Pyromancy comes close to owning the game.

Yeah, firestorm is a little slow. It took some time for me to get used to the timing. It works well if you're fighting bigger/slower enemies and charge it up before they'd be super close to you. Also if your pyro damage scales high enough great combustion should stagger some opponents. I literally beat so many bosses just emptying combustion/great combustion into them. I mean I haven't gone miracles so I can't comment on that end. But pyro is beast for sure.

I agree it's just so OP'd.

I finished a SL1 run a few weeks ago, been meaning to post about it and now seems as good a time as any.


For the uninitiated (and there seem to be a few on this board lately), a SL1 run is completing the game without levelling your character stats at all. Levelling equipment is allowed. There are varying levels of ‘completion’ given that some bosses are optional, so I went for an all boss run (inc. DLC), with no summons allowed (if you’re doing a SL1 run, allowing summons kind of defeats the purpose). And no cheesing.


By default, you must be a pyromancer, as they are the only class that starts at SL1. This SEVERELY hampers your available weapon choices, as pyro’s start with a paltry 9 Dex, and virtually every weapon in the game requires a minimum of 10.
At the start I thought my only options were the Battle Axe, Hand Axe, Mace or Morning Star, so I bought a Hand Axe for the speed and a Battle Axe for heavier hits, getting two of each with the intention of making fire and lightning versions of both.

Gift was the Master Key, so my early game prep were a couple of suicide runs to get the Grass Crest Shield and the New Londo Fire Keeper Soul, and then onto getting Havel’s ring, and then killing Lautrec early for the Ring of Favor and Protection.

Tbh, it was fairly plain sailing for the first half of the game. Once I got to Anor Londo I had +9 fire and lightning versions of the Hand and Battle Axe, a decently upgraded Pyro glove and I dropped S&O much easier than expected.

But then I hit a brick wall in the form of the 4 Kings. For all other bosses you’re sort of forced to be patient and overly cautious given you have such low HP, and any mistake might mean death. But the 4 Kings is a DPS race, you HAVE to get in there and mix it up or you’re toast. On a regular character you can afford to take a few hits. At SL1 you have to take them out quickly AND avoid their attacks, it’s tough.

I got close a few times, but I just couldn’t damage them quick enough even using Power Within. I also had to hope they didn’t do their AoE or grab attacks much as these were usually one-shot kills if they hit me, or waste too much time if I avoided them. The Red Tearstone Ring was an option, but I was never confident of going through the whole battle unscathed, so I never tried it.

So I decided to put them on hold and went off to the DLC area, only to hit 2 more brick walls, Kalameet and Manus. Now the problem was my shield, some of their attacks tore right through my block, and Manus and that damn Dark Magic that he shoots straight in front of him would often catch me out.

I was starting to get disheartened, but I’d had a ton of fun getting there, so I decided to put the whole run on ice and started on a SL1 run of Demon’s Souls! Much, much easier. A powerful sword available pretty much from the start, and some really helpful magic available. Only took a few days, and then my attention was back to Dark Souls.

Needed some inspiration before tackling 4K again, so I watched a few vids on youtube of low level or challenge runs for some ideas and noticed I had completely overlooked the Reinforced Club and the Giant Blacksmith’s Hammer as available weapons. I’d never used either weapon in my entire time with the game, and didn’t realise how good a weapon the Reinforced Club is. Low stat requirements, causes bleed and can stagger opponents really quickly. The R2 attack (especially 2 handed) is beastly and a ton of fun to use.

So I crafted a +4 Lightning Reinforced Club ( had wasted my slabs making maxed Lightning Hand and Battle Axes, and couldn’t bring myself to kill the Giant Blacksmith) and that made all the difference. Getting better at dodging all their attacks helped obviously, and I got lucky on my successful run in that they didn’t try many magic or grab attacks, but damn if that 2 handed R2 didn’t help immensely.


Another thing I’d overlooked was that you can BUY the Balder Side Shield (best looking shield in the game imo) from the merchant in Sen's, I’d given up trying to farm one from the Balder Knights. I got one to +14 and that gave me the extra stability I needed to survive against Kalameet and Manus, and then it was Reinforced Club 2 handed R2 FTW again.


Artdogg, I think my successful final build against 4K was -

- Power Within + Lingering Dragoncrest Ring to lengthen the effect
- Fast roll is a must so I used fully upgraded Painting Guardian Armor for the high magic defense
- +4 Lightning Reniforced Club, 2 handed, Grass Crest Shield on back
- get good at dodging

Giant Blacksmith Hammer is an option, but you have to 2 hand it, and you could also consider a maxed out Chaos weapon, which didn't occur to me at the time.



That probably ended up being way TLDR, but I’d encourage anyone considering doing a SL1 run to give it a try, it’s a lot of fun and has made me start a couple of other self-imposed challenge runs. One is a no shield run, with zero poise allowance and no levelling Vitality, which has led to a super fun glass cannon DEX/INT build. Haven’t been any major stumbling blocks yet, although I can see Kalameet and Manus being a problem.

The other is a run where you start as a deprived class and can only use equipment from drops from killed enemies. No picking up any equipment found in the world and no purchasing of anything from merchants except bolts/arrows.

Baintz awesome TR and i agree that there is so much you can do to make the game interesting through tons of playthroughs.

If you are looking for another challenge i suggest doing Vageta311´s one shot challenge.
Hes an truly awesome player to watch and this challenge is alot of fun.

Been a while since I fired dark souls up. Might be time for another run.

Yeah got directed to Vageta's vids from an ENB one, his vids are equally as good imo. A bit more serious than ENBs laid back approach but really, really good commentary. He really knows his **** and is a highly skillful player.


