Quote:
Originally Posted by Artdogg
speaking of pyromancy, have any of you guys who have done/tried lvl 1 playthroughs tried it without pyromancy? also do you use pyromancy or magic weapons vs Four Kings? seems impossible without one of the two
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.