[Megathread] Dark Souls

[nightshark]

After 200 hours playing this game, I have a ton of different characters. I've completed an SL1 run and have a character on NG+++ (which was still easier than the SL1 run), I only stopped because the difficulty wasn't increasing by any real amount. Yet I still completely suck at PvP. I just cant handle the lagstabs, get owned by WotG and people spamming bleed weps :/

SL1 on NG wasn't that difficult since I'd already played through the game about 6 times. I'd say I died a lot more on my first playthrough than the SL1 run.

[Loaf Lord]

Hot damn, the great scythe is a fantastic weapon. I wish I chose a dex build first. It is by far the funnest play style I've done.

[Remilia]

Hot damn, the great scythe is a fantastic weapon. I wish I chose a dex build first. It is by far the funnest play style I've done.

Amusingly I found the great scythe the easiest run I did.

All halberds / scythes will stagger you if you miss a hit, so about 1/2 to 3/4 of a second longer before you recover per hit, else it attacks fast as hell with a huge range and massive damage.
It does has a blind spot very near you, but it's usually not something you need to worry about.

[jemd13]

Hello everyone, I recently bought Dark Souls on Steam during the summer sale. I haven't really gotten into it as much as I'd like to, possibly because I 've been playing other games I like better, or because I don't fully understand the game yet.

I just finished Sen's Fortress,got to Anor Londo and killed the 2 gargoyles there.

I'm currently level 45 and my stats are the following :
Vit : 28
Attunement : 8
Endurance : 22
Strength : 26
Dex : 14
Res : 11
Int : 8
Faith : 10

A friend has been kinda helping me and telling me what to add and some items to get, I´m currently wearing a Zweihander+10, a Grass Crest Shield, the whole black robe set from the lava monster after Queelag (Spider boss in the swamp),Havel´s ring and Ring of Steel Protection.

So, I wanted to ask some stuff :
1) Is there anything wrong with my build? According to my friend this is some basic strength build, and once I get a little farther in the game I´ll start adding either int or faith (whichever I choose) so I can use magic. Is this correct? Should I be adding points in dex at all?

2) I´ve read a lot about how good the Lightning Zweihander is an amazing weapon, but also read that it was nerfed at some point (at least on the PC version), should I get it to Lightning +5 regardless of the nerf? should I just go for +15 or another element?

3) Is there any other recommended weapon for this kind of build? I´ve read about the ManSerpent Sword, should I get that? Or stick to the Zweihander for now? or get another weap? I have a Black Knight Greatsword sitting in my inv, although my friend says I shoudn´t wear that, not sure why.

4) Can anyone explain the difference between choosing to add points in int or faith?, what are the pros/cons of them?.

Thanks all! keep in mind that this is my first playthrough and that I´m going for PvE only for now, I´ll worry about PvP later...also, PC version like I mentioned before, not sure if it makes any difference.

[noobadrood]

1) Int buffs your sorceries, faith your miracles. The easy mode is buffing int so you can use homing crystal soul mass, the sit down and beat enemies. Dexterity is most useful for dagger/1hand user. e.g my main uses quelaag's fury sword, that ones scales very well with dex AND str.
2) It is a pretty good weapon, capable of very high damage. Only "better" one (imo) is a chaos weapon, if you take the time to farm humanity so you can always be at 9+ humanity.
3) Zweihander probably is the best, until you can get the cursed greatsword of Artorias. BK one isnt awesome BUT if you happen to get it to drop from an early BK instead of a Kiln one, you'll be ages beyond your foes.
4) Int=sorceries (magic spells, NOT pyromancies); faith= miracles. Additionally int powers up magic weapons, faith powers up divine weapons. You'll need 1 divine weapon in the game only, but with your build i think you might be better off with faith and healing miracles.

[Nirawen]

I'm in no way an expert on Dark Souls but I'll give my thoughts and people can correct me where necessary .

1) Is there anything wrong with my build? According to my friend this is some basic strength build, and once I get a little farther in the game I´ll start adding either int or faith (whichever I choose) so I can use magic. Is this correct? Should I be adding points in dex at all?

