Each weapon has a base damage level (the left column) showing the damage done by Phys, Fire, Magic etc, and then any weapons that have stat scaling will get a damage bonus. These are in the right hand column. If you have negative numbers appearinjg there, then one of your stats (Strenght, Dex, Int, Faith) required to use that weapon is not high enough and the weapon will be very ineffective.

Note - When two handing you get a 50% bonus to strength. So to use the Zweihander (required Strength 24) in two hands, you only need to get Strength to 16.

Yes, shields get better as you upgrade them. The attack power is pretty much worthless - who attacks with their shield? The stat you should be most interested in is Stability. This is how much stamina you lose when blocking attacks, so it's hugely important. Very small shileds have low stability, the bigger ones have much more, but obviously weigh more.
I have an Eagle Shield +14, and it's stability has gone up about ten points.

Weapon damage will not be affected by which right-hand slot you put it in, but will be if you equip it in either left-hand slot. Left hand can be used for shields or weapons/spells, but you should never have your shield in your right hand. You are forced to play Dark Souls as a right-handed character.

Yeah, thats how I figured it out so far myself. But not all shields have 100% physical prot. and Im somehow used to taking no dmg when blocking after using that red/blue shield you get very early in the game (forgot the name) all the time. Now that im getting deeper in and enemies using elemental attacks it was the first time I inspected my shields a little closer and as I said not all have 100% physical prot. and I wanted to know if this can be affected in any way...

Thx for your help again.

F*** those ghosts in New Londo, gosh I hate them now.

Just bought this, I'm about to go fire it up for the first time!
I thought I could hold out for Skyrim, but this sounds right up my alley with the difficulty.

Just started playing - never played Demon Souls. Starting this game is a pretty humbling experience!

The real Dark Souls starts here.

Wow.. i was basically doing just fine playing this game with just an occasional 'experimental death' here at there.. but now I've made it to the Taurus demon, and man is he wooping my ass.

Suddenly I feel like I'll be stuck at this point in the game for the next 12 days and I understand everyone else's mindset haha.

There are far tougher bosses than him... Once you figure out what has to be done hes actually very easy.

LOL after reaching level 37 or something I decided I hated my character [put a bunch of points into pointless stuff early like intelligence] and restarted. Long day ahead.

I did the same thing, I accidently killed a few NPCs that I sholdnt have and decided to make a new toon. I suggest going through the early stages as fast as possible and opening the door in darkroot gardens asap and then just level ur char there for like an hour. When you know what your doing the game really isnt that tough, its just the first playthrough thats difficult.

Where do I find the crest to open the door in the darkroot gardens? Never even tried it my last playthrough.

Buy it from the first blacksmith for 20k souls.

and you will make this back within 5 minutes. the trick is to run in and aggro the creeps and then run to the corner of the entrance that is next to the cliff. the creeps will run up the stairs and fall off the mountain trying to attack you. 3 of em are worth 2k souls and 1 is worth 1k souls. there are also a few really tough guys that are worth 5k souls but dont respawn.

You can also hug the left hand cliff edge as you go through the door and follow it to the small buidling Alvina the cat is in. From there only the axe guy will rush you, but he's no problem once you figure him out and then you can lure the rest out and fight them one by one.
In fact all you need is a shield that can withstand a couple of their blows as you can maneuver them to the cliff edge and then blast them off with the 'Force' miracle.

Any thoughts on what shield I should stick with to level up now that I'm restarting? Using a knight shield for now but haven't upgraded at all. Gonna say materials until I find a shield worth upgrading.

I'm pretty sure I know what has to be done to help kill this bastard, but executing it is the problem.. plus every time I die, I try to get cute with the easier enemies on the way to him and end up doing something dumb and dying lol.

Whats the general consesus for this game for people using guides/walkthroughs.. I'm borderline ready to check out some youtube vids of how to beat this bastard

I feel like it varies a lot because how much you look at guides can greatly alter the gaming experience more so than a lot of other games. The exploration and horror of what can be around the corner is a huge part of the games appeal for me, using a walkthrough would kill it for me personally but I end up having to look up how to beat bosses after dieing a million times and getting frustrated. IIRC this was kinda what most of 2'ers did for Demons Souls as well.


I must have died 20 times trying to figure out how the hell to kill Taurus, by the end I had a near perfect pattern of shield up running and re-upping stamina to get to him from the bonfire without having to fight anyone.

How to beat him:

Go for it unless you want to put a TON of time into this game while getting nowhere. I think I've already logged 80 hours between four characters and I still see/learn new stuff all the time.

Firebombs work really well of Taurus as well fwiw and they're pretty cheap at the first merchant iirc. I think we're good to drop the spoiler tags now, but that's just imo.

I've been using the Wiki since day one, but only for stuff like shard location/enemy drops/merchant location etc. There's just so much knowledge that would take forever to accumulate yourself. I'd nearly finished Demon's Souls before I found the Wiki and it made my second playthrough much more enjoyable.

For instance anyone who played Demon's Souls must agree that the poison swamp was a real ball-ache because of your restricted movement speed. Now in Dark Souls, there is another poison swamp, and also the base of Sen's Fortress has knee-deep water too. However there is a ring that lets you move freely in water, but it's very possible you may have slogged through these areas before you ever find it (if you ever do). Google 'Rusted Iron Ring' ftw.

In fact, it's not just useful items. There are also a couple of entire 'levels' that would be very easy to miss entirely.

Was just dicking around up there looking down on the chests was wondering if I could survive the drop but had a few too many souls on me to try.

Lol @ naming him "Snuggly."


Timmay: 80 hours? Damn dude. Respeck

I guess a little less than that actually. Got like 40, 10, 4, and 18 between my four guys. Really didn't like the middle two but def got it right the last time - or it seems that way so far at least.

What you going for this time?

I'm curious to hear your builds for each guy and what you liked/disliked about them that led you to your current guy, if you want to share.