valid choice), then you should prioritize upgrading your primary weapon to +5. It'll cost ~10k souls to do so if you have to buy all the shards, which is pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things, and will make a substantial difference. If you kill the bell gargoyles before upgrading your weapon, this is a great place to spend the souls you get from them.
I've already gotten several Titanite shards as drops. At this point, in terms of upgrading a weapon: would I expect a +5 upgraded weapon to be better than the Drake Sword?
Woot I just got the Gargoyle Tail Axe *and* the Gargoyle Halberd. Had to summon Solaire to do the fight, but he trivialized it! So at this point I legitimately need advice: what weapon should I upgrade? I know there's not really a right answer, but the game provides so little in the way of guidance... The Drake Sword apparently is not to be upgraded. Would this Gargoyle Tail Axe work OK? What about the Gargoyle Halberd?
You can take any weapon to +5 and not worry about wasting anything. It only costs some souls for the shards and they're easily gotten. You only need to worry* when it comes time to ascend a weapon past +5, and that really depends on what kind of build you are doing. I say upgrade both and see which you favor more. ETA: and by worry I mean about wasting upgrade materials and souls. You can downgrade any weapon back to +5, but you don't get your stuff back.
The Gargoyle halberd is a fantastic weapon in my opinion - in my case I ended up upgrading my first one to lightning and do not regret it. My advice is to play around with the movesets to see what feels best for you, but I am a big fan of that direct-in-front-of-you top down R1 attack of the halberd. I would at least take it to +5. It's a fantastic weapon. Congrats on getting it!
I think the Drake Sword will outdamage most +5 weapons at lowish levels. It falls behind when you upgrade to +10 and get enough levels to let stat scaling kick in. "Better", however, is a very tricky question. One of the most important aspects of a weapon is the moveset: range, attack speed, hit radius, and so on. All considerations of damage aside, an estoc and a zwiehander feel entirely different. You might prefer a weapon that does a bit less damage per hit than a drake sword but which has a combat pattern that better fits your style. So my suggestion is to play with all the weapons at your disposal and see which ones you enjoy using. Upgrading most normal weapons to +5 will give you a ~50% damage boost, I believe, so you can get some sense for what the upgraded form will be like in damage output without spending any souls. If you like the Drake Sword, then it's an entirely reasonable choice to carry until you find the lightning spear in Sen's Fortress. Experiment at least a little bit with the alternatives, however, since you may hit on something you like quite a bit more. If you're feeling choice paralysis, then just stick with the Drake Sword. It's an awesome weapon for the early part of the game. As for the gargoyle tail axe vs. halberd...it pretty much comes down to which moveset you like more. If you take both and go carve up some undead in the burg for a bit, you should quickly get a feel for which (if either) is your preferred choice. Don't forget to try both R1 and R2 attacks in both 1H and 2H.
I do find I am neglecting both 2H and R1 attacks... Probably that's because the R2 attack with the Drake Sword kills almost everything in one shot. It's a bit of a crutch. Another question: is there a way to make fireball shoot further? It's relatively short range makes it kind of a dicey proposition for boss fights. My eight fireballs do about 50% damage to the stupid Titanite Demon.
This is only true if you're assuming a build where you don't heavily invest points in either Int, Faith, Dex or Str. A +5 uchigatana for anyone with Dex at 20 will blow the Drake Sword out the window, especially if you consider Bleed. Astora's Straight Sword swiftly surpasses the Drake Sword if you invest in Faith, and so on. As a piece of general advice I would at least consider upgrading a shield of your preference, along with your main weapon, as early as possible.
