Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
A FESTIVE SKELETON
Oct 2, 2011

TIS THE SEASON BITCH

drrockso20 posted:

Worth mentioning that both the gloves and augur will clown over a lot of bosses and NPC Hunters Cause their AI can't handle it

To add, if it's humanoid, you can probably safely knock it on it's rear end with augur. If it's big, you can likely still stagger it and give it pause, buying you time.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

drrockso20
May 6, 2013

Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Rayjenkins posted:

To add, if it's humanoid, you can probably safely knock it on it's rear end with augur. If it's big, you can likely still stagger it and give it pause, buying you time.

Yup to give some examples, Watchers and Snatchers will be flattened by the augur, while the Beast Possessed Soul won't be but it will be staggered

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.

tweet my meat posted:

How good is empty shell? That's just a weapon buff right? Also Augur looks pretty cool.

Empty Phantasm Shell is a weapon buff, like Fire Paper or Bolt Paper except it eats bullets rather than a consumable item. It's basically the Bloodborne equivalent of Magic Weapon from Dark Souls.

You can only have one weapon buff at a time so it's important to deploy the right buff against the right enemy. All of them increase the base damage by 80 points so against an enemy with even defenses they're all the same, so it's all down to enemy weaknesses. Unfortunately the pool of enemies that are weak to arcane and aren't as weak or weaker to fire/bolt is pretty small. otoh it's a lot more sustainable than papers since bullets are easily renewable with blood bullets and papers you're going to have to buy eventually.

RyokoTK fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Oct 9, 2017

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Cool, this sounds like exactly the build I was looking for, skill bolstered with arcane utility.

Paracelsus
Apr 6, 2009

bless this post ~kya

Simply Simon posted:

I'm playing DS2 right now and I'm constantly changing my weapons like I'm hitting L1 in BB, haha. I tried the Majestic Greatsword because it's left-handed and then gains a completely different moveset, but then you can't backstab so I have a dagger in the right hand, but you need all stats for the MG so I am also a Hexer, and of course you can also cast Pyromancy...

So basically I'm switching around my hands like a lunatic firing Dank Orbs or exploding fools and occasionally I'll swing a sword around with my "weak" hand. It's so much fun, DS2 owns.
My favorite DS2 build had all six hand slots full and swapped between them. The MG was one of them, along with a pyro hand, cleric's small shield (sometimes sanctum shield), dark sanctum crossbow, watcher greatsword, and a variable slot that might have an ice rapier or santier's spear.

dsagent
Mar 30, 2017
Oh no did we lose the old thread?
All that precious kosmposting.

Anyways do people still pvp at level 500?
I have a horrendously over leveled character.

CodfishCartographer
Feb 23, 2010

Gadus Maprocephalus

Pillbug
Things I've learned from my latest FRC chalice dungeon foray: bell maidens can summon spiders with human heads, and you can destroy (some kinds of?) chests if you hit them enough, and can still get the treasure from them afterwards.

Skill + arcane chat:
I found a good amount of success with skill and then 20ish arcane, just using the buff shell, the old hunter bone, and augur for easy back stabs. The dodging is great for quick skill weapons, and the augur makes back stabs SUPER easy, which you can capitalize on with your super strong viscerals.

CodfishCartographer fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Oct 9, 2017

Time_pants
Jun 25, 2012

Now sauntering to the ring, please welcome the lackadaisical style of the man who is always doing something...

Having the time of my life just taking a break from trying to take down the main game and just hanging out in front of Ludwig and paying forward the assist I got on the first DLC boss. Wish I were getting more hits, but this is great. It's surprisingly very relaxing helping other people out on a hard, super-aggressive boss fight.

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Helping people out is some chill poo poo. I would spend hours putting my sign down in front of dark souls bosses with some fun gimmick setup.

Guillermus
Dec 28, 2009



I lost a Lady Maria kill video wich consisted on Augur spam to knock her down into a corner until I ran out of bullets. I started with 27+5 so yeah, killed her in NG with only two normal swings and the rest were just augur spam.