And this thread needs more cool/funny Dark Souls links, so with that:


Double Helix staircase at Chateau Du Chambord in France







Duomo, Milan

Baintz, thanks for that, makes me strongly consider a lvl 1 run after I get tired of my dex guy.

A no shield run would be incredible as well, I rely soooo much on my shield, can't imagine fighting Manus without it since his attacks are so fast and it's hard to predict where they land.

Watch an SL1 guy doing it. He stands in just the right position to bait manus's fist slam, moves back to avoid, hits with a leaping R2 repeatedly.

Just started playing it tonight.

Kind of frustrating because I really like the subject matter and presentation but I'm not good at video games and the controls are not good. I can see myself quitting this. I have died at the asylum demon again and again.

I think most fans of this game would ague that it actually controls superbly, you just need to learn the nuances of combat. Keep an eye on your stamina and do not button mash.

Is it the first time or second tie you've faced the demon in the asylum? Because you're not supposed to fight him the first time, run away through the door to the side.

Second time. I hope your right about the controls but at the minute it seems quite random whether you jump attack / kick or just swing your weapon.

I started as a cleric am I making it harder on myself, should I chose a warrior or knight?

Zero randomness. Pushing forward while attacking is different than just attacking. Play around with that a bit until you get it.

Others may disagree but I don't think cleric is a great class for beginners. The problem is that it takes a while to get good offensive miracles. Knight or warrior may be a better choice although wanderer and pyromancer are the most flexible.

I'm doing a strength playthrough. I got to Priscilla and just for fun I started the fight by attacking her tail with my +5 dark knight sword. I was a little surprised when it worked and I got her dagger.

Usually getting it is a pain.

I've never been so confused in a game before in my life.

WTF does humanity do? It's an object I have on the down quick keys.

Why can I touch a bloodstain, a holographic guy comes out, kneels, then disappears two seconds later?

WTF is the actual storyline? Am I an undead trying to save the world from the dead?


Also, I'm at the second place (right after the raven takes you away) and after the save/before I quit, I attacked that guy in armor for ****s and giggles. But now he is always attacking me whenever I respawn. WTF is that about? Do I have to restart or will he always attack me?

Soon you will meet an NPC that will let you buy forgiveness. You pay him souls and you can make any NPC you attacked like you again. Just don't attack this particular NPC. So for now you either have to run from the guy you attacked or kill him.

Humanity turns you into human form and lets you kindle bonfires. Human form allows you to summon players/NPCs, and invade/be invaded by players/NPCs (for players you gotta be online obv). Kindling bonfires allows you to maximize the number of estus flasks you can hold when you rest at that particular bonfire. There are other uses for humanity, but those are the main ones.

Bloodstains are there for you to see how someone else died, a cool feature.

As for the story, someone else can surely give a much better answer than I.

The story is that you're the chosen one.

I had no idea what the story was the whole time I played either. There is one really really helpful thing to save up humanity for that I found was really helpful. You can join a covenant with like 30 humanity.

The thing with Dark souls is that it has no set story for the hero except he is undead and there is a legend about undead escaping the asylum on a pilgrimage. After that its up to you to form your own story by taking different actions, talking to npc´s and reading item descriptions. you can also get alot out of the positions of things in the world. Much like having to really learn about the different movesets of monsters before you can beat the game you need to read and watch the world around you to get your story.

If I use an attunment (sp?) do I lose it until I find another one? Or do I have to wait until I get back to a bonfire to set one again

Attunement gives you spell slots. You can only change spells at a bonfire.

Yeah I'm kind of figuring it out. I've spent like 4 hours in the graveyard getting my ass handed to me by the big skeletons. Finally killed them and went down to the catacombs, where I got my ass handed to me real quick. Might avoid that place for a while

I played a lot of Dark Souls when it first came out on consoles. I finished it, got all the achievements and never got around to playing the DLC when it came out.

Now I've bought it for PC with the DLC. I've just made it to the Oolacile Sanctuary. I really like the atmoshere there. And the best thing is that I have no idea what's around the next corner. I'm scared again

Humanity is kind of a multi-faceted and tough to explain concept. Let's come back to it when we have a little bit more of a clue how to play.

You're seeing the recent deaths of other players on your network. I'm always fascinated by these and have to watch them all. Usually they're a waste of time but occasionally you can be warned of an incoming hazard.

Well dude, we just don't know yet.

lol! Killing the guy or restarting sounds like your best bet to me.

A) You sound like you're actually pretty good fighting through the graveyard so early. Rocks the size of Gibraltar. What weapon did you use? Did you pick up tons of stuff?

B) Catacombs are probably too tough right now. I found the best way to decide where to go was to try an area and if it was too tough to move on to a new one.

C) Good luck!

I did restart. I was a bandit originally, and tried a few others out. Ended up being a Cleric.

Is the graveyards suppose to be a tough spot to fight? Isn't it the only spot? I didn't find the smaller skeletons that hard. With enough strength you can shatter them with a hit, and keep hitting them. I'd take my time to hit both skeletons, then do a power hit or two on them and run away and let stamina come back. Seemed to work fine.

I didn't see too many weapons/armor pick ups. A couple of schmitars I could of picked up, but they were weaker than the starting mace. Didn't have enough dexterity to use a spear as well.

Very fun game so far, even if I am confused as hell at some points. Last question:

Those glowing messages on the floor, did the game put those there, or did other players, or both? Because there are some that seem like the game put them there (the beginning telling you controls, some of them saying "Good luck" or something after beating the Asylum Dragon) but then some of them are just straight up weird (random one on top of a walkway saying "try the bonfire" and one in the water near the graveyard saying "liar")