There's nothing wrong with your build, although it depends a lot on what you want to use (a primary use of stats is just for the requirement of weapons, armor and spells). Dex is for weapon requirements and damage scaling on weapons with dex ratings as well as pyro speed and dark sorc scaling so again it depends on what equipment you want to use.

3) Is there any other recommended weapon for this kind of build? I´ve read about the ManSerpent Sword, should I get that? Or stick to the Zweihander for now? or get another weap? I have a Black Knight Greatsword sitting in my inv, although my friend says I shoudn´t wear that, not sure why.

I've found that to a large degree weapons are personal preference, ofcourse there are damage advantages to using certain weapons with high scaling etc, but often the animations or added effects can trump the base damage benefit. It may be worth checking out a wiki to see what you like the look of. I used the BK Greatsword for a while on my Str heavy character before swapping to the Dragon Greatsword, it's just a different playstyle to say my Lifehunt Scythe/Shotel dex character rather than worse.

4) Can anyone explain the difference between choosing to add points in int or faith?, what are the pros/cons of them?.

In basic terms Faith is for miracles and Int is for sorceries, as well as scaling on weapons for both.


One piece of advice I'd give would be to download DSFix if you haven't already and DSCFix if you play multiplayer, they improve the graphical quality (texture resolutions etc) and vastly improve how quickly/easily you can see friends to summon them.

[jemd13]

- - - Updated - - -

1) Int buffs your sorceries, faith your miracles. The easy mode is buffing int so you can use homing crystal soul mass, the sit down and beat enemies. Dexterity is most useful for dagger/1hand user. e.g my main uses quelaag's fury sword, that ones scales very well with dex AND str.
2) It is a pretty good weapon, capable of very high damage. Only "better" one (imo) is a chaos weapon, if you take the time to farm humanity so you can always be at 9+ humanity.
3) Zweihander probably is the best, until you can get the cursed greatsword of Artorias. BK one isnt awesome BUT if you happen to get it to drop from an early BK instead of a Kiln one, you'll be ages beyond your foes.
4) Int=sorceries (magic spells, NOT pyromancies); faith= miracles. Additionally int powers up magic weapons, faith powers up divine weapons. You'll need 1 divine weapon in the game only, but with your build i think you might be better off with faith and healing miracles.

Hm well I got the BK Greatsword from one of the first two BKs in the game...although I haven't upgraded it since I've been sticking to the zweihander lately...

Also, any other advices or tips for me on any items,builds or strategies for the game that you wanna share? xd

Thanks a lot to both of you!

[OrcsRLame]

+15 Is going to be way better than +5 lightning. With all you've invested in str/vit/end I wouldn't go for int or faith ever unless you're hitting like level 250+ in a higher NG. Pyromancy is a zero stat investment, and while not as powerful as sorcery, it will do just fine and you don't have to dip away from your core stats for it.

One thing you need is more endurance. Get at least 40, and replace that ring of steel protection with the ring of favor and protection. Since you're past Anor Londo you shouldn't have any issues getting it. Endurance is the god stat in Dark Souls. It provides dps by letting you swing more, and survivability by letting you run/block/roll more. It really is the god tier stat until at least 40 so that you cap your stamina. After 40, it's still not bad if you need some more to get the fast roll with your preferred gear. I'd also grab some better armor if I were you. With some endurance stacking and the ring of favor and protection, you should be able to wear the giant's armor and keep your fast roll.

Another thing I'd ask you is, do you enjoy how the Zweihander plays? Fyi, except in very specific circumstances where you need max dps and don't care about getting hit, you generally want to only use jump attacks with most two handers. They're faster, more damaging and overall safer than regular attacks. If you like doing regular attacks, fast one handers like the Balder Side Sword are generally better. A +5 BKGS is 5 more base damage than a +15 Zweihander, but the BKGS has better strength scaling.

Lightning and fire weapons are fixed damage weapons. That means a +5 lightning Zweihander does the same damage at 25 strength as it does at 99. I wouldn't recommend going for lightning weapons unless your stats are really bad, which they aren't. Faith and int based weapons like divine and enchanted are really bad unless you're stacked on multiple stats, like strength and int for an enchanted Zweihander. That means being very high level, or sacrificing survivability. A buffed normal weapon, (buffs as in resin) will almost always beat out any other kind of weapon on raw damage.

[noobadrood]

Tbh for my first playthrough I was extremely cautious, this game is one of the few where I can't play comfortably without a shield so I used one handed swords mostly (if you prefer 2handers, the Artorias' greatsword will likely make you happy, since it hits like a BAMF). One handed weapons have quelaag's fury sword as a pretty respectable option, but its more adequate for high humanity/DEX builds.
The other easy (but takes a shit ton of exp farming) option is getting attunement to 28, INT to 50, and go to town riding extremely overpowered sorceries. Most bosses can be killed with a few homing soul masses, and since you only need to cast them once, you can switch to a melee weapon and keep dishing out.

[jemd13]

+15 Is going to be way better than +5 lightning. With all you've invested in str/vit/end I wouldn't go for int or faith ever unless you're hitting like level 250+ in a higher NG. Pyromancy is a zero stat investment, and while not as powerful as sorcery, it will do just fine and you don't have to dip away from your core stats for it.

One thing you need is more endurance. Get at least 40, and replace that ring of steel protection with the ring of favor and protection. Since you're past Anor Londo you shouldn't have any issues getting it. Endurance is the god stat in Dark Souls. It provides dps by letting you swing more, and survivability by letting you run/block/roll more. It really is the god tier stat until at least 40 so that you cap your stamina. After 40, it's still not bad if you need some more to get the fast roll with your preferred gear. I'd also grab some better armor if I were you. With some endurance stacking and the ring of favor and protection, you should be able to wear the giant's armor and keep your fast roll.

Another thing I'd ask you is, do you enjoy how the Zweihander plays? Fyi, except in very specific circumstances where you need max dps and don't care about getting hit, you generally want to only use jump attacks with most two handers. They're faster, more damaging and overall safer than regular attacks. If you like doing regular attacks, fast one handers like the Balder Side Sword are generally better. A +5 BKGS is 5 more base damage than a +15 Zweihander, but the BKGS has better strength scaling.

Lightning and fire weapons are fixed damage weapons. That means a +5 lightning Zweihander does the same damage at 25 strength as it does at 99. I wouldn't recommend going for lightning weapons unless your stats are really bad, which they aren't. Faith and int based weapons like divine and enchanted are really bad unless you're stacked on multiple stats, like strength and int for an enchanted Zweihander. That means being very high level, or sacrificing survivability. A buffed normal weapon, (buffs as in resin) will almost always beat out any other kind of weapon on raw damage.

Hm I do enjoy the Zwei so far... But I haven't really tried many weapons so I can't really compare.
Alright, I will get 40 end. Also, wanted to ask, would it be good to get 50 stregnth so that I can wear Havel's shield later on?

Which armor would you recommend?...Right now with Havel's ring I can do the fast roll and I like it

[rylangel]

Hm I do enjoy the Zwei so far... But I haven't really tried many weapons so I can't really compare.
Alright, I will get 40 end. Also, wanted to ask, would it be good to get 50 stregnth so that I can wear Havel's shield later on?

Which armor would you recommend?...Right now with Havel's ring I can do the fast roll and I like it

Here's the thing about Dark Souls and equipment. You can't really "do it wrong". Build for what you think looks cool and what you want to use. If you want to wear full Havel's, get the stats needed to do so.

For PvP, get around 53 poise so you don't get stunlocked from large weapon hits. Seriously though, if you have armor that looks cool and you want to wear it, do so.

[OrcsRLame]

Hm I do enjoy the Zwei so far... But I haven't really tried many weapons so I can't really compare.
Alright, I will get 40 end. Also, wanted to ask, would it be good to get 50 stregnth so that I can wear Havel's shield later on?

Which armor would you recommend?...Right now with Havel's ring I can do the fast roll and I like it

The Giant's armor provides the highest raw defense in the game. Havel's armor is slightly worse but has the highest poise, (resistance to being stunned) in the game. Both are good choices. Both are also heavy as fuck, so Havel's ring + the ring of favor and protection are essential.

If you're using a two hander, I don't think a shield is very important. If you want to use a 1 hander and shield, I'd personally go for the Greatshield of Artorias due to its higher stability, but getting that means giving up the Greatsword of Artorias, so if you wish to use that weapon as some have suggested then that's not really a viable option for you.

Like I said before, if you want to use a 1 hander and shield, personally, I'd recommend getting a +15 Balder Side Sword, which is a high dex weapon. And if that's your plan, I'd go for high dex before high strength, and maybe pick up the 50 strength to use greatshields later on.

[jemd13]

Well I like having a shield to block stuff,i usually go Zwei + shield, then switch to 2h during boss fights...Also , woudn't big armors like Havel's make me roll slowly? Or Havels ring + ring of favor and protection will take care of that?

[Borfl]

Zwei is garbage, Claymore is a far better choice in terms of moveset, speed, and DPS. I'd say its really the only good str weapon, unless you like getting shit on by invaders. Even for PvE purposes Claymore is a lot better and I did my first run with the Zwei.

Halberd and Estoc are also pretty good.

[Remilia]

Most used for beginners or recommended imo.

Dex:
Balder Straight Sword
Quelaag Furysword
Uchigatana
Iatos

STR:
Black Knight Halberd (debatable, halberds have a small drawback if not used right).
Zweihander
Black Knight Great Axe

Balance (STR/DEX)
Claymore

Stat build:
Non caster builds tend to end around here.
Vit to 30+ capping at 50.
STR / DEX 35+ capping at 40.
END: 25-30 - This also depends on what armor you decide to wear.

I run at 8-15 vit depending on starter class but I don't recommend doing that.

[OrcsRLame]

Well I like having a shield to block stuff,i usually go Zwei + shield, then switch to 2h during boss fights...Also , woudn't big armors like Havel's make me roll slowly? Or Havels ring + ring of favor and protection will take care of that?

Depends on how much endurance you have and what weapon you're using. http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Equip+Load

But they sure do help.

[jemd13]

Alright so...Should I just stick to str/end/vit and forget about int/faith and just go with piromancy?...My friend keeps telling me int is OP with the weapon enchants, and says the 50 str idea is not the best. I dont know what to do D: !.

My friend made this http://mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/?c=214497396623187725 as a "Model" that I may or may not follow, the weapons and stuff may change of course. He did this based on what Laurcus posted as answer to my first post, a build without int, just piromancy and str/end/vit, but he says the 50str idea isn't the best... HALP D:

Also, thanks for all the help so far guys

[Remilia]

Well, his build isn't bad, but... I'd switch the grass crest to something else especially for your first time when you don't know the telegraphs, the attacks, and so forth for the enemies and bosses.

His set up is a half way between PVP and PVE build by the way with Darkwraith Covenant + FAP ring with Grass Crest Shield + Child's Mask.

Since you already use the Zweihander

Stats: Str 40
Vit: 35
Dex: -- leave as is.
End: 30
Attunement: 12 for 2 slots of spells.

Weapon:
MH1 http://darksouls.wikidot.com/zweihander +15
Alternate Ultra Great Sword STR weapons:
http://darksouls.wikidot.com/demon-great-machete + 15 - Will cause you to go fat if you use the full paladin set.
http://darksouls.wikidot.com/black-knight-greatsword + 5
The latter 2 have greater damage potential however they lack the range compared to zweihander.
MH2 Pyromancy Flame with Great Fireball + Greater Combustion.

OH1 http://darksouls.wikidot.com/balder-shield +14 or +15 or http://darksouls.wikidot.com/silver-knight-shield +5
OH2 --

Armor set: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/elite-knight-set or http://darksouls.wikidot.com/paladin-set

Rings
Slot 1: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/havel-s-ring
Slot 2: http://darksouls.wikidot.com/cloranthy-ring or http://darksouls.wikidot.com/wolf-ring

This should leave at a mid speed / roll with a decent shield and armor set.

[Deleted]

Which game is harder? Demon souls or Dark Souls? Because I don't know which one I should try first.

[Sargerus]

Which game is harder? Demon souls or Dark Souls? Because I don't know which one I should try first.

Honestly, it depends which one you play first. But i think playing DeS in Black World Tendency is a little harder than DaS.