Simply Simon
Nov 6, 2010

📡scanning🛰️ for good game 🎮design🦔🦔🦔

Guillermus posted:

I lost a Lady Maria kill video wich consisted on Augur spam to knock her down into a corner until I ran out of bullets. I started with 27+5 so yeah, killed her in NG with only two normal swings and the rest were just augur spam.
You say you lost the video, but I saw it on hentaiparadise.org :thunk:

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Man, I was looking forward to working off the rust and being challenged by vicar amelia again, but nope, first try with the cane whip. I guess serration and fire paper is pretty drat good against beasts. It took me a solid 2 days to beat her the first time around.

Guillermus
Dec 28, 2009



Simply Simon posted:

You say you lost the video, but I saw it on hentaiparadise.org :thunk:

But but, lady maria... ebrieta's tentacle...

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Honestly I'm a little disappointed at how easy the early game has been on a replay. Papa Gas Cash gave me a bit of trouble while I was still rusty, but cleric beast and vicar amelia both were first try kills. My next boss is blood starved beast, which ain't gonna be the most challenging thing in the world with a +5 threaded cane with gems.

A FESTIVE SKELETON
Oct 2, 2011

TIS THE SEASON BITCH
Hey if I wanna grab the beast claws to rip and tear, should I just go SKL/STR?

Nibble
Dec 28, 2003

if we don't, remember me
You'd be surprised. I breezed through to that point on my replay too, but BSB still took some work. It's mostly due to that grab attack that does more damage, has a faster windup, and has a farther reach than every other grab attack in the game.

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Nope, first try yet again on BSB, also on undead giant. Stayed up close and never left. Please help me thread I'm too good at the game. :smug:

It'll probably pick up when I start fighting some bosses that aren't weak to serration and fire, because holy poo poo BSB just melted under the whip+fire paper. I also really didn't drag my feet any on getting my cane to +5, so once I get to an area where that's normal it'll probably get a bit tougher.

A FESTIVE SKELETON
Oct 2, 2011

TIS THE SEASON BITCH

tweet my meat posted:

Nope, first try yet again on BSB, also on undead giant. Stayed up close and never left. Please help me thread I'm too good at the game. :smug:

It'll probably pick up when I start fighting some bosses that aren't weak to serration and fire, because holy poo poo BSB just melted under the whip+fire paper. I also really didn't drag my feet any on getting my cane to +5, so once I get to an area where that's normal it'll probably get a bit tougher.

Yeah to be fair, the whip + fire is a powerful combo early on, since you're using serration and fire against beasts.

Your skill does 100% play a part though, since I decided to start a new character with the axe and blunderbuss and at this point I clown on anything that isn't post-Byrgenwerth.

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
I used the hunter axe last playthrough, and as much as I love that thing, the cane's won me over as my favorite starter weapon with its fantastic cane moveset for single combat and the amazing whip moveset which is perfect for groups, beasts, and big bosses. It's probably the roughest start of the three choices, but god drat it gets going quick. The cleaver is still for nerds.

I also got the hunter's bone, and it seems pretty neat, but not quite my thing, but it's cool to actually be using a spell!

A FESTIVE SKELETON
Oct 2, 2011

TIS THE SEASON BITCH

tweet my meat posted:

I used the hunter axe last playthrough, and as much as I love that thing, the cane's won me over as my favorite starter weapon with its fantastic cane moveset for single combat and the amazing whip moveset which is perfect for groups, beasts, and big bosses. It's probably the roughest start of the three choices, but god drat it gets going quick. The cleaver is still for nerds.

I also got the hunter's bone, and it seems pretty neat, but not quite my thing, but it's cool to actually be using a spell!

Word. Get the Augur immediately to get a taste of a powerful and useful tool.

CodfishCartographer
Feb 23, 2010

Gadus Maprocephalus

Pillbug

Rayjenkins posted:

Hey if I wanna grab the beast claws to rip and tear, should I just go SKL/STR?

You could, but they get more out of strength so if you wanna dump into that it'd be fine. The fastest way to get the claws is to kill Amelia, unlock hunter's nightmare and beat Amygdala, and rush through Pthumeru and central Pthumeru to unlock lower Pthumeru. To unlock ailing Loran you need 4 cold blood flowerbuds, which you can find in hunter's nightmare, and 9 Ritual Blood (4)s, which you can farm from the bag men in the first layer of lower Pthumeru. Once you farm all that, you can rush to get the claws from Ailing Loran.

