I guess I'm about half way through the game and I just found out about the Ring of Binding, somehow I missed that little room in Heide's Tower of Flame that leads to the Old Dragonslayer boss. Running around with 50% hp and only a few effigies was getting old.

The bastard sword is ridiculously good if you get one to drop fairly early.

Any tips for a first time player (never played DS1 or DeS)? Is it a good idea to stick with a weapon and upgrade it? I'm going for a melee build and got the fire sword and heide sword and just have them both equipped for now.

Advice for your first run is do whatever you feel like. There is no right or wrong when it comes to builds imo.

If you still feel that you want some tips you can check this out and learn how the combat works and after that decide on what weapons you want to use.

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Combat

i killed the soldiers , i usually lure them outside , theyre really not that bad if you can use the big greatsword and keep some distance


after the lost bastille bosses

i went through the room and it looks like it was just a dumb dog that ran into an explosive barrel

There is an explosive zombie in a locked cell right there so its probably that tbh.

The Duke's Dear Freja was an awesome fight.



Other than her, I haven't really found any of the fights memorable. All of the multi-boss fights have been pretty easy for an dex melee, just single them out and take a few swipes and whittle them down. I still think the Undead Purgatory fight is about fifty times harder than anything up until where I am, and I've cleared all of the four major bosses, not sure what comes next or how close I am to being done. I've gone the speed running route of just running by all the ememies on the way to most boss attempts, it was draining my will to play the game having to clear all the trash. That's my biggest complaint, instead of making challening, interesting boss fights, they just made getting to them a huge PITA and made the boss fights relatively simple and easy for the most part.

well, clear every boss, you'll rage at least once IMO, most likely twice

as a whole though I agree, more bosses but less epic bosses than DS1

Anyone know of a good PvP/invasion guide? I thought that when you were in human form you couldn't get invaded, but I've been invaded by gray spirits three times now while human. Twice in the belfries, this last time in Drangleic Castle. I assumed the belfry phantoms invasions were part of the areas that you can't avoid, is the castle the same way?

is there anything to do in undead purgatory after the chariots boss , theres that one dude by the bonfire but he doesnt say much

He'll say more if you...



but otherwise that's all.

Just curious, what level were you guys when you beat the Ruin Sentinels? I got to The Lost Bastille by mean of the bird's nest, so I'm wondering if I'm not strong enough for them at level 40.

Just finished my first play-through after about 50 hours. No spoilers or hints, and no NPC or player summons except for twice on the Smelter Demon who was kicking my ass. Luckily neither player summon worked and actually seemed to make the boss harder with two players making him move unpredictably. After shelving the game for a while, I came back and one shot him, which seems to be a good plan with these games any time you're too frustrated.

Also I think I missed what looks like four bosses:



Overall I had a lot of fun, but some of my favorite things about the first game weren't really there. I loved the sense of connectivity and openness with Lordran, where you're often given glimpses of different parts of the game world. Basically if you see something in the distance, you know you'll be going there eventually, with multiple paths to get there. Drangleic has that a bit, mostly just in Majula where you can see 3-4 different areas, and occasionally in one area you'll see parts of the next. It basically felt like 3-4 long linear corridors of areas. I suppose it's not a huge deal, but it takes away from the sense of immersion. Also the areas tend to abruptly transition in to totally new types of areas and you get a little texture and atmosphere shock whenever that happens and you think to yourself that no real world would ever work like that. I think Lordran did a great job of setting up area transitions in an interesting and logical manner.

The trash mobs were also just a chore for the most part and were usually far harder than the bosses, unless you just broke down and speed ran past them. In particular . I think they went overboard there in some spots, though maybe you're supposed to break down and summon help or suck it up and get punished for failing on the bosses.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to trying a magic build now, melee feels a bit too easy on the bosses and too punishing on the trash, I'm curious how range will change things.

It seems like you level up a lot quicker than in DS1, probably because there are so many bosses. I've got about 25 hours on the clock, have been to 13 areas, but have only beaten one of the four big bosses and am already level 86.

Oh, and what's with the Covetous Demon? Absurdly easy.

Thanks Artdogg, looks like I got through the quest chain up until wheels asks me to join his covenant, that's how you get to the secret boss. I've never messed around with the covenants and probably would never have done.

I started a sorceror build, and it's about what I expected with trash being easier and bosses harder, though some of the bosses are giving me way more trouble than I would have thought. The Skelly Lords are seemingly impossible with the spells and damage I have at the moment, so I skipped them and gave the chariot a try and that was even worse. Cleared through the wharf with no problem, now I'm struggling with the sentinels.



Is it silly to just focus on att/int/faith? I feel like it takes a lot more to get a good sorcery build going compared to melee getting those stats up to a point where you can actually do decent damage.

If you want to go the hex (int/faith) route it might be better to focus on one first, but maybe a hexer can chime in on that. I went pure int, but still got 16 str fairly early for 100% blockage. But obviously there's a million ways to do it. I feel like VGR and END are very good up to 20 (when the bonuses go down) for all classes, VGR so you don't get one shot, and END for a lot of things. But yea, ATT borders on overpowered for casters, so the main focus would be there and however you want to spread it out on INT/FAI.

NG+1 trying to balance my sorcerer with a melee side as well as there are a few bosses that it is much better to try to fight this way vs staying back casting spells. I think I am at about 30 strength now. Is there a solid 1 handed weapon to raw +10 requiring a low dex? I think my dex is only 12 (int is 65 though). I used one on the vangarian sword so I don't have it maxed yet but it looks like it will get close to 300 which is ok.

spimp,

I'm new to DS style, and only 20 hours into my first playthrough at about level 80, but the Mace (bought from the blacksmith in Majula) has been the best weapon for me so far. I've tried to switch over to the halbeard, heide's sword, flame sword, and even large club, but I always go back to the mace. I'm really looking forward to adding some lightning or flame attributes to it later on. It's also got B scaling for strength, and A at +10.

Thanks for the reply, what's your damage output about from the stats screen? I want to say I changed a broadsword to a raw+10 for 276. I am just looking for a stronger sword the 2nd run through (once I max it out) for single handed.

Have you tried the blue moon sword? It scales on int and acts as a catalyst for sorceries.

Sorry, I meant Blue Flame sword.

Things Vageta does.

Having 38 strength and 16 dexterity I end up dealing 321 per strike. It's only downside is range (not great against multiple enemies at once, and have to get in close for a strike), but that hasn't been an issue for me up to The Huntsman's Corpse. A mace with the Tower Shield is doing me well. I haven't messed with it much, but it also seems like it has smash damage which ends up hurting enemies more than other weapons of similar stats (namely my standard halberd and the Flame Sword).