actually one of the best games i've played

Picked this back up after stopping not very far in and I can't believe I ever stopped playing it tbh.

When I moved I lost my copy of this and just now got another one coming. I am going to play it through for a 2nd time. The first time I went through I summoned for about 5 bosses (Pontiff, Prince twins, lord of Cinder, Nameless King, and 1 other one). This time around I would like to beat the game without summoning.

Since I am awful at parrying, what would be a good build to try to go with to accomplish this? I assume maybe a strength build with a high physical damage protection shield like the Black Knight shield work help...thoughts?

My first time through I did a mix of strength/int and I think it hurt a bit because my magic was not very powerful and I think I wasted some of the points distribution. Weapon wise I used the battle ax to start and then switched to a dark sword as it fit my play style a bit.

Anything besides git gud I can do on my build or vs these bosses I listed for this second playthrough?

The game isn't really all that hard if you have a shield. Maybe go with the Irythyll straight sword. That thing looks awesome, has a great moveset and reach and can help vs bosses as they're the only thing that stays alive long enough for frostbite.

Then put your souls into getting HP/stamina/resistances

Strength builds are a good bet. Starting as a warrior and pumping vigor, endurance, and strength is a highly efficient way of using your stat points. Add enough vitality that you can equip the gear you want to use and you don't need to touch anything else.

As for equipment, a broadsword or a mace would be a good early game weapon for a pure strength build. If you have the first DLC, the Millwood battle axe does great damage for its class. The great club and the greatsword are good heavy hitters. Yhorm's great machete is a strong boss soul weapon.

I can't say much about using shields against bosses. It might be something to try if you can't get the timing right on your dodges. I do know that there are quite a few mobs in the game that are trivialized by any decent medium shield.

Man I'm a seasoned souls player and I simply can't beat either sister Friede or the Demon Prince in the DLC.

Isn't that hard with a shield is subjective lol. I'm awful at parrying and get too frustrated with getting hit/dying that I avoid it all together. That sword looks decent for early on at least, but I will need to switch later on. Was there a better short/medium sword then the dark sword I used in my initial walkthrough in terms of DPS or other stats I may be missing when max upgraded? I did not use any of the boss weapons as I normally just turned them into souls to upgrade my stats.

It's been so long I don't remember what shield I used, but my main weapon was the battle ax to start and then the dark sword for the rest of the game. I may have to tinker with other weapons. I'll probably avoid putting in any stats in INT this time around and avoid magic all together for this build. Oddly enough I downloaded for free it looks like 2 dlcs recently from the ps store, but not sure why they were free unless I missed something on a code I entered a long time ago. The new disc should arrive within the next day or two and then I can get back at it and try to not summon this time around. Thanks guys.

The broadsword and the dark sword have roughly the same attack rating when heavy-infused. The broadsword is shorter, but the dark sword requires five more points of dexterity to equip.

Mugenmonkey is a good website if you want to look at what fully upgraded weapons can do on your build.

You can definitely use the Irythyll straight sword throughout the whole play-through, maybe you'd have to switch in ng, but I don't know. Advice for the bosses would be to learn which strategies work best for them, maybe through watching videos, but I know some of them were counter-intuitive. Like I think for Pontiff, if you roll to the side of him when he attacks (kinda like you're trying to get behind him), instead of just rolling away from him, the fight becomes pretty easy. But it's been awhile and that might not be right.

I'm still trying to determine what weapon I want to be my main go to, but for now once again the raw battle ax has been very strong damage output wise at +7 since I don't have any chunks yet. I am actually at Pontiff now and after a couple of tries no dice, but I was literally 1 hit away from getting him today which makes me feel better knowing I can beat him without summoning lol. Earlier I got smoked by the smouldering king so I may go back to him later on even though he is optional.

I think nameless king is the hardest non dlc boss in the series, and its not even needed to complete. High hp/stam + elemental weapon if you don't want to git gud is always a safe bet in souls games

I haven't really messed with creating elemental weapons. It seems there are a ton of weapon build combos with the infusions. I probably should have at least one fire and lightning one for this late in the game. I just beat Aldrich after a few attempts using my ax in both hands vs a shield/weapon combo. I found staying close wacking the tail to work very well. It was satisfying winning this fight (not as satisfying as Pontiff, but still satisfying). Next up is the dancer which shouldn't be too bad now that my stamina is built up decently higher to block/dodge the repeated spin moves. We shall see at least lol.

It feels very satisfying beating a couple of these bosses solo this time vs summoning. In the main game I just have nameless king and lord of cinder left. I'm at Friede in the first dlc and can get to the third phase but no dice yet. I've started the 2nd dlc to help with leveling up a bit before probably taking on the nameless king.

Thanks guys.

I tend not to use guides when I play games and was reading this thread and saw that bit about the Nameless King.

Curious, I looked up the Dark Souls wiki and realised there's a whole area I didn't discover, the archdragon peak. It's like I just got a free DLC.

Best of all I did a bit of leveling and got some twinkling titanite gems and managed to beat Sister Friede at last. I changed my weapon to the Onyx Blade+5 and beat her fairly handily. Haven't tried the Nameless King yet but will give him a try in a minute.

I'm back for another rant. Didn't post much in DS2 thread as after first 5 hours the game became way too easy. DLC was wicked though.

Here I just wanted to say for now after first 10 hours. **** Painted World of Ariandel.