The base claws are pretty rad, but the beast rune version is the best thing. However you need to beat Ludwig and Laurence, and that loving sucks unless you're like level 80. On the other hand, once you do:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_vyiZxV-w

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!

CodfishCartographer posted:

The base claws are pretty rad, but the beast rune version is the best thing. However you need to beat Ludwig and Laurence, and that loving sucks unless you're like level 80. On the other hand, once you do:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_vyiZxV-w

Good christ, the damage on that visceral. BRUTAL. You're making me want to fire this game back up and make a Beastie Boy build.

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.

Guillermus posted:

But but, lady maria... ebrieta's tentacle...

It-it's not like I fear the old blood, or anything!

A FESTIVE SKELETON
Oct 2, 2011

TIS THE SEASON BITCH

CodfishCartographer posted:

You could, but they get more out of strength so if you wanna dump into that it'd be fine. The fastest way to get the claws is to kill Amelia, unlock hunter's nightmare and beat Amygdala, and rush through Pthumeru and central Pthumeru to unlock lower Pthumeru. To unlock ailing Loran you need 4 cold blood flowerbuds, which you can find in hunter's nightmare, and 9 Ritual Blood (4)s, which you can farm from the bag men in the first layer of lower Pthumeru. Once you farm all that, you can rush to get the claws from Ailing Loran.

The base claws are pretty rad, but the beast rune version is the best thing. However you need to beat Ludwig and Laurence, and that loving sucks unless you're like level 80. On the other hand, once you do:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_vyiZxV-w

Excellent advice. So should I cap STR at 50 and go from there, while increasing END and VIT?

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Finally made it to lecture hall and picked up augur. Also opened up the easy farming path. I've been stocking up on vials since I was starting to run low, and I usually cop about 12 or 15 bullets per run as well. I welcome the post scarcity economy.

How should I be using augur? Just as a parry tool or does it do decent damage as well?

drrockso20
May 6, 2013

Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

tweet my meat posted:

Finally made it to lecture hall and picked up augur. Also opened up the easy farming path. I've been stocking up on vials since I was starting to run low, and I usually cop about 12 or 15 bullets per run as well. I welcome the post scarcity economy.

How should I be using augur? Just as a parry tool or does it do decent damage as well?

It does pretty decent damage in my opinion, especially for the fact that it only costs a single bullet, heck on my STR/ARC character I barely even use my pistol for parrying anymore, only if I'm switched to a different tool

Owl Inspector
Sep 14, 2011

My buff arcane character hasn't used the augur at all, just executioner's gloves, blacksky eye and rarely a call beyond. I guess if you're maining a weapon in a two handed form it could be nice for parrying.

tweet my meat
Oct 2, 2013

yospos
Oh drat this thing is satisfying to use. It puts out pretty respectable damage too. Honestly I think I'm gonna ditch the gun and stick with the flamesprayer offhand, since augur seems better than gun parrying for me. It's a bit slower, but if I mistime it, I most likely still hit them for a big chunk of damage. At one bullet per attack it's pretty much a straight upgrade over the blunderbuss for me.

CodfishCartographer
Feb 23, 2010

Gadus Maprocephalus

Pillbug

Rayjenkins posted:

Excellent advice. So should I cap STR at 50 and go from there, while increasing END and VIT?

Up to you, whatever you're comfortable with. I'd probably up vit to around 25-30 a you won't get too frustrated with Ludwig and. Laurence. I took a look at my beast claws character and I've got 50 vitality, 25 endurance, 50 strength, then the rest in skill until I hit 120.

CordlessPen
Jan 8, 2004

I told you so...
What kind of difficulty increase am I looking forward to between NG+ and NG+2? Lately, I've been spending most of my time in Depth 5 Chalice Dungeons, going back to the main game when I get stuck on a boss, and the main game bosses are pathetically easy in comparison. I had a lot of trouble with Lower Loran Paarl, so I was hesitant to tackle NG+ Paarl, but I wiped the floor with him on my first attempt, and now I'm wondering if I could power through NG+ as fast as I can and try my hand at +2.

Cultisto
Oct 18, 2010

When Gozer the Gozarian roams the earth, you have my permission to die.
Fun Shoe
I've recently started this game for probably the 8th time after a long hiatus. I had let my PSPlus lapse a long time ago and due to Sony's billing system being very bad, I'm currently playing offline which is a very lonely experience. In a way you are more focused but I want to do some co-op or invasions and see some terrible messages everywhere!

I'm forcing myself to try something new this time since I do tend to always fall back to using the Hunter Axe. I'm levelling STR and ARC and heard the Boom Hammer would be a good choice for this? Open to other suggestions, I thought I'd be challenged after such a long time but Amelia went down on my second attempt (After one-shotting me for not paying attention) so I think I can already access the DLC if there's a good choice I can just rush to.

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.
If you're going STR/ARC and you don't pick the Moonlight Greatsword then I really just don't know what to tell you.

Owl Inspector
Sep 14, 2011

The boom hammer is never a good choice but it's a thing that can work with strength and arcane. Same goes for the wheel. The anime sword will do much better work but in both cases you'll need a good investment in strength for them to be worthwhile--strength contributes a lot more to them than arcane alone.

If you are maining arcane over strength then you'll be much better off turning a physical weapon into an element and going back to the hybrid weapon once your strength is around 25.

CodfishCartographer
Feb 23, 2010

Gadus Maprocephalus

Pillbug

Cultisto posted:

I've recently started this game for probably the 8th time after a long hiatus. I had let my PSPlus lapse a long time ago and due to Sony's billing system being very bad, I'm currently playing offline which is a very lonely experience. In a way you are more focused but I want to do some co-op or invasions and see some terrible messages everywhere!

I'm forcing myself to try something new this time since I do tend to always fall back to using the Hunter Axe. I'm levelling STR and ARC and heard the Boom Hammer would be a good choice for this? Open to other suggestions, I thought I'd be challenged after such a long time but Amelia went down on my second attempt (After one-shotting me for not paying attention) so I think I can already access the DLC if there's a good choice I can just rush to.

I'm one of two people in the world that enjoy the Boom Hammer, so I say go for it. It's a really fun weapon if you're in the right mindset, just don't try to treat it like the Tonitrus. Its charge attacks and leap attacks are super satisfying too. I did a run with it using just a pure STR character and had a blast, maybe other people can report if pumping into ARC is worth it or not.

Bust Rodd
Oct 21, 2008

by VideoGames
Augur also triggers backstabs so it really is the most versatile tool in any Arcane dudes toolkit

Sapozhnik
Jan 2, 2005

Nap Ghost
Wheel is a lot more fun than moonlight sword ime and available much earlier too

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




The Boom Hammer is a good choice for your secondary weapon, since it has decent range and the charged attack has a small AoE that makes it really useful in certain situations. Definitely hard to use effectively as a main weapon though

skasion
Feb 13, 2012

Why don't you perform zazen, facing a wall?

CordlessPen posted:

What kind of difficulty increase am I looking forward to between NG+ and NG+2? Lately, I've been spending most of my time in Depth 5 Chalice Dungeons, going back to the main game when I get stuck on a boss, and the main game bosses are pathetically easy in comparison. I had a lot of trouble with Lower Loran Paarl, so I was hesitant to tackle NG+ Paarl, but I wiped the floor with him on my first attempt, and now I'm wondering if I could power through NG+ as fast as I can and try my hand at +2.

Virtually nothing -- at least, far less noticeable than the jump from NG to NG+. Depth 5 FRCs are generally harder than any amount of NG+ cycles imo.

RyokoTK
Feb 12, 2012

I am cool.

Sapozhnik posted:

Wheel is a lot more fun than moonlight sword ime and available much earlier too

You only gotta beat three bosses to get the Moonlight Sword, it's just that low-level Ludwig is kinda tough :v:

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Guillermus
Dec 28, 2009



I helped a goon that went against Ludwig around level 25 iirc and it was a hard experience. On my pure ARC char I tackled ludwig at level 90 and for the first time in BB I summoned to the fight Valtr 2.0 and he almost soloed the fight